HEY FAMILY!

So it's Sunday here and you know what that means!!!! LOL

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry I haven't emailed you lately! We are so crazy busy on P-days and between writing the big email home and writing my weekly report to president I find I never have enough time left :(((

But anyways I don't know if mom told you yet BUT I am coming home hopefully next week, if all goes well with immigration. But yeah I'm getting medically released :((((((((((((((( and I have to come home and rest and just figure out what can be done so I can get better and back out in the field. 

I am currently at the MRC in Manila :) (missionary rest center) and I am supposed to stay here until I can leave the country which I have been told could take weeks. 

SO yeah :((( but I'll be seeing all of you soon! And thats exciting for me! I wasn't expecting any of this BUT I know I have to be obedient to WHATEVER it is the Lord wants me to do, even if it means leaving right in the middle of my mission. It's not an easy decision to come home but one I do gladly knowing that it is the will of my Father in Heaven. 

Can't wait to see you all! I hope you all had a good Easter Sunday! And I hope you were able to spend it with mom and john :))) I hope she's calling and keeping in contact with you guys. If not I'll change that when I come home. 

Okay! I gotta go lie down hahahaha I'm soooooooooo tired lately I can hardly do anything without sleeping for like half the day. 

I love you!!!!!!!!! Give my love to the kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you soon :))))

Oh also I'll keep you updated with how everything goes. I go tomorrow morning to the immigration dept. to get fingerprinted and hopefully be able to get something done so they will let me out of the country. Apparently after Typhoon Yolanda all the stuff with visa's and going in and out of Manila just became crazy and so incredibly hard. So I'm really not sure how long I'll be here for or even when I'll be aloud to come home. Other than that I'm fine and in good hands here at the mrc.

I'll talk to you soon! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Fonua (soon to be samantha ....... again ........ awkward.)

Stalwart & Strong the Work will Go on!

On behalf of Samantha's mother, Raewyn, Sister Samantha Fonua will be leaving the Legasapi, Philippines Mission to come back home to the U.S. sometime this week.

 

Not knowing too many details yet, it came to her attention that Sister Fonua had not fully recovered from being sick in December. 

 

A prayerful decision was made for Sister Fonua to seek medical attention in the United States to determine why she is not getting better.

 

Thank you all for your countless prayers on her behalf, words of encouragement, and love.

 

Please keep Sister Fonua in your prayers at this time.

 

We Love You Sister Fonua!

 

Some of the last photos she sent with her last two companions.
 

Mabuhay po!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Fonua's new companion

Hello po sa inyong lahat ulit! It is summer now. And I am probably going to become a burnt piece of charcoal by the time I leave this place. Lol seriously every day here its just like I’m inside of this oven that just keeps getting hotter and hotter and I just keep sweating and sweating. OMG some one pass me a fan hahahaha.

Basta we had a really good week! We reached the Standard Of Excellence for number of lessons taught! IT FEELS AWESOME! Lol I wanna stand on someone’s roof and shout it to the world! Lol this happiness doesn’t come from me reaching the SOE as much as my companion and I reaching the SOE IN THIS AREA! 

For reals it’s a miracle! BECAUSE our area is so huge! And just the distance between each area coupled with the amount of people and lessons we plan for and try to reach every day … all of these factors put together have just left me feeling GREAT!  We worked SO HARD this week and we have literally seen the blessings that come “after much tribulation.” In addition to this I got to watch the Woman’s General Broadcast! IT WAS SO  POWERFUL! I actually cried! Lol the Spirit that I felt while watching it was crazy and it gave me tons of stuff to ponder and think about.

I am so sorry but I really don’t have that much time this week so I will just share with you what I can.

Sige SO this week my companion and I learned a lot!!!!  Honestly like I said we worked so hard. Lol at the end of every day when we were doing daily planning it was SO FUNNY! Because one of us would be talking and then … just silence because we would be falling asleep or too tired and exhausted to speak lol our eyes would be red and we were basically the epitome of haggard. Lol yes my glamorous life here in the Philippines just keeps getting better and better cause each day we work hard I just keep looking more and more like something the cat dragged in hahaha. Its okay tho, I LOVE IT! Lol its so awesome!!!!!!!! Anyways my companion and I visited an investigator that we’ve been teaching for the past few weeks and on Saturday night when we went to his house, he was blasting music and reading the Book of Mormon! Lol when he invited us in and he was telling us some of the things he had been reading I kind of noticed that he was …. Acting a little funny lol. 

When I looked at my companion she mouthed this to me, “He’s drunk!” Lol when I looked back at tatay, his flushed face and the excitement with which he was relaying his story I realized she was right! Lol I looked back at my companion and then back at tatay and I laughed. After this we sat for about 10 mins listening to him tell us the most random things. Lol as we sat there quietly listening and observing a lot of things were running through my head. First of all I couldn’t doubt for a single second, even in the state that he was in that Heavenly Father loves him VERY MUCH. Here this man was, literally in the depths of all his sorrows, AGAIN, feeling alone and totally and completely unimportant and even tho HE couldn't see it I could. 

I could see how much Heavenly Father loves him and I could feel so strongly in my heart how much he wanted to take this mans sorrow away ... the only part that was sad to me was that this man had NO idea any of these things. All he knows is his sorrow, and he defines himself by the mistakes and sins that he has made in his life. This particular lesson to me hit me hard. As I was sitting in his house watching him beat himself up for sins and mistakes that are long behind him. BUT because he truly didn't know about the Father's plan for him, or even his divine heritage he was stuck in a deep dark hole that he created for himself. I know that these feelings of guilt and shame come from Satan. I have learned that even tho we HAVE those thoughts and we do think some of those sad things, they are not who we are. Those thoughts come from a source who is trying to mold us into who he wants us to be and that is miserable and totally and completely alone. SO in order to help tatay know and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for him I decided that we needed to teach him about the Word Of Wisdom. Lol it was definitely a different lesson and when I told tatay that we were going to teach him about that, my companion looked at me and smiled lol and then we proceeded with the lesson. My comp is the best lol! I am literally learning so much from her every day! 

I know this church is true! Sorry for the short and bland email. I have no time! BUT the work is working and I am probably going to be a puddle of sweat by the time summer ends hahahaha. 

Love you all! Wish I could have you all here with me! YOU WOULD LOVE THE PHILIPPINES! Lol I already know that when I go home I am going to get #CULTURESHOCK2 

Mt. Mayon in Legaspi from afar

Home made water well for drinking a washing clothes

Rice field