Thanksgiving Ice Cream

Hello family!!!

 Well we finally found out when actual Thanksgiving was and got to celebrate....by ourselves!! :) haha It actually was really fun though! We had follow-up training that day which was really good, and we got actual American pizza and I literally almost cried...Then after we got home and did studies we taught a lesson. We taught a part-member family about temples and it was so cool! Sister Lani was just baptized with their 2 daughters a year ago so she's getting ready to go, and then Tatay (that's dad in Tagalog) is our investigator but he's no where near progressing..ha but he actually was interested for this lesson, so I hope it planted a seed in him :)

And then after that Sister Surio and I sprinted to the palegke to buy Christmas decorations and our "thanksgiving feast" to surprise the other sisters!!! We decorated our adorable apartment, and then had a feast of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and candy!! So it wasn't quite a turkey Christmas (which would be impossible since they don't have turkey here..ha) but we had a blast! Sister Surio made all our investigators talk about what they're grateful for in our lessons, and it was hilarious :) ha

 Also this week we had stake conference, and they let the missionaries go to the adult session! It was so great, one of the speakers was the 2nd councelor (is that spelled right??) and he's this HUGE guy, who started off his talk describing all this delicious food and making these little noises with how delicious it sounded..I was like peeing my pants! Anyway, he related it to sharing the gospel with our friends, because the gospel really is the "sweetest, purest fruit" they can partake of. It was a great talk! And then they had a choir. Sadly..a lot of filipinos are kind of tone deaf..so they did pretty good and it was a pretty song, however me and Sister Surio were a little bit irreverant. She kept whispering "do you see that Nanay with one tooth??" hahaha and then this old man was walking by with his pants way high, and his daughter reaches out, grabs him by the pants and pulls him into the bench so fast he looked like he'd actually had a heart attack!! Poor little guy..haha So I was already giggling..(Yes, I know it's bad) and then the choir hit their last note. It was literally like in the cartoons when it breaks glass!! I could not for the life of me hold in my laughter!! The elder behind me was like "Sheesh Sister Benesch control yourself, you'll offend the nanays!" But it was so funny :) Man it was good times. Then on Sunday sadly was a little boring, but one of our less-actives came and I got him to wear a white shirt and tie!! He didn't before because he was offended, and it was quite childish, but he didn't want to 'show respect to the bishop'...so I just talked with him about how it's Christ's church and everything we do is for our Heavenly Father. So he showed up looking real nice and I was so proud :) He's about 60 so I told him I was proud and he looked real guapo and he just punched my arm..haha Atleast he obeyed :)

We also have an Amazing new family of investigators!! Sister Grace was an investigator before but moved before her baptism, but she moved back and we started teaching her, and her husband and they have 6 kids with the oldest 8 years old! So we have baptism dates for those 3 at the end of this month and I'm so excited!! Their kids are Crazy but so adorable, so it's quite a circus when we teach there but we have fun :) I just feel so much love there! They also have a son with down syndrome, and whenver we go he yells "Sisters!! Kumusta?!" and he's so excited we're there! He's my new little buddy here. So they're progressing, and then we have 2 baptisms this Saturday which I'm way excited for! Brother Red and Gelo, they passed their interviews (wheew..) and now we're just waiting for Saturday. They're so hilarious, I'm so happy for them :)

 Besides that nothing else really happened this week...but I really am absolutely loving everything. It's such a crazy adventure everyday, but I'll just have lots and lots of stories for when I get home! Happy birthday month Donald!! Next year I'll make up for my lack of presents this year ;) Oh also I learned I have no talents...ha We're trying to prepare something for the talent show we're having at our Christmas conference and I tried dancing, singing, acting...Sister Surio laughed at everything! But I think the 4 sisters in our apartment are going to all sing together and it'll be great :) I'll let you know what we end up deciding!! But I did feel pretty worthless...ha not really I'll just work harder and improving the little bit of talent I do have and blow you all away when I get home! I love you all SO MUCH! Thanks for everything :)

Love,

Sister Benesch