"Sayang!"

Well family thanks for all the birthday wishes! haha the big 20! wow crazy haha. sounds like you had a great week and things are still going good for you! that's great amanda and zach had a good wedding, i'm happy for them! the pics were cool and looks like it was a good time! well this week was a real doozy haha. but one that tested me in every way and i have to say i love those weeks. this week was good and tough at the same time, i was praying for a opportunity to help me know my weaknesses and things i need to improve on. i think i sometimes get blinded and i knew if i was going to leave this area better then i found it i needed to improve myself. so this week was a humbling one, haha the Lord answers our prayers and he really helped me know what i need to work on! i'll put it simply, it was humbling. just like joseph smith says, "the lord sometimes brings us low, before he can raise us higher." well that's what my weak was like, the 1st couple days i was just like wow, what just happened. haha He made it very simple and clear and i did my best to improve my weaknesses to become a better missionary. by the end of the weak i noticed the difference and know i still have a long way to go but am grateful for the opportunity that our heavenly father gave me,. well you asked about bro willy, that was the real doozy of this week, we usually go over to his house wednesday and saturday. well he was gone on wednesday which was weird and on saturday we caught him just when he got home. he said come in i have something to tell you guys, my heart immediatly sank because i knew it wasn't good. we get in there and he says, this week has been really hard for me elders, my daughter got sick and my disease seems to be getting worse and i've been thinking alot about my baptizm and so much i can't even sleep at night,.i'm sorry but i would like to take a break from our meetings, it just seems ever since you've been coming over my life has gotten worse, i was shocked! i was just like no, no, no i don't want to loose him. we just sat there and he talked for about 30 min and i just waited for the spririt to give me what to say. i said to him brother willy i'm sorry you had such a bad week, sometimes that's just life and we don't know all the reasons behind it, but i promise you that it is not because of this, we are not giving up on you brother willy, because we love you and know if you do these things you will be blessed and this gospel is what's going to help you through these rough times. he just starred at the ground and looked at me and said well if you guys would research my disease i think you would understand better! that's how you can help me research it. i looked at him, i couldn't believe i actually said this but i said well brother willy if you will actually do what we've been saying i think you'll understand this and you'll find this out for yourselve and experience more joy then ever before. it was a sad experience and really tested my faith, we've got to help him through this, i still have faith he can do it! i learned a lot this week and really that Heavenly Father works in many ways and it's always for our good. Despite some of the let downs this is a week i will be grateful for because i know i learned and went through things i needed to, to help me become better, i love you guys so much and since it is my birthday tomorrow i want to ask for one thing, its not a temporal thing but a spiritual thing, i want you all Dad. MOM, and karter to bear your testimonies on this upcoming fast sunday. what a great opportunity to strenghten your own as well as others. mom i want you to know you are in my prayers and i know with all my heart heavenly father will give you the strength to get up in front and bear your powerful testimony. this is the only thing i want for my birthday this year, is to get on email next pday and hear that you all did it! i know you can do it and remember the promise. thanks again for all your support and i love you so much, Elder Machen haha funny story real fast. so we were walking to our appointment and there was this american guy about 28 and he was nice guy. so i was like cool i get to speak english to him, well haha my english failed me i asked him in pure filipino english, so can i ask where from you? he looked at me funny and said washington state, haha i didnt even realize i said it, we walk inside this house and i heard him say, how long has that kid been here? he has a filipino accent. haha i was like what? so after the lesson he askes me so how long you been here i was like just about 10 months. he was like haha you have a filipino accent, i didn't believe him at first and we were laughing about it and he was like no seriously. haha we talked a little more. it was funny. yeah my english isn't too good anymore which is weird cause theres 2 other americans in our house. haha crazy