kamusta family! hows everything back in ole idaho? that sucks there's still no snow! man i can't believe it! i'm glad i'm not there haha. well not much happened this week. it was kind of slow. my comps going home tomorrow and so i'll be spending the week with the zone leaders i think. haha should be fun but im kind of nervous for wednesday because i have to give a workshop at zone meeting. our ZL asked me to help him give one haha guess what it's on?... learning and studying the language haha. i was like are you kidding me? how can i give a workshop on the language when i can't even speak it. he just said i notice you study it the most so your going to do it. haha alright here we go. i've been trying to prepare it this week so hopefully it goes well! i get a new comp on friday and so that will be exciting and i'm guarenteed to be here in baguio for at least another transfer. can't complain about that. but yeah not much happened this week. the language was tough but one of the members that was gone for a couple weeks was a members house last night and i had to share a scriptual thought for family home evening and she said my tagalog is improving so hopefully all this hard work is paying off. haha i asked my comp if my tagalog has gotten any better since i've been here and he said yeah and then i asked if he thinks i'm studying hard enough and he said i was studying it too much haha. he said just relax and you'll learn it in time. haha well thats not the way i see it...i need to learn it as fast as possible cause im sick of being quiet and everybody thinks im shy! it ticks me off and just motivates me to study harder. cause you all know i'm not shy haha i just can't understand what their saying so i just sit there haha kinda frusturating. but all is well. something kinda.....well i dont know what you call it but a experiance i had the other day is we were teaching this less active and my comp was sharing a scripture about being more humble. then it was my turn to talk and i was planning out what i was going to say i had something in mind but didn't know if i should say it cause i didn't want to offend him even more then he is. so i start talking haha (in broken tagalog) something about being more humble and then i looked straight at him and i said "brother to be offended is a choice." before i could say anything else he looked up at me quickly and said "Come again Elder" oh man was i nervous or what! i was thinking of freak i just ticked this guy off and now he's never coming back haha. then i looked right at him again and said "brother to be offended is a choice." he just stared at me for what felt like forever but really like 5 seconds then looked at the ground and nodded in agreement. wooooo oh man i was realived at the end of the lesson that he wasn't ticked! cause i was thinking about saying that but had decided against it but it just came out! i couldn't believe how bold it was but i know it was directed from the spirit cause i was prompted to say it. haha i never thought as a 19 year old kid from idaho would ever be doing anything like this! this is amazing work and i've learned the spirit really works through us. it was a testimony builder for me for sure. before we left his house i got up and shook his hand and he looked me dead in the eyes and said "thank you Elder". this is a great work and a wonder out here and i'm glad to be a part of it. its the gnarliest roller coaster i've ever ridden but i wouldnt change it for anything. so yeah sorry i dont have much else to share but i love you guys and im glad everthing is going well back home! mom goodluck with your class this week! you'll do fine don't worry just know it will pay off in the long run. Dad keep reaching and going after the goals you set! Karter keep working hard and have fun skiing! well family i love ya a ton and im sure ill have a ton to talk about next week haha. Mahal Kita Elder Machen
p.s. i just herd that Elder Tapusoa is training this transfer! haha hes the youngest one in the mission. Its crazy but hes a great leader and i know he will do a great job!
