Well hello family! wow what another great week here in the good ole philippines! holy cow where do i even begin! well first off we had exchanges on tuesday and elder frandsen came to my area and it started off terrible haha every appointment we had planned, we ended up getting punted!!!! 5 in a row! we thought for sure it was a record haha. anyways we finally got to someone that was home and she is a less active. so we were teaching and deciding on who's talking, i sometimes have a hard time understanding! so i kinda of struggled in that lesson but it was good none the less. we invited her to church but she was going down to pangasinan so wouldn't be able to make it. but then we went to this older ladies house who is really nice to us! she loves the missionaries but is pretty hard headed and we can't seem to figure out what she needs. anyways we open up the lesson and we kind of got a feel for what it's going to be like and she walked into the other room and elder frandsen looked at me and said "alright elder it's time to be bold" so i said a pray in my heart that i would be able to say what i needed to say and be able to understand. oh man i can't even put into words how strong the spirit was! we opened up and the more we started talking and reading certain scriptures the spirit flooded in the room and i honestly have never felt it that strong before! it was one of the most powerful moments i've had on the mission. i learned in that lesson that the spirit really does have different roles in our lives. cause i realized the feeling you get from going to the temple is like a happy and really joyful feeling but the spirit in this lesson was so strong and it truly was testifing what we were saying was true! it was so thick and she was feeling it for sure. everything i said was purely by the spirit. there's no way i could have said what i did without the help of the spirit. i read my good buddy Elder Jensen's email about how were just the bodies for the spirit to work with and how true that is! it was unreal! i thought for sure she was going to come to church cause the spirit was unreal! but she didn't end up coming so i don't know what we're going to do. but still day after day we were just lead by the spirit. i learned some good lessons and learned not everyday is going to be great. somedays this week were way tough and challenging but it made it all worth it when you have that one good lesson and feel the spirit so strong! Elder Azores has taught me so much its incredible, we've learned to make the work fun and it's made all the difference. lately he has had me start out leading in lessons and i get way nervous everytimes but the spirit takes over and it's not bad cause it's really not even me haha. i think thats why my tagalog has gotten a little better because im really enjoying it now and the spirit is more abundant in our work! i can't help but smile writing this haha. so to answer some of your questions! first off mom yes the one lady with the non-member husband came back with her husband! it was great to see. we were way exciting for sunday cause tons of people committed to come to church but not as many as we planned actually showed up but oh well we are still getting people there that haven't been there for along time! its amazing how are area is progressing since my comp got here! i'm really just gaining so much charity for the people here its been a blessing for me! haha im dreading transfer day haha its alright were just starting week 3 so i've got some time left here! its a real bummer though cause the koreans didn't come to church this week!!! so disappointing cause we get so close with them! they have great faith and a great desire to get baptized its just their schedule at the school interfers with church so its a problem we have to work out! i just hope it happens! so all in all it was a great week! the lord truly opened the windows of heaven on us and our work! i'm falling in love with the mission and its great! i love you guys so much and hope your doing well! sounds like it. i love and appreciate all your prayers i truly feel them everyday! Mahal kita!
Elder Machen
