Hello April, Hello Summer

Holy smokes, what a week. Plans changed and I became a threesome this week with Sister Pacquiao (Cebu, PHL) and Sister Muller (Kiribati) for the next 9 days until I transfer to my final area.

On Monday I went bowling with my zone. It was great to be able to spend time with some of my favorite friends for the last time. A lot of our ward members came too. We had a great time. I have been so lucky to serve in such a great area. 

On Tuesday I hit my "100 days" mark. Crazy, right? I can't believe it's gone by so fast. I know that Heavenly Father has a lot in store for me for these remaining days of my mission. I just have to hold on tight and let him continue to teach and guide me.

On Wednesday I got to go to the Manila temple for the first time in far too many months. It was exactly what I needed. I left feeling like a new person. As my days with Sister Clark started to wind down, I was pretty sad. I am going to miss her like crazy. She has been a wonderful companion, friend, and example to me. I am sad to be leaving her early, but I think I need this new assignment in Novaliches just as much as it needs me. 

On Thursday and Friday I went on my last exchanges with Sister McCarthy, my favorite. I love getting to see her. She is doing such a good job training her new companion. I am proud and thankful I got to serve with her. 

On Saturday I was all packed a ready to go when I got a text saying that someone was looking for me at the jeep terminal. We hurried over and it was one of my beloved recent converts and her mom from my last area. They traveled all the way to Meycauayan just to bring me a birthday cake, something they really can't afford. It was such  a sweet and happy reunion. I thought my heart was going to burst with joy. I am so thankful to have met such wonderful people here on my mission. 

And then on Sunday I attended my brand new ward. It's amazing how after a long, crazy week all can be made better by partaking of the sacrament. 

So, there's the update. Hope y'all have a great week. 

Sister Cork

Early goodbyes.

Hey y'all. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes, it was a great day! Birthdays on the mission remind you of all the things you are grateful for. They are simple and happy. I can't believe I am 21 years old. That just sounds old to me. I'm eager to see what the Lord has in store for my 21st year of life. I had my share of birthday dinners this week. Just on Sunday I had three! I celebrated Filipino style by wearing red and eating noodles.

On Saturday I will be emergency transferred to Santa Monica, Novaliches to be with a brand new sister who needs some help. Instead of saying goodbye to Sister Clark and being with her until she goes home, I will live out of my suitcase for ten days, then once these ten days are finished, on April 8 I will move again to a new area for a "special assignment". So the next couple days will be a whirlwind of packing and goodbyes. I'm sad to leave Meycauayan. I have never felt so close to a ward before. They have truly become my family. I will definitely leave a part of my heart behind when I leave.

So next week I will be emailing from my temporary new area with my new companion. I'll introduce her more to you then. Wish me luck!

Birthday dinner with the Ong family

 Bowling with my Zone and Meycauayan members

 Birthday dinner with the Alvarez family

 Birthday dinner with the Frias family

 On my actual birthday I had exchanges in Valenzuela. I came home to their apartment after a long day to ice cream and toaster oven brownies with some of my very favorite friends. 

 Birthday dinner with the De Honor family

 Birthday dinner with the Sarabosing family

Life is an Adventure.

Hey y'all! I snapped a ton of pictures this week, so I thought I'd give you this week's review in pictures. Enjoy!

 A group of us headed down to Manila on Saturday for fingerprinting. I can't believe I'm already close enough to going home that I need to work on immigration stuff. It was a fun day. We got lost about 10 times both going to and coming from the place.

There were six other missions at our fingerprinting session, including some of my favorite friends from the MTC. I haven't seen them for over a year now!

After a long day of paper signing, waiting in lines, and fingerprinting we stopped at an Italian bistro in inner Manila. It was delicious! 

 Birthday dinner with the Alvarez family! We love these sweet kids. We had pancit canton for dinner, a traditional birthday food. We eat noodles on birthdays to have a long, prosperous life. A tradition that comes from the Chinese influence. 

Sunday evening with beautiful Nanay Fuentes. We go each week, sing hymns, and listen to her countless stories about her life raising her 11 children as a single mother. She always has new treats for us to taste too. This is one of my favorite parts of my whole week. 

 Our last minute trip to Wawa Dam in Montalban. Always worth the trip. This time of the year the water is really low, which means the caves were open for a tour!

 A colony of bats flew through the cave right as we went to take a picture. Made for a pretty good one!

Imagine going to fifth grade at 7am, walking 4 miles of mountain roads, and you have to bring your own chair. Pretty cool, huh? 

Ended the day with ice cream sundaes!

Just one more thought... This Tuesday we gave a workshop about recognizing and acting upon the Spirit. It went really well. I learned so much from studying and preparing for the workshop. I feel that I can better recognize the hand of the Lord in my life. Lately I have had a personal goal to better trust in the promises that the Lord has made to me as a child of God if I live worthily. That's become my theme for this transfer, "Trust in His Promises" and the title of our workshop. It's effected every part of my life; personal prayer, scripture study, and decisions about my post-mission life. We have to work every day to obtain trust in our Heavenly Father that he will provide if we will do what he asks of us. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and promise the same blessings to others that I see in my own life. So remember, "trust in the Lord and have hope in His promises." (Marcos Aidukaitis)

Warming Up

Hey y'all!

This week was our last week in our area before we start exchanges again. We have 14 sisters to train in the next 3 weeks. If I could buy time, I sure would! This week was a lot like last week but with a whole lot less success. We are still hard at work tracting and finding in our new areas. It's a big project but we're doing our best to take it one door, one hour, one day at a time. This whole week of tracting we only had one person let us in, which was a little hard to swallow after having such success last week. But I guess it's an opportunity to look back and remember the blessings that we've already received. Makes me think of 1 Nephi 7:10. "How have ye forgotten that ye have seen?"Sometimes we live lives so full of blessings that when we experience hard times we completely forget all the blessed moments. I've challenged myself not to be so quick to forget. 

"Some days it may feel like God is asking so much of you. It may seem like He couldn't possibly mean you. But He does. And he'll be there with you for every moment of it." -Raechel Myers

Hope y'all have a great week. Hopefully it's not 90 degrees by 10AM there!

Mahal,

Sister Cork

Pictures of the Week

Sometimes I'm not sure how to explain how much I love my life here in the Philippines, so hopefully my pictures do a better job than my ever worsening English!