Snails and Baptisms!

Hello Family that I love so much!

I love all your emails and love. I feel your prayers every day! I can't believe I have already been here for a month. It feels like I just got here but it also feels like so long! haa! I love it here more and more every day. I feel the Lord's loving guidance more and more everyday as I pray and study his gospel.

This week has been crazy!! Of course my kasamas and I are still splitting our week between two areas so it is pretty hectic but the work is still moving foreword!! We have two baptisms this week on the 27th of Oct! I am so excited that brother Jomar and brother Jonathan are getting baptized. We have been working with the ward a lot to help these two brothers feel welcome and needed. They will get assignments as soon as they are members :)

Speaking of ward members, we just got a new branch mission leader, Brother Bernie Gatchallan. He was called yesterday and is so great already. We are very happy that he has been called to this position because he loves the work and is willing to do his duties as Mission Leader. We are eating dinner at his house tonight and I am soo sooo excited! His wife is the best cook ever!
 
So this week since we have two baptisms, it is required for the ones getting baptized to do a service project before the baptism. So we all went to president Flores' house on Saturday and helped him with his yard work. It was soo sooooo hot and humid! I was sweating more than I ever had before. But I felt a strong spirit as I served and was happy :) Everyone had fun and had a big lunch of pancit and rice cake after. Pancit is a noodle dish with meat and veggies. Very delicious. I tried to make it once at home before I came here but it was nothing compared to the real thing!

Let's see so also this week I ate snails!!! Yes, yes I did. We went to teach a recent convert Sister Rose. She is the sweetest lady. She always is willing to work with us on our visits and her testimony is always effective in our lessons. After our lesson with her she invited us to dinner ad of course we cannot say no to food! So we sit and she brings our a big bowl of little snails!!! I was shocked at first when she filled her plate up and started slurping the slime out of the shells. Of course I had to try though. So I dished up 3 or 4 shells and started slurping away!!! It did not taste bad at all! It tasted like....the ocean..haa!! But it was rubbery and hard to swallow. haha! i could not bare to eat more than two. But at least I tried:)

I love all the cultural experiences I am having and all the things I am learning.Let's see..... We ate at the Fulmers house this week. They are the senior couple serving in Aringay. They are from Utah and so so sooo nice! They have been here just a little longer than me. We had a nice visit with them but I could not concentrate because they live right next door to a pig slaughter house! We heard pigs screaming throughout the whole lesson. haa! oh well.

I am very very happy here! I love doing the Lord's work and helping people remember their Savior. I sang in church yesterday "I Stand all Amazed".  I felt the spirit so strongly while I sang ad I noticed many in the congregation crying. I am very thankful for the language of the Spirit and the power of music. I may not be able to speak the best yet but I am learning everyday and until then I will share my testimony through song:) I am so thankful for my Savior I know He lives and is never far from us. I am so glad you all are sharing the gospel and living the gospel:) that makes me happy every day!
Keep up the good work! I love love love you all!!!!
Sister Stapp