Eades, Oakley P

HI ALL!!! It has been a LONG TIME because I have little time to write emails and also I’m lazy haha so this might be short….  Overall, LIFE IS SO GOOD. I love love love being a missionary and sharing the gospel everyday. There is so much joy that comes from helping others find joy.  (see pictures) We have been so busy these past few weeks and have had no free time, but being busy is good and helps us find purpose every day!  (see pictures) This is Ate Zia!! She will get baptized on March 8 and she is SO EXCITED!!  We gave her this heart and had her write her baptismal date in the middle so she could hang this on her wall.  (see pictures) My companion Sister Servato!! I love her so much!! We have so much fun every single day!  (see pictures)  & LUNCH!! We also had a pet rat for a few days but we bought a trap and killed it. I'll do you a favor and not add the pic here. Who knows when I will write an email next but…  LIFE IS GOOD I LOVE JESUS ...

Kumusta?? Some stories from this week:  We are teaching an old man, John Giovanni, who has special needs and is one of my favorite friends. He always says the funniest and most random things and we have to teach him like he is a little kid. The Book of Mormon is too hard for him to understand so we gave him a Book of Mormon stories and he loves it. He calls it the “yellow book”. We visited him a couple of days ago and with a big smile in his broken English he said, “I finished the yellow book cover to cover!!” He was so proud of himself and he even raised his hand to comment in sunday school on Sunday and he told everyone that he had finished the yellow book cover to cover. We can hardly ever get through teaching a lesson because he always has the most random things to comment and say that don't make sense at all but its so fun and funny. In the middle of one of our lessons the other day he was holding his yellow big and just randomly blurted out, “I LOVE THIS BOOK!”  (see pic...

Maligayang Pasko!!! Lately I've been thinking about the birth of Jesus Christ and the circumstance when he was born. I imagine the stable where he was born looks pretty similar to the houses I am surrounded by everyday. It is so incredibly humbling here. There are no big Christmas decorations, no Santa, no snow, no gifts, etc. All the things we generally think of as “Christmas” aren't really a thing here. When Jesus was born, there were no decorations, no music, no santa, etc. Because Christmas was never about decorations or music or Santa! It's about Christ! Because of Him we all have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again. That is the best gift we could ever have. I am so forever grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ and the opportunities we have because of Him. This Christmas has been so different and yet so special. This is probably the only Christmas that I get to focus solely on Jesus! Last night and today (Christmas Eve and Christmas day), we wrapped up ...

Merry almost Christmas!! It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas here because its 80 million degrees. Haha enjoy the snow for me!  This week our friend Micah accepted a baptismal date! She is 16 years old and has been on and off coming to church for basically her whole life. She attends seminary and goes to FSY. She wants to be baptized so bad but her parents won't give her permission. We just recently started teaching her again and this week we taught about baptism and extended a baptismal date. The spirit was SO STRONG and she was so excited to say yes. She even asked if she could be baptized before the end of December! Her faith is so strong and she is currently praying for the courage to talk to her mom for permission. She said that even if she doesn't get permission she wants to get baptized anyway because she trusts God that it will all work out.  I'm learning and growing so much every day and I'm so grateful to be a missionary. This week I have learned just...

Nanay Elen was baptized on Saturday!!  Problem is she showed up 1 hour late to church the next day so she was not confirmed… So like half baptized?  Welcome to the Philippines haha Filipino time kills me. Hopefully she will get confirmed next week. These past few weeks have been SO HARD. Mentally, physically, and spiritually so exhausting. But I also have never learned or grown more than I have these past few weeks. Last Sunday our sunday school lesson was in Ether 12 about weaknesses becoming strengths. That lesson was definitely for me. 26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then wi...

God is so good, lots of good experiences this week!  We were out knocking doors one night having no success. Almost everyone outside was drunk and all the doors we knocked on rejected us. We came to a dead end so we turned around to go back and we saw a small, dark alley to the side of us. At the same time, me and my companion stopped walking, looked at each other, and said “let's go there”. We walked through this tiny alley and knocked on the first door we saw. A woman opened the door and before I could even finish saying “Hi we're missionaries for the…” she immediately said “Pasok, pasok, pasok!” (come in, come in, come in!) She didn't even ask any questions and immediately got us chairs and told us to sit down. We shared a message to her and her family about the Book of Mormon and they were so interested! About 3 minutes after we had left, we looked back at her house and she was already reading the Book of Mormon!  A few days later on Sunday, her 14 year old son, Darel, ...