Eades, Oakley P

Had some megaaa culture shocks this week. Transfers were this week and I got transferred to Marikina as an STL! (So scared I do not feel qualified). My new companion is Sister To’ia from New Zealand. And my new area in Marikina is closer to the mountains so I finally get some fresh air and get to see some green!  Anywho, I thought my last apartment was small and gross but boy do I take that back now. My new apartment looks a little like this: -No AC -No shower (you use a bucket and a ladle) -Ant infestation. Literally millions of ants everywhere. On the walls, the counters, the floors, etc… If we leave food out for 2 seconds it instantly gets covered in ants. Or when I get out of the shower I have to shake my towel out first and tons of ants fall out. And they are always crawling on me and I can feel them biting me lol  -The garbage truck here hasn’t come in like 4 weeks so we just have piles of trash stacked outside our door  Lol I feel like I’m camping every day but it'...

Hi hi! Been a couple weeks since I've written an email but I LOVE IT HERE. Being a missionary is the greatest thing ever. Training has been so fun and my companion is like my best friend. We have worked so hard this transfer and seen so many miracles!  To start… ELEVEN friends came to church yesterday!! This whole transfer the work has been soooo slow, but we've been working so so hard, and we're finally seeing the miracles!  (see pictures) This is the mom of our bishop, Nanay Marina. All of her kids are members except for her. A few years ago she had a baptismal date, but the day before her baptism, the elders came over to visit her and they started playing with Nanay Marina's pet bird. This bird was Marina's pride and joy. It was like her best friend and it even talked! While the elders were playing with the bird they accidentally let it go and it flew away. Marina was so mad that she canceled her baptism the next day and has held a grudge ever since! So missionar...

Christmas time!!  Here in the Philippines they celebrate Christmas for all the BER months… SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, and DecemBER. So Christmas time has started!! Besides eating balut… a GOOOOOD week. Google photos link for the video of me eating it:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ ycyL7nS7RNG8KdVQ9   •We saw sooo many miracles getting one of our friends to church this Sunday. Too long to write everything that happened but the short version is that we fasted and prayed so hard for our friend to make it to church and HE DID. Miracle after miracle happened and he made it. God is so true and I know the power of fasting is so real. •2 Baptisms this week, John Dave and Aljear! Per usual, they showed up 30 mins late to their own baptism, but I'm unphased by it now haha. That's Filipino time for ya. They were both so happy and excited to be baptized. It has been so amazing seeing their growth and progression in the gospel. It was such a good and spiritual day! •Our favorite rich...