Last night was a very special occasion for us! We met Sister Lisa (Lilia) Reyes in early April of this year. The missionaries in Candelaria had been working with her for some time and were running into questions they couldn't answer. At first they came to us to get answeres, and then finally they invited us to become involved in the teaching process of Lisa. Her husband is a born-again preacher in Lipa. You can imagine how he feels about her conversion. She lives in Candelaria most of the week where she teaches high school science. During the teaching process we met a family (Villanuva) Lisa brought to our weekly teaching sessions to learn forgiveness. Some time we will explain the details, but not here. So the younger missionaries worked with them for the most part (she speaks about as much English as we do Tagalog), except for a crucial lesson we taught with the help from a sister who lives here in Lucena. The mother, Melba, and her daughter, Mery Jo were baptized about a week ago. Melba is a remarkable woman who glows from inside. Last night we baptized Lisa. We are excited about this because it is the culmination of much hard work on our part and at least two other sets of missionaries.

In the picture Lisa is on Diane's left (dressed in white), and Melba is on her right. In the next picture (from left to right) is Elder Gaerian, Sister Gina (who has been there for the entire teaching process and chief fellowshiper),Diane, Lisa, me, Elder Orino, and Elder Staples.

A few months ago we set some goals for the rest of our mission, and with one exception we will have accomplished all we set out to do. We have been blessed, but more importantly those we have been working with (members and non-members) have blessed even more. We couldn't ask for anything better.






Storm clouds from our upstairs deck.





This is my Very Special friend she was born with Cerebral palsy and has to be in a wheel chair, but she is loved by all and is always happy.



Some of the youth in Lucena Stake after the broadcast of General Conference.


My 4 favorite people, Sister Palines, Marecel, Amy and Ashley at General Conference broadcast.