Hello beautiful people!  

Oh my goodness.  I miss you all so so much.  So so much!

I am doing well.  I am working hard.  I had a good week.  I am no longer sick.  Yay!  I just have a little cough, that’s all.

What a week.  We have been having great weeks here in Cauayan, and this week was another one.  We had more successful goals, more quality lessons, and better unity in our trisome this week.  My companions are doing well.  We finally had a breakthrough with Sister R during companionship inventory.  She opened up to us. Since then, she has seemed a lot happier and has been more open and friendly to us.  She is from the Phil. Tacloban mission and was there when the largest typhoon on record hit.  She saw horrible horrible things, but she is strong.  Her aunt died in the storm, but no one else. On top of that, we have been having much better training sessions and lessons.  It is so so important for companions to be open with each other!  She is a great missionary, and she is improving in her teaching and really applying the things that we study in our training.  It's fun to watch her grow.  Sister T is also doing good.  She is such a happy light and has such a strong testimony. I know more about the gospel than I ever have before and I am closer to my Savior than I ever have been.

Cultural note:  Respect in the Philippines is very important.  You always respect anyone older than you and every stranger that you talk to.  If you add "po" in your sentences to people, it makes it respectful.  To old people, you respect them by grabbing their hand and touching it to your forehead.  I am sure there's a Tagalog way to say it, but I have only heard it called "bless."  I really like how much people respect each other here.  There's more peace and kindness here because of that.  It always makes me smile when little children "bless" me.

Our area is doing all right.  We are continuing teaching and contacting.  A lot of our less actives and some of our investigators have moved away, so I feel an urgency to find more new investigators and find less actives in our area.  We need to find more this week!  We have one really really progressing investigator, Nicole.  She's very cautious and hasn't agreed on a baptismal date yet, but she's close.  She has a lot of faith and desire to become closer to God.  I am excited to see our progress with her in the coming week.  

I had a thought this week, and then thought about it again as I was reading my dad's letter. As missionaries we plan and plan and plan every single day.  We write our plans for the day, appointments, goals, lesson plans, and invitations that we will extend to those we teach.  A lot of our lessons have commitments to come to church, pray, and read the Book of Mormon.  Because it's faster and takes up less space, I usually shorten church, prayer, and reading to “CPR."  When my dad wrote me his letter he said that he was giving physical CPR to a man who was dead.  But my dad breathed life back into him, and the man lived again.  I am giving spiritual CPR to the people here and - I hope and pray - that I am saving some.  I am bringing people back to spiritual life!  The only way they can receive that life is through coming to church, praying, and reading the scriptures.  

I love you all so much!  I hope your week is full of happiness and joy and that you always remember how much I love each of you.  You're always in my heart.

Ingat po kayo! 

xo Sister Anna Allen

Sorry.... I didn't take any pictures this week!

But, I found some quotes that I really really like....