Blessings from Heaven

THE TANGUIHAN FAMILY IS BAPTIZED!!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

The sister missionaries bought the girls new cloths to wear to their baptism. They had fun trying on the new fun outfits. Fun for Missionary Madi and Sister Mier to be able to spoil the girls a little.

Happy Birthday to you....

Happy Birthday to you.
     Happy Birthday to you...
           Happy Birthday Dear Jessica.....
               Happy Birthday to you................

Missionary Madi was excited to be able to celebrate Jessica's birthday with her. 

Missionary Madi Love!

What exactly is normal?

Missionary Madi made dinner! 

What? Looks like good old fashion spaghetti to me. She loves her American food or should we say Italian.

 Missionary Madi found herself some blondes to hang out with! She let me know they have the same hair color. However this is a change from all of the beautiful dark haired, dark eyed beauties she is usually with.

 

Missionary Madi says this was some type of sacrificial concoction they built in her back yard!

 "they did this weird sacrificing thing in our back yard...."

Moving

Missionary Madi is busy looking for a new apartment. The house they have been living in is for sale. So all of the stuff was moved out and now the sisters just have their desks and sleep on the floor. Missionary Madi wrote "Last night we got kicked out of our house. (jk) But they are in the process of kicking us out so they came and got all of their stuff. So we have nothing now. In the words of my companion. "Before we be rich and now we poor". Ha ha we are sleeping on the floor and have nothing else but our study desks. So ya know the important things! Ha ha it was such a crazy day and now we are apartment shopping. It's kinda fun. I found a huge one that looks like America. It is not in our budget! Story of my life."

Builder Madi.....

Missionary Madi was able to perform a Community Service Project (CSP) for the first time on her mission. She was super excited as they assisted a family with many children to build a bed. They are one of her favorite families "The Tequillos". The father of the house taught the sister missionaries (Sister Kramer & Sister Henshaw) how to build the bed and supplied the tools and supplies. They had a blast. Missionary Madi let her dad know that he would be proud of her as she had some skills that she is sure he taught her.

However she did learn to use a hand saw and states that it is a ART!

Industrious Sister Missionaries. 

"So no worries guys I now know how to build a bed....in case that is ever necessary. And I am pretty sure it could only hold like one American maybe two children but I can do it. Dad you would be proud. I totes taught all the other girls how to hammer. And I learned how to hand saw it is really an art. And then after we were done I wanted to paint the bed...they found that absurd. But I am going to keep trying so that it is cute. :)"

Busy Sisters

Missionary Madi was blessed to witness Jessica's baptism. The sister missionaries went shopping to buy her a new skirt for her baptism day! Missionary Madi also gave her a cute pink shirt we had sent to her in her valentines package. The sister missionaries had to smile when Jessica showed up in her super cute Jack Daniels t shirt. The innocence is adorable. The sister missionaries are excited that her family came to support her at her baptism and the mother has now asked the sisters to start teaching her.

Lifestyles....

Missionary Madi is no longer American in many ways. It is incredible to look at the world she has immersed herself in. She is glowing! Happy Sister Kramer!

  

Not sure what Missionary Madi is looking for. I am thinking we could come up with a pretty fun contest of "Name that Caption" 

This beautiful sister missionary is sure to bless the lives of all that she meets. 

Blessed!

Mail

Missionary Madi was super excited that she finally received mail. There were several packages sent to her in Cebu East prior to her being transferred back to the Tacloban Mission. Packages arrived for her in Cebu East almost simultaneously with her move to Tacloban. The Cebu East office let us know that they would send packages and mail with other missionaries as they returned to the PTM Mission. Some elders decided to go and check the post office in Tacloban to see if there was mail there. There was actually lots of mail for missionaries from before the Typhoon. No one was in the area so no one checked to see if there was mail.

Missionary Madi had a good friend who made her yummy homemade cookies and mailed her a fun package prior to the storm on November 8, 2013. Lucky Missionary Madi the package had arrived and was still being held with other mail at the post office (if they have post offices - no idea). However keep in mind Missionary Madi received this package on March 12, 2014. She of course being a good sport tried one of the cookies. She stated it was "Disgusting!" Had to laugh at her. Why would she even dare to try one?

Her valentines chocolates from her dad were a melted mess. Dad apologized as he never thought about the heat melting the chocolate. She told him no worries I still ate them!

Chicks, hikes and fun

Chicks! Chicks! Chicks!

Missionary Madi spent her P Day in Naval. They went back to that crazy zoo (maybe she wants to be a snake charmer or a lion tamer - who knows?). Then they decided to go on a hike up a mountain. She states it was not really a hike as they had to make their own trail. She was tired and her legs and feet were cut up and filthy by the time they reached the top. But it was worth it!

Weekly Highlights:
People keep slipping her tap water and it makes her sick.
She taught her Phili version of her dad.
"I told him that he is my dad. He said that my dad must be good looking then."
She is becoming expert and cooking over a fire (weird & crazy).

Blessings

Missionary Madi went to a giant Family Home Evening. They had yummy food which I of course asked her what it was. She said it is called Pancit. It's like noodles and veggies. I also asked her if the floor of this room was dirt or carpet. She said it was concrete they do not have carpet in the Philippines that she has seen.

Missionary Madi was blessed to attend another baptism. She states she did the least amount for this newest member of the church. The ward was responsible for his conversion and they were his missionaries. She says Romelito has been attending meetings and seminary for over a year but his parents had not given him permission to be baptized until after the typhoon. She said every young man and young woman in the ward was there to support him.They all love him and were crying because they were so happy that he could finally be baptized a member of the church. He is so busy with church activities that it was a struggle for the sisters to be able to find time to prepare him for his baptism date. But they finally cornered him at church on Sunday and made it happen.+

What an incredible example of FAITH!

13

Missionary Madi has served for 13 Months. She loves the number 13. It is her lucky number. Prior to her mission she was (still is) a huge Taylor Swift fan and on the 13th day of every month she would wear a T Swift t shirt. She told us before she left that she was going to keep that going and wear a T Swift t shirt under her missionary cloths every month on the 13th day. I have no idea if that has happened but I do know this. Missionary Madi made this pact long before she understood the heat and humidity she would be living in. T Swift loves the number 13 and it is her lucky number. So of course it is Missionary Madi's too.

13 We celebrated in true Missionary Madi /T Swift Style. 13

 Perfectly fitting that our 13 month celebration would feature T Swift.

Missionary Madi's Number 1 Fan Elder Koelliker sent her some 13 Month support from Knoxville, Tennessee. We miss Elder BK at our monthly celebrations but would not want him anywhere else.

Lucky Tennessee! Kramer Koelliker Love!

The Zoo

Missionary Madi went to a ZOO. OK so not really a zoo just someones front yard where they have zoo animals and she says they take good care of them. Another one of those "only in Phili moments". Missionary Madi states that it is really cool because you can touch the animals, reach in the cages and basically do whatever you want.However if you can reach in they can also reach out. Eeek! She stated no worries though because the lions do not have claws. This did not make her feel any better about the situation. She looks pretty comfortable with most of the animals except for the lion. She says that she looks calm but she was freaking out. If you look at her hand and her foot (curling toes out of her shoe away from lion cage) it is obvious she was not comfortable being that close to The King of the Jungle.

"The zoo! That lion wanted to eat me! I was trying to smile but I was really freaking out.

Famous Friends

Missionary Madi was so excited when she was looking through a church training magazine and found pictures of a few of her best friends from back home in Utah. She said the whole ward could not believe that she knew the girls in these pictures. No way they were her friends. Missionary Madi loves these girls. I am sure it made her day to have a little reminder of home.

Missionary Madi's Famous Friends. Before her mission!

"I have had some really cool experiences this week with following the spirit. Like last night we went out and we got punted (the people weren't home) so we decided to go to Janice's house (a recent convert) and we realized as we were walking over there that she didn't come to church and so it was a really good thing we went over there. Her husband works in Manilla so she just takes care of the kids and has a million church callings. So she just needs someone to talk to sometimes. And boy does she like to talk and last night her choice language was Tagalog and mine was English haha it was so funny I just couldn't speak in Cebuano. Its OK though, she understands. haha But it was just a really good lesson and I knew afterwards that that is exactly where we were supposed to go. It's an amazing feeling to know you have been lead by the spirit and actually listened."

There is BEAUTY ALL AROUND! The country and the people. BLISS!

Missionary Madi loves how silly the men in her ward are. She said they were all making funny faces and making her laugh. Only in the Philippines. She loves the Filipino People so much.

I really don't think she is coming home.

Missionary Madi gathering water that is safe for her to drink. This is normal right?
The things she has learned and considers just part of her life now. AMAZING!