soooo its been a long weekend. we havent gotten mail since like thursday because of weirdness and whatever holiday was on monday and havent gotten it yet today so ill just write back letters after i find my dl today.

but okay everybody big news. i only have seven more days in the mtc.

like what? where did time go? you could say im freaking out a little. like leaving to my new home in 160 hours. (hopefully that math is right or thats embarrassing)

anyways umm mom did my memory card make it?! i didnt know you had to get a certain kind of envelope for them so...hopefully it didnt get lost. and thank you MIKEY AND JORDAN FOR THE CAFE RIO and other little treats in there. how nice and so thoughtful and perfect way to end valentines day. and thank you aubree/corbin for the litle valentines package with pictures. i love pictures. and rachel and annie for the sandwich/cookies/note! it was perfect cause i didnt eat dinner that night. so cute and so good.  hope everyone had a great week with valentines and dads bday and whatever else! thanks for the lips mom...haha i'll get you those pictures soon. but yeah it was a great valentines day. me and my roommates searched through all the free bin boxes and put together little valentine packages for the elders in our district. and decorated with the things marne sent me. and something else funny happened but i cant remember now but you can just laugh and pretend like you know what happened.

but anyways ummm mom this is important so listen up...actually you might be a litle upset because i dont know details but next week we leave the mtc at 8. and so ill probably be in the airport 930ish? and then my flight to seattle is at 11. so i'll be calling between 930 and 11. hopefully! itll jus have to be short. but IM SO EXCITED TO CALL! i would call in seattle but we have seriously like a 15 minute lay over before i fly to tokyo. so if not maybe theyll let us call in the philis but i highly doubt it. but yeah after a fun 21 hour flight i get to the philippines on the 28th at like 11 at night. so thatll be interesting. us 4 sisters standing on the letter m in the middle of the night waiting for someone to pick us up. hahah

oh mom just a warning, the other side of my mouth is being weird so expect a call probably on thursday. im fine just something a little freaky that theyll explain and hopefully fix in time. so fun i love the dentist.

im actually really sad to leave the mtc. i dont know why i love it so much. its gonna be a bittersweet change.  but im exited to get out and get some real work done...even though the next couple weeks will probably be just me sitting and smiling and nodding and praying and asking kids if they want candy. thats about all i know how to do in tagalog.

OHHHHkay coolest thing before i forget. last week i said i promised id stop telling my ecuador stories esp in my letters cause im not in ecuador anymore..but then ahh yesterday it was the coolest thing. i was reading in john chapter 14. verse 18 and 27 (my all time favorite scriptures) but in verse 18 is says, i will not leave you comfortless, i will come to you. but then if you look down in the foot note of that...comfortless was a greek word translation that also means orphan. so then its jesus talking saying "i will not leave you orphans, i will come to you". mostly just made my whole day and life. tender mercy.

2nd coolest thing of the week was on saturday night. i dont know why i have so many off days/moments. ive never been so bipolar or had to many emotions in my life but saturday night was hard. bro moffit was teaching and i was just not wanting to do anything and just really not wanting to be there. couldnt get my kids out of my mind and few other things were bothering me. our whole fundamentals lesson that night was about listening and teaching by the spirit..something we learn basically everyday. but he stopped and had us do an activity for the last hour of it. we got a partner and one was the missionary and the other just themselves. not an investigator role play this time but just ourselves. so me and elder merril were partners. and right from the beginning he decided to be the missionary and started pulling these questions out of nowhere that really were getting personal. they were simple questions but were just hitting me really hard. we then went back and forth just questions and answers all through the spirit edifying each other, pulling out scriptures and thoughts and things that were exactly was i needed to hear. and im really punctual about remembering when class is over so i can go home and go to bed but we had to stop cause we had gone 15 minutes over. and it was the coolest thing. and i cannot wait until i am comfortable enough with the language so i can have lessons with the spirit that strong there so i can have those kind of experiences.

and last thing was our devotionals this week. pinaka mabuti. i love them. they are the best part of the week and get me SO pumped.

and the personal study this week was so good. ive been thinking a lot about what kind of changes i would make in my life if i had the opportunity to meet my future celestial exalted self, like have a lunch date or something? what would that conversation be like? i think its really sad for me to, with my earthly brain, already realize how far below my potential ive been living. and then how sad it must be for Heavenly Father to see us live like that. and then how sad im going to be for my investigators to see them not even realize their potential. and even more just how embarrasing it is how many weaknesses i have. but seriously thank you to the grace and love of God because He is our Father. Hes not some principal waiting to catch us and give us detention. Hes our Father and He WANTS to bless you. and then ha im just so sorry to my parents, all the things im learning right now are things theyve been trying to teach me my whole life. so im sorry i was a punk. but all the weekly family nights make sense now.

anyways i think thats all for this week. well theres more but my hands cant do the whole 30 minute time thing. but I LOVE YOU ALL and the church is true. mahal tayo ng diyos. put off the natural man and remember who you are. cant wait to call on tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxo

sister tingey