We got to talk to our missionary tonight. It was wonderful! She's SO VERY happy. Life is good.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

He is the reason for the Season... MALIGAYANG PASKO!!!! :D

Merry Christmas everyone!

How's it all going? Everything's good over here. Still no snow.... Still feels like summer. But that's ok! :) Because while all the rest of you are pasty white... I'm *sort of* getting tan bahaha

This past week has been very interesting. We actually didn't work as much as usual.

Wednesday was our Christmas Party. We were supposed to have it today on the 23rd but because of some drama it turned into an "Emergency Christmas Party" and it happened on Wednesday. IT WAS SO FUN. There were 6 zones of missionaries that gathered together in Olongapo. We had short little zone meetings and then had a little devotional (which was really good too). We heard talks from all three senior couples and then talks from President Q and Sister Q. It was all very Christmas-y. Then we all went to the fast food place of our choice. My zone went to McDonald's. It's been sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long since I've had American fast food. I got a Big Mac and man, I almost died and went to heaven. It was like being home. Then we all went to the Oval which is basically a stadium here. It has a track and everything. I stepped out on that track and almost started sprinting right away. I actually missed track. Weird. Weird. Weird.

We changed into normal clothes (man, that was nice) and then had five minutes to prepare a presentation (Christmas was the theme). Oh and the presentation had to be 5-10 minutes long.

Our presentation was horrible and funny. I guess you could either call it funnily horrible or horribly funny. Not sure. Anyways, we call sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town and one of the elders put a backpack under his shirt and walked around like he was Santa. The other elders were riding on the backs of others pretending that they were reindeer. About halfway through the song, the elder pretending to be Santa shouted "STOP" pulled the backpack out from under his shirt and yelled, "That is not what Christmas is about!" So yeah, pretty sure that our presentation was only 3 minutes long but it was pretty funny so that's ok.

After all the presentations, we got to play for a while. My whole district from the MTC was there (all the sisters at least) and we all got to chat and hang out and it was like old times again. After that, they passed out presents. My mommy loves me sooooooooooo much.

President Q gave us permission to go to Harbor Point (a big American style mall in Olongapo) and eat dinner. Man, that was weird too. It even smelled like an American mall. We went to Army Navy, which guess what, sells American food. I got a chicken burrito but let me tell you, Chipotle is better….

We got on the Victory bus and headed home. By the time we got home it was late and we ended up just staying home.

The next day we went out and worked but we only got to one teaching appointment before Sister Q called us and said that they were coming to our apartment for our interviews. So we headed back home and got interviewed and it was super fun and super nice. I love my mission president and his wife. They're such sweet people.

After that we headed back out but we only had time for one more appointment. So we went to President J's house (the branch president here) and taught Brother R again. He told us that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true now. That was my favorite experience that I've had so far on my mission. He know's that it's true! :D YAY! And also, he's getting baptized on Saturday :) Happy happy day.

The next day we went out to work but we only were out until 4:30 because Sister C was sick. She said her body was just really really weak and she couldn't walk anymore. So we went home and stayed home.

The next morning, she was still recovering so we stayed in in the morning and I got to read a bunch of conference talks while she slept.

After lunch we went out to work and it was a lot better. We went around and taught a bunch of peoples. The usual.

Sunday was good too. Sister C and I got called to give talks with five minutes of preparation. Probably the shortest talk I've even given but that was okay because we were running short on time anyways. My topic was Jesus Christ and his life on this earth because that is the real reason for Christmas. Not the presents or the food. But Christ and his sacrifice for us. I'm so grateful for him and everything he's done for all of us.

So yeah, I think that's everything. We'll see what happens this week. I'm so excited. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I love you all. Have a great week. Talk to you next week

-Sister Hess