Reunited and it feels so good

So this week has been really good. We had the trainers/trainee training in Laoag and I really liked that. The week that I was there in Laoag I worked in Laoag 2 area with Sister Webb and it was soo great! I loved working with her, there is just something about working with an American that I just love! She was really nervous about training and the language because she has only been here for 6 weeks and now she is training, but she totally doesn’t have anything top worry about, she totally nailed it!!!At training I was able to meet my new trainee!! She is sooo great! Her name is sister Walker from Pocatello Idaho…. We went to college at the same time, Craziness!!!! All in all there were 7 new American Sisters and they all looked a little shell shocked but I think that they will be just fine. J It’s crazy, when I got here, there were only 3 of us American missionaries here in the Laoag mission, but now there are 12 and there are 35 new sisters coming in in 6 weeks as well!!!! The work is definitely growing and I am so excited to be a part of it!!
When we went to dinner that night it was two of us white girls in the tricycle and they totally tried to rip us off!.... Not gonna happen!!! Yes! I’m so happy that I am getting street smart here so that I can save some monies. J But dinner was great! They actually fed us a lot! I can’t say that three meals all in like 4 hours of each other is my favorite, but it was really good food…..
Another thing that I am really excited for is the opportunity that I have been given to be in the same house with Sister Woahn and Sister Tauti!!! I have felt this last transfer like I have been having to fight just to work and be obedient but now it’s like we are instantly back in business!!!! They are such hard workers! (Probably the reason that they are Sister Training Leaders!!! But it really is such a blessing to be working with Sister Woahn again and have them help me as I am training.
We redivided the area this last week and so we have a lot of new investigators and people that we are focusing on and we don’t know where all of them live, so that has been challenging but really awesome as well, I am really getting to know the members well! Which brings me to the next point, obviously working in a companionship has its ups and downs, for me mostly ups, but teaching the lessons is a little challenging, I remember when I first got here I didn’t even bear my testimony in tagalong sometimes during the lessons, and it was super hard at concentrating, but lucky for me my companion is a lot better than I was when I first came in. And the branch here has really stepped up, we have people fellowshipping with us almost everyday this week….. LET'S GET THE WORK MOVING!!!!
On the way back to our areas we talked to the areas for ALONG time (6 and a half hours) And one of the Elders here, Elder Castillo, was like yeah I went to BYU-Idaho too! And we were like no way and he was like yeah I worked in the locker room…. I worked in the locker room….. who was your boss…. Jake and James….. when did you work there…. Last spring semester 5-10 am shift…. Oh what?!?!?! SAME SHIFT SAME TIME!!! This world is crazy!!! It’s crazy how we are all connected in some way or another!!!
 
LOVE YOU ALL WRITE ME!!!

I (Cathy) will try and add the pictures later. They keep malfunctioning. :/

Singing in the rain, or maybe screaming in the rain

I'm finding it really hard to concentrate right now because the sister missionary next to me, bless her soul is looking at all of her pictures from her areas.... and she wants me to look at every single one of them! Why do I even have two eyes if I cant multitask with them!!! One more week one more week!!! I told my companion that I didn't want to skype while this sister was here because she always likes to distract me..... she agreed and said that it was a good idea:)

Well…. This week kind of crawled by. L My companions in my house, don’t get me wrong, I love them to death, but they are sooo disobedient! Even when people flat out tell us no they will still do it, and by people I mean our leaders. It is really hard to be obedient with them…. I am usually what they call the “kill joy”. It’s harder to stand alone in a crowd of missionaries than it ever was back home. But despite that, things are going really well!!!

How are you doing? I want news from back home. J How is good old America doing? I miss it!

This week we killed four of those giant spiders in our house!! Bless the poor sisters that come in next! They are never going to know what hit them!
The story of this week was that we had a huge rain storm at about 7:30 one night. My companion and I were walking home and it was sooo cold:) Here's me in my little tiny umbrella lol I got soaked! We had one more appointment on the way home before we could go home. We were walking and I turn around and I see this man running after us, I turn to my companion and I will admit, I was a little bit scared, and I say, "Mamamatay na tayo." Which means, "We will die now." Sure enough... we didn't die, but I think we might have come close! He runs until he is right behind us and the hair on our necks was standing on end. then all of the sudden he runs right past us! Whew! Safe.... except ten feet in front of us he stops. My companion and I were both like..... uhhhh...... so we crossed the street and he was just walking right behind us. There was a group of men across the street that we saw and so we figured at least we  wouldn't die in front of all those witnesses. Then I noticed on of the men in the crowd because I taught him this last week when I was on exchanges. I thought to myself, this is perfect, I will just talk to him and that other man will continue on his way. So we go up and start talking to our investigator..... THE MAN FOLLOWED US!!! We were so scared. We talked for awhile and he just waited... staring at us the whole time!!! So we eventually left and once we got onto the road we both just sprinted as fast as Sister Rosario could!!! pouring rain still.... we got soaked! We ran for like quarter of a mile until we got to our investigators house and then were just banging on the door saying Belis! Belis!!!! Which means hurry! Hurry!! They open the door and we hurried in. We stayed for a good hour and taught of course. While we were teaching, the power went out. It was completely dark outside! Luckily my companion had a flashlight. We walked the last eighth of a mile home in pitch dark and pouring rain. All the while trying not to step on the hundreds of frogs that were on the road because of the rain! That my friends is a true missionary story:)

Another missionary story that is kind of fun is that we are teaching a lady right now whose husband passed away and she has 3 little boys. Their house is probably the size of my bathroom back home.... which isn't very big, and has no locks.... or I should say HAD no locks:) We successfully pulled out our ace hardware skills and put some new locks in place to keep out the bad guys!:) It was a great day to say the least:) 

We are allowed to call our parents at anytime during this week that we want, I'm calling next week and talking to my whole family, but I got to skype call today and talk to my mom for about 5 minutes today:) Just her.... then my dad.... then my brother said hi:) It was really nice, and yes.... I wept like a child. All of the other missionaries here (there are 3) were just patting my back saying its okay sister Schultz:) I miss my family!! But I love this work!!!