FLIGHT PLANS!!!!

Kumusta!  Sobrang masaya po ako, dahil gagawin ko po sa Pilippines! (Hey, how are you!  I am so excited, because I am going to the Philippines!) --Wow, can I just say that is the first time I have seen a sentence that is longer in English than in Tagalog?  No really.  Usually Tagalog sentences are WAY LONGER.  For example,  "You will show your faith in Jesus Christ through baptism." vs. "Ipapakita po kayo ang pananampalataya ninyo kay JesuCristo sa pamamagitan ng pagbibinyag." 13 syllables vs. 34 syllables!  Haha, funny right? :)  Okay anyway..  I'll start my email now! Everyone- Yesterday was Flight Plan Friday!  I received my flight plans!  I am so excited!  So I leave for the Philippines in 8.5 days!  I leave on Monday Jan 13th at 4:30 am in the morning!  I will fly to Detroit, and then from there I will fly UP AND OVER the world to Manilla, Philippines (I guess it's faster than west or east).  Then from Manilla, I will take a bus or Jeepney to Baguio, Philippines (this is an EIGHT HOUR drive! What!?)  Everyone, do you understand that I am looking at 29.5 hours of travel time, not including layovers!?  Whoa!  Please bless, that planes and filipino drivers don't make me motion sick....... paki-basbasan (please bless!)  I will arrive two days later. This week has been wonderful. MALIGAYANG NEW YEAR!  I have never had a year start out so wonderful.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to be serving my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  What a great way to live the whole year of 2014.  I will never forget this year. Sorry for all the cap lock words in my emails.  I just am so happy here.  It is so hard to express my emotions.  I have been so overwhelmed by the Spirit this week.  A couple days ago I had a wonderful lesson with one of our investigators.  Throughout the lesson we were taking our investigator from scripture to scripture, teaching the sweet and precious doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  At the end of it, I started to bear my patotoo about what we had taught.  All of the sudden, the Spirit filled every fiber of my being- I was overwhelmed with the blessing that I was able to share such a sweet message sa Tagalog.  I was so touched to be able to testify with conviction just as I can in Ingles.  Tagalog is really really hard, but with each day that I teach sa Tagalog, it becomes more apart of my heart.  I love it, and I am so grateful that the Spirit teaches every people "in their own tongue".  I knew that my investigator knew the truth of what I was saying. I can't even begin to explain the sweet joy that comes when you extend a commitment to someone and they commit.  Wow, what joy the Atonement of Jesus Christ brings into our lives!  I love my Redeemer! Also, we had the amazing experience of skyping REAL FILIPINOS in the Philippines on Huwebes!  My kasama and I were able to talk to two different members.  The message we shared with them was about receiving paghahayag sa pamamagitan ng Aklat ni Mormon. They are the nicest people I have ever met!  And they are so patient with our broken tagalog! :)  I loved it :) Another amazing experience was this morning.  So my kasama and I made the goal to improve on our companionship study.  You see, in the field we will actually have scheduled companionship study, but in the MTC they only schedule personal and language study.  They expect you to schedule in your own companionship study.  Well, this is tough.  We are so busy!  Well anyway, last night in class our guro was teaching us about recognizing our weaknesses and turning to Christ to allow Him to "make weak things become strong" (Ether 12:27).  So my kasama and I decided we needed to do better with scheduling comp study and being completely on the same page with our lesson plans for our investigators.  This morning (even though it is PDay) we followed through with our plans to study together after personal study.  As we did this, I was filled with the Spirit.  During personal study, I read Alma 7:11-16.  In these verses, Alma is testifying to the people in Gideon about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I felt so overwhelmed with love and gratitude for our Savior as I read it during personal study. Then during companionship study, we discovered that we had read the same thing.  She shared the first few verses, and then I told her that I read a little further to verse 16.  As I read verses 14-16, tears streamed down my face.  I could barely speak the words.  I was so filled with gratitude and love for Jesus Christ and the blessed opportunity we have to choose to follow Him.  We have been blessed with agency to choose to "enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him...by going into the waters of baptism."  I love my Savior and brother, Jesus Christ.  How grateful I am to know of His redeeming sacrifice.  How grateful I am to be able to testify of His name and fight for His cause.  I love this work.  I love the joy it brings.  And, oh how blessed will be the day when I fall at His feet and thank Him  for His sacrifice in my behalf.  Oh how I look forward to this day when I meet Him face to face. I love this work.  I love the Gospel.  I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I love all of you!!! Love, Sister Wright  Sister Nkwocha's mom bought us all a pair of colorful socks!  These are most of the sisters in my Zone :)  We are all going to the Philippines, but different missions.   FLIGHT PLAN FRIDAY!  These are pictures of our itineraries and our New Year's Hats :)