Baptism!

So I will answer your questions first!  That way I don't forget!!  The baptism did happen!!  IT was so awesome!  I really was so happy of his decision to choose to be baptized.  I will send some pictures in a bit about that!!

First Baptism!!

You could really feel the spirit when he bore his testimony of how he knows the church is true!!  He might serve a mission.  And he wants to work with us for missionary work, which is completely awesome!!!!   And the girl that was getting ready to be baptized, yes she committed to a date on the 15th of February!!  And another girl also committed to that date also!!  So we will have 2 more if they continue to come to church!!

That is really awesome.  I think of the scripture in the doctrine and covenants of how great will be your joy if you bring one person into the kingdom of heaven.  So that is amazing!!  And the name of the place (from last week) is called Isdaan!  It was the most random place ever.   hahaha  But it was really funny.  I really wanted to give Obama a priesthood blessing, but I was afraid I would get struck by lightning if I did.  So I decided it would be better to not do that!! hahahahahaha   Ya I am funny.  I know (:

I think this is a basketball hoop.  I'm pretty sure he could dunk on this hoop!

So this last week was a pretty good week!! We had those 2 girls commit to a date for baptism.  Then we have been teaching a lot of less actives who live pretty far from the church.  We wanted them to come to church and they committed that they would come to church.  So when I saw them coming to the church and walking from far away I was just super happy!!  We had the most members come to church that we have ever had before!  We had 41 people come to church which is a lot for us!!   I know, that's weird.   haha  But it was such a good feeling to see them come!!  It really shows that when you work hard and put the gospel as a priority, the Lord will bless us in many ways!!  So always remember that, when we put the Lord first, he will always bless us in what we do!! That was pretty much this last week, just a lot of teaching of less actives!!

That is great to hear about Nicole (neighbor who left this week for Peru)!  I'm glad she is serving a mission.  It really will bless her life!!  I would love to hear from some of the guys in the ward if you could tell them to email me!  Like Josh Margetts again.  He still hasn't!  haha  And Josh Vanwagenan and maybe even Jessie's friends if they want... hahaha  But remember to tell them that the email is macallen.hedman@myldsmail.net not mac.hedman because I feel like that will confuse some of the people!!  So make sure that they know that!! A wesome about that thing you found for the computers.  I can't wait to see what it is like!  I would love to see pictures of like what is going on and stuff that would be awesome!!  Like stuff around the house and family!  That would be really cool!!  Also tell uncle Tim to email me that would be really awesome also!!  Love you guys remember the church is true!! Also did you send that package?

Squid.  He says he couldn't believe he ate it.  It was delicious!

A whole fish, head, bones and everything.  Again, really good!

Lucky group of Elders eating together!

Isdaan (fishy)

I can't believe it has already been 3 months! I don't know what your talking about.  This 3 months seems like it has been like 1 week.  It has been so crazy fast!!

That is so cool for Nicole (neighbor leaving from a mission)!  Peru, that is so awesome!  Wow 6 degrees for Christina (neighbor serving in Russia).  That will be different (and cold)!!  That's cool she is going out there.  I emailed her and it was great to hear from her!

Service Project.  Mac and a machete.....not sure if that's a good combination!

I'm proud of Jessie for getting back on track.  That is awesome! Our ward has great support so that is so awesome!! I miss our ward for sure!!

I can't believe you guys got a freaking cat (Jessie got a cat)!!  You crazy people... that is so weird.   hahaha  But if it gets the family happy, then sure whatever!  It looks really small so that is crazy!!

Balut- developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten

Looks disgusting!  His companion ate it, he didn't.  Gross!!

That's cool about you working from home again.  That will be good for the munchkins.   hahaha   Good job on the weight loss!

So today for p day we went to this place called Isdaan.  I don't really know how to describe it.  I took a lot of pictures so you can see it.  Wow,  is it way cool!! It has like these monkey statues and then action figures.  It was way cool!  I will send the pictures in a second because there is a lot!  But that was such a cool thing.  We went as a zone (several areas or cities make up a zone)  That was also way cool!!!

Isdaan is a floating restaurant and tourist attraction.

The best thing that happened this week is that the guy that we had been preparing for baptism had his interview and is recommended worthy.  So we will be baptizing him this Saturday!!  And my companion is letting me do the baptism!!!!!!!!   So this week I get my first baptism!!!!  That is the best thing!!  I am so excited for this Saturday.  I will get to do a baptism!!  And then also a girl we have been teaching for a long time, who is 17, is getting ready also!!  We have had a hard time committing her to a date for baptism.  But this last week we really worked with her and she accepted the date for February 15th!!!!!!!!   So that's another one soon!!  I am so excited!!

The hard work is really paying off!!  So that is the good news!!  Also the language is really starting to come to me!  I understand basically all the stuff we teach in lessons.  But I just can't speak perfectly yet!   I'm getting there.  And it is crazy how fast i am also!  So i am really happy about that!!   How is Utah!? And oh my shoes are doing just fine!!  I even shine them!!  I know crazy!?!  But they are holding up good!!! Miss you guys!!!

boutique (pronounced bo ti kee)

So this last week! First I will answer your million questions so that I don't forget them! We had a trainer/trainee meeting so that is why we were all in Tarlac! That was cool! I knew you would like that because I saw her taking pictures.  My thought was "oh my mom is going to love seeing more pictures!"  The meeting was good.  I wanted to compare my Tagalog to the others in my batch.  You know me, I like to be the best at what I do!  So I feel like I'm easily one of the best in my batch with the Tagalog.  Me and Elder Munson that we met at the airport!  He is a cool guy! He's doing really well in Tagalog also!

Trainer/trainee meeting in Tarlac

That's cool.  I didn't know who the new president was going to be! (a new mission president will be heading to Mac's mission in July)  I hope he is as cool as President and Sister Martino.  They are amazing!!  He really has a special tone when he speaks.  It's really from the spirit.  I can tell.  So I  love hearing him talk!!

I took out some money just for some personal stuff.  For  P day today, I think it's just a relaxing p day!  So we are just going to be emailing, shopping and then looking around the area and relaxing which is what I kinda need!!   Missionary work is hard for sure but it is great!  And yes, you are annoying, but that's okay.  hahahaha....just kidding!

His hair sure looks red in this picture!

a boutique lizard.  Yuck!

Me and my companion get along well.  He is a really cool guy!  He is way funny also!!   As for what you should send, just put a bunch of music on a usb and then whatever you feel like sending!  You can surprise me!  If you can, put my real razor in there if there's room!  But if not, that's okay too!  I don't think I really need anything.  Maybe put together some pictures of the family and just stuff growing up.  That would be cool to have some remembrance of that!!  Oh and also see if you can find my old seminary journal.  It was on top of my dresser in my room!  I would love to have that seminary stuff  I had just to help with some studying and stuff!  So that's all i would need!!

Looks like he got a ukelele! 

So as for what is going on.  We had 3 investigators come to church on Sunday.  Which was pretty good!  But this last week, we have got a new investigator.  Her husband doesn't want her to listen to us because he is devoted to his religion and doesn't think that we should teach her.  But she constantly tells us to come back and tells us to teach her!  So that is so incredible!  She really feels something different when we teach her.  It's so amazing!!  And also we taught one of the Lolas (grandmas).   She has a problem with drinking coffee.  So I was kinda worried about teaching her about the word of wisdom this week!  But I trusted that the Lord would provide a way for us.  Wow ,was it incredible!! We taught her about the word of wisdom and she did have a question about the coffee.  But after she said that she would commit to live the word of wisdom and that she wasn't going to drink coffee anymore.  That was so amazing!!  I was like woah!!  The gospel truly does bless lives!  I can't wait to see how she will progress!!  The gospel is the most important thing.  We need to remember that!!  We will have hard times of course, but if we focus on the good and just learn from that, we can actually look for the blessings in our lives.  I am so amazed at the gospel and the blessings that it brings to us in our lives!!


The Tagalog is coming along pretty well.  I'm starting to really understand what is being said.  So I actually know what I'm doing!!  It's way cool.  At first I didn't know what was really being taught because they talk so fast!  But now I find myself talking in Tagalog fast also.  It just comes to me sometimes!!  It's so amazing!!  So Tagalog is pretty cool!!  When I get home I will only speak Tagalog to you guys.  You will get confused and I'm just going to laugh at you guys!!  hahahaha  I can't wait to share more with you guys!!   I miss you guys and love you!!

They got a referral to visit someone at the northern part of the mission.  It was a ways away!

Salamat! (Thank you)

Pathetic... (I told him I forgot to get a regular letter to him this week)  Kailangan mong magsisi, you need to repent.... hahahaha  That's okay, mom, I forgive you because I don't want to be the one committing the greater sin!!  hahahah just kidding. The jazz are crap,  whats new there.... how pathetic I should be playing for them... hahahaha (I told him how bad the Utah Jazz are this year.)   I hope that the Packers win!  That would be so awesome!!

I'm glad that things are starting to come back to normal.  That is good!!  So as for me this week it was a crazy week.  We weren't allowed to go out past 6 on New Years Eve because the people here are crazy.  And they are crazy! They just light off fireworks and don't care!! Anyone can buy them so there were little kids just lighting off bottle rockets and fire crackers.  Which are illegal in Utah, right?  So it's so funny.  They just laugh and almost hurt them selves.  They really are so funny!!  It was so loud!  It was like impossible to sleep at all that night because it sounded like cannons were going off! 

Dinner!  I told him I couldn't believe he tried this.  He said, "I was like, Oh Gosh, what am I doing?"

Did it taste good?  His reply, "It actually tasted really good!"

 I miss the relaxing time and just not worrying.  Out here we are constantly busy.  Sometimes that just isn't too fun.  But the work is going pretty good.  Hopefully we will have a baptism a week from Saturday.  That will be our first one so that is way cool!!!   We are constantly trying to find new people to teach.  So we have to talk to a lot of people!  The language is still so hard but it is slowly coming.  I'm becoming more confident!  So that is a good thing!!   In my journal I'm trying to write in Tagalog every now and then.  That way I get practice with it.  I thought that would be a good idea! And oh I memorized the first vision in Tagalog.   I'll share it with you!!  So it says ( Ako ay nakakita ng isang haligi ng liwanag na tamang-tama sa tapat ng aking ulo, higit pa sa liwanag ng araw, na dahan-dahang bumaba hanggan sa ito ay pumalibot sa akin. Nang tumuon sa akin ang liwanag, nakakito ako ng diwalang katuhan na ang liwanag at kaluwalhatian ay hindi kayang maisalarawan. Nakatayo sa hangin sa itaas ko. Ang isa sa kanila ay nagsalita sa akin tinitawag ako ng aking pangalan at nagsabi, itinuturo ang isa, ito ang aking pinakamamahal na anak pakinggan siya.)

Pictures from the hike they took that morning.

 That was pretty cool I thought.  So I'm pretty proud of that!!  For p day today, we went on a hike in the morning.  I'll send some pictures to you!!  Our zone leader is like the coolest guy ever!!  He is definitely one of my favorite people.  He's becoming a way good friend of mine.  He's from Idaho and ran track and cross country plus played basketball.  He's so funny!!  He is in some of the pictures that I will try and send out!  So that's basically whats been going on here. What's new in like technology and that and sports? Like college basketball?? I miss you guys! Love you!!

Zone leader from Idaho.

More from the hike!