Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday at church everyone asked what Sis.Bolo & I did for Valentine's day. Our response - "we worked." hahaha so we did nothing special, but there was still plenty of love to go around (:

Do you know what was not fun about my week though? When I had to eat the stomach lining of a pig. It had the consistency of rubber and the taste of.. well, whatever stomach lining taste like haha and to make it worse it was deep fried, as is everything here in the Philippines. I'm pretty my life expectancy has decreased by 2-3 years.

On a super cool note, President Beck ,the Church Young Men General Presidency and Elder Bowen of the Quourm of the 70 visited our mission (:

But the highlight of my week, as with every week, is teaching my investigators! This week we were teaching RJ. He's a great 18 year-old kid who made a lot of mistakes at an early age in his life. We were teaching him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he asked me, "Sister Lauck, do you actually think I can change? Like really change? I think I've done too many bad things to feel clean again." I was SO happy to tell him with full confidence that he can indeed change. In essence, all of us need to change, whether we've made big mistakes or little ones. And that's what I LOVE about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a message of hope & 2nd chances. The reason Heavenly Father provided us a Savior is so that He can help us be cleansed of sin and especially help us to change, especially because we cannot do it on our own. That's definitely a lesson I've learned time and time again on my mission and I am extremely grateful that I have a knowledge that I can become clean in every way and become a better person through following my Savior Jesus Christ. What a blessing this Gospel is in my life (: And the best part is that I get to share it with my friends like RJ, who don't have this knowledge. I know Heavenly Father wants us to become like Him, so He provided us with EVERYTHING we need to be successful. I know He loves you and He loves me. I hope everyone is able to feel the love He has for you in a very personal way! I love you all (:

Sister Lauck

p.s. pics - the 4 pinays (well 3 real ones + me the wannabe) at a mission conference

the elders and us had a cake party (filipino tradition) at an investigator's house