Letter #73 (26th Dec, 2012)

Hey all,
This week has been great! We have had fun with all the Christmas
celebrations, and being able to celebrate this time of year with the
families here in Amlan. We had some great experiences also working
with the Croppers this week and going caroling with them and handing
out Christmas packages to some of the families. Things have been good
and Elder Manansala and I have felt love from everyone this Christmas
season. We have struggled a little with the work this week because we
had no-one who would work with us and then lots of people were "busy"
or just not home... getting ready for Christmas, but it has been fun
trying to do the best we could with the situations we had been given.
We are trying to learn from the Bindoy elders in how they got all the
members in Bindoy excited about the work so that we too can have the
great success that they are experiencing at the moment.
We are proud of the zone and how much improvement we have seen and how
much the attitude of the missionaries has changed in relation to the
work. The lessons have increased in almost every area. The FTEs also
increasing slowly but steadily. There have been some disappointments
some weeks due to varying circumstances but everyone seems to know
what they need to do to improve and make sure they do better the next
week.
But it has been great week with Christmas and all. It is more
celebrated on Christmas Eve than Christmas day, so Christmas was
pretty quiet. But hapit na NYE which is the big celebration here in
the Philippines. So there will definitely be food on the 31st and the
1st!
Elder Manansala got to Skype earlier today, and I played scrabble with
the Croppers while he did so. It was good fun and we had a great time
these past three days.
Don't have much more to say... other than,
Love you all tons!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox

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Terri here: We got to Skype with Taylor on Christmas night. He looked healthy and very happy. He loves being a missionary, and being able to share the gospel with the people in the Philippines.