Emergency Transfers and I love you.

I am still doing alright since the Typhoon, the damage was really bad over in the Visayas area. And the Tacloban mission has been closed. My mission got about 20 new missionaries and the missionaries who are supposed to leave in December are going home tomorrow! Which means that my apartment gets one of the Tacloban Sisters!  We will get to meet her today and talk with her.  My mission is alright. There was some damage on the smaller islands, but all of us missionaries are OK, my area has little to no damage. But every house I go into that has a TV is always watching the news and the destruction is horrible!  The Relief Society President in my ward said that this is the worst typhoon the Philippines has ever had. It pretty much flattened a few cities, and communication is difficult.  Another missionary told me that the Tacloban missionaries arrived to our mission with nothing. Some with only one flip-flop and literally with nothing. I am excited to get to live with one of the Tacloban missionaries now. I guess we will see what is rumor and what is real. I have a feeling you people who get to watch the news and read online about it know more than me... especially since I only see the news when I walk into a house that has a TV, and that is in Tagalog.  My area is one of the best if not the best in the mission, so that is good to welcome a new sister. From the picture, the two sisters we received look philippino so I hope their first language was Tagalog because those missionaries are not only switching missions but languages as well. Lots of help and prayers are going to the Visaya's area right now that was hit the hardest. I also finally got to wear one of those yellow helping hands shirts! There is a lot of help being sent to the areas hit the hardest. 

I forgot to write down what I wanted to say this week... and I’m not sure what to share. Mostly it's just been crazy with sister calla getting ready to go home early, and we had stake conference as well as Zone Meeting. There is another American sister in our zone and it is just nice to talk in English with people sometimes... I mean real English not the adapted English so that the philippinos understand us. But it was good. 

Jane and Mikee have accepted to live the word of wisdom even though they know that it will be hard to give up drinking coffee and they are praying for help! It just warms my soul to think about them. They are changing their lives, reading the Book of Mormon, and I feel that they have received the witness of its truth that all are promised as they pray with real intent. 

We have had many opportunities for small service this week. Which has been nice. 

And we are in grave need of more investigators! But I love the work and I am enjoying myself. Tagalog is still really hard at times, and I think my companions tagalog is already better than mine! It is crazy! 

Well I hope all is well in the promised land, and my family should be looking forward to probably the best letter I have ever written or ever will write.... sorry this is short this week. But I love you and hope that you are praying for missionary experiences in your own city. 

LOVE YOU! 

Sister Hellewell 

Dad wrote: "You probably like being the tallest of the group in your picture."

Stephanie wrote: "Well actually I keep forgetting that I am tall here in the Philippines... and I hit my head on stuff... like things on the street, or the wall coming down the stairs... I actually did that one yesterday when I was running down the stairs and forgot I have to duck a little... it's quite weird to be tall. It’s a new world."

Then she sent this picture and said:  "Sometimes I’m not the tallest!"