Mom,
My week was good! Long, hot, tiring, a little disappointing, but good!
Our average temperature here this last couple of weeks is about 40 degrees Celsius... Which comes out to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit! Add that to constant humidity that we have here, about 80% or up, and walking around for a minimum of 7 hours a day adds up to a whole lot of fun! A really good sun tan, tired legs, thirsty, and sometimes a little chaffing... But it is fun, and do it for the Lord!
A little disappointing, because only 1 of the 3 or 4 investigators that we hoped for came to church this week... Coming to church is one of the requirements here for baptism, it has to be 4 weeks, with only a couple of absences allowed. It's a really big part of conversion too, but it's also kind of against Filipino culture. The people here think that it is enough to just stay at home and pray, and that God will understand that they are too busy, or don't have enough money to come to church... That's part of our struggle here! Love it!
This week we did have a really special experience though. We were walking back to the Church, for a meeting, coming from a far area, and trying to decide if we wanted to spend the money to ride a trike, or just walk instead. It had been a pretty rough day; hot and dry, we were punted from all our new investigator's return appointments... While we were walking to the trike waiting shed, a little ways down the road, a man walked up and said that if we were walking to town he would walk with us, so we could all go together. As we starting walking with him, and talking to him, an amazing thing happened. We found out that this Brother had been searching for the truth about religion for a long time. He told us that right now he didn't have a church, because all the other ones he had been too "just didn't feel right", but that we was hoping to try Born Again next. We asked if he had tried our church, and he admitted that he knew very little about the church. As we walked into town, we had the great opportunity to share with him a short message about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and answer some of the questions that he had for us. He was very excited, seemed to be really interested. While we could not return to his home, (he is living on a private factory as a security guard), he did promise to come to church as soon as his schedule allowed. I know that God is preparing people to be placed in our lives, and that blessings come after the trial of our faith!
Training is going good, Elder Olsen is awesome! We just study a lot in the mornings, because it's cooler, so we can live inside. When it's this hot, it's way better to be out in the wind than inside. Even though it's protected from the sun, the heat seeps in through the concrete...
Last night I just had "Pusit", or Squid! It was something I've always wanted to try since I've seen it here. It's not bad, a really salty flavor. But super chewy, like clams but doubled.
I have no idea what to do for my birthday... We will still have to work and everything... Maybe I will get some cake and ice cream and we will have a little missionary party at the house, haha! Grandma told me she had you put money on my card, so I will go get it tomorrow. Thank you for the package, I will be looking for it!
Nathan Wallace... That's cool, a Paris France mission... I can't imagine what the work is like there... I haven't been talking to them as much as I should... I will reach out to them again later!
Thank you Mom! I hasn't been easy, but you all have been a really big inspiration and support for me! I love you all!
We have a lunch appointment right now (because it is fiesta!), but I will be back to finish up my email time later!
Love you tons! Miss you!
