Rain

Mom,

I wish you could have some of the rain too, that doesn't sound good... Working in the rain is not as much fun as I thought it would be... But you do get let into new houses more often!

I'm glad to hear that Grandpa is doing alright. That does sound interesting, with his two Sisters coming up... Has Dad even met them? I feel like I don't know anything about his side of the family...

Yes, we have met the New President. Last Thursday, we went up to Balanga and got to shake his and Sister Lacanienta's hands, and talk to them for about 10 seconds. President said that he thinks we must be good missionaries to be put into such a hard area, and Sister said she though it must be like "The Other Side of Heaven", being so far away from everyone else, haha. They both were very good, and (surprisingly very) laid back. But I think they will do great job, and can't wait for the Mission President Interviews we have next week.

This week was a lot like the last... No matter what we do it just seems like nothing ever changes here, and I don't know what else to do... But it was a good week, and we had the opportunity to go to a CSP (Community Service Project) at an elementary school. We had LOTS of fun moving the rocks and sand around! But when I woke up on Sunday, I was regretting it a lot... I haven't done heavy lifting like that for a long time, I was really sore in my back and shoulders! But it felt good to do hard work again, makes me miss being at the Farm, the Cabin.

Miracles; well I'm always really bad at recognizing them, I'm sure millions happen everyday to help us. But as for ones that I did notice...

     We were invited to go and share our message with a small Bible college here in Bagac. It was originally supposed to be just one of the students who had knocked on the door of one of our members. In the end, it was this 18 year old training-to-be-pastor, his pastor, and one other student. I think we did our best to share the message simply, and powerfully; testifying of truth and not attacking their beliefs, even if they were not so kind... The two students seemed very interested and curious, and I really hope that they will take the invitation to pray about the Book of Mormon. The pastor, however, had researched "Mormonism", and had some 'concerns' with the church... Polygamy, The Nature of the God Head... He also said that the Bible is complete; there is no need for prophets today. He also claimed that the Book of Mormon has been through over 300 revisions, and that our doctrine contradicts it's self. He warned us that if we continued in our error we would not be saved, even though he said that everyone who believes in Christ will be saved, no matter our works...

    The miracle here, is that I think we did what we were supposed to. If a year ago, you would have sat me down in front of three Bible students, and told me to share them the gospel, I would have had no idea where to start. But now, I was able to (somewhat) control the situation, and me and a new missionary were able to invite them to come to know for themselves the truth. It might not seem like that big of a thing to everyone at home, but I'm sure glad that the Lord was there to help me that day.

Transfers will be August 16. We had a really short, three week, transfer last time. Now we have a really long, nine week, transfer this time. This is so that President Lacanienta didn't have to transfer anyone his first day in the mission, before he even knew everyone. But August 16 seems really far away...

I'm glad that we were able to help with Elder Peguits pants too! But the pants he ordered are going to be 10 sizes to big... Do you have any idea how to cancel an order from lds.org?

Our Sunday was alright, we had 36 people at church. We found out that one of the Less Active Families that started coming back to church has a Nephew who hasn't been baptized yet, so we also got a New Investigator! 

This is my first District with Sisters in it. Let me see if I can explain it...

     We are here in Bagac, which has it's own meeting house. It's a little over an hour to get to the next city, which is called Balanga.

     In Balanga, there are two branches. They both go to the same Chapel, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first Ward is Balanga, which has four Sister missionaries. The second Ward is Cupang, (the name of that side of Balanga) which also has four Elders. 

Before I became District Leader, I very rarely, if ever, had anything to do with the Sisters. Now, I'm supposed to "Follow-Up" with them every night, and make sure that they are doing okay and working hard. 

Love you too! Miss you lots, hope you have a great week! 

Elder Kobe Potter