March 4, 2013

Alright so this week has been a little shorter, because of the P-day swapping! Anyways though it has been a really hot week. I think I have never been more sweaty in my life than here in the Philippines!! Like after I shower I have to sit in front of a fan to dry off and cool off! It just gets hot again though. Anyways though I guess it isn't even "HOT" yet because in April, that is when you will get so hot here that you can''t sleep at night! I am pretty afraid of dying here now haha just kidding! Anyways though It has been a good few days. Our investigators are progressing really well! We have 4 who have accepted to be baptized and we are just trying to get them to Church 4 times to meet that requirement. Haha we don't tell them that is a requirement though, we just tell them it has to be every Sunday and they have to commit to do that so they won't go less active. Anyways though it is hard because 3 of them who I talk about a lot are so poor! They seriously can't afford to pay for the bus. Also we aren't allowed to pay for them so now we just rely on prayer and faith. It is frustrating when they don't show up because you wanted them to SOO bad! Well anyways yesterday on Sunday .. ALL 3 of them showed up! It was like fireworks were going off!! We have worked with them for so long and now we are seeing the fruits of our labors! Everytime we teach them they just know that our message is true and they really want to be baptized. It is hard though, because they have a lot of obstacles to get over, but they are working for it and now at the end of this month we might see them reach their goal to be baptized! Anyways we also have another investigator, his name is Bro. Daniel Balosa! He is a sweet old man really!! When I first started teaching him, he just seemed like he was just an old guy who liked talking to us. Later one day I realized, he has been pretty much bearing his testimony to us after our lessons on how he knows this is the true Church, and how everything we say is true!! He is so Golden it is great to teach him!! His goal is also to be baptized on the 30! So as long as he can get to Church he is so ready!! I am just so excited to see someone get baptized!! It feels like it has been forever since I have been to a baptism! Anyways the work is really progressing here and it is awesome!! Anyways the people in that area are really poor and humble!! They accept the Gospel, in my opinion, because it gives them hope! It breaks me heart seeing how little these people have, and yet they are happy. Most of the poor people live near a river that could flood any day when there is rain, especially the rainy season. People here lose everything in floods and it is super hard to restart your life after you lose everything. We have a sister in our ward! She is one of the people who helped translate the Book of Mormon into Tagalog! Holy Moly!! She has nothing... it all washed away in a flood! She has one pair of clothing, and a bed. The ward helps her get food, but she is too old to work and her son has no job. It makes me wonder sometimes why someone so good is given so much trials! What she told me in my visit with her really hit me. She just said, life is hard and I am so sad. But I am humble and I know God loves me and will give me a way. Her faith is so strong! So I am grateful for that experience. Anyways this week has been way fun too. We have had a lot of Birthday parties here. Now in the Philippines, a birthday isn't just some party... It is like a big deal and people get offended if you don't drop by for birthdays if you are invited! Holy moly!! we ate so much food!! People just feed you on birthdays and a lot of people from all around come to celebrate! It is a fun time!! haha I love the Philippines!! Also a bad experience I had this week. We had this guy we taught and accepted our first lesson kind of like a golden investigator. This week we went to teach him and he was so different. He had a the spirit of contention about him and it was ... pretty bad. He kept asking us questions and when we tried to explain he said your Tagalog is very confusing and unclear! Also his questions only had one answer in his mind which was his answer, so no matter what we tried to explain to him, nope he said that is not clear the answer is THIS! and he would say his answer. I have never felt the spirit leave the area so fast, but he really just brought this bad feeling about. We probably won't see him for a while now haha! Anyways though fun fact for the readers. The Philippines is a place of trends. This season it is spinning tops! But the spinning tops here are ... like way legit!! It is like a sport here and who can do the most tricks with them! You wind these tops with a string and you do work!! it is cool to see! It is also super hard to get good at! I am practicing during my in between hours... i can barely even throw it! haha Well that is all for this week!!