Hey everyone who may have the opportunity to read this!
How is everyone doing at home? Swell I hope! This week was insane. Lets just get started here..
So in the mission field, the last week of the transfer is generally called "trunky week". I am not sure if that is how it is in other missions in the world, but that is how it is here! That is the mission joke though. I wasn't really trunky at all. In fact, we worked way hard this week. It was insane how much work we did. We got 7 new investigators this week! 7! How about that. We have 10 overall now. SO much better than what the situation was when I got here 6 weeks ago. Elder Inlayo and I have turned this place upside down.
Tuesday we had exchanges within our District. Since there is only two companionship's in the district, I went to Sipalay for the day. Right after District meeting we made the swap, and went our separate ways. I was with Elder Magbual that day. He is a brand new Elder from the very top of the Philippines called Laog. He speaks Tagalog, Ilocano, and that is all. Elder Inlayo told me that every Filipino can learn a new Filipino language in 3 weeks to 4, and be fluent in it. I mean its way cool for them, but for me? Makes me wish I was Filipino for two years. The funny thing was, he didn't know Ilonggo very well at all. Like hardly. I knew way more than he did. And he knows little little bits of English.. The day went pretty good too though. I did however, want to DIE when we did our companionship study. It was pretty hard to communicate some ideas back and forth to each other since I speak no Tagalog and he speaks little Ilonggo. We got stuck at some parts but hey, I am living, and he learned from me. So I am happy. We visited some less active members in their branch, and I led all the lessons. In the lessons he taught in mixed Ilonggo and Tagalog. So I understood like 65 percent of what he was saying. Haha its all good though cause the people we were teaching that day all understood him and that is all that really matters right? I just testified and said this "I don't know Tagalog, but I know that what he said is true." Humor is usually the key to less active's hearts.
Wednesday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders! Oh boy was that an adventure. We all met in Sipalay because its the middle of our area, and the Zone Leaders area. I took Elder Matatutia back with me for the day. He's been out for a year now, and he is from Samoa. He is seriously so funny, too. Even though he has never set foot in the area I am in, he still managed to become friends with all the members we saw that day. He taught me a few things to use when I teach too. Especially using the Book of Mormon. It was a great day to say the least. We did a lot of contacting referalls, and OYMing. Which lead to 2 new investigators that day. Elder Inlayo and Elder Torres the day before got 2 new ones themselves as well. So that is 4 in 2 days!
One of them, is a Branch Missionary's mom, that just got home from work in Manilla. She has been gone for 5 years. Her daughter was converted 3 years ago. So her daughter, D, has been all over Elder Inlayo and me -- making sure that we teach her mom. Which is understandable, she wants her mom to join the church! And Elder Inlayo and I have the best way to help her do it. We have taught her all of lesson 1 so far. This is the cool part. We got a text from D the night we finished all of the lesson and invited her to pray about our message, and about the Book of Mormon. She told us that her mom prayed very sincerely, and went to bed. About an hour later, she woke up and told D that she had a dream (brace yourselves for this). She told us that she was at the beach, all dressed in white. A man came up behind her, and guided her into the ocean, about waste high. She asked "who are you?" And the man responded "I am Joseph Smith" and then proceeded to baptize her. CRAZY. She asked that we meet with her the next day. So Elder Inlayo and I decided "LETS TEACH HER IN THE CHURCH!" And that is exactly what we did. Gave her the general tour, and taught her by the baptismal font. I can't even describe the feeling that was in that room.. Truly incredible. D's mom told us that she knows this church is the true church, so we invited her to be baptized. Her date is April 13th.
And, that was my week. There is no better way to end an email other than how I just did! This mission is proving to be the best, and hardest thing I have ever done so far in my life by far. But I can see how I am changing into the Returned Missionary that God wants me to be. It truly is amazing to be able to feel Heavenly Fathers love for all of His children as we teach them about His Restored Gospel.
I love you all so much! More next week. I will update you on transfer day next week if there is any changes in my companionship. Have a fantastic week! I pray for all of you daily.
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