Monday, November 25, 2013

Rice for Thanksgiving Dinner

I’m not sure what happens here on thanksgiving. Of course, they don't celebrate that holiday here so maybe Elder Carlson and I will have to do something special. I'm going to go out on a limb and say we'll probably be eating rice. 
As I sit here in what feels like 120 degree weather, I realize how much I miss the snow. What I would give to experience "being cold".  I often think about how I will be arriving home in the middle of the winter.  You might want to bring my snow pants, coat and a portable heater just to ensure that I don't get frostbite or hypothermia.  That's going to a beautiful day.  We're going straight from the airport to Snow Basin.

So let's see. What happened this week.  Went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, that was fun.  His name is Elder Stroud.  He's 6'4 and weighs 150 lbs. Yes that is a 150, not a typo. He's the skinniest guy ever.  For some reason whenever I think of him I think of a praying mantis.  He's a cool guy though.  We had a lot of fun.  I got a little bit of a boost in confidence with my language skills because everyone was directing their statements at me and asking for translations hahaha I learned a ton.  He's a great missionary. One of the best parts was hanging at their apartment at the end of the day.  They have 6 missionaries in their apartment, which is crazy.  6 19-20 year old kids in a 3-room apartment.  Use your imagination on that one haha One of those 6 is Elder Atoigue, my Tatay (father)!  I sure love that guy. We have some great times reminiscing over those great, sometimes frustrating, times we had in Cabar.  

Baptism this weekend!!! So I have to tell you about our awesome investigator Angel.  She's 18 years old and is going to be baptized this Saturday.  She has the strongest testimony of anyone I know.  We actually met her at church! She moved to Manila about 1 month ago and the first week she was here she showed up to church.  She explained to us that she was taught by missionaries before she moved and loves the church.  After church she came up to us and asked us, "When can I be baptized?" Is there any better question than that? Nope.  That's the best question ever. Hands down.  She has been faithfully coming to church every week. She comes to every church activity and has plans to visit the temple in the next week. She's golden.  Gotta love that girl. 

I'm way excited for the month of December.  If you remember, when our area was split, we lost all of our progressing investigators and we were forced to start anew.  Well all of the finding we did then is about to pay off.  Angel will be baptized on Saturday.  Marissa will be baptized on the 7th.  Carmelino (my favorite man ever, no homo) will be baptized on the 14. Mark will be baptized on the 21.  I'm so excited.  Our investigators are just the best.  They have been prepared by the Lord for the gospel.  Carmelino is doing awesome.  Last week in church he was TAKING NOTES. The most faithful members of the church don't even do that.  We also taught him about the word of wisdom and he gladly accepted every aspect even though he loves coffee and tea. I love that family so much.  Jhoana, his wife, is officially active in the church.  This past week was her 4th consecutive Sunday.  After 13 years, she's finally active again. Marissa is another one of our investigators that we have been teaching forever.  She had the biggest problem going to church, but has completely changed.  She's arrives at 8 o’clock every Sunday and reads the Book of Mormon until the service starts. Gotta love it.  The gospel is true. 

This week is going to be pretty epic.  We have a Mission Tour, which is a zone conference with a General Authority.  We will be honored to hear from Elder Hawk of the seventy. 

I got a little sick this last week.  Had a fever, body aches, killer headache, all that fun stuff, but luckily it only lasted about a day so no big deal. 

Well that about wraps it up for this week. It was a great week. Super frustrating at times, but super rewarding.  That statement pretty much sums up the life of a missionary.

PS. Two people told me i was getting fat yesterday. Yeah, that's depressing. 


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