Hello , hello , hello...

This has been quite the eventful week. Let's start off by saying that a mission is a strange thing. You work , literally , as hard as you can. The physical side isn't that bad ... hills are tiring , but that's the least of my care. The stress and mental toll it takes is that hard part. Each investigator is very much a relationship. I'll relate this. Everytime you show and they say "next time na lang" (... come back another time) that's being stood up by a date. Everytime they don't come to church , that's like finding out they're cheating on you aha , and when they drop you as a missionary ... that's being broken up with. Sometimes we drop them because they're not progressing ... we're gonna say that's because their sight is not on the temple as ours is , and although it's been fun , it's time to see other people. So now you have a brief mental and psychological inlook [is that a word?] insight? of what I go through each day.

Okay ... I'll talk about my companion first. He's still awesome. He's from Cebu , but grew up in Tacloban. He's a very humble humble person and works hard. He gets so excited when things are rolling for us , but when we hit a little stump he gets down kinda fast. But that's natural for us when we're new. We just kind of go with the roller coaster effect. But since the start he's been a great missionary , he teaches well , and is very teachable. Soaks in what little advice I give him and definitely applies it to his teaching. So it's been a really good week so far. Also he was studying culinary arts down at college in Cebu , but.. hahahaha ... he cooked adobong sitaw and cooked the rice the other day , and it was the worst I've ever had ahaha. I didn't necessarily tell him , but I think he's more used to "building cakes" [catch the referance?] and stuff of that sort.

Okay , let's talk about what I've done this week.
We struggled... all week. Man , it was really hard. My whole mission I've had no problem reaching the standard of excellence of new investigators , which is find 10 every week. Only a few times I haven't reached it. Friday came around and we still had none. Also the family you had asked about , mom , the Laordan family hadn't responded to any of our texts for over a week. I had no idea what was going on. [side track ... remember that family me and my companion found in my last area? The Rabilas family? They have a baptismal date for next month ... they're awesome] So yeah. I was way bummed this was Elder Tan's first week of experience in the mission , because it was hard. We tried tracting out parts of our area because we have been getting zero referrals from the members, and zero luck. People are like yeah I'm busy but you can come back ... we come back and they hide. That's one big downer about filipinos ... they are structurally very insecure. So instead of telling us outright , like we would do in the states , that they're not interested ... they hide. They just don't come to the door , or tell someone to tell us they're not there AND TO COME BACK ANOTHER DAY ... it's ridiculous. So we waste about 5 or 6 trips before we finally tell them , if they're not interested stop telling us to come back. Anyways , it was hard. We have 7 investigators with a baptismal date , but we have had no idea what's going on with them. 5 we haven't been able to teach for a week and 1 is being weird.

So it was a crazy start to the week. Oh , our iron wire somehow chopped in half and shot out sparks when I plugged it in last monday [ I didn't see the sever ] and almost burned down our table , ahaha , that was funny. So anyways. Tuesday was district meeting and was good , but like I said we've just been trying to figure out what's going on with our investigators and at the same time find new ones ... which didn't work. Then on friday I went on splits with Elder Heninger in my area [he's from canada] and I told him everything that was going on and he was like just endure man , everyone goes through it. So we worked hard to only get 4 lessons and find two new people. Then saturday rolls around ... quite a day. Our ward mission leader who we just got is amazing. Former AP in his mission back in 94 , former elders quorum pres in manila and bishop [if you're a bishop in manila ... you're good , haha. churches are very hard working and organized down there] . So he became our ward mission leader , and he's so organized and helpful. It's such a blessing to us. And say he came and worked with us. Haha , part of it ... we hiked up this giant hill to find a less active member ... and my rubber shoes are wearing down and they're 4 dollars ... so ... not the sturdiest. HAhaha. So I walk up this little incline to a house and instantly slip on some dark grime I didn't see. It had also rained that day so this huge hill is slippery ... so instead of fall down I'm on like a slow/fast sprint down this hill praying praying I don't fall ... that would have broken a few bones or caused a few gashes. So I'm like holy crap holy crap holy crap as I'm half running / trying to brace myself down this hill. Eventually it ends with a cliff edge and I've got mommeeenntummmm going . I'm like ahhh geeeez I'm done , cuz I cannot slow down. As soon as the hill flattened out [this is about a 4 foot flat before the cliff edge] I throw on the breaks and like throw my body backwards. ahaha wow , I kept my balance and was so close to going off after I had just raced down like 50 yards of hill. I look back up at Brother Manongdo and Elder Tan and they are cracking up ahahahahaha. I glanced up at what I had just run down because of one little slip and started cracking up as well. It was nuts.


Okay , so let's just talk about the important part , because I'm short on time now.
So at 5 Friday [rewind] me and Elder Heninger passed the road to the Laordan's house and I told him about them , and he was like you wanna go visit ... and I was like I'm pretty sure they're hiding and I know we seem so pushy to them ... but yeah let's at least go place a we care about you kind of note or something. So we head over , and it's just the dad and one kid .. and he's like come on him! We step it sit down , and he's like alright I'm out of here ahahaha. So we're like what?! Where are you going? He's like I'm gonna go pick up my wife , she's in the hospital. We're like woooowww that explains a lot , so we set up a time to come back the next day [saturday]. Head back with Bro Manongdo , Elder Tan , and Sis. Degay [close neighbor and friend]. Both sister and brother are there , but no kids at first [ they joined the lesson later on]. ...and this is what went down. We figure out why we haven't been in touch for a little over a week , and she explains a few crazy things that have been happening and that she's been at the doctor that they wanted to operate right then but she was like no I need to go home first , I have no money for this and have told no one , and stuff like that. So then we say the opening prayer and I ask her how they're reading has been , and she tells me she read over 2 nephi 31 so many times. That every time she cannot understand it , and didn't know why. Then had a dream one night that told her whatever your faith is , stick to it and you'll be fine. So she woke up feeling like she's okay and doesn't need to be baptized a second time. We then asked her some kind of deep question , don't remember what it was , but she continues to tell us everything insane that's been happening to them the past few weeks. All of these crazy trials and stuff that no one family should ever be going through. This goes on for about 10 minutes of her just telling us , and then she's like so what. No one really says anything , so I was like sister as you were talking one scripture kept popping into my head , so would it be alright if we read it.
We proceed to read Alma 36:3 , about trusting in God and he'll support us through everything ... and she gets to the second to last line and stops ... Elder Tan , haha , thought she had finished and instantly begins to start saying well what did you understand ... I let him get to his third word before I kicked him in the leg , ahahah , then he looks up at sister and realizes she just choked up and is starting to tear up. She finally catches a breath and finished the scripture .... and we're dead silent. No one says a word. 30 seconds goes by and she's like maybe that's what has been lacking ... my trust in God. Then she continues her story and is like I don't know what all this is happening , but maybe this is the answer I've been looking for. Then tells about her family and how she wants them to change and be a closer family and all this and after a long time , and us being silent for about 20 straight minutes , I was like sister that day we found you ... I don't know why we were in your area ... we went exploring some where that we've never come back to and it was crazy muddy and in the middle of no where. But when we came to you I was heading back up to the road but Elder Iray said no , let's stop over there real quick. So we did ... and we found you guys. She then looks at me still crying and is like I was praying so hard that day for God to send me someone to help my family.

... I can't go into detail about everything that really transpired , because I have almost no time left .. but let it suffice that that was possibly the most spiritually powerful experiences I've ever had ... let alone lessons taught. This family is amazing , but has so many things against them , not to mention the health of the mom which is failing and we have no idea what to do or what to say. I texted her last night saying we'd like to give her a blessing , so we'll go back tomorrow or something and hopefully do that. This woman was in tears , and she's a strong woman .. ha , but it was absolutely amazing the power that silence really has. That if we as missionaries just shut up and let the spirit speak to them it has such a more powerful effect. Long story short they promised to come to church ... but ended up not being able to [along with 10 other investigators :( because of so many things ... but mostly because of her health]

So let's talk about sunday after church ... one we knocked at this door that I kept feeling we should talk to last transfer but never did. Finally did so last wednesday ... and nothing. Haha. I was like whaat , I was definitely feeling this one. We knocked for 10 minutes with no answer. Came back sunday night and BAM a mom that was way interested. It was awesome. Then went looking for this guy we gave a BoM a month ago , finally found his house but in the process found this younger guy with a young family with so many problems. We just introduced ourselves and chatted with him for a little bit and he completely opened up to us about his family , and his wife took they're one little girl and went to her parents house like hours away because of a fight they had , and he's like all I want is for us to be a happy family and be loved ... I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

It's just a testimony builder ... I've fasted 5 out of the 7 sundays I've been here for new investigators , including last sunday. And after one of the hardest weeks in my mission we find two great new investigators that we'll see where they go. The Lord works in mysterious ways ... seriously. You must give everything you have on a mission to see the smallest smallest effect , but when you've done everything you can the Lord kicks in and is like alright ... I've got this ... just follow my spirit.

It's been a crazy week , but the work goes on.

Few notes: thank you for everything , the packages again were awesome. Please send a picture of the manhattan temple if you can , PLEASE SEND MAIL AND DEARELDERS , we met a taxi guy that asked me about polygamy [ that's the first time so far on my mission .. thats very rare ] I asked him how many wives abraham had and if it was a commandment of God if he'd follow it ... we've got a return appointment tomorrow hahaha , and some other coolio stuff has happened.


This letter is stupid long , hope ya like it!!

Please tell travis to write me a letter .. he owes me two. Ask june if she got my letters , she should have gotten three in the past month or two ... andd I think that's it.

Love you all. Mom have fun it China , please send me news about how it's going ... but not too long

BYE!

[ps dad how's the house?]

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