Being Grateful For What We Have

Captain Moroni

not too much happened this week. our super fellowshipper went home! sayang! but he told us he will come back in a month. haha he really loves his family and friends here. haha. If every member was as active at missionary work as he is, the world would have been converted by now. haha! reminds me of captain moroni. haha!

                                                       

Longanisa Fesitval – Sausage time

other than that we have continued to teach the investigators that he has referred to us. some have punted us. haha. He was the only reason they let us in thier houses. haha but some of them have really good potential. we are going to extend bapt. dates to all of them this week. Our old progressing ivestigators have dissapointed us a little bit. Bro. Allen(the artist/clay master) was busy all week making a float for a parade this week. and our other progressing  bro.Prince practiced all week for his drumming thing in the parade this week! so we were never able to teach them and they also weren't able to come to church this week. agh!

this week is the Longanisa festival.(longanisa-sausage thing that vigan is famous for.) they will have a parade and activities everyday in vigan (folk dance competitions and band competions). too bad that is not our area. haha. we wont be able to see any of it. hopefully our schedule wont be affected by it. haha. we almost reached standard this week and next week we really want to get it! haha.

No TV

this week i had a wierd expereince haha! yesterday actualy. me and elder Tanner went on splits with two of the elders quorum. the brother that went with me brought his car! haah i felt rich haha. it was super nice..... anyways our last apointment was at a house where they only speak ilocano and they are also super poor(no TV). so my fellowshipers had to translate everything i said in tagalog into ilocano. but that isnt the wierd part. the wierd part happened after. we were driving back to meet up again with elder tanner, when my comp. bro mark told me that he has never been inside a house without a TV! haha he thought that there wasn't any people in vigan without one! haha! i felt like i had just shown him the rough side of the town! haha like i had opened his eyes and changed his perspective of vigan! haha i couldn't believe that he has never been in a house without a tv. there are so many people who don't have one haha!

A Miracle and An Angel

This week we also experienced a little mirracle. haha we were finding in one of our areas. we both had the impression to stop at a house at the end of a long driveway. the gate was open so we just went in. as we got closer the people sitting outside ran inside and called out an older guy with white hair. he immedietly invited us to sit down. we thought he was jehova witness at first but then he whipped out his temple recomend(president Rigucera)! haha he is a retired Branch president from another part of the philippines. he is visiting his family because a relative of his receantly died. he explained that he has been looking for missionaries in vigan because he doesn't know where the church is here. since we met him he has fellowshiped with us almost everyday with new refferals each day. we go to all his family, old friends, and classmates. haha he is super funny. he treats everyone like his best friend even if he barely knows them! haha! once he didn't know the name of one of his nephews so he just yelled "Fat Man! Fat Man! Come here Fat Man!" hahahahaha!!!!!!! we were sooo suprized but the guy didn't seem angry or offended. through him we have noticed a difference in our lessons. we always have him testify of the blessings of the gospel. (he was baptized when he was 40) he is always so real and sincere that the people we teach seem so much more open to the restored gospel. He was planning on going home last friday wich leads to the next mirracle. haha kinda. when he worked with us for the first time he expressed his desire to teach all of his family and friends he told us that he is not sure whether the lord wants him to stay. he also lost his wallet with all his money for the bus to go home. this has caused him to stay until wednesday(more time to fellowship and reffer) haha! he is the most hardworking fellowshiper i have ever heard about. he commits us to baptizing everyone he refers and to work with him! haha! he has a vision of having a branch in his little barangay. we believe that it is a serious possibility. for no other reason than the faith of this old member.

A couple of photos of a clay oven used to fire clay pots/tiles/sculptures, and pictures of the new apartment.

A New Area for a New Year

New Area

I really like my new area. it is really big but for the last week we have had one of the young men work with us for almost everyday. he drove us around in a trycee. haha it was super nice. we were able to go anywhere in our area at any time. haha.

our new area is a mix of bukid and suburb. we don't really have any areas in centro. but yeah it is a really cool city. it has a bunch of old buildings and a really cool road that we go to on pdays. in vigan there are two branches. our branch is super cool. there are a ton of young men. haha they are all super chill too. our branch pres. is young and most of the other leaders are new converts but they are really masipag/hardworking.

we also have a lot of progression in our area. there is one young family who is progressing. the father is deffinitly the one who has been converted he has almost completely gotten rid of his wow. his family is also progressing but a bit slower. they all come to church but they havent recieved an answer yet about joseph smith. they are super cool though.

New Years

new years was alright. i think they celebrate christmas more. for new years people usually just drink, shoot fireworks.... wich are more like bombs. haha. i forgot to get a picture of one but everyone makes things called boga. they are metal cans taped together with a plastic bottle at one end. they stick the ignition of a lighter in the end. they put some kind of uncultured alcohol in it. they are basically crude guns. haha. everyone has them. they are not even illegal. they also buy bad quality fireworks which usually blow up early or late causing many people injories. what we did on new years is a different story. we had to come home early (5pm) and study. then we slept.(10:30) WHOO! haha i didn't even wake up at 12 i was so tired! haha!