March 3rd

Mayad nga aga!

How is everyone! So great to hear from you again! Glad that you all made it to utah and back safely and that Rachelle, Scott, and Sebastian are moved in. Thats exciting to have all of them in the house now. its going to be super busy around the house now. So does Scott have a job down there or is going to be looking for a job right now? Hopefully all goes well with that. Thats so crazy that Matt is already in Washington! It seems like he just went into the MTC haha shoot is time really going that fast, gosh. He's going to kill it out in Washington and I bet he's already fluent in Spanish. Hows Sui doing? I have thinking about him this week. Also, tell Kelli if you can that I got her letters from January this last week so I will be sending her a letter back soon. She's probably wondering why I havent written her back but it took 2 months to get her letters haha lame. Thats funny about Beana. Does she know where shes going to go in the Philippines. Tell her to come to Kalibo,there's an airport here, I'd love to show her around haha.

       So this last week was kind of rough. We get punted a lot from our investigators. Either people werent at their houses when we scheduled to teach them or they bailed out at the last second and said they were busy with stuff. So unfortunately we werent able to teach as many lessons as we'd like, or as many as we did last week haha. But we taught Rodil yesterday after church, he was the only investigator that came to church, and it was a good lesson. We asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on March 23, because we have to move the date because he didnt go to church. Then he went on and told us this long story of how he doesnt feel ready yet and he realizes the importance of a covenant so he wants to be fully committed when he is baptized. He drank a few times the past few weeks because he is struggling to fight off the pressure from his friends to drink. So he is getting a lot of temptation from his friends and family. So we committed him to pray to God and ask him when he should be baptized and to prepare himself for that date. So i am really glad that he spilled that out to us because we want him to be 100% prepared and ready for baptism. A lot of people here would be shy and just hold that in but I am super happy that Rodil told us that. It shows his desire and understanding of baptism so I was super happy to see that. Hopefully everything goes well with him! Also, Ronel we were able to teach once but he didnt go to church again. So frustrating. He has to babysit his 1 month old baby while his wife works every sunday so its so hard to get him to church. I dont know what to do anymore because he cant come unto Christ without going to church, thats one of the most important things! So we'll see what happens with him. So yesterday we got punted a lot by our investigators and less actives and everyone so it was a rough day. But on the brightside we got fed twice! thats never happens here haha that was my second time being fed in the last 2 months. So a member in our wards neice had a birthday party so they had left over food for us so we have spaghetti and cake at her house for lunch. Then later for dinner we went to Jennifers house and it was her daughters birthday so we have some pasta and some other stuff that I didnt know what it was but it was delicious. It was seriously the best ever! haha I just wish everyday could be like that! Everyone here loves spaghetti and I guess that what everyone eats for birthdays so it was great haha. But unfortunately we werent able to teach Jennifer because Saturday she was busy setting up for the birthday party and sunday she had the party all day so that was a bummer.

      Also we got 3 referrals this last week from a family in our ward and we taught them twice this week and they are solid. So I was on splits with the district leader on tuesday and he's Filipino so we went and taught the new referrals and luckily he was there because he could communicate with the family because he's fluent in the language. so its the Bautista family, Josephino (81) Josephina (83) and their daughter Jasmine (37) and they are extremely nice. So elder Mallillin (the District leader) taught an awesome lesson to them and I would add a few thoughts here and there but I let him do the talking because the family had a hard time understanding my broken aklanon/ilonggo. So they were super interested and we got a return appt for Thursday. Then we went back on thursday and taught Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon and they were super receptive. We went back and asked tthem if they read the jospeh smith section in the pamphlet because thats what we committed them to do last lesson. and tatay (dad in ilonggo) said he read the whole pamphlet along with 2 chapters out of the book of mormon haha we were so surprised! we didnt even talk to him about the book of mormon at all it was so sweet. So we taught joseph smith lesson and they all undestood it perfectly, which usually doesnt happen, and tatay was like yeah Joseph smith was definitely a prophet haha, he already believed that he was a prophet. so we were super surprised at that because he already believed that. then tatay asked us if it was against our rules to drink alcohol and we said yes and nanay (mom in ilonggo) (everyone calls older people nanay and tatay even if you dont know them) started laughing and was like oh he has a big problem with drinking. then tatay was like not anymore! now that they told me I cant. and he asked if soda was okay and we said yes then he said "sige soda pop lang" (ok just soda). haha it was so funny. So hopefully he stops drinking, its like we taught word of wisdom to him already haha. but then we taught them about the Book of mormon we committed them to read 2 nephi 31 and pray to know the book of mormon is true so hopefully they will! they said they couldnt come to church this week because they had work. but they are solid investigators. This next week we are going to extend a baptismal invitation its going to be great. 

      This last week I dont think it rained at all haha. the weather is so bi-polar here. It was weird we would walk on the dirt trails and they were all dry this week, there wasnt mud anywhere for the first time ever haha. its always muddy everywhere. Also we had zone conference this last week up in kalibo so that was way good. President and Sister Pagaduan are so funny its great. They taught about the importance of good companionships and about extending commitments. It was a really good conference. other than that, nothing else really happened this week. I only have 3 more weeks of training then transfers, so crazy how fast it went! The month of february went by so fast it was crazy. a lot of missionaries here train right after they get done being trained to theres a chance I could train Louie! That would be so awesome if I did haha that would be way to much fun. Well, I hope you have an awesome week family! And that all goes well with moving everything around at the house. Have fun with that! haha. I love this gospel and the blessings it brings into our lives if we allow it too. I am so grateful to serve here in the Philippines because the people here are changing my life just by the way they live. so poor and humble, but yet so happy and joyful and peaceful. Us in America get swallowed up by materialistic things and worldly things that we forget about what it most important in our lives. Our family, friends, faith, God. We get distracted everyday and forget what means most to us. So we need to count our blessings everyday and to not look for the next nicest car to buy or the most clothes to get, but to be thankful for what we have now. I know that if we are humble and if we think of what blessings we already have instead of what things we need, we will become so happy and comforted. Our lives will be much easier and less stressful. I love serving here and I am so grateful for your guys' support. I feel your support out here everyday so thank you so much! Have an awesome week and I love you a  ton!

-Elder Anderson