10-3-2016

HELLO PO!!! Ito si Elder Morris.... hindi ako gagamit ng Tagalog ngayon. What people say here when you speak a language they don't understand it "nosebleed". So they always laugh and try to speak English to me and then call it nosebleed xD Anyways, it sounds like a super amazing week for you guys! What an awesome opportunity for you guys to be able to go to Gettysburg and to also be able to go to New York! It's really interesting that you talk about America being the promised land... it reminds me this last week when we were teaching pastor E and he asked us how America could be the promised land if the promised land is in the Middle East. That land was promised to Moses and for Israel. Anyways, it sounds like it has been a really awesome week for you guys!

It's been a pretty great week for me as well! I'll have been here in Tayug for 6 months at the end of this transfer... so like October 20somthing. It just blows my mind as to how fast time has been flying by! This week I really learned a lot about this work and then the things that I can and need to still improve in myself.

I think one of the biggest things that happened this week is that I attended my first DLC (District Leader Council) and learned more about my responsibilities as a District Leader. It's actually a super fun calling because it has been giving me a greater opportunity to grow closer to the missionaries in my district. They are super cool!! 

OH, and J totally passed his baptismal interview!!!!!! He's going to be baptized this coming weekend. It's been such an awesome time teaching him... I found that it's people like that (the receptive ones) who just happen to make this whole entire mission worth it. I've started to realize that it is so fun to get to know people...!

Remember that Pastor that I've been telling y'all about? Yeah... he totally came to church again and this time brought his son and one of the youth from his unit! It was pretty awesome, to be honest I got surprised at the fact that they actually were really nice and open to the church! It was a really good Sacrament meeting  because obviously it was fast Sunday and the members gave some really powerful testimonies :) Haha, wouldn't it just be so awesome if we somehow managed to convert a whole church?! xD We feel like he knows that this message is true but wants to be 100% sure before he can act on anything... I mean let's be honest! If he decided to accept our message... he would forfeit his title as pastor, his money from the church, his house... basically everything!! But I do suppose that if someone has deep enough faith, that sort of sacrifice isn't a problem at all!

Ummmmm..... what else? Other than that it's just been a pretty crazy week and we've been trying to teach like crazy xD I think that part of the reason is that we got the news that the Urdaneta temple site has been chosen!!!! They will hopefully in the next few months have the groundbreaking ceremony! :D The work is really progressing!!!

Anyway, a quick update as to where I am... in a computer shop where there are a LOT of students who are playing computer games and not using any headphones... so it's super lound and kinda hard to think... oh well :)P I'll endure. IT"S SO LOUD xD

That's been MY week... and I'm proud to say that it's been great :) Sorry that this is so short, I don't really have too much time and I feel like my head is going to explode if I am here for about 10 more minutes!!!!!

Bye bye! (that's something that one totally says to kids before leaving) I love you guys so much!

~Elder Morris

ps- That family is the C family, they aren't members... but investigators who are really nice to us. Sister C is pregnant and due any day now! It was a super fun lesson and we shared about two words: Follow Me.

 At around the same place, I saw the most beautiful thing I've seen here yet!!!

I figure you guys would LOVE that goat because whenever I walk up to him, he literally turns his whole head sideways and looks at me... it's so cute!!!!!!!

And finally, they finally finished painting the awesome castle here in Tayug!!! :D :D :D


Ps- Mommy.... Elder L saw the pictures and asked if Dexter was your husband xD You look very young apparently! #younggrandmother #babyfacesforlife




Hi!.. it sounds like a crazy but AWESOME WEEK!!! That Barbarian Party sounds SO AWESOME... though I'm not sure you can really call it that unless all of you ate with your bear hands >:) That's what I want to do when I get home... one night Imma buy rice and cook Adobo... then we all gonna eat like Filipinos!!! Anways, It's so fun to hear about the stuff that happened this week! What a wonderful opportunity you have to go on the Tour and that sounds so fun! :) This is also gonna be a pretty short email because we gots a lotta stuff to do today and I'm almost out of time...

  I have to say first though... this week has been just INSANE and we hadsomeof our work taken out. So this last Tuesday Elder A got a really bad toothache and so we obviously went to the dentist. Long story short... Elder A got one of his molars removed. That got our work cut down by some two days because we got told that he shouldn't be doing a ton of work...so that was interesting. And then I got sick yesterday with some fever and aching body so I couldn't exactly work very hard. (Haha, I'm all okay now...)

  Anyway, I have a pretty awesome story I want to tell... first is about one of our investigators... or should I say the pastor of Seventhday Adventists! (His name is E...totally sounds like a drug... it's a mix of his parents names and his siblings.) Anyway, we went back to teach him and I felt pretty much overwhelmed! Here I am with my companion, two guys who havent really studied deeply in the Bible or gone to some scripture school... sitting with a pastor of many years who has studied deeply in the Bible. And he had a LOT of questions...! It wasn't too bad though because we had a member with us who knows how to discuss those questions (because he was training to be a pastor before he became a member). he was a really nice guy actually... it only felt like a debate when he started talking about the statement of Joseph Smith that the Book of Mormon is the most correct book. (because in his view... if the BOM was right... the Bible was wrong) Anyways, we got the sorted out....

            AND HE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY.

  This Pastor came to church with us and actually enjoyed it! It was actually one of the coolest experiences ever... he then told us that next week he'll try to come again and bring the youth of his church so that they could listen to our beliefs! (I don't know if he would ever change his religion... but it was a really neat opportunity to teach and try to help answer his questions)

   We will hopefully also have a baptismal interview for one our investigators this weekend, his name is J and he's like 16 years old. It's also been really a great time to teach him... J was taught by other missionaries some 7 years ago but wasn't baptized because his father really was against the church. About last year his father died and his mother is incredibly supportive of his choices... so about 6 weeks ago they were actually referred to us through a member, and now he's progressed to the point of baptism. His time is coming up on October 8th... so we'll see about his interview :)

Other than all that, it's just been another week in paradise! The mission life is the best :)

INGAT KAYO!!!! Take care y'all!!!! I love you guys so much :)

~Elder Morris