4-4-2016

 

 

Dear Family,

The mass wedding was pretty awesome, though we didn't have any investigators who were getting married. However, from the mayor we got a list of names of all the people who got married... so this week we may go out and attempt to contact them and have some recently married people become investigators!! Ummmm... well the celebration that quite literally everyone does out here, who's Catholic. Is Holy Week for the week of Easter, and that was interesting because I learned some about the religion! (Totally reminded me, this week we taught a relative of one of the recent converts who was working to convert over to Muslim... so two good things from that... I learned a little bit about what on earth their beliefs are, and I hopefully will be able to help her from going down that path in life)

Anyway, it's so funny that Captain Kitty is still alive! I don't quite understand how on earth she's lived through so much. I think that I would be fairly cynical toward the world if I went through all of that. Hopefully though she'll come fully back and become the great captain kitty that I know!

Awww, it's so sad that Finnegan had to be going down... but as long as Fedwik or however that's spelled, is still alive, then I'm happy! :) Oh my gosh... that's my little brother alright! Cutting open his finger and then not getting stiches to have a cool scar (don't worry Jacob, I would have done the EXACT same thing... you've learned well young padawan)!!

So... this week!

So, my training is officially finished technically and now it's time to move on to Follow-up training. We have transfers this week so I don't know if I'm going to have a new companion or not by the end of this week... so y'all are just gonna have to figure that out in my NEXT weeks email ;) But really, this week marks 13 weeks since I've come to San Leon and really really have been doing missionary work! Pretty cool, huh?!

So we had a companionship exchange this week with the Zone leaders of Rosales... and that was really fun. I went on exchange with Elder P, an Elder from... Idaho I think. So it was pretty interesting, we got yelled at a lot, you know... "HEY, WHAT"S YOUR NAME" or hearing the ever so quiet "Americano" coming from quite literally everyone that we pass xD But it was really a neat experience and I learned a lot about how I can better apply things into our work in San Leon. Mostly to work on making lessons more short and powerful for the investigators to really understand and feel the truthfulness of the message, as well as not wasting their time. Because here at least, people are constantly doing chores and whatnot! For example, cleaning clothes!

  We all have it pretty great here too, considering the fact that we have a tagalaba (the one who cleans clothes) (taga-verb makes it equivalent to someone who does something... example... tagaihi... the one who pees) But anyway, that's really great, she comes by twice a week to wash our clothes and it's I think 1000 pesos a month for both of us, which isn't bad at all!

Anyway ulit, because I don't really have too much to talk about, I'll try to keep this short. But we did have a baptism for J J on Saturday and it was a really cool experience! She was baptized by Brother C, or in other words, the coolest guy that you would ever meet xD But it really was a special experience, she got baptized along with a Primary aged relative of hers who just turned 8. The only sad part is the fact that she showed up late to church yesterday and that means that she wasn't confirmed a member yet, maybe next Sacrament meeting! It's a good thing that she comes to church every single Sunday!

Well... I have to say that that was really all that happened this week. I'll of course update all y'all next week and let you know how things are going. New companions... maybe new foods, maybe new anything! :)

Keep bein awesome you guys! I love you guys!

Elder Morris

ps- Wanna hear an awful joke I heard?!

Who was the first prophet to enter the MTC.

MOSES. (get it?! MTC... em-tee-see... empty-sea) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... I hope you laugh as hard as I did.

YOU SPOILED ITTTT... I haven't seen General conference yet ;) One week left for me and then we'll go watch it in a building far from San Leon xD Anyway, it sounds like it was amazing, as usual! :) I also loved hearing about the new lambs, they sound like literally the cutest animals on the planet! Though the story has got to be one of the nastiest things, go Adam! You're a braver man than I am, there is no way someone could have gotten me to do that! 

With a package, we basically only wear short sleeved, and I'm totally fine with that for right now :) We only wear long sleeved on Sundays because it's required by President (so miserable because it's SO HOT), but if the white shirt maybe has thinner sleeves, then go ahead and send it... because the one I have is huge with sleeves and the whole shirt is huge! xD I also want to make a special request as last night I realized that I only have probably a month left of Journal... so if you could please send me a new Journal, that would be awesome ;)

 

This week! So this week has been pretty awesome, and I have a lot of different things that I pretty much want to talk about, not too much as this week has been really really slow! So last Monday it of course was Pday, nothing more to say about that xD And on Tuesday I got dragged along with Elder Q to Urdanetta for some sort of District Leader training... and that literally took the whole entire day, but it was good since I went on a sort of splits with the Zone Leaders of Urdanetta and of course learned so much from them! Wednesday was pretty much a full day though we had District Meeting. It was especially... interesting because we went to go and teach the P family, who listen really well! (Pretty much everyone here in San Leon has met with the missionaries sometime in the last 10 years... so crazy, the were taught a long time ago by Sisters who were here) but anyway, Tatay is really a character. (I also use Tatay and Nanay because the culture here is such that that's just what you call old people) So every time we've taught him, he doesn't seem to get past the point that we are not pastors.. so we get called Pastors by him! However, we're still getting that fixed. He also has a pretty intense word of wisdom problem, which I can tell is going to be an obstacle. We went over there once and he was D.R.U.N.K. I mean... like not even here on earth drunk. So we kind of ask if Nanay is home, and then say that we're going to leave. Then he comes to say goodbye to Elder Q, grabs his hand and starts to shake it... and then after about 2 seconds goes in for a FULL HUG. I have never seen someone stand there more awkwardly than Elder Q at that moment. So he just says "Salamat po Tay" and manages to get him off! What a crazy story. 

And THEN we found this new investigator through a referral who's question was "why are there so many different churches" and was probably the most interested person that I have ever met! The Spirit was so strong in that lesson. And then something happened that made me about laugh so so so hard and ruin the spirit. But it didn't. XD So we were sitting there teaching the lesson kind of in a circle because we had 2 fellowshippers with us. And there's this little chicken walking about in between us through the lesson, then when I'm sharing and bearing my testimony, this little chicken FLIES UP AND LANDS RIGHT ON TOP OF MY HEAD.... IN THE MIDDLE OF A LESSON. I about lost it and laughed so so so hard. Though we recovered really fast and got back to the lesson. That's got to be one of the funniest things that have happened to me so far!

Anyway, surprise surprise, I have a new companion! Elder M, and you wont believe this, but he's Samoan. He's from Samoa! He's probably an inch shorter than me and about 50 pounds extra in muscle.... but has got to be the friendliest guy that I have ever met! I don't have a picture, but in the District picture I'll send, he's the one standing next to me with the umbrella! It's so fun and he's such a spiritual guy! To be honest, I didn't expect him to be my companion because he's from the Area Rosales 2B or the area that is super close to mine. He didn't transfer far at all and San Leon is officially his last area! That AND he's stepped up to be the District leader, so both of my companions right now were District leaders! Pretty awesome :)

Well, there's not much else to say now except I HAVENT SEEN GENERAL CONFERENCE YET. Because of where I am, the watching time would have basically been impossible. So actually we're going to the building in Carmen on Saturday and Sunday to watch General Conference, a week later! So thank you for your insights... but I can't relate to how awesome it was until next week ;)

Tha-tha-tha-that's all folks!

Love yah guys,

Elder Morris

ps-New foods I've tried... the crabs were fun because we got them live and then boiled them live >:D What other picture needs explanation? Oh, the random bus with the 7-11... well that's actually the exact same spot that I got dropped off, I took that picture while we were in Urdanetta on Tuesday!

PS- When you send a package or letters or anything to me... just use the address that I put on my letters as the return address. That's the mission home :)

Salamaaat!

Ps- here's a picture of some lambs I came across :D Though I think that I somehow caught the one while it was pooping...

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAHHHHHH!!!!! 17... that's so weird! Yeeer so MATANDA. (old) It's so great to hear about all thaty's been going on back home! It's made me so happy to hear about the sheep and the crazy stories that have been going on! Woah, to be honest I don't think that I would have guessed that the new Bishop is J W, but that's so cool, he's really qualified for that position! And this week I would really encourage all of you to remember the things that Christ did in his life for us, and right now... I would especially encourage you to read the various prophecies and scriptures about his atonement, the really develop such an appreciation for his sacrifice for all of us!  :) So, this week has really been hard working for us out here in the heated area of San Leon. As I may or may not have said in my email last week, it was what we call "relentless week" this week where somehow we're supposed to try to be more relentless than we always are! But anyway, it was a really fast week and lots of ups, we found a lot of investigators this week! So this week in Balungao there was a festival (the GOAT FESTIVAL because on Wednesday there was some big thing with goats going through the streets of Balungao (I sadly couldn't go, it was at 6 am and Balungao is some 20 minute jeep ride away) and lots of eating of food and goat meat) But anyway, on Tuesday they had a mass wedding that out President had gotten set up when we met the mayor some two weeks ago... so all the missionaries in our zone came out and OYMd for some 2 hours, handing out the #hallelujah pass along cards and getting names of people to allow for us to come back and visit them. It was really pretty cool, but totally different to have been there to experience the simultaneous marriage of some 40 couples! So anyway, that was really awesome because we found some 2 investigators this week through that alone and then some 10 others through out invididual efforts in San Leon! And one of our goals this week was to extend more invitations to be baptized, and almost every one of them all accepted the invitation! One in particular I want to share about:

We met these two sisters, a mother and a daughter in this really humble area. I mean 8 or so concrete homes super close and pretty... unsanitary. But anyway, we had soon found out that the mother was previously married to this one member but whas never baptized herself, we shared the message of the restoration and she remembered almost all of it! It was really special for me because at the end we extended a baptismal invitation and it was probably the most resounding yes that I had ever heard coming from any of our investigators! 

Who else? We also found a family of 4 to teach when we had the funny idea to convince this one less active to come out and work with us, then got him to introduce us to him (pretty awesome, and THEN that less active actually came to church the following Sunday, the first time he had come since I got here in San Leon!)

I think that those are the really big new investigator highlights. My happy news is that our one investigator who has been getting ready to be baptized has as of yesterday passed the interview and we will be having a baptism this Saturday! :D It's really cool to me, and so special to have been part in someone coming unto Christ from the first day I met them and then all the way to the waters of Baptism! So next week I ought to have some baptism pictures and will let you know how that experience is :)

OH totally just remembered to tell you as my funny story for this week, one morning Elder Q told me something... interesting. Apparently he got up to use the bathroom at some 1am, and heard talking.... it turns out that for some 20 seconds I was teaching a lesson in tagalog... IN MY SLEEP. So not to brag or anything, but I can literally teach lessons in my sleep XD

So I think that's really all the highlights of my week, it's really been a great week! :) I love this gospel and this area so much, and it's so humbling to be among such people!

Take care y'all! Thanks for the support :)

-Elder Morris-

ps- those are my new shoes because the ones that I brought have absolutely bene getting WRECKED. So these ones are not what you would imagine, believe it or not.... they're rubber! :D