Kamusta
Kamo!!
Wow
this week sort of flew by! It is so great to email it always brightens my
spirit and makes me happy! Whenever I read your emails I am more motivated to
work, so thank you so much! It is very hard work out here, but I have seen so
many blessings.
I'll
Jump right to your questions:
1.
Where do you go to send/read you
e-mails? How much time to get on your P-days to e-mail? So we
usually go to an internet cafe in a little barangay (town/village) called
jordan (pronounced hordan). We usually get about an hour or so. It depends how
much we want to pay haha.
2.
How often do you hear from your mission
president? Do you know if you have any senior couples in your mission? Hmm
good question. I email President Cruz every other week and My companion said
that he will sometimes respond, but I dont really know at this point. But on
Thursday all the Guimaras Elders(8) went to the mission home to meet with
president Cruz, so that was nice and encouraging. He talked to me personally
for a little bit and I recieved some great council and encouragement, he
said that a mission is like working in a field with a plow, you will get
blisters at first and it will be hard, but he promised me if I keep working it
will become easier. And Yes I know there are at least 2 senior missionary
couples, but I dont know much about them.
3.
Tell us about the money/currency that you
use. About how much do things cost? Are they more or less than
home? So here everyone uses Phillipines piso. So to give you a perspective
about 50 pisos is one US dollar. Everything is a lot less expensive here. We
get 8,000 pisos per month, so I am living off of about 160 dollars per month. A
355 ml mtn dew costs 12 pisos (thats great) and a boat ride from Guimaras
Island back to Iloilo city is only 14 pisos.
4.
Are there a lot of youth in the ward you
are serving in? There are quite a few youth in our branch, it is a
small branch, but there are still probably about 15-20 youth.
5.
How do you get everywhere? I assume
you don't have a car. Do you walk, use a bike or public transportation? So
there is about one main road in our area (paved road) and everyday we take a
tricycle(a motorcycle with a cart attached to it) to our area which is
about 10 minutes away from our house. Then we walk on dirt roads for most of
the day. Its like a hike, but I'm always in church clothes. And when we go to
jordan or places far away we take a jeepney.
6.
Are your 8 investigators still on target
to be baptized on the 28th? That is so exciting. Please keep us
updated. So 7 of them are still on track, one did not attend church
yesterday. Our investigators are so awesome. We have been working with the
Toledo family a lot recently. They were my very first lesson and I have taught
them many times since we invited them to be baptized. Sis Jenny Toledo (mom of
Toledo Family) is so amazing. Her house is so humbling, it is so small at the
roof is made out of like palm tree leafs and it leaks a lot when it rains, as a
branch we are having a lot of help to get her a new roof, which is amazing. And
even if though she has so little, we taught her about tithing, fast offerings,
and service this week, and when we asked her if she would follow these laws she
would answer "oo"(yes) before we even finished asking the
question.
So
you wanted to know the biggest challenge and Best success. I will start with
the biggest challenge, haha. To be honest it was not the easiest week, I lost
my super nice water bottle and my nice umbrella broke. So those were tough
things to deal with, but I am trying so hard to not think about my self and my
own problems, because they are so minor, but it is really hard at times to not
think about my self but I am trying my best. The sweetest success came when we
went to teach a new investigator and she introduced us to her all of her
friends and neighbors that were sitting near a basketball court. We ended up
teaching a short lesson about families and we got 11 new investigators out of
it. What a blessing.
Well
that is all I have for you this week! I love you all so much! Thanks so much
for all the emails and I apologize if i was unable to respond to your email, I
will try my best!
Halong
Elder
Degen
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