Kamusta Kamo???!!
Paalam Nueva Valencia, Guimaras
Hello Iloilo City
Wow this week has been such a crazy week
and I can't even begin to describe it in this email. As you all know I was
transferred this last week. Last monday night we had a big FHE at our meeting
house and lets just say it was very hard to say goodbye to those people in
Nueva. The love I have for them is truly indescribable. On tuesday morning when
I went on a boat to travel Iloilo, it almost felt like I was leaving home, kind
of. Those 4 months in Nueva Valencia were far from the easiest months of my
life, but I had some of the most memorable moments and some of the most
rewarding times of my life were spent there. I came to love it as a second
home, so thats why leaving was a little hard.
But, anyways I have a new area and new
companion!! My new area is is the heart of Iloilo city. My new companion is
Elder Silvano from Bacolod Philippines. He is great, we get along good,
everything is smooth so far. Its also great because he is from the only other
place in the world that speaks Ilonggo, he is a native speaker. He has already
helped me so much!
When I arrived in my new area (city B) I
was a little shell shocked, my first and second area could not be any more
different! In my first area, there was literally like one paved road and only a
few very small stores. But here in my second area, its lets just say busy.
There is a lot of 7 elevens and restaurants (McDonalds!) in our area, it is a
big change. And to be honest I was just a little shocked for a while. That was
until we taught our first lesson. It was such a cool experience, all
those feelings of doubt and fear were just washed away as we taught an
investigator. The spirit testified to me that no matter where I am, the work is
the same. The joy that the gospel brings people is the same. And I have already
started to develop a love for the people here, they are so great! So as big of
an adjustment as it has been, it has been a good week and I am still Loving
this great work and am happy because I see others becoming happy through this
gospel!
· How far away fro the mission home are you now? How big is
your area? Not very far at all. In fact we have district meeting at the
mission home every thursday haha! So that makes it very easy to get mail and
packages, so that is nice! Send as much as you want!
· Do you have a lot of investigators? How big is your
branch? We have about 5 awesome progressing investigators. And we are
working everyday to get more. But, the 5 we have are so great and we will most
likely have at least a few baptisms this Feb. and march. I am excited! This is
actually a ward here and it is absolutely huge! There were 200 plus at church
on sunday. It is so different from the little branch in nueva, but its great.
The Chapel is also huge, it has 2 levels and the chapel is on the second floor.
Look it up on lds tools or something. Iloilo jalendoni chapel, its pretty cool!
Well Thank you all once again for the
amazing love and support you give me every week! You guys are the best! Love
you all!
Oh also I feel like I should tell you
this. There is this guy in our ward that is completely deaf and only
communicates through sign language and sometimes typing on his phone. Nobody in
the ward knows sign language and yet he is at church every single week. Isn't
that amazing, this man cannot hear or really know what is going on and yet he
comes to church every week and always reads his Book of Mormon. He really
inspired me. If he can do these things with his incredibly hard trials, I can
do hard things as well. And so can all of you! This gospel is amazing and I see
it change peoples lives, don't take it for granted, I know I did sometimes
before my mission. But, serving this mission has changed my life and I have
been blessed to see other people's lives be changed as well!
Love you guys! palangga ko kamo!
Elder Degen
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