"Tatalong Nephita"

So there hasn't necessarily been a ton of action this week, but it has been a good one nonetheless. It's been a little interesting with the trisome companionship of ours seeing has we need to work both in San Lorenzo A and B areas. It's also been a little strange with trying to get members to go out and work with Elder Etcheverry on splits. Overall using our time well has been a little more difficult but we're doing what we can with all three of us together as a trio.

Monday - 

So it was p-day.. and that was pretty much it. I also went to the mission office and got some packages from home.

Tuesday - 

In the morning we went to the Paoay church for our district council. Normally we would have just had our district council here in San Lorenzo but because Elder Reamon is gone we just combined with our Zone Leader's district. It was a good meeting and we got to see a lot of the other members of our zone as well which was cool. Later in the day, we tried to organize exchanges with our Zone Leader Elder Wells. He worked with Elder Etcheverry and interviewed his investigator for baptism. While they were on exchanges Elder Morely and I tried to figure out our apartment living situation a little better. So, since most of our things are still in our original apartment in Payas, it's difficult to try and live in the same apartment as Elder Etcheverry. We've transferred a lot of our items to his apartment and actually hope to move into a different apartment completely. The apartment we want to change to is actually part of the same building as Elder Etcheverry's apartment. So much of the day we just spent trying to talk to the landlord and we also called the office elders to try and get the move organized. They said they'll be working on it which is exciting. We then ended the day by meeting back up with Elder Etcheverry and Elder Wells at a dinner appointment at the Ortega family's house.

Wednesday -

In the morning we had our interviews with President Peterson. It was pretty normal and went well. We also asked him about moving to the new apartment. He seemed supportive which is good. The interviews took a while and we ended at about lunch time. We ended up going home, eating lunch, doing our studies, talking our authorized 30 minute nap, and then heading out to do some work. We ended up only being able to teach one family but it went well. It was our investigators named Rachel and Brian. They have started progressing super well compared to our previous visits with them which is super exciting. 

Thursday -

On Thursday, it was once again a pretty typical day and Elder Etcheverry went on splits with some members again. Elder Morely and I also drew a whole bunch of water from a well for service. We didn't really find time to do a lot of lessons but did get to give people the water they use in their houses. We then taught a single lesson to the less active Delicano family and shared a message about eternal families after we learned that they experienced a death recently. After that, we headed over to the home of our bishop for dinner. He fed us legitimate chicken butts. They weren't as gross as you would have thought, but also still not super desirable.

Friday -

We were given the opportunity to teach to Jerry Tumamao. He's less active and in a part member family. His son Jeffery is 20 years old and a great fellowshipper of ours. He also has a mission call to Africa. Jerry also has a daughter named Jackie who is also a strong member. The rest of his family, which includes three children and his wife, are not members though. Anyways, Jerry is someone we see all the time but we never teach. He also really likes drinking alcohol. This unfortunately is very typical of most fathers here in the Philippines. Anyways, he had an accident and actually wrecked while driving drunk. He didn't end up causing anyone else problems and fell off his own motorcycle. He scraped up his face a lot and it became very swollen. We took this opportunity to teach him and help him. It went really well because of his softened heart and he's already started trying to read the scriptures and things.

After an awesome lesson with him we headed to our dinner appointment. While we were there, the members had their TV on and there was a news headline that said "If you are experiencing sore eyes do not put milk, kalamansi (small citrus fruit) juice, or urine in them." This headline on a national news program kind of speaks for itself. 

Saturday -

We spent all morning preparing for the baptism of this girl named Charity. She's one of the investigators of Elder Etcheverry and Elder Reamon; since Elder Etcheverry is now our companion we kinda stole this baptism. So anyways, we cleaned and filled the font, notified the ward about it and found speakers. Also, it was funny because as we saw members throughout the day we were called the "Tatlong Nephita" a few times which means "the Three Nephites" which is funny because we're just three white Americans in one companionship.

Sunday -

So of course we attended church. We also were given the opportunity to teach Jerry Tumamao again and we kind of just taught him how to pray. He kept turning to Matthew 6 to the Lord's Pray in the Bible and we had to explain to him how prayers should be said. It was a great lesson and I know that prayer is a very powerful tool in our lives. It is a commandment to pray to our Father in Heaven, but also a great blessing. I know that prayer can change peoples attitudes and lives, and I hope that will be the same for Jerry.

Pictures - 

packages, our trio, Charity's baptism, our investigators at church