Bad News!

This week we got some terrible news from our zone leaders.  They decided to split our area and now we have one investigator and about 10 less actives who've been less active for over 20 years.  I was honestly really sad when they called to tell me they were splitting the area.  The people that we teach and everyone in that area is progressing.  If we don't show up for a couple days in that area the people ask us where we have been the next time we come.  But, I will do fine, it's just going to be a little harder in the area they gave us because the people here are just a little different.  In the area they gave us you still have to pay for your wife in pigs to get the wives parents approval.  The people are a little set in their ways here.

We went on splits this week with the zone leaders.  I was with Elder Allred from Idaho.  It was a really fun split and I learned a lot from him.  The way he taught was really good and really engaging.  The people were always the ones talking and the way he used metaphors to help the people better understand what we were trying to explain really helped me in my teaching.  At the end of our splits we did an over-view of the splits.  He said that I really get it.  He said that he can just tell how much I love the people.  I told him I have no idea what he's talking about because I didn't do anything special but he still insisted.  I still don't know what he's talking about but it was a way good split. 

Elder Hawlader this week was complaining that his kidneys were hurting but I kind of just shrugged it off because he wasn't acting like it wasn't a big deal.  Then the next day he sleeps in till nine and when he gets up he says that his back is really hurting.  At lunch time he started moaning and didn't stop for an hour before he told me to call President Rahlf to tell him we're headed to the Emergency Room!  It was pretty crazy and I thought he might actually be sick when he said that.  When we went to the ER and they told us he had a UTI (Urinary tract infection) and because of that we basically didn't work much this week.  

I also really didn't do anything for my birthday.  I didn't even get a cake but I did have some families from my last area call me and tell me happy birthday which was really nice.

The reason I'm emailing really late today is because we went to Banaue.  It's really beautiful there but it's really just a one time thing.  It was pretty crazy to think the rice terraces I walked on today were there back when Jesus Christ was here.  We also got a little off trail and I fell in the rice up to my knee.  It was pretty embarrassing and really itchy.  I might also have a ingrown toe nail on the leg that fell in so if I die because it gets infected this week I just wanted to say I

Banaue

Fell in right here

love you family especially Dad! Happy Fathers day dad!

I'm probably going to send a couple pictures today and then come back tomorrow to finish emailing because we got back pretty late today from Banaue.  

 Here is a link about my companion if you want to know more about him- http://www.mormonnewsroom.ph/article/first-mormon-missionary-from-bangladesh-arrives-in-the-philippines

Last week I wrote that basically nothing was happening in the area and now the area is awesome.  This week we contacted a ton of less actives and a lot of new investigators.  The Sabear family is awesome especially Shan.  He is the one in the family who really wants to know and has really good questions.  During our lesson about prophets I asked him if he thinks that we should have a prophet today and he said, open quote, "This is the time we really need them.  Everyone right now seems to have forgotten God."  Close quote :) When he said that I was just thinking YES inside!  He is a stud and is really smart but he doesn't have enough money to go to college and if you don't go to college you basically can't get a job so he and his family are struggling really bad right now.  The Gospel is exactly what they need right now!  We invited him to church and told him we would come pick him up but then he told us he would go himself.  The next day at church he doesn't show up so we go to his house to see why he didn't come to church but no one was there.  On the way out we saw his sister and she told us that Shan was waiting for us to come get him.  It was a pretty terrible feeling knowing that he was waiting for us.  Hopefully next week we'll communicate better so he can make it to church.  

We had interviews this week with President which are always really good.  He just asks how you're doing and a couple other questions.  He said, "get ready to not be the junior anymore" but I don't know what that means.  

We also found out this week that the area might split and the area they want to give to the sisters is right where we've been working this whole cycle.  Hopefully the area doesn't split because the people in the areas all know us now.  

This area is better than my last area by far.  The members are awesome and the area just seems easier for some reason.  Yan lang.

Mahal ko kayo.   

P.S. I think we might be going to Tuge again next week so if I don't write don't worry.

P.S.S. I only got a couple pictures this week so sorry but I did get some funny videos.  To bad I can't send them.

Crazy guy in church was making this drink.  He added bushes, Seasoning pack whole with wrapper, a lot of salt, and expired chunky vinegar from a garbage can.  I got video but it's really slow here so i'll try and send it another day! 

Don't have really anything much to say because I just wrote you on Wednesday but the area is good. It's just making me work really hard with almost very little results.  We did eat at a street stand the other day and found a family who seemed interested in what we had to say.  We went to their house yesterday and taught almost the whole family except for their brother and he was the only one who read the pamphlet we gave them.  When the lesson was over and we were about to leave their house their brother shows up and talks to us.  Turns out he's fluent in Pakistani language and so is Elder H.  They talked for a while and Elder H was probably the happiest I've ever seen him.  I can't remember what he said his name was but he really seems interested and Nay told us he was waiting for us to come and was kind of sad he didn't get to hear our message.

The area is really awesome and some families in the area really make it a good area. The Valdez family and the Bayatan family really make the area great.  The people here really love the Elders and it makes the area easier.  

Even though it's pretty hard right now I am learning a lot.  

So my comp comes from a family of 5.  2 sisters and him.  Only him and his youngest sister are members of the church.  Everyone in his family is a christian but of the Catholic church.  They live in a designated area

Birthday party for Sister Lori(middle)

for Christians and if they leave that designated area they might get hurt.  He doesn't know Tagalog because he has never studied it and doesn't want to learn it.   He doesn't know any other Filipino language.  He knows all the middle east languages though.  He said he knows 7 languages.

Sorry it's really short but next week will be better.  Love you guys!   

So sorry I didn't have time to write on Monday.  This week has been one of the longest and craziest in the mission.

So last week after I found out I was getting transferred, I went around and said goodbye to people in the Ramon Ward.  Then on Wednesday morning we got up and went to Cauayan for the transfer list.  The Zone Leaders read the list of who my new companion was and where I was getting transferred.  I got transferred to Salano zone and my area is Lamut in the southern part of the mission and my companion is Elder H.  Elder H is from Bangladesh and is the first missionary from Bangladesh and he says maybe in five more years there will be another one.  He's been out on his mission two years and one month.  He still doesn't know any Tagalog so it's kind of frustrating when I have to translate for him.  President Rahlf called me the other day and told me that I have an unusual assignment and that I need to help him get enrolled in a school.  He also told me that the reason he's letting Elder H extend is because if he goes back to Bangladesh the people there might kill him because he isn't a Muslim so President Rahlf is really trying to help him out and get him on his feet right after his mission.  The reason I'm writing my letter so late is because he wants to study in the Philippines and wants to get everything figured out before he gets sent home so we had to take a trip to Tuguegarao, a ten hour bus ride, to talk to the Dean at a university.  We also had to stay a night in Tuguegarao with the Zone Leaders there. 

The new area here is amazing!  The work is really slow and the zone leaders told me I'm basically opening the area because the last Elders didn't do anything.  The area isn't like any of my other areas,  It's all mountain and if you walk off the road ten feet you're in deep jungle.  The area is only a branch and the meeting house is really small.  The attendance at church was around 40 on Sunday.  We have a total of three investigators in this area and I found all of them last week.  

Well, pray for the area because it needs it.  Pray for me too because I need it. 

Also it might happen again where I don't write on a Monday because we might have to go back to

Tuguegarao.

Love ya!

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