Learning Charity

Hello my dearest family!!                                               

Shoot, I'm not sure what to even report on right now for this week. Honest to goodness, it has flown by! First of all, yes, all Filipino children are just so stinkin' cute. My absolute favorite. Sister Abonitalla is awesome. She is an amazing teacher....I always seem to luck out with the awesome ones when I'm training :) She has the craziest life story too that I'll have to tell you sometime. We've just clicked really fast though! Ha, I feel like we've known each other forever. No flight info yet. I still need to fill out the paper and turn it in to mail run this Saturday. So no info for a while. That's ok with me though. Poor Ryan doesn't get conference yet. I swear I used Elder Hollands talk all week this week. Haha, my favorite still, "then Peter, what are we doing here again?? Did you learn nothing??". Conference is always so helpful with teaching. And I just love the Jensens!! They're so cute. I love the couple missionaries...they're just like my parents here. 

Oh man, the Less Actives this week are all trying to teach me charity. Ha, I nearly lost it this weekend. We went to multiple less actives this week that have all at some point been offended for one stupid reason or another. And they just go off and start bashing on every member, leader and their dog, and you can't stop them. It's incredible to see the anger and hurt that they're still holding on to. And for what? By the 4th time it happened within 2 days, I just sat there and stared at my lap because I knew if I opened my mouth, it would be me speaking, most definitely NOT the Holy Ghost. Then when I'd pulled myself together a bit I was able to give a 3 minute reality check for them before closing the lesson. Oh my goodness, Morong's offended members are a joke compared to this branch. I think it's the rural mentality?? All so prideful and so concerned about reputation and status? No idea. Yesterday I thought, it's a good thing that Sister Shumway is here because she puts a damper on us. Sister Sanchez, my comp, and I are all a little bit passionate. Haha. But holy cow, I sure am learning lots from them about what I NEVER want to do or be like. "The natural man is an enemy to god (and I might add, to yourself)....unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man...and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things". They refuse to let themselves be healed. It's super frustrating, but more than anything, super sad. 

We found some awesome new investigators this week though! We were trying to find a less active and we just happened to decide to tao-po at this house and we met this guy, brother Zeldy. Seriously, he has studied religion. As in. Most Filipinos have no idea about the history of Catholicism, the protestant break off, world events during the apostacy, teachings from the bible....but this guy has studied it for reals. And as a result, he's pretty much given up on religion because none of it adds up. In his words, he's just decided to step back and observe because it's such a mess he doesn't want to be a part of it. Ha, so he loved the story of the restoration. We've only taught him a couple times, but he gets it, and at a much deeper level then most. So fun to teach. Brother Exequial is hilarious. We weren't able to get back to him for a couple days, so we showed up on Wednesday and he tells us he was about to get on his motorcycle and start

driving around the church to see if he could find us. Bahahaha, he thought we'd forgotten him. I just started laughing.  He has a baptism date for November. 

I learned how to make snowflakes this week! The awesome kind where you can put frosty the snowman and temples in them. Super excited. We're going to have a snowflake making party to decorate the apartment. Boo, I'm working on the list of questions for you. Don't you worry, I didn't forget! It's just taking me forever with how busy it's been. Maybe by the time I send it it'll get there just before I do. haha :) I can't think of anything else right now. Just another week in the mission. We have zone interviews this weekend. I'm going to ask president if I can go back to the mainland a little earlier before going home so I can go visit people in Tandang Sora and Morong. I've heard of other missionaries that have done it, so I'm crossing my fingers :) Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Until next Monday!