Elder, You need to run!

Surprise! I'm not dead, and yes That should be surprise because its been one crazy week, most of which was not spent in our area. 

Last Wednesday Me and my Companion had to do an emergency evac of our area, and had to stay in the Ocampo area all week. A terrorist group known as the NPA(new peoples army, a rebel group here in the Philippines) invaded our area. They came into the area killed some people and took others hostage. We had a recent convert, and her husband get taken. One has returned and the other is still missing. All of the other members in our area are safe, which is a relief. After the shooting, the NPA started marching up and down the area looking for "foreigners" they heard about in the area. There was more shootings, and skirmishes. We were told by a member, "Elder, you need to run". With their help, we got out of the area safe, and headed to Ocampo where the other two Elders in our district were. We waited in Ocampo till we got an all clear. The Military Police(the people who want to behead us) went into our area, and fought with NPA, and supposedly drove them out. Were able to return to our area on Saturday, after getting an all clear from a member. From what we've heard, small branches of the NPA are still present, so we have to stay away from some areas, and have to return to our house before dark. 

 

So we haven't been able to to get much work in our area done, which has definitely been a pain. Were getting back into the swing of things though, and trying our best. 

 

So not much happened this week, while we were in Ocampo we simply went tracting, which was cool, because we got to explore and meet the people in a new area, and it's really different because, some parts of Ocampo are city, which is a far stretch from our little farm town area. So that was actually a pretty neat experience. So overall though, its been a hectic,but not very productive week, but life is like that sometimes. We'll kick it back into gear though this week, and then i'll more to report on next week. And i'll try to not die until then.

 

All is Well 

Elder Bills

1. A member family in our area, The Myores, There awesome, I love them. 2. The graveyard in our area. 3. A sketchy bridge we crossed on Tuesday.