GOD BLESS YA! (in a southern accent)

We ran into this Born Again Christian from Tennessee literally in the middle of nowhere. Some car just pulled up and then they rolled down the window and some dude just told us "Howdy!" He actually knew Tagalog which was impressive. What he was doing out in the middle of the Bukid? No Idea. But it was cool to get a small taste of home. Right after that we stopped by this gorgeous beach which you will see in later pictures.

This week was an interesting week. We just finalized the papers on the new apartment we're moving into, so we'll be moving in later this week, so that's going to be hectic. I had to negotiate prices for the first time, and it was like the scariest thing I have ever done. We got what we needed though, and now it's officially set. I'll send a picture of the move next week. 

 

We also had a CSP where we helped this member tear down his house. It was absolutely disgusting. Just years of filth. But we tore it down, and are in the process of building a new one. We also found a live chicken underneath it. 

 

We also meet a Greek Orthodox Catholic for the first time. There's only like 1000 of them here in the Philippines because they don't proselyte in their religion. They are like Roman Catholics, but they actually try to follow the commandments and don't worship Idols. So it's actually one of the chillest religions so far. He was super cool, and we were able to learn a little about his religion, which was fairly new to us. There's a lot lacking, but it's a step up from some other ones I've talked to.

 

This week was cool work-wise. We taught a lot of people, and have been experimenting with incorporating the Bible in our teachings. We've been having some success with that. It's crazy how much the Bible testifies of the truthfulness of our message. It's been fun. That's all this week though.

 

All is Well

Elder Bills

1. That's the house 2. It's gone now 3. Paradise 4. Daet 2B (featuring sea blown hair)

 

This email was fun to get. Since Isaac was basically raised in Arkansas, he claims the south as his home, so getting hear a guy from Tennessee say "God bless ya!" was probably a total tender mercy for him! 

Isaac called last night, but when they call from the internet cafe and the headphones don't work super well, it gets really loud really fast. He says it's all the kids playing games. We asked why the kids aren't in school. He just shrugged his shoulders. :) 

He told us about negotiating the rent for the place they'll be living in a neighboring town to Daet. He said he felt like a real adult, having to haggle the price. He started giggling when he said, "Then Elder Shepherd turned to me and said, 'This is a historic occasion ... we just bought our first home together.'" We laughed at that one. Elder Shepherd is pretty witty. They seem to get along great and want to stay companions as long as they can, especially since they are moving to the center of their area and kinda starting over. 

Isaac is in good spirits. Seemed like he was a little down through December, but last night, he was his old, jovial self. Said they talked and taught a lot of people this past week, but no one showed to Church on Sunday which is always disappointing. 

 

He told us about how people will ask them if the Restoration was prophesied of in the Bible, so that's why he mentioned that they've been using the Bible more. Isaac said, I was tired of not knowing the answer so we've been finding all these places in the Bible where the Restoration is clearly revealed. He was pretty excited to share how he's figured out the Bible and Book of Mormon complement each other perfectly, and when they are able to show that to people they are teaching, some of the people start to understand that, too.