Great First Week In San Ildefonso Received 7-09-2012 (sorry out of order)

Hey, Hey, Hey! :D

Had a pretty great first week!  Even though there was almost no work when we started last week, we've built the area up really quickly.  We got 5 New Investigators this week which now puts us at 8.  And....... we gave out 5 baptismal dates! :D  Woot! haha, most of them are little kids but I'm glad that the work picked up really quick rather than us wandering around wondering what we should do for a week or two.

Carabao-Water Buffalo

So San Ildefonso and being in the province is still kinda sorta epic :)  It's still be-A-utiful and I don't think that'll wear off my whole time here.  Yesterday we were walking to an investigators house and this guy rode past us on his gigantor carabao pulling a cart.  Pretty cool stuff :)  Our laundry is done by hand by one of the nanays in our branch.  She's super cool and we call her Mama 'P' :)

Beautiful!

Even though we're in a branch the building is still the same.  It's huge like the last 2 churches but about the same size as the Panghulo chapel.  It's pretty interesting being in a Branch because it is a LOT less organized than a ward.  President Sperry's 1st Counselor in the Mission Presidency came to our Branch yesterday and gave a talk.  After the sacrament meeting we talked to him for a while and he told us that we need to take a lot of responsibility with the organization of the Branch.  He said that in the city the church has been around for a long time but that since it has only been here for about 10-15 years it is really dependent on the missionaries for a lot of what happens.  It's going to be really cool to watch how much we help not just the missionary work, but the branch to progress.  There's a TON of potential for both the missionary work and branch progression, I'm really excited to see how much of a lasting difference we can make in this area.

We're REALLY far from the temple so it costs 3000 pesos ($75) to rent a jeepney to take us there.  So we didn't go this time because we didn't have enough investigators to make it worth it.  But we hope to take a bunch of people on July 28.  We'll see what happens, it would be cool :)

Too Cool For School?! ;)

Soooooo..... Birthday on the mission?  SUPER weird. haha :)  Since it wasn't a P-day it just felt like another day but I was a little less motivated to work heheheh :o)  It rained SUPER hard for 30 minutes without letting up at all on my birthday.  It was so loud we couldn't hear each other talk without yelling a bit.  It was the hardest rain I've seen and we thought it was gonna be a bagyo (storm/hurricane).  But it randomly let up after that.  It flooded the street outside and almost got a bit in our apartment.  So we went and got some pictures just for you Mom :)  We ended up having a feast at a member's house that night even though I don't know them super well yet and kinda just wanted to relax instead haha :)  It was fun though.  They made Adobong Manok(Chicken) and Sinigang Baboy(Pork), and we brought a BIG cake and mango/ube/chocolate ice-cream.... weird mix :o)



WOW!!
Now that's what we call RAIN!



Hahaha, that's awesome that you guys celebrated at Los Hermanos without me :)  I hope the Enchilada, chips & salsa, and fried ice cream were napakasarap!!!!(freaking delicious:)
Oh no.... Mom, I'm a good example of picture taking for sister missionaries??? That's a really bad sign, I better start taking less pictures ;o)

That's pretty cool about the rain you received from praying.  Really cool and shows that prayer really works and miracles happen in our day too; not just in Pioneer times or the scriptures.  Awesome 'possum! :)  I'd say that you could have some of the rain we're getting but I really like the rain now :)  It cools things off a bit (the other Elders even get chilly sometimes!) and getting wet from rain is SOOOOO much better than getting wet from sweat :oP  I even gave up my manliness a bit and bought a payung!(Umbrella:)

Giving my first workshop in District Meeting tomorrow.  It's about Finding new people to teach, which is something I haven't been super great with so far.  So I'm a bit nervous but REALLY excited to teach other missionaries and hopefully just lead a discussion :)  I'll be going to the Mission Office this week with Elder Batan (the other DL in our zone) on Friday for training.  Man, I wish I had time to tell you about all the AWESOME people I've met out here haha :)  Just know Elder Batan's a cool Philipino.  Should be a fun 2 hr. bus ride there and 2 hr. bus ride back :P

That's all for now folks! :)
LOVE YA!
Da Beej

P.S.
Be excellent to each other and party on dudes! :)