Week 36: The Last Missionaries in Gosi Branch

This week was kind of an interesting one, and, without putting too fine a point on it, has tested me both physically and emotionally.

On Wednesday, we had splits with the Elders serving in Cabagan, which is the area right next to ours. Elder Stevens came to our area to work with me, and Elder Pino went to Cabagan to work with Elder Ditchos. I felt kinda bad for Elder Pino though, because one of our fellowshippers left on a mission this week, and his farewell party was on Wednesday, so I just took Elder Stevens as my plus-one instead of Elde Pino, and Elder Stevens is great, mind you, but it just wasn't the same.

There were a lot of tears shed at this farewell party by the way, and, not to compare or anything, but way more people came to his than mine.

To address the subject line, you might be surprised to hear that I'm not serving in the Gosi branch anymore. In fact there aren't any missionaries in the Gosi Branch anymore. Nope, me and Elder Pino are actually the first missionaries in the Gosi WARD! Woooohoooo! That was such good news to get on Sunday. Now the only other thing I need for my joy to be complete is for President Nelson to announce the Tuguegarao Philippines Temple. I swear, if I ever hear those words, I will cry, which is something I'm not at all ashamed to admit.

Love,
Elder Menzie

The Tagalog of the Crystal Skull:
Hindi minsan-minsan, basta pa lagi -- not just once in a while, all the time

Picture a day keeps the mom's complaints away:

the Carabao guarding our investigator's house

Me gaining the Carabao's trust

Jim at his farewell

Week 35: We're in Bat Country

What a week this has been, and I don't have that much time to tell you about it, so this one is gonna be kinda short. This week we had splits with the Zone Leaders, which was fun. We went to go follow up someone they had taught before, and when we got there, he came out, said he was busy, handed the book of mormon back that they had given him, and left us standing there, kinda confused as to what had just happened. We used that book of mormon later that day, but didn't hand it out.

Also we caught a bat this week. There is a picture below. We put a box on top of it and it wasn't happy.

We had a baptism this week, which was its own special kind of crazy. We got to the chapel early to clean and start filling up the font, and then we went and got smoothies. we came back, waited a bit, and the water was looking good, so I turned it off. We sit down again, and notice that the water's still going up. and it's spilling though the cracks, onto the floor. We scrambled around like chickens with our heads cut off, and finally got it under control, and the baptism actually happened, even though the guy who baptized her didn't have baptismal clothes that fit. It's great. I love it.

Love,
Elder Menzie

Tagalog Weekly:
Hindi magtitiis hanggan sa bukas, magtitiis hanggan sa wakas -- it's not endure till tomorrow, it's endure to the end (a proverb from our branch president)

Pictures:

The Bat

Marizza's Baptism

I'll let you try and figure out what these two things are