Week 57: Pump it

This week has been like a roller coaster that got picked up by a tropical cyclone and spat out before you could say "We're not in Kansas anymore,"

It was a lot.

We start off the week with Elder Salas. He's home now. He fought the good fight and all that jazz. Some members fed him on Monday night, and then he left Tuesday morning. It was a true 8 weeks that we had together.

Wednesday, I got my new companion, Elder Herrera Morales. He is from Mexico, but grew up in the US for most of his life. It's cool, because he was actually my Zone Leader back in Tuguegarao, and now he's my comp down here in Bambang. He also had to make that monster of a bus ride that I made when I came from Tugue, so we were waiting for him to show up for most of the day, which was fun, and by fun, I mean boring, but it was okay, because there's sweet sweet air conditioning in the chapel, which is where we waited.

Elder Herrera got here, and then Thursday, we had to travel again to go to Cauayan for some meetings, but it was okay, because I got to try out a tie pin that Elder Salas left behind. It's a circular American Flag, with a nice peace symbol stamped on top. It's just as good as it sounds, but one of the APs said it wasn't "quiet dignity" but, to be honest, I don't know what's more quiet or dignified than the stars and stripes, and if that's not what's wrong, I guess he's just got a problem with peace. That's on him.

Friday rolled around, and we had interviews with President and Sister Craig, Which were great. President Craig spent a large amount of the mission talking about Boston and how great it is, which is a pretty fast way to get on my good side, especially when he was talking about the Boston Temple. It is one of the best. President Craig is great.

On Saturday we were excited to get a full day of work in, but then we got a call from the sister missionaries for the other branch in Bambang, who said that the faucet for the baptismal font wasn't working, so we told them to call President Craig and see if they could just baptize their person in the river. That was a no go, so we went over there with our District Leader to go pump water into buckets and throw the water through the window and into the font. it took 3 hours, but it was great.

Love,
Elder Menzie

Tagalog Graciously:
Sobrang mabait at masipag ang mga Elder -- the Elders are very nice and hardworking

Week 56: Dinners, Pictures and Baptisms

Hey all you good people! I've had a good week. I hope that you're doing good. Goodly.

One of the good things that happened this week is we got to have dinner at the Perallta family. They're members here in Bambang, and they are VERY nice. They are also VERY good cooks. there was fried fish, chicken and chickpea in this good sauce, and this this thin, fillipino soup-type stuff called  sinigang, which, if I'm being honest, is usually just okay, but their sinigang was really darn good. Also, I took a picture using the timer function on my camera, and before I clicked the button, I didn't even check the framing, but it turned out pretty good.

We also went to an area that was even further than Malayo, and I took a picture again.

It's called Kasibu and it is VERY pretty. We found a lot of new people there, and I think something really cool could happen there if it was given the proper focus.

Also we had a baptism this week! I sent a picture of Sister Divina last week, and she got baptized this week! it was awesome.

It's been so cool to teach Sister Divina. We were just walking down the street like 5 weeks ago and we didn't have anyone to go teach, and we saw her house, and said "A nice person probably lives there" and we were right. Sister Divina is probably one of the funniest people I've ever met in the Philippines. She came to church as soon as we invited her, kept all commitments, and just made it easy to baptize her. It was awesome. When she passed her baptismal interview, she shouted "TAPOS NA? YEAHHHHHHHH!" Which means, "It's done? Yeahhhhhhhh!" It was super funny. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to teach her. I love not having to worry about people. I feel so sure in Divina's conversion that I don't have to worry about her, because I know that she knows in whom to trust. And that's the foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Love,
Elder Menzie

Tagalog With a Smack of Ham:
Kwan -- what you say when you forgot a word