Week 17: Catchin' Varmints, Baptizing Folks

For those of you who looked at my subject and thought, "Hey, last week he said Week 15, and now he's saying Week 17! Where was week 16?" First of all, that's very observant of you, and second of all, I've been informed that I accidentally labeled two emails in a row as Week 13, so this is me fixing that. And for those of you who didn't notice, or just could not care if you tried, here's your regularly scheduled programming:

This week was great! As long as we've been in our apartment, we've noticed a little mouse that thinks what's ours is theirs, and has made a home in our living space. We have tried several times to catch this mouse and throw it out, but this sucker was fast! We tried to trap it in a room, but it slipped right out from under us. We tried to sweep it out, but a broom is nothing to this fool. We didn't know what to do and this mouse was making a fool out of us.

That all changed this Saturday.

It was early in the morning. I had already showered, and I was reading my Bible like a good little elder, when I saw a brown spot dart into our study room.
Not today.
I got up, grabbed a trash can, took the liner out, and closed the door to the study room. It was just me and the mouse. I got him out from under the table where he was hiding, and while he was running along the wall, I scooped him up in the garbage bin. I CAUGHT THE MOUSE! We took that sucker and threw him in the street. We've got another one now though, so it's all good.

Sister Domingo got baptized this week! Funny story though, because the day of the baptism, our branch president informed us the pump to our baptismal font was broken. Sweet. Our branch president then suggested that we just baptize her in the river, which I was totally down with, but sister Domingo, as well as President Hiatt thought it would be better if we did it in a Font. So we made the ride out to Roxas, and sister Domingo got baptized there. It was great though, because there were a ton of people getting baptized there that day, and I got to see a lot of the other missionaries in our zone.

Also, there's another pretty big Typhoon coming! I'm excited! We've got four other elders at our apartment again.

Love,
Elder Menzie

The Tagalog Strikes Back:
Bawal Umihi Dito -- forbidden pee here (this is spray painted on walls that people don't want pee to get on)

Sunshine over a rice field

Water buffalo with bird chillin' on its head 

The Varmint

Elder Leausa and I with the Domingo family

Week 16: Here Comes the Bride!

We had a wedding here in Aurora!

Two of our investigators, Brother and Sister Domingo, got married this week, it was great. Their daughter, Claudine, was baptized by the Elders in this area before us, but when Sister Domingo went to have her baptismal interview, they found out that her and Brother Domingo weren't actually married, and now they are! The youth here helped to decorate the chapel with paper flowers and it looked great!

The chapel all ready for the wedding

On the day of the wedding though, Brother and Sister Domingo were late to their own wedding! That's just Filipino time though. It was all good though, because the Branch President, who was going to marry them wasn't there yet either. That was pretty funny. The wedding was great though. We laughed, we cried, they played that one Christina Perri song from Twilight that everyone plays at weddings.

Other than the wedding though, something pretty crazy happened this week. We were contacting on Friday, and we saw these guys smoking inside this walled off compound with the gate open. My companion told me to contact them so I did. They let us in, and we get to talking, and it turns out, the guy who owns the lot is from Massachusetts! He used to work in a gas station in Shrewsbury! Talk about a small world. He was super cool, and said we could come back on Monday, so that's what we're doing lather today! wish me luck!

Love,
Elder Menzie

A New Tagalog:
Sa ang pangalang ni Jesu Cristo, amen. -- In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Brgy, Bagnos in the rain

Elder Leausa in the rain

Word of Wisdom in a nutshell