Magandang
Hapon po!
Kamusta!
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| Elder Lasay and Elder Nay unloading their new fridge. |
Well,
between transfer week and moving apartments, I think we have spent more time
traveling and sitting in meetings than actually working in our area. My new
area and companion is really awesome. Believe it or not, I am still here in
Tuguegarao Ward 2 and still with Elder Lasay! Haha I think I am destined to
stay long periods of time in my areas and with my companions. By the end of
this cycle, I will have been in this area for 6 months. I love staying in areas
though because I get to know people a lot more and see their progression. The
good news is that I get to stay in our new apartment that we found! We are
almost all settled in by now, and it is a much better place. Now we actually
live in our area and within walking distance to a lot of our appointments. And
we don't have to try to go to bed with drinking parties right outside our
bedroom window all night and living in the hot and stuffy city. It really is a
miracle that we were able to find our new apartment. Finding potential
apartments here is a lot different than from back home because it is 100% off
of people knowing other people that are renting, or seeing it
yourself-definitely no real estate agents or any kind of public advertisements.
We had been asking everybody we saw and asked all the members to help us look
for several months, but nothing was working out. We even made it a conversation
starter in our tracting efforts, "Excuse me, do you know of any houses for
rent around here? Oh really? Thats too bad... By the way, we're missionaries...."
Haha. Eventually, President Carlos even politely reminded us that we NEEDED to
find a new apartment sooner than later, so one night we set our entire schedule
for just looking and asking people for a place we could rent. Before we left,
we prayed that we would be guided to find an apartment we could rent. As soon
as we got off of the tricy about halfway into our area, we went to the first
house we saw which happened to have people on their front porch. We were
surprised when they told us that there was one just a couple houses down the
street. On our way to check it out, we joked among ourselves that it would
probably be like all of the other ones people had told us about that were far
from church standards-no running water, unsealed roof, sketchy surroundings,
etc. When we saw it, we were shocked because it was a
legitimate rent-able place, and even had a contact number on the
front door. We immediately texted the number and they agreed to come and meet
us within a few minutes to check it out. The landlord is even super nice and
easy to work with, which is another rare thing here. After a few days, the
Shaners came with the paperwork and final approval, and the rest is history! We
definitely had a little extra help from above finding that one.
First off,
that is way cool that Aimee is pregnant again! And I should actually be home to
meet my new niece/nephew after birth (just barely...haha)!
I had to
give a talk yesterday in church, and it is weird to see how used to speaking I
am now in front of people. I remember the good ol' days of Young Men's, and
getting assigned to talk in Sacrament meeting was the worst nightmare ever. Now
it is surprisingly easy and not nearly as intimidating.
Just yesterday, we were blessed to find a great new
investigator. Even more exciting, it is a male so we don’t have to worry about
not being able to teach him if there is nobody else present. We found him by
making our usual rounds of follow up visits with some of our last contacts, and
getting the same usual result of them not being home or not being able to teach
because they are busy or there is no other male present. After following up
with one of our last contacts, he said we couldn’t teach him, but just as we
were leaving he told us to go to his friend’s house across the street because
he was interested in learning more. He told us we had talked to his friend
before, but Elder Lasay and I knew neither of us had talked to anybody else in
that area with his description before. Nevertheless, we were happy to have a
new and unexpected referral and contacted him immediately. When we arrived, a
young man fitting the description saw us and immediately stopped what he was
doing and let us into his home. After some conversation, we realized that he
had been taught by missionaries several years ago and had apparently seen us
walking around his friend’s house and mentioned to his friend that he wished we
would visit him too. We only taught him a simple first lesson and focused on
the How To Begin Teaching, but he was eager to set a return appointment. It is
interesting to realize that even if we are walking around and seemingly being
“punted” all day, no effort is wasted and the Lord is still preparing people
for us. The Lord's work is hastening and it is a pleasure to be a part of His
army of restoring Christ's church on the earth. He hears our prayers, and is
always there to help us despite our problems. The best way to serve Him,
especially at this time of year, is going about "feeding His sheep"
and doing good deeds for other people.
Well, it is time to head, but I am looking forward to our skype
on my Dec. 26 about 8:30 in the morning. Hopefully I will get to talk to every
one!
Salamat po sa lahat,
Mahal ko kayo,
Elder Nay
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