Fw: Howdy

 

 

 

Hey! :D

 

I got your birthday package yesterday!!  Yay!!!  Maraming salaaaaaaamat!  :D  I said earlier today to my housemates, "Hey!  Hali kayo at magpakabusog sa pagmamahal ng pamilya ko!"  as I shared some Skittles.  Om nom nom. :D  Thaaank yoooouu!  Also, thank you Grandma Nancy for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD.  I was actually kind of wanting a lot of the songs off of that album.  "This is the Christ", in specific, is a amazingly beautiful hymn.  I love it.  :D

We also got transfer announcements yesterday.  I've finally been transferred (packing and moving all my stuff from one place to another was a pain.  I think I have a little bit too much stuff...) to Pasig Zone.  Which is... right next to Makati Zone.  Yaaaayy.... :P  Again, I was kinda hoping for the province, and when they announced "Pasig Zone!", I was like, "What?  Pasig Zone?  That's not province!"  :P Oh well...  ^^''

 

Earlier today during transfer meeting, someone (I forget who) mentioned the verse talking about how by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass.   I've realized recently how true that is.  The Sy family is a part-member family in our area:  everyone but Brother Sy is a member.  The previous missionaries have tried before to teach him, but between being busy and being addicted to cigarettes and whatnot, though they had some success, they weren't able to make too much progress (they got him to church once on his birthday last year, but that was about it).  Elder Graham was one of the missionaries back then.  Back then, he wrote a list of part-member families and their addresses on a yellow sheet of paper, made a few notes on it about visits to the different families, and then tucked it away somewhere in the apartment.  Now, almost a year later, Elder Campos and I found that same list, saw the Sys' name on it, and decided to go pay them a visit.   I'm not sure what's different this time, but now he's extremely receptive to the message.  He really cares for his family and wants what's best for them.  He responded really well to the promise of eternal marriage and an eternal family.  Since our first visits with him, he's prayed and gained a testimony of the Restoration, and we gave him a baptismal date on Monday.  I'm really excited for him (I did not want to be transferred to Palawan this transfer, because you can't attend baptisms on your previous area if you do, since... it's an island... which would mean I would miss a lot of baptisms from Boni 4th that I do not want to miss).  Anyway, yesterday, Sister Sy said something after I told her I was leaving that really hit me.  She said, basically, that, first of all, Brother Sy would be sad to know I'm leaving.  She thanked me for teaching her husband.  Then she said, "Because of you, his heart was touched."  That really hit me.  It says in my patriarchal blessing that I was sent here to be an influence on certain people.  Now I really know what that means.  I really am here in the Philippines for a reason.  By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

 

Anyway, now here I am in Pasig Zone.  Elder Dela Cruz is my new companion (who was actually Elder Leavitt's companion just last transfer).  I'm still a junior, but I don't mind.  I am a little nervous about this transfer, though.  He and I will be shotgunning Pasig 1st, meaning that we're both being transferred to the area, and both of the previous missionaries have been transferred out.  Earlier this afternoon, I took a look at the area book, which is where a record is kept of investigators' progress and whatnot, and almost died.  Cobwebs and spiders might as well have fallen out of it.  It hasn't been updated since around the end of June.  The only thing even remotely useful in there was a hurriedly-scrawled note (probably written yesterday) by the previous missionaries, briefly relaying the names of our investigators, the names of our ward missionaries, and two dinner appointments.  There is almost nothing else.  As far as I can tell from the area book, no work has been done in the last two months.  So now we know almost nothing about the area (there's not even a map), and this is Elder Dela Cruz's first time being a senior, so he's still kinda new at this, too, though he's a few transfers ahead of me.  We'll have to rely a lot on the ward missionaries and the members to even have an idea of where to start.  I'm... a little overwhelmed, honestly.  D: But we'll do the best we can.

 

...Anyway, that's the mess I'm in.  I'm not worried at all about Boni 4th.  Elder Campos will be staying there, and he knows what he's doing.  His new companion will be Elder Nye, who was actually in my batch back at the MTC.

 

Maliban diyan, sounds like you guys have been doing all right.  I hope Josh does well with that online program.  I think he'll enjoy it.  And institute, too. 

 

The story about the bees was amusing.  :)  Tell Brent to send some of that brake fluid here (not because there's a lot of bees here, but because most brakes around here REALLY need brake fluid.  It hurtz my ears... D: ).

 

Once again, GO BAND!!! :D YOU CAN DO IT!!!

 

RIP Kittie... D:

 

Tell Katie congratulations for choosing to serve a mission!  Let me know the details when the call comes.  Though, Katie may or may not read this herself, so, Katie!  Congratulations on choosing to serve a mission!  :D  Let me know the details when the call comes.  ^^''

 

Speaking of which, Lehi Surio will be entering the MTC on Saturday.  I had another one of those sad "Oh... I'll probably never see you again..." moments yesterday.. D: I'll miss him a lot; he's been a lot of fun to work with.  I'll also really miss all of the Boni 4th ward.  They've become sorta like family since I've been here.  Transfers are sad times... D:

 

There's more I'd like to write, but I'm out of time.  And everyone's waiting for me..  So, until next week, ingat kayo!! Mahal ko kayo!!

 

Love,

Elder David Jones