Fw: Greetings

 

 

 

 

Herro!  :D

Things like slippery leaves covering the ground and freezing cold rain seem like foreign concepts to me right now... O.o  It's still as hot as the blazes over here and just as muggy as it is any other time of year, with an occasional (though not as frequent as they were about a month ago) rainstorm.  Coming home to cold, wet, rainy Washington is gonna be weird.  Good thing I've got a giant umbrella and a pair of rubber shoes that I bought at the mall.  :D

We got to go to Lhujay and Ehlona's baptism on Saturday.  It was a pretty cool experience.  Since I left, Tatay Dublan has received the Priesthood, and he was the one to baptize his kids.  Lyka Dublan, who was baptized on July 31st, was one of the speakers for the baptism.  She gave a short, simple talk on faith and repentance.  It's really cool to see the whole family returning to full activity in the Church.  I'm really looking forward to them being sealed in the temple, hopefully next year.

President Stucki has actually passed a new rule where you're not supposed to go back to your old areas for baptisms, because you're supposed to focus your efforts on your own area.  But I got permission to attend the Dublans' baptism, as long as we brought investigators with us.  So we brought the Borinaga family.  :D  They enjoyed it.  It was a good spiritual experience for everyone.

...Unfortunately, the Borinaga family then wasn't able to come to church yesterday.  In fact, none of our progressing investigators were able to come to church.  I'm still not sure why yet; we haven't been able to go back and visit them yet.  Hopefully they'll be able to keep coming in the future.

On Friday, we were invited to give a small presentation about the Church at a local high school, since the topic of their social studies class (araling panlipunan) was world religion.  It was pretty fun.  It was my first time to give such a presentation, so both my companion and I were kinda nervous, but it turned out well.  It got a bit.. weird.. at times, just because.... Well, picture a tall, white, gwapo American giving a presentation in front of a class full of teenage, Filipino schoolgirls.  ^^''  Yeah..  After the presentation, they insisted on taking pictures.  (They also wanted to know my facebook address... I told them no).  It was mostly fun because I got a chance to see what school is like here in the Philippines.  It's kinda cool.  It's all actually pretty formal (though occasional jokes keep the mood light).  The first thing that happened when class started was everyone stood up and said to the teacher, in unison, "GOOD MORNING, MISS!"  Then they all turned around to face us and said, "GOOD MORNING, VISITORS!"  I was like, O.O "AAAH!!"  A lot of the students had prepared assorted presentations and things, some of which were highly amusing (including a "Dora the Explorer"-themed one, and one where they were pretending to give a "weather report" using a map of the Philippines and pictures of the sun and clouds and things taped to long pieces of wood.  Hehehe).  Whenever the teacher had students answer questions, they stood up and answered her formally ("So, class, what issue was discussed in their presentation?  Marvin?"  "Ma'am, the issue that was discussed in this presentation was the raising of prices of vegetables in the Philippines!")  It was a cool experience.  Afterwards, we had an opportunity to sit down and talk with some of the teachers.  They thanked us for coming, saying it was a good experience for the kids, since all the other stuff they discussed is the stuff that they always talk about every time.  This was an opportunity for them to hear something new (and an opportunity for them to see a gwapo American in their school... >.> )  We gave the teachers copies of the Book of Mormon and told them how to contact us, in case they were interested in learning more.

...It also turns out that the school we gave a presentation at is the same school that Lyka Dublan goes to.  We told her at the baptism that we visited her school.  She seemed to think it was kind of weird.  ^^''

In other news, occasionally the jeepney drivers keep accidentally giving us extra change, because apparently they think we're students, who usually get a one-peso discount.. And then there was one time when I gave the driver a 100-peso bill to pay for a 16-peso ride, and he gave me back 104 pesos as change.  I was like, ... O.o  "What the devil...?" and gave him back the extra change.

The French horn instructor at BYU-I has been emailing me occasionally, saying he's excited to work with me this year.  He says that there's not as many French horn students coming in for the winter semester, so he's requested me to start on that track.  He also gave me a few tips for how to start work on rebuilding my embouchure strength when I get back.

...I guess I'm singing in the Christmas program when I get back.  ^^''  Should be fun.  Singing is one of the only things I've been able to keep up to speed while I've been out here, so as long as the Christmas program isn't that hard, it should be fine.

Anyway, that's about it.  Until next week, ingatz!  :D

Love,
Elder David Jones

Fw: Yay, BYU-I!

 

 

 

 

Herro!  :D

 

Yaaaaaaay!!!  Got accepted!!  :D  I figured I probably would, but I was still getting kinda nervous about it.

 

This has been kind of an interesting week.  The Borinaga family is still doing pretty well.  There was one lesson last week where we were teaching about faith and repentance, and Cynthia, who's a bit of a basket case, randomly started chewing on her son, John Claine, about certain things he needed to stop doing.  John Claine's really not a bad kid.  His main problem is he's getting caught up in the wrong crowd and making some mistakes.  Elder Ranoco and I thought it was completely unneccesary to sit there and chew on him like that.  :/  On Sunday, we almost thought they weren't going to make it to church, and that we wouldn't have any investigators at church.  But then it turned out that a member brought a few friends from school, and then Cynthia and John Claine showed up in the middle of Gospel Essentials class.  It was like, "Yay, you're here!"  :D  It was great, because the lesson in Gospel Essentials was perfect for that family.  The other day, we brought a few of the young men to their house, and they made pretty good friends with John Claine.  John Claine had a bit of a relapse with alcohol the previous night, because he was invited to a party by friends, and Justin and Ian, who we brought with us, were able to relate really well and give him some advice.  It was a good experience for them.

 

On a bit of a sadder note, one of our other investigators, Sister Jay Ann, pretty well turned us down yesterday.  She and her hopefully soon-to-be husband (another live-in case), Jestoni, had been making really good progress.  Jay Ann had received a pretty firm answer to her prayers, and had developed a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  On Sunday, we discussed baptism with them, and they understood the importance of it really well, as well as the importance of having proper authority to baptize.  Bro. Jestoni was all for being baptized, but Jay Ann, though she seemed she wanted to, said she wanted to think about it, saying her dad might not be happy about it.  So we gave her a bit of time to think, and came back yesterday.  When we showed up yesterday, I could tell something was wrong.  She didn't smile when she greeted us.  She seemed tired.  Her countenance had changed entirely.  Then, when we asked her if she'd given it some thought, she said, "No.  I don't want to.  It's never entered my mind to convert to another religion.  I was born a Catholic, and I'll die a Catholic.  My whole family's Catholic, and that's just the way I'll stay."  I was shocked.  We asked her again if she believed if Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and if this is the true Church of Jesus Christ, and she said, "Yeah, I believe in everything you're saying.  But I don't want to change religions."  The baby then started crying in the other room, so she went to go take care of her, and disappeared.  She didn't come back out to face us again.  We were shattered.  Jestoni was just as surprised as we were.  She hadn't said anything like that to him before.  The rejection was sudden and unexpected.  We invited Jestoni to come to church on Sunday, and he said he would.  He also said he'd talk to Jay Ann.  I think someone talked to her between Sunday's visit and yesterday's, possibly someone from her family or whatnot, and convinced her not to get baptized, possibly even threatened her.  Based on her reaction, based on her sudden change of attitude, it really seems like she didn't want to say what she said to us.  I'm not ready to give up yet.  We'll keep trying to encourage her to rethink her decision.

 

Just goes to show that even now, in the last few months of the mission, there's still challenges that await me.  I'm hoping we can overcome this one, because I really like that family, and I don't want to drop them.

 

I won't be travelling home alone.  Actually, most of my batch is going home on the same day.  Most of them are going for the same reason, college, but some of them are just going home so they can be home for Christmas.  :P  I don't imagine that they'll all have the 8-hour layover at Taipei, though, and I'll be the only one going to SeaTac airport.  For travel purposes, being alone is probably pretty unavoidable, and it should be fine.

 

Transfer announcements were kinda amusing on Monday.  No one transferred, except two of the sisters.

 

I find it hard to understand why wanting to be on the same track as a sibling to save on travel costs and reduce fuel emissions by carpooling isn't an acceptable reason to request a certain track.  :P  But I suppose that's not my call.  Hopefully we'll be on the same track anyway.

 

Question:  Mom, Richelle, and Darcy, what are your ring sizes?  I need to know by next Monday for confidential reasons.  Special mission prerogative.  Or something.  ;P

 

I do too remember what snow and ice are!  It's that stuff you have to scoop out of the freezer every once in a while so your hot dogs don't get lost forever and die of freezer burn.  :P

 

Anyway, it's getting pretty close.  This is my last full transfer, then just half a transfer left, and then I'll be heading home.  I'M LEAAAAVIN!  ON A JET PLANE!  DON'T KNOW WHEN I'LL BE BACK AGAIN...  ;P

 

...Ahem, until next week, then...

 

Ingatz!  :D

 

Love,

Elder David Jones

Fw: Greetings

 

 

 

 

Herro!  :D

I can tell by your emails that you're all starting to get trunky.  ;)  Huwag!  I'm not allowed to get trunky yet, I still have 2 and a half months or so left!

...I got my official "trunky letter" (flight plans) the other day, too..  D:  I guess I get to chill in Taipei for 8 hours while I wait for the layover flight... :P  What's weird is I'll be leaving on Saturday, December 17th, travel for 20 hours or so, and then show up there on Saturday, December 17th.  @.@  It's gonna be weird...

I've been doing my best to keep my mind off it, though, and just keep truckin'.  I don't have a lot of time left here.

General Conference was pretty cool this last weekend.  We weren't able to get a lot of investigators to attend, because the Stake Center in Kabihasnan is REALLY FAR AWAY from Bicutan, but it was cool nonetheless.  I like stake events, cuz it means I get to see all my old friends in P-Que 2nd and P-Que 4th.  :D  It's weird... I know almost half the people in the stake now... o.o  Cuz I've been here since the dawn of time.  ;)  I really liked one of the talks in the priesthood session (I forget who gave it).  He said that the Lord knows every area you will be assigned to, every companion you will be assigned with, every person you will talk to and teach, and each member you will meet on your mission.  He has a specific plan for every missionary, certain people He wants that missionary to influence or be influenced by.  I've really realized how true that is.  I've learned a lot from every area, every companion, every investigator, every experience.  It's been a blast.  :D

We've been teaching a somewhat broken family, the Borinaga Family.  I'm pretty excited for them.  They've been taught on and off for a long time, for around 15 years or so, but things have just kept getting in the way before.  Sister Cynthia is a real troubled woman.  Her first husband, a foreigner, left her years ago, and her second husband, who's Japanese, lives in Japan at the moment, and they're trying to arrange their passport & visa stuff so they can live together (I'm not exactly sure how that one worked out.. Apparently, her husband doesn't speak a lick of English or Tagalog.  They communicate by sign language... o.O ).  Her oldest son, John Clane, who's seventeen, has been getting caught up lately with the wrong group of friends, and has been getting carried into smoking, drinking, and drugs.  Cynthia's a pretty.. eccentrically stressed woman.. But she believes that this is the true Church, and is grateful for the help that we've been able to offer in keeping their family together.  John Clane has expressed a desire to change, to keep himself away from sin, and to make his mom happy.  They've all agreed to be baptized on November 12th.

I'm glad to hear that the band is doing really well this year.  The show sounds REALLY cool.  :D  Congratulations, everyone, and keep up the good work!

...We have a new car??  o.o  Cool!  :D  Reminds me, I'll need to get my license renewed before I run off to college.  ^^''

Congratulations to Chris Hensley and Caleb Anderton on receiving their mission calls!  :D  Probably one of the greatest decisions you'll make in your lives.  Being a missionary is so cool.  :D

Congratulations also to Aaron and Kaleena for their marriage!  :D  Good luck!  Wish you a happy marriage!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH!!!  :D  :D  :D

Hmm... You're probably right about the laptop.  I can probably wait till I get home.

I don't know if I wanna take the van to Idaho.. It's big and bulky... ;P  Either way, a road trip sounds like so much fun!  :D  'Specially since you have no idea how cool it will be to drive for miles out on an open highway with very little traffic.  Around here, you can sit in a jeep or a bus and ride for an hour and a half and hardly get anywhere because of all the traffic.  :P  The temple is probably about as far away from Paranaque as Tumwater is from Lacey, but it still takes at least 45 minutes to get there.

I'm looking forward to being home for Christmas.  :D  A lot of the members are kinda disappointed that I'll be going home before Christmas, but while I wouldn't mind spending Christmas with them... I think I'd like to see my family again.  ^^''

Anyway, next week is transfer week.  Transfer announcements will be kinda fun.. "Since almost everyone in the zone is training, and just got here / switched areas this last transfer, everyone will stay except like 2 people..."  I like that a little better than "Hi, everyone!  :D  Every area is getting shotgunned!  Have a nice day."

I love you all!  :D  Until next week, ingatz!

Love,
Elder David Jones

P.S.  I'm starting to think it'd be a bit easier if I just wait until I get home to show you the rest of the pictures... ;P

Fw: Onsa mana, oi?!

 

 

Hello!  :D

Things have been... interesting...

After Elder Swainson left on Sunday, things were pretty gloomy around the apartment, since it was just Elder Morris and I, but I kept thinking, "Well, at least I'm still in Paranaque 4th Ward," which I've grown pretty close to.  They're really fun.  ... But then that got taken away, too.. ;P  Monday night, after I emailed, President Stucki called us and told us we would both be training (which we kinda saw coming), but then he told us that he wanted us to switch areas, and have me work in Bicutan, while E. Morris would work in P-Que 4th.  I was like, ... D:  "But I don't wanna..."  We then spent Tuesday and Wednesday going around and showing E. Morris where all the members live and saying goodbye to them and taking pictures and stuff.  I'll miss them a lot.

So now I'm in Bicutan, still within the Paranaque Zone (we didn't even bother switching rooms in the apartment or anything.  It would've been too much trouble).  I've now worked in almost every area in the zone that you can work in (the other two are sisters areas).  I'm just missing P-Que 1st and P-Que 3rd.  ;P  Things have actually improved quite a bit since we got our new anaks.  I'm training Elder Ranoco, from Tagum City, Davao, and E. Morris is training Elder Tabal, from Cebu.  They're both pretty cool.  Elder Ranoco is really humble, and so far, really fun to work with.  He speaks Bisaya (which is similar to Cebuano), and has taught me a few words, such as "Onsa mana, oi?!"  (which approximately translates to "What the heck is that?!").  :D  The Bicutan members are cool, too.  Their chapel is TINY.  We're trying to fit about 140 to 150 members into a chapel that's built for 60.  :P  And it's almost literally hidden inside a maze.  o.o  Shotgun training (training a new missionary in an unfamiliar area), which is usually a very difficult task, has been made a little bit easier by the fact that the ward missionaries in this ward are really active, especially Bro. Junsel (it's kinda funny, because his name sounds kinda like 'Jones'... 'Jonesel'...), and they've been showing us around the area so we don't get lost.  ^^''  Which is good, because Bicutan is another maze, not unlike my first area, and there are a number of Muslim regions in our area, such as Maharlika Village, the kinds that if you end up wandering through, or worse, tracting through, there's a risk of getting shot.  :D  So it's good to have someone with us.  ^^''  A few of the members already know me, from stake events and from family home evenings with Sister Eadimay, which she invited her relatives from Bicutan to.

We went to Tagaytay again this morning.  It was fun.  :D  We ended up going to Picnic Grove this time instead of People's Park in the Sky, which actually turned out being even cooler than People's Park.  I took lots of pictures and bought souvenirs for everyone, since this will probably be my last time to go to Tagaytay on my mission.  Hope you like them.  :D

...Hope no one minds that all they get for Christmas is random trinkets from the Philippines... ^^''

So yeah.  Despite the transfer and changes and everything, things have been looking up.

I got an email from the Music chairman at BYU-I, asking me what my primary instrument is so they can arrange things to instrumentally balance the different groups.  It's nothing sure yet, but it is a good sign.  Especially since he said, "When you are accepted...", not "If you are accepted..."

I bought a new camera after I finished my email last week, and it worked great.  ...Until Sunday, when half the screen went all weird and crap for no reason.  It still takes pictures just fine, but you can only see half of each picture.  ;P  So I'll go get it replaced later after I finish emailing.

The storms and things haven't been so bad.  Just really windy, and a lot of rain.  The thing you gotta watch out most for is large pieces of tin flying off of people's roofs.  But it doesn't happen very often.  We actually probably wouldn't have worked on Tuesday, since the wind was pretty scary, but I had to go say goodbye to everyone, so doggone it, we were goin' out!  ;P  Bicutan doesn't flood that bad, either.  Only a little.  Not like P-Que 2nd did.  o.o

Before I leave here, I might actually try and find a laptop here to use for college, instead of looking for one after I get home.  They're cheaper here, and they're decent quality, as long as you make sure to buy them someplace legit.

It's starting to dawn on me just how close the end is coming... o.o  With me leaving early and stuff, that means I have less than three months left.  I'm, of course, excited to see you all again, but I'll really miss this place.  I'll just have to make sure to work my hardest in these last few months and race to the finish.  It's weird..  I'll leave here on December 17th, and then travel for a looooong time, and then get home, also on December 17th...  It'll be weird...   o.o

...And then I'll freeze to death.  ^^''

Anyway, that's about it for this week.  Ingat kayo lagi.  Di na matagal, magkikita na rin tayo.  :D

Love,
Elder David Jones

P.S.  I'll send pictures sometime.  ;P  Honest.

.

Fw: Greetings

 

 

 

 

H'lo.  :D

Admittedly, things have fallen apart just a little bit lately.  :/  Elder Swainson talked to President Stucki this last week, and they determined that he needs to go home for some personal reasons.  He can come back after six months and continue serving where he left off, but for now, he has to go home.  His flight left about two hours ago.  Elder Tatoy, who also lives in our apartment, also had to go home last Friday.  It's been pretty hard, especially after how much I came to love and respect Elder Swainson.  He's a great missionary, and he has great potential.  I'll miss him a lot.

So yeah..  Morale's been pretty low lately.  :/  We're in a bit of a transition phase right now.  Elder Morris and I don't have companions yet.  President says we'll get them on Thursday.  In the meantime, we've arranged to go on splits with ward missionaries so we can manage both areas, Paranaque 4th and Bicutan.  Which means for the next few days, I'll be the only elder working in P-Que 4th, with no official companion.  It's gonna be weird.  o.o

There's also  6 new missionaries coming in this week (which is weird, because they don't usually send new missionaries in halfway through a transfer), so I might end up training again.  So will Elder Morris, which he's super scared about.  He's still relatively new in the mission.

Ai.. So yeah, that's the current state of affairs.

The Paranaque Stake put on a roadshow this last weekend, which was really cool.  They went all out, with all kinds of fancy props and costumes, especially Paranaque 2nd ward.  P-Que 4th put on a cool show about Teancum going and stabbing Amaleki with a javelin.  Darren Misalucha played Teancum, and it was awesome.  :D  They had a part where the Nephites and Lamanites were fighting, and suddenly a phone started ringing, and the battle paused for a few seconds so someone could answer her phone, then it resumed again.  The two teams had health bars, too, and the Lamanites' health bar slowly decreased as the fight went on until the Lamanites lost.  Hehehe.  :D  P-Que 2nd put on a super-cool show about 3 chosen warriors who had to go fight magic weapons to defeat an enemy tribe.  One of them ended up having to go fight a giant fish thing.  It was cool!  I had trouble identifying individual members of the ward, because they were all wearing masks.  A few of them came and said hi to me after the performance, still wearing their masks, and I was like, "...Uh..."  Then they took the masks off, and then I recognized them.  ^^'' All in all, it was a really cool performance.  It was a lot cooler than I thought it would be.

Lhujay didn't go to church yesterday, and neither did Tatay, so we're going to postpone their baptism for a little while.  What we'd really like is for Tatay to baptize the kids, but if he doesn't come to church, it's not going to work out.  :/  So, we'll keep encouraging them.

My camera's dying and being retarded, and it's annoying me, so I think I'm going to get a new one again.. :P

Mah birthday package finally came in this last week.  :D  Mmm... Caaaaaandy... :D  The Snickers bars and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and everything actually made it here in fairly good condition, and I stuck them right in the refrigerator so they won't melt or get eaten by ants.  :D  Snickers bars and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and the like are like gold here in the mission.  Mmm... Gold....  ^_^

It's good to hear that the band's doing well.  Anytime that the football crowd actually listens to the marching show is a good thing.  What's their show again this year?  You've probably told me, but I've forgotten.  :P  Go, everyone!  YOU CAN DO IT!!!  :D

Pagaling ka, Richelle! ;(  And everyone else who caught the flu bug.

Anyway, that's about it for right now.  Hope everyone's doing well.  Ingat kayo lagi!  :D

Love,
Elder David Jones

Fw: Greetings

 

 

Herro!  :D

So, things have been... well, uneventful this week.  ^^''  Elder Swainson caught some sort of virus and has still been sick all week.  :/  So we basically sat around the apartment.  All week.  ...Yeah... Got kinda boring after a while.  :P  But he's feeling better now, so we'll kick it back into gear starting tomorrow.

Lhujay and Ehlona Dublan are still on track for their baptism on the 1st of October.  They came to church again yesterday.  Tatay Dublan wasn't there, which was a little disappointing, but Sister Dublan said that they've arranged his schedule so he can come every other week.  Hopefully, we can still arrange things so he can be the one to baptize his kids.  Even if we have to move the baptism back a couple weeks so he can be the one to baptize them, I'd rather do that than have someone else baptize them.

One of the families we're teaching is pretty interesting.  It's two sisters, Aya and Yoko (whose names, when put together, form "Ayoko!", which means, "I don't wanna!"  Hehehe...), and their little brother, Eira.  The two sisters are members, but their little brother isn't yet.  They're living right now with their cousins, Joy and Emily, who we're also teaching.  Their parents live in Japan.  Their mom is Filipino, also a member, but their dad, a non-member, is Japanese.  The three siblings grew up in Japan, so they speak fluent Japanese as well as fluent Tagalog.  It's weird, cuz sometimes they'll speak Japanese to each other, and I'll be like,  "... :D ? Konichiwa? Mushi mushi?"  I thought Darcy and Richelle might like that.

The Sister missionaries in our zone texted us a referral last week, someone they'd talked to on the bus, but we weren't able to contact them, cuz we were stuck inside all week.  But it turned out that we didn't have to, because the referral, Sister Lilia, went to church on her own yesterday, and brought a friend with her.  A bunch of people in the ward got pretty excited about it-- "Elders, did you hear? There's an investigator here who came to church on her own!"  "Elders, did you meet the new investigator?"  "...Yes, we talked to her, thank you."  "Elders, I think there's a new investigator!  She said she came to church on her own!"  >.>  "Yes, thank you..."  Sister Lilia recently has recently been having problems with her husband (who's also Japanese, ironically enough...), and finally had enough of it a few months ago and left.  She's living with a friend now.  She wants her family to come back together again, she wants things to work out, so she accepted the Sisters' invitation to come to church when they met her on the bus.  It was kinda funny; I didn't recognize her name at first, and was wondering why she was there, who had invited her, and whatnot, but when she mentioned where her husband lives, Spratley Island St., I recognized the address and looked in my planner where I'd written down the Sisters' referral and asked, "Um, is this you?"  "Yeah, that's me!"  "OH, you talked to the Sisters!  THAT'S why you came to church!  I get it now!"  So now she wants us to go try and teach her husband so her family can come together again.  We'll do the best we can, and in the meantime, we'll also go try and teach her and her friend as well.  Problem is, her friend who she's staying with lives in a squatter's area, which doesn't have an address.  So her house is kinda hard to find.  But, she did give us her phone number and said she'll come back to church next week.

Last Saturday, we went to the temple and got to witness the temple wedding of Jonah DeGuzman, my recent convert from Boni 4th, and Lue Cajardo, who used to be the ward mission leader.  It was really cool to be able to see them sealed in the temple.  I've participated in a proxy sealing before, but never a live sealing.  It was cool.  I was expecting to have to change into white for it, but they just handed me a pair of white shoes.  o.o Huh?  Apparently, just the two getting sealed have to change into temple clothes.  Those who are just attending don't have to.  Okie.  The DeGuzmans were really happy to see me.  Nanay DeGuzman has a temple recommend now, too, and was also able to attend the sealing.  Elder Campos (now Brother Campos) was there, too.  Tatay DeGuzman, who's not a member yet, also came.  Hopefully, the missionaries can start teaching him soon, too.  I asked Bishop Acosta, who also attended, about some of my other recent converts, like the Lopez family, Sister Suzet being my first convert, and the Sy family, and he said, "Yeah, they're still active.  Have they hit a year now?  Hmm... I guess we should get them through the temple prep classes..."  "Yyyesss...  Yes, you should..."  So, hopefully, I can attend a few more sealings before I go home.  :D

So, anyway, that's been the goings on lately.  Btw, the financial aid peoplez sent me an email saying that there's a few issues with my application that need to be resolved before I can be considered for financial aid.  I was going to go check it out, but I need my Social Security Number, which I don't have memorized anymore... :/  Sorry.  I don't know if sending my social security number by email will be a good idea, but could you at least go on and see what issues need to be worked out?  Thankz.  :D  Here's the link:  https://fafsa.gov/FAFSA/app/fafsa?key=nQ3LVNeZVfqRZWnRgRUTsQ==

That's all for now, I think.  Tell the band I said hi, even though almost no one there knows me anymore.  :D  Also, tell Sister Richard I said hi, too.  Love you all!  Ingat kayo lagi!  :D

Love,
Elder David Jones

P.S.  I haven't sent pictures in a while, have I?  I'll have to get on that sometime... Maybe next week.  ;P

Fw: Greetings

 

 

 

 

Herro!  :D

Well, the start of this transfer has been fun so far. Elder Querubin finally got back from Ireland yesterday, so he's working on getting settled in with his anak and starting work in his new area.  Yesterday, President Stucki called Elder Laureano.  There was an issue in another area, so they emergency transferred Elder Laureano over to Makati, and transferred Elder Tatoy back here to Paranaque to work with Elder Morris in Bicutan Ward.  Which is funny in two ways, because first of all, they just decided to shotgun the only other area in the district besides mine that hadn't been shotgunned yet, and also, Elder Tatoy and Elder Morris were just companions last transfer.  So basically, Elder Tatoy took a four-day vacation in Makati, then came back to Paranaque to work with Elder Morris again.

Also, we just found out like 5 minutes ago that President Stucki thought I should focus more on training Elder Swainson, so apparently, he made Elder Querubin the district leader and stepped me down for now.  Works for me.  Makes it so I can focus more on my own area.

Elder Swainson's been sick the past couple of days, so we haven't been able to work much.  He did force himself to go to church yesterday, but that was about all we were able to do.  So we've been doing a lot of sitting at the apartment and resting.  Gave me some time to write some letters and update my journal, which had been gathering dust for some time now.  Now it's up to date!  Yay!  :D

The entire Dublan family came to church yesterday, including Tatay and all of the kids, for the first time in maybe eight years.  It made me really happy to see them all there.  Sister Vanessa Dublan's sister, Marisa, and her husband, Sam, have started coming to church lately, too.  One of our goals is to see that entire family return to full activity before the end of this transfer, which ends in mid-October.  Another goal is to have the Dublan family sealed in the temple for time and all eternity, hopefully sometime next year.

Hanz and Mona also passed in the papers to get a CeNoMar (Certificate of No Marriage), which they need for a marriage license.  Now we just wait.

So yeah.  That's been the goings-ons so far.  It's really exciting to see the progression of investigator families as they grow steadily closer to the Lord.  That's one reason I like staying in areas for a long time.  I honestly wouldn't mind staying in this area until the end of my mission.  I really like it here in P-Que 4th.

This Saturday, I have the privilege of witnessing a temple marriage.  Sister Jonah DeGuzman, one of my recent converts from Bonifacio 4th Ward, in Makati (actually, Makati East Stake now. It used to be in Makati Stake...), will be getting married to Brother Lue, one of the other members in the ward (he also used to be the ward mission leader back when I was in the area).  I'm pretty excited for it.  :D

It's slowly setting in on me just how close the end is... Only four months to go.  Before too long, I'll be freezing to death in Olympia!  Yay!  :D  It's weird to think about.  In some ways, it doesn't seem like I've been out for almost two years.  Feels like it wasn't that long ago that I stepped into the MTC...

But anyway, that's still a little ways off yet.  Still got 4 months!

That's about it for now.  Love you all!  Ingat kayo lagi!

Love,
Elder David Jones