Jokers and Murder?

WELL!

Certainly an interesting experience.

A normal day for me?

Get up at 6:30, and exercise for half an hour.
Get ready for the day for an hour. Includes breakfast.
Then personal study.
Companionship study.
Language study.
Lunch.
And then we are off proselyting and don't return until 9:00 pm, at which point we plan for the next day, get ready for bed, and hit the hay at 10:30.

Yup.
Long days.
Long weeks.
I'm still waiting for it to start flying...
But our week did seem to go fast in comparison to how much we did.
We contacted a ton of new people. A lot of the time, they listen just to be nice, but every once in a while, it's a pretty cool encounter.

For instance:

We taught a group of 5 or six construction workers on a return appointment to a potential investigator. What ENERGY! Funny thing, we were worried at first. There wasn't a good spirit. But then we sang "Nearer my God to Thee" and prayed, and suddenly it was a lot better. Hard to control, because Filipinos are jokers, but it was, I think, a good lesson. We taught about Jesus Christ's ministry, we taught how he left the church to his apostles, we taught how when they died or were killed the authority and power of God went with them, and then we shared the restoration, we shared how God, because he loves us, did not leave us eternally in darkness, but called another prophet, as he did so many times before, to guide us. We shared Joseph Smith's experience 200 years ago, in his own words. I love that passage.https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.1-26?lang=eng#0

Will it come to much? Who knows. But the spirit was there, and hopefully one of them felt it.

We taught to a referral by one of the other missionaries. He accepted baptism and wrote the date with conviction on our first visit! He has such a desire to change! I'm not very good understanding Tagalog, though, so I hope his story about murder and guilty wasn't about himself...

We also taught a Nigerian guy. That was all in English. He was really cool. We asked what he wanted, he said to always seek more about Jesus Christ in his life. He said if you have Jesus Christ, you have it all. And then he asked why we were on a mission. I told him. I told him my mother raised me to be kind and loving. To want the best for others. I told him I knew what I was professing was true, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't. And I told him that it's just like in the scriptures, where Jesus said to an apostle: Do you love me? And when the apostle replied in the affirmative, Jesus responded: Feed my sheep. I told him I loved Jesus Christ. And he told us as we left that he wishes he was like us.

So yeah, pretty cool. Hard, but cool.
Cold showers every morning.
But a warm spirit every day.

I did get the package. TELL GRANDMA THANK YOU! I receive mail when I receive it... depends how long it takes to get to the Philippines, and whether someone brings it to me, or I get it myself.

I've mostly found what I needed. Contrary to MTC rumors, there is toilet paper. Only on the Jungle-like islands is there none...

I have to wash garments by hand, but we give the rest to a laundry shop, which does that for us. I'm going to buy gloves, because the first time I washed my garments by hand, my fingers were in a lot of pain. I've still got a little bit of scabbing, but it's mostly good now. Plus, no dengue for me so far... let's hope it stays that way.