On Tuesday Sister Latu and I arrived at the "Laoag mansion" (an apartment in Laoag) and there I met Elder Trinidad and Elder Lewis. Elder Trinidad is pretty cool, he's really laid back and fun to talk to. He really wants to learn english. He's from the capital of the Philippines, Manilla. Elder Lewis is actually one of my good old friends here in the mission and was actually in a zone when I first came into the mission so I've already hung around him a lot. He's from Lehi Utah. He's actually going home on August 8th, so we are just being a threesome until he goes home next week. It's all right so far.
When we arrived in Vintar that night, a transformer broke in Laoag so we had no power for a couple hours. The lights eventually came on and we unpacked. I am really grateful for the fact that the apartment was a sisters apartment before, so it was practically spotless. They left me a McDonalds sundae in the fridge which made my day. But what made me really appreciate them was they left several notes on how the apartment works, and all their referrals and investigators. They also left their old planner (which is way nicer than mine, the handwriting that is) with where we should go. Although a lot of the times the plans changed, we were really appreciative of what they left for us.
We were really happy to have met their investigator Amos Villanueva, a 16 year old boy who is in a family of Recent Converts. There are 3 of them (now 4) who have all been baptized very recently, none of them hitting their year mark yet. His baptism was scheduled for August 5th, but we felt that he was absolutely ready. He passed his interview, and on July 29th, we saw him enter the waters of baptism by his grandpa.
It was great to see him confirmed too the following day even though there were only 20 or so people. Vintar is actually a pretty small branch, with 45 or so attendance at a meeting house. This whole week has actually been raining quite hard (including now) which is due to a signal 1 Baguio (storm). Because of the storm a lot of members couldn't come to church but when we came into the meeting house, I could just feel the happiness of the few that were there. I feel that they had a light that radiated to them, which really made me happy and excited to be in this branch.
As of now, we are still really adjusting, since all 3 of us are new to the area and are trying to find our way around right now. It's a little more of a struggle at the moment but nothing we can't handle. In time we will get used to it, and it will all work out. It's kind of weird to think I'm only 20 minutes away from my 2nd area Laoag 5 and back in Laoag zone, but this area I actually like so far. It's the outskirts of the city so I'm happy I don't have a temptation to buy everything (until P-Day) and get to come to love more people. I know this is were the Lord wants me. I'm excited to see what he has in store for me here in Vintar!
Elder Espiritu
**You can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net
On the way to Laoag
The apartment and the notes the Sisters left behind
Amos Villanueva's baptism
Sometimes you just gotta hug
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