Tuesday morning, I left Batac and headed to Laoag to catch a bus. It was heartbreaking leaving Batac, but I managed to do it. Once I got there there were about a dozen other missionaries transferring too, going to Cagayan. So we all got on and headed over.
It was fun catching up with some of my friends like Elder Johnson, Elder Bottema and Elder Jenkins, although short. I got to experience the winding roads of Claveria again (which I'll end up doing every month now when I go back to Laoag for MLC) and after 5-6 hours I arrived in Allacapan.
Once I got there, we headed straight to the apartment. The apartment consists of 4 different rooms, then on the outside is the bathroom and kitchen. Legit on the outside. We are on the 3rd floor, so half of the apartment is outside. When we got there, they told us they actually cleaned for awhile, but it's still pretty dismal. The best (worst) part about the apartment is the water. It's pretty golden... literally. The water's yellow, so we have to feed it through a filter of sand and coal. It's pretty interesting. I'm actually fine with it, and the apartment in general, but they say if I'm not careful my shirts will turn yellow. Let's hope not.
So now to the work in Allacapan: It's really busy. Every day we have so many places to go, it's non stop work. Which is awesome because it gets the time going, but really you have no time for a break.
Elder Nichols and Elder Anuat (the last 2 missionaries here) had 6 last Saturday, so they've been working hard. But since they baptized all their progressing, we are back to the planting stage. Which is fine, because we have several potential investigators. We go to so many places and don't even have time for it all. It's great!
Some facts about being a zone leader in Ballesteros zone: Everything is far apart and pretty expensive to get to. This last week we headed to the neighboring town of Lasam for district meeting which ended up being 140 pesos round trip. If you convert it to US Dollars ($2.80) it's not a lot. But trust me, once you've been here long enough that's a lot for a trip.
Another day we went down to Abulog which was 120 pesos ($2.60) for an interview and stayed overnight. It's far, but the interview was fun, and the apartment in Abulog is huge (even though we didn't sleep well since we had no pillows). It's weird thinking about how long I've been here and the money conversion.
Random fact: I spend around 1,500 pesos ($30) a week as a budget. So daily that means I can spend around 214 pesos if I keep it even. That evens out to $4.28 a day. I didn't really think about that until now.
Anyways when Sunday rolled around we had 10 investigators at church, which was awesome. I was super happy. I also met a lot of the members who were pretty cool. Later that day we had a mission prep class then we went on splits.There are a good amount of church members. The attendance was 142, so I'm happy about that.
As some of you know, my companion is now Elder Nichols who I met when I was in the MTC. Now when you're a foreigner it's rare to have another foreigner as a companion, especially from your batch. He is now my 4th American companion and 2nd from my batch. He's from Utah, and went to Riverton high school, and enjoys playing ultimate frisbee. He's a nice guy and hard working. We'll be fine together.
So as a conclusion for this week: I'm definitely still in the adjusting stage. The work here is awesome. I do miss my last area a lot, members work and all. But I know this is where God wants me, and I have work to do here!
I know this work is true and this is the way to bring people unto Christ, and the way to everlasting life and exaltation. Although change can be rough and hard to adjust to, I can do it. This'll be my 6th time doing it! I'll continue to do my best and work! Love you all!
Elder Espiritu
The Batac Catholic chapel
Allacapan
Taking a picture with all the kids in Abulog
Elder Nichols and I
The Allacapan Apartment
The bathroom and shower room
The kitchen
The water filter (otherwise the water is yellow)
My closet (we don't have cabinets)
The water here
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