We had interviews to do, and exchanges in Laoag, sicknesses, working with several members in either pouring rain and blazing heat. That's about a good summary for this week.
I'm not going to lie, our zone is pretty dang awesome. Elder Nichols and I are really happy with how they're doing. So there are 8 companionships (4 sets of Elders and 4 sets of sisters) and this last week we had a total of 74 come to church this last week! The average was 9 at church. They're awesome. So these last couple weeks we've been having to travel a lot for interviews for their baptismal candidates. Really keeps us on our toes!
On Wednesday, we worked in the morning, got sunburned until 12, then hopped on a bus that has very high powered AC for 4.5-5 hours to get back to Laoag. Once we got back to Laoag, we just missed a could have been world record "Boodle fight", which is where they put all their food together on giant tree leaves and eat with their hands. It covered several streets. We just missed it, but it's okay cause we got McDonalds instead. Allacapan doesn't have that. So we headed to the AP's apartment, and also talk to the couple missionaries (Elder and Sister Nelson) who promised to make me cookies the next time I come back.
So this time I went on exchanges with Elder Morehu, a Polynesian from New Zealand. This is his 2nd cycle as an Assistant, and he is the same batch as my trainee. Since he is foreign he is about to hit his 1 year mark in March.
The exchange was awesome, he's such a nice guy and a really good teacher. I was really impressed. He's really humble too and just overall an awesome Elder. Got a lot done, taught a lot of people, then at 7 had dinner and at 8 had to head back to our area on a bus.
It might have been from going from heat to a really cold bus and also lack of sleep, but the next morning after travels I woke up with a pretty bad fever. I checked my temperature and ended up having a 102 degree fever. I was not happy since we really weren't able to work in our area this week and then I got sick.
So I asked Sister Andrada about what I should do, so I took some medicine, slept, and luckily around 3, I had enough strength to work! I know God is really watching over me. The next day I was fine.
On Saturday we had 4 young men work with us. It was a hot and tiring day. Several places to go, a lot of people not home, I got sunburnt again, but it was all worth it. It made up for all the lessons we didn't have due to being gone.
As soon as Sunday rolled around, we had 13 investigators at church! It's crazy how awesome and how blessed we are in this area. People come when we invite them, and we are really blessed. We have a couple of people on track for baptism this March, and Elder Nichols and I are super excited.
Of course we couldn't do this all without the members help. The members here are a lot of help. We've received several referrals from them and haven't even had time to go to them all. They work with us a lot, especially on Sunday, you at least have 4-5 people work with you, sometimes up to 10+. They're awesome.
It's only the 2nd week here in Allacapan and even though I barely worked in this area, I feel I'm doing a lot better this week. Although I still miss Batac and a couple of other things, the work here is awesome and the people are so great.
I still have a lot to do but I know I'm really going to enjoy it here. I know the work I'm doing is true, and I know I was sent by a prophet of God to help the people here come to know the truth. It's not easy, but It's worth it! I'm excited for another week!
After this we'll be going back to Laoag for our Missionary Leadership Coordination! Until next week! Love you all!
Elder Espiritu
**you can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net
What I do when I work with Elder Morehu ;)
A small boodle fight at the apartment
Chilling in my ride
Our average taxi here
Going coco for coconuts with some members
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