its a PINOY BOY

hello everyone its been a fantastic week here in the rainiest place in the world so ill get straite to it

im now a tatay (father) ! my new companion is a pilipino straight from the mtc in manila, he is from a place called tanay rizal i guess its bout an hour away from quezon city (to be honest i have no idea where it is ) its so crazy going from a trainee, to being in a 3some with zone leaders to being a trainer ha but man im lovin it.
one thing i love about [ilipinos ( well i guess most.....) is theyre super humble about things. he was super super tired when we first met up at transfer day and he was pretty homesick too. but now after hes been out a few days hes making the adjustmant quickly. always after lessons he says is their anything i can do to improve? and at the end of each day hes been so happy and so thankful for all hes learned and man its just honestly nice being able to teach someone something unstead of being with someone on the last month of their mission thats got the world figured out. its a lot easier for us to work together this way because well im still pretty new and hes brand new so were both learning a lot everyday with each other.

its now 2 americans (me and elder valdez, probably one of my favorites in the mission) and two pilipinos (my comp elder Garcia and elder valdez's new comp ander vinas) in our house its been quite an adjustment. i hate to admit it but theres just such a culture difference that is almost impossibe to do anything about. when were at home they like to talk to each other and then me and valdez end up talking to each other. maybe its just because its a new situation im hoping that that is all that it is. but any how its been a change but not in a bad way., we had to bust out the rice cooker for the first time since ive been here hha. and its been nice to have elder vinas because he can cook some good pilipino food.

our investigators are doing great. almost everyone came to church. one thing that ive been struggling with though. they all believe its true but havent prayed to know for themselves. and havent done all that much reading in the book of mormon. i think to myself how do you know its true if you havent read it and havent prayed, so i figure they must believe what were saying and our testimonies. that is good they believe, but without a testimony of their own, without their own spiritual witness they wont be able to stay active when the trials come. so lately ive been focusing on praying about the book of mormon. their baptismal dates are getting closer and closer and my anxiety for them is getting higher and higher ha but in a good way it just makes me want to help them more and have our lessons be better so i study and pray harder. in some ways the anxiety thing i guess can be a strenght ha ha.

one thing that happened this past saturday has changed a lot of how the rest of my mission will go. thay had a nationwide broadcast from the area authorities about the new missionary corriculum here. its probably the best thing thats happened in the pilippines as far as the church goes in a long time. the pines is one of the fasting growning part of the church in the world but man the retention rate is absolutely horrible. to make a lont story short.... after these investigators were not going to really be looking for new investigaters. 100 percent focused on re activation. in my ward alone almost have the ward is inactive or less active. so this is sorely needed. and as far as baptisms goes we are basically instructed to only teach people through referrals and part member families. pretty crazy stuff! im so excited for it though we are so busy i dont even wanna sleep because were teaching so much. i feel bad for people in stateside missions theyre a lot tougher than i am. ive only had like 1 person blatently reject me the whole time ive been here, most people are too nice to say anything they just dont keep commitments and dont show up to church and you eventually stop going to them because they dont really care about it. but anyways i respect all you state siders i couildnt do it.

anyways its been a great week very stressful and full of excitement and change. the ali ali family thats been waiting to be married for about 6 months before they can be baptised is at this moment working on finishing their papers so they will soon have a marriage and baptismal date. probably the collest family ever. well i cant say that cause i love everyone here man i love em. anyways i miss you all! mahal na mahal ko kayo at excited ako para sa mga bagong balita sa susunod na lingo! (new news next week) ingat po sa inyo lahat! ! ! ! ! !