Jerry wasn't the only baptism

Well... the highlight this week was definitely our baptism. Saturday we baptized a 10 year old boy named Jerry Bautista. He is awesome his mom is pretty active, but his dad is a drunk. It was kind of funny to teach at Jerry's house sometimes. But, the baptism was awesome. We had like 25 people attend the baptism which was more than we ever expected. The ward here is amazing.

Jerry wasn't our only "baptism this week though..." we also "baptized" our phone. haha. we went on Friday evening to check on the font and it was disgusting. So, we drained it and became the cleaning crew for a few hours. But, as we went to drain it, the phone fell out of my comps pocket and landed at the bottom of the font. Kind of sad. But, a new one only costs like 19$ so that was good.

A lot of you ask about food. I eat all sorts of weird food. I usually just don't ask what is is and just eat it. If we eat at other peoples house, we always have rice and some kind of mystery meat. I have eaten liver, intestine, pig face, chicken legs, oysters, frogs, lamb, and all sorts of mystery meat. 

Last week, Jerry came over to our house and he had 8 frogs that we on a hook. They were all still flopping around and he asked if we wanted to eat them. Of course we said we did, so we gave him a knife and a cutting board and he went to work. He would chop off the head and pull out the guts, and chop the hands off while they were still like flopping around. Then he put salt of them which makes them all start to twitch. Then we battered them and tossed them in oil. 20 minutes after he showed up to our house with the frogs, we were eating them and they were incredible. 

We always find these giant spiders in our apartment. We just catch them and then usually throw them off the deck. We caught one this week with a giant egg sack on the bottom of it. We put in in a tupperware and like 20 minutes later, it exploded and like 80 little spiders climbed out. It was kind of creepy. Super good timing for us, because if we didn't catch it, they would all be loose in our house. I have some pictures of it, but It is kind of hard to see. 

Anyway, that is all just part of life here and I love it. Life is crazy. The members here in the ward are awesome. We have a lot of progressing investigators and always keep busy. The Philippines is so prepared to hear the gospel. I miss you all and send plenty of prayers your way from this side of the world. 

-Elder Thomas

Pictures:

Jerry

The spider

cleaning crew

no bake cookies

our baptized phone

Turn you 72 hour kits into 7 day kits

Just a few hours after I sen't my email last week, we were told by our bishop that there was a super typhoon headed our way. We bought some rice bags and filled them with dirt. We completely "storm proofed" our house. We were ready for the storm to hit. But, the next day, we woke up to the bluest sky and a beautiful day. We went with out bishop and helped a member build a big room onto their house. It was crazy. We built it straight up brick and mortar style. We mixed cement, bent rebar poles, layed mortar, and built this house. It was awesome.

Then on Wednesday, we got a call and we were told to turn our 72 hours kits into 7 day kits and make our way down to San Fernando to the mission home. We stayed in a house with the AP's and all the missionaries from 2 zones (22 of us). It was nuts. The power was kind of on and off. So, when it was on, the little tiny kitchen was crazy. The house was kind of nuts. We were all stuck there for like 4 days and we didn't have a lot to do. 

On Sunday, we finally got the OK to go back to our houses. Our house had a little bit of water in it and the roof was kind of destroyed. It looked kind of ghetto, but everything inside the house was fine. 

But, we didn't have any power. Our fridge was warm, we had no running water, no fans, and no light. That is just life here. We quickly ate all the food, bought a giant jug of water. Opened all the windows to try and get a breeze to cool off. And then we sat down to study at night and lit a few candles. My comp and I felt like we were living in the stone age. I love it here.

We spent all day yesterday checking up on members and finding ways to help in the ward. The storm did lots of damage here, but it is being cleaned up pretty well. 

I love it here. I love the people. I love the gospel. And I love all of the crazy experiences. I think about you all back home and send plenty of prayers your way. Love you all!!

-Elder Thomas 

Still Alive

Well... last Wednesday we got a call and were told that we were supposed to "turn our 72 hour kits into a 7 day kit." Then we made our way down to the mission home. There were 22 of us stuffed into this house. And it was nuts. The power was off and on the whole time. The tiny kitchen was nuts when the power was actually working. We weren't allowed to leave the house for the 4 days that we stayed there, so it was actually pretty boring. We did lots of studies and played lots of uno and monopoly deal. I have no clue when we will have a pday. we are going back up to Santiago today, but the power in santiago might not be up for like another week. Ill email again when I have the chance. (hopefully earlier than last time so it is not so late for you) Love you!!

Love Elder Thomas

Candon Zone

September 11-14, 2018 Zone Conferences and disaster preparedness orientations.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Well... as you may guess, we got a lot of rain this week. But, rain does not stop proselyting from happening. We still bike to the far ends of our area in the pouring rain. We have a few investigators that are in the far end of our area. We had to go out there most days this week. Biking one way takes about 35 minutes. We came home after dark 3 times this week in the pouring rain. The roads have up to a foot and a half of water on them in some places. We could have jumped in the ocean and we probably would have dried off a little bit haha. We get home and just throw all of our clothes in our little tiny dryer. But, I love it. We taught some awesome lessons this week.

We have a baptism on Saturday, so that is super exciting. He is a 9 year old who just recently started taking the discussions. Then we have 4 really promising investigators with baptismal dates. (all on Oct 4). They are all at different stages, and I can't add a lot to the lessons because of my limited Tagalog, but the spirit is still the same. The people are all so receptive to the message that we have to share. 

One problem that we actually have here is that people are a little bit too nice. We ask to share a message with people and no one will tell us no. We teach then for like 20 minutes and they act like they are interested the whole time. But, then after our lesson, they basically just tell us that they were born catholic and they will die catholic. It is kind of hard to find people that are actually interested. But, we are working on it.

Life here is just always crazy. I wake up every morning to a nice cold, bucket shower. Then I sweat all day as I bike. Then, It rains all evening and I get soaked. But, I love every second of it. I love sharing the restored gospel with the people here. The members here are so faithful and love the missionaries. People here are all very catholic, but once they really feel the spirit, many of them want to change. 

I have been out for 2 months as of tomorrow. I think about you guys all the time and send plenty of prayers your way from the Philippines. 

-Elder Thomas

pictures: The crazy sunsets near the shipwreck

Some of the cute kids that run around while we teach

Elder Christensen

Crazy 2 weeks

Well, I got shipped out to the field just 4 days ago. I didn't have a pday the week I left from the Manila MTC, so I have lots to write about. The highlight from the MTC was when we were able to go out and go tracting. We went and met the Quezon City North missionaries. I learned so much in just 4 hours out teaching. I was able to recited the first visions to this guy who was super interested and then add some little testimonies to the things my comp (Elder Munk) said. I also saw Elder Braden Bromley. For those of you who know who that is, you will know how excited I was to see him. It was awesome.

The other "highlight" was the last night in the MTC. They feed all of the missionaries balut. It was super wierd. Not my favorite thing on the planet but it kind of just tastes like a hard boiled egg. The texture really throws me off because there are all sorts of little bones and stuff in it. And just looking at it is kind of disgusting. I couldn't bite the whole thing, so I bit it in half. But, not the worst thing in the world. We also ate liver. Tons of variety of whole fish. And other mystery meats out here in the field. But, I love it. 

After a 7 hour bus ride, I made it to the mission home. We spent a night with 26 Elders in a giant house. It was the hottest night of my life. Then we hopped on another bus for 2 hours up to our house. My house with my comp is massive. And it is kind of ghetto. We shower with a bucket and pump water from outside. And it is in the middle of nowhere. I love it. We spent all morning the other day trying to catch this giant spider in our kitchen. It was the size of my palm and could jump. 

I honestly love it here. The people are awesome. Anyone will listen to you even if they really aren't interested. I had the opportunity to extend two baptismal dates to two of our investigators yesterday. It was awesome. I also was able to share the first vision and the story of Joseph Smith and handful of times. It is incredible. The language is slowly coming and me and my comp (who has only been out for 6 months now) work through it every day. 

I love it here. I love the people, the food, the gospel, and all the experiences. I am grateful for all the examples I have back home and think about you guys all the time too. 

-Elder Thomas

1/2: Elder Bromley/my split companion Elder Munk

3: the MTC president and his wife

4-6 MTC comp Elder Nelson and my district in Manila

7-12 Balut

13 Elder Finau

14: the manila temple

15-17: the view from the 3 decks in our house

18-19: the beach