Joel *almost* strikes again

Funny story this week. I don't know many of you remember me talking about Joel a few weeks ago. Anyway, he is this crazy homeless guy who lives just outside of our house in this little hut. He is probably in his 40's but he doesn't really do anything. He just kind of lives there. A few weeks ago, we left out back door open and he got in a stole a half loaf of bread, 2 spoons, a bowl, half a jar of peanut butter, half a jar of jam, 2 packs of noodles, and some sugar. Since then, we double and triple check the back door to make sure that it is locked. So, this week, we went to teach an investigator who lives close to our house. Joel saw us leave. Then like an hour later, we came back, but he didn't see us come back. Like 5 minutes later, we were sitting in the kitchen making dinner when we saw his shadow coming towards the door. We quickly hid behind the door. Then, we saw the door knob turn. The door kind of shook as he tried to open it, but it was dead-bolted. It was kind of creepy because we were on the other side of the door of this dude who was trying to get into our house. So, we went out to his house and yelled "Joel, huwag na pumasok sa bahay namin" which means don't go into our house. He kind of agreed, but we are pretty sure that he tries to get into our house every time that we leave. It is just part of life here in Santiago.

Santiago is awesome and the work here is really progressing. I want to tell you about just a few of our investigators:

Chrizelle: She is the wife of our WML which is awesome. He was super inactive for a while. But, she is really catholic. She has tons of questions and is progressing slowly. But, she really gets it, and should be baptized the first week of November

John Clark: the brother of Jerry (our last baptism). His dad is a drunk, but his mom is pretty actuve. He has never attended church with his mom, but is now starting. 

Sister Paquing: She is totally ready, and loves church. She has had all the lessons, but she is not married to her husband. But, they have lived together for like 15 years. So, she just needs a "cenomar" (certificate of no marriage) and then she can get baptized. Hopefully, then we will teach her husband more.

Those are 3 of my favorites to teach. We have upwards of 10 people that we teach each week that are progressing. It is awesome. The gospel changes lives and it is so fun to be a part of. 

I love you all and send tons of prayers your way from the Philippines. 

Love Elder Thomas

pictures: a stalker pic of Joel

Frog dinner

filipino style pinata 

the kids are obsesses with taking pictures with out cameras and I become a human jungle gym when we are around them