Goodbye Teenage Years

Well... I am just going to start this one by making it clear that I am the first of the triplets to leave the teenage years behind. Addie loses the race this year by approximately 8 hours and Caitlin still comes in last about 5 hours after that. haha :)

Anyway... Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It should be a good one this year. 

We had another good week out here in Banacao. The weeks are going by faster than ever. Our work kind of got thrown a curveball into the middle of it because last Tuesday the daughter of a member died in a crazy motorcycle accident. That just makes our work a little bit hard because she is basically going to have a 2 month viewing. Kind of weird, but basically they just leave the body out on display in the casket and for the 2 months, people come every night and play card games (gamble). So, since they are a big part-member family in our area, teaching them will be a little bit rough for a bit. 

But, it has opened some other doors to let us teach. We have taught some awesome lessons about the Plan of Salvation. People are super willing to listen when they really realize that the lesson applies to them. A death in the family is an awesome time to easily talk about questions like "Where do we go after we die?" So, we have had some super cool lesson teaching about life after death.

A knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is seriously the coolest thing. This week in our area an old lady and a 2 week old baby passed away. We watched a lot of people mourn this week because of the loss. It is super sad, but a knowledge of the Plan that God has for us makes it very bearable. 

I know that the plan that God has for us is perfect. I know that he wants nothing more than for each and every one of us to return to live with him. I am grateful for the time that I have to be out here to share this knowledge with the people of the Philippines.  Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers!!

Love Elder Thomas

-sorry no pics this week.