Hello Family!
Well neither I nor my companion are getting transferred! I can't really believe that I am turning 19 next week. The only difference I can see is that I have to shave more, which is not fun. I had a pretty crazy week to be honest. I don't know why, but these past few weeks have just offered more and more surprises!
So we had a service project this week in our District Leaders area. I had already previously met the member we were doing the project for and she is a pleasant old woman who is very kind and can really only speak ilocano. Anyways the project in itself was quick, fun, and a great district activity. It went crazy on the ride over there. My District Leaders area is very far. They are actually located closer to my last area Santiago and my area is the farthest area from there. So it takes a good hour and a half to travel there, which is fine. In fact, I am used to that kind of travel time. Its weird thinking back to that trip in Oregon where we kept getting lost and I thought I was gonna die after being in the car for 15 minutes hahaha.
Well anyways it all started off wrong when the jeepney ran over a dog. It came out of nowhere I guess and even though the driver honked his horn and tried to slow down (he was going pretty fast by the way), he plowed through that poor thing. The laws are very different here in the Philippines, so he continued on his way without stopping. When I looked back cuz I didn't initially know what happened, I was very shocked at what I saw.
Then about 15 minutes later, the elderly man sitting net to me started repeating the same sentence over and over. I didn't pick up on what he was saying, I assumed it was in a different dialect. Out of nowhere a passenger next to him shouted for the jeepney to stop. As the elderly man got up, to my horror I saw that he was going to the bathroom on the bench right next to me. Using my muscle memory from basketball, I instinctively shoved aside the 2 Elders next to me so that it would not reach me. Luckily, it didn't reach me, but I think almost 80% of it ended up in the jeepney. Afterwards he proceeded to get back in the jeepney and sit back down where he was sitting. I felt bad for whoever did his laundry that day. That was quite the excitement needed to wake me up before I went to the service project.
As far as work goes here, we are starting to make some progress. Sadly, families that are making promises to attend church are still not making it to church. We will continue to show love for them and invite them to come back. We have made some progress with our investigators. One Brother seems to be very promising as he lives with a family that are members of our church. The Danao Family. The Danao family is pretty hilarious. We go over there every Sunday for dinner and it probably makes my week each week. It always start with 2 Sisters who are in there 20s yelling at me and my companion. They like to make fun of us and yell as they do so. Then I end the arguments by showing off how tall I am com[ared to them and unlike them, I still have time to grow more. Afterwards, we have dinner, which consists of people keeping certain dishes away from other people, and hogging other dishes. I honestly feel right at home there. We then leave a quick message for the family and leave with our final jokes. They often like to teach me how to tell people in tagalog that they look like a certain food. I don't understand why, but I guess they make for funny insults?
My companion during fast and testimony meeting yesterday went up to bear his testimony in an effort to not be transferred. Apparently a past Elder went and bore his testimony here and the next day he too was not transferred. It was interesting to hear him talk about experiences he had gone through and realize that I too had gone through those very same experiences. It made me realize that no matter where you live, we all can go through the same trials and tribulations.
I got to help teach one of the classes like normal, because they do not have enough teachers for how small the branch is. The rest of the day, I got to enjoy the big storm that has finally arrived here. I am loving it because it is pretty cool right now. Anyways, I am getting ready for next week, because multiple members have expressed to me that I will be going to their house on my birthday. I love you all and hope you are all doing well! As a quick note, this weeks picture is of my favorite snack ever that literally costs a peso each. CEREAL STRAWS!
Love,Elder Warren
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