Well I was expecting our district to be the exact same this next cycle because not a single person from our last district got transferred last week, but I was wrong because Tuesday night, we got a surprise phone call from President Rahlf and I was called to be District Leader. I am grateful for the trust that the Lord has put in me and excited for the opportunity to serve my fellow missionaries to the best of my abilities.
I've grown so much spiritually in the past twelve and a half months, but to be honest, my personality hasn't really changed and so I am still the same goofy, easygoing wise guy that I was before I left; So Thursday I taught my first district meeting and I think at first, my district was probably wondering if they were going to be able to take me serious. But we have an awesome district-two other elders, four sisters, then us-and our District Meeting turned out great. My lesson was about the importance of prayer for both us as missionaries and also for our investigators; I was also very grateful for everyone's participation.
I also had the opportunity to conduct my first two baptismal interviews on Saturday. I was a little nervous at first since it was my first time, but I studied a little bit in Chapter 12 of Preach My Gospel and also prayed for comfort and guidance, so when I got to the interview, I felt very at peace and the interviews went great. It was also an awesome experience to see the testimonies of these two candidates and I could tell they had truly been converted to the gospel and were ready for baptism.
On Saturday, our stake also had an all-day event in celebration of 'Family Week'. The program consisted of games, food, and some dance presentations from each ward. One of the games they were like playing tag/wrestling with a greasy coconut or something like that and a lady dome-rocked herself on the concrete. Two of the sister missionaries who have nursing backgrounds said that she was alright, but they decided to rush her to the hospital anyways. She turned out completely fine but what's a family-friendly activity without a little action?
As far as the presentations, the Primary from each ward did an interpretive dance, the youth did either a pop or folk dance, and the Relief Society/Elders Quorum did these skits where the men were singing and playing guitars in order to court the women. I don't know if we have any activities like that back home, but all in all, I'd say it was a pretty fun time.
Our investigator LetLet also came up to the activity with the ward and seemed to enjoy it. She unfortunately didn't make it to church yesterday because she went somewhere Saturday night and didn't get back until Sunday afternoon, but we were able to teach her twice this past week (both times at the house of the Soriano family who are members that live close to her. It is really helpful for us to have fellowshippers because that helps her feel more comfortable I think and those are also additional testimonies being added to the lessons. LetLet seems to really be progressing and developing a testimony. She used to have a few vices with the Word of Wisdom, but we are working on that with her and she has committed to live the Word of Wisdom.
The work is still going rather swell also. We had two other investigators show up to church and also a tatay who used to be less active but he has now attended like 4 weeks in a row and so he is now counted as a 'returned member!'
Well that was another long letter so I think that's about all for this week. Tomorrow I've got another District Meeting to teach and then Wednesday I travel to Cauayan again for a 'new leaders' meeting so I'll let you know how everything goes next Monday. We don't get to watch Conference until the 11th but I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Peace until next time!
That net shop swag
Riding atop the jeepney