18 July 2011

Hey Family!!
This week was great!! I feel like we really were blessed by the Lord and the area is going awesome. I'll start with the beginning though. Just buckle your seat belts. Heheh.

Anyway, last Monday, we decided to go out and visit one of our new investigator families, the Delacruz. Anyway, they are a sweet family... so good. I told you about them last week. Anyway, we went to their house and started teaching them. It was going to be a great lesson and we were going to commit them to baptism, but then... like 6 drunk dudes just burst into the house and started talking to us. Now this is in like a 10x15 foot house, I guess... So it was intense. There was no way out. They were like talking to us, it was pretty ridiculous. They started grabbing my nose and telling me they liked it. Anyway, next thing I know we're like testifying to them and they kind of calmed down. We told them we'd like to come back and share with them when they are sober. One of them, Emilito, was pretty good. We actually visited him last Saturday and I think he'll turn into a good investigator. So it was kind of cool. I looked back on that when we were planning and thought I should have been a little more scared, but I wasn't really. I don't know, I guess I just feel protected... except for dogs, they scare me. Drunk guys... their all right... they said I'm their best friend. Anyway, Brother Delacruz was pretty sorry and we said we'd just come back tomorrow. That's one of the big lessons I learned this week. Through a couple experience, I realized again how important it is to look at people how they can become, not the way they might be or the way other people say they are.

On Tuesday I ended up going to Altavas for a baptismal interview. I worked with Elder Hadfield from New Zealand and really learned a lot from him about listening. Because filipinos love to talk!! Sometimes in a lesson they go off topic and if you don't take control they'll talk from like an hour without you saying even one word. Anyway, when that happens, I admit, sometimes I get district or start thinking and stop listening, even if my thought is like, "Dude, I haven't said anything for like 20 minutes, how is she still talking?" But I really learned from Elder Hadfield while watching him that we really have to listen carefully, even if they are talking about something kind of ridiculous and then take control and help them however the spirit tells you too. Anyway, I also got to interview Romeo for baptism. He's way cool. He had some Wow problems but I could tell how much he trusted in the Lord to overcome these problems, he'll be a great member. I also got to see the Alisasis Family, who got baptized with Elder Perez and Elder Farnsworth. I got to work with them a couple times before they were baptized and I could see how much the Lord had prepared them. It was cool to see how active they were. Sister was going to give a talk on Sunday, I saw one of them in Seminary when we walked past the church, and Brother in now a priesthood holder. It's amazing how the gospel changes lives.

Wednesday was sweet too. The best news is the Brother Mark finally received an answer to his prayer. He told us he believes the Book of Mormon is true and that we have a living prophet. They are a good family. They accepted a date to be baptized but they still have to get married. They finally committed to go to church but, we had some problems because Mark is a police officer. Why did somebody have to kill somebody on Saturday night?! Satan is working way hard, but hopefully we can help them keep excercising their faith. Sister Juliet has a way strong testimony too. And then they have to get married too. It's a hard situation. But they are so prepared...

About halfway through Thursday we walked past our church and saw some different Elders there.. from Roxas. Because we had a combined Zone Conference on Friday. Anyway, it was Elder Lowry, the trainer of Elder Quinantoto, and Elder Balmeo. We took them and just went on splits. I worked with Elder Balmeo. We went to the Delacruz Family again. I guess Elder Perez had committed them to baptism but they had no idea what that meant because they asked if they would become missionaries like us. We talked to them about and what it meant and how we would help them get ready. They were way confused though so I'm not sure what happened. But they are cool now.

Anyway, to our surprise and without warning, we ended up having 8 missionaries sleep in our apartment from Roxas. It was kind of intense. I thought I was done having people sleep over when I left Molo, but I guess not. But at our apartment, we only have 1 electric fan, and 2 foam pads. We ended up putting them on the floor, then everyone laid with their upper body on the mattress, and their legs on the cement. It was hot man.. and I think against the missionary handbook... :/.. but we made it through the night. I had to wake up at 5 though because President Teh wanted leaders to be early for training. So... not too much sleep. But it was a really great experience!! In the leadership training, President Teh (Philippines Area Presidency) talked to us about the mission and how we were doing. He had four categories like obedience, faith, diligence, and something else. I forgot, but I tell you.. because we rated the mission on these things using the rating system, telestial, terrestrial, and celestial degree 1, 2, or 3. Anyway, we'd like rate and most people would say the same.. Terrestrial! And then President Teh would ask Elder Tiamzon and he'd say, "Celestial!" Then later we did it again and everyone was like 1st degree. Then President Teh would say, "Elder Tiamzon, what do you think?" "Third Degree!" Anyway, President Pagaduan just commented, "I afraid he'll be translated pretty soon." I kind of laughed. That's my tatay! Anyway, then President Teh shared about the Good Shepard and how that the kind of leaders we should be. We discussed like every single verse. There is so many principles in there for Christlike Leadership, I challenge you all to look at that. Even Rebekah and Jared, since now they have new responsibilities in their quorums. In John 10, by the way.

Anyway, after that we had the regular conference. It was way sweet. We learned about the new mission motto: Life where you stand, from President Uctdorf's talk. It was really cool and it really fits. It doesn't matter what area were in or what position were in, as long as we stand close together and life wherever we are. That's all it takes and the work will seemingly take care of it's self. You all should read that talk too, it's way good. We talked a lot about continually progressing too and not stopping or getting into a flow of missionary work. It was a good zone conference.

So yesterday we had ward conference. There were so many people there. A lot was big help to our bishop. He invited a lot of people. He owns a watch repair shop (he fixed my watch for me, by the way), in the middle of the Market, so he sees everyone. He told every single member he saw to come to our Ward Conference, and a ton came. It was awesome! He has a big influence on people, a lot of less-actives we've been working with came to church too. It was a sweet Sunday. Afterwards we worked with Patrick. He's a great kid man. I love him. We have a cool story because his mom, who lives in Hong Kong, isn't a member, Sister Regina. But she was about to be baptized into a different religion, but had a bad feeling about it. She remembered her kids here in Banga that are members and decided to talk to her friend in Hong Kong about her feeling. Her friend, it turns out, is a member, and Sister Regina just got a good feeling talking to her and shared how she thought something was missing. She went to church, talked with the missionaries after, has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and wants to get baptized. She gets to come home to Banga 2 weeks out of every year... in July, so she requested to be baptized here. We taught her last night, and it's just amazing to see how much God has worked with her to prepare her. Her family is so happy! She has such a strong testimony. It's kind of funny because the missionaries in Hong Kong teach her in english. I asked her if the missionaries over there have huge noses, and she's like... oh yeah they do. I told her she should tell them that when she goes back... anyway, so we have a lot to take care of this week. But I'm way excited!!

Your bike trip sounded sweet. I'll have to check out that place one day. I'm excited to hear about your new job too dad. Keep telling me wats da haps.

I forgot to tell you. We were tracting the other week and found a new investigator named Amo Unggoy. Well, actually, amo is monkey in Ilonggo and Unggoy is monkey in Tagalog. Anyway, we played with him for a couple minutes. hehe... so that's where the pictures came from.

Anyway, I love you all. Take care. Lift where you stand.
Love,
Elder Burton