16 January 2012

Ang pinalangga ko nga kauturan... kag ginikanan pa gid,

It sounds like things are going pretty good back home. I did notice it was Rob's birthday this week. I'm glad he enjoyed it. It sounded like fun. It was on Friday the 13th again this year. What color was the shirt he wore on his birthday? In the Philippines if I ever see anyone wearing a red shirt I say to them "Happy Birthday!" because that's just a weird tradition I guess. They just laugh and say, hahah, I'm wearing red. hohoho. Funny!

Anyway, this week was a most excellent week for us. So your hope happened my mother. The transfered happened but I get to stay here in Guimaras!! Yeah boy! Elder Farnsworth is a trainer now so there is a new guy in the apartment, Elder Martinaeu. He seems pretty fly but it's reminding me how hard it is to be new in the mission. He'll turn out pretty good though. The bad news this week is our hot water heater exploded. I guess we just have to be content with cold water.

Besides that we have some really good things happening in our area right now! The Gonzaga family are continuing to progress. We're still fighting with the Word of Wisdom, but they are sacrificing and trying their best. They all came to church yesterday and we're going to have a sweet family home evening with them tonight. I'm way excited. They are such a sweet family. It's kind of funny because they are like one of the only complete families at church. I'm grateful to teach them. It's so much easier with families that are able to support each other. And that's really our focus right now.

We've also been blessed with some new investigators. We're really focusing only on families. And because of that I feel the Lord is blessing us with families to teach. We just found a sister named Jonale through some less actives (shes the less actives daughter) and she's way prepared. She was taught by the missionaries 5 years ago but then worked abroad in Singapore and just got back. We taught her a sweet lesson and she really wants to be baptized, but only with her husband. Her husband on comes home on Sundays because he works in Iloilo so we got to talk to him on Sunday. She warned us that he usually doesn't like to listen and always leaves but we got there and talked to him and found out his father had just passed away. After talking for a while we had a really good lesson with them and I'm excited for this family. We'll see how they do. Also... Pinoy's really like combining names. The dad is Rene and the mom is Jonale, so the daughter is RheaJoy. I guess though thats not as bad as Jimjin. haha.

We also got a new referral from some members and we're excited to work with them. The members are getting really excited for the work. The Dyer's are doing really well getting things set up, and I'm excited for the plans our branch is making. We actually had a area broadcast from the Area Presidency about the vision for the Philippines. The Philippines has had a lot of growth but there is a lot.. of less actives. But we need to rescue them. Too many sheep have gone astray. But we're going to bring them back. We're not going to let our less actives fall away. So the branch is making goals. We're going to rescue, we're going to make sure each family is doing scripture study, family home evening, and family prayer. I'm really excited. We just need to help these people remember the sweetness of the gospel again. Because the gospel is the only way we can become truly happy.

Well, thats about it. We're going to make like an airplane and take off. Also, Jared never told me that joke about the skydiver.

Take luck,
Love you,
Elder Burton