First off happppy birthday to the man Richard Reber!
WOW this week was a great one. I can’t believe Graden is headin over here. I got a text while in the area one day from President Fermanis telling me I need to face call my family at 10pm after we finished our work to talk to my brother. I can’t believe you’re coming here but at the same time it’s where I guessed and for the past little while I just kinda started assuming you’d come here! Yesterday as I worked I was thinking how you will soon be experiencing all the little things I see and do every day. I know that you’re called here because it’s where it’s where you need to go and it has nothing to do with me being here. You will learn for yourself that where you serve is where the Lord needs you and it may for be for different purposes as to why I’m here. I spoke in sacrament Sunday and mentioned my brother got his call here to the Philippines and they all thought that was pretty cool!
This week Elder Mitchell and I made the goal to proselyte 100 hours in the week! We woke up at 5, prepared and did personal study til 6:30, then worked til 9:30 each day of the week. We were able to get past our goal and saw many amazing things happen throughout the week. I’m glad to have Elder Mitchell as my companion I continue to learn a ton from him. We also went on exchanges in our area with 3 different companionships and enjoyed being with them as well.
We found 38 new investigators and have lots of referrals now lined up for these next few weeks. We tried to find in many different ways- mainly through less actives, members, washing people’s clothes/dishes, and our basketball activity Thursday night. We had 48 people show up for basketball it was a BLAST! The priests and YSA invite tons of friends and we’ve been able to teach quite a few of them. Friday morning we played again with some of those we’ve been able to teach and after playing we toured the chapel with them. I’ll try to get a picture next week cuz it’s pretty amusing seeing how many Filipinos will come to play some ball. Even outside the gate there were lots of old grandpas and other by-standers watching the games being played since the church is in the middle of a ton of houses. Right outside people also sell different street foods so the church is in a great location with lots of people around.
One kid named Christian we met is a best friend of one of the priests. He is actually a Utah Jazz fan haha! He’s the first Filipino I’ve met who likes the jazz and actually knows a ton about them. He’s a Donovan Mitchell fan and hopes he wins rookie of the year. I thought that was sweet.
Here’s an update on a few people we’ve been working with in the past! Lobo family went to church again and the mom and son Lee actually came and worked with us one night! They now read a chapter of the BOM every day as a fam and welcome join them with that every few days. Miller from Phoenix LOVED conference. We were able to see him a few times this week and will start teaching one of his good friends this week. I’m not sure if you remember Eric but we found him through Nanay Angie when Nanay showed us to a less active house. We taught him a few times then handed him off to the office elders since it was in their area of the ward. He was baptized on Friday morning and it was an awesome service! Bro JR is still a stud and reads lots in the BOM. He drank coffee again but I thought it was cool that he told us as soon as he saw us that he messed up. When he wakes up in the morning he really craves it so we started heading to his house every morning to drink some milo with him. Sunday night we had a fireside at the mission home (first of all time) where we watched Finding Faith in Christ, heard a few testimonies, then ate brownies and ice cream. We were able to go with JR and he had a blast. It was cool to see investigators talk to one another and see that they’re in the same boat as others.
We found some amazing new people and I really see God’s hand in finding them now when I think about it. One guy named Jun showed up to church and we met him just this week. We found him first thing in the morning one day and helped get him some pants to be able to go to church. Another is the Desabille family- someone we found at about 9:10pm after lots of work prior to finding them. The last was a 17 yr old guy named Patrick- someone who had moved here literally the day before and has been an investigator for 2 years in the province. He’s basically a member but is just waiting to turn 18 since his mom won’t give him permission.
To top off the week the very last night we were really tired, got to the car, and realized the keys had fallen out of my pocket sometime throughout the night. Long story short we had a 45 minute walk to get home. Hahaha. I lost 7 pounds this week and I’m sure 6 of those were from that last walk we made.
Love ya all! We saw a guy holding a beer bottle sitting right on the edge of a tin roof. He was literally flailing back and forth with the biggest smile ever. Filipinos have the best smiles and to be honest when they’re drunk they’re always so happy haha. He reassured us that he is alright by saying “I’m drinking responsibility!!” Hope you guys all have a great week full of being “responsibility.”
Elder Reber
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