October 2, 2011

silly scripture of the week is John 11:35

well transfers came and i was transferred to Alijis branch. that's a branch, not a ward. it's smaller, so it needs more help to be a ward, mainly more Melchizedek priesthood holders. i'm not sure what i can do to help improve this area but i will try my best. to help the work, i try to think why president would want me in this area (what does he want me to do for this area) and then i think about what i can put in to this area to accomplish his purpose. well, i'll just have to see. it'll be hard to get lessons because everyone is always working during the day and when they get home, they are always busy (cooking, washing, etc..). this last week, we were only able to get in around 7 lessons! granted, i'm still new here so a lot of it had to do with the transfers. oh and my new companion is Elder Phelps. he's a pretty big guy and he's zone leader right now. he'll be going home this December so he's pretty far in his mission but not trunky yet. (maybe just a lil)

even though i had to put up with a lot in fifth ward, i will still miss a lot of people. the hardest part about transfers wasn't coming to a new place or new ward but having to say goodbye to the old ward. Especially to sister Christine and Grace and brother Padul. they have worked a lot with us, Angelo, Ellen and JR as well, it was sad to leave. we had a ward missionary FHE to say goodbye and it was really good night (the day was pretty funny. i'll talk about that later). but i'm not very far away. i'm still in the city, as a matter of fact, i saw sister Christine today at SM but she'll be going to America soon so it was pretty much goodbye. i guess i won't need very much candy for them anymore.

so the funny thing that happened last week was that there was this crazy white lady who doesn't like mormons which was wandering around the church trying to find missionaries. namely white american ones, also namely in my area. she went to the church after everyone had left and was asking a lot of prying questions. she was able to find out where we live and dropped a letter in our mailbox (also there was some noise the night before) it said "aliens, i would like u to come to where i am, belle's pension house. Caroline Ossario" well me and Elder Woodford didn't go because that note sounds like a trap (i wanted to go and find out what it was like in scooby doo). it sounds dangerous i know. we texted the AP's and they gave told us that they knew the name, apparently she went to the office as well. but the next day at district meeting she shows up and is yelling at elder woodford really rudely and he's doing his best to calm her down. i was in the toilet at the time and when i came out i told her that she was trespassing on private property and that if she didn't leave then i would call the police. she didn't like that so i called them, but no answer... go figure. anyways, i come back and let her know that i called the police and that she should leave. i called her "sister" and she yells at me not to call her "sister" because she wasn't my sister and then spits at me. she missed though because i'm like Neo and i can dodge a wrench and a car. i called her "sister" a few times after that just to hit the point across and she tells me to get out of the country and that i'm an alien. apparently she doesn't like Americans in the Philippines, especially Mormons. but the real kicker is that i asked her where she was from (sarcastically) and she said that she was from here. she's white, doesn't know how to speak illongo only English, told elder Woodford that she was from america and she's mad that i'm here.... well, i've been yelled at, spit at and persecuted for my religion, i'm a true Mormon missionary. I really just laughed it off though, it was hilarious! she knows not to try that one again, i won't take that.

oh and i was hugged by a drunk guy the other day. it was actually pretty scary because he was yelling the whole time and halfway across the street he pulled something out of his back pocket. at first i thought it could be a knife but it turns out that it was just a tanduay rhum bottle and he left it so that a car would run it over. he hugged Elder Phelps for a really long time and then later he touched my butt while i was getting into the jeepney. pretty hilarious as well.

i've learned why nobody in the Philippines gets married. the Criteria is ridiculously hard and expensive. at least if you get married first. if you get married after five years of living together and have kids, well then it's a little easier but that just makes people wait to get married, if they get married at all. not to mention, it's almost impossible to get a divorce. thereby making people have kids out of wedlock for fear of getting married and wanting a divorce and being stuck together. this is just another one of those ideas that would be great in theory and in a perfect world would work just fine but it fails miserably in real life application.

also, the weather has been pretty rough, (still hot though) lightning hit really close to our house and knocked the power out for a while. it came back a little later that night but it was LOUD!