Week 10 (Sept. 14, 2014 San Leonardo, Philippines)

Week .....10?

I'm actually not sure how long I've been out :P However, I DO know
that my release date is June 15, 2016. JSYK :)

This week, like all of them, definitely had its highs and lows. One of
the highest happened last Monday though. We got to have Family Home
Evening with the Carpeso Family! :D
After our P-Day ended around 6:30 PM, we headed over to their home.
Their 10 year old Jam-Jam conducted, and was very formal about all of
it :P We had an opening prayer and song, of course, and Sister Carpeso
shared with everybody a Spiritual Thought. Elder Maestrado and I
taught the lesson, using the science of vacuums to represent how the
Doctrine of Christ and the Atonement helps families return as one to
our Father in Heaven. It was pretty cool :P We then watched the John
Tanner story (INCREDIBLE), and played a couple of games. Elder
Maestrado taught the rules in Tagalog, so I didn't know how to play,
but I had a great time laughing and enjoying it all with the rest of
them :) Of course, they fed us Dinner after that :D

Tuesday was a bit slower than usual. We got our notice to pay the
Electric Bill Tuesday Morning, so we went off to the office at about
9. They were helping number 68, and we were number 351. yay.... So we
we sat outside for 3 three hours, practicing Tagalog, before it was
finally our turn. We got back home at around 12:30. The rest of the
day went smoothly enough :) As we were leaving the office, we saw one
of our Investigators there to pay his bill as well. We taught him
later that evening right after he got home at about 4 PM :P

Wednesday was a Zone Conference, so we got up early to catch the 7:30
bus so we would make it to Cabanatuan by 9:00. President and Sister
Clark both shared wonderful lessons, about how we need to be more
Diligent Disciples of Christ. That means it is expected of us to make
a Lesson Plan for each lesson, everyday, and ALWAYS (unless surely
prompted by the Spirit to do otherwise) extend a baptismal invitation
on the First Lesson. It was invigorating :) Because of the long travel
time, we didn't get much opportunity to apply it that night, but we
did get to use it a little bit later :)
Also, there is a Sister Knudsen in our mission. Relative of Dad's friend?

Thursday, both of our Morning appointments fell through, so we went
after a Referral we received from some other Elders. Brother Sebastian
Pangelan, but he just goes by Bobby. He explained to us that he had
been invited to be baptized in to a few other churches, but always
declined. He was happy being Catholic. The spirit was SO strong in our
lesson though, and when we extended the Baptismal Invitation, he
accepted! I felt prompted to testify of the Holy Ghost, which I did,
and the effect was immediate. There was Such a powerful feeling in the
room of Peace, Comfort, and Truth :) This incredible optimism stayed
with me throughout the day until we got home that night and saw
literally HUNDREDS of ants, devouring the remainder of my Oreos. I'll
admit that I was pretty ticked ' XD I went straight from planning to
bed. No journal, dinner, nothing. Grr....
I've decided I like flies and Spiders better than Ants now. I've
gotten pretty good at catching flies lately :) After I've got them, I
tear off a wing and toss it into a spider web. It's actually REALLY
cool how the spiders wrap them up. If I can't seem to get the fly to
stay in the web, I just grab the spider and coil up some web myself.
Spiders can be pretty fun :P

Friday, we had splits. I got to lead the area with our District
Leader, Elder Cancel. We got lost more than few times :P It's really
interesting how he OYMs people. He just walks up to a random person
and asks if they know another random person. I'm going to have to try
that sometime :P
While he was in our area, he interviewed Sister Juliana Conde for her
baptism next week and she passed! :P She still hasn't decided who she
wants to perform the ordinance, so no news on that yet. She continues
to progress though :)
We also taught one of our investigators the Word of Wisdom, which was
kind of awkward, because he listens to every lesson with a cigarette
in his mouth, and this time was no different :P He flicked the
cigarette away after we told him, but, like everyone here, asked why
we weren't allowed to drink tea and coffee. We've been counseled to
simply ask them to think on their Testimony of Joseph Smith as a
Prophet of God, and therefore as one entitled to receive revelation
such as the Word of Wisdom. He said he'll stop drinking coffee if we
buy him milk and cocoa every week... Let's just say he still needs a
bit of work :P

Saturday was Really fun :D We had another little down pour, and this
time we got to wade in flood water up past our shins :D The splashing
pretty much got us soaked up to our waists though :P I felt obliged to
carry around my sandals for the rest of the evening, because I felt
those were a better alternative than to entering homes with soggy
socks :)

This was the aftermath of the storm. You can see the line near the top of my pants :P
It sort of blends, but just know it's not the lighting :)

Church on Sundays continues to be very political. There was another
argument yesterday, about whether the Atonement IS the Gospel, or is a
PART of the Gospel. I'm happy to just tune it all out and do some
personal study.
We had a Typhoon last night, continuing on to this morning, so
President told all Missionaries in our Zone to be inside by 5. It
would've turned out that way anyway, though, cause I was hit with a
pretty killer Bug Saturday Night. Cough and cold, complete with
Runny/Stuffy Nose, Headache, and a blazing chest fever. It hurts :P I
ended up sleeping most of the day yesterday, and throughout the night.
For some reason, though, I waited until this morning to take the
Drowsy Drug that would kick out my runny nose. The runny nose has
subsided, but I've been ready for a nap since I took it :P Hooray for
being too sick to think :D

To close off, I just want to share some stuff I've learned from the
Book of Alma this week.
In Chapter 47, Amalickiah sets forth his plan to become King of the
Lamanites. After Lehonti and his people descent from the Lamanites in
order to avoid war, Amalickiah tracks him down to take control. He
calls for Lehonti to come down from his Mountain camp to talk with
him. Lehonti refuses, knowing the obvious danger of this. Likewise, we
are often able to avoid the more obvious temptations of the Devil.
However, Amalickiah eventually offers to meet Lehonti half way, even
allowing him to bring his guards. This, Lehonti accepts. After they
talk, Lehonti eventually goes down with Amalickiah.
We need to be wise enough not to meet Satan halfway. Because when we
do, it's a lot easier for him to bring us all the way down. Some
things may not seem inherently evil. But that's how Satan plays. He's
cunning and patient, and, like Amalickiah, will "poison us by degrees"
if we allow it. The sooner we understand this, the better we'll be
able to recognize those things that equate to meeting Satan halfway.
Even if we don't follow him down, we will have to make the trek back
to the top. Instead, just Stay on top.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my week! I sort of did :P I'd love to
hear from all of you, so WRITE ME!!! :D :D

-Elder Syphus
PS. Something quick I forgot to mention. I tried Chicken Feet this
week! :D The taste was fine, but the bones were a bit too crunchy for
my liking. Ah well. I guess it's not for everyone :)


You can buy a glass bottle of Soda about every 10 feet, but if you don't want to drink it at the shop, they pour it into a little sandwich bag so they can recycle the bottle :)



We walk past this statue every few days. I don't really understand it, but it's fun to look at :P


Merry Christmas from the Conde Family!! Juliana, Julius, and Julianne, with Mom at the right :)