Fishing in the Philippines (Matthew 4:19): Week 45 (May 24, 2015 Camiling, Philippines)

Dear Mom,

Yes, I know the difference between the Armstrongs. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon (part of the Apollo 12 mission?), Louie Armstrong is the famous trumpeter (jazz/blues?), and Lance Armstrong is the biker that won the Toure de France a few times, but then got disqualified one year for use of drugs. I thought you'd enjoy the joke though :P

Family camp sounds awesome :P Woah! Liam looks more like Shaun than he does either of his parents :P And is that an official fire pit, or something you all just threw together?
I was a bit shocked about the whole Friday through Monday thing, however. Is that what we usually do? I thought it was always something like Thursday through Saturday, and then just go to a movie or something on Monday. Sounds like it was pretty awesome though. However, I still want to go camping in Pinevalley (no Google, Ididn't mean pineapple... dough head) again. The Filipinos have taught me how to bath in rivers, so I'm definitely going to try it and not get hypothermia :D
The Earthquake sounded pretty intense. I remember another one we had where it actually woke me up because it shook my bed and rolled my Pine Wood Derby car off of my desk. Still wasn't super strong, but I felt it. Earthquakes are freaky. I think I'd rather be stuck in a typhoon than an Earthquake, though I might change my mind by the end of Rainy Season. Sounds like we're in for quite the treat :P

They have this probiotic milk drink that taste like yogurt hear called Yakult. It's got billions of little live bacteria in it that are supposed to throw a party in your tummy. I'm going to get some. Super excited.
I actually think the problem may be all of the lame chocolate stuff here. The cereal is super expensive except for this one kinda sketchy brand that sells it in 60g bags. The ingredients look alright (corn is the first), and it only costs about 14 cents a bowl. But I'm still hungry, so I drink this oatmeal/chocolate drink that's loaded with a bunch of vitamins, and then I drink a glass of Milo just cause it tastes good and has a bunch of vitamins and such. Sooooo...... maybe so. I know my stomach used to always hurt whenever I would drink Hot chocolate for breakfast at home, so that may be it.

This week has been interesting. Satan seems to be working really hard in the Hearts of some of our investigators, and goes on with his business without invitation. Of course, Heavenly Father is also constantly blessing us, but is prepared to give us so much more if we'll just humble ourselves and ask for it! That's something that I've seen a little bit of this week.
On Tuesday, we had an appointment with an investigator who should be baptized within the next month. Her name is Ivy Lorica, and because she's female, we can't teach her without another responsible adult male companion. Normally, we teach her with her cousin, but her cousin was gone today, and we thought we weren't going to be able to teach her, but then we were impressed to pray for help and guidance. After the prayer, we set out on our way to her house, hoping for a miracle. While we were walking, we saw an investigator who is also really close to baptism, Brother Joseph Torres. We talked to him for a little bit, and asked where he was going. He said he just felt like going for a walk because he didn't have any work that day. He asked where we were going and after we told him, he asked us if he could come :D We happily replied yes, and then off we went.
Yesterday, we were also sort of met with a dead end. Sundays are usually our days to work with Members, and then they'll introduce us to friends or other less actives that we've yet to meet. Yesterday, however, they had a viewing of Meet the Mormons at the District Center, so we had no one to work with us. We went to the few appointments we had planned as back ups, but all except one fell through. So it was only 3:30 PM, and we had no where to go. So we decided to say another prayer, asking for more guidance and inspiration. Immediately after the prayer, I remembered a man we had contacted a few weeks before, but we had never gone back. We went to his house, and he was just getting ready to leave to work, but offered us 10 minutes to share with him. We were able to teach the Message of the Restoration, and bear our testimonies about Joseph Smith. Afterwards, we decided to try a Less Active that lived in the area, and were even able to get one of his friends to sit in on the lesson. We were also able to visit a former investigator who struggled with testimony, but has since prayed about Joseph Smith and has felt the Spirit testify.
Overall, the lessons taught were pretty low in quantity, but high in quality. It was definitely a day of miracles :)

And now to end, another Scriptural thought:
This one is a little different, in that it comes from the Ensign.... back in 2007. However, it spoke volumes to me, and I wanted to share it :) It's about the Power of Laughter. After I turned 18, I feel I was immediately overcome with the notion that I was an adult now and had to grow up. At school, Caleb would always want to have fun and joke around, and I always got after him for it (sorry Gayrub... I lub you). I think that was a really big reason I was sort of hit with a bout of depression my Senior Year. It wasn't anything serious but it affected me, and I regret a lot of the choices I did or didn't make during that time. I've loosened back up a little since I got on the mission, but Elder Murdock also took quite a big swing of it, which was probably part of the problem between him and I. He wanted to have fun and enjoy life and I wouldn't let him. I felt that time had gone. But this article helped a lot. It talks about how being childlike isn't simply being meek, submissive, humble or patient, but also having that sense of humor that children have. It isn't about being childish, but knowing and realizing that it's still okay, and even encouraged, to have fun. Of course, we should still be dignified and respectful, especially in Spiritual Environments. In short, I want to share a quote that I just thought of and am pretty proud of :)
"Grown up life isn't about putting away the crayons; it's just about learning how to color inside the lines." ~Me

You're welcome :)

Love you so much!!
Elder Syphus

PS. Yes, my leatherman is the pocketknife of which I am speaking.

PPS. Could you ask Rob if he's still willing to buy a trampoline if I dig a hole for it? If he wants, I'll dig the hole in their yard