Fishing in the Philippines (Matthew 4:19): Week 79 (Jan. 18, 2016 Gabaldon, Philippines)

Dear Mom,

That's crazy that you got that impression! I was sort of freaking out last Monday, thinking that I was about to ruin your plans. That's awesome how well it all worked out though!! Did you contact the office to make sure?

Earlier this week, we went on exchanges with the Dingalan Elders, and I got to spend the day with Elder Dumanjug. He's super nice and friendly, and he's an INCREDIBLE missionary when it comes to the actual appointment, but he's coming close to the end of his mission and he's feeling a little "trunky." I learned a lot from him on our exchange, though, and he seems like he's been doing a bit better, so things are okay now :)

The day I got home from their area, we had the Zone Leaders come to conduct an interview for one of our investigators. Tatay Siriaco is really old, and has trouble remembering everything we teach him, especially the names of the commandments, so we weren't sure how it was all going to turn out. However, he passed with flying colors and is now on schedule for the 30th :) We'll be having two more interviews this week, but it'll probably have to be planned more carefully. The Zone Leaders weren't able to make it back home, and so they had to spend the night at our house :P It was actually really fun :)

We found a new family! The Galvez family is full of potential Priesthood holders, so we're super stoked to teach them and help bring them into the gospel. June Fransisco is in his 40s, Larence is 16, John Paul is 14, and Jomar is 12. The Mom hasn't decided to listen yet, so it's just the men for now. They're super receptive, and we've made plans to bring them to church this upcoming week. Should be good :)

Earlier today, we went an activity as a district to Dingalan to visit a Light house in their area. Sadly, just as we made it to the top, the painting crew was locking the gate. They had just barely finished cleaning up all the vandalism from ages past, and the paint was still wet :( We still had a good time though, and got to go on a nice hike, walk along the beach, and drink coconut juice, right out of the shell :) Here's the pics.

Elder Dala is teaching me his fancy photography secrets. What a cutie, right?

I look so dang young!! Grr... It's weird. Filipinos take it as like, the biggest compliment if you say they look young, but I want the opposite, haha :P
Oh ya, the coconut. I got to chop the top off with a machete, and you drink out of the hole :)

Kind of hard, and it spills sometimes, but it's super delicious and thirst quenching :)

Chop it in half, and use the shell as a spoon, then dig out the meat inside. Food and drink for the price of free.... as long as you know how to climb a buko tree, which Elder Dumanjug does :)