An Excerpt From Sam's Email 9/25/11

This is the first area I have been in that I’ve got fed…we enjoy it. The members are very nice. Plus it leaves us with more money to buy tasty snacks. Depending on who it is, they will normally cook lots of rice (too much most of the time) and then a couple of "sudan"s (which, being translated, means pretty much "something ate on rice") such as chicken adobo, fried chicken, fish, pork adobo, pork estufado, vegetable soupish dishes, etc. our tagia, or owner of our apartment, took us out to eat this week at a seafood/chicken restaurant that is apparently very well known. There we had lechon chicken, lechon pork, chicken liver (I’m not a big fan,) and squid (imagine eating chunks of tire...) and then we had a fresh cut open coconut for a drink. I have a picture of us eating a week or so ago after Maricel's baptism, where we ate chicken butt... ha-ha. So, overall, we eat pretty normal stuff, that I love! I have really come to enjoy soy sauce. And we'll always have the occasional weird thing that I don’t really love, but isn’t too bad, like liver and squid, and chicken butt. Ha-ha.

This week was a little bit slower with the work because we had some leadership trainings, but the trainings were very inspirational and motivating. I love learning from other Elders and our mission president. But the biggest success of the week was the baptism of Rolando and Minerva. They had a great experience, and their testimonies were so powerful afterwards. Minerva pretty much told the story of the restoration, taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the church. We were very impressed! Rolando was full of gratitude for the missionaries in the church and the work we do, because, in his words, "because of them, I found the true path that leads to the Kingdom of God." everyone that attended had a very spiritual experience.

Yesterday we held our wards "first ward missionary training" which was a great success. Even President Pagaduan was able to attend. We invited all of our ward missionaries, our ward mission leader, and the auxiliary leaders to attend. We shared parts talking about what a ward missionary is, how we are all missionaries, the purpose of missionaries and members, and our responsibilities. Bishop shared about the importance of ward missionaries, and president talked about how we all need to be united, as leaders, members, and missionaries if we want the work to progress well. The ward missionaries had a great time, and were very inspired by President Pagaduan. Afterwards, we took them on splits in our areas, and they had great experiences tracting and teaching with us. We are excited to hold another meeting the following Sunday, and to see the ward mission get up and running a little more than it has been in the past.

 

Update on Mysterious Photo and Latest News

Apparently the Filipino people love to play games and have challenges. They also like to have "penalties" for the losers. The brown stuff on their faces is their "penalty" for losing--mud on their face.
Sam is working hard and finding much success in Iloilo. He met a woman the other day who said she went to the LDS church as a young girl, and was happy to have them come and discuss the gospel with her. She had had a dream that 2 men in white shirts came to visit her--this was just before Sam and his companion came into her neighborhood. Experiences such as these are strengthening Sam's testimony as well as our own. He has met and baptized some wonderful people, helping them overcome challenges and repent and come unto Christ. He is loving every minute of it.
He said a nightly ritual is taking off their soaking wet shoes and socks and putting them in front of the fan to dry out over night!

Mysterious Photo

We are not sure what the brown stuff is all over the faces--can't wait to hear the story!

Sam's Stitches, August, 2011

Apparently, someone went up for a lay up during basketball and the result was Sam getting stitches above his eye. We will be happy if this is his most serious accident while in the Philippines! He said the stitches are already out and he is back to playing basketball!

After a Very Rainy Day!

After a very rainy day, Sam waded through this water for 15 minutes on his way to an investigator's house. I hope he was wearing sandals! As you can see, the people there are very used to this kind of thing! He said his legs got a very good workout.

Yummy Food and a New Assignment!

This is a photo of Sam indulging in chicken intestines! Yum!

An excerpt from his email: 6/20/11

I have been transferred to the neighboring area in the city, Manduriao, awnd am ith Elder R. as zone leaders of Iloilo zone. It's the biggest zone in the mission, so no pressure right?! It's crazy that the amount of responsibility just went up again, but I’m very excited for it. I am happy to be able to serve the elders and sisters in the zone.
Just for a fun story, my first night in the area we went to one of the furthest members in our area, and got to walk for about 15 minutes through knee-high water on the roads because it rained so hard earlier in the day! That was fun. Gave my legs a good work out.

Watching a Tiungee

Sam is doing so great in the city of Iloilo! He has had some great experiences teaching people that turn out to be so ready to hear the gospel. He is coming up on his 1 year mark, and we can hardly believe it. But we are not focusing on it because we do not want to begin a "countdown". We do not want him to waste any minutes of the year he has left. Recently he was asked by a lady to watch her "tiungee" and he attached this photo so we knew what that meant. I swear the kids in the Philippines are the cutest things I have ever seen! OK--not really "things" but you know what I mean. This other photo is of him and his companion Elder B from Idaho. I think they are 2 peas in a pod!