Baptism of a Wonderful Family.

Sam has had wonderful experiences lately with the baptism of the B family and several more investigators. He is in a beautiful area and is loving the people and the country.

A Rooster and a Shower!

This week Sam said he met a rooster named "Kin Kin" who responds to his name! He thought that was pretty amazing and something that Dad could relate to! :) Sam also reports that they moved to a new house that has 2 bathrooms and a shower. He is excited to have a shower, which is rare, even though it is cold water. He said that at least it motivates him to exercise in the morning and work up a sweat so it feels a little better. He loves the area that he is in right now--yummy mangos are in season and the best there is! He has a baptism scheduled for Saturday and another one getting ready. He had the opportunity to help harvest peanuts--he didn't know they grew under ground! (What are they teaching these kids in school?) :) He says he still loves his mission--I think he will until the very end!

Some experiences worth sharing:

Feb. 28th, 2011, from his email:

"We had a couple of interesting experiences this week that I thought I'd share. The first was not very happy. We went to Brother N one day and when we got there we were told by his granddaughter that he was at the hospital where one of the kids of the area (a son of a recent convert, about 15) was just taken into the hospital for a burn. We asked her if the burn was serious and she said it was just a small one and it was fine. So a couple days later we returned to try to catch Nonoy again and met him driving down the road, where he picked us up and took us to the hospital with him to visit the boy. I flinched when we walked in his room. His entire stomach and chest, from waist to head, was covered in third degree burns. We talked with him and a couple other kids we knew that were there taking care of him for a while. The burns were still wet and hadn't started healing yet. So before we left we gave him a blessing. On our return two days later his burns had shown progress and he should recover well. But he'll definitely never be the same. Apparently he poured gasoline on a fire, and the container exploded. He didn’t have a shirt on, but luckily he was right next to the fishpond and jumped in it in less than 5 seconds, otherwise he probably wouldn't have survived. A little wake up calls on fire safety! We are very thankful that he wasn't hurt any more than he was, and that he should fully recover aside from the scars.

Another experience we had yesterday. We went to visit a member that lives really far out of town. When we got there 2 of the little kids (9 and 5, grandkids of the member) were working with their rice. I am guessing they and their grandma harvested the stalks of grain themselves, and now they were in the process of getting the individual rice grains from the stalks and putting them into a bag. It was just such an eye-opener for me about how different the life style of different people are. As kids at home we mow the lawn, wash the car, vacuum the house, and clean our room. These kids were putting stalks of rice in piles, and then with their feet mixing them up, and smashing them together, to cause the grains of rice to fall from the stalks. Then they would throw the empty stalks in a pile, and grab another handful and repeat. And that was their food! I am not even sure how they got the rice out of the shells, I didn’t witness that process. Elder C and I jumped in and helped them finish for a while before we shared with them.

February 21, 2011

Sam is doing wonderfully well in his new area. His new companion is from Cedar City, Utah, named Elder C. Sam says he is very enthusiastic about the work. They recently had a baptism and are looking forward to several more! He says it is getting hot again--I think it is all relative! I don't think it ever really "cooled" down. Here are some photos he recently sent.

Sam's First Transfer!

Sam has been made the district leader and has been transferred to the island of Guimaras. He is part of the Buena Vista Area. His district conisists of 6 elders. This area is huge compared to his first area, and he says he is finally away from the fish smell! There is a gentleman there who brought 40 investigators to be taught by the missionaries! They are working on following up on all those people, and finding more investigators. He is loving his mission. The island he is on now is known for the mangos, but they are not in season yet. The photos I am attaching to the slideshow show you what a beautiful area it is!

Christmas in the Philippines!

Here is how Sam described his Christmas in Estancia:

(After our telephone conversation…) we headed to our branch Christmas party at the
church. we got to watch a few of the little dances/performances, ate,
then watched them play a few games before leaving, including one where
the younger kids danced boy/girl with a ball about the size of a golf
ball held between their heads, and whoever kept it there the longest
one! then an apple eating contest with the same kids, where there were
apples hanging from strings and they had to eat them as fast as they
could w/o hands. it was very fun to watch, and so fun for the kids.
Then they had a Filipino piñata! They had clay pots with a little bit
of candy that they hung and swung at blindfolded ha-ha I have some
pictures I’ll send hopefully next week. I didn’t bring my camera
because we just got back from roxas, at 6 at night! and we are in a
super rush to get our laundry and everything done tonight! After the
Christmas party was a normal day of work! We taught a couple lessons
and tried to focus on the Savior and His birth. We visited a part
member family that didn’t go to the party, because they said they were
embarrassed because they didn’t have any money so they couldn’t
contribute to the food like they should have. It was a very down mood
when we arrived, but we shared about Christ and it lightened up a
little bit. It makes me realize how blessed I have been in my life.
For this family, and many others, Christmas was a normal day of work,
maybe even a little worse than normal knowing that so many other
people were enjoying celebrating the holiday. I was glad that we could
help lift their spirits a little bit talking about the true spirit of
Christmas, but I still wish there was more we could have done. We have
been so blessed with the lives we've grown up in! We had a couple
other lessons then had dinner together with the other missionaries. It
was a very eye-opening Christmas for me.

Waiting for the Phone Call!

We are anxiously waiting the phone call from Sam on Christmas Eve at about 7:30 p.m. That is their Christmas day, about 10:00 a.m. We get to talk to him on Skype, without the video, but we are so anxious to just hear his voice. He is doing very well! He says they are working on finding more investigators that will progress along in the gospel. But, they feel fortunate because they usually have 11 investigators at church which is really quite remarkable. Sam has a Filipino companion now. Sam has negotiated with him to do the cooking--he likes the food he has fixed so far! His companion wants Sam to also cook some American dishes--ha! Sam never was one to spend "time in the kitchen." He is trying to learn the language well as his companion doesn't speak English much better than Sam speaks Ilonggo. So we will keep you updated on the progress!