Soooo... this week has been a very.... interesting week. ALOT has happened. hahaha. For one, the two other missionaries in our house and ward got emergency transferred last Tuesday. We are one of the only houses in the mission that doesn't have some type of leader with a cell phone in it, so for most of the week me and Elder P were just waiting for the replacements to show up (if there were any). We were wondering whether we should work in the other area or not, also. Because for a long time, no one showed up and we had no communication with the mission office! (ps- we have neighbors with a cell phone in case of emergencies, so don't worry. hahaha.) So it was a pretty lonely week, just the two of us at the house. Plus, it has been BLAZING HOT. Normally we have fans blasting and stuff to keep us cool, but our power was randomly going out. It has been doing that since I got here- just unreliable is all. Most of the time we would just go outside and whack the electric box and it would come back on. But on Wednesday our power was out for GOOD. So we had an electrician come and check it out and say we needed to get some parts replaced because lizards climbed in there and shorted them out. So for 2 days we were the only ones at our house, no electricity, blazing hot, and our food going bad.
Well, then we needed to get a hold of the taggiya (owner) of the house because of course WE weren't going to pay for the replacements. We called her lots of times and she said she would come lots of times but never came because it was "too hot" to travel. (sheesh.) So anyways, while all this was going on, I was walking back and forth and a piece of glass broke through my shoe and punctured the bottom of my foot! It bled pretty bad, but I cleaned it out and don't need stitches. haha. It's healing slowly, but it has just been hard to walk around is all. But it's all good. :)
So finally, the replacements showed up on Friday night, the electrician showed up on Saturday morning, and Saturday and Sunday we got to attend broadcasts of the 50th anniversary "Jubilee" of the church in the Philippines. phew! And today we got to buy all new food. hahaha. Soooo... needless to say, we didn't get as much work done as we'd hoped to this week. But this next week will be alot better. I'm sure of it. :)
We did however, get to hear one of our brand new investigators bear a very strong testimony of the Book of Mormon after only 1 time of teaching her, so that was pretty exciting. The Lord works in mysterious ways, is all I can say. I was so not expecting this person to read, let alone pray after the first lesson, but wow, was I wrong! haha.
Anyways, I think that's about it. Sorry I complained so much, but that really was all that happened this week. hahaha. The whole week, me and Elder P just randomly would burst out into "count your many blessings" whenever something else went wrong. haha.
halong gid, kamo!! Magisip kamo sang inyo mga bugay pirme! (Count your blessings!) Palangga ta kamo!!
-Elder Lee
from May 16, 2011:
Kumusta kamo tanan?
I got to see the family from our home stake!! It was so good to see familiar faces. Of course they remember me. haha. Sister G was really funny when she found out I could speak Ilonggo! hahah. I was wondering if they would still remember Ilonggo, and it turns out, in their house the rule is only Ilonggo! Now I have someone to go talk to when I get back at least. hahaha. :) It was really fun. And Brother G will not stop talking about good old times he had with dad! hahah, and all his bad jokes. haha. We had a dinner at their house and they are here till the end of May.
We had the jubilee celebration for the island of Negros this weekend! It was pretty fun. We had a few investigators come. The best part for me was I was able to see all my old friends from Pulupandan!! :D It was so good to see them and get all the updates. If you remember, I was sad when I got transferred from there because we had like 5 baptisms set up for right AFTER the transfer, so I was bummed that I couldn't go. But I was able to see all my old investigators who were baptized!! It was the best feeling to see them all and see the joy on their faces when they told me they were baptized!! They were all SO happy. I feel like that was a little piece of what the celestial kingdom will be like when we all look back on our lives and get to find out what happened to people we knew. :D
The only sad thing is that before the jubilee, I went to buy a new memory card because mine was almost full, and the one I bought turned out to have a virus on it. I took tons of pictures with my friends from Pulupandan on it, and of the jubilee too, but they are now all corrupted! I'm trying to find some way to get them off still. :/ It's pretty sad, but that's what I get for trusting cheap Filipino quality knock off brands! I've learned my lesson. hahaha.
Anyways, we just got back from hiking up to Mambukal today with the SA's from our ward. It was way fun. I'm pretty tired, though. We still have alot to do today, but no way to get around form place to place! It just so happens that today there is a strike for all transportation vehicles, so it is impossible for us to go to Bacolod and withdraw our money or do shopping or stuff. We'll see how that goes. hahaha.
Anyways, my report about the work in Murcia is good this week! But I'll keep it short. haha. Basically, the members have finally for some reason gotten this huge urge to help us and fellowship our investigators!! Right now we are teaching 3 families, and all are doing great and have great relationships with the members. They are slowly strengthening their testimonies and I am sure all 3 will be baptized within the next month or two. We have have good experiences with other investigators beginning to progress too, and this week has just been full of good experiences that testify to me that God knows what he is doing and when the time is right, the work will progress. :)
I have kind of mixed feelings about next transfer. Next week I'll know again what happens. I kind of want to transfer, because I have definitely been here a long time, but at the same time I feel like the work just started progressing. Kinda like Pulupandan did! haha. Anyways. We have just had a very good week full of good surprises, and it feels good. Let's bring on the last week of this transfer, eh? haha.
I hope you all have a great next week! I love you all and you are always in my prayers! Halong kamo kaayo!
-Elder Lee
From May 23, 2011:
Hello my fellow judgement day survivors!!! hahahaa.
I'm hoping you guys know what I'm talking about. It's all everyone has been talking about over here! Apparently some random church in America made a prediction that judgement day would be on May 21 at 6pm. It's been all over the news and everything. I just wanted to say congrats to everyone who survived! hahahaha. Man, you wouldn't believe the weird conversations people have started with us because of this thing! even some members have asked us if it was true. Anyway, I guess that was the biggest thing that happened this week. We have been working hard as usual, and have had a pretty normal week. Our investigators have started attending church on a regular basis, and usually we have about 4 investigators every week now at sacrament. That is AWESOME. :)
So we're actually still not sure if we are transferring or not. Apparently tomorrow morning at our district meeting we find out. It kinda stinks for us though, because that means that today we don't know if we have to buy our groceries or not. haha. I'm still kinda in this.... "should i start packing and saying goodbye? or wait till it's official?" - kind of a phase. I am about 85% sure that I will transfer though.. I've been here way too long. haha. we'll see!
I will keep working hard doing my best to help others come closer to Christ! The Lord's work is truly the best work. :) Tani, sa dason nga pagsulat ko, my mas damo para sa akon sa pagpaambit sa inyo. haha.Halong kamo, kag palangga ta kamo gid!!
-Elder Lee
From May 30, 2011:
Oy! Kumusta kamo! :)
Well, the results are in! I did indeed get transferred. but... not only did I get transferred. I got booted WAAAAY out there. hahaha. I got moved to the complete other side of the island, in a zone called San Carlos. My area is a city south of San Carlos City called Guihulngan (yeah. just try to pronounce that. hahaha). My area is on the very edge of the mission boundaries! Like, if Ii go out of my city, I will probably run into missionaries from the Cebu mission! Normally they only send Filipino missionaries out here. It has been 6 years since anyone in my zone has seen an American missionary! hahaha! The area around here is soooooo beautiful, it's like.. the bukid of the bukid. (bukid means like... wild, wilderness, rural, etc.) I am right on the beach, too. I am in a pretty big city, but it's kinda weird because as soon as you go out of the city you see like jungles and monkeys. It's great.
Anyway, the biggest part about this transfer is that the san carlos zone is the only zone in our mission that speaks only Cebuano! sooo... yeah. I JUST got used to ilonggo, and now I'm stuck with cebuano! haha. It's pretty crazy. Cebuano is completely different from ilonggo, so I have to get used to alot of things again. It feels like I'm being trained all over again! I can only simply bear my testimony in lessons and stuff at the moment. haha. It's kinda good though, because Cebuano is a way more commonly used language than ilonggo. It would actually be useful when I get back. haha. I will definitely need your prayers though as I am trying to learn this language again! haha. :)
I really like our branch though. There are alot of characters and they all seem like pretty strong members. The only problem is that there have been alot of lazy missionaries here in the past, so there is alot of clean up work to do. They haven't had a baptism in a year and a half, but luckily we have one this Saturday! :) My companion is very hard working and obedient (Elder T). Of course I'm his first american companion, so he has all the questions that normal Filipinos have for me too. "is it true that you guys only eat bread in america?" "how do you eat food without rice?" and common misconceptions about Americans. haha. it's great. :)
Anywho, that's about all of my report for this week. We are going to be doing ALOT of finding new investigators this week (we only have 1) and clean up work with our ward. hahaha. It should be a great experience!
I love you all and hope you have a great rest of the week!
Amping kamo dyud, ug gugma ta ka!! (in Cebuano that's take care and I love you!)
-Elder Lee
oh. ps. I forgot to say that a toko fell on me this week. A toko is a very large lizard and it was on the ceiling and fell on my leg. It bit onto my shorts and didn't let go. hahahaha. It was way funny!
