Hello!
Well this week was the second Thanksgiving I haven't had with my family but as I was thinking about it I realized I have 3 more to go! Sad thought. But this week was absolutely awesome and we saw so many blessings in our work!!
To start off with we had 3 amazing baptisms this past Saturday! But it was a challenge. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong on Saturday went wrong! I think satan didn't want for these people to be baptized. The baptisms were scheduled to start at 11:00 Saturday morning so naturally my companion and I showed up at 9:00 to make sure everything was ok only to find that the water in the font looked like pond scum. So of course we thought let's just empty it then refill it but because it's the Philippines the water was just plain nasty coming out of the faucet. Then it started raining. Hard. Then we figured we might as well just do it in the next town over but then everybody would have to pay a fare to get over there. So of course we tried to find rides to get everyone rides and eventually we got two members to lend us their tricycles! Then the missionaries in the next area over texted us and told us we couldn't be there till 2:30. Basta a lot of things happened but the baptisms were a success and the spirit was so strong! Our converts were so grateful and it was a day I will always remember.
So this week was Thanksgiving right? So of course we decided to teach a less active family about giving thanks for everything and we even told them about Thanksgiving in America! So guess what they did! They told us to come over on Thursday night and that we were going to be celebrating Thanksgiving together! They even taught us how to cook!! We had a delicious combination of chicken dishes, pork dishes, and vegetables! So delicious and we even went around and said things we are grateful for!
Also this week I had the opportunity to help out at the dental mission that was here in Tacloban mission. They came to help people with their teeth and stuff all for free! Anyways on Tuesday we got to go and work as translators and I even got to help one of the dentists with an extraction! Coolest thing ever! I can't wait to be a dentist! Also dentistry in America is a lot different compared to here. While we were there a mom brought her kid in to get an extraction. The girl was about 10 years old and did not want to get her teeth pulled out. So of course they asked me to hold her down because I just happened to be the biggest person in the building. I kindly told them to get someone else because I was not going to hold the girl down. So I watched as some other people held her down as she was kicking and screaming so they could give her numbing shots and then pull out her teeth. People, be thankful you live in America!
All in all this week was so successful and we saw so many blessings. Elder Clark is now leading a lot of the lessons and he is doing so good in every phase of the work! We continue to get along great and sometimes we even tell each other jokes... haha just kidding there is never a serious moment between us! Basta you are all the best! Ginhigugma kamo nakon!
Elder Child
Pics 1-2 - my future Dentist
Pic 3 - Jonas "our investigator; he is a funny guy and so awesome"
Pics 4-5 - Thanksgiving feast
Pic 6-7 - baptism
Pic 8 - the font full of "pond scum"