General Authority, Baptism, and Bad Doctor

Another week has come and gone in the mission field, and it's been full of work, fun, and eating rice. This week we had a general authority visit, a baptism, and my companion got really sick, so it was a very interesting week.

So, Elder Ardern came and visited the mission last week. The night before the Baler Zone came to our house to sleep. Because they live so far away from Cabanatuan, they come down the night before and stay at our house. Brought back memories of when I was assigned up there, and coming down. I remember saying, "I hope I never get assigned in Cabanatuan" 'cause the house was dirty, and it's kinda hot. But now I'm assigned here, and we cleaned up the house, and I'm loving it. We had a really awesome meeting before the zone conf. with Elder Arden that was just for zone leaders. It was just about 10 of us and a general authority teaching us so it was really cool. One thing he said that I really like is he mentioned the verse in D&C where it says "many are called, but few are chosen." he then said something that hit me pretty hard, which was "those who are chosen, are those who chose God." So that made that verse a lot clearer for me. After that we had an awesome Zone conf. and the food was really good--they finally cooked something different. For a year and a half it's been the same dish, but they finally switched things up.

Then after that Elder Ardern wanted to tour two of the closest houses. Turns out our house, and another elders house were the closest to the chapel. Elder Ardern came and toured our house, which was actually okay. We had a little warning, so we cleaned up a little bit. And they were really nice, and we were able to take a picture together. They then didn't know how to get to the other elders house, so we took them over there. Then after the house check, we went outside, and Elder Arderns wife saw the Ice Cream Things here, and thought they looked so cute, she just had to take some pictures. (They're still pretty new here in the Philippines, not used to stuff like that). Well since she had them stopped, Elder Ardern had to buy some Ice Cream, so we had a 70 buy us ice cream. (Yup his picture is in the Ensign). Don't worry I kept the wrapper.

Then on Friday, we went on splits. Elder Adrus came and worked with me, and Elder Burog went and worked in the other area. It was a pretty fun split. The next day Elder Burog came back home, and he went straight up to bed. He looked really sick, so I made him take his temp. and it was 40 degrees cel. which if you convert it is 104, so that was a little to high. He took some Tylenol and it went down a little. He didn't feel like working, so we stayed in the house. The only problem is we had a baptism at 7 that night. Anyways after a while the fever came back, so I went into my doctor mode, and gave him 3 pills of ibuprofen. After a while we went to the baptism, even though Elder Burog wasn't feeling very well. The baptism was awesome. Sis. Eliza and Sis. Destiny got baptized. The ward did everything really well. I got to conduct, so that was fun. We even had a couple missionary come, the Chases. Everything went successful there, and after the baptism, elder wasn't looking good at all. His eyes got really puffy, in fact in the picture you can kinda see it. But anyways, Elder and Sister Chase took us to the hospital, 'cause there is a Dengue scare here, which is kinda a dangerous disease, that you get from a mosquito. We went to the hospital, and turns out he just had strep throat, and that he either is allergic to Ibuprofen, or it was an over dose (I gave him 3, and he's only about 100 pounds), anyways it's a good thing my comp. is a pretty nice guy. He didn't get mad at me for giving him Ibuprofen or anything like that, but I guess there is a point of being to nice. I was just trying to be nice, but turns out my comp. is allergic to it.

Then on sunday, we missed Branch 8 'cause he still wasn't feeling very good. But since we have two areas, we were able to go to church in the afternoon. We did get there a little late though, missed the opening song, and I play the piano, but they understood. So I went up and played the sacrament song, which went well, but the funny thing the first councilor told me while I was playing, that I was going to be the first speaker. So that just broke the record for the least amount of time I've ever had to prepare a talk in my life. It was kinda interesting. Can't wait for the time they break that record. Always makes me laugh when that happens, (it actually happens quite a bit.)

Then today was a pretty normal p-day. We set some goals, ate some food, and had some fun. Anyways, it has been a pretty good week (at least for me, Elder Burog didn't have quite as much fun). Looking forward to another awesome week. Anyways the church is true--let's tell the world. Love yall

Elder Farnsworth

New things

Wow, another week has come and gone in the mission field, and it's been a pretty interesting one. The best part is we got to go to the mission home this last Tues. for a meeting. It was kinda funny 'cause I felt like I was back in America. American food, Air conditioning, and the best part hot showers. We ended up staying the night there, it was pretty good. One kinda funny thing happened. I guess all the missionaries in the whole world, or at least here in the Philippines are getting DVD players, the portable kind. So they gave them to use this last Tues. We get to use videos that the church has made for missionary work during Comp. and Personal study. Kinda interesting. It's been kinda weird being able to watch something at the apartment, but I guess it's just how the missions are moving. They say in a few years they think every Comp. will have a laptop. but I guess will see.

Then on wed. we came back to Cabanatuan. It was a pretty long bus ride, and they only played one song the whole way. I don't know if any of you have every heard of Charice, but she's a Filipino singer, and because she is Filipino she is really popular here. Anyways they played one song the hole bus ride, and it was really really hard not to yell or scream in pain or something like that. It was really dramatic, which is probably the reason I'm writing to y'all about it.

Other than that, the week has been really pretty normal. we worked hard. We actually should be having a baptism this up coming week which means next week I'll hopefully be sending pictures to you all. It's a nanay, and she's really cool. In fact in two weeks we should be having another baptism too. One investigator that has been coming to church for the last 2 years is going to be baptised. She hadn't been in the past 'cause she isn't married to her husband, but this last week she got married, so she should be getting baptized in the coming weeks.

This past Sunday we also got to go to church twice, well I guess it'll be like that every week that I"m here in Cabanatuan, 'cause we hold two areas, which means we go to church twice. It makes for a long Sunday at the church, but it's actually really awesome. It's fun to see how different the wards are, and the best part is you get to take the sacrament twice, which means twice the blessings, or at least that's what Elder Burog told me.

Well family, that's about it. The church is true. If there is one thing is one thing I"ve learned on my mission it's that. We are so blessed to be members of it and to be led by a living Prophet.

Cabanatuan

Well, everything is going pretty good over here in the Philippines having a blast over here. It's been a really busy week, just having a good time getting to know everything in my new area. For those of you who are interested my new area is here in Cabanatuan ward 4 and branch 8. They both are really sweet areas. It's kinda weird though 'cause we end up going to church 2 times, but it's always nice 'cause we get to take the sacrament twice, so I guess it means double the blessings. But the people here are really nice and it's going to be a fun time here in Cabanatuan. My new comp. is Elder Burog, and he's awesome. He works hard, so we are going to have lots of fun. It was actually kinda funny, the first weekend I got here we had a baptism, which is why you all see the pictures. Brother Ryan, got baptized. The funny part is the missionary I replaced here in Cabanatuan went home, and his family came to pick him up so they were at the baptism too. Then after that they had a big party for him, so we got to attend a big ward party after that, and it was actually pretty cool. Elder Truman is the name of the elder who went home, and it's kinda funny 'cause they have a band, and are really good, so we had a really awesome concert, it was probably the best ward party I've ever been too. Had a baptism, then had a party after that. Then on sunday, just had a whole day at the church. It starts with branch 8 in the morning, and then ward 4 at 2 in the afternoon. So we basically spend the whole day at the church, with all the meetings and everything, which is pretty awesome. I got to give a talk in branch 8, which is always interesting. I guess I'm kinda getting used to just being called on to give talks, happens a lot here, but it was ward conf. in ward 4 so I'll probably give a talk next week in that ward. In this area we actually have quit a few progressing investigators, which is pretty cool. Hopefully we have a few more baptisms coming up in the coming weeks. We actually have one investigators who has been going to church for the last 2 years, but hasn't gotten baptized, 'cause she isn't married to her "husband". But she just got married this last week, so she should be getting baptized in the coming weeks. Today was pday, and it was pretty sweet. We made some goals, and had some fun with that, then we went to a golf course here in town and went to the hitting range. It was awesome. It's actually a really nice course, I was really surprised. It was in a really rich area of the city, which I guess explains it. They said it's mostly foreigners that play there, but it's actually pretty cheap. And the driving range is really cool 'cause you hit the balls into a lake, so it was a lot of fun.