11 July 2016

Well, I'll get the big news of the week out first: I'm  transferring to Taytay zone, with Elder Eager. Funny story with that one: my first day in the mission was a zone conference, and guess who I sat next to? Yep, him. We just found out about transfers this morning. That makes this the 4th consecutive area I've served in for under 2 transfers. Also, this is the 3rd time on my mission where I've been transferred on the transfer day! My transfers have been all over the place for so many different reasons that, despite being out for 18 months and serving in 10 areas, I've only transferred on the scheduled day 3 times, counting this one. I've also only served in 2 areas for a full 2 transfers. Okay, fun facts over.

Last Monday was the 4th of July, which is not celebrated at all over here. We went to Burger King, and that was about it. 

Tuesday was interesting. President Koster, the new president, is really determined to shake things up! We had a zone conference where he said, in essence, "We'll be looking at the mission rules, and getting rid of the ones that don't help us focus on the missionary purpose." He also ignored basically all of the mission zone conference traditions- it only lasted till 1, as opposed to the normal 6, we didn't stand as he entered, all sorts of changes. We got to meet his family, who all moved from San Diego California to here. After the conference, we went up to our area, but it started dumping rain hard. I mean, really hard. We got trapped, and eventually ended up just running back. 

As a side note, we are officially in the middle of the hardest part of the rainy season. It's been raining, usually really hard, every day, multiple times, nearly continuously. 

Wednesday, we tried to go out to that same area as the night before, but Elder Dadis's wallet got stolen in the jeepney. That was a problem. We went back to the apartment so he could search for any money he'd left there, and went back out after lunch...to a different part of the area. At night, we had an FHE with a recent convert family, which was fun.

Thursday wasn't quite as exciting as the other days. We spent the morning trying to break into the church, though. The other elders had the keys, 2 different sets, but the padlocks on the gates weren't having it. They asked us to come help, because they needed to teach an investigator there. Eventually, we got one to open....by hitting it with a rock while turning the key. Later that day, the biggest news was visiting Venerando, the investigator I mentioned last week. He's still talking, thank goodness, but hasn't made too much progress. 

Friday, we had a thrilling weekly planning session in the morning. Then, we went out for a highly successful streak of missed appointments, which lasted nearly all day. Eventually, through sheer perseverence, we met with a new investigator, Dinesha, a member family, and finally the Batislaons. They are a recent convert family, and are doing great!

On Saturday, we had a temple tour with the Batislaons that took most of the day. We got to show them around the temple grounds, the MTC, and all the other cool stuff over there. At night, we were invited to another FHE at Bro. Patrick's house. 

Sunday wasn't very exciting. We tried to visit a lot of people in the morning, but all of them were busy. Then, we had church, and finished with another FHE at a member's house. That was interesting, at least. The member was Nanay Anne, and we had 3 sisters, one of whom was an investigator, attend with us. 

Yesterday was the real fun one. We had zone training in the morning, where yet more changes were announced. The previous 5 o'clock end of p-day was reverted back to the normal 6, and we heard President Koster was debating on ending the bag on one shoulder rule. Afterward, the first person we tried was home, Sammy Marcus! That was good, because we haven't been able to find him in a while. Unfortunately, the next plan failed. And the next one. And the next one. We started calling them Plan A, Plan B, and so on. That was a mistake, because when Plan J failed, it was pretty discouraging. Fortunately, at night, we managed to have one final appointment, with the Batislaons. 

This morning, we had transfer calls, where I heard the news. That's the news of the week, but I have one last fun thing happen. A few days ago, I saw a mouse running across the apartment floor, and I smacked it with a slipper. I'm getting really good at the squish move (grabbing the slipper off my foot and slapping the ground with it), but up until then, I'd only gotten cockroaches with it. That was the exception. And to make a long story short, Spencer got his wish: