Sunday Success

Hope you all had as good of a week as I did! Had a super fun week this week and once again it flew by! It started off good with a family home evening at a members house with also some less actives there. It was a the Gaspar family and was a ton of fun. We got to know each other then had a lesson and played a game. So the game we played was a new one for me and pretty fun since we had little kids with us. One person was blindfolded in the middle and spun around three times. While the person in the middle spins around, the people on the outside move around then get in a circle around the person again. The person then points and whoever they point at has to make the sound of an animal. The person in the middle chooses the animal that they do. Then they guess who the person is that made the sounds. So I was pointed at once and he said chicken. Honestly I thought it was a dang good chicken sound but they all started laughing and he ended up guessing it was me! So then I had to go in the middle and I told them to make a sound of a pig and I was able to guess who it was on my first try! So we had a ton of fun at FHE and then they gave us a ride home which was nice since it's like a 45 minute walk!

Tuesday we had zone meeting. The zone leaders taught us about the apostle Peter. I really enjoyed it since I don't know very much about stuff in the Bible. We just read a lot of scriptures about him from the New Testament. It was really good though. After zone meeting I went on splits with Elder Olson from my batch out of the MTC. We went and worked in his area and his companion came to my area. I was pretty excited since we both aren't amazing at Tagalog so I wanted to see how we would do! We actually did a lot better than I thought and it was a super fun day! We got punted at first so we were walking down a road and there was this huge house so we thought hey why not? We went over and I asked them if we could introduce ourselves to them. Tatay just stood up and walked inside but Nanay was really nice and invited us in and we ended up talking for a while. She was a Catholic but had attended church a few times before over at the church in my area. She was really cool and we ended up sharing the first lesson with her. We ended up only getting one more lesson that day to a less active in the branch but the day overall was really fun! And it was a good boost of confidence in the language! Even though I'm not perfect I can still talk to people and somewhat get my point across.

Wednesday we ended splits and got back to normal. Just a good normal day of work. We went to the Maligaya area to work which means happy in English. Too bad not all the time it is happy work in Maligaya. Only got two lessons but on the bright side, one of the investigators we taught is really improving and reading and says he has a testimony he just won't come to church. Also we were able to contact a few more less actives at night when the branch president joined us in are work. He had a list of less actives that live in the area that we don't know about but we were only able to visit three before we ran out of time. We ate dinner at President's house then made the 45 minute trek back to the apartment! 

Thursday I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time since starting back at 1 Nephi in the MTC. Something the mission has already done to me is made me more of a reader than I have ever been. I've gained a love for reading the scriptures and constantly learning more and more from them. Today was another usual day of work. We worked hard but again were only able to get a few lessons. I think we got 3 that day. At night we couldn't think of anywhere to go so we went to a members house and we were talking to him then we ended up playing chess. I lost...but I've never been that good at chess so it's okay.

Friday we had weekly planning. That is as awesome as ever! Dropped quite a few investigators but those were investigators that I haven't even met! Work was pretty good today then we went to a members house to celebrate her birthday for a while. She wanted us to come because she wanted a missionary to say the prayer on the food haha I guess a good enough reason to go get some free food! But I met a guy there that worked in America for 20 or so years so he was super good in English. I was talking to him in English and it was the weirdest thing ever! Almost harder for me to get to know someone in English than it is in Tagalog now! 

Saturday was awesome. We had the Elders Quorum President and one of the councilors work with us all day. They both had motorcycles so we didn't do a bit of walking all day! We worked in the 45 minute walk area also so we didn't have to make that walk this time! They were a big help though. They knew people that we didn't know and were able to meet and ask if we could continue to visit them. We met one less active that we didn't know and when we asked if we could share or talk to her and she just said straight up NO. Haha I'm used to it and so is my companion but our fellow shippers were shocked haha. I got a laugh out of it even though we weren't able to share to her. 

Sunday was the day to see the result of are labors during the week. We finally got an investigator at church. Even better we actually got two! They actually aren't people we have visited very often so that's why it was a surprise! We will definitely visit them this week and follow up with them. A less active family, the Edralin family, has come four times in a row now so they are considered returned now. Nanay and Tatay Lajo have come 3 times in a row together now so if they come next week they will be returned. One less active that was considered returned a few weeks ago had an interview with the branch president and he will get the Melchizedek priesthood next week. So the progress is there just a little slower than we would like. We can't complain though as it continues to get better each week. 

Another great, super fast week from the Philippines. Work was pretty good and made improvement this week. We have a couple things scheduled for this coming week that should be interesting so I'll let you know how it goes! Love you all! And Happy Birthday this week Alexa!! Loved the picture you drew of us on the motorcycle!  Let me know about the presents! 

 
Love Elder Haacke
 

I can't remember if I sent you this picture or not from my fist area. If I did...well here it is again! But this is Tatay Fernandez. He was a less active when I got there but by the time I left he was active and also bringing other less actives to church with him. He turned into a great missionary!
 

 The huge house we went to on Tuesday.

 How they clean the church.