Elder Bryan Haacke: Rain and More Rain

Another cycle gone and finished. Also another month has already come and gone! I can't believe it is June already. This week was a busy week and because of that it went by very fast! I guess it starts Tuesday morning when we were getting ready, Elder Iuli called. I answered the phone and he said that I had been called to be a trainer this coming cycle and that there was a meeting for me on Wednesday. I wasn't too surprised about the call because I knew it would come sooner or later. Also the zone leaders had been telling me for a couple weeks that most likely I was going to train. Elder Latu is also training so I guess that's cool that we'll get to train together. Elder Latu is in my district. Went to district meeting that morning and that went well. Just the usual I guess. After district meeting we ate lunch as a zone then we went on splits with the zone leaders. I had to do 2 interviews for them, one at 2 and one at 5, so we just decided to go on splits. Interviews were good and they didn't have any problems so that definitely made it easier on my part.

Wednesday morning, Elder Latu and I went on splits since we had to go to Cauayan for the meeting since we were both going to train. Meeting was pretty good. President used a lot of examples from the scriptures that related to being trainers so I liked that part. It was mostly just the things that I expected it to be...obey the rules, work hard, be an example, etc. It was a good time though since I got to spend some time with some other Elders I hadn't seen in a while. I was able to see Elder Poulter for a little bit while we were both there so that was cool even though it was only a minute or two. Also got to eat at McDonalds since there is one in Cauayan. They are supposed to be building one here in Roxas but it hasn't made any progress since I have been here. After we ate at Macdo, Elder Iuli and Elder Cruz (the zl in Cauayan) took us back to Roxas in their pickup. Nothing like a free ride with air conditioning so we weren't complaining! When we finally got back to Roxas, we went directly to Elder Latu's area because I had to do 2 interviews for then also. The interviews went well but by the time we finished it was night time and there weren't any rides to San Pedro.

Thursday we didn't get back to San Pedro until a little later in the afternoon since we wanted to split in Mallig for a little bit since it is close to San Pedro and we weren't really able to do a real splits the day before because of the baptismal interviews. Splits was good though and it's always fun to teach with other missionaries and learn from them.

Friday was finally a normal day. Almost the entire week had gone by and we had barely been able to be in our own area. As we are boiling water to cook lunch, the gas in the propane tank runs out. So then we didn't have anything to cook with and we don't have anywhere in San Pedro that you can go eat other than like a small snack. The closest thing in our area is like a 25 minute walk from our apartment. We ended up texting the zone leaders if we could come sleep in their apartment that night after work since we don't have anything to cook food with, plus we had to go to Roxas the next day anyway for the baptisms. So that takes us to Saturday, we were back in Roxas for the baptisms. Almost all the missionaries in the zone were there. There were 7 baptisms total which was really good for where we're at. It was way happy the whole time which was awesome! All the people that were baptized were super happy and had huge smiles on their faces. Definitely the highlight of the week this week. The baptisms started late just like last time so we were still here in Roxas at night again. By the time the baptism was finished it was pouring rain so we sprinted like 100 yards at a time looking for places to wait under until we got back to the zone leader's apartment. It rained pretty much every evening this last week. It would be super hot all day then around 5 to 6 the clouds come in and within a blink of an eye it is pouring rain. Luckily, we found a ride back to San Pedro Saturday night since no one likes to tricy in the dark and in the rain. Got home Saturday night and put all our stuff up to dry.

Church was pretty good but there wasn't very many people there again. Elder's quorum and Relief Society were combined and that is what we talked about. Why the last two weeks there hasn't been anybody at church. By the end of the class we had established a couple meetings to start having to be more organized and be able to look over the branch members. Right now there aren't any meetings that happen in the branch. Hopefully this won't fall through and will last more than a couple months. On the good note, the Lajo family that we reactivated my first cycle here finally came to church again yesterday. Also one other less active nanay came to church also yesterday. Hopefully they will continue next cycle and keep them here. Also Elder Pawin and I had to give talks. They decided not to give much of a warning this time. I just shared about studying the scriptures. Nice and simple that could last a decent amount of time for a talk. Also got a dinner appointment with a member so that'll be awesome! I miss having dinner with the members. Get to save money and it normally tastes better than the usual tomatoes, onions and eggs at the house.

Alright week overall this week. Stayed busy with different things and it flew by. Hope everyone is well back home and I love you all!

Love Elder Haacke