Samurai Protection

Another week done and gone already! Went by super fast again. So I realized just barely I've been in San Pedro for about 200 days! That is crazy long time but it has gone crazy fast! Had an alright week this week again. It was pretty enjoyable again and we had a few successes. 

Start on Tuesday again. This week we had zone meeting so I didn't have to teach. Zone meeting was pretty good and pretty funny. Lots of people had jokes to tell and the lesson was good too. Learned a new way I can help people recognize the spirit so I can add that to my teaching. That was the topic of zone meeting, recognizing the spirit. The zone leaders did a good job teaching it to us as well. We had zone lunch at Mang Inasal, the place we always go now that it is open. It's pretty good though so that's good. It's a chicken place. 

This week we had another full week with nothing happening during the week. Started work this week in Munoz, we had an okay day there. Nothing too special. We were able to teach Brother JunJun who has gone less active a little. He was reactivated when I first got here but after they asked him to give a talk in church he barely comes anymore. He now has school on Sundays so he isn't able to come but he said his schedule will change soon and he will be able to come. It helps that his friend, Mario, that we just met the other week has started to attend church again as well so now he has a closer friend at church. All the other appointments we had with less actives or investigators that day fell through so we just went to some members that live over there and talked and shared with them. Then we had dinner that night with the Ramos family. Tatay then took us home after in his tricy. He was scared to take us home though because I guess there was another hold up last week along that road. It was the neighbor of the Ramos family that got held up I guess. Nothing has yet happened to us every time we walk back at night though so I don't know why he is always scared. Haha he always takes his samurai with him every time he takes us home. I don't know if I told you that before but I think it is pretty funny. 

The next day we just worked in San Pedro. As we left the apartment to go to work, we saw our first two appointments leave on their motor heading down to the highway. Looked like it was gonna be a long day. We only got one of the appointments we set out of the whole day. The Ramos family wanted some avocados so we went and got a bag from the house and walked to Munoz. We just figured we'd do some contacting for the rest of the day and deliver the avocados to the Ramos family. 

The next day we went to Maligaya for work. Before we went to Maligaya we went to Sister Ramos' house first. This is a different Ramos. There are a lot of Ramos here. But we visited with her for a little then shared with her. She's a member but not super active. Just comes every once in a while. Her daughter comes almost every week though. It was a pretty fun visit. She told us about all her strategies of hiding from the Jehovah Witness missionaries haha. When we got to Maligaya we visited sister Antonette. She is one of the SA in the branch. We had never gone to her house before and just found out where it was so we visited her and taught her. After that we had a member join us that lives in Maligaya. With her help we were able to contact three new less actives that we hadn't met before. So we were able to share with one of them, Tatay Juanito. So during the lesson, he shared how he gained a testimony of the power of prayer. So he starts by saying that his back hurt a lot and that he had no money to go to the doctor so he prayed. Then he looked up and saw two people coming down in a cloud. The one had rays of light coming out of his fingers like a flashlight. The personage touched his back and he was healed. Then the second story was when his wife was sick and he prayed. He then said that Jesus Christ visited him and talked to him. So in the lesson when I was listening to this, in my head I just started laughing but then I thought this is how the people probably acted back in Joseph Smith's time. I guess I don't know if his experience is true or not but at least his testimony of prayer is really strong. We ended the night by teaching one last lesson to the Lajo family then we went to Presidents house and ate dinner.

The next day we worked a little in San Pedro then worked again in Munoz. We knew we had to go to Roxas later that day to get Elder Latu so we just worked in areas that were close to the highway. We only got one lesson, to Nanay Macadangdang in San Pedro. We also brought her her water for her to drink. I feel bad for her. Her relationship with Tatay isn't good at all, she can barely walk, and her kids aren't close to her at all. She always talks about how her kids never visit her or anything. Eventually we went to Roxas, got Latu then went back to San Pedro. 

Church was pretty good. I was pretty nervous at first. There were only like 15 of us there and it is supposed to start. Then like 10 minutes later everyone showed up at the same time. The total was 75 people in sacrament so that was good! The Barcelo family was there again so they just have one more then they are considered reactivated. Tatay said the opening prayer in sacrament and did a god job. Nanay Edralin wasn't there but the two from Marcos came again! Pretty exciting to see them there. So during church, I knew the secretary was gonna ask me to give a talk next week so I was trying to avoid him the whole time but it didn't work. He found me and now I'm stuck giving a talk next week. The thing is Elder Estuaria and Latu don't have to. It's just me! Oh well, it will be okay. I actually don't mind it that much at all. 

That's pretty much it for the week this week. Family, this has got to be one of the longest emails I have ever written so ya better be grateful! Haha but I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Haacke
 

 Taking a pic with basically the only thing I have to take a pic with...rice.