Transfer List

Proud to start this week's email off by saying this will be my last email being sent from Roxas! Got the transfer list earlier today and I am transferring this week so I will have a new companion and new area to tell you about next week! I don't really have any idea where I could be going so it should be a surprise!  

Happy anniversary to Mom and Dad! And happy birthday to Sam! Hope you all did/do something special for your big day! 

So start this week once again with district meeting on Tuesday. My last lesson before I can start using my lessons again. Since my district will be new in my new area I can reuse some of the lessons I've made in the past! This last week I taught about how what we can do to make new investigators become progressing investigators. Something I could probably work on myself as well. It was a good discussion though and every one participated well. Then we took some pictures since we new it was the last d-meeting of the cycle. The AP's called at the end of zone meeting and 2 of the elders in the zone are training this coming cycle so that was pretty exciting. Then we went and ate lunch and went back to San Pedro. We just stayed inside San Pedro for work since later that night we were going to go to the Gaspar family. We were just going to go to talk to Dianne and Melky about the plans for Saturday but then they invited us to eat dinner with them so of course we joined in! Dinner was good and we had a good time talking with them. Melky is the return missionary that just got home last month if you didn't know.

Wednesday we went out to Marcos for work. Not much of an exciting day., We planned for a ton of lessons that day. If I remember right we planned for 10 or 12. Long story short, we got two. Made for a pretty long day especially since we walked super far. We came back through Munoz and had dinner with the Ramos family. Before the Ramos family, we taught one lesson to a members friend. I guess she wants to join the church but during the htbt we found out she won't be able to because of her parents. For dinner we had these snail things that you find in the bottom of the rice fields. To eat it you suck out the snail from the shell. It is pretty hard haha I couldn't even do it so I just used a fork to pull it out. Wasn't the best tasting thing I've had so I mostly just stuck with the fish. After that, Tatay took us home then that was the night.

Thursday we found out there was a shooting like right near our house. Like 60 yards from the house is what people were saying the next day. The thing is the time they said it happened is within 20 minutes of us getting home but we never saw anything. I'm just glad I'm leaving this place before anything happens to me. During work on Thursday, almost every person talked about the shooting. At least it was something to use to start the conversation. So starting about Thursday afternoon, some clouds came in and it was a light rain all the way until Sunday afternoon. It was always just a super light rain though, it never got strong or anything. Along with the wind, it was always calm. 

Friday was pretty good. Nice and cool because of the clouds and light rain. Before lunch time, we went to Roxas to get Elder Latu since he was gonna work with us until Monday. We ate lunch in Roxas then went straight to work after lunch. We just worked in Munoz then went to the Gaspar family for dinner. Before dinner, we were able to teach Tatay Cabading. Lessons to him are always kinda difficult. This is the Tatay that said before that he wants to go to the terrestrial kingdom. It's hard to teach to him because he has no desire to improve his life. Oh well, we were also able to teach to Sister Jenny Mae. She is part member family and she wants to be baptized but she won't come to church. So highlight of the night at the Gaspar's house, I ate dog for the first time. It was actually pretty good to be honest. The only hard part is thinking of what you are eating. Also people say that it is really dirty so some people don't eat it.

Saturday we woke up early and went with Tatay and Melky Gaspar to the river to get rocks to use in the cooking we were gonna do later that day. That was pretty fun. Then we went back to the Gaspar's house and dug a hole for the fire. After that, we had some spare time so we went back home, showered, then went and worked in Mallig, Latu's area. That was alright but we were only there for 3 hours then came back to San Pedro, changed, and went back to the Gaspar's to cook. We were doing this since Latu was going home and I most likely was transferring. Latu showed us how to cook something that is popular down in New Zealand. You basically use the hot rocks and cook meat and vegetables. You cover the whole with a cover then dirt so the smoke doesn't get out then wait like 2 to 3 hours. After 2 and a half hours, we uncovered it, took a bite of the potato and it was still raw! Haha the meat was the only thing that was cooked. I still ate the potato cause I was pretty hungry but everyone else just ate the meat. I guess the fire wasn't big enough so there wasn't enough heat to last the full time is what they said. It was pretty late so we didn't have time to still cook it all but at least the meat was super good! It was thick too. Kinda reminded me of home. Normally the cuts here are super thin. 

Sunday was pretty good. I gave a talk which went pretty well. I was the concluding speaker. I talked about some of the things I liked from King Benjamin's address. Also, since one of the other speakers didn't show up, I got Elder Latu to speak with me last minute. Church was a little low in attendance because of the rain. Even though it was just super light rain, some people use it as an excuse not to come. Class was good as was priesthood. I took pictures with the single adult class and the youth. I've gotten pretty close with a lot of then since I've been here so that's been pretty cool. I was pretty sure I was going to transfer so I said goodbye to all the members. Kinda felt like a joke that I am leaving since I have been here for so long but the time has finally come. I'm looking forward to a new area to work in and I can't wait to tell you all about it next week! Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Haacke