Hello everybody! Another
week has flown by here in the mission! Another week with ups and downs
but there were a few pretty great things that happened this week that
made it a great week!
Started off on Monday
night, we had dinner with the Quisisem family and was able to build even
better relationships with them, especially Nanay. We have been trying
to work with her to come back but still have not been able to find the
reason to her not wanting to come to church. Every time we are with her
we laugh and joke a lot and she is very friendly to us. Even in the
lessons she participates pretty well by commenting and asking questions.
I guess time will tell with her but we won't stop what we are doing.
Tuesday
we hopped on a bus and went to Cauayan for the Christmas devotional. It
was a ton of fun! Learned a lot as well about the birth of Christ and
the reasons behind the things that happened. For example, I never new
why it was important that everyone had to be taxed. Why that played a
roll in the birth of Christ I had no idea. If there was no decree sent
forth taxing everyone in the land, Joseph and Mary would have had no
reason to go back to Bethlehem. But because they had to go back to the
land of his house, the prophecy was fulfilled that Christ will be born
in Bethlehem. So everything that happened happened for a reason. Shows
you the planning that has taken place in the pre-earth life. We had a
great lunch, acted out the 12 Days of Christmas, did zone skits then
ended with a great testimony meeting. Our zone skit was something else. I
have winged a lot of presentations in my life and this just added to
it. We just winged the entire thing and you could totally tell but we
still laughed and had a good time. Also Elder Brandon's zone was there
as well so I got to see him again before he goes home this Wednesday.
Can't believe how fast time has flown since we were together a year ago
in Bambang. He is going home a couple weeks early so he can be home with
his family for Christmas. Over all the Christmas devotional was super
fun and everyone had a great time.
We finally
taught brother Neo again! We had seen him a few times lately by the way.
Last time he was in his car while we were crossing the highway and he
stopped his car right in the middle of the road and we talked right
there while we were standing in the middle of both the lanes. Guess you
can do that in the Philippines. But we were finally able to catch him at
his house and sit down and share with him. It was another great lesson
and he asked a ton of questions. It was awesome because while we taught
prophets, he asked, "If there were prophets back then, there should be
prophets as well right now right?" We just looked at each other and were
like, "Exactly! Let us tell you about our living prophet!" Then while
teaching about Christ's church and the apostasy, he asked,"So when and
how are we going to get 12 apostles? Who's going to replace James and
them? And what about God's authority?" Once again, we just looked at
each other and were like, "Let us tell you about the restoration and
about prophet Joseph Smith!" It was an amazing lesson and super fun to
teach. We will be able to follow up his prayer next time we are able to
visit him. Investigator wise, he is about the only one that is active
like that in the lessons.
On the other hand, we
are really progressing with quite a few less actives and continue to
meet new ones! The Quisisem family has continued to improve. Next week,
Tatay and one of the daughters will be considered returned. Roxanne (the
daughter) has totally began to enjoy coming to church. That goes the
same with Tatay. He has another less active friend, John Garcia, that we
are teaching and bringing back at the same time. The other two
daughters and Nanay still having taken the few steps to returning. The
other two daughters are doing alright. They come to church sometimes but
not like Roxanne and Tatay do. It's been cool to see the change in them
and hopefully it will effect the rest of the family as well.
John
Garcia has been doing good as well. He didn't come to church last week
so his count had to restart but he came back this week. We have been
working with him for a few weeks now and he is really coming around as
well. His wife is abroad in Canada so he raises his two kids here. He
has a job as well here but his wife just asked him to quit so he can
spend more time with the kids and worry more about raising them.
We
have another Sister that is returning as well. I have actually never
taught her. Elder Labrador always teachers her when we go on splits.
Every time I have gone with him there she has been busy. But she too has
come 3 weeks in a row now so she will be considered returned next week.
She made a mistake a couple years ago. She is young and already has a
baby but since she has been coming back, the ward has showed so much
love to her making her feel more than welcome.
In
all, last Sunday we had 6 less actives there and 3 of them are very
close to being considered returned. We also had the primary program on
Sunday. It was fun to watch all the kids sing and speak their parts in
the program. Something cool on Sunday was we traveled to Alicia to watch
the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and we traveled with our 4
fellow shippers. Last week we traveled with them as well and they
watched Elder Labrador and I each contact somebody on the way to Alicia.
When we got off the all said they wanted to be able to do that someday.
So this week, we got them ready and encouraged them to do it. Then they
all did it! We all sat different places on the bus so we could each
contact someone different and everyone did it! It was so awesome to see
the progress of the ward missionaries and their confidence and desire to
share the gospel!
Overall we were very happy
again with our week this week. I am loving this area and my companion is
great! Christmas is getting closer and closer so let us all do our part
in sharing to others the real meaning of Christmas! Love you all!
Love Elder Haacke
Elder Brandon and I
Alicia zone at Christmas conference
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