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

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.

Reactivating Efforts

Hello once again to everyone. Sam can't believe you got a typhoon already! Not fair at all. I've waited almost a year now and still haven't got one! Yeah dad we did get some rain here Wednesday and Thursday but it only came in the evening. It was cloudy almost every day this week and super humid! There was no sun but I was sweating more than I usually do just because it was so humid. 

Started the week this week on Tuesday. We had district meeting and President and Sister Rahlf came to do interviews. For district meeting I taught about finding. It was alright. Nothing too special I guess. Interviews were pretty good. I'm trying to think of something to say about the interviews but I can't think of anything. It was a good talk with both of them but not really anything to tell about. Got sung happy birthday to in district meeting when President left. He came in and they sang to me before they took off. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were all good work days. Feels like the first week I've had without something in the middle of the week in a long time. Work was pretty enjoyable this week. We taught a lot of less actives this week and visited quite a few members that we don't normally visit. Wednesday we were able to finally teach Sister Flordeliza! It was a good visit and good to catch up since it has been forever. We taught about the Book of Mormon and then about prayer. She listened really well and asked questions when she needed to. She committed to read the reading assignment we gave her. We held off on trying to give a baptismal date since it didn't feel right but it was a good lesson. 

One less active family we met was the Barcelo family. We had no idea where their house was but we finally found it this week and were able to share with them. They had come to church the week before and they also came to church yesterday so they are on track to returning! 

The Edralin family is another family that has gone less active and we were able to share with them this week. They too came to church yesterday but it was only Nanay. Tatay has been gone every time we've gone to their house and he also didn't come to church. The Gaspar family is a good help with the Edralin family though. They are going to pick them up for church now so that will help them be able to attend. 

Saturday was our return appointment with Sister Flordeliza. We got there and her husband was there also so I thought it was great. We shook his hand and Elder Estuaria asked him how he was doing but he didn't answer and just left. Then Sister Flor explained to us the situation. He is making us stop teaching her. I guess he won't allow it anymore and he is not interested at all. On the good note, Sister Flor wanted to keep her Book of Mormon and she said she will continue to read it. We will still go by her store and see how she is doing and hope for the day we can continue with her in the lessons. Saturday night we went to Roxas and had dinner at the Aquino family's house. Elder Larson and his family was here so they were there also for dinner. It was the last goodbye since he would be touring the mission with his family then heading home. He's been a great friend and plan to see him again once I too get back. Since there were no rides going back to San Pedro, we slept in Roxas at the zone leaders house then woke up early to make it to San Pedro in time for church. Elder Latu was with us once again for Sunday. We only attended sacrament meeting then left and went to Mallig so we could attend the sacrament meeting over there. Attendance at sacrament was right about average or mid 60's. The Barcelo family came to church making it two weeks now so that was awesome. Two members from Marcos (the far area) came to church as well and walked the 45 minute walk to get there! Then Nanay Edralin also came to church with her granddaughter. So we had some success with the less actives this week which was awesome! We got a lunch appointment with a family in Elder Latu's branch so that was nice. The family knows Sister Weber (a teacher at the MTC) really well and they told me all about her. She was assigned in Mallig when she served in the Cauayan mission so that was pretty cool. We then spent the rest of the day working in Elde Latu's area. We really enjoyed working together as the three of us. Laughed a lot while walking but also taught some really good lessons. The week overall was a pretty good and enjoyable week! Love you all! 

Love Elder Haacke
 

#ainttrunkytho

I knew those pictures had to be fake! The one of mom and dad on the moose I wasn't too sure about from the picture but the one with Marissa falling off the buffalo was noticeable. I'm pretty sure I said I thought it wasn't real in my last letter. If I didn't, I at least thought it was fake. 

Pretty good week this week in here in the Philippines. Weather wise we didn't have any days like last week which was kinda a bummer. Last week it had cooled down quite a bit but this week it warmed right back up again.  Started the week out on Tuesday morning when all the Elders in half the mission went to Cauayan for Elder's Conference. The other half of the elders went on Thursday. Elder's conference was really good. The main topic was about becoming a man and the characteristics of manhood. No surprise there though right? Talking to a bunch of elders of course that will be the subject but it was taught really well and it was enjoyable. Lunch was super good of course then we had one last lesson to end the day. For the last part, President Rahlf lead a study about Ammon in the Book of Mormon. We read many scriptures about him and really got to know him. Looked at the traits he had and compared it to ourselves. It was a really good time overall and learned a lot. Because of the Elder's Conference we didn't have district meeting this week.

Sad to say but the work didn't really progress at all this week. It was another average week. We finally were able to contact sister Flordeliza but she was busy and didn't have time for us to teach her but we set an appointment for Wednesday so hopefully that will work. All other investigators are not progressing at all. It seems like we just go through the process of getting new investigators then dropping them in a couple weeks. This last week we didn't really do that great of a job contacting people. Something we need to really improve this week but I think we will be able to do that. Hopefully if we can smash the contacts this week everything else will fall in line. 

We went to a little water fall this week. It was pretty cool. Didn't go for very long but it was nice to be able to go. The water fall is in my area but pretty far. Tatay Gaspar took us in his makeshift car haha I'm just glad it stayed together the whole time. 

We did end up getting a flat tire and got stuck once but it could've been worse. We just drove up the wash since there wasn't any water and made it almost all the way to the base of the falls. Brought food to the falls so we ate a little, hung out for a bit then went back to San Pedro. 

Elder Latu is in a threesome with the zone leaders right now since his companion is now in Bambang. We went and got him from the zone leaders and he came to church in San Pedro with us on Sunday morning. Church was pretty good. We were at 65 for attendance which is alright for San Pedro. Lessons in class were good also. Talked about the atonement in Sunday school then we talked about families and making home a better place in priesthood. No investigators were there nor less actives. One less active had come 3 times in a row but he wasn't there yesterday so we will try and follow up with him this week. After church we went to Mallig and worked in his area so he could visit some of his investigators over there. We will probably end up doing this until the end of the cycle. Probably just one day a week we will have to go to Mallig and work over there. 

Overall it was a pretty normal week. We will hit the contacting hard this week to try and make up for this last week a little bit. Hope everyone has a good week this week!! 

Love Elder Haacke

PS- In exactly one year from now I'll be getting on a plane! #ainttrunkytho
 

 More from the falls.

 View from the falls.

 

Avocado's are finally ready! Avocado sandwich.

Pig Blood--Yum?

I would have to agree with Sam...the weekly letter was a good one this week. The picture of Marissa flying off the buffalo was a crack up! It kinda looks fake though but I'll take your word for it that it's real. 

Another alright week here in San Pedro. Transfer day happened this week, some of my great friends in the mission have gone home now. Can't believe they're already gone but that just tells you how fast time really does go by! 

Nothing out of the ordinary happened this week. Pretty much just the same old stuff. I'm still waiting for something to happen work wise that will change things up but nothing has happened so far. It feels like we drop investigators at the same rate we get new ones. We haven't found anybody that is really progressing yet. Sister Flordeliza like disappeared or something. She is our furthest along investigator. Every time we have gone by her store she hasn't been there. Our phone broke last pday so we don't have her phone number anymore either. We continue to do our best finding new people and always talking to people and I guess that's just what we need to keep doing. On a good note, we are starting to get more help from the members. We went to quite a few members this week and they were really nice to us. Sometimes some of the members aren't to fond of the missionaries but this week was all good. Thursday night we got a call from the Gaspar family asking us to go eat with them so we did. We almost never eat with them. Only when a missionary leaves and comes into the area. Friday night we ate with the Ramos family. Then Saturday morning at 5:30 in the morning, Nanay Gaspar called and asked us to eat there again that night. We definitely didn't complain about three nights in a row with dinner appointments. The Gaspar family will be really helpful with missionary work if we can work together well. Dinner Saturday night was the only thing here I have a hard time eating...pig blood. I've had to eat it a few times but can barely swallow it down. Eating dinner was almost the longest thing ever cause it was nasty! Took me like 5 minutes to chew each bite but I did my best to not make it obvious that I hated it. 

Sunday was actually a pretty good day. There was back up to 70 people at church. It was actually a pretty good sacrament meeting too. Class was alright and for the first time in a long time we had a lesson in elders quorum. After church, two members came to the apartment to get some avacados from our backyard. We have an avocado tree and it is starting to get ripe. There were only a few that were ready but by next week or next next week it should be good! 

Overall the week was pretty good but it wasn't much of a progressing week. I have five more weeks in the area and even though I'm pretty tired of the area I'm gonna try and give it all I got for the last 5 weeks. Hope you all have a great week this week! 

Love Elder Haacke 

The rat we killed in the apartment. Figured since I used to always take pictures of them, why should I not now?

Getting the avocados from the tree.

A Short Note

Another transfer week is here again believe it or not! Feels like transfer day just happened. Got the transfer list earlier today to see who is transferring and no changes for me. Not a surprise though because I still have the second half of training to do with my companion. The fact that I've already been doing it for 6 weeks is crazy though! Training has been an awesome experience so far. I've learned a ton and have really improved as a missionary. It's pushed me out of my comfort zone as a missionary by way of talking to people and leading lessons. Elder Estuaria is also doing really good and getting better week by week. It has been fun to see him improve since week one until now. I know he's going to be a great missionary these next two years. Definitely looking forward to another 6 weeks with Elder Estuaria and doing the training. There's a few problems in the district that isn't going to be very fun this cycle but there's not much I can do about that other than just do my best. 

 

Work this week wasn't anything special unfortunately. Sister Flordeliza wasn't there this week when we went by so that was pretty disappointing since she has been progressing well lately. Other than that the lessons were just the usual. Mostly less actives this week but basically all of them show no sign of a desire to return to church. Trying to get some fellow-shippers for them to see if that will help them come back but everyone is busy, so they say. Church this week was alright. We did have one less active come that has a good fellow-shipper which is why I think he came. He used to be the Elders Quorum President but then went less active. The fellow-shipper we use is our neighbor. He's old but he is super funny and he always jokes around with this less active so it makes him enjoy being at church. I think this made like the 10th Sunday in a row we haven't had a lesson in Elder's Quorum. All they do is discuss the activity for the end of the month then just talk. They say it is a waste of time to teach a lesson because there is only like 4 of them there. 

 

Sorry for the short letter this week. I was able to talk a little to Elder Poulter and Tyler then I realized I hadn't typed the long one yet. I'll do this one first next week so it'll be a little better. Hope everyone has a great week!!

Love Elder Haacke

 

 This was the baptism last week that I was supposed to baptize at but then the suit didn't fit.

 

 Roxas Zone.

 

 At the zone conference.

Weathered Week

Happy late 4th of July everybody! Sounds like the celebration went well back home. Didn't really do much of a celebration here but I thought about it a lot! The week here went by really fast again! Started again on Tuesday with district meeting. The lesson was sent to us over email so we didn't have to make one up. It was about the Book of Mormon and the importance of using it as we teach. It was fun to study about as well. Talked about our favorite super heroes and then related the traits they had to the Book of Mormon. For work on Tuesday we got punted pretty bad. The bright side was we got to have dinner with a member so that was nice. Made the day after a long day of work.

 

Wednesday was an alright day. Just the usual I guess. Taught sister Flordeliza on Wednesday. She's like our newest progressing investigator since Roann stopped. She's very fun to teach as well because she also asks a lot of questions and has the desire to learn. The lesson went for a little over an hour since it is so easy to just keep on talking and talking when they are actually listening. We left her with a Book of Mormon so we are excited to follow up next time. We ended up doing finding pretty much the rest of the day since the rest of the appointments fell through. We had dinner again but this time with the Ramos family. Tatay then gave us a ride home later that night. Thursday we had a meeting in Cauayan to follow up the new missionaries on how they were doing. We split into two groups, one of the trainers and one of the trainees. We didn't do a whole lot in my group. We just gathered together and basically talked as a group about troubles or successes we have had then helped each other if they have been having trouble with something. Also got to see President and Sister Rahlf after their trip to America. They are both doing great and it's like they were never even gone. Lunch was great and probably one of the highlights for the day. It was nice getting to visit with all the other missionaries that were there like Iuli and Teikauea from Bambang zone. We finally made it back to Roxas but not till kinda late.

 

Friday we had splits with the zone leaders. We came to Roxas in the morning to meet up with them. The sisters cooked us lunch so all four of us went over and ate lunch there. They made spaghetti and had a birthday cake for Sister Lewis' birthday. I worked with Elder Larson and we went back to my area to work. We went out to Marcos, the far area, and worked there for the day. We had an enjoyable time at the work and a good time talking as well. He goes home the second week in August so it's coming up. He's become a good friend here in the mission. The last lesson we taught that day was at the Ramos family then they invited us to stay for dinner again. Saturday we met back up in Roxas at lunch time to switch back companions and end splits. We had a baptism to go to a little later in the day so we ended up staying with the zone leaders until just before it started. I was asked to baptize the sister so that's why we were going. Got to the baptism and they only brought 2 suits. My baptism pants are still at a different apartment from when I let another Elder use them so I was just going to use a suit. Well, none of the suits were close to fitting me so someone else had to baptize. Waited all day for the baptism then I didn't even do the baptizing. It was still good to be there and a good baptism so it was fun. It rained all night Saturday night and Sunday morning it was still raining. Got up and went to church but there were only 5 of us there when it was going to start in 5 minutes. We started like 20 minutes late and by that time we had about 20 people so that helped a little bit. Felt weird having church with so little of people but the meetings were still pretty good. I guess nobody wanted to come to church since it was raining. Work was just about the same. Pretty much nothing. It stayed a light rain pretty much the whole day so I guess everyone just hid inside all day. 

 

Overall the week was pretty good. Got to go to Cauayan and had splits with the zone leaders. Hopefully this week the work will bounce back up after the slow weekend. Hope everyone has a good week this week! Love you all!

 

Elder Haacke

 The sunset the other night.

 

 Riding the jeepney coming back from Cauayan.

 

Riding on the top of the jeepney coming back from the meeting in Cauayan.  

 

 

Went to Magat Dam again for pday today, me and Larson hiked down to the water then a guy in a boat came and picked us up for free and took us on a little boat ride! 

Us at Magat Dam earlier this morning.