This week we went out with our branch President to our areas to know where it is ok for us to work, because there are 3 other companionships working in Bangued and its not effective if we are always working in each others areas. Anyways it was very helpful, And relaxing to drive around in his car with airconditioning on. He showed us all of the buildings that he has designed. He’s designed probably 40 buildings in Bangued alone! And also designed the resort at the top of Bangued, I will have a picture of it next week but these pics are ones from the top of the highest building in Bangued. 

  

We were finding this week and found the house of a girl who had come to church with some of our other investigators last week. We were very surprised that we found her out of the blue. She was very nice but since we knew we wouldn’t be able to teach her "because she’s a young girl without a male in the house” we gave her all 3 starting pamphlets: The Restoration if the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ. She texted us later that night asking questions like "Why are these pamphlets so easy to understand when I’ve been going to church for my whole life?” and “Why don’t other people teach about eternal families or a loving Heavenly Father?'' And we returned the next 2 days to give her a book of Mormon because she had already finished the Pamphlets.  We have high hopes for her, we just need to find a way get a guy to fellowship, or just sit in the lessons so we can teach her.

I really like the pamphlets because you can figure out all of the truth without even having a missionary. Thats why we walk through a Barangay and give out like 40 pamphlets a day. "OoOh im da Mo'mon Fa'ma!!"

Love ya'all

Be safe have a good week

Elder Hennessey

This week was cool. The highlight was definitely the "Come Unto Christ" Musical Devotional. We sang a variety of songs combined with some of the missionaries from the Mission Centre San Fernando, We invited everyone from 5 different municipalities to come to our small church building to listen. It went Great, besides the fact that I was asked to give a small solo from “His Image in Your Countenance." I was super nervous but it was over before too long. One of the concerns of our investigators who didn’t come was that it might rain and on the way home it would be all wet. They were right. It did rain, and it Rained HArd. We were in the 2nd to last song when it started, but we knew it was coming from the wind and darkening clouds. It was awesome though because even if there was monsoon level rains and thunder every 30 seconds, there was still a very strong spirit with the group of Saints listening to and singing songs about the life of Jesus Christ. It was a very cool experience and very worthwhile. 

Last Monday we went to eat pizza at a pizza shop owned by a white guy and a Philippino woman who is from England and so she only speaks English with a very thick accent. While we were eating I wanted to add Barbeque sauce to my BBQ chicken pizza but the cap was very tightly shut. I struggled for a second before it popped off with a splatter of BBQ sauce that got all over me and the table. I was feeling pretty scrubby but we cleaned up a little and then went shopping afterwards. Elder Pitt had me clean his tie which I was happy to do since it was a very unfortunate accident. 

We went to the municipality (province) of Bukay 40 minutes away to interview some baptismal candidates for some other Elders. A trike costs 150 pesos ($3 USD) going one way, that’s super expensive, but the drive is really far and a lot of uphill. We finally got there, walked for an hour to the people’s house, interviewed, walked to another place, and interviewed a boy who had just turned 8 years old. We then stayed for his birthday dinner which was Maserap! Before we left though, we said that we were gonna go to the waiting area to get a tricycle (a motorcycle with a sidecar, so 3 wheels) going home. The father laughed as he said there were no more tricycle running at that time, and we would have to sleep in Bukay for the night. After 25 minutes of hunting and waiting we finally found a Member willing to drive us back to Bangued. It was 7:30 and dark by now and raining pretty good. But he told us if he were to drive us it would cost the price of 2 trips, because he would have to come back afterwards... Kind of reluctantly we got in, 10 minutes into the drive, we were at a curve in the road and the headlight went black. The breaks screeched to a stop and he got them working again. I had actually been praying for safety on the wet downhill roads when it happened, so I was terrified when I opened my eyes to pitch black and brakes squealing. We finished the 30 minutes, and handed over another 300 pesos. We hoped he would lower it at least 50, or maybe even to 200, but we weren’t going to fight a member on the price after he rescued us from being stranded in a mountainous province. 

Have a good week

Elder Hennessey

We had just started to walk down a really long road to our area when a rainstorm started to pass overhead, so instead of getting soaked to the bone right at the start of the day, we hid out there for maybe 10-15 minutes. "at nandoon and area namin - And our area is far that way"

My old Companion Elder Bagnall. He just got out of the Hospital where he had kidney failure, basically 50/50 chance of dying but he pulled through. We knew it was serious but not to what level when our Mission President texted everyone and told us to say a prayer for him and anyone else who has a sickness at 9:30. Since he was my companion just 3 months before I got pretty worried. Buhay Pa! Still Alive!

 

All of the missionaries that participated in our "Come unto Christ" Music Devotional with Mission President and his wife in the center. 

 

My Church Building. 

 

My Branch president’s daughter about to touch a giant spider holding a cookie...jokes that’s the cookie is its egg sack. Look at the Bic pen for scale.

Hey hey hey, I finally made it to my 3rd area in the mission; Bangued Abra. It’s awesome here. But first I wanna say how my 4th of July was. I started it at midnight by drinking tea with Elder Walsh, a Brit from Manchester, then after hopping on a bus for 3.5 hours I got to my new area, where I sang The Star Spangled Banner with 3 other Americanos before going to sleep :) It was a day to be remembered.

My new house is awesome, super big and new, which means it hasn’t had enough missionaries pass through it to become dirty. I love Philippinos but there is a little culture barrier where conversation topics don’t come up all the time.  But with 4 Americanos we almost never have a quiet moment in the house, and there’s the perfect amount of space for us to do whatever we want. 2 nights ago we practiced our cricket bowls in the living room since Elder Jenson lived in New Zealand until he was 6, so basically he’s American but he can still get a sweet accent if he wants.

On Wednesday we were trying to find new people to teach so we took a trip up into the mountain. We saw a big gazebo, and went over to check it out. We looked over the back and saw what we originally thought were terra-cotta statues. Upon further inspections they were... statues of biblical stories maybe (?) there was a lot of Jesus’s and roman soldiers and people praying. It creeped me out and reminded me of Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. 

  

The area of Bangued is awesome. All of the missionaries that come here think its gonna be a tiny place that’s super 3rd world country...and it is but there are also some beautiful arkitexture here. I'd say it’s bigger than Bacnotan, and definitely hotter. There’s a lot of boarding houses which is something I’ve never noticed in my other areas. We teach people in 3 different boarding houses which is nice because we can go to one place and teach 2 or 3 separate lessons. 

I'll try to get some videos sent to you, I’ve got a lot but the Internet cafe I'm in right now said it’s not allowed to watch YouTube or upload video files because it will take up too much gigs. Since they’re not on an unlimited plan, it’s like 50 gigs or something. 

Love you all!

Don’t forget to invite the missionaries over to your homes, They're too shy to ask for it but they'll bring the spirit into your home. Worth it. 

What it looks like when 2 missionaries are packing to leave an area.

Our district breakfast, morning of Transfer day, at the beach. We ate mashed potatoes, hotdogs and rice, plus water. (I just have a butcher knife on my plate haha)

 

My new housemates: Elder Jenson, Elder Pitt, Me, Elder Campbell. Each pizza was 155 pesos ($3.05 USD) and we got a “Buy 4 get 1 free” deal.

 

My new Zone.

This week was the most productive out of any week of my entire mission. We had 43 investigator discussions, and met 33 new investigators. The finding we did last week really paid off. This area is set up really well for the next missionary because I'M TRANSFERRING! I will finally be going to my 3rd area. Bangued Branch 2. I have heard amazing things about this place and even if it is way far away it is a growing area. I will be very sad to leave Bacnotan really, the people and the work and the ward and area are amazing, but I am excited to go to my third area where I will kill Elder Campbell (I'll be his last companion before he goes home).

I love and hate packing. It’s good to throw things away but it’s hard because I get bogged down with reading old Letters people have sent to me and old pictures I've been given or printed. Please write your Elders. Email is good, but Letters are 100% to make their week, and you'll probably even get a response which will be written during our language study time (chAr haha).

I hope everyone will have an amazing Fourth of July, in Celebration of the Glorious Country of America. For my Fourth of July, I will wake up singing our National anthem for Elder Walsh, who is from England, Great Britain. We have a good time arguing about whose country is better, it’s all in good fun; He's even admitted he likes America and would love to visit after the mission. 

Be safe! Blow something up for me :) Or surprise attack someone in Silly String :)

Elder Hennessey

 

Conrado and his family after they fed us spaghetti lunch. 

Abenohar Family

 

Bawal magmotor "Not allowed to not Ride motorcycles"

A crab Elder Dosdos found in a puddle as we walked back from Abenohar Family. Elder Bulseco ate it and his mouth went numb. We don’t know if he’s allergic or it was affected by Acid Rain.

Abenohar's Family Rules

Bishop Baro and His family, and Elder Walsh, my Lolo (grandpa, or trainer of my trainer) in the mission.

 

Elder Dosdos my Companion Getting a Vaccine, we all got them. The Elder giving them is Elder Thomas, who was a Medic in the Army and served 3 years active duty before coming on his mission.