Last Friday was a memorable day of work. First we met a guy who was really old and after we gave him a pamphlet with introduction to the Restoration of the Church, he told us "ok, I have a story to tell you, I spent 2 years in grade 1, 1 year in grade 2, 2 years in grade 3, 1 year in grade 4, and 3 years in grade 5.” That’s all the education he had, but then I said "Yeah that maybe true, but if you add all those years together, you get 9 years of schooling!" He laughed and said thanks for the pamphlet. 

The next person we saw was fixing some shorts, so while I introduced myself, I grabbed some of the other shorts he hadn’t yet fixed and got to work. I was halfway done when his neighbor came to sit by me and said I was doing it wrong. I hadn’t stretched the elastic taught before sewing, so it wouldn’t have been able to stretch and probably just tore. Also I had sewn the drawstring into the seam so it wouldn’t have adjusted anymore. Silly me. I undid it, we laughed a lot at my blunder, and I fixed them the right way. They’d probably already been fixed 4 times by the 4 other color threads I saw. 

I really enjoy finding, meeting all new people and trying to let them see I’m not just some foreigner, but I’m a person too and I have a message that will raise the quality of life. It is so easy for me to see the blessings in the lives of people here because even if there is a big house, if the inside of the house is full of hate and contention and no one is being nice then the house is worth nothing. But there are many people here whose lives are not super luxurious but they are happier than many others that I’ve met all because of the gospel of Jesus Christ and obedience to His commandments. 

Elder Hennessey

 

Elder Pitt at the Balun. He is nagbabumba, or pumping water.

 

Elder Jenson, Elder Campbell and Me inside a Trike.

 

The small river our Trickel had to cross. We drive onto the raft then they pull us across. On our way, there were 2 trickels on the raft, we were in the back, but because our trickel had 4 amerikanos in it, it was heavier, and the raft was off-balanced. It slid back maybe a foot and a half when our end sunk down into the water. We all yelled and pushed at each other to get out of the cramped Trickel. It was very fun.

Elder Campbell and me before he left. I'm wearing a sweater even though it made me super sweaty.

 

The longest bridge in the Phillippines.

 

Harvesting Corn.