Kamusta

Kamusta Everybody,

 This past week has gone well! My new companion is great and we have been finding lots of success. 

 We have found some new investigators through some of the less active members in the group here. One of them named Judith is awesome, she is really excited about the gospel and wants to be baptized. Her friend came to visit her this past weekend for her birthday and Judith invited us over so that we could teach her too. 

 On Thursday we had to go to Calapan so that I could get a picture taken for the government here. We went to this mall type place and there were a lot of white people there. All of them avoided us and did not want to talk to me or any of the other American elders. There are a lot of old men who come here and marry really young Filipinos. Most people call them dirty joes. The other day one of the American elders in my District yelled at one of them "Hey Joe!" The guy was really confused when he saw that another white guy had yelled at him but his wife laughed.

 Our area is really starting to pick up and I am excited to start getting some baptisms here. We have one coming up this Saturday that should go well.  I hope everyone has a great week and is doing well. 

  Mahal Kita

    Elder Merrill

Sunset!

Kamusta Everybody,

 This past week has gone really well! Life and missionary work out here on the island is alot of fun. This past week we went out to San Pablo to go to a meeting and  had perfect timing on the boat ride, right as the sun was setting.(picture)

 I am also loving having a bike. I finally got it all fixed up and now it works well. Its really nice not having to pay for a tricycle and we get to appointments much faster. 

This past week I also saw several of the Native people here on the island. Luckily the guy I saw was walking towards me so all i saw was the front end of his loincloth... and not his rear. 

 In the area we are trying to focus on finding new investigators. Most people here are either very Catholic or belong to Iglacia ni Cristo. We are also looking for a new meeting house which is great because it means that more people are coming to church. before there was only around 10-15 people attending but now its more in the high 20's! Hopefully soon we will be become a branch. 

 Other than that not much is happening. I hope everyone has a great week!

 Kita Kits

     Elder Merrill

Island of Mindoro

Kamusta Everybody,

 This past week has great but a little hectic. First of all, I got called to be a district leader so I got transferred to Mindoro, one of the islands in the mission. Tuesday I said good bye to many of the members and investigators and then also got all of my things packed up. Then Wednesday I traveled all day. Lopez, my last area is on one side of the Country and then Mindoro is on the other side. We had to go to the Port in Batangas and then take a boat out to the island. 

 My new companion is Elder Cordova and he doesn't speak any English. So in the course of the next several weeks my Tagalog is going to significantly improve. Hopefully!

 The area here is really pretty.  There are only a few members so we are just a group. Our meeting house is a rented building that is super small but the members have made it look really nice on the inside. All of the members here are really friendly and doing good missionary work. They want to convert their friends and eventually become a branch.

 We also have bikes here which is fun but kind of a pain in the butt. The Elder who used it before me was a larger person so I have spent the past several days fixing it up.

 Thats about all for this week. I hope everyone has a great week.

  Mahal Kita,

     Elder Merrill

 (I hope you enjoy the picture..afterwards, the monkey took a bite out of the pages from Nephi to Alma :)