Hey, How ARE YOU???

            Hey everyone!  This week went by so fast I couldn't believe it!  We're starting week five of the transfer already, so this will be Elder Batingal's last full week as a missionary.  Do I have the area memorized yet?  Medyo.  I'm getting there, though.  Hopefully, I'll have the area memorized by the time I get my new companion and don't have to tell him that I have no idea where we're going.  It'll be my first time leading an area right after my first transfer.  Elder Batingal and I will tear it up this week.

We saw this on an elevator sign in our South Bend, IN hotel and figured it belongs in Elder Royal's blog

             So I pretty much had the most spiritual day ever on my mission on Tuesday.  The Spirit was present in every lesson that we taught which is very rare as a missionary, because there are a lot of factors that you can't control where the Spirit will just be gone in an instant.  Anyway, so we taught one investigator, Marvie, with her grandma who decided to join in on the lesson.  Marvie also has a brother that we're teaching, Mark, but it's hard to get in contact with him sometimes, so we just teach Marvie when he's gone.  Their grandma was pretty funny.  She kept asking when Mark and Marvie would be baptized and told them that they need to go to church (haha).  Unfortunately, they didn't go to church yesterday :(.  We were on fire that day, because we would use the scriptures more and talked less.  It's much better when the scriptures (and the Spirit) answer people's questions, because it is too easy to accidently incorrect doctrine otherwise.  The scriptures are never wrong.  Bam.  Our investigators just asked their questions and we had an answer for every single one of them in the scriptures.  They weren't debate questions either, they were sincere questions that they had about the Book of Mormon or the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Just an awesome experience.  We finally found some fellowshippers in our area!  One of them is 17 year-old Ruth from Camaling.  I actually met her back in Mayantoc back in the day when they came for Elder iLayat's farewell dinner back in July.  She's from Camaling, but she moved in with some family that live in Victoria.  Small world.  One of our investigators, Jeremey, just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago, so she's pretty much close to the same age.  Yes, Jeremey is a girl.  She also came to church with Ruth!  Ruth's only been here for about a month, but is very out-going.  Hopefully they'll become close friends. 

            A new bishopric was called in Victoria Ward yesterday!  The other bishop had been there for eight years.  A lot of less actives attended church yesterday to see who the new bishopric would be.  I already forgot his name, but he's awesome.  He was a former district president, so he's got some experience.  One of his new counselors is Brother Nunn, who is still a young RM (about Brad's age).  He’s so awesome!  We had PEC with the new bishopric after church yesterday, and it was incredible.  PECs with the other bishop pretty much had about the same effect as not having it at all, but the new bishop just said: "Don’t worry about all that stuff Elders, we'll help you out."  Such an awesome thing for a missionary to hear!  The work will go so much better now and a lot of less actives will return once they all know that there's a new bishop.  So Mak-Mak's baptism didn't happen this Saturday due to some issues we couldn't control, but it will for sure happen this Saturday.  Mak-Mak is an awesome guy.  He actually went to Manila last weekend and visited the temple with his cousins.  He told us yesterday that he want to get married in the Manila Temple (of course, after he serves a mission - haha).  We'll probably have a lot of part-member baptisms happening soon with the new bishop and the new chapel that will be done in November.  Really, the here work is so exciting!

When Jordan doesn't send pictures, we just insert ourselves, here in South Bend, IN (Notre Dame) in front of the BYU bus

             I conducted my first baptismal interview yesterday for the sisters in my district (Sister Sharp).  I was pretty nervous, because it was my first one and I didn't want to make any mistakes, but it was such an awesome experience for me.  Her name is Joy and she's 18 years old.  I really focused on the Book of Mormon and the Atonement to see if she really had a testimony of all that.  Of course, I asked all the questions, but in my opinion, they need to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, because so many investigators and less actives who get baptized just don't have a testimony of the restoration and the Book of Mormon, which is really sad.  Joy is awesome, though.  She was able to bear her testimony with ease and told me that she reads the scriptures (including the Book of Mormon) everyday and prays before and after.  It was a really awesome first-time-interview for me.  She'll also be baptized this week.

            To answer your question Mom, yes I got the absentee ballot.  But, I haven't voted yet.  Ahhh!  I keep forgetting every week, but I have all the forms ready and will print and scan them, so hopefully no worries there.  (Go Mitt!)  Eh, I don't really care anymore that BYU lost again (to Notre Dame).  I guess I have severely lowered my expectations for the Cougars.  Poor Riley.  When will we get a decent quarterback?  Is Riley Nelson really the best BYU can do?  (Dad, thanks for whining for me. I feel your pain.)  Do you think that BYU will hire another coach anytime soon?  Isn’t Bronco’s contract up after next season?  (Ugh.  Sorry, I got a bit distracted.)

            I think that's about it for this email.  I hope that you guys have fun this week!  Be safe!  Mahal ko kayo.

            Elder Jordan "2^nd kill on Monday" Royal