Another Week Gone By

            Well I'm happy to say that this week definitely went by faster than last week, so that means I'm back on the "missionary schedule" (I guess that’s would you would call it).  This week went by fast, but it also felt like one big day, so to speak.  The area is doing alright.  We have practically no investigators besides kids...patay.  It's alright though, because we have two baptisms coming up next month, hopefully two.  One of them is for Jarom, a ten year old kid, and the other one is for a young girl living with her less active boyfriend.  They've been coming to church every week for about seven months, but they're just not married yet.  The bishop interviewed them last Sunday and said that once they get married then Grace can be baptized, which is what we're really trying to push for.  They've apparently scheduled a wedding for next month, so if all goes well, we'll have two baptisms in the ward next month.  Yay!  Other than that, the work has been pretty rough this week.  We weren't able to get any lessons with members this week, which is the first time that has happened to me since I've been on my mission, and we didn't visit any recent converts this week, either.  We've just been trying to get more less active lessons, which we did, but we should've had more.  We just had a lot of appointments fall through this week, which has not happend a lot to me so far on my mission.  Our area is very big, so it's hard to focus on all of our areas.  We have chosen an area near the chapel to focus on next week which we call the "circle of strength," just because we have really no one progressing in the far areas, so this plan makes sense for now.

            We received an awesome email from President Martino that said that Elder Russell M. Nelson will be visiting our mission on May 25^th.  I'm so excited for that!  It will be the second time on my mission that I have been present to hear Elder Nelson speak (the first time being at the MTC)!  That'll be happening next transfer, so I'll probably still be here when it happens.

Elder Timbas displays no monkey fear

Jordan . . . on the other hand . . . seems to have monkey fear

            Okay, now for the funny stories of the week.  You know that monkey at the Bishop's house that I told you about?  Well, I finally got some pictures with it!  (haha)  It was really fun.  I have a video with it, but the last time I tried to send a video via email, it didn't work.  We’ll see.  I can put a check-mark on one goal for the area: pet and get a picture with a monkey.  We also had the longest brown-out (or "black out" in America) on Wednesday that lasted from 7am to 7pm.  That was absolutely the hottest day I think I've ever been through.  EVER!  April is the hottest month here, so to have that happen here was just torture.  There was no way to keep cool.  Well, maybe that wasn't a really funny story, but it might be for you.  During that day (I think), we were sitting at a Tindihan (a small store) and I noticed a "cigarette promo" by a company that was posted on the Tindihan.  It was like those promos you would see on the back of cereal boxes.  If you buy a certain amount cigarettes, you get prizes.  The lower prizes were like a lighter and stuff, but the one that was really funny was if you bought 10 packs you could get a fork, spoon, and a plate.  I can only imagine trying to get a Tatay to stop smoking in the future and asking him why he smoked 60 packs and have his answer be, "Sorry Elders, I had to get six plates, forks, and spoons for the family.  I have to smoke another 35 packs to get an umbrella and another 45 if I want to get that cool back-pack for my son to take to school."  Yeah, that might be a little hard.  (It would be a lot cheaper to just buy the fork, spoon and plate.)

            The cool thing about our chapel here is that there are ping-pong tables in the cultural hall.  I played ping-pong with Elder Timbas and another YM in the ward on Wednesday for the first time in probably over a year.  It reminded of so many good ping-pong memories back in the day.  Good times.

Okay . . . this appears to be a pretty scary monkey after all

            By the way, happy 29^th anniversary, Mom and Dad.  That is awesome.  You guys are wonderful parents.  Well I hope that you are all doing well.  Mahal ko kayo!  I hope that everyone will have a great week.  After this week, the transfer's halfway over.  Wow.  bilis na.  Segi ingat kayo!

            Elder Jordan "Ayaw ko mga brown outs" Royal