Time and the Lord's Work Marches On

          Wow . . . is it really Monday again? Is April already over? Is David's birthday's this week? Am I really 19 months into my mission? Is Mother's Day in two weeks with my last phone call home? Can my birthday be only six weeks away? Have Mom and Dad actually been married for 30 years?? The answer to all of these questions is . . . yes. Where the heck does time go?


Cabanatuan Zone FHE at Nanay Sta. Maria's house

          As fast as this week went by, we had some pretty great things happen. Like, for example, we finally taught Tony! He's a really busy guy, so he's practically never home. His place usually has a pad-lock on it which is always a disappointing sight. One morning, however, before we went to one of our appointments, I noticed that the pad-lock was gone. I was like: "Hey Elder, the pad-lock is gone! Let's see if Tony's home!" He wasn't home, but we were able to meet his wife. Tony told her about us after our first visit with him, so she was pretty happy to meet us and invited us back another day when Tony would be home. So we came back a few days later to teach him, but he wasn't there again. Still, that time we met their son, who told us that Tony and his wife had gone shopping, but would be back later that day. (Ah, man.) We went to another appointment, but we were punted again, so we were about to go to another appointment when I thought we should go back to see if Tony was there. We waited for about five minutes at the door with no answer and were about to leave again disappointed, but then finally Tony came out and let us in. We taught him about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We spent most of the time answering his questions. It was a wonderful lesson. Even though Tony describes himself as "solid" in his religion, he is still very interested in learning more about the Church. Tony said that he struggles with Insomnia, so he spends nights watching DVDs or reading books. He said he has read the Bible three times. I don't know if his insomnia is a blessing for us or a curse for him, but whatever gets him to read the scriptures is alright with me. We left with him with some reading assignments for our return appointment, so we'll see what happens. I really hope that he's available to be taught a lot, because that would be an awesome baptism. His wife was busy when we taught him, so she did not participate. But, we taught her on our next visit. Other than that, work was pretty much the same. You know, finding, dealing with investigators not keeping commitments, etc.

          I might have a new companion tomorrow or sometime this week, because we are 90% sure that Elder Revillo will be called as one of the new assistants to the president. Elder Revillo is a fantastic missionary - a great companion. If he does leave, I will really miss working with him. As I understand it, I will be working with the outgoing AP, Elder Tating, until transfers next week. The good news is that I would be here for my birthday if that happens, so that will be awesome. I am just not sure who my new companion will be. There are a lot of Filipino Zone Leaders going home next week, so I might be training a new zone leader. I should know more tomorrow at our MLC in Tarlac.

          Saturday was National Day of Service, so we went with the stake to an elementary school and just cleaned up. I'll send you the pictures, so you can see what we did. We got to wear the yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" vests, so that was pretty cool, too. 


Jordan takes a quick break for a picture during the National Day of Service activity

Cabanatuan Zone members at the National Day of Service

         I guess that's it for me this week. Thanks for updating me on everything. Congrats to David for graduating from BYU! (I’m kind of jealous that David and Kambria get to go to Disneyland without me, though.) Whitney and Brad, I am a little disappointed that I have to wait another week to see pictures of my new niece (haha jk). What's her name? Kelli, you know I love you and Royal a lot :). Mom and Dad, congratulations on 30 years of marriage. Our family is very blessed. Mahal ko kayo lahat! Ingat palagi!

        Elder Jordan "di ako bugok tulad ni Elder Declaro :P ha" Royal

          (We have no idea what this ^^^ means.)

Entire Cabanatuan Zone at the National Day of Service