Happy Mother's Day

            I can't believe that this is my last Mother's Day in the mission.  I really enjoyed talking with all of you guys today!!  The connection was way better this time than last time, so that was good.  I wish I could have talked with Brad and Whitney longer, but that's alright.  At least I got to see Zoe.  She looks great!  I did not stress over not getting to talk about everything, since we can catch up soon enough when I return home in October (haha).

We were all smiles to see Jordan during our Mother's Day call

            So I guess I'll tell you about some of the things that happened this week that I did not talk about during our phone call.  I worked with Elder Tating until I was assigned my new companion on transfer day, and that was fun.  I loved working with Elder Tating and would have really loved to continue working with him.  Great missionary.  My new companion, Elder Leduna, is very cool as well.  He is from Bacolod (where Kim Foote is going, right?) and he's a really funny and humble guy.  He's the third companion I've had from my son's batch (Elder Dela Paz, Elder Rabino, and Elder Leduna).  (Just so you all know, when I say “son” I am referring to Elder Dela Paz, who I trained.  I am not really a daddy.  That’s all just some fun mission lingo.)  We had some good work this week.

Transfer Day

            We decided to go to some areas that I hadn't visited before in search of some new investigators.  We had some of the branch missionaries work with us as well.  We found this one girl, Marimar, who's one of Kim Arahan's classmates (our recent convert from March).  Kim said that she did not even know that Marimar lived there, so it was a blessing to find her.  We taught her the Restoration and she seemed really interested in our lesson.  Marimar asked us how she could know for herself if Joseph Smith was a prophet, so we taught her about prayer and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon to read.  I wish she would have came to church yesterday, but that's okay, because we are set to teach her again this week (hopefully that will go well).  We had a district fast yesterday and it was really cool.  We did not get exactly what we fasted for, but we did receive blessings.  A sister from a part member come to church with her boyfriend, and they enjoyed church and said we could teach them next week, so that was blessing #1.  The next one was when one of our less actives came to church, Sarah Sabado.  When we first taught Sarah, she had no desire to read the Book of Mormon, because she didn't like reading it and said she lost her faith in God, but as we taught her, she starting reading the Book of Mormon more and more and said that she felt the Spirit every time she read.  She also reported that her older sisters had the same experience in reading the Book of Mormon.  All of them are reading now.  It has been awesome seeing their progression.  Sarah was the only one to come to church, but I'm sure that the other two will come next week as we work with them.  We also found another part member family this week, the Binuya family.  Sister Binuya’s husband was an active member of the Church, but was killed in a motor accident just a year ago.  He had been serving as a clerk in Talavera Ward.  I don't know if Brad would know him or not.  So we taught her the entire Plan of Salvation and she seemed very interested, so we are going back to see her this week.  All of this shows me that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers - perhaps not always in the way we think He will or should, but He leads us to those earnestly seeking truth, who have a desire to follow the Savior.  He knows the hearts of men and will lead us if we simply come to Him in humble, faithful prayer, powered by our contribution of diligence, obedience and sacrifice.

Service project at the Jobert Lazano home

            It's Election Day here in the Philippines, and I'm just glad all the campaigning is going to be over.  I was getting so sick of the campaigns here.  They just drive around with giant speakers blasting really badly done song mixes about their candidates, and since there are so many candidates, there are many different badly mixed songs.  It’s kind of funny - but more annoying than funny, because it is just never ending, going on constantly through each and every day.  Oh well.  On to a new chapter.  The rainy season is fast approaching, and the hot, steamy, sweaty summer heat is slowly going away.  (That will be a great relief.)

Jordan captured another mouse - so proud of his hunting skills

            Well I think that's about it for this email.  Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there, especially my dearest mother (and also to my Grandmothers Royal and Kelly, to my sister Kelli, and to my sisters-in-law, Whitney (mother of two) and Kambria (mother to be)).  I love you, Mom!  I can always count on you for loving support.  Thank you so much for all you have done to get me on a mission, to support me as a missionary, and to love me as your son.  (I am sure that I am not the only missionary serving today grateful to have you in their lives, but all of the missionaries in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission appreciate you, too.  :) I have no doubt about that.)  Ingat ya'll.  Mahal kayo!

            Elder Jordan “Loves His Mother Dearly” Royal