Looking Forward to the Future

Jordan at the Camaling River

            Wow.  This week went by really fast!  I can't believe that August will be done in two weeks.  Time is just flying by.  Ironically, we had a pretty slow start to the week, because we had a lot of appointments fall through.  There is a less active that we've been working really hard to bring back named Randy.  Randy has already returned, so we're now trying to encourage him to serve a mission.  The less active, Randy, is just an awesome guy.  He has a great sense of humor and is fun to be around.  We've been reading the Book of Mormon with him and have left him with specific assignments to read or look for during his reading.  He really has that desire, but he wants to finish reading the Book of Mormon to know if serving a mission is right for him.  So we've been working with him to read all of it before the end of the month.  He's only in Mosiah, so he might not finish it, but hopefully he'll be close.  We've been having a lot of fun with it. 

            We really had a great end to week on Saturday and Sunday.  We had another great turn out for our ward reactivation activity on Saturday, about 150.  Since we've been doing that, our attendance at church has not dropped lower than 120.  How awesome is that!?  We even had six (yes, six) investigators attend church yesterday!  Ruben and Rechelle have really been doing great.  They have a lot of support from the members and YM/YW since they're been coming to church and Mutual, so they're in good hands.  Their baptism is this Saturday.  (Woo hoo!)  They've been fun to teach.  They were really quiet at the beginning, but they eventually opened up to us.  Bessie's baptism will be on Sept. 1^st.  It's cool to have back-to-back baptisms.  Bessie's really awesome, too.  Her boyfriend is one of the RMs in the ward, and he's really cool.  Maybe he'll ask him to marry him after she's baptized.  That's just a thought, so don't go spreading it (haha).  (It’s not our job to play matchmaker, but it’s fun sometimes.)

Miss this guy!

            I can't believe that I have been in Mamonit for 5½ months now.  When missionaries would tell me that they've been in a certain for six months, I always thought that was a long time.  And I guess it is, but I didn't think that it would go by as fast as this has.  The weeks feel like days and the months are weeks.  I guess that'll sum up how time flies on a mission right there.

            Now, here’s a funny story.  We went to a member's to teach an investigator and they handed me what I thought was a really big lime, but it turned out to be grapefruit.  I don't like grapefruit, but the Philippines somehow has really good grapefruits.  They watched me eat it to see what my reaction would be, because it was really sour.  But, since I would eat plain lemons when we would eat out back in the day, it didn't faze me at all.  They were really amazed that I ate half the grapefruit without any salt or sugar (haha).  Since Elder Witt came by, our lunches always have a lot of vegetables and a little bit of meat, which I really enjoy since I haven't eaten this many vegetables in a long time.  I'm also starting to cook again.  Elder Witt's really good at cooking.  It's not that I don't know how to cook, but I'm just lazy sometimes (haha).  We've been cooking some pretty bomb stuff lately.

            Well, I guess that's it for this week.  Strange.  I thought I had more to write, but I guess I don't anymore.  Oh Mom.  I forgot to mention this to you last week, but if you could send one or two journal books to use and a pair or two of earplugs, that would be great.  I'm sorry for not mentioning it last week, because you've sent the package already, but I guess that'll be in the next one :).  Dad.  Happy Birthday tomorrow!!!!!  52's a cool age.  You know . . . full of wisdom and awesome skills.  Thank you for all of the letters that I enjoy reading every week and for all of your love and support to me.

            Mahal ko kayo!  Inagat!  I hope that you all have a great week!!!

            Elder Jordan “Immune to Sour Fruit” Royal

The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up

A break in the clouds brings the beauty of rainbows in Mamonit

            I'm sure you're all aware of the terrible flooding that's been going on in Manila lately, but just to ease your worries, our area wasn't flooded.  It did rain really hard all week except for two days, so that was a little intense.  It started raining really hard on Tuesday night while we were working, which flooded the streets and area in about 10 minutes.  That's a pretty good description of how hard it's been raining here.  We're fine, though, except my shoes took about four days to dry, because there was no sun to dry them.  We saw the sun for the first time in over a week on Friday, which helped dry up the area a bit.  There were some other areas in the mission that got flooded, like Camaling (just next door to us), but other than that we were fine. 

            The good news is that I was able to work this week (and by that I mean I wasn’t sick), but the bad news is that our work was a bit slow.  It was good, but it fell short of our expectations.  Part of that may have been due to the weather, some to our circumstances.  Since Elder iLayat went home, we have had Elder Retaga work with us in our area.  It’s strange working in a three-some, but it worked out well.  Our ward mission leader worked with us, so we were able to split up for a bit during some of our street contacting.  We had our transfer announcements on Wednesday and I am still here in Mamonit training.  I'm going to ultimately be here for six months in September, which is a long time in just one area, but I am doing great.  We only had one Elder leave the zone, and received three new Elders in the zone.  Now that Elder iLayat has gone home and Elder Abrenillia has transferred, I am now the oldest in zone (been in the zone the longest).  Elder Retaga's companion is Elder Witt from Heber City, Utah.  He was also in Kalikid over a year ago (my first area), so he's now the fourth Elder that I've been with in the Mayantoc house that was once in Kalikid.  He only has two transfers left on his mission, which is about three months, so Elder Retaga will most likely be his last companion.  He's a cool guy.  He knows both Tagalog and English well.  We all get along great and have fun.  Elder Retaga has been teaching me some extra Tagalog, helping to improve my vocabulary, so that's good.  We played zone basketball at Sta. Ignacia this morning which was fun.  It was the first time that I'd played in a long time.  It felt like the layoff caused me to lose some of my great ball skills (haha).  Elder Witt's a big guy.  He's just a little taller than me, but . . . uh . . . a tad heavier.  It was pretty hard guarding him on defense.  It was much better when we played on the same team.  We had fun, but it's just really hot playing even when it's cloudy with no sun. 

            Wow, I got way off track there.  Let’s see.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, street contacting.  It's pretty hard to street contact here, especially when the people have been taught by the missionaries before and they don't want to be taught again.  I'm also still having some problems with shyness when it comes to street contacting.  It's hard for me to start the initial conversation, mostly because I still have that fear of rejection.  But, I learned a lot from my trainee about that this week.  He kept saying: "fear is the opposite of faith."   He doesn't know that I'm naturally shy, but he's right.  I watched as he would just start talking to random people after he said that, without hesitation.  I then just started to just do it and stop worrying about stumbling with my Tagalog or being rejected.  So that's something I'm still working on.  I'm still not the best at street contacting, but when the Spirit is there and I'm not timid, it goes a lot smoother (even when they reject us).  We had a couple of experiences with some drunk tatays (fathers) this week.  Sometimes you can tell from a mile away that they're drunk, but sometimes you don't know until you talk to them.  It's pretty funny sometimes.  One time, we asked a tatay where we were at that moment.  He said that we were in front of the elementary school, but in reality it wasn't anywhere near us.  Back in the day when we were teaching Hay Jhea, her drunken father came out and began debating with us.  I know I told you this already, but something he said was really funny: "Yeah.  I know all about you Mormons.  You come from the Utah Jazz."  It was a pretty serious moment at the time, but we were trying pretty hard not to laugh at his statement.  Some of the drunk tatays won't let go of my hand when they shake it and come closer to talk to me with their horrible smelling alcohol breath.  Yeah it's a real hoot.  We actually try to avoid the drunks, but they are everywhere.

Jordan, enjoying the sun just before the days of flooding

            We got to teach our investigators (Bessie, Rechelle, and Ruben) on Sunday about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity.  The three of them have problems right now with coffee, tea, and the occasional alcoholic drink, but since they know this gospel's true, they're willing to give them up.  That shows real conversion and progression when someone is willing right there and then to give up doing these things, even though it'll be hard.  Back in my first area when we were teaching Erick Tan, we were having the greatest lessons until we taught him the Word of Wisdom.  He refused to give up drinking and smoking, even though he knew the Gospel was true.  He read the Book of Mormon in three days; yet, he wouldn't give up those habits for the gospel or his family.  He was having some other issues at the time, but that's a different story.  So, we based these two lessons off of one theme: Our bodies are temples given to us by Heavenly Father.  The Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity both address the physical, mental, and spiritual dangers that can be avoided if we keep these commandments.  The pamphlets that we use for teaching had the scripture in 1 Cor. 16-17, where Paul writes that our bodies are a “temple of God.”  So, I used some examples that really helped.  The first example I used was about tattoos (which I believe also falls into the category of keeping our temples clean).  I told them to imagine someone painting their own artwork on the beautiful chapel.  While somewhat nice, we know that such artwork does ot belong on a sacred building.  The next example I used was to picture someone dumping a bunch of garbage inside the church building, making it a place where no one would want to enter, having a beautiful appearance on the outside, but having a sour, smelly stench on the inside.  I compared this to smoking, drinking, doing drugs, and even breaking the Law of Chastity.  When we see beer commercials on TV, for example, they only use good-looking people.  The adversary does not want us to see the reality of abuse.  That simply would not sell.  So, he persuades by deception, making those lacking in self control appearing to be happy.  I thought those up on the fly and they seemed to work pretty good.

            Oh, I have something to add to the lost wallet saga.  I need to tell how I found my temple recommend.  When I lost my wallet recently, I thought that I had also lost my temple recommend in there as well.  (It had been in my wallet for my entire mission.)  However, during our companion study, we were reading from the mission white handbook and I saw my temple recommend in the back of the book.  We hold companionship study everyday, but I never noticed until this week.  I then remembered that about two weeks before I lost my wallet, I had an impression to put my temple recommend in my white handbook.  I didn't know why, but I removed the recommend from my wallet and put it in the white handbook.  When I found it recently, I had the distinct impression that Heavenly Father knew that I was going to lose my wallet, so He warned me two weeks in advance to remove my temple recommend and place it into my white handbook.  I just felt the greatest peace come over me and I knew that I was being blessed by the Lord.  That was an amazing experience.  

            The gospel of Jesus Christ is awesome.  The Church is now and forever will be true.  This is the Lord's kingdom that has been fully restored to the earth in preparation of the Savior’s second coming.  It amazes me that even though some investigators I've taught say they believe that, they remain unwilling to give up destructive behaviors or make changes, excusing themselves because it is simply the way they were raised.  (It is like the Savior inviting them to “come follow me” and they look at Him and say: “No, thanks.”)  If they know that this Church are true, "what do [they] have against being baptized?" (quoting Mosiah 18:10).  So, I guess I will end here.  I hope that you all will stay safe over yander.  Mahal ko kayo!  Ingat!

            Elder Jordan "Super Soaked Shoes" Royal

Wallet Gone, But Miracles Abound

Somewhere out there in the vast Philippines horizon, a wallet was lost . . . but somehow key contents found and returned

            Well...I guess I don't have to tell you the story of how my wallet was found, but I'm glad that you found out earlier in the week than now.  I'll tell you the story anyway, but from my perspective.  After I emailed you guys again, I was really feeling down about it, so I went through a lot of praying and begging to Heavenly Father that someone honest would return my wallet and all of the contents.  I was surprised to get a text the next day from our zone leaders that said that my credit card and ATM card were found, but the wallet itself was gone.  I was just so relieved and grateful that I got those back, because I had very little money to last the rest of the month.  I guess the story is that a mother saw her child playing with my cards.  They ended up all the way in Camaling (a long way from where I left the wallet).  She took the cards from him and saw the American name on the cards and the only Americans she saw walking around were the missionaries, so she gave it to a member.  Then the member saw that my zone leaders were also at Camaling, so he gave the cards to them.  Not only am I grateful to Heavenly Father for having received my cards back, but that they were in fact found by an honest person.  Even though I lost my wallet with my cash and temple recommend :(, I'm so grateful that I was able to withdraw my support.  God really does watch over me.  Awesome miracle story of the week.  (There was only 400 pesos in the wallet, which translates to less than $10.00 US.)  (And Dad, I didn’t lose my driver’s license.  We turned those in at the mission home upon our arrival.  So, good news there.)

Jordan is grateful to have his debit/credit cards back

            Even though that was a great miracle, the rest of the week didn't go by so well.  It all started when we visited our good ol' recent convert, Jerome.  He was sick, so we gave him a blessing.  A couple of days later, I started having a really bad sore throat, which then turned into a cold.  I wasn't able to do much all this weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).  It was really rough.  Our work in the beginning of the week wasn't going well either, so we weren't able to accomplish all that much this week :(.  Being sick and not being able to work is just a terrible feeling.  I kept thinking about our investigators that we were supposed to be teaching all weekend.  Ugh.  Felt helpless.  However, I went to church yesterday and stayed for all of the three hours, but then went home because I was feeling dizzy and had a slight fever.  We had a good sacrament meeting though and our lesson with Bessie still went great!  Even though my nose was all stuffed up.  Her Baptismal Goal Date (BGD) is scheduled for September 1, but she thinks that's a little soon.  True.  It does seem pretty fast, but I'm not the one who picked the date.  That was the Spirit all the way.  We told her that it's just a goal and that she doesn't have to be baptized right on that date, but we told her that she'll be ready by that date if she continues to do the things we ask her.  We're only able to teach her once a week, which might be a little bit of a disadvantage, but she's a strong investigator.  Our other investigators, Ruben and Rechelle, came to church as well.  They're BGD is a week before Bessie's, but we weren't able to teach them at all this week, because I was sick on the days on the only days that they're available.  But, I guess the moral of the story is that I'm better now and that the Church is/always will be true. 

Two things: 1) There's a hole in the shoe; 2) It needs shining

            It was Elder iLayat's last full week this week, which was a bitter-sweet moment.  We became really close this transfer.  All of us in our house were close.  Even though he was only here for one transfer, the Mayantoc members became really close to him, too.  They threw him a Farewell Party on Saturday.  Everyone really appreciated all of the work that Elder iLayat did.  I could definitely see that.  He is a dedicated, hard working missionary that is an inspiration to everyone around him.  I want to have that kind of lasting impact on the people that I serve.  I want them to always remember my name and think: "That Elder Royal sure helped out with the Ward" or "Elder Royal was a great missionary."  I hear things like that all the time from members talking about certain missionaries that were in their area a year ago or 10 years ago.  Missionaries should always strive to "leave the area better than [they] found it" (Preach My Gospel).  That reminds me of a lesson that our MTC teacher gave about Nehor and his evil affects on so many generations.  The acts of one person impacts generations.  Elder ilayat (and also Elder McCormack) gave great acts of service to everyone that they came in contact with.  They will be missed for sure. 

            Even though our transfer announcements aren't until Wednesday, I already know that I am being called to serve as the new District Leader here.  The President sent his weekly letter with all of the "newly called" on it.  Elder Biggs is also now a new zone leader.  (haha Typical Elder Biggs - always leading the way.)   That's awesome for him.  Unfortunately for him, that means he is being transferred from Baler - the most coveted area in the mission (by the ocean).  Poor guy.  He was only able to enjoy being in Baler for only one transfer (haha).  The good news for me is that I am guaranteed to be here for at least one more transfer, perhaps longer, so I will get to see some of the fruits of our labors.  I have really come to love it here.

From back left: Jordan , E. iLayat, E. Dela Paz, E. Retaga - with family that came to see E. iLayat before his departure

            Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!  Like I said, I'm glad you got my birthday letter already :).  I'm sure it was awesome!  I love you so much!!  :)  Mahal ko kayo lahat!  Ingat

            Elder Jordan "Masakit Noon" Royal

10 Months Down

            Wow.  I can't believe that 10 months of my mission have has already gone by.  It seems like yesterday that I entered the MTC.  That's the way I felt by the way as I read the new dearelders this week containing Elder Steven Jex's emails.  As I read his MTC experiences, they sounded exactly like mine.  Ah the good 'ol days at the MTC: learning simple Tagalog, three giant meals a day, gym everyday, going to the temple...Man - good times.  Steven’s been there over a month now, right?  I had some of the greatest experiences of my mission there.  Even though it seemed like I was there for an eternity (haha).  I also got a letter from my friend, Tanner Johns, from my BYU summer term, who is serving his mission in Mexico.  It was hand-written back in the beginning of June and I just received it (haha).  It's awesome having so many of my friends right now serving missions.  Special congrats to Dallin for going through the temple this week.  Awesome, right?  I loved going through for my first time.  We had our entire family together there for the first time.  That was almost a year ago.  Wow.

Jerome (left) was baptized by Oliver

            Well, the work wasn't too great at the beginning of the week, but it sure ended on a fantastic note!  Near the end of the week, we began teaching a new investigator that we met just a couple of weeks ago while I was on splits with Elder Greenwell.  She was over at member's house that we sometimes visit, and we wanted to share with her a short lesson (10 minutes).  She said that she really wasn't interested, but after talking for a little bit, we were able to convince her.  Our 10 min. lesson turned into 45 minutes as we talked about prophets, the Savior's Earthly Ministry, and the Great  Apostasy.  She turned out to be very interested in our lesson and we were able to answer a lot of her questions.  She still kinda thinks that there's really no religion that has the power to save us, but is still interested open to listen to us.  I'll take it.  As we continue to teach her, I'm sure she'll come to know that there is a Savior of the World who has saved all who choose to follow Him.

            I had the most powerful experience teaching the Plan of Salvation so far on my mission with our investigator, Bessie, yesterday during church.  We went through all of the questions of the soul: "Where did I come?" "What's my purpose in life?" and "Where do I go after this life?"  I also noticed that teaching the Plan of Salvation is soooo much easier to teach when I use that little wooden puzzle that I got at Missionary Mall, because it's an effective way for the investigator to see the Plan clearly.  We've been teaching her all month now, and she’s just awesome.  We extended the invitation for baptism and she accepted.  It was an awesome experience.  The Spirit was so strong that she and my companion were crying.  She'll be baptized (hopefully) on September 1^st.  We also had a similar as we taught our investigators Rechelle and Ruben.  We also taught them the Plan of Salvation with the similar result, except they'll be baptized on August 25^th.  So we were able to have three investigators with baptismal dates in just one day!  Woo!  It really is rewarding to watch these people make this change in their lives. 

            I have really enjoyed training.  Even though it's really hard sometimes, it's getting better.  We'll be having our transfer announcements next week, but am pretty sure I will stay because of the 12 week program.  Still, who knows?  It's happened before that trainers or trainees to get transferred halfway through the program.  But that's not likely to happen for me.  I plan on still being here until at least September.

            Glad to hear that everyone had a good week.  I hope that will continue.  I love you all and for all of your prayers and support.  Oh, before I forget . . . .  Welcome home Mike Flagg and Kylie Little!  Way to serve!  Now I think that's about it.

            Mahal ko kayo.  ingat.

            Elder Jordan "No Longer a 'Single Digit Missionary" Royal

Oy Hoy Hoy

            How about that?   I'm surprised my birthday letter so soon, Mom.  I'm just very happy that it arrived before your birthday.  I'll be be sure to wish you Happy Birthday again . . . in a couple weeks. ;) haha.  Well, our week wasn't quite to the level as last week, but it was still a pretty awesome.  It went by quickly.  It has rained almost every day here, so I always come home with wet shoes, socks, pants, shirt, and everything once we get home.  All in a day’s work, right?  I like the rain, though (most of the time).  It keeps things very cool here, which I much prefer than the humid heat. 

Jordan's favorite spider made another visit to the apartment this week.  They may have to add it to their list of investigators. 

            I'll begin with some details of our awesome lesson gone wrong with Hay Jhea on Tuesday night.  We had just taught her the entire Plan of Salvation and were about to end on a great note, with a prayer.  The Spirit had been strong throughout our discussion.  However, before we could do that, Hay Jhea's drunk step-father entered the room and began sharing his "testimony."  The Spirit said bye-bye at about that time.  We were teaching Hay Jhea outside and her step-father was around the corner drinking with his friends.  He was rambling on about how God only cares about Israel, that there are no prophets on the earth, and that there is no reason for God to give new revelation to mankind prior to the Second Coming.  (That summary actually wraps up all the man’s drunken words in a little nutshell.  It makes no sense.  But, then again, people never make sense when their drunk.)  None of us said a word during the drunken rant.  Hay Jhea was really embarrassed and apologized for his behavior.  We told her that we would come back some day and try to talk to him when he’s sober.  It would be really sad to lose her as an investigator, because she has a testimony of the Savior, the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, but the gospel is about bring families together.  We do not wish to create contention within the family.  So, we can't progress until Tatay will either agree to listen to us, or give his blessing for us to teach Hay Jhea.

            I actually had a couple other experiences talking with drunks this week, but they weren't like this one.  The other times were when we spoke with drunks on the street they didn't even know where their own house was.  At least they were in a cheerful mood.  The men who work in the bukids tell us that they have to drink to "relax" from their day's work.  And that seems to be the only way to relax for them.  That's pretty much their life every day.  Pretty sad.

            We also had several encounters with Jehovah's Witnesses this week.  There some kind of convention or something here for them, so that was interesting.  We walked past a group of them and they called us over to speak with us.  They handed us their magazine called, "Awake!" and wanted to share more.  We agreed to listen if they would listen to us.  We tried to give them one of our pamphlets, but they wouldn't even touch it.  They said it was "forbidden" for them to take it.  Bastos talaga sila.  So, that was about the end of our sharing time together.  Anyway, moving on.

            Because of the all day rain yesterday, we went from the highest attendance I'd seen at church to the lowest attendance I have seen.  The rain comes down hard and tends to keep people in their homes and away from travel (even to church).  The good news is that we had four investigators at church today.  One of our investigators, Bessie, is really progressing well and is starting to feel the influence of the Spirit in her life.  She is learning quickly.  Her boyfriend is a member in the ward.  I don't know if I talked about her last week, but if I didn’t, here's a little review.  She lives near Tarlac and only visits on Fridays and Sundays, so those are the only days we can teach her.  I think we're going to challenge her to be baptized next week, so hopefully that'll go well.  (Oh no. Ahhh!  We just had a brown-out and I thought I lost this email.  Whew.  Still there.  That would've been very frustrating.) 

            I guess I'll do a couple of shout-outs right now.  We had interviews with President Martino on Thursday, which was awesome, and I received all of the Dear Elders.  I also received a surprise package from Al Librojo.  Al, you’re right.  I do not really remember you visiting us that one time, but I'm very grateful for your package!  The hot chocolate and stuff came at a good time (haha).  That was such a nice, thoughtful thing for you to do!!!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Also, congrats Kai and Isaiah Nacua for your commitment to play football at BYU!  I know that announcement was about a month ago, but I just received a letter from Dad telling me about it.  That's awesome! 

Let the Pop-Tart grilling begin

            Oh, I almost forgot.  We don't have a toaster in our house that works, so I haven't really been eating the Pop-Tarts you sent me.  But, I solved that little problem.  I came up with the best thing ever!  I am grilling 'em.  That actually works great!  Grilled Pop-Tarts.  (Get ‘em while they’re hot!)  Guess what we’re going to be having for breakfast every day this week?  haha.

            I think that'll do for me right now.  Mahal ko kayo!  We're halfway done with our transfers already!  And I'll be hitting my 10^th month mark this Saturday!  Fast!  I will no longer be a "single digit missionary."  There is something special about that.  It represents experience, confidence and increased ability to do the Lord’s work!  I am happily engaged - loving it all.  Ingatzzz.

            Elder Jordan "Pop-Tart Griller" Royal

This is what a grilled Pop-Tart looks like (although it seems Jordan could not resist taking a bit or two in the process).

A Complete Turnaround!

            Wow.  I can't believe how much the area has changed in just one week.  I have A LOT to share with you guys this week, because it's been one of the best weeks of my mission so far.  I just did not think that it would ever happen here in Mamonit.  We worked with our Ward Mission Leader almost everyday this week teaching less active families and some new investigators.  We had our first lesson on Tuesday with Hay Jhae, who we met last week through street contacting.  It was the longest lesson I think I've ever taught as a missionary.  It's not really how I wanted it though, because usually if you teach long lessons, people become disinterested with the lesson and want you to leave.  We're just lucky and blessed to have found Hay Jhae.  She is very interested so far.  I thought that we were going to lose her at first, because of how long our lesson went (1hr 30mins), but she was with us the entire time.  Elder Dela Paz really likes to teach everything on a given subject, so that's pretty much why it went so long.  We taught all of Lesson 1 (Prophets-Holy Ghost) to her.  She had some really good questions about our lesson that we were able to answer, so that was also good news.  We also got another new investigator this week, Bessie, who is the girlfriend of one of the RMs in the ward.  We had another great first lesson with her as well.  She even came to church yesterday!  (But I'll talk about church and stuff later).  She also had some really great questions that we were able to answer.

From left: Jordan, Jerome, Oliver, Bro. Marvin, Elder Dela Paz, and Bro. Marvin

Jerome and Oliver

            Jerome's baptism was on Saturday! It was such an awesome day!  Unfortunately, the attendance was really low, but at least everyone who was supposed to participate in the program showed up.  Jerome's a funny kid.  After he was baptized, he quickly went back underwater, because the water felt good (haha).  The missionaries have been teaching him since March or something, so it felt good to see him be baptized.  It was the first baptism the ward has had since March.  After the baptism, we went to a less active's house to eat lunch.  One of the cats kept jumping on the chair to look at the food on the counter.  Every time I would try to scare him away, he never really moved.  I pretty much just pushed him off the chair until he went to the chair on the other side.  I tried to do the same thing, but he just wouldn't move.  I gave a gentle bump on the head like a Wak a Mole which made him hit his chin on the table and then he just looked up at the ceiling with closed eyes with a loud meow like, "Oowww.  Seriously?  Why did you do that, man?"  I couldn't stop laughing for at least a minute.  While I'm on the topic of animal cruelty, I'll share a quick story from a couple of days ago.  Back in Kalikid while I was with Elder Talento, whenever we would see frogs or toads in our path, we would run up and kick them.  A couple of days ago, we were walking when I saw a big frog in the middle of the road.  I ran up and kicked it.  It was a little dark, so I couldn't really see where it went, but I just heard it hit the branches of the tree next to us at least ten feet in the air and then heard it land on the ground.  (Yay for frog kicking.)  Later that day, we started Week 1 of our Ward Reactivation Plan.  Since it was the first week, I didn't really expect it to be well attended (like 

Jordan, Jerome, Oliver & Elder Dela Paz

the baptism earlier in the day), but I was shocked when at least 25-30 members showed up including the bishop and stake president.  We had to split up in four different groups because of all the people that showed up.  We had some really good visits with all of the less actives that we were able to visit.  Together with all of the four groups, we taught 13 lessons that day to less actives.  The fruits of our labors were answered yesterday when we had in increase of at least 40 people attend sacrament meeting.  Our attendance was 153 (110-115 during the other weeks).  We had less actives, recent converts, and an investigator all attend.  I couldn't believe what just happened.  I never dreamed of this EVER happening in this area even a couple of weeks ago.  The members are now finally stepping up to their callings and duties and are excited to do missionary work.  It was probably one of the best Sundays that I've ever had so far on my mission.  There's now a mission prep class in the ward for all of the ward missionaries which is pretty well attended.  Wow.  So the first two transfers of struggling in this area are now finally paying off.  Elder Dela Paz is great.  He is very liked by the members.  We had to leave after sacrament meeting yesterday to Padapada so that Elder Dela Paz could get his Patriarchal Blessing.  That was a neat experience.  It made me think about my Patriarchal Blessing that I received a year and a half ago and all of the blessings that have or will be fulfilled.

Jordan and co. with WML Bro. Julio

            The Lord continues to bless us with miracles in our area.  I'm eternally grateful for the work that the Lord has blessed us this week.  So hopefully, our Faith will bring more miracles in the upcoming weeks.

            Mom, I've only found one of the $20s so far in my box, I haven't opened up all of my boxes, so I'm sure (hope) they're still there.  Oh.  If you could send my little Preach My Gospel in my next package that would be great.  I figured that would be really helpful and easier to bring to Zone Conferences, interviews, or wherever.  I’m sending a few pictures of Jerome’s baptism - and one of a spider that visits me in the bathroom every couple days.  (We have become good friends.)

            Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  I felt them this week as we worked and probably had the best week’s worth of missionary work ever so far (38 lessons).  Mahal ko kayo!  I hope that you have a great week!  You're all awesome!

            Elder Jordan "Miracle Believer” Royal

This is the huge spider Jordan introduced us to today!

Package Received!!!

The Adonis family in Kalikid sends Elder Royal their love (and their request for chocolates from his big box from home)

The Royal Box Finally Made It!

Water logged

            I thought I would just answer Mom's question right away.  haha.  Yes I received it, but of course with my luck with packages....not in one piece.  It was fine when I saw it at the mission home and then they took it to the Zone Leader's house.  We went to Sta. Ignacia for DDM, so I was excited to finally get my long awaited package.  It had been raining really hard early during the week, so it got pretty flooded this week.  Well, when we went to the ZL's house, the front of their house got a bit flooded, but it wasn't much water, so I didn't think it could've entered in the house.  Wrong.  It did.  And of course, the box had to be on the floor right next to the door, so the bottom of the box got all wet.  Which is too bad, because I was going to use that box to send some stuff home.  Oh well.  Another thing: that box weighed a ton!  (I suppose getting soaked with water contributed to that.)  It's a good thing that I had good 'ol Tongan boxer Elder Tumassi lift the box for me by himself without any troubles at all.  It was still heavy for two people to carry that thing!  I guess that was the bad news of the box, but the good news is that because some of the boxed up things inside of the box got all wet, it was very easy to open them.  The contents inside all of the wet boxes didn't get wet, so that's good.  I guess I just don’t have great luck with packages.  (Oh, I forgot to mention that the jerky was all moldy.  Haha.  I had no idea that could actually happen.)  There's always three times a charm, di ba? ;) haha.  (In other words, don’t get discouraged.  Keep sending them.  The odds of a good delivery keep going up with volume.)

Most of the good stuff was intact

            This was another up and down week in Mamonit.  We did have some success this week.  I worked with our Zone Leader, Elder Greenwell, to get the baptismal interview done for Jarome (finally).  It's always fun to work with a foreigner (non-Filipino), because I can understand him.  He's been out for 20 months, so his Tagalog is already pretty good.  Yes!  Mamonit's finally going to have a baptism next week!  Woo!  Jarome's an awesome kid, so the members are pretty excited to have him as a member of the ward.  We did language study together, in which I learned something:  I don't know enough Tagalog.  That's okay though, because I'm still learning, right?  I read Chapter 7 of Preach My Gospel which is all about how to study the language.  We decided to just read one chapter from the Book of Mormon together in Tagalog, just because.  I realized that my Tagalog reading skills aren't the greatest in the world.  I have not been reading the scriptures in Tagalog that much, because I always just have others read the verses during lessons while I listen.  Preach My Gospel says to read the Book of Mormon in the mission language, which Elder Greenwell said helped him out a lot.  Based on his good Tagalog skills right now, I decided to listen to that council.  I would read the Book of Mormon in Tagalog sometimes back in the day, but I wouldn't really read it out loud, so my pronunciation was lagging.  I've decided to just do it.  And since I'm training, it's a good opportunity to learn from my companion.   Elder Dela Paz and I also speak English during our last hour of companionship study and language study.  His English is actually a lot better than he gives himself credit, so he should be proud of that. 

Mmmmmm  Moldy Jerky

            We had an OYM (Open Your Mouth . . . to share the gospel) go well pretty well this week.  We OYM’d a young 20ish year old girl at a tindihan, and she seemed really interested in what we had to say.  She was impressed that my Tagalog was good for only have been studying it for nine months.  I gave her a card of the Articles of Faith and told her why my Tagalog has improved over the past nine months (Articles of Faith #7, Right?).  We gave her a Restoration pamphlet and also a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet, because she had a brother who had recently passed away.  When we came back a couple of days later to teach her, she was busy and said that she gave her pamphlet to her dad (I think) who was interested in it.  Awesome.  We gave her another one and are supposed to start teaching her tomorrow.  Weird.  I always thought about going over there before just to buy some snacks or something, but never did until now.  The Lord works in very mysterious ways (like telling me to buy some delicious snacks for one piso at this tindihan).  We're hoping that this goes well.

            I think I mentioned last week that the Ward members finally want to help us out now, which has been a big boost in the work.  We went with our ward missionary leader and a couple of other ward missionaries to some new less actives' houses to invite them to come back to church.  This is what we did in Kalikid with success, so I think that this will have a positive impact here as well.

            Well, I think that's about it for me this week.  Hope y'all had an awesome Fourth of July!  Steven Jex, enjoy the MTC.  The time may seem to go by slow, but the MTC is awesome!  Enjoy it!  You'll be wanting to leave for Germany after a week of being there.  Not because you won't like it, but that's what the MTC does.  It just makes you so excited to leave for the mission field and go to work!

            Thank you all for your letters, prayers, and support.  Mahal ko kayo.  Keep the Faith.

            Elder Jordan "craving snacks and more boxes” Royal

            P.S.  David, Brad, and Dad: I ordered some awesome gifts for you guys that you'll probably get (hopefully) by Christmas.  I have to get them first and then send them home along with some other stuff that I want to send home.