Still loving it

So this last week has been pretty great. We had a lot of lessons and could possible have another investigator. Once again none of our investigators came to church, however, we had two less active members come to church. It was so amazing to see them! The joy I felt when I saw them at church was amazing! I really love church. It is so amazing and I wish church were actually longer. The spirit there with the members is something else. It's so amazing here.

I also went on exchanges this week. I was in Cabugao with Elder Cabanus. We were only able to teach one family there and they taught me some Ilocano. This week wasn't a whole lot different than other weeks. Just more teaching, which is good. Oh, something funny that happened was all the little kids call me "short americano" I love it!

Also I absolutely love hanging around the children here. I'm on the same level of Tagalog as them and since they don't understand english yet I am forced to speak to them in Tagalog and a little Ilacano. Also in church yesterday it was the Primary Program. It was so amazing.

Alam ko na yung Simabahan ni Jesucristo ay totoo. Alam ko na kinakailangan yung tagapagligtas and Jesucristo ay tagapagligtas. Alam ko na sa pamamagitan ng pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo magiging masaya at malinis tayo. Alam ko na pagmamahal ang Diosko. Alam ko na meyroon Niya ang plano para sa atin.
Naragsak Nayibati ti nagan ni Jesucristo, Amen.

Ayaya ten kayo

Elder Lewis

Pictures from the Sinait Branch

These are pictures that a member from the Sinait Branch posted on Facebook. How I love social media!

Dylan and a member from the Sinait Branch

Dylan and Elder De Leon

What a fast week!

What a fast week! It was a great week for us. We went out finding and have two new potential investigators. We taught all of our investigators and they are progressing pretty well but none of them have come to church yet. The language is coming along pretty well, I've also started learning Ilocano this week. It's a little different that Tagalog, but doesn't seem to difficult. This week we also taught some members how to introduce the Book of Mormon to non members and did some role play with them so they could experience it. Yesterday in church I taught Elders Quorum, directed the music in priesthood, and conducted the gospel principles class, it was a lot of fun!

So last week I talked about praying before you leave and how important that is. Well we forgot again and this time I crashed me bike three times, they weren't bad and I'm totally fine, but I've learned my lesson this time, and since then I have prayed before I left and nothing bad has happened. So don't forget to pray before you leave.

This week I also caught a spider and used it in a spider fight and I won. The children in the Philippines love fighting spiders, that and the card game Uno. On member visits we always end up playing a game of Uno.

I love you all, till next week,

Elder Lewis

Pictures from Sinait

a third of the onions

Brother Roben offered us a ride home

helping members harvest and gather onions

my fighting spider

Week 9 - Dito sa Sinait

So it's been a pretty good week. We went to Laoag City twice, once for P-day and then again on Wednesday for mission conference. Elder Haynie and his wife came to Laoag and gave us all some training. He is a part of the Seventy so it was fantastic being able to get advice from him. President and Sister Andrada were also there to give training. Because we were in Laoag twice I was able to see my MTC district. It was cool being able to see them and see how they are doing.

We have three new investigators: Jony, Michelle and Jen Christian. So we just started teaching them and invited all of them to church except for Jen Christian. We actually met him at church, his friend brought him so now we are going to start teaching him. No one came to church this week so I'm a little discouraged. Speaking of church, President and Sister Andrada and their family came to church with us. It was pretty great to hear from them again. I also got the opportunity to teach the Gospel Principles class and President Andrada decided to join us. It was a little nerve racking but he was a great help in teaching. Also I finished the Book of Mormon twice this week, I absolutely love the Book of Mormon.

This week Elder De Leon and I learned a very important lesson. That lesson is to pray before you travel. So Friday we had two appointments in our furthest area which is a 15 minute bike ride from the apartment. One of the people wasn't home so we were only able to teach once. Our next appointment was another 10 minutes away from where we were so we started to ride our bikes there. In order to get there we have to cross a bridge. The bridge is only about 10 feet off the ground and under it is a little rice field that has already been harvested. So we are riding and all of the sudden I see Elder De Leon, who is in front of me, go off the side of the bridge with his bike. He is completely fine and is only slightly bruised. His bike is ok as well. So moral of the story, pray before you travel.

I love you all and time is starting to fly, I can't wait till next week to tell you some more things that are happening dito sa Sinait. Also I ate dog with sauce made from blood, it was pretty good.

Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Lewis

Pictures from Sinait, Laoag

Sunrise

Sunset

The beach

Where we rode our bikes to get to our appointment

I'm in Heaven

So this has to have been the fastest week in the world! Compared to the MTC one day at the MTC is equivalent to a week and a half in the field. It's been a pretty great week. We have had dinner at a members house everyday so far and we have a new investigator named Aldin Bathlezar. He's really good friends and works with some of our area's recent converts. We have a baptismal date set for him at the end of this month but we haven't been able to get him to come to church yet so we'll so how everything works out. I got to watch a spider fight, for those of you who don't know, a spider fight is where two people each have their own spider and they put them on a stick and then the spiders try to kill each other. It's really cool, and kinda creepy and gross. I went on exchanges with the district leader last Wednesday and we walked all over the place and found a lot of people. I met some of his investigators and they have different names. Their names are Apple and Jelly. They are both really great investigators and are almost "golden" investigators. For dinner that night I got to eat balut. It's a fertilized duck egg and after the duck has started to form they cook it. It has to be one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. I also got to eat goat, its really good as well. I am so glad that I am in the Philippines, mainly Sinait. It's beautiful here and everyone  that I pass in the street says hello. It's amazing here. Me and my companion are getting along well and our lessons are becoming better and better as we get a rhythm to our teaching. We haven't had the most luck in finding new investigators but I know we will find someone that is ready to hear the gospel, we just have to keep looking. I really love being here and I truly know that I was called here for a reason, my goal right now is to find out that reason.

Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Lewis