6-13-12

Hello Everyone!

I'm praying for all of you and your various challenges and trials that the Lord is blessing you through.  I love you!

So this week has been an awesome, awesome one.  My new companion is amazing.  His name is Elder Plandiano.  He is from Luzon, Philippines, but his father was a US Navy officer, so he is half white, half Filipino.  This is only his 4th transfer, so he just got out of training, but because of that, he still has Preach My Gospel ingrained in his mind.  It has been great working with someone who is first, fluent in the language (the first comp of mine who has been in 6 months), second, strictly obedient and very diligent, and third, an awesome friend.  We have been doing great together this past week.

District Leader is awesome as well.  There is one district leader per district.  Districts can be anywhere from 2 to 5+ companionships large.  My district has 3.  My responsibilities are to teach weekly workshops to my district in our weekly district meetings, interview investigators for baptism, and go on splits with other Elders in my district to provide support and guidance.  My district is amazing, and being their leader is very humbling and very satisfying.  I have to say that I absolutely love my mission.

Yes I am back to washing my clothes by hand, cooking for myself and my companion (except for dinners.  The members feed us all the time here!), and showering out of a bucket.  Rainy season has begun again, which was beckoned in by the biggest, loudest thunderstorm I have ever experienced in my life.  It was so cool!  I wish Chris could be here.  He would go nuts.  I love the rainy season here.  Awesome storms, cool breezes, constant cloud cover, and everyone is always hiding in their houses, which means they have nowhere to run when we come to their door!  Work is great and so is life.  We have a golden investigator, Joceryl, who is set to be baptized July 7, and her friend will follow her soon after.  We also found another golden investigator, who described his feelings as we shared the message of the restoration as being, "so good that he did not know the Cebuano words deep enough to describe it."  He will be moving back home in July though, so the elders where he is going will get to baptize him.

I love you all so much, and you are always in my prayers!

Love,
Elder Garver