My new companion is Elder Villanueva!  He is from the same batch of Elder Manicdo so both of my tatay's will go home at the same time.  He's from Ilooiloo which is close to where Judy is from.  This guy is so funny, he has so much energy and he I know he truly cares about me.  We've only been together for a little less than a week now and I can already see a  big progression in my Tagalog thanks to him!  Almost every second of the day he is asking me what stuff is in Tagalog and if I don't know he tells me.  About our work.... well this week has had a lot of punts!  We even had one day where we weren't able to teach one lesson!  We have one difficult area; there aren't a lot of members here so it's hard to get member present lessons along with being able to teach single women.  But Ann Bon (one of our progressing investigators) finally came to church this last week and she looked so excited!  Her boyfriend Rading is a less-active member and his mother came to church as well.  Rading even wore a white shirt and tie.  He only had one tie so I gave him two of mine; I just can't not want to help these people.  They've changed my life.  A family like the Saqullo's only comes around once in a great while.  But yesterday we gave a blessing to a RC Brother Benjamin.  He's 89 years old and he is the nicest person I have ever met in my life. He doesn't know Tagalog very well (He speaks Ilookano or however you spell it) but yet he still comes to church every week.  It was a very humbling moment when I walked into the room and saw him lying on the bed with the room lit by candle light.  He hadn't eaten anything for two days and he didn't even have enough strength to sit up so Bro. Olivar had to help him while we gave him the blessing.  I almost cried during the blessing because I really do care about this man; when you look into his eyes it's like you're looking at the Savior.  They're filled with love and compassion for everyone. These people are defiantly very special to our Father in Heaven, you know it by even just looking at these people.

Well I have officially completed my training!!!  It's a really weird thought thinking that I've already been on my mission for 4 months now.  Elder Manicdo is being transferred tomorrow and I truly am going to miss this Elder.  He's been a great example to me and has given me a new insight on missionary work.  This week has been really rough to get lessons because everyone seems to be busy or not at home.  But on the bright side Elder Manicdo and I have gotten 8 new investigators this week so now our teaching pool is finally at a decent size.  Opening a new area is very difficult; especially when your area is far from the church so people have a really hard time attending church.  It's about 50 pesos per head total just to attend church so it's not very cheap.  This part of the reason why we have a lot of investigators and very few progressing investigators.  The highlight of the week came on Saturday for Andrew's baptism!  He is a very special young man; he completely turned his life around in order to be baptized.  He kept every commitment without hesitation and always was very willing to participate.  When I stood in the water with him I truly felt the love that our Heavenly Father has for His children.  After the baptism he told me that I was his idol because even though I don't know the language very well, I tried my best to teach in a way that he could understand and that he truly felt like I loved and cared about him.  I'm not going to lie I started to tear up when he said that.  But he also said that he's preparing to serve a mission in a year!  I couldn't be more happy with my decision to serve a mission.  Hands down this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but this is easily the most rewarding thing that I've ever done.  I love you all and I'm grateful for your influence in my life.  Take Care!!  Mahal na Mahal Kayo!  May God be with you till we meet again.

Doing what I Love! Basketball!!

Thankfully typhoon Yulanda really didn't do a whole lot of damage to our area.  We didn't have electricity for a day but that was the worst of it.  The winds were pretty fierce and it rained off and on for the whole day so we had to stay inside all day which was really boring. I don't know why any missionary in his right mind would give up working to stay inside all day long.  All I can say that it is definitely a different experience being involved in "One of the worst calamities in Philippines history". On a different note; we have two baptisms this week for Andrew and Diana and I am so excited for it!  This is the last full week of my training so I'm glad I get to end it on a good note.  It's going to be hard  leaving Elder Manicdo, I love this guy with all of my heart.  He has taught me so much about how to be a good missionary and he has also played a huge role (along with the Spirit of course) in learning the language.  At this point in time I can finally lead all of the lessons comfortably and I can hold a steady conversation for a while until people get the impression that I know Tagalog better than I actually do and start speaking faster than I can translate.  But this week has had it's ups and downs.  A big down was the Typhoon of course so we couldn't work for a day. But even a super typhoon can't stop the work from progressing.  On Sunday when we were tracting; Elder Manicdo and I met a family who owned a farm and lived a very modest life.  They had 8 people living in a small three room home with sheets for dividers which is very common here.  When we started to teach a very special spirit came into the lesson.  After the lesson Elder Manicdo told me to invite them to be baptized  and in my mind I thought "You're crazy, we just met these people today".  But when I did, two of the children accepted the invitation and the nanay said that after she prayed about it she would let us know her answer.  It was another experience that testified to me of how many people the Lord is preparing in his vineyard; all we need to do is to pick them off of the bush.

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been one that I will not easily forget.  First off Elder Manicdo and I still haven't moved into our apartment yet!  They're having some problems with the contract etc. so we still have to travel 40 minutes just to get to our area.  But on the good end of things Elder Manicdo and I have gained 8 new investigators this week and I'm so excited to be able to teach all of them.  On another good note Elder Manicdo and I have two baptisms on November 16th and Andrew asked be to be his "Baptizer", Diana (our other investigator) asked Elder Mac.  But the highlight of the week came just last night (Nov. 3rd).  We've been teach a less active family in our ward and their son Rading has a girlfriend who's a non-member and lives with his family because she has family problems.  We've only been teaching Sister Ann Bon for about two weeks and she doesn't have a big religious background so we have had to take the lessons really slow and try to make the doctrine as simple as we could.  But last night Elder Manicdo had me extend the Baptismal invitation and she accepted!!  It was one of the greatest things to happen so far on my mission.  The expression on her face was priceless when she accepted the invitation; it was as if there was a new light that came into her eyes.  Afterwards she pulled me to the side and told me of "How Talented I am at Tagalog".  It really touched me; and I must be a big softy now because I started to tear up.  I think there must have been dust in my eye or something like that ha ha.  I am so grateful to have been called to this mission because I have met some of my dearest friends and I am among the people of one of the greatest nations in all of the world.  I am so grateful for all of the support that you've given to me and I miss you all greatly!  Mahal ko Kayo!  May God be with you till we meet again.

It sounds like things at home are going very well and I look forward to hearing many more things from you guys.  Well I'm almost halfway through my 2nd transfer and it feels like it just began.  It's going to be very hard leaving Elder Manicdo, he's one awesome guy and he really feels like a brother to me.  His first name is even Jon.  This week there hasn't been too many things happen; we've been busy trying to build a foundation in our area since there aren't very many LA's or members period in our area.  Through our efforts though we have been able to get four new investigators and they are all progressing very well.  It's amazing of how many finding opportunities the Lord puts in our path, we just need to open our mouths and put away all of our fears.  I've finally gotten to the point where I'm not very scared to go up and talk to people.  Well it's also not that hard to talk to people to because most Filipinos really want to talk to Americans; so when I initiate the conversation they get even more excited.  But we also were able to have our Mission Tour this week and President Ardern of the 70 and his wife came and spoke to us.  There was such a strong spirit in that meeting that it was hard not to have a stronger desire to become a better missionary and person in general.  That meeting made me realize of how much that I really need to improve on myself as missionary.  I know that everyone has faults but it doesn't mean that I can't try to do my best to be like the Savior; besides I am his representative and I need to act like one.  Well I love you guys so much and I'm most grateful for all of the support that you've given me in my life.  Mahal Kita!  Ingat Po (Take Care).  May God be with you till we meet again.

Dear Family and Friends,

It's a really weird thought thinking that I've already been on my mission for three months now.  I better enjoy ever second because the next time I blink I'll be on a plane heading home.  About the earthquake; I didn't hear about it for a while because Elder Manicdo and I have been pretty busy this week.  We are moving to our are so we can maximize our time; it's hard to be effective if we waste 40 minutes just traveling to our area.  But I'm so excited to move on Friday, I'll miss our kabahay's (house mates) but it's all for the better.  Our new apartment even has two bathrooms and two flushing toilets!!!  I have been so excited for that .  I took a lot of things for granted back in America, especially toilet paper, it's so expensive here and it doesn't even work that well!  But yes I have used the other method and let's just say that I'm not very fond of that way. 

Through our efforts this week Elder Manicdo and I have obtained three new investigators and they seem really excited to learn about the gospel.  Our teaching pool is pretty small so we've been doing a lot of tracting.  When we were looking for an apartment last week, Elder Manicdo and I met a group of 5 guys who reminded me a lot of the Sandlot gang. They're all around the same age (16-19) and they all live for basketball.  They hang out together as often as they can because they all go to different schools.  Here they start college at like 16-17 depending on if your school does  the K-12 system.  These guys are pretty excited for us to move in and play basketball with them, they said they wanted to see how good "white guys really are".  On a different note, Andrew has been improving more than I could have ever imagined in my life.  The other night we were teaching him about the Holy Ghost and when I extended the commitment to him to pray about the Holy Ghost he said " I don't need to pray about the Holy Ghost, I feel him with me right now".  I nearly started to cry because of the strength of his testimony.  This young man is going to be one amazing priesthood holder when the time comes and I know that he will do far greater things than I could ever hope to do.  I may be a missionary but he has taught me more than I have taught him.  The lessons that I have learned on my mission far out weigh any other decision that I could have possibly made after graduating High School.  I'm so grateful for all of the influences in my life that have helped me make my decision to serve this mission; times may be rocky at times but I just have to remember to not lose my faith in the Lord, because he won't lose His faith in me.  I love you all and I wish you the best of luck!!  May God be with you till we meet again.

Well I have officially completed my first transfer in the mission!  It's a weird thought thinking that I'm already halfway through my training now; it's a pretty exciting thought.  But all I can say is that I hate "Trunky Week".  Apparently the week of transfers everyone just doesn't want to do a lot so I'm stuck in the hot apartment while my companion takes a nap for a while.  Yeah I hope I don't end up doing that; I already feel bad enough when I feel like I didn't give it my best that day.  But on the bright side one of our investigators (Andrew) is progressing along very well!  He's keeping all of our commitments and he's attended all of the church meetings for two weeks in a row.  Now all he needs is to attend church for two more weeks then he can reach his BGD.  It's moments like these that make all of the hardships of a mission worth it.  Now for the language... eh well it's getting better but it's still rough.  I was finally able to play basketball for the first time in the Philippines and boy did it feel great!!!  Just to see the ball go through the hoop (there wasn't a net) made me feel so refreshed. FYI these Filipino's have some major talent!! Some of the moves they do are just crazy, it's like I'm watching Nate Robinson live.  Well I love you Dad and I'm grateful for all the support that you and Mom are giving me.  Just thinking of you guys makes me even more motivated to give it my all and to just forget about myself.  I know that the Lord will continue to bless us for the service that we lend to His work.  Mahal Kita!!!  May God be with you till we meet again!