Milagro

Things are going great! As usual, I'm super happy all the time and love being a missionary. It helps that I get to look at the ocean everyday and then hike through the jungle. Hopefully, I'll be able to send some pictures to you this week. I get to go to Cebu in a few hours for 2 days. Since there is a leadership training and everyone in my house is a leader but me, they have to take me along. I guess I'm going to work in city zone for a couple of days, which I hear is radically different then the Camotes. But, I hear literally every district is different than Camotes. I wouldn't have it any other way. My trainer is really good, by the way. He pushes me really hard and I've seen some very positive results. He's been making me teach lessons in Bisayat every day since I've been here. It’s hard but I enjoy it and surprisingly the people understand me. I just have no idea what they say to me when I ask a question, but that’s slowly improving.

It’s been a great week as far as the work goes. It went by really fast. Wednesday night we witnessed a miracle. Remember Gwen? Her and her two sisters are getting baptized December 4 because we saw them on the street. Well, Wednesday night we finished teaching a lesson at the Perez house and were hiking back to the road, and the second we hit the road Gwen and Rowena drove by on the their motor. They stopped and were all happy to see us. We got to talking and they said they've been having some problems and Gwen’s ex-boyfriend started choking her. Crazy! So we went to her house and shared a quick message. We talked about 1 Nephi 3:7 and how the Lord has a plan for all of us. She thanked us and we left. Then last night we had FHE at her house and she talked about the experience last Wednesday night and how she thinks that this is all part of God’s plan to get her baptized, since she wasn't able to in the past because she was living with her boyfriend. So we have been very excited and very grateful. We thought about our meeting on the road. It was wild. If we had literally stayed 2 seconds longer or shorter at the Perez house, we would have missed them - not a coincidence.

Aside from that, the work moves along. I'm enjoying FHE's more and more since I understand more and more. They are fun because there are always a million little kids and they love missionaries. Like yesterday we got dropped off by our ZL's for an appointment and there were these 3 little kids outside of where our car was and they all started cheering when they saw us, and gave us all high fives and followed us up the hill.   

That’s pretty much it. I love you all a ton. The weirdest thing I ate this week was pig intestine. No Balut yet. It’s not very popular in Camotes.

Be cool, be good, Gugma Elder Abbott

P.S. Read Alma chapter 26. It’s my favorite in the Book of Mormon. It’s weird, Ammon used to be my favorite as a kid because he cut off all the arms of people, now he's my favorite for other reasons.

Kurat! Bunyag!

So, this week has been great. I think it was Thursday when we were just walking down the road and a motorcycle pulls over with two girls riding it. Elder Tan recognized them, so I figured they were either members or former investigators. They chatted with us and I wasn't picking up what they were talking about really, but all of the sudden the only sentence I heard her (Gwen) say was, “I can be baptized!” Everyone was smiling and looking very excited, so I threw up my excited face to match. I find out later she had been taught a few months ago by some elders before me, but she was living with her boyfriend and wouldn't break up or marry him, so they couldn't do anything. But she had just broke up with her boyfriend and moved back home with her two other sisters (Rowena and Maylin), who had also been taught already. So, we had 3 dynamite investigators dropped in our lap! She still needs all the lessons and to come to church 3 more times before she can be baptized, but it’s way great! Unfortunately, it’s moving slowly because a new rule in our mission is that there always needs to be a male present during every lesson, since some elders got sent home for some inappropriate conduct. So we have only been able to teach her once since we have to wait for a member to come with us before we can teach her, but we visit very often and they are super nice. Gwen (the oldest one) has a 3 year old daughter who only speaks Tagalog and always shouts my name.
Aside from that we are slowly building up a strength of investigators. Apparently, I came at a very slow time. We only had like 1 progressing investigator and the other companionship didn't have any, so we are getting there slowly. We had a bunch of people committed to come to church, but only like 2 did. So that was hard but it’s all good. I have my first baptism scheduled for December 4th. I'm pumped!
All in all, I feel like I'm beginning to figure this whole thing out. The bathroom is a trial, especially with my body adjusting to the diet here. I eat rice everyday, and I have eaten a bunch of stuff like squid. We eat a lot of these small fish that you clean on your plate. The head comes attached.  They are actually pretty good. Elder Deguidoy and a tiny little elder in the the house makes food all the time – it’s great! He is way funny and looks like he is 12. He met Gwen once and she was like “missionaries are so young!” She pointed to him and was like, “you must be like 14 or 15.” He was like, “I'm 20.” She was like, “oh, you’re so cute.” Its good times here. The only problem with the Camotes is that it called "outer Darkness" since it is the most far flung and devoid of missionaries place in the mission. It is just us four in the house. The AP's came to visit a couple nights ago but the second they got there they found out their was a problem the Mission President wanted them to solve over in Bohol. So they slept there and left at like 5 in the morning. That was the first contact I've had from anyone in the mission since I got on the boat. Although President Hansen e-mailed me and said President Ko of the area authority is probably going to come visit before Christmas. So that will be cool. He said the growth in Camotes has been huge, so he wants to visit the Saints.
Mom, I got your letter Monday night when the AP's came. Sorry. It was good though. I love getting mail. As for the package, don't bother with toilet paper. Just send stuff like American snacks and stuff. And maybe some cash. They have some cool stuff here you can't get in America, like these belts made of Carabou Horns and bamboo, or scripture cases made of bamboo.
P.S. Everything here is made of bamboo! All the houses. It's nuts. I really dig it actually. This one member made a huge bridge out of bamboo that goes out over the ocean and we watched the sunset there one night, gorgeous.
Well, I think that's about it. I love all of you. God definitely has been helping me. The language isn't easier, but I can tell I've grown a lot and I know its all Him. He loves us, individually. I really know that. I love you all, individually too.
Gugma Elder Abbott
P.S. Laundry here is sweet. It's all by hand. I feel like it does a much better job. I can really get the problem areas, but I still miss laundry machines like crazy.  
P.P.S I don't know if there is a way to contact Brother Young, but if there is, like he e-mails you or something, let him know I'm in the Camotes. He'll go nuts.