Week 3

Subject: Week 3: The Week of Rain

What up my homies!! 4th week doing laundry by hand and still not used to it! haha but whew, what a week, the week of rain!  with rain comes brown outs!!! just had our 4th one of the week during this email haha so the struggle is real people! and the frogs come out to play during the rain! so sleep this week has been filled with the sound of frogs. the Joy! Here are the details of the week, enjoy!

So tough week teaching wise.  It rained a ton! Everyday.  You would think people would let ya in right? wrong. REJECTED. Many times.  We struggled scheduling appointments the whole week so it was way discouraging.  So Monday through Friday was just rejection week.  I was struggling teaching and I just felt way discouraged. Friday was the worst day of all! we had a total of 2 lessons in about 5 hours of work and walking.  The Struggle was REAL. To add to that, the apartment we had for the sisters got disapproved because of certain paperwork that was not there so it fell through.  Elder Manaois was not a happy camper. His anger was through the roof! Neither was ninay. The ninay had already begun renovation so it was tough to tell her that we could not use her apartment anymore. Bridge of trust straight burned. So Friday was a tough one.  

Then Saturday hit. We had a CSP scheduled which is community service and it was so fun! hard but fun.  We went to one of our far areas, Bolo Area.  the reason most members here don't go to church is because of how far it is.  So we decided to help out and clean up the place for some crop growing.  I used my machete skills and summoned my ancestors of wielding such a great weapon and did work! it was all well until the fire ant nation attacked.  My feet got destroyed! haha hurt so bad. but I didn't let it stop me! I used all of my power and strength and finished the job.  Well actually until it started to rain.  But it was a blast wielding the machete and just doing work on some weeds and fire ants. 

We started our fast saturday night.  Let'st just say at the beginning I was dreading fast Sunday.  I have always struggled with it, I mean look at me! I NEED food. but it turned out to be a huge blessing. Seriously, I am a changed man! Fasting works  peeps and I am thankful for the opportunity it brought! Who would of thought that I would say I now enjoy fasting.  The mission changes lives people! We had 50 members attend church this week but man was the spirit strong with those few.  Testimony meeting went for an hour and a half! it was so awesome. Ace bore his testimony and it was so powerful.  Hit me right in the feels... He is the one leaving for his mission and he is ready to serve.  The Ward members said that is the first time he has done that and man he did wonders!! then the next 4 people after him were incredible also! the spirit was just what I needed after the rough week. 

After church we had our workshop where we work with members and take them out to the life a missionary but before they all ate at the church while me and Elder Manaois had to sit and watch them eat because we were still fasting! hardest thing I probably have had to do.  It was tough! but I am still alive. During this time of eating though I really have gotten closer with the members and it has helped so much.  Even though it is just a branch and we have a ton of less actives, the people in this branch are a huge blessing and I didn't realize it until yesterday! man they are awesome.  They want to throw me a birthday party on the beach for my birthday too haha since it is on a Saturday.  So who knows what will happen but as long as we can get some lessons out of it, I ain't gonna complain! They are really excited haha I am trying to make sure it does not take away though. 

 

But we had the workshop and during the workshop while tracting we found another apartment for the sisters. MIRACLE!!!  it was great! Crazy how things work out. After the workshop we taught two lessons after and one was just out of this world! the Madayag fam is an inactive fam and the 2 of the kids are not members.  We were going to teach about the BOM but we decided to watch Finding faith in Christ which we randomly had.  The lord knows peeps!  one of the best things.  they loved it!! loved it so much they wanted to watch it again.  so we left it with them so they could.  The lesson was amazing and it was just crazy to think how it all happened! Fasting works peeps and it truly made up for the rough week.  So that is all I got!  Hope everyone is enjoying life and just living it up! have a good week my people. Mahal Kita!!

Elder Finneman