Well.... It didn't take me very long
in the Philippines to shave the head. Its buzz cut season right? Its
wayyyy too hot here, so me and Elder Watkins (From Alpine, Utah) went to
the barber shop and had the guys.... Girls.... Well were not really sure
what they were, we had them shave it all off. Then they literally
wouldn't let us walk out the door without "Get a pic with Americanos."
Scariest moment of our life. Our Filipino companions make fun of us,
because the Americans cant take the heat... And its not even the
"Summer" seasons yet. But Summer is close!
So this week I learned another lesson about the Philippines.... When a child runs up to you and has something in their
hand that they want to give to you... Its not candy. Its most likely
their new pet spider, and they get very sad when you yell and throw
their new pet spider on the ground... Yeah, haha :)
We have a Valentine's baptism! That is pretty
exciting. She is the last one in her family to be baptized aside from
her father, so she is pretty excited to be baptized. She has progressed
so much, and it has been way fun to watch. So that should be fun.
They put a 7/11 in Santo Domingo, close to us. So
you know where we stop by a few times a week. 7/11's are where the rich
people go here... Haha.
There is a member of
our ward out here named Anonio Hamie. He is a 75 year old single guy.
Every time we see him he is always working, and if he doesn't have
anything to do he will go fix up our church grounds. So he has been in
Manila for almost the whole time Ive been here visiting his daughter,
but he came back about 2 weeks ago. He lives in... He lives in a few
cinderblock walls and a tin roof that is falling down. To be honest
with you his situation is really sad. We started talking to him and he
said that his family quite talking to him when he joined the church
other than that one daughter who is a member now. Now he has gotten too
old and no one will hire him on because he is so old, so he tries to
pick up little jobs around town, and he lives off what we would call
social security in the states. He gets 1,200 pesos a month. That is 30
US dollars. But he makes it work. So we try to go and visit him 1
every week, just to check and make sure he is okay. Well this time he
started telling us about his conversion story. Turns out that he was
one of the first people to be baptized in the Philippines. He pulled
out a bunch of old pictures that he had with apostles and everything.
He pulled out programs from firesides where Gordon B. Hinckley was the
speaker. Such a cool guy. He is one of the pioneers of the church in
the Philippines, and he has lived a life of rejection by his family, and
barely getting by because of that. So it was a really humbling
experience to see what he has gone through, and how he still holds on to
the gospel so tight.
So this week has been a good one! Hope it has been good for you guys!
I love you all and have a very good Valentine's Day!!
Elder Gordon
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