all is well‏

so all is well after pneumonia. we returned back to work on wednesday and have been working hard since. we have EXCELLENT news!!!!!!!! on sunday we will, scratch that, I WILL be baptizing 6 of our investigators!!! how awesome is that?!?!? so that brings the total up to8 baptisms in this area since i got here. we have been truly blessed.this is a good area and i really hope that i wont be transferred on the10th. by the way, transfers are on wednesday sep. 10, so ill be emailing that day. but im having a really good week. ive been having a lot more confidence in my language and teaching skills. ive been able to just talk to people and invite them to learn more about the gospel. i think ive finally come out of my shell and am just not worried about making a fool of myself. so thats pretty great. its truly an answer to prayer, i asked for the ability to speak and heavenly father has answered my prayer. i just had to open my mouth and try. my companion and i are getting along better, we're not best friends, but we work well together.im finding a lot more joy and satisfaction in our work. we're really hoping to fill our teaching pool cause after these baptisms, there's notta whole lot else for us to teach. so thats been our focus this week.we've been teaching a lot of first lessons, but in my opinion, not too many high prospects, but im not the final judge on that. maybe they will feel the spirit when they read and pray, im not sure. but we keep working and doing our best. i think i already talked about language, but im coming back to it. people arent giving me to much credit in my ability to speak and understand, but that makes it even more fun totally shock them! i dont understand everything, but i do understand.well...i dont have any funny stories this week, its just been a boring week. it poured down rain yesterday afternoon, totally flooded the streets. good thing we were on the second floor of one of our members houses, so we stayed there until the went down. well hope all is well and that everyone has a good week. just another gentle reminder that mail is nice, christie i got yours; thanks!

mahal ko kayo

elder b

come to find out i have pneumonia‏

so just as my title states, i have pneumonia. i dont know how, or why, but ive got it. so for the past 5 days ive been at the apartment, mostly sleeping and reading. IT IS SOOOOOOOO BORING!!!!!!!!!!! i dont think ive ever been this bored. but anyways i finally get to go out and work on wednesday, so im excited about that. lets see...last tuesday we had mission conference with elder edwards, he's the area president here in the philippines. it was way good and i got a chance to visit with president. he's been reading my weekly letters and can tell that im frustrated and getting discouraged, so we had a little chat and he gave me a blessing. i love president! he is such a great man and i love being around him. so the day after that i went to st lukes hospital and the doctor said pneumonia after i went to the PBO(the presiding bishopric's office) and got a chest xray. we had a baptism yesterday, so that was pretty sweet. so on friday i went to the drugstore to get more drugs. to get more drugs i needed much needed funds. so i went to the atm to take out support money from the mission and im waiting and waiting for my balance and it kinda restarts itself and ate my card. i was just a little bit upset. it was a good thing that i thought to bring some personal money just in case. the meds were way expensive. the drugs cost almost 3000 pesos. so thats the interesting stuff until today. so today we missionaries had a little devotional with ELDER BEDNAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so amazing! i dont think i have ever felt the spirit that strong. he truly is an apostle of the Lord. but it was amazing! we had a q&a session with him and he taught us. we were truly edified. afterwards we all shook his hand. so thats my excitement. hope all is well. oh btw im down to 200 lbs, im pretty exited about that. well have a good week.
mahal ko kayo
elder b

i think my body HATES the 2nd week of the transfer

but before i get to that, funny story. so we went to teach this couple the first lesson. the man pushes me a plastic stool and i sit down. not soon after i sat down, i found myself sitting on the floor as id broken the stool in half. so yeah, im pretty sure that this country isnt made for me, or maybe just a crappy stool. anyway so the reason why the second week of the transfer is so bad is, both transfer ive been here, ive been sick in the 2nd week. last time it was vomit and what not, this time it is crazy fever. for the last 4, going on 5, days ive had a wild temperature. im not sure if im sick, dehydrated or what but it hasn't been too enjoyable. it ranges between 97 and i think the highest ive seen it this week is 103.5. oh it has been good times. it didn't help my mood this week. this week was not a good week for me. some of the investigators we are teaching are so rude! i will be teaching and either they wont listen or interrupt me constantly. also a lot of them wont even look at me when i teach. if i ask them a question they answer it to elder monilla. and i sit there and just want to say, I AM THE ONE TEACHING, not him. I asked the question, please give ME your answer. i dont know its just frustrating, but i was talking to elder pardus on sunday and he's had only phillipino companions and apparently you get used to it. it even happens to missionaries that are about to go home. they are fluent in the language, but the people just dont want to listen. one will say something, the people wont understand what he said, and the phillipino companion will say the exact same thing in the exact same way and theyll understand. ok thats my rant about some of our investigators. other than that theres not to much exciting going on. we have a baptism on sunday morning and i will be preforming it. its for kim, he's 9 and is the nephew of my favorite member, JoJo. so thats something. but other than that not much to tell. investigators come up with new challenges and problems daily, so thats always fun.
well hope everything is well.
mahal ko kayo,
elder b

Greetings from soggy Manilla

Well its been another fun and interesting week here in manilla, and incredibly challenging. its still being quite an adjustment to elder monilla's style. maybe this is why president told me to study and practice patience....but anyways its been a real adjustment for me. but im working on it, i really feel that my language skills have and will continue to improve while im with him. he's just not scott sorensen and im trying to remember that and focus on his good qualities, cause he is an excellent missionary.
well let's see...its been raining here a lot lately and my shoes have spent a lot of time behind the refrigerator drying out, yeah wet socks!!! but we have worked incredibly hard nonetheless, we taught 38 lessons last week! but the greatness of all that hard work was we had 13 at sacrament meeting! yeah fasting! we are projecting 12 baptisms this month!!!!!!!!! so im pretty excited about that.
well what else is new...not really a whole lot; just have been struggling to adjust, but he's very understanding and willing to adjust whenever i bring up a concern. i dont know, its just hard sometimes. other than that, i really dont have much to tell you. keep praying for me and i think about you often, mail is always nice even though it takes 3 weeks or so to get here. dearelder.com sends for free and if so inclined to hand write, send it to the mission office so you can use an envelope. well thats about it for this week, hope all is well.
mahal ko kayo
elder b