The Lord has His Ways, Even When You Don't Expect It

HHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO!

This week was GREAT! So Elder Maquimot and I focused all our efforts on getting new investigators this week. We were losing a lot of hope because a whole lot of our appointments were falling through at the beginning of the week. But closer to the end of the week, people were actually coming up to us asking to be taught. I was SO surprised and knew that at the most unexpected time, we were blessed. TAKE THAT SATAN! Thought you'd keep us from saving souls, didn't ya? Anyway, other than that Elder Maquimot and I have met so many more people this week and have thirteen new investigators to teach this coming week. On top of that, we plan to go to go to some of the farthest barangays (neighborhoods) in our area to find more people that we haven't taught before. We'll see how that goes. I'm so excited! This has probably one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but am so thankful and so ready to take on this challenge!

That brings me to something that I learned is to just trust in God, even though at times it feels like He's completely absent. We sometimes ask ourselves why life is so hard or why we face the challenges we do. If God loves us, why doesn't he just fix all of our problems in the snap of the finger? Well that's just it, actually. It's because He loves us that he tries and tests us to allow us to grow and become more and more like Him every day. It's because of our challenges and trials that our faith is strengthened every day. So in essence, I'm thankful for the trials I've faced and the mistakes I've made. If not for them, I couldn't say that I am the person that I am today. As far as this week goes, I've learned that God has a plan and it's up to us to trust Him and just let Him do His thing. Thanks everyone for a great week! This week I get to Skype my parents! GAAAAHHHHH!!!!! SO EXCITED! I'll talk to you all again next week!

-Elder Bondoc

If you guys ever wondered where pineapple comes from, it literally just pops out of a plant. This little guy was about the size of my fist when we saw it.

​Welcome to the gubat (forest). While trying to find new people to teach, we stumbled across this tiny paradise.