At One Moment You Think You're Safe From the Rain, and Then...

Yo

Wait for it... Wait for it....

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!!!(this upcoming Sunday, of course) Hope it's a good one. Do something extraordinary, okay? Dads are cool. Mine, specifically, is the coolest of them all. 

So it's been a great week. This week we focused on the new areas that were given to us by the sisters, and boy was it awesome. We have found a lot of investigators that continue to surprise us with their desire and urge to come unto Christ. I love it! It's been raining here in Labo every day for the past three or four days now, so I've currently gotten used the squishy feeling of the shoes beneath my feet every step I take. The best. So my funny story for the week; We were walking to one of our really, really far barangays the other day in the bright daylight of the sun, which was awesome. After about 15 minutes of walking, to our surprise clouds had engulfed the what seemed to be cloudless sky. That was awesome. But then the cloudy weather turned into drizzly weather which turned into rain which then consequently turned into a blistering rainstorm. So here are my companion and I walking in hurricane-like conditions (I'm over-exaggerating. Mom. Dad. Don't worry.) thinking "This is nuts." So we found shelter under the roof of an Iglesia ni Cristo on the side of the road. So here are two Mormon missionaries, soaked from head to toe, standing at a church that isn't theirs, in the middle of a forest, without any clue on what they're going to do next. Only in the Philippines, right?

Something that I learned was how to control our emotions. So life as a missionary, isn't easy. That in itself is an understatement. Even if with the nametag, we're still punk 19 year-old kids without a clue. Promise. So as human as we are, we get frustrated, we worry, we get annoyed, all this really really bad stuff. So the work we had this week was pretty challenging. I was frustrated and a bit annoyed for a moment, then I thought "You know. You have the choice to stop being frustrated, right? It would probably be better if you were happy instead." And at that moment all negative feelings were gone. Everything was back to normal. SO in times of challenges, though we have the total right to be sad and angry sometimes, we have complete control over what we feel, think, and do. No one controls us. No one forces us. So be happy. Be sad for a bit, sure, but then be happy again. It's as simple as that. This next week should be awesome. I go to Naga tomorrow for training, Should be great! Everyone have an awesome week!

-Elder TheWeatherCan'tBeatMe

We got the chance to help a sister in the ward, who's a teacher, paint the outside her class building. 

Here in the Philippines I guess elementary-age children are taught about drugs. Sometimes I guess we really just have to ask ourselves, "What is drug?"
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