Hey Mum and Whanau,
Another great week here in Sumulong. Thanks for the emails, pictures and all the great words of encouragement. The time is really getting closer to the end for me and I'm happy to be in a good area with a good companion. For your information, it's transfer day tomorrow and that is why this email is late. Dad, you're right Sumulong is a massively long road that seperates our areas. We are part of Marikina Stake and our Bishop is Marcelino Abril. He was sustained as Bishop two weeks before I arrived in this area.
Great job on helping Danii and family with their move into the new house. Moving is always a stressful event, but at the end of the day you get a good nights sleep. You guys sure have been busy.
Well, this past week we had the baptisms for Sister Charito Ustare and her son Zhenrry Ustare. Everything went according to plan where we went to the chapel on Friday night and set up the room and filled the font with water. On Saturday morning we arrived at the chapel around 8:00 a.m. The baptism was at 9:00 a.m. and we welcomed those who were attending. Bishop presided over the service and we had great support from the members. After the baptisms, the nanay - Sister Ustare - shared her testimony and it was really special. The spirit was super strong. She shared the story of how her eldest son was living and working in Abu Dhabi and while he was their his friend shared the gospel with him and later he was baptized. When the son returned to the Philippines he introduced his family to the missionaries. The youngest son Zhenrry was associating with the wrong crowd and had a few Word of Wisdom issues. The missionaries had set a baptism date for the family back in October 2012 but due to delays, it was reset for January 2013. Further delays saw it reset for February 2013 where they were finally baptized on Saturday 23 February 2013. It was a super awesome story and I loved the experience of witnessing a mother being baptized by her son. It truly was great!
Other than that, there isn't much else to report. We did have all our scheduled appointments fall through within the space of 30 minutes this one particular day. On the bright side, we were able to carry on and do some finding and more exploring of the area.
Hey Mum, after this transfer I have one more transfer! The time is going way too fast and before I know it, my mission will be over and then my second mission will start! Man!
Thanks Whanau for all the support and the good words of encouragement. I love you all and pray for you.
Ingat kayo lagi. Mahal ko kayo
Elder Chadderton