Lizards Make Good Companions Too! - Week 12. Serving in Vintar.

 We have around 40 investigators here in Vintar (a mission record!). Just as well we get stood up half the time or we couldn't visit them all! We have some pretty golden ones though. A woman named Rozel read the Restoration pamphlet we gave her twice and wrote down answers to the questions on the back.  She had so many great questions and thoughts and she's showing  real promise. Then there's Shane. She's 15 years old and we met her while she was playing the guitar on the street. We made an appointment and met with her and her older brother, Christopher who's really awesome. He went to church when there was a branch in Vintar years ago. The cool thing is Shane's drum set. She made it! Its got a wooden frame and a pedal and some old jugs with coins in them. You can tell that it was made from recycled materials. We played a couple of songs together. We gave them a Book of Mormon and it went really well. The next visit we taught them about the Word of Wisdom and her brother really liked it and said it makes a lot of sense. We ended by singing, "Nearer My God to Thee". I played it on the guitar and Shane jumped up and played the drums. It sounded awesome. There were even people who walked by the doorway that stopped to watch.
 Emmanuel is our other invesitgator. He is my age and we met him through guitar playing also. He told us he knows the gospel is true, and that he even wanted to share it. Then just to be clear, he said to us in English "I know what you're saying is true, I believe you." Those words are among the sweetest words I've ever heard someone say to me. That's what I'm here for. I felt so happy. He came to Church on Sunday but he's leaving today for some place near Baguio. He lives there and is just staying with family here for a bit. So I got his address and now I have a referal for Elder Dimas (from the Chapel Hill ward in Ottawa)!!! Astig!
Okay, and one more investigator story: On Tuesday my companion & I went on splits with all the ward missionaries - half with him, half with me.  I went in the Calaramo's truck with a load of ward missionaries headed out to a family we taught last week in the country. I was really nervous to teach in front of so many people in Tagalog. I prayed a lot in my head - really sincerely and desperately. And guess what happened? The truck broke down - barely outside of Vintar central! I was so excited! Brother Calaramo said that just he and I would go together by Tricey (a really long trip by tricey and cost 50 pesos which is a lot for a one-way ride!). I felt my stomach drop to find out we were still going to the lesson, but then realized, God needs me to go there. We tricey'd to Brgy 10 and met Sonny, Alvin and Marvin and their old Nanay. I taught them about the ministry of Christ, the Apostasy and Restoration and the Book of Mormon all by myself, IN TAGALOG! They understood me and paid attention and I felt the spirit really strongly. It was so great. I looked back afterwards and couldn't remember what words I had said. I know the Spirit was working through me. It was a great day!

We had a bat in our apartment. You should see the bats here. As soon as twilight hits, the sky fills up with bats and they are soooooo cool. One seemed almost eagle size! We had a bat in our bedroom when we got back from proselyting and got really hilarious videos of trying to catch it with towels. You'll see them eventually. Also I had an encounter with a centipede. I was showering and looked down and saw what I thought was a water snake coming at me. It was a huge centipede and they are gross. I thought you could drown them... but nope. It crawled all over. I couldn't kill it and it disappeared into the ceiling. We also have a family of lizards in the house. I really want to catch one sometime. I saw one the size of my leg from my foot to my knee! Ours are just youngn's but they are making more young'ns. That's why the bugs aren't as bad in our place. Also that big spider I saw in my first week gave birth too! All kinds of bug catchers!
As for bug spray I don't use it...I have just accepted that I'll get bitten a few times. It was really bad the first week but I'm used to it now and they don't bite me as much anymore.
Its been reallllllllly hot here. No clouds, no wind, just dead heat. Everyone sleeps on those days and it's really hard to teach people. I have a picture of some people just passed out on a big piece of plywood.
 Anyways, I miss you guys a lot. I still get really homesick. I don't know when that will stop. Dad, how long did that last for you on your mission? My personal study keeps me going. I hope I never break the habit of at least 10 minutes of Book of Mormon study every morning. It helps so much. I am also reading "Jesus the Christ" and loving it so much.
 Little kids come and stand behind us and watch our screens as we type and try to read what we're writing. Its really funny.
One of my most precious memories is sitting in the Celestial room of the temple with all of my family. The comfort and joy I felt gets more profound everytime I think about it.
That pregnant girl we are teaching had her baby. I told her Whitney was waiting for her to go first! She really warmed up to us more after I talked to her about you, Whitney. You help the work and you're all the way on the other side of the world. I have two great missionaries for sisters.
The clock Brother Roberts gave me runs the missionary work here! Without it I wouldn't wake up and no one would hear the gospel! Haha!
Take care!
Elder Dustan