Goudy Old Stout - Week 41. Serving in Camalaniugan

This week has been flippin' nuts. We went to Zone Leader Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. I hate that bus ride.
We always sit at the back of the bus so we can spread out more. Hanging on the back seats were some clothes. More specifically, a dirty old pair of briefs and a stinky pair of socks. Turns out they belonged to the conductor. After carefully making sure they didn't touch any part of our skin we moved the dirty clothes to another part of the bus and the conductor came back and asked where the pair of briefs and socks went!
 The bus broke down and we waited a long time but still got there on time (way lucky there are no speed limits in this country).
We have President O coming to work with us on Wednesday!!! There is a zone conference in Claveria zone on Tuesday and then ours is on Thursday so he will work with us Wednesday..... just a little nervous. We are also in charge of conducting the zone conference  and getting programs ready and assigning people to do stuff. I never knew that there were rules for conducting. Pres. Packer gave a great talk on it but I can't remember what it's called.
 We had fun making the programs though. Who knew font styles were so hilariously named??? We settled on "Goudy Old Stout", but it was close. We almost went with "Wide Latin". That is something I will put on my resume: "Yes I speak Wide Latin".
We have a baptism this Saturday. The little daughter of the 1st counselor in the branch presidency. She should have been a child of record baptism but her previous three baptism attempts didn't work out. She is afraid of water. She is sooooo cute though - it's all I can do not to pinch the cheeks off her little face! She's so shy too - Possibly the shyest person I have ever met. So I will keep you posted on that.
We had to sleep in Aparri on Wednesday night last week. It was fun. One of the Elders there is terrified of spiders. I saw one of the biggest I have ever seen in their apartment. They were going to kill it but I stopped them. I just hate seeing such a big creature getting killed. It's clearly very skilled at bug killing because it has gotten so flippin' big (it might be eating small dogs too though) so it makes no sense to kill it. Turns out it's a really jumpy little guy and was really hard to catch.....in that we didn't...  in that it ran into their bedroom and hid in the floor boards and they were both really mad at me for keeping it alive. "Shelob" will be back for them!
I slept on the half-couch-thing there as mattresses here tend to give rashes and little red bites. The couch was pretty bad though too. Aparri is right on the ocean so it was really windy and cold and I had no blanket so I was in and out of sleep most of the night.

I was called upon out of nowhere to give a talk on Sunday. A little nerve wracking. I also got mail!!!! I got THREE letters from TB. She is way flippin' masipag about writing. It was good timing too as I had a long bus ride ahead of me. So as soon as I have a spare minute I will write back.

We have been a little stressed with all kinds of new meetings and responsibilities but it's crazy how our past experiences prepare us for the future and also just how specific the promptings of the spirit can be. So simple but when you really sit and look at the in's and out's of it, it's so crazy! Like dad taking me home teaching when I was younger was a great preparatory experience that I didn't even realize until my mission.
I finished the Book of Mormon for my 3rd time. I felt again that it's true. I'm finding that a mission is giving me a great opportunity to learn about some of my strengths and I realize that I have recognized and added upon those strengths because of the things I have gotten from the Book of Mormon. It also helps me see my weaknesses and that is so important as I know I need to keep getting better. If you do what you always did you are going to get what you always got.
 I am still enjoying my mission even if I am more tired than I have ever been before. Thanks for your encouragement as well as from the whole stake back home. I always feel loved.
 I love you lots.
-Elder Dustan