WEEK 98 - July 1, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Hello Everyone!!

Well this week was another long hard working week. It has been pretty hot, but a storm came through and rained on us for about 12 hours. It put a nice fresh smell in the air and made it two times as humid. While walking on the road, it just felt like heat was steaming out of the ground. It did cool the weather down a bit though, especially at night, so we enjoyed it. The not so great thing though is when we are in our furthest area, and right as it starts to pour down we realized none of us brought an umbrella. That's when the filipinos, for the first time, see three different colored grown men running down the street. Every day is really an adventure.

Its good to have Elder Morehu back. It feels like he's been following me around to every area haha. We were together (roommates, not companions) in Aparri and then companions is Laoag, and now here in Sta Ana. He's such a hardworking guy, the branch absolutely loves him. We have started doing what we used to do in Laoag. Sometimes singing a hymn or something before we start to teach somebody. Makes the people very happy, and invites The Spirit. He's a big help to our companionship and to the Branch here in Santa Ana. 

So the other night out of no where, the power went out. We thought it would probably come back on soon, because when they have power outages, they do it during the day and turn it back on at night. So we were hoping. But it didn't end up coming on until about 24 hours later. When the power is out, we don't have any water, so we ended up having to shower outside in our neighbor's backyard. He has a manual pump. Ended up sleeping right next to the door, hoping to get a nice cool breeze every here and there (editor: so tempting to correct his English...but this one's too good to mess with!). Ended up being a long, hot night. 

We have an exciting thing that we are going to be doing this week. On Tuesday, we have an appointment with the Principal of the High School here in Santa Ana. We are going to be meeting with her to discuss if we might be able to teach a religion class to the 11th and 12th graders at the school. There are about 500 of them, so this would be an awesome activity for us. I'll update ya next week if it ends up working out. 

Yesterday was another good Sabbath day here in Santa Ana. The attendance went down a bit, but we still stayed in the 100's. Testimony meetings are really good here. Unlike other wards and branches that I have experienced here in the phils, these people in Santa Ana love getting up and bearing their testimony. We are still trying to fix one problem here though. When the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting is said, and he says amen, it turns into a stampede heading for the exit haha. If 120 attend Sacrament Meeting, only like 70 attend 2nd and 3rd hour classes. Just a little problem that can be fixed little by little.

The big LA family that we were working with is now officially re-activated. They are coming to church every week now, and 3 of their kids will be baptized on Saturday. We are so excited for them. When I first got here, I prayed and made a goal that before I go home this family will be back at church and the kids will be baptized. I know that God hears our prayers and will help us reach our goals if we do all that we can. The other day, our RC (recent convert), Rodolfo came back from the rice fields and said that he had experienced a miracle. The day before, he had sprayed his crops so the bugs wouldn't eat them. Later that day it poured down rain, and the anti-bug poison washed away. He returned the next day to see bugs eating his rice. He told us that he started to pray over and over that the bugs would leave his crops alone, and after he did that, he looked down at his crops. He noticed that the bugs started to walk away as if they were not even hungry. He started to pray again and thank The Lord. He explained this to us as a miracle. He was sooo happy. I have a testimony that God is a God of miracles.

Love you all see you soon!

-Elder Jenkins