Staying focused....

Dear Family,

What a week we had here in the wonderfully hot and always rainy mission of Iloilo. I can say this week it has rained more than I have seen in my whole mission. It does not feel like a whole week has passed since the last time I emailed home but I guess it has been. Elder Tumbokon every Sunday says well Elder Swanton I guess this means one more week until we can't be comps anymore. It makes me sad that I won't get to finish his training or be able to see all the new missionary's that come into the mission. But all good things must come to an end. 

Tuesday we finally got over the last of the sickness and after taking a lot of meds and sleeping as much as we could we all finally feel back to full strength. One thing I have been able to do with all this free time is start the Book of Mormon again. It is so crazy that even after reading it everyday for two years. I am still able to learn so much every day just be studying and praying for specific things that I need in my life. 

 

Wednesday we got out and started teaching the first lesson to some of our new investigators. Sister Richelle is a former investigator but the last time the elders taught her she got shy and started to hide but she just came back to church this last week and when we went and taught the Restoration the spirit was so strong and she told us that this is the last time she will be taught because this time she will be getting baptized. We are hoping she will accept the date of the 22nd of October. That will be my last Saturday in the mission and we should be having a baptism. 

Thursday and Friday we were battling the rain and I hate to say it but these two days the rain won. No matter what we did by about 3 pm both days the three of us were soaked to the bone with water. I can say that back home I have been wet before but here its a different kind of rain. The water almost goes all the way to your bones and then you start the shaking and coughing to get warm. We had to head home and get dry, and when we got home we had to battle knee deep water just to get into our house. We spent that night praying that the water would not come into our house and then we would have a bigger problem on our hands. When we woke up the next morning all of our neighbors houses had flooded but our house stayed dry. 

Sunday we had a great turn out for church. It is always great to see how all your hard work during the week will show up on Sunday. After church we taught our two really progressing investigators they both have dates for the 15th of October. Brother Juan Carlos and Sister Juneah are cousins and they are both doing everything they can to become ready for their baptisms. I can say the Lord has blessed me with an opportunity to help so many people come unto the waters of baptism. 

Haha you can tell Adee I miss the snow so much that when it snows I will go out and make a snow angel face down. The only snow we get over here is called Halo-Halo and that is a desert that we eat all the time. I miss her to and don't worry the airport is just a few weeks away. 

 

I am way happy with our week and can't wait for the weeks to come. I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Love Elder Swanton