'musta na kamo? Crazy week this week! Like I said last week our main job this week was to go to three different towns and try to find apartments that can work at the same time for a meeting house to start the church. President Aquino really is in expansion mode and wants to give the people there a chance to hear the Gospel. Elder Dacutan and walked all over those towns looking for apartments. Its easier to find people to teach than finding apartments in the Philippines:)
We were able to find nice places to have church but the prices were more than our budget could do so the next time we came back we brought some of those chocolate chip cookies that you guys sent in my package to try and build their trust and get them to give us a deal. We told them why we need it so bad and how good having missionaries would be for their city. And boy did it work! They bit hard and we were able to get them to fit in the budget. The place is so ready for missionaries and will progress so well. I know that it wasn't just us but Heavenly Father is very involved in those simple things like His meetinghouses. I am sure those Great Harvest chocolate chip cookies helped as well. So thanks for sending those:)
We also had a scary experience on Thursday night around midnight. To make a long story short. The sister missionaries called us and told us that someone broke into their apartment and they were hiding in their bathroom but could hear someone walking around! So we hurried over their and they were freaking out over the phone which freaked me out pretty good. But when we got there it was all good. No one was there. But whatever happened it scared the sisters pretty good and left me shaking pretty good. But everything is alright!
There is lots of good people here who just have bad luck and have some really terrible things happen to them. Even faithful members and returned missionaries. I am not sure why such bad things happen to such good people. But I have seen the two different ways that people react to those situations. 1 Is you can let them destroy you and your faith which makes everything so much worse. Or the other is you let it bring you closer to your Heavenly Father.
One of the hardest things for me here is trying to relate or help people that have just been dealt a hard hand and have had some terrible trials. I have not experienced anything like them and they know it! I have had such an easy life comparatively. I have been so blessed with my family. But what I have learned to do it just to ask them what is their ultimate goal. And most of them is they just want a strong family. That's usually the answer. Because most of them have been hurt so much by family problems. Then sharing my testimony that he Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about strengthening families and that Heavenly Father has given us so much to help our families and that helps them focus on their ultimate goal and make it through their hard time.
I have said it before and I will say it again. I love being a missionary and love what it is doing to me! I love you all and expect some results from this years deer hunt! Shoot straight!
Love love love,
Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne
Guess how many people are on that tricycle!!!
Correct me if I am wrong but I don't know if you can find skies this blue in Utah!:)
