Wow! What a week it's been! haha. The one word I think I could use to describe it is "exhausting"! I've been driving to and from over half the zones in our mission to do exchanges with others. It's so neat because I saw different sets of miracles depending on the people I worked with. I worked with Elder Johnson, Elder Cope, Elder Despain, and Elder Branham. All great Elders.
Friday night, we had had exchanges in Angeles Zone when a huge typhoon nailed us! It hit the whole mission pretty dang hard. Actually, we've been out of power for the past couple days. That could last from one week up to a month! We're lucky to have a generator at the church, so we were able to still watch conference. What a tender Mercy! We're able to email too. It's been pretty hard to see what happened here though. It was a nasty, nasty storm. We had a zone leader call in at 12:30 at night because part of the roof of one of the sister's houses was ripped off by the wind. They are okay though. They were picked up by their zone leaders and are safe and sound. The streets were pretty trashed because of all the trees and debris that was were thrown everywhere. It hit our whole mission! There have been other people that have lost their homes, trees fallen on top of them, or other things. We came home from Angeles Saturday morning. Our house here in Tarlac was okay. The gate to where we park the van by the side of the house was broken off, and a tree fell down there, but the house is fine. We've been living by candle-light at night. We're happy though, and safe now.
The work continues to progress. I've had a different companion every day that we were able to work this week. I would go pick the other Elders up, and take them back here to work in our area. There's one nanay who seems to really be progressing! Her name is Corazon Corpuz! She accepts Joseph Smith and is so excited to come to church! Hopefully next week she'll be able to come. I absolutely love how true our church is. It was also neat to see how the Philippine people reacted to disaster. They all stayed happy, are able to joke, and just diligently get up and do what's gotta be done to make it better. I love this people, I don't know how anyone couldn't.
Friday night, we had had exchanges in Angeles Zone when a huge typhoon nailed us! It hit the whole mission pretty dang hard. Actually, we've been out of power for the past couple days. That could last from one week up to a month! We're lucky to have a generator at the church, so we were able to still watch conference. What a tender Mercy! We're able to email too. It's been pretty hard to see what happened here though. It was a nasty, nasty storm. We had a zone leader call in at 12:30 at night because part of the roof of one of the sister's houses was ripped off by the wind. They are okay though. They were picked up by their zone leaders and are safe and sound. The streets were pretty trashed because of all the trees and debris that was were thrown everywhere. It hit our whole mission! There have been other people that have lost their homes, trees fallen on top of them, or other things. We came home from Angeles Saturday morning. Our house here in Tarlac was okay. The gate to where we park the van by the side of the house was broken off, and a tree fell down there, but the house is fine. We've been living by candle-light at night. We're happy though, and safe now.
The work continues to progress. I've had a different companion every day that we were able to work this week. I would go pick the other Elders up, and take them back here to work in our area. There's one nanay who seems to really be progressing! Her name is Corazon Corpuz! She accepts Joseph Smith and is so excited to come to church! Hopefully next week she'll be able to come. I absolutely love how true our church is. It was also neat to see how the Philippine people reacted to disaster. They all stayed happy, are able to joke, and just diligently get up and do what's gotta be done to make it better. I love this people, I don't know how anyone couldn't.
I'm so grateful for the memories I have of us reading scriptures as a family. Even though I was a pain sometimes, I'm grateful that you made the consistent effort to teach us how important the scriptures are. Megan's growing up too fast! I love her, and Ely. They are so beautiful Inside and out! I'm not trunky, but I am still excited for the day when we can be together as a family, rejoicing in what the Lord has given us! Please give the Ward my love and gratitude. I love you mom, I love you! Please tell the girls I love them too.
Love,
Elder Blackham
