CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN IN NARVACAN, MET A FILIPINO WHO LIVED IN LOS PRADOS AND FOUND AN INVESTIGATOR WITH A BAPTISMAL DATE

Super quick: we climbed a mountain with the Stake President and the priesthood quorums here in Narvacan... It was awesome. I met a Filipino at the top who spoke really good English. Asked where he came from. He said he just got back from the states after having lived there two years. I asked where. He said Nevada. I asked where in Nevada. He said Las Vegas. I asked where in Las Vegas. He said North Las Vegas. I asked him where in North Las Vegas, and he replied in a gated community called Los Prados.

Crazy Hippos :P

On Tuesday, as we went outside we found a bat which had partially (but not completely) died on our doorstep. We named it Bruce. (I hope someone gets that.) We tried to nurse him back to health. Bruce died.

We have an investigator with a baptismal date. We met him only yesterday. I shall call him Brother Gulaw. He was almost baptized about a year ago in Palawan, here in the Phillies. I'm excited.

Those are the highlights.

Love everyone :)

Elder Mikesell III

KARABAW, HUT HANGOUT, HOLDING A GOAT AND MAKE-SHIFT WEIGHT LIFTING STATION

A good week :) Lots of ups and downs, but that's what roller coasters are for! Just a highlight and quite a few pictures due to my forgetfulness these last few weeks. Subjects include the longest horns I've ever seen on a karabaw, a sweet hut hangout, my apartment, me and Elder Smiler trying to hold a goat and it freaking out, and Elder Smiler/Brother Jonathan's accidental twinner day. Health conscious missionaries quickly learn to become resourceful. Attached is our weight lifting bench composed of four broken plastic chairs, two broken jump ropes and an ironing board, our weights are poured concrete and our jump rope, which is a cheap china affair, is reinforced with bike grips and a healthy amount of tape.

BUSINESS AS USUAL HERE IN NARVACAN, ANOTHER 6 WEEKS STRONG WITH ELDER MACALAGUIM

The weekly! Business as usual here in Narvacan :P There was no transfer, and I'll be going another 6 weeks strong with my companion Elder Macalaguim, which I'm a huge fan of! I really like him as my companion. No one came to church... again. But such is life and missionary work! Onward ever onward. The bright side is that we taught the most lessons I've ever taught in this area last week, and we found the most new investigators I've ever found in my whole mission. The whole mission got freaking pumped after Elder Bowen visited us!

Other than that, not much has changed. My apartment mates are the same, and no new progressing investigators of which to speak of. It's freaking hot, and I've decided that I will never live anywhere hot :P to quote a certain correspondence I just sent earlier,

As for the heat of Las Vegas: "I am SO determined to not live in Vegas. Like I'm not even going to date females from Las Vegas, due to the fact that if I end up marrying one, she'll probably have family in Las Vegas which will increase the likelihood of me staying in Vegas, and that's just a no go."

I might give the addition that there could be exceptions to that rule... if she's really cool, but it's not like I'm thinking about THAT or anything :P ha! What? Pfft! That's just ridiculous! Elders thinking about courtship and marriage? That's preposterous. It's not like that's the only thing we talk about or anything. :P I love everyone back home, but I love it here too :) Lucky for me, I get one now and the other later, so I'll just enjoy whatever I'm given at the moment! I'm off to save souls! Pip pip and cheerio!

Elder Mikesell III

P.S. Don't worry about the man on the raft in my pictures. He's not drowning (which is what I assumed at first). It's a kind of fishing they do here. He's wearing goggles in order to see under water.

EVERYONE IS DOING BETTER THAN BEFORE, BROTHER SIMBAHAN, THE VOICE OF GOD, A MAGICAL KEY AND SPARKS OVER BIBLE VERSES

First things first, I'm sorry, but I forgot my camera :P My bad, haha, but this was a good week fore sure! Our companionship, district, zone and mission are really trying to respond to the challenge Elder Bowen gave us when he visited us a few weeks ago, and the enthusiasm is downright contagious. EVERYONE is doing better than before! So much better! Me and my companionship, especially. So many of the problems I thought my area had were just me, a lack of faith, and mental limitations. I'm so grateful for the mighty servant the Lord sent to call us to repentance, haha. Just one experience I'd like to share today:

Brother Simbahan :P

Brother Simahan is a crazy old guy that lives only about 200 yards away from our chapel here in Narvacan. He's a really nice old guy and has faith in Jesus Christ. But he's also kind of crazy. :P To illustrate his... ahem... unique brand of craziness, you need to understand that he's quite a visionary man. He's told us that he heard the voice of God back in the 80's, that he was given a magical key by St. Peter which he used in the past to heal a mute, and that when he reads the bible he sees sparks over the verses. When he sees the spark, he then records the time and date at which he saw it next to the verse, and he believes those sparks are the Holy Ghost communicating to him which verses of the bible are true. Soooo, yeah, that's Brother Simbahan :P

We decided after a rough few lessons that we needed to teach him about the priesthood. Straight up, no dancing around it. He responded soo much better this lesson! He really liked the doctrine of the priesthood and he felt like it made more sense that God's kingdom would be orderly rather than random. I turned to my companion after saying something, but when I turned back to Brother Simbahan, he had his hand outstretched to shake mine with a big goofy grin on his face. When I asked him why, he told me, "Congratulations. I saw the spark in front of your face!" Sooooo because he saw the spark he believes that we were telling him as true and that we're prophets :P Which took some time to explain, haha, but I love the guy!

Things are going good. I love my mission, this people, and this gospel. I may or may not have a new companion by tomorrow, but I'll be sure to keep you updated on that :P

Feed your fire!

Elder Mikesell III