Dear Family,
We had a great preparation day activity earlier at the church house in San Jose. The Couple missionaries from Munoz came and cooked an amazing american breakfast. There was real salsa, and real jam, and real honey, and they somehow found some real butter and best of all, real CHEESE. Cheddar cheese. It was potatoes and bacon and onions in scrambled eggs, with scones on the side. The Filipinos didn't dig in right away, asking: "where's the rice?". It was so good and reminded me of mom's cooking. Yours is still better though, mom. As much as I love rice and ulam, I just can't forget some of the amazing things mom cooks every day. Siblings, our house is better than a restaurant, and I feel bad that I never left tips -- home cooking is the best. But enough about that. We had a good talk and played volleyball. I had a new dish this week -- bamboo sprouts cooked with fish, a leaf called saluyot, the flowers from the squash plants, all boiled in shrimp/fish paste. It was tasty.
So, the investigator update -- my heart got broken yesterday! Not because any of our investigators lost desire, but this is what happened:
The Mabanta Family: We taught them twice this week and on the other days we dropped by to check up on them and their reading. We taught about Baptism, and also about Confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost. They were very spiritual lessons. They read in the lesson 3 pamphlet and also 2 Nephi 31. We extended the invitation to be baptized and they accepted. We then went over the qualifications, and the first and biggest thing is that they need to make it to church. I've been teaching them for about 2 months and they still haven't made it to church. You'll remember that they almost came last week. In preparation, we offered to pick them up, but they declined because Brother Mabanta had an errand to run early in the morning and they'd be coming straight from the errand to church. We promised blessings as only excited missionaries can when it's Saturday evening, and they said they were almost sure they'd be there. This past week we talked with a couple that has two children, ages 2-3, that are the same age and extremely friendly. We set up a time where they could come with us to teach the Mabantas and they were ready to fellowship them at the church. The appointment was Sunday, 6 PM. We waited until after 9 AM at the church doors praying that the Mabanta's would come. At 9:30 we excused ourselves for a moment from class because my companion said he needed to use the restroom, when in reality, he was afraid that they were on there way and maybe nobody was there to guide them to class. As the 3 hours passed, we wilted, realizing that they weren't coming. We finalized plans with the Gallera's and later that evening, we met outside the Mabanta home. Disappointing! Their relative said that they had left suddenly to Pangasinan to the house of their father, it had been abrupt and unexpected. I don't believe they're avoiding us, they are always waiting for us when we arrive. They live in a small bamboo house behind Jovito Mabanta's parents' house. Half of the house has cement and a tin roof, the other half is dirt floored and has kugon (grass) for a roof. The rain has started in the afternoons, and they cook their meals over a fire at the back of their home. It is a humble home. As soon as they see us coming from the road around their parent's home, brother Jovito grabs their Book of Mormon and everybody gathers and they call out "Elders! Come in!" They were expecting the Galleras as well, I'm sure there was some emergency. But the Gallera's help didn't go wasted at all, because fortunately we have a new family that we found close to the Mabantas -- the Mariales family, and we visited them instead.
The Mariales family: Manalyn (20), Guillermo (25), and Jeff (2). Sister Mariales has members that are members and has even come with them to church in past years. She was taught 2 years ago by missionaries, I'm not sure why the baptism didn't go through back then. Her little sister and mother are both members and fairly active. Brother Mariales hasn't met missionaries before. He works every day in the fields, biking several kilometers both ways. He returns home at about 6 PM daily. We were walking past their home to another appointment with a returned missionary who introduced us to them. They were busy, so we just introduced ourselves and set up a visit. When we returned, we were accepted right away and Sister told us that she always saw us walking past but it was always to appointments to people on both sides of her. It's true, I've walked past the Mariales home almost every day for 5 months without ever meeting the family. They've started reading and listening, but they didn't make it to church yesterday. They were planning on it, but brother's quick errand in the morning to the fields turned out to be longer than expected. The Gallera family did some great fellowshipping with them and with our coordination, the lesson turned out great. The Gallera's want to come again on other visits. Good news!
These are the two families that I'm really excited about right now. I'm happy that we're teaching several complete families and that they are interested in being baptized. Teaching an entire family is the greatest ever. I'm praying that I don't get transferred, but I don't know how much hope I have. I love the area and especially these investigators. We had two investigators that we've only taught once that came to church out of the blue yesterday, we taught them at a relatives house and we haven't even found their homes yet. We'll get on top of that fast -- if they're willing to come to church, we're excited about that. It would be a heart-breaker to leave right now, I feel like I've put everything into it here and I really want to see these two families progress, and Brother Jervie Capistrano as well. We'll see what happens, transfer announcements are next monday. Thanks again for the great pictures and letter! We were given our tickets today for the Cebu temple dedication, we'll watch at the stake center. As a gift, they gave the missionaries embroidered handkerchiefs that have a figure of the cebu temple stitched on it. Exciting time here in the Philippines! Love you all! Thanks again --
Elder Loren Peck
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