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> So I have some stories to share and they are stories I can promise you. Where to start where to start...
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> So, last week I went on splits with Elder Dela Cruz. Elder Banawan is the district leader so he has to go interview the baptismal candidates before they get baptized. So, Elder Banawan went with Elder Bernard (another American) and I went with, like I said earlier, Elder Dela Cruz. Elder Dela Cruz goes home at the end of January so he is more trunky than the back of a car. Anyways, we went to this member's house to teach a lesson. Her name is Nanay Aurora and she is...different. She is like the hermit lady in the mountains who eats bark and showers in mud and stuff cause she thinks its good for you. No, she doesnt do that stuff, but it gives you an idea. She is REALLY nice to the elders but there is just something about her that is...yea, different. Anyways, so we went on this split and such and we taught our lesson and then Nanay Aurora turns to me and says "elder, my dog died" and so I was like oh really, how come, what happened? and she responded (mind you this is all in Tagalog, the english is coming...) he went out to the highway and was hit by a car I expressed concern by saying oh, im sorry nanay sad day... and then (this is still in Tagalog) she said one word which like stopped my world and made my jaw drop..."masarap" yea...that means delicious in tagalog. Then she started speaking english... "elder, do you eat dog in your place?" SHE PEELED HER DOG OFF THE ROAD AND COOKED HIM UP AND ATE HIM. That is way typical for Nanay Aurora. I was like totally speechless... "uh...no...nanay, we dont eat dogs, we pet them. They arent sandwiched between bread, they are sandwiched between blankets..." she responded with another creep sauce comment... "oh do you eat cat then?" WHAT IN THE WORLD NO I DONT EAT CAT I EAT REGULAR FOOD Nanay doesnt speak english very good, so in a tone that suggested happiness so she didnt know what I was saying I turned to Elder Dela Cruz and said "there is the door...run for it and never look back..." ha but yea, so that was kind of wierd. I used to pet that dog all the time...and now it is in Nanay Aurora's belly...hmm...there is something strange about that...
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> My next story is about splits again. This time, I went with Elder Bernard (2 americans who dont speak fluent tagalog...we didnt make that decision...) to teach these 3 girls that Elder Bernard had tracted before. I need to introduce someone however to give you all the correct picture. There is a church called Iglesia ni Cristo. It started in the Philippines and has spread all over the world. They are really really prominent in the Philippines, but opression is a big problem. If you dont marry another "iglesia" or member of that church you are excommunicated. They dont allow members to read the bible, they have the pastors or whatever read it for them. If you dont go to church for 2 weeks straight, they will excommunicate you. They have a "prophet" and his name is eduardo something or whatever I dont remember his name but they claim to have a prophet. They are the biggest hinderence to the work(besides Jehovas witnesses-that is another story in its own holy COW) and so we always have to fix people spiritually from what Iglesia messed up. Anyways, one of the investigators of Elder Bernard is an iglesian minister and whenever Elder Bernard goes to teach him, he gives him (gives Elder Bernard) a copy of their church magazine (kind of like an ensign) and so he had it this day that we went on splits to this house. The edition of the magazine was all about the executive minister (their “prophet”) and so the cover had an enormous picture of this guy, this “prophet”…remember that. We walked in this house and immediately realized that these girls were more golden then the perfectly toasted marshmallow (in missionary language, golden means like no obligations to our teachings with a yearning to learn as much as they can. Missionaries always freak out when they find a "golden investigator" because it means the person will be like teaching a kid-accepting every single thing with no concerns or obligations…golden investigators are no fun…) from what they said. We sat down and asked them if they had any questions. The first girl asked a question that made us smile… “I want to learn about the book of mormon” Elder Bernard smiled at me cause that was the lesson we were going to teach, but it got better. We asked if she had any more questions because we would answer that one in time and she said “how can I know if your message is true” by this time Elder Bernard was nearly having a heart attack because that was the other half of our lesson. The field…or room…was white ready to harvest and we were about to dominate. Then, there came a turning point. Another girl walked into the room and asked if we had a picture of our living prophet. Now, Elder Bernard’s brain had a wee relapse here because it remembered that he had a magazine in his bag…but it thought it was an ensign…a particular ensign that we have in our apartment talking exclusively about the first president…but how wrong he was. Translated, he said “this is our living prophet today…” and he pulled out the MAGAZINE WITH THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO PROPHET PORTRAIT ON THE FRONT I was like ELDER-FAIL THAT’S NOT RIGHT he looked down and was like “OH…shoot…oh…well, no that’s not him…oh man” and at this point I am absolutely DYING of laughter. Poor guy, he was so embarrassed and I was laughing because the investigators knew he had messed up you could see it in their eyes, and they all had smiles on their face and he tried to fix it, but he didn’t know the Tagalog to do it haha so we were like sitting here and have just proclaimed that the iglesian executive minister is our living prophet today. Ha fun times…
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> On a lighter note, I gave my first blessing this past week. It was the first time I sealed the blessing, not anointed. It was to this insanely adorable 1 month old kid (who I am going to steal and send home so I have this amazingly cute kid when I get back) who had a fever. I was, once again, on splits (I don’t go on splits that often, but nothing happens with elder Banawan and I haha) with Elder Movilla who has only been in the mission for 6 months but he is a native so his English is…less then understandable. So, I asked him if he wanted to anoint or seal, and he said anoint. I was like what in the world kid, you need to seal cause I cant bless in Tagalog and he was like I don’t know how so I told him I would seal. The sealing of an anointing is the part when you pronounce a blessing upon the afflicted person, so it is the person who does all the talking. So, my first blessing was in Tagalog. It was an experience because it really made me realize how much we rely on the Lord for everything that we have. It was really really cool. I have annointed here like 30 times, but I have never sealed…let alone in Tagalog, so that was an experience for me.
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> Transfer Day is coming up speedily. January 29. Its kind of a sad day because my trainer, Elder Banawan, is going to be transferred, and I will get a follow up trainer. I love that kid with all my heart-he is such an amazing guy and I am not excited to see him go, but change is the most constant thing in the world, so I guess I cant complain. I have one more transfer here in Lopez, and then I will get transferred to a city. We will see how that goes down. Zone conference is tomorrow which means I get to spend some time in the mall again. WOOOOOOOT! SM (the mall name) is way way fun, plus it lets me get my I want to just hang and go do something self out cause it is just like a mall in America, but with 3 floors ha. I will look for another camera there when I get there and see what the prices are running.
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> Yesterday we moved a baptismal goal date back from February 6 to January 23, so I have a baptism coming up again. This one is of a tatay who is on my list of the most kind people I have ever met in my life. He would give me the shirt off his back if I asked for it-he is absolutely amazing. So, he is coming up, but because of the needing to go to church for 4 consecutive weeks rule, many of our investigators are having their baptismal goal dates moved back. BUT, all in good time…
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> SO…how is life back in America doing? How are the kids (yes b-rady, you are included in there…think you are all cool being a teenager) doing in school? I was looking at those pictures you sent me (I have them up on my mirror with a “families are forever” that I drew above them…) and Samuel has some BLUE eyes holy COW. Brady looks like he is 15, and Ben still looks like he is 5 to me, but he is the youngest so it is to be expected ha:/ I was thinking the other day and I realized something. Dad is gonna be 47 this year. That means he is gonna be close to 50 when I return. WHAT IN THE WORLD? I remember back in the day when he was like 32 and had brown hair and brown facial hair. Dang, time flies…

> And that is all she wrote for this time. I hope you are all doing well and staying warm-I know I am. Count your blessings everyday-it will help anyone who is having a bad day I promise! I heard something cool the other day. I was fiddling with my CTR ring and Elder Lee said, “you know what that stands for which is kind of cool?” and I was like what-expecting a lame-o answer, but he said “Current Temple Recommend” I thought that was way cool. Not only does it remind you to choose the right, but it reminds you that you have a current temple recommend-for most people
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> Stay safe and “lie down unto the lord at night, and rise up unto the lord in the morning” or something like that!
> Love you all,
> Jake
> Aka Elder Muller