Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 1.12.14

I literally have been so pumped to write this email I hope I can put into words how crazy this week was! So Here it is! On Tuesday I went on splits with Elder Bahr who is also an American. We were in his area which is far away, its like a 45 minute walk, just to where the area starts. Anyways we walked about another 45 minutes past that to a place called Villerea. I kid you not and this is not an exaggeration I am the second white person in the history of the Earth to set foot there. Elder Bahr opened that area so he was the first and then when I went there I was the literal second white person those people have ever seen. Kinda crazy. Last time I went on splits in that area we taught a man who was completely haggard drunk. And went I went on splits this week he was slightly less drunk so I guess thats improvement XD Its more sad than funny but still.

Sister Venus came to church on Sunday which is amazing and totally an answer to my prayers. This means that we most likely wont have to push he baptism date back. We will be reviewing with her a lot this week and If God will we will have antoher baptism on January 25th. The rest of our investigators are at different levels of progression and we didnt make any huge breakthroughs this week. 

But now to the wildest day of my mission. Saturday. I woke up and had study like normal I went downstairs and found the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. Ill attach the photo I took but it was as big as my hand fully outstretched. So crazy. Then a few hours after I had the privilege of baptizing Sis Jobelle! All our work paid off and the feeling of baptizing someone is worth every second I spend here. It gave me such a desire to go out there and find more people! The Testimony she shared after was legitimately like she has been a member for years. The spirit was so strong. Seriously golden investigator. 

Just about an hour ago we were traveling back from Illagan the trip takes about an hour and the whole time I was talking with this 5 year old girl in Tagalog. It was so much fun. It doesnt feel like I improve very much in the language every day but it was days like today where I see how far I have come. That and she was so cute. She asked me if there are Americanos in America. When I told her yes I asked her how many she thinks there are. Her answer was 100. Haha!

This week was amazing and I hope to have many more like it. I hope you all had an awesome one too and if not I hope and pray this next one is better! Love you all. 

-Elder Petersen