Life in Tondo

Well first things first... Happy birthday Trevor!!! 

This week has been nuts. In a good way. It's been really busy! 

After our zone interviews on Wednesday we got permission to go to the temple to give a tour to our investigators who went with the ward. It was incredible. Tony and Mila couldn't come last minute but JC was able to come (I sent the pictures with him). He loved and wanted to go in. We told him he could next month when he is baptized and he is very excited! To get there we took 2 trains and a shuttle. It's crazy how many people live here. Just in Manila West Zone where I am, there is 1.5 million people, and we have a small zone in terms of area. 

I got to go on exchanges in Tondo this week and I loved it. They just got done with their Fiesta, so there was still lots of decorations. The members are all so faithful there and they are happy. Worldly things mean nothing when we have the gospel! It was fun to stay in Elder Reber's apartment. Those Tondo Elders are really getting their areas on fire! It was a blessing for me to meet with their baptismal candidates. Elder Reber and his companion originally talked to this man when he was drunk on the side of the road, then he got baptized, and now his wife will be baptized this week in large part due to the change she saw in her husband, he treated her so much better and no longer drinks! The gospel is the solution. Very powerful to be a few days in Tondo 2nd ward.  We had a bunch of great FHE's with families.  I love it!

*Note from Mom.  I have no idea what the white stuff is on his face.

Meow

Our guard for our apt. fell asleep again!  He's been reading the Book of Mormon though :)

Got to see Elder Reber a ton this week, almost every day, and got to stay in his apt. which was awesome!

Some pics with the zone

Yesterday it was dark when we were walking home through a construction area by the slums. We saw a Ford truck that had driven it's front tires into a ditch. We gathered who we could and labored with this guy for about an hour or so trying to get his car out of the hole. Lots of people were gathered and bringing in chairs to watch and it was great! We finally scrambled around for a while and built up a ramp out of rubble for him and we all pushed and he got out. The guy was grateful we stuck it out with him and got his truck out of the hole. Afterwards all the new friends we had made wanted to take a picture just for remembrance of the good victory. 

Hopefully you all can remember this scene in Scooby Doo. Scooby and the gang are chasing a villain through the long hallway with lots of doors. They would go into one door and come out another on the otherside and they all got jumbled in the end in the middle. That happened to us yesterday. We were tracting in an area with a lot of people, it was kinda like a maze. But we were tracking side by side with these Nuns who were trying to set up Bible study or something. We kept running into each other and following each other as we talked to people. We loved it though and the Nuns were classy of course and super nice to us. We had a good laugh about it though we were all trying to have fun with it. Sharing the gospel shoulder to shoulder with the Seesters. 

 Love,

Elder Roberts