Elder Lambert's Adventures in the Philippines Manila Mission

Hello world,

Not a bad week! We of course had some disappointing things and positive things and all that, but it wasn't bad! The number of lessons went down a little bit, but it's okay because we had more people come to church. That's always a huge key in people's progression. We had 6 people at church, the Manuel family and Sis. Eugene Mae, and some other people who are new! So the area is looking really really good.

We have a new family too! We talked to them like 2 weeks ago and actually last P day we taught them. Their name is the Matito family. They are MARRIED and have 3 daughters starting at age 11 to like 3 years old. Brother Raffie said that he had seen the missionaries before, just that he hadn't talked to him. So we have started teaching them. The first lesson we specifically focused on the Book of Mormon and told them that they need to read it. We gave them a chapter to read and told them to read and pray about it. Then we invited them for baptism and they said yes! So yeah. We gave the assignment and told them to pray. We went to go back to teach them on Wednesday, but they had no power to their house, meaning no lights. So we had to postpone. We went back on Friday and had a good lesson again! We focused on the family and it went well, we definitely touched on the temple and I had to show them a picture of my family to them to keep them on their toes ;) It just went really well! Their daughter though at that time had gotten sick the day before. So she wasn't feeling too good. We committed them to church anyways. We planned on picking them up because we said we would and then they texted saying they are going to the hospital for their daughter. A little sad but I really think that they will go next week. They are super awesome and we love them already! We had dinner with them the other night! They fed us adobo with chicken feet.

Other than that, its a little slow. We have some LA who we are trying to move toward the temple. Its a little slow because they had some experiences that weakened their faith. A little frustrating... We do our best. The T family specifically is a little tough. They were baptized almost a year ago, and then right after their baptism sister lost her job... So she doesn't understand the purpose of trials. They are starting to come around. We had a lessons where I kind of told them (with love of course) that they need to get it together to get sealed! So they are showing signs of progression. We stay patient with them.

Its been pretty interesting here in the Philippines over the past month. The new President here, President Duterte is really looking to change the country around. He put in a curfew for the kids at night, you can't drink outside the house if its night anymore, and lots of other things! He is also really targeting the drug people here in the Philippines. So its really good. We have heard of some people being killed by the police in our area during the nights because they are druggies. So that's interesting. He is really cleaning the Philippines. Its SUPER awesome to see. We are staying safe here of course.

This week we also had a service project! You can all visualize a house of the TLC classic "Hoarders." Then make the house the size of like an 8x3 foot house. It was full of rat poop, food, insects. It was masarap! I have some pics too. It was super not awesome. He was so happy though! The old tatay/owner of the house. In the end it was worth it.

Another cool thing that happened was that Elder Smith visited! I don't remember if I talked about him a lot, but he was my ZL in Las Pinas and was also in my last ward. He was a SUPER awesome missionary and super hard working. His first area was here in Tondo so he came back and visited with his dad and sister. So we had a little FHE with the ward and he came by. So that was pretty cool. Good food too :) That was all this week! We just worked hard and had fun and all that. I will send some pics momentarily.

Love you!

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth