BIG NEWS!!!!! : )

Hi!  : )

Thank you for giving the letters to Bryce and Dillon. : ) I'm glad they enjoyed it. I feel a big part of my mission has been helping my young men fellowshippers get ready to serve a mission. The majority of the young men that work with me have made the decision to serve while I’ve been with them. I know that Dillon and Bryce are still young, but I know they won't forget this. I may not be their teacher anymore, but I can still do my part to help those boys get to a mission. I love 'em.

Pertaining to the packages you have sent me... I have not received any of them yet. If they arrived back on Nov. 15, then they probably took a week to get to the mission home after that. So they are probably waiting for me there. Truth be told, unless Elder and Sister Gottfredson or President and Sister Carlos come down here for our baptism on the 8th, I’ll have to wait to transfer day to get them.

SO, I HAVE BIG NEWS!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) This is an excerpt from my report to President Carlos this week...

We didn't reach most of our goals this week, but we had a huge success. Bro. H------ D., Bro. R------ L., and Bro. R-- B. were all interviewed for baptism and all passed. R.'s son also passed the interview. All of these are part member families. The first 3 are fathers. With the baptisms of these good men, all three of their families will be completed in the church. All of these families are also starting to set goals to go to the temple to be sealed as well. Bro. R. has already tried attending our branch temple trip he wants to go so bad. He was more ready to go than most of the members... Their baptismal service is on December 8, 2012. Bagabag Chapel @ 2 pm.

Yup! :) We have 4 baptisms on December 8th! :) I'm really happy that we are baptizing fathers. That has been my personal focus my whole mission. I’ve always taught the Nanay and children, but I’ve always searched out the Tatay. Up until now, I feel like I haven't achieved much baptism-wise. I know that's not everything, I know I have helped many other people find the truth. But with these 3 Tatay, it’s different. They were the last hold-outs in their families. They aren't just getting baptized either. They are being converted. This is opening up the opportunity to their families to return to Heavenly Father as a complete family. Up until now, that has only happened with one other baptism in my first area. I'm excited.

2. about coming home 3 weeks early... President Carlos may very well use me as a swing/filler. I could go home at any time to be honest. The new mission president will have no say in when I go home though. My date will be set and flights will be booked all before the new mission president arrives. That is all done a few months in advance.

3. The whole thing about transfer schedules... the transfer schedule is being shifted 3 weeks starting next year. Most mission president are choosing to extend their missionaries 3 weeks. President Carlos has chosen to send everyone home 3 weeks earlier, rather than later.

One last piece of news. Elder Dixon and Elder Badol moved out of our house this morning at 6am. They found an amazing new house in Lamut. Before they had to end their work day at 7 pm because that is when the last jeepney would leave Lamut to come back to Bagabag. Now they can actually work in their area now! It’s a bitter sweet thing for me. I'm gunna miss them, but I’m glad that their work will progress now.

I found an amazing store in Lamut. It has all the native artisan wood carvings. They have all kinds of statues of native things like carrabaos and huts and people/warriors, all sorts of dishware like plates, bowls, serving dishware, "candy bowl" with a sick stand...they have wall hangings, backpacks and shoulder bags with native decorations/patterns/colors.... They have a lot of really cool stuff there...

Well, I gotta go.

: * love you!

-Elder Lundy