July 8, 2013 New apartment?

Hey-o!

Thanks a ton for all you guys do for me. I honestly don't understand what you all have had to deal with for school and forms and all that junk... my head has been stuck solidly in the mission clouds. But I thank you for all your efforts on my behalf that I may stay focused on my mission.

I'm so happy that Eric finally got his eagle done with. It’s done! Feels good, doesn't it? haha :)

Well, I don't have much else to say right now. I’m still kinda brain fried from this week, literally and mentally. Here’s my excerpt from my letter to President Ralf:

This week was interesting. It’s been very challenging trying to train and focus on the work and find a new apartment with a very short deadline. I think we did it though. :) We'll know for sure on Wednesday when Elder Mills comes up to Tuguegarao to solve our housing problem.
We have been studying "Teach People, Not Lessons" this week as part of our 12 week training. It went really well this week. We watched "Training Missionaries"..., then we did the exact same thing with the role plays. Elder Laxamana was the missionary and I was playing one of our investigators and also had the role of trainer... it was amazing. By the time we were done with the role play we knew exactly how our investigator was feeling and the Spirit had just washed over us so strongly... it was a great feeling. :) Elder Laxamana has really gotten to know the area well these past few weeks. He'll be ready to go by the end of the month. No worries.

So the apartment problem is interesting... the owner wants to raise our rent. We already had to find a new apartment so we can add more missionaries to our area come July 31. President told us to just look for a new apartment that can fit 4 elders instead and that we would just move as well instead of paying for 2 separate apartments in the expensive heart of Tuguegarao. We have been spending around 3-5 hours every day looking for an apartment this past week because pres. gave us a deadline of Wednesday this coming week. It’s been super hard. But on Sunday morning we were out tracting and looking for apartments and we hit the jackpot! It’s a reasonably priced 1st floor apartment of an immensely large and beautiful home right in the perfect place in our area. We were blessed.

Well, that’s all I can think of right now. I’m really just tired of sitting at a computer. We just passed the 2 hour mark. It’s time to go. I love you all! Have a great week! Amanda, Bridget and mom, I love the pictures! Thanks! Eric, congrats bro! See you guys in a few weeks! Love you!

-Chris