Difficult Decisions

The missionaries from my zone all sang
Christmas Carols at the local prison.

I just dropped almost all of our investigators. It was a difficult decision, but sometimes it just needs to be done, and missionaries usually don’t want to do it.  So, I get to deal with it and I just happen to be the type of person who can let them go if they don’t want to come closer to Christ and keep any commitments.  Other missionaries can follow up in a few months to see if they’ve had a change of heart.  That may make me sound heartless. The APs told President Carlos that I had dropped almost all of our many, many investigators.  President Carlos pointed out that it’s a hard thing to do, but sometimes just needs to be done. Now we have time to seek out more lost sheep who may be ready for the Good Shepherd. 

Another inspirationl sign at the entrance of a neighborhood.
The typo "I'll" is a hint that English is not the local language.

We only have one real investigator right now, but it’s a family of 7; the Gumaru (Goo-ma-roo) family.  I still have a hard time saying that name right so don’t fell bad if you can’t.  While we are constantly looking for new people to teach, (usually by asking everybody for referrals, that always seem to wind up being in the APs area.)    We have changed the main focus of our work from teaching everyone who will hold still, and switched to seeking out the unfortunate less-actives that have been forgotten about through the years. The branch presidency kept telling us that there were only a few less-actives in our area and kept giving us the same five names we've always been going to, so we started seeking out the active members, and asking who of their neighbors were members. This way we have found tons and tons of members that have obviously been completely forgotten about.  So our job is to help them want to come back to the fold of Christ.  It’s the member’s job to befriend them again. Thats what we have been up to the last few weeks.

I hear it’s extremely cold in Utah, but is there any snow?  The worst is when its freezing and it won’t snow.  It’s hot here,  but it’s not a nice hot. I’m a long way from manila and it’s generally hotter up here than down there.  It was great talking to you after Christmas.  I’m not good at sitting down and typing messages to people.  I’d rather just talk to people. I love you so much Mom.  Have a great week, and enjoy the cold for me.

Mahal ko kayo,

I love you All

The APs get a car.  Sometimes Elder 
Samar and me get to ride in the back. 

Elder Allen