Balot. Tapos na.

Another good week!  We got a new kahabay this week. Hes Filipino too, so I'm still the only non fluent Tagalog speaker in our house. This week one of our investigator received his answer that he should be baptized. He said on Saturday night he didn't feel like going to church the next day because he had prayed over and over but still hadn't received his answer. But that night, he woke up at 3 a.m. and heard and felt a small voice that said being baptized was the right thing to do. You could really tell how special his experience was when he was telling us the story. He is excited for, and planning to be baptized on October 23. 

Our less active youth is starting to become active again. Ages 13 and 14 and have been less active for a long time. But they have attended the last few Sundays and ward activities. We are so happy for them and are continuing to encourage them. 

These last few weeks my companion and I have really been focusing on the Atonement. We have been listening and reading to many conference talks about it and have been trying to understand it better, in order to use it more fully in our lives. We have been taking what we have learned in our studies and sharing it with our Less Actives and Active Members. We have really been trying to focus on explaining how crucial and the impact the atonement has had on each of us. 

This week we hard a ward family home evening and we had a lot of less actives and investigators show up! It was a lot of fun! We had a spiritual thought, played some games and ate. For the dinner we did something called "Budol Fight" It's where you line up this big tables and you put down big palm trees and then dump a lot of rice in the middle and chicken, pork, squid, and vegetables on the edges and then you EAT. But there's a catch, you don't use any utensils (which is common here) and you eat with your hands. It was a lot of fun and I learned the special technique. It takes practice. But my companion said none of the Americans can eat with their hands. So in order to gain the members trust I've decided I want  to master the skill ;) I also had balot this week. We had it the last night before Elder Tinasas left. It wasn't bad at all. I thought it was going to be this nasty thing, but it really wasnt bad at all, it was just a slimy, yokey, feathery, egg. Elder Tinasas and Elder Rodriguez struggled getting it down. But it's all just a mental thing, they get grossed out by the looks. I've had grosser things in Grandma and grandpa Nielsen's fridge! Like 5 month old zucchini bread.. hahahah

Sorry no pictures of the food this week, or animals.. ( mom I read your 3 out of 5 picture comment)  because the elder with the special cord isn't with us right now. I'll send them next week. 

Have a great week and enjoy conference! We don't get to watch it until Oct 10th, bummer! 

Elder Nielsen