BIG PLAYS NO DELAYS

March 18, 2019

One day, for some reason, I said "big plays no delays", and now I can't stop saying it haha! So this has kind of become Elder Richeson's and my motto. Whenever one of us or both of us is feeling lazy; or we just got rejected; or we're tired... we just say to each other, "big plays no delays" and we dive into the greatest work on Earth #missionarywork! 

I have been loving the work here in Baco and Elder Richeson and I couldn't be getting along any better! We work super hard and have a lot of fun doing it! I was a little worried at first, knowing that I would be senior companion to another American, realizing that we would probably struggle a lot with communicating with the people, but honestly, we have been doing really well! Of course there are still words we hear that we don't know, but we are doing really well at communicating with the people and explaining the gospel to them. Elder Richeson is super funny and we have a whole lot in common. It feels like I'm talking to one of my best friends. I miss rooming with Elder Grant, but it hasn't been too much of a change with Elder Richeson. 

Here on the island of Mindoro, the sun likes to keep it HOT!! Back on Lopez, I never got sunburned. I was always super confused about this. I talked to some elders that had been out for awhile who they said they had never gotten sunburned during their whole mission, and they didn't wear sun screen either. As I was packing my stuff to be transferred, I realized that thanks to my super kind and thoughtful mom, I had everything I would need for the mission, and much, much, MUCH more. Seeing that I had pretty much the farthest transfer of anyone in the whole mission, and there would be a lot of walking with my heavy bags, I made the executive decision to be super nice to the two Filipinos I lived with back in my last area. I gave them a lot of stuff, including a huge bottle of sunscreen that I had not yet used. Needless to say, it's hot here and the sun is very intense. Earlier today (the reason I wasn't able to talk to any of you today), we did service for the branch president and painted gates for 4 hours! We worked a lot longer than we expected, but he made us lunch so that was good. Elder Richeson and I both came back with some seriously burned necks! I am now regretting my decision to transfer sans sunscreen...

Funny/super sad story that happened: Wednesday, after district council, I had permission to by a webcam so I could call home and actually have it be a good quality conversation. I bought this pretty nice web cam. Afterward, we had some McDonald's, which is a rare occasion for us. We were laughing and having a great day, when the unfortunate happened. We took a trike from McD to the jeepney terminal, because our area is like 45 minutes away from where we meet for district council, and I sat on the side of the trike, while Elder Richeson was inside. But, I decided to set the bag INSIDE by Elder Richeson, to make sure it wouldn't fall out of my hands. When we got out, Elder Richeson started talking to me and for a moment we were engrossed in conversation, when I suddenly cut him off and said, "Do you have the webcam?" His face dropped, he stopped, looked at me and started running back in the direction the trike took off, but it was too late... We only saw the back of the trike for a split second before it turned and drove into the city, mixing into the busy streets with thousands of other trikes, it's only passenger, a 1150 peso webcam... Which really isn't that expensive when you convert it into USD, but it was still super sad in the moment. Elder Richeson felt bad, but as I thought more about it, I really wasn't that sad. I'll just get another one next week. 

Alsoooo on Wednesday, we have something called Mission Tour, which is really zone conference. But this zone conference is a little more special because one of the members of the area presidency here in the Philippines, Elder Wakolo, will be there! I'm super excited! In preparation, he gave us A LOT of assignments. We were assigned to: 

1. Study 2 talks 
2. Study the scriptures, 2 Nephi 31:3, Nephi 11, and 3 Nephi 27 about the doctrine of Christ. 
3. Memorize our favorite scripture about the Atonement of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon. 
4. Get a list of 5 partial member families, and the names of all those in the family that aren't members, and make a plan for how we will incorporate these individuals in our teaching, 
5. And finally, bring a list of all unordained male, recent converts, in the last 24 months, that are eligible to hold the priesthood. 

It has been a lot, but I am so thankful for these assignments from a man that is called of God. I have felt the Spirit as Elder Richeson and I have taken his assignments seriously. I know that this is really going to bless our mission. I'm excited for Wednesday! 

Love and miss you all!

-Elder Wolferts

big plays no delays