Elder Wolferts in Cavite: CODE RED

March 2, 2020

A quick 6 weeks and Elder Arakaki gone. My new comp is a Filipino, Elder Ombing. I was actually in his district in my last area so we already know each other. We get along really well and he's a good cook, so that's something I haven't had for awhile!

This week, I got to work with one of my closest friends in the mission, Elder Hall. We actually enjoyed working together for 2 days! We all slept over on Wednesday night, and then on Thursday we also met up and worked with the zone leader, as he was also getting a new comp, who was stuck on the other side of Mindoro.

My comp is adjusting a little bit to this tough area, and he has realized that he's gonna lose a lot of weight with how far we walk and how few dinner appointments we have, as the people here are so poor. He also wants to lose weight through jogging and working out, so I'm super happy that he likes working out with me!

During fast and testimony meeting, the daughter of one of our coolest, most progressing investigators, bore her testimony about forever families and how happy she is that her dad (he's 64) is coming to church. I looked back at him and he was crying like a baby... The spirit hit me so strong. These are the moments that make everything worth it. He always talks about how he is looking forward to his baptism on March 21st and I'm so excited for him!

Yesterday night, during the last lesson of the day, we were teaching a powerful lesson about temples to a less active family. The spirit was strong, maybe too strong? because my nose started bleeding (If any of you know me well, you know that my nose has a tendency to bleed whenever it wants to (#codered @Steven Ferguson). I tried to sniff it up a little because my comp was in the middle of a powerful testimony and I didn't want to disrupt the spirit, but it was one of those gushing ones. I finally tried to politely interupt, and asked them if they had a napkin. Suddenly, everyone looked at me and just about fainited at the sight of blood gushing from my nose. Someone quickly gave me a handkerchief, but I didn't want to ruin it so I was like "ARE YOU SURE??!" And as blood was about to get on my clothes, everyone is screaming at me to do it! So I gave in and destroyed that hanky... Then they proceded to take a 10 minute break to tell me ALL the reasons that are, apparantly, contributing to my occassional nose bleeds. My comp threw out the idea that maybe it's because I work out and shower at night??? Everyone there quickly agreed and told me it is forbidden for me to workout and shower at night anymore. And they went on to say that if I want to shower, it has to be at least 2 hours before I sleep, haha. They all warned me that if I keep it up, I'm going to die young... I just kept agreeing, but in my head I was thinking, "These people are crazy! I'm not gonna change a thing." Some of the little beliefs and superstitions the Filipinos have about bad voodoo and forbidden things just cracks me up, haha.

Still don't have running water, but good thing CHRIST IS THE LIVING WATER!

Have a great week :)