Elder Jordan Mark Merrill and the 'Pinakamakapangyarihan' Legazpi, Philippines Mission: Week 58

From: Jordan Mark Merrill <merrill.j@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2016 11:13 PM
To: Lauri Merrill
Subject:

Well another successful week down here on good ole Masbate island:) So this week was productive but at the same time rather busy. So as of our work, we have been trying to focus on tracking because we learned a statistic for the missionaries in Masbate: for every 9 new investigators per week, you’re bound to see a baptism from those, but we need to find 9 or more every week! So as we have been tracking our answer is usually: Heck ya come in!! Get the heck outta here, or we’ve been taught before and now were busy. Oh one more... missionaries from other religions, there nice, sometimes, we'll only accept their pamphlets if they accept ours:) So we have found a bunch of new, hopefully potential progressing people. It seems as are tracking around we just find like a million hiding houses so were like hmm we'll track this part next time. So this Saturday I was asked to baptize 2 investigators for the sisters in my district. I interviewed them both last week and dang they’re cool ha-ha. Also president and his wife were visiting our island for a couple days so we basically saw him everywhere. Also an elder in my district got emergency flown to Manila because he got super sick, he’s Filipino too, so now were down one less missionary here. He'll be in the MRC (missionary recovery center) until I don’t know how long. He’s a good kid. So then we had the awesome time to have a workshop given by our president and the AP’s. Then they fed us and we continued our work here:) Yesterday we have our Masbate district conference so that means all the branches on the island come to our chapel and it’s just like at home where there are some speakers and good stuff like that, we had 2 investigators show up. It’s funny because president Kotter tries to make jokes and say funny things but nobody understands him so it’s like uhhhh awkward ha-ha! But I love him:) So here’s the real story I’m waiting to tell… today we just did our Monday morning routine and went to play volleyball but after that we heard of a small zoo here in our area so we decided to go check it out. We got there and it was pretty decent. Not like any zoo at home of course. It was just a small park with cages of different animals, nothing too exotic. But as we were looking we saw a HUUUUUGE anaconda snake in a cage, I’d say like almost 9 or 10 feet so we’re like heck ya!! And it was super active, moving around and it even swiped at us a couple times. So the owner came up to us and was wow, he’s hungry so we’re like then feed it! So he goes and grabs two bags and all the sudden we hear "Meow, meow..." cats? So he gets the snakes attention away from the door and dumps out the 2 bags and these 2 full grown adult cats fall into the cage and of course they totally freak out, they jump in the water, climb out, climb the wall, jump down, meow like crazy then all the sudden, BAM. The snake gets one by the foot and does what the snake does best: Squeezing. It squeezed that cat until it’s meow sounded like a broken squeaky toy. All we saw was the head poking out of the coiled body, the snake of the head was somewhere in the middle holding to its foot. So after time, its triple dead and the other cat that’s been chilling in the corner finally got tired of holding on so it fell down and as soon as it fell the snake didn’t hesitate and grabs that one. Then I’m sure you know what happened next. It had this one where its paw was poking out with its head and yes, its meow wasn’t pretty either. Dead cat. So then he relaxed and ate them all in one bite:) Those are some dead cats and one full snake. But wait, there’s more! We saw a smaller snake and above that snake cage was a mommy cat and her 3 kittens. As we’re looking at it, the owner comes and uses a metal pole to grab a kitten then opened the snake’s door and chucked in the baby kitten. I’d say this cat was maybe 1 week old, barely could walk. But this snake was either too tired or full because I didn't see this lil one get devoured. Dang it huh!? But the sad thing about this one is the mom and her kittens are in the cage above the snake so she can see plain and clearly what’s going on right below her. :( I had more sympathy for the kittens. Then the show was over so we just played with some monkeys and left. I’d say it was a pretty fun, successful week. It’s really starting to fly by now, I can’t believe how fast the mission goes, when it hits October I can count on 2 hands how many months I have left. Also, we have been hearing some news of some storms coming in but we haven’t seen anything but rain so far. Actually just like 5 minutes ago a HUGE crash of thunder just shook the entire shop and we all just stop look at each other then go back to our things. But ya we aren’t worried, when president came he said the Mayon is really acting up but we can’t see it from our island so it sucks, I want to see it when it erupts ha-ha;) Also I have a full body rash and I’m not sure where it came from? :) No biggy! I’ll get it fixed when I get to it ha-ha! Well that’s it, love you all :) Say your prayers, read the scriptures, and magsis po kayo palagi! :)

**Elder Merrill**