Elder Crocker: Progress with Sister Julie and a Transfer Soon
I have no time to talk today, so sorry for all those expecting personal emails and won’t be getting them.
This has been quite a week. There’s been a lot of really good progress, while at the same time there’s been at least two bad things.
Starting with the bad to get that out of the way, for the past two days I’ve had a heavy-duty head cold. My Dad recently had one, so I think he somehow passed it on to me through his emails. It could have been the little kid who coughed in my face though.
I also suffered a loss, but we’ll get to that in a bit to make the story make sense.
Progress of Sister Julie and her son, John Mark
The best thing that happened this week was the baptism of Sister Julie and her son, John Mark
The best thing that happened this week was the baptism of Sister Julie and her son, John Mark. We met both of them in our first week in this area, and at first didn’t think they would progress. We basically stopped teaching them in our first transfer because they could never keep the appointments that we set with them. Then this transfer, she had some changes in her life: she moved out of the home she was living in because she didn’t like the environment there, which left her with next to nothing. It humbled her, I suppose. We began to teach her again. She had some good, strong fellowshippers. She read the Book of Mormon, spending what little money she had to buy candles so she could read at night when she didn’t have any work. She came to church every Sunday.
We had a service project at a member’s home.
Quickly, we saw her progress to the point of being ready and qualified for baptism, and she was. It was a great experience.
Unfortunately (here’s the loss), while I was baptizing the two of them, my planner case was lost or stolen. I had left it in the bathroom that I changed in. It doubled as a wallet, but there wasn’t much money in it, maybe 100 pesos, or about 2.50 in USD. Mostly the main loss was my planner, of which I have been saving all of them so far, my driver’s licenses, both from the USA and here in the Philippines, and my oil vial. Everything but the planner can be replaced. It might be returned later on, but until then, it was a bit sad.
One of the things that we did was create a new enclosure for their duck. Elder Talingdan was trapped inside with it.
Now, I found out this morning that I’m transferring, but I don’t know where yet. That means that I’ll be leaving Elder Talingdan. That’s… Bittersweet. I’ve really come to love him. He’s a great missionary. Elder Talingdan has far more strengths than he has things that he needs to improve on. I’m very impressed with the missionary that he’s become. He’s obedient and hard-working. I’ve never once heard him complain about anything, not even on Fast Sunday. His ability to teach is one of his strengths.
Who knows what the future holds, but I’m excited.
Until next week,
Elder Crocker
Philippines Cavite Mission
Elder David Neal Crocker
