Well I finally transferred. Not that I was waiting for it, but It finally happened. Of course I miss Valladolid and the people there, but I'm adapted pretty quickly to the change and the people here are just as loving and friendly and great!
It was rough leaving Valladolid. Apparently one of the members there, when she found out that I was transferring she started crying and told her mom that she wasn't going to go the rest of the day of school and she stayed home. What can I do, I guess people just love me ;) haha Just kidding, but she really did stay home from school and cry. Ha
So I transferred to Mina, which is a group of the Sipalay Branch, which is part of the Sipalay District. We are the southern most Area of the Mission and yes it is BEAUTIFUL. This is the resort land of the Island. My area is more up in the mountains, but we have one are that is super close to the ocean and it's beautiful because it's ocean and mountain all at the same time!
So when I say that I am assigned to a group that means that we are technically still part of the Sipalay Branch but we have our own meeting house in Mina. We meet on Sunday and we have a Presiding Member of the Branch Presidency who runs our Sunday Services. We currently meet in his shop and they are also working on Building a place for us to meet behind their home. It's crazy. This group was opened in October and the attendance has been 35 or higher every week! They've had quite a few baptisms in the last 2 transfers and have a lot of investigators since I feel as though missionaries never really made it out here because we're about 20-30 minutes from Sipalay City. I am only the third missionary to be assigned here in Mina, and of those three I am the first American. So literally everyone is amazed to see me walking down the street, and even more amazed when they ask my companion if I know how to speak Ilonggo, and I reply saying "Indi ko intiende, kag indi ko kabalo kung paano nga maghambal man." Which means I don't understand and I don't know how to speak either. They always gasp in amazement haha! It's great! It's so much easier to adapt here than in Valladolid because when I arrived there I didn't know how to speak so I pretty much didn't, but here I can speak and laugh and joke with everyone!
We also taught a lesson on Friday night to some of our investigators and while we were teaching there were like 5 or 6 people just standing outside the window staring at me. We invited them in and they said no, but they stayed and stared still. Maybe next time I should be the one to get up and invite them in! Also my favorite thing is when people see me and they're walking in a big group and one sees me and then it's like a chain reaction. They turn back around say something to the group and then they all slowly turn around and look at me, it's hilarious haha.
Yesterday at church I had to teach Gospel Principles class for like an hour, which was great glad I had lots of participation and help from those in attendance even if I spoke quite a bit of English. I also had to give a talk in sacrament meeting and I also blessed the sacrament for the first time on my mission and it did it in Ilonggo. "O Dios, ang walay katapusan nga Amay....." it was fun!
I attached a picture of our meeting house! And a picture of our view!
-Elder Walters
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