Hmmm....what has happened the past couple of weeks? Well I guess quite a bit has happened. School has been really busy. I need to finish writing this literature review before tuesday. So far I'm not doing so well with it. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be haha. Anyway, things at work are going well. These past couple weeks have been pretty busy but good. I have been blessed to teach one of the best districts ever! They are all very diligent and just really amazing. They work hard and we've had some great, spiritual experiences together. Seriously I am so blessed to teach them and essentially to be taught by them!
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to my mission reunion. That was a lot of fun. I mean I got to see a former companion and I also got to see my mission president and his wife which is essentially why I went to the reunion. So it was awesome! It was so good to see him and everyone else. What's sad is little did we know that while we were enjoying filipino food and each others' company the Philippines was just starting to get hit hard by a huge typhoon that I'm sure you all have heard about. It's really sad. My second area had some pretty bad flooding and mud slides but they are up in the mountains so the flooding went away. The mud however is still there and many houses of members have been destroyed. My last area was hit the worst. Because it borders the floodway from other rivers to Laguna Bay the flooding there was severe and the city is still mostly underwater. Some areas the water is about chest deep or higher still. It was so sad to hear about and I've seen many pictures that have just made me cry. What amazing people live in that city and country! I know they can get through this! I just wish I could help them. I had a great epiphany the other day about all this that I shared with my missionaries. Just like how I can't be there in the Philippines to save these people, my dear friends, our Heavenly Father cannot be here to save us. But it is through other people that the Lord works and it is through our prayers that others are able to be helped. But it has to be through other people like missionaries or others that the Lord answers our prayers of help for others. I know that the Lord has been answering my prayers. Especially since another big typhoon was headed straight to Manila but at the last minute changed it's course and headed more north perhaps saving the Manila area. Anyway, I know this gospel is true and I'm so grateful to be a member of this church. Conference has been so great so far too. Anyway, I'm going to post some pictures so you all can see how bad it really is over there. They need all the help they can get right now. Most the pictures I will post will be pictures of my last area, the one that was hit pretty bad. One of them is a picture of one of the Elders I taught a few times at the MTC who is serving in my mission. The others just show how high the flood water is still. Here is a link to a video that shows really just how bad it is. Watch it here!