June 2, 2014-" It's been a great week and a great transfer"

Hello my wonderful family and friends. It's been a great week and a great transfer. I feel like yesterday I got called to be training and now Elder Valenton already has a transfer under his belt. Well I won' be leaving Batac yet. I get to finish training Elder Valenton and then I'll be leaving. It was great to end this week/transfer off with the baptism of Bro. Acoba and his family. He did it. He has such a strong testimony and being able to work with him has strengthened my testimony especially of the fact that the Lord is preparing people to receive His gospel. You have to remind me to tell you the full story of Bro. Acoba in another 1+ years. I'm grateful for being able to be a part of his learning of the gospel.

That's pretty much the highlight of the week and transfer. Now we have a fresh transfer and in a lot of ways a fresh start and new beginning. I feel like we're starting 0 and trying to work up, but we have some really good potential here. We have to work even harder this transfer, but we'll definitely be able to have success here. The Lord blesses us immensely when we are doing all we can to serve Him, even when we don't always see it at first. Somehow He always provides a way.

Nice job to all the siblings on making their teams. I'm sure you'll all do great. Good luck uncle Corb. Sorry I don't send you any emails. There's a lot to do and no time to do it. And I agree with what dad said. Hey I learned about those four phases in my communications class last...well whenever I was Senior (feels like just last year but I guess I graduated around this time last year...whoa). Speaking of balance though, the clerk here is a somewhat new father that is trying to balance a career, church, and family. The problem is he has work out of town from Mon. to Sat. late at night and on Sunday he stays at the church for similar hours to dad I would imagine. He feels like hes family time is too short. I figure dad might have some good advice for him because dad has a similar calling at church. I don't think there's a whole lot he can do right now about the job and I'm pretty sure he doesn't have soccer time with his kid to do bonding. If you have any advice I bet he'd appreciate it. And Mia, Elder Valenton is very funny (kind of in Kolsen-like way) and it's HOT!

Thanks for the news. I heard for a while that something was going up there. What's Smith's Marketplace like? I don't remember if that's a groceries only type place or more of Walmart type store. You did cancel the TV!? Too bad I missed it. Somehow I imagine everyone's still surviving without it. You should let the rest of the Philippines know that it's possible. If you have $25, you have a TV. What they don't understand is that their electricity bill adds up over a lifetime. I'd personally go for the washing machine first.

Wow. Mark's letter was really good. That really helped me look at some of the miracles I've experienced. We feel like there isn't anything miraculous that happens until we have experiences like that or reminders that make us think and notice all of the amazing blessings God has given us. My only question is when did Mark get the writing skills of a General Authority? ;)

Wow you really met an Ilokano in Utah? You have to let me know where she's from exactly. If it's Ilocos Sur then I might have gone to where she's from (Vigan is the furthest south in our mission so if it's more South than that I guess not). It's true, there's a lot we take for granted in the States. There's no way to really understand that until you've lived in a third-world country. Haha I'll work on the Ilokano. I'd love to be able to speak with her once I'm back. If you see here again tell her: "Naimbag nga aldaw! Narigat ti Ilocano! Agsusuro nak pay. Kayet ko nga agsao iti ilocano. Aganad!" Even that simple stuff might be wrong (especially the spelling). Haha I'm learning to cook Filipino style. I cooked a lot when Elder Valenton first got here. He has a few favorites that he likes to cook though. He makes good tinola and sinigang. I'll definitely make some Filipino dishes!

Now I have a little assignment for you all in my pamilya. Take a look at the Lesson 4 commandments that missionaries teach (the purple part in chapter 3 of Preach my gospel). Think of one experience of how you have been blessed by keeping those commandments and then, drumroll please, send it to me in a handwritten letter! Stories and experiences are super awesome. It would be much appreciated :)

Well that's the weekly report. Love you all and miss you as well. Ingat! Mahal, -Elder Egan P.S. Mom, you still haven't told me about Bro. Yerka's son's prayer

The Acoba Family