So this week was a little stressful as well as miraculous in many ways. We did end up losing 6 of our 7 investigators right at the start of the week. We have spent the last 3 days going door to door and nothing more haha (it rhymed). Brother Juvy is still holding on! His wife is slowly losing interest but he still remains strong.
I managed to have my FIRST member present lesson while here on Siquijor with him. We don't have members in our area to work with us, not to mention the male presence in members is very small (some 5-6 priesthood holders to about 50-60 sisters). We had 2 ladies from the relief society show up and try to help the sister. We talked about the Priesthood to Juvy and he was ok until we told him that after he is baptized he will receive the Priesthood authority of God. This seemed to really spark a fire in him! I could tell that he began to be a little more excited! This was just one small miracle (having members help us!) out of the many that happened; free rides, revelation, receiving referrals from members (also a first for me here on the island), and to be honest... my safety this week was a bit of a miracle.
I have now made it very clear in my work that I will refrain from talking to ANYONE who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs for that matter. We had 2 close ones with drunk guys whose stories I'll share.
The first drunk guy: We got punted from our lesson last Saturday and remembered this huge group of people just down the road at a birthday party. We thought we could get a lot of FTEs there and share a bit. We got there and this big (he was really big) guy came up to me offering me a shot of beer, this happens a lot BTW. I declined and he persisted. I told him that it is a commandment from God that we should refrain from alcoholic drinks (and I saw another witness as to why). He then got MAD! Like, I'm trying to be as nice as I can but he got furious! He told me to get away and such. So I go and say bye to my other new friends and he starts counting to ten much like a parent to a disobedient child. When he hit 7 I got back to the road and he still continued to count. I looked at him when he got to ten and he jumped up, grabbed his beer and stormed over to me. I honestly thought he was going to 1) dump the beer on me and 2) smash the bottle into my head. I turned my left shoulder to him and readied my right fist cuz if this guy was going to do anything to me I was going to put him down right then and there. He continued to yell at me and I just smiled at him and walked away. As I walked away he said "If I ever see your face again I will shoot you!"... all because I refused beer...
The second guy was WAY WORSE!!! Elder Fernandez and I were hiking up to Basac about 5 km from the main town of Laurena. We rested at our first rest stop and heard screaming. He sounded a LOT like The Water Boy. EEERRRRRR!!!!! We looked to this one house and this guy comes running out saying some very big words! He is screaming at his mother (EEEERRRRRR!). The guy looked to be about 35 and mama was about 60+. The guy chucked many rocks at his mom, missing all and nailing his house 10-15 times. His mom came out and confronted him on the road and he tried to club her with wooden sticks but this old nanay was FEARLESS!!! He then ran inside and grabbed his sundang (machete) and confronted mama again screaming how he was gonna... yeah well mama says "Sigi! Sigi! Sigi!" meaning "GO FOR IT!" he took many swings at mama and stopped each time right before he takes her head off! Nanay is standing there like this is just another day! He then screams like a possessed child (EEEEERRRRRR!) and rants and runs away! Mama then calls the police. We watched for about 15 minutes. Now, we missionaries are to refrain from entering into domestic abuse situations but I and Elder Fernandez were about to tackle the guy had he hit his mother. The guy was, obviously, drunk.
Amongst the drunks, and to be honest I did meet a ton of hard-hearted people this week and all the loss of investigators, I did see the Lord’s hand all the way through. I know I am safe because of the Lord. We found a girl who is actually very bright. She read all of the Pamphlet we gave her (which TBH is rare) and even spelled Melchizedek for us! She ASKED for the Basahon ni Mormon! Other miracles did happen this week that I very much want to share but I feel it would be better to share these things in person when I return home. Ask me what happened and I will be glad to share!
I finished reading the Book of Mormon again for the 5th time yesterday. I can say to you all as I did before that I know that NO man wrote that book. You may know a prophet by his fruits. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God.
This week was long haha! And this computer doesn’t let me send pictures, but rest assured I am still alive! I will hit my last 6 months when I am done training Elder Fernandez so PAS PAS (quick) is my mission going and PAS PAS will it come to an end. I love it here! I love serving too!
I promise I will take care! Take care ya'll! Love you all back at home!
-Elder Morris
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