Friday, December 20, 2013

Christmas Celebrations in the Philippines

We had a better week this week. It was sad a few times but good the other times. We had to move 2 of the Christmas baptisms yesterday because they didn't come to church =(. We were sad about that. Mitchelyn and Jessica will now be baptized on Jan. 1, 2014 the first baptisms of the year. They were ok with that but they were a little sad that they didn't come to church. You could tell that Mitchelyn was sad about it but she held strong was tried act excited for Jessica. Russel and Macmac are still good for the 25th. We are looking forward to those baptisms. We started teaching Joffrey this week and he brought a friend to our second lesson. He likes the teachings and he believes it is true. He had to work Sunday so he didn't make it to church this week. We are hoping for next week. Averina is good. We are only teaching 2 of them. One came to church 2 weeks ago. We started teaching her. She seems to like the teachings. We are also teaching the grandmother but I don't think she fully understands what we are saying and it seems like she just wants to listen and not do anything. We will see what happens the next few weeks. We also started teaching the Villarojo family. They were a referral from one investigator that is pretty much a member that just can't be baptized right now. They are a good family. They love Christ. They have been to lots of religions and doesn't like that they are informal and other things. We taught them the restoration and invited them to church. They said they would come but couldn't make it because one of the kids got sick. Maybe next week.
Christmas is a lot different here than in the USA. Santa really isn't that big and about the only big thing about Christmas I have seen is the Christmas lights, which some people leave up all year. Other then that, Christmas is present with some caroling and people giving but it isn't a big rush. Christmas focuses a lot more on Christ here. They celebrate it for him so Christmas is celebrated more on the 24th and the sign rather then on the 25th. The 25th will be a branch celebration and then other churches go to church on the 25th. It is pretty relaxing compared to the USA.
That was about the week. It was good but went by really quick. We look forward to the coming weeks and days as Christmas approaches.
Love,
Elder Nielsen

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