It's not what you thought it'd be....

Hi.

The work is so great in Ma-ao! I just love it here.

So, the volcano blew up this week! I guess that's pretty cool. We were actually really surprised when we found out that it blew up because we didn't feel or see anything! We were just walking around, proselyting ON the volcano when it happened. The way we found out was pretty funny...

About 6 pm, we were far from the road, out in the sugarcane and rice field looking for a house. We crossed this super awesome bamboo bridge that I will try to send a picture of next week. But, anyway, when we got to this guys house, we were greeted like this;

--

Him- "Oh, hey, what are you guys doing out here, it's late! There's no more tricycles!"

Us- "Yeah, we know. We were just planning on walking back to Ma-ao."

Him- "That's like 5-7 kilometers!"

Us- "Yeah... We're kind of used to walking places. It's no problem!"

Him- "Ah, okay...."

Us- "..."

Him- "The volcano erupted."

Us- "WHAT???"

Him- "Yeah!"

--

It really wasn't too big of a deal - just some ash came out - but we were a little surprised by the news!

We had a miracle this Sunday! We have been making an effort to fast for our zone and for our area every week on Sunday. We were praying that everything would go well on Sunday because we were expecting a lot of investigators to come to church and members as well. We brought our fans so that it wouldn't be hot and tried to make it the best we could. When we got there, it felt like NOTHING went right... It was so frustrating. But once we got to testimony meeting, we heard some of the most BEAUTIFUL testimonies I have ever heard. The investigators and members we had there were in tears. It was so weird that the what I asked for to go right was not what God gave us. I wanted them to feel comfortable and to not have anything go wrong, but what ended up happening is God prepared the members to bring the Spirit to the meeting. After all, that's all that's needed anyway. GREAT EXPERIENCE. Sometimes the things we ask for aren't always what we really need. But it's always BETTER than what you asked for. That's a comforting promise.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Welton