Brandon's Mission in the Philippines: First week as a Zone Leader in Pasig

My dear family,

On Tuesday I said goodbye to all the members and my recent converts in Cogeo. It was a little sad but I promised them I would return... one day sana haha. I spent most of my time with the Palomares family and the Bareno family. I have made unforgettable memories with them that I will never forget. They've made my mission talaga, an incredible 6 months in Anitpolo.

Wednesday morning I arose early and traveled to my new area - Pasig! I met my new companion- Elder Vergara!! He's super nice, humble, and is a great missionary talaga. I'm excited for the next weeks with him. I've already learned so much within these past 6 days. It's crazy! We went back to the apartment and I soon found out it's a lot different than my last apartment...it's really tiny, like super masikip, pero the good thing is we have air conditioning haha. My kabahays are Elder Saliva and Elder Vegamora. They're awesome as well. Elder Vergara and I got straight to work in our area- Pasig 4a. Once again I soon found out the difference between my last areas hahaha. I don't really know how to describe it. Let's just say my new area is.. interesting...and pangit talaga haha. It's all city, the streets are so narrow and there are so many people it's packed! It's polluted as well. There are puddles everywhere and rocks in some areas. Basta I'll take pics this week so that y'all can see it to know for yourselves haha.

Although our area isn't the prettiest, it's really big and and there are tons of people so we have maraming investigators! We'll never get out of people to teach, that's for sure. The problem we are having right now is finding quality, instead of quantity. We don't have many quality investigators who are progressing, pero we have a few naman. In our ward council yesterday we discussed setting appointments with the active members so that we can get some referrals.

Well I'm still pretty new being a Zone Leader so I can't say too much about it yet, pero I'm honestly so excited for this responsibility and chance to serve. It was cool, yesterday Elder Hanie (of the area seventy) came to our stake so I was able to meet most of the missionaries in my zone. It was also cool to do follow up calls with my district leaders and get a feel of the life of a zone leader and the responsibilities I have. I read an article that Elder Vergara gave me to read. It's so awesome talaga. It's from President Eyering about being a Zone Leader. Reading it I felt some pressure, but mostly just excitement!

Thats pretty much all family. Elder Vergara explained to me that email time as a zone leader is mostly sending numbers and emailing President, so I feel like my emails will continue to be a little shorter. I will continue to share will y'all the wonderful things I learn daily as the Lord's representative and the miracles that occur, but don't expect too much haha. Just know that I love y'all and I know with all my heart that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and I couldn't be happier than I am in the PQCM right now!

ingat palagi :)

Love,

Elder Johnson