A lot has happened in the last few weeks. We had our first full blown Typhoon come right through Lucena. You have probably heard about the many deaths that resulted from this deadly storm, but quite honestly we don't know of anyone who was physically hurt by the storm. Winds were up to 195 km/hr here when it came ashore. Some places have been without power and cell phone service for almost a week. As we have looked around the evidence of the storm is everywhere. Debris is plied everywhere waiting for someone to come along and remove it. There are homes that have been completely destroyed, and I have yet to find a banana tree that was not blown down in the Lucena area. Away from Lucena the damage is quite less. It hurts to see the families who lost the most because these are usually the people who have so little to begin with. All we lost is a set of scriptures. I have attached pictures for you of some of the damage including my scriptures and the replacement (for comparison). Marinduque has more damage than we do, and some parts are still without power. We won't the damage for ourselves for a few weeks until we go over for District Training. We think Mendoro had minimal damage, but we will see that too soon for our selves.

There are some pictures of missionaries we have come love a great deal! Each are special to us for different reasons.

The best news of all is a family we thought had left the Church has not – at least the wife has not and her testimony seems as strong as ever. We love her a great deal. Another lady we are teaching seems to be getting closer to baptism. This will be a real leap of faith for her because her husband is a "born again Christian" pastor. There is nothing wrong with her testimony – she just needs permission from her husband to be baptized. In another case a lady we have learned to love is ready to be baptized, but she and her family have moved so far from us it is hard to maintain a good relationship with them. They live on an island where there is no branch of the Church (and we can't go there), so it makes it very difficult for them to attend Church regularly. We don't have a solution for this situation yet, but we
are praying for some guidance that will make everyone happy.