Well what a wonderful day getting to talk to my family! I hope all the mothers out there had a great day! As President Revillo said, it's your only day off haha. But seriously thank you for all you do, it is so much and goes too often unnoticed. 

This week was yet another fast one. I think they are all going to be like that now ha. I just get lost in the days, and all the sudden I'm waking up and it's P-day and I am wondering what to write. 

As I think about this week I think about improvement. Right now we have pretty good investigators, but the the problem we are having is getting them to continue to act on their commitments. It pains me when they don't come to church or tell us they didn't read, because I know how much it can help them. Isn't it weird that by reading the scriptures we will get help. Have we thought about that before? How weird, but it seriously does. Going to church recharges us, if we go with the right attitude, and praying everyday gives us comfort or help. I know because I have done it, and I have seen it in my life, and in the lives of others. The gospel is amazing. But why does it help us so much? I was thinking the other day, "you know, I tell people the gospel will help them a lot, what is the real reason"; well the truth is there is a lot of reasons, but one thing I love about the gospel is the ability to constantly improve. The gospel is change. 

It applies to me a lot, because especially this week, I tend to get comfortable. I might just go through the motions of missionary work, and that just cannot happen. But to all of us it can't happen. I've noticed that President Uchtdorf puts a huge a emphasis on that, just going through the motions, and it takes an honest heart to look at ourselves and see what we can improve on. One day I was just upset about something and wondering why things weren't going smooth, and what popped into my mind was being grateful. I thought of all the stuff that I had been helped with, and how petty I was being, being ungrateful. I had received so much and needed to humble myself a little. I was getting a little too comfortable with the way things were going, and was forgetting to ask myself how I could do better. 

I think maybe President Monson used this example, but when we look at the Israelites being lead by Moses in the wilderness, don't we just get frustrated with the fact that they were just walking around for 40 years because they were unwilling to keep the commandments. They were not only to not keep the commandments, they were unwilling to change. Time and time again they reverted back to their old ways, the natural man kept coming out, they didn't constantly try to suppress it. I hate the Natural man so much. We all want to become Christlike, but as President Uchtdorf says, "we also want to give the guy that cuts us off in traffic a piece of our mind".  We look at the Israelits and get frustrated, but what if in 1000 years people looked back on our lives, would they be frustrated with us? For me I too often forget to improve myself and that is so critical to the gospel. There are so many principles to the gospel, and it is a lifetime effort that we must have to constantly apply them, and live them. The gospel is seriously a guide for each and every one of us, and it takes daily effort. 

There is heaps (That's my Australian companion rubbing off on me ha)  of room for improvement for me, and I think this last week was somewhat of a wake up call to me, to get going. I feel like I have had a lot of those, but it is so great because that's how we learn. We are not perfect, and the gospel gives us that chance to change, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The atonement is so powerful and so uncomprehendable, but it is so amazing. I hope everyone can better understand it, and find ways to improve their selves to better understand the atonement, and receive the blessings of peace and comfort that come from doing so. 

Some fun stuff about the Philippines. First off, I love the Philippines, I hope everyone knows that, it is so awesome, but so hard to describe. The people here are, for the most part, so loving and humble, and sweet. I have never met a nicer group of people than here, just EVERYONE is so nice, and despite their poor circumstances, they are able to have so much fun. 

So Haircuts are awesome, you can go to a barber shop and get a haircut for 40 pesos, which is about .90 cents. How sweet is that! Driving here is pretty insane, I've already talked about it I'm sure, but there are no lanes to the drivers. Even if there are 4 lanes painted, there will be 6 lanes of cars, and everyone is switching back and forth, with motorcycles and scooters going in between haha. I love it ha. Another thing is people will just say "Kain!" like "Eat!" if you pass by there house. It's a sign of respect or courtesy, but I actually don't know what would happen if I said okay and tried to eat with them, I don't have the guts to try in case the food is not to my liking haha. 

The food here is usually rice and toppings, And me and my australian comp like to go out to eat when we can, but our Filipino companion will end up ordering rice and chicken from McDonalds or Anywhere else haha- it just defeats the purpose of going there. I remember one time he hadn't eaten rice in about a day and a half and was going through withdrawls haha- He didn't think it was very funny when we told him that's part of the word of wisdom haha. 

Another funny thing is that the most random people will walk around with the most random things to sell, in the most random places. I saw one guy walking around with a display of super glue he was trying to sell on the streets... Another one you get a lot are people walking around with plastic furniture, like dressers... And they just shout "Dressers!" in Tagalog hoping someone will run outside so thankful that the dresserman is there today haha. Don't worry they have ice cream men too. 

I hope everyone has a great week! I know I will, And I wish everyone a happy mother's day again!

-Elder Rock