10-18-15 A great blessing

Kumusta dad! 

  We're all okay here in our area! What a great blessing from Heavenly Father. I heard some other areas weren't so lucky. We slept over the ZLs apartment the night of the storm since I wanted to go over there for my birthday. We worked in Lamut (our area) and had dinner at the Balubals home, and then went to the ZLs. That night Elder Rebojo and I had a really hard time sleeping since the wind outside was so strong and loud. I was a little worried about us, but I couldn't help but think about the members in our Branch whose homes aren't that strong. When we looked outside in the morning, we saw that there were a lot of leaves and some small branches on the ground, but no serious damage at all. We still had church yesterday, but only sacrament meeting. They didn't say anything about any families or people who need help because of the storm, so I'm assuming they didn't go through anything serious either. What a blessing! Today the wind is still pretty strong at some points, but nothing serious.

 The rest of our week went well too! Our plans were constantly changing because of the storm and other things, but we were able to get some great lessons in. We met with a part member family where the mom was baptized a long time ago, but since then has become less active. She has a son who just turned 9 on the same day as my birthday who hasn't been baptized yet, and an 11 year old daughter who was baptized at 8 I think. Jong, the 9 year old, seems really excited to learn more and eventually be baptized! I'm thinking of how we can get his mom more excited about it though, I'm not sure why she isn't right now. It'll be hard for her son to come to church if she doesn't want to take him. We'll just keep trying. It's awesome that we finally have the opportunity to teach them though! We've been going to their house once or twice a week ever since I came here but they were never home until we finally caught them last week. The plan is to meet with them at least once a week to prepare Jong for baptism. 

  Thank you for the update on everyone dad! I loved reading this email from you guys! Man Herbert must be crazy stoked hahah. I gotta see a picture! That's so exciting that Ohu's papers are almost in!! What an awesome time it must be right now for the Hilo Stake, so many people leaving on missions! I know Petter must be stoked too haha, he always talked about how he feels more white than Filipino. And man, Kala'i is such a stud! Mad props for having the guts to ask so many girls to dance; that's something I still wouldn't be able to do. And poor Lehia for inheriting the Ishibashi curse hahah. How's the surfing coming along though? Has he ditched the bodyboard for good yet? It's so good to hear that Hali'a is still the same fun, pretty girl she always was. I'm so grateful for her email! I'll reply to it after this. Eh and thank you guys so much for the video! I wasn't able to hear, but I watched it and just heard it in my head. It was great seeing you guys again! Thank you! On my birthday President & Sister Rahlf called me and sang happy birthday to me too haha. I love them! I also got a text from the Shorters who work with them, and a few calls from other missionaries. Oh and on Thursday I got a letter from grandma and the Heinzens. The next time you see them tell them I really appreciated it and was motivated from it please. And tell grandma to stop sending me money haha, too much. 

 Anyway, I think that's about it for the week! I really hope you guys weren't stressing out about my safety the past few days. If it ever happens again just know that I'm 100% okay, so don't worry about me. We're at a different computer shop right now and it can't read my camera, so I can't send any pictures today. I didn't take a lot this week anyway. Oh but real quick before I go, I have a request. If possible, can you try to send some songs to me? Like Musical Truth, Poly, mission appropriate songs? It's fine if no can though. Okay love you guys! Thanks for the email!

Mahal kita,

Elder Ishibashi