8-7-16 This past week was another great one!

Kumusta po dad!

 Thank you for your email! It is such a cool thing to hear about you & mom striving to get healthier and healthier. I'm excited to go surfing with you when I get home! Also huge props to Lehia for keeping up with his Book of Mormon reading! It's crazy how he's mastered the art of time management already, and he's only 14! Too good. Thank you for the updates on everyone. Thank Mikel for me for being such an awesome brother. He's part Hispanic right? There's an elder in Solano zone who's also Hispanic and grew up in Florida. He has a lot of similarities with Mikel, even looks-wise kind of. I almost got home sick from spending so much time with him this past Wednesday haha. 

 This past week was another great one! On Wednesday we spent most of the day in Solano and waited for the new Bambang & Solano missionaries to come in. Elder Palacio, the Cuban elder, was there waiting for his new companion. While in the Solano chapel Elder Labrador & I learned that Elder Warren was in the hospital nearby. This wasn't his first time going to the hospital while in the field so I figured it wasn't too serious. After a while we got a text from him, asking for a Priesthood blessing. It was when we got there that I realized how serious his condition was. The nurses said he had pneumonia. He was trying to almost sip any bit of air he could get into his lungs, but it wasn't enough. He could barely speak because of his inability to breathe. It was super hard seeing him like this, especially being one of his closer friends since the MTC days. We gave him a Priesthood blessing, and I don't remember what was said, but Heavenly Father honored it. Within a few hours Elder Warren was laughing with us, sitting up, eating, etc. He still had a hard time breathing but it was a miracle that he got that well so quickly. It was a huge testimony builder for me of the power of the Priesthood. I was so glad to have been worthy to exercise my Priesthood power in helping a fellow missionary get better. I have a testimony that holding the Priesthood isn't just a privilege, it's a responsibility. The day will come when we'll have to use it to accomplish a big task, and if we're not living up to it, it won't work. We as Priesthood holders need to choose to do what's necessary to always be worthy of the Spirit & God's trust. 

 On Thursday we went to Cauayan for MLC again. There are a bunch of things being changed in the mission! It'll be a little hard for all the missionaries to accept these changes, but if they really sustain President Hiatt as their Mission President they'll follow them anyway. Eventually we'll get used to these things and probably learn to enjoy them. 

 Sorry, we're on our way out now. Know that everything continues to go super well here in Bambang. I still enjoy being Elder Labradors companion and we're experiencing great, great things in the work. We should have some baptisms coming up pretty soon! Thanks again for the updates dad. I love you guys! And happy birthday again U'i!! Love you :)

Mahal ko po kayo,

Elder Ishibashi

Attended a fireside/farewell get-together for these 3. They all left to the Manila MTC on Thursday night. I've had the privilege of working with all of them, so I know they'll be great missionaries! The guy on the left, bro. Jomar, just jumped in to be in the picture haha. You remember Tyler Haws, the professional basketball player with a mormon message video? They became companions in the field!

One of our RC's had an eel that they probably ate by now, but we got to play with it first

Elder Labrador's birthday was also on Wednesday! After the get-together a family treated us to Jollibee and surprised Elder with a cake! I'm kind of worried to have a birthday here now haha.

Chillest goat I ever met