Elder Gabe Burdeos: The Island Life 2 #WeMadeItAgain

This week had to have been one of the most memorable and amazing weeks of my whole mission!! I can't even begin to summarize what went on so I'll just give you the day by day!

Tuesday: We flew out to Palawan and met up with all of the missionaries at a chapel in a place called Malvar. They were having their interviews with President Fermanis. I was able to catch up with some friends that I haven't been able to talk to in ages hahaha! In the evening we held our follow up meeting with all the new missionaries on their trainers.

Wednesday: ZONE CONFERENCE ON PALAWAN!! I was able to attend my first zone conference here on the island. We taught with President about extending commitments and improving other teaching skills. The main focus of what we've been trying to emphasize at our zone conferences has been teaching with plainness. We did a lot of practicing with the missionaries and I believe we all came out of the conference having had a spiritual experience. At night we took a shuttle to the missionary house in Roxas!

Thursday: We got on a boat first thing in the morning and headed to a place in the mission called Green Island which is near the port in Roxas. Green Island is a pretty legendary place because it's one of the newest areas in the mission and within the span of the first 6 weeks of it being opened, the missionaries were able to baptize over 50 people!! We were able to come down and work there and there is no doubt in my mind that the Lord has prepared the people on the Island to receive the gospel. The area itself however is pretty extreme. It has no source of clean water so they get their water delivered from a different island and the Elders here have to go to a well and to get water and use that to shower. To make it even better, the water is saltier than I am sometimes hehe.

Friday: First thing in the morning we took another boat back to Roxas and we were able to work with the Elders down there! Their area was basically a giant mountain and we just walked all over the place all day it was crazy haha. We got some nice views though.

Saturday: We had the pleasure of having our preparation day on Palawan!! President gave us permission to head to a place called Sabang to experience the "Underground River". It's one of the most well known attractions in the Philippines and it was beautiful! While getting on the boat to head back though I tore my 5th pair of pants and that's about all I want to say about that hahahaha!! We rode bikes on the beach and that was one of my favorite experiences in my whole mission! At night we took a shuttle to the Zone Leaders apartment in Santa Monica.

Sunday: The Senior couple picked us up from the Zone Leaders apartment and took us to the airport where we caught our flight back to Manila. We had a fun time attending church in Mandaluyong 4th Ward and we are grateful for them.

AAANNNNDDD that brings us to today haha! WHAT AN AMAZING WEEK!

Here are some pictures for you guys, sorry I don't know what order they'll send in so I'll just give descriptions another time hahaha.