Elder Jakob Van Boerum : No Money, No Honeys

Well I will finally be leaving Nabua. Really sad, because I had some awesome experiences here in Nabua and love all the members of our group. We have some investigators who have come so far and will finally be baptized next week, but by then I could be at the other end of the mission. That's all ok though. I got to say some goodbyes yesterday, and will again later tonight. I did get some great life advice from Brother Antonio, one of the old guys in our ward. He told me, "No money, no honeys." I'm going to carry that with me always. Wise words.

As for my last week in Nabua, it was pretty good! For Christmas Eve we went to the Antonio's house for dinner. Nothing too special but we had a good time just hanging out with them until our 7 p.m. curfew. Everyone here gets drunk and mess wigh fireworks on that day, so it can kind of get dangerous. We didn't get much sleep that night. Our Christmas dinner was also pretty good, because we went to one restaurant and got a full meal for about $5. Pretty great. Those days were pretty uneventful for us. Just work, work, and more work.

As for our investigators, they are still doing great. We taught Rudy the Law of Chastity and he immediately went into his room, got some bad pictures and through them out into the rain, saying he wants to be sure he's clean for his baptism. He's already planning for the day he can go to the temple and get married to a member he will find sometime in the future. He's had some cool experiences with Word of Wisdom. His friend came over to get him to smoke and he said he took a cigarette and thought about it, then a branch fell out of a tree and hit him on the head and he knew it was a bad idea. Juben also continues to stay strong. He shared a story of him going fishing and praying beforehand to catch a lot. He ended up catching twice as many fish as anyone else, meaning he could sell the extra and make some money. We even got to teach Juben's wife to try and help her understand that he needs to be married before he can be baptized. Hopefully she will listen.

My last day here was pretty great. Rudy came, all dressed up, and Juben was there with his son again. I got to say some goodbyes to some great people here in my area. We got invited to dinner, all of us Nabua missionaries. We had a great time and heard a lot of funny stories from our members. I love them all so much and I'm sad to leave the area and an awesome companion, but I know there will be people waiting in my new area. I can't wait to find out where I'm going! I love you all and hope you had a great Christmas! and a Happy New Year! (Maligayang Pasko and Masayang Bagong Taon!)

Elder Van Boerum

12/29/13