Time to learn Tagalog again

Hello, So I was going to have the title be "...Are Great Things Brought to Pass" to finish the quote from last week's email's title--and it would've worked for this week too, we got a lot done haha--but then we got our transfer roster this weekend and found out that I'm going down to the Filipino Group in San Jose, and that's much more of an attention grabber. And yes, in case anyone's wondering, I have been doing my language studies, so I'm not completely starting from scratch haha. On Tuesday, we had two lessons with some inactive families scheduled that evening, but after district council/zone pictures, one of them called to cancel and reschedule. Later that afternoon, we made several calls, stopped by a couple houses (Ester and Shariga) that said we could come back on Saturday (which is progress for our area), and we met a man named Gordon walking his dog, who said we could come by again as well. Unfortunately, the other family we were planning to meet canceled right before our appointment haha, so we instead sat on a nearby curb to call Nanette (Nan). She's Elder Bennett's grandfather's girlfriend, and his dad told him to call her because she's super prepared for the gospel, but the missionaries in her area haven't contacted her since he told the mission president about her a month ago lol. The conversation went really well, and we got In-N-Out with the Bodilys afterwards before we tried stopping by a few more people for the evening. On Wednesday, we had a service at Hively again (this time at their warehouse), which was good. We then went to a couple parks to walk around, talk with people, and make some phone calls. At one of the parks, we met Jessie and Clarence and said a prayer with both of them. We met Jessie first, and you could tell that she could feel the Spirit after the prayer, but when we asked if we could see her again, she thought for a moment and said "not right now", which was unfortunate. But then we met Clarence, and he gave us his number to call him again (though he probably lives outside our area, so we'll be sending him to the missionaries closer to him). Sister Phillips (John's caretaker) then called us to let us know that she was at his house and that he had a bike he was willing to give us since he wasn't using it, so we visited them for a while, helped out where we could, and shared a message with them, it was good. Thursday was our weekly planning session, and afterwards, we went to another park to do what we did yesterday. After talking with one of our members for a moment, we ran into a guy named Karl right before we were about to leave the park. He shared his testimony of Jesus Christ and how he came to Christianity, and after we talked for a bit, he gave us his number to talk with him again (unfortunately, we found out a couple days ago that he blocked our number lol). We then had dinner with the Bishop's family, and his wife sent us home with a box of girl scout cookies, which were great. We then made a few more stop bys, but it was later in the evening, so we eventually headed back home. On Friday, we did some social media work and went over to another park to keep experimenting with park contacting like we have the past few days. As we were making some calls, we called Ian, who we met last week, and he said he was free that evening if we wanted to meet (of course we did haha), so then we called one of our members to join us that evening. We then talked to a guy named Sam as he was weeding his yard. We offered to help, but he said it was alright, so we just talked got to know each other, he shared his desire to learn more about God/Jesus Christ by studying the Bible since he's converted to Christianity, and we told him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. The Spirit wasn't as strong since he was busy weeding, but he gave us his number and said we could come by sometime. We then drove to Panda Express to get dinner before meeting with Ian, and on the way there, we called someone that Elder Bennett has been teaching over social media, and since she's from the Philippines, I got to practice Tagalog with her. I still need a lot of practice, and it was a bit rough haha, but it was good. We then had a great discussion with Ian and Brother Steiner (our friend from the ward), and they got along well. We were all able to share our testimonies of Jesus Christ, the three of us were able to explain our faith and the gospel and give him some perspectives to think about and concepts to study, and we're planning to see him again this next weekend. Saturday looked to be our busiest day of the transfer. We had a lot of lessons set up, which was great considering how few we've had the past several weeks. We first met with a man named Harry, but after teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he told us he wasn't interested, which was a bummer. The next appointment we had, S.S.P., didn't answer the door or our texts, so that was also a bummer, but then we met a woman in that same apartment complexes who was open to have the Mandarin Elders visit her, so that was a sweet miracle. We then went to the church to meet with said Elders for a blitz/exchange, but they were running late, so we just had another phone call lesson with Nan, in which we taught the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and baptism by proper authority. It was great, she loved it, and we got in contact with the Sisters near her, which is fantastic. The other Elders then showed up and told us that while they were at a baptism for a guy named Amador with the YSA Elders, another guy who attended the baptism and had been taught by his girlfriend for nearly 4 years in the Young Single Adult ward came up to them afterwards and said that he wanted to be baptized too. They told that to Elder Allan, the district leader, and he did a baptism interview with him on the spot haha. Elder Allan reviewed all the lessons with him right there, and the guy agreed to be baptized the next day on Sunday. Plus, Amador was being ordained as a priest on Sunday morning, so he was going to be the one baptizing him afterwards. It was pretty sweet, even if it meant we didn't have time for the blitz/exchange. We then helped our neighbor move a table, and we asked her if she wanted a blessing because of what she's going through. She said yes, and that she'll knock on our door after she was done helping her mom, so we were waiting and studying...but she never knocked lol, so we eventually just headed out for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, because of that, we were late to an appointment with Ester, so she wasn't there when we came by. We then met with Shariga, but after testifying of eternal families, the resurrection, the plan of salvation, and how God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus is the Christ, she said she wasn't interested, she just wanted to serve/help people if we or the Church had any service opportunities. We then met with Bruce, and he told us about his experiences at the temple on Wednesday. After Bruce, we had a transfer party with our zone and had pizza together as we waited for the transfer rosters....but they never came haha. It was all good though, we had a fun time. On Sunday morning, we finally got the transfer roster haha, and like I said earlier, I'm heading down to San Jose to be in a trio with Elders Bundy and Kindall (other Tagalog Elders) in the Filipino Group down there, so that'll be both exciting and a wake up call for my Tagalog haha. It's too bad I'm leaving as we're getting the ball rolling here in Pleasanton, but it is what it is. San Jose should be quite different than it is up here haha, it'll be an adventure. After church, we had lunch with a member family and talked about spiritual gifts, and we later went to visit John. He wasn't at his house, he was visiting the Phillips, but his neighbor was going to visit him the same time we were. It was nighttime, and she was checking on him to see if he was home, and right when she did, Elder Bennett stepped on a twig, making a large cracking sound behind her. We realized later after briefly talking with her that that situation probably seemed a lot like a horror movie haha, but it's all good. After making some stop bys and calls, we met Bob and Lucy, who have both met missionaries before in the past and have friends who are members of the Church. He doesn't believe in God yet acknowledges that something's out there, whereas she came from another faith and seems super prepared for the gospel. We talked a bit about missions and how we receive witnesses from God only after we exercise faith, both Elder Bennett and I bore our testimonies, and the Spirit was super strong...but when we asked him to pray he said no, he doesn't believe that, which was a bummer. We then testified of the Book of Mormon and how it's a second witness alongside the Bible that Jesus is the Christ and that God is real, and he still wasn't having it, but they both wanted us to come over on Wednesday, which is good. As Elder Bennett was talking with Bob, I stepped to the side to give Lucy a Book of Mormon and invited her to read the introduction first, which she readily accepted. Probably one of our more united/Spirit-filled lessons, and of course it's the last one of the transfer haha. I hope you all are doing well and continue to let God prevail in your own lives. Like I mentioned in the beginning, great things were brought to pass this week because of the small things we've done last week and the weeks before, and that's true for every aspect of our lives. If you want a closer and stronger relationship with God, or even simply want to know if He is there, the biggest thing you can do for yourself is to do the small things: pray often, read the scriptures daily, and go to church every week (or "CPR" if you want a nice acronym haha). That truly is the best way to come closer to God and maintain a strong spiritual foundation centered on Jesus Christ. See you all next week, Elder Enger