Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August 27, 2016

Yeah the Philippines is just wet every where right now. EVEN IN THE CHURCH CUZ WE BAPTIZIN  OVER HERE. Sorry that sounded prideful and boastful. I am just excited. Yeah it rains soooo much and its wet on the ground, my pants, my tie and especially my dang shoes and socks. But thats okay because when it rains its not super hot so that is a bonus. 

So transfers happened last Wednesday and there is officially a lot of change now. Which I like but dont at the same time. I have to adjust a lot and I dont like it haha but there is a lot of exciting things coming. So I am here in Batasan Hills for my 4th transfer which means I will hit 6 months here which I am okay with. But our area got split into 2 areas because we had sister missionaries added to our ward. Which is great for the ward but for our area it has some pros and cons. My area is now very very small, which is great for walking and teaching but I feel trapped and I feel like I have been certain places like a million times now and passed by the same people all the time. But Elder Abay and I are seeing some miracles in our work with finding people. Not a lot but a few so far these past weeks. 1 day I got pretty down and discouraged, we had a lot of problems with missionaries in our zone which was kinda buzz kill and then our area was new and it was just kind of over whelming. Elder Abay doesnt know the area too much yet so he didint know where to go and we found ourselves in a situation where we literally had no where to go. I was pretty overwhelmed, I probably could of had a better attitude about it but in that moment I was just out of it. So we sat on the curb for a second, me in my mind I was angry, I was upset, I was frustrated that I felt that I was doing everything. But I was sitting a thought came to my mind "Hey, nothing is going to happen if you just sit on this curb" So I stood up right away walked pretty fast, (Elder Abay just chased after me haha) I took the first turn down the first alley I saw, and talked to the first person I saw and said "HEY! Brother! We are missionaries! We share to people about the word of God to strengthen their lives and their families! He just had got back from the market, he was holding groceries and said "Okay, well want to come in?" And we said yes! So we went in and we taught him and his wife. It was cool hahaha.

One amazing thing about people here in the Philippines is they are so nice and so caring! Its a blessing to work and be with such people. But one thing that is difficult is they are always late haha. We dont have a ward mission leader right now, and not many people in the ward really understand how much help we need to get things ready for a baptism. Last week we had our baptism of our 2 families and we had scheduled it for 4pm. So Elder Abay and I show up at 3 to get everything going. But no one is there and everything is locked, so we get the key from bishop and open everything up but the baptismal clothes are locked in a different closet. So we called bishop and he has no clue who has the key for it. So it was a pretty stressful time getting things ready. But after a lot of keys, stressful phone calls, we finally got things ready and got the water in the font. Then 4pm came around and there was no one there. Then at 4:15 and 4:30 our investigators came. But we had no one to preside over the meeting.. We were still waiting for bishop. Finally bishop came at about 5:15 and we started haha. I hope this doesnt seem like complaining, Even though these opportunities are stressful I am grateful to have them because it really teaches me how things need to happen for when I go back home. I am grateful that back in Minnesota things are on time and organized, and I am grateful that I am here to try and make it the same way.

But our baptismal service was great, lots of people came, the spirit was there and we helped out 6 souls be able to enter the Celestial Kingdom of God:) It really was a great feeling. As our investigators were testifying after the baptism I was really touched by one of our investigators Carmelas testimony. She is the one that we found her mother on the jeep and she was a less active and then we went to her house to teach them, not sure if you remember that letter a few weeks back but yeah we baptized the family. such a miracle from god:) But yeah any ways. Carmela said that before we came she was at a point in her life where she was close to really not believing in God because her mom had died and she was angry about it. She was close to just giving up on religion. But then we came into her life and changed her perspective. That whole story on how that worked out is just honestly all of Gods work and his timing and his way. Such an amazing missionary experience. I will have to go into detail about it more in a separate letter. But it was just a great day.

As of now, Elder Abay and I have no more progressing investigators:/ But we have not stopped finding. We have a few potential but the only hard thing is just there work schedule is very hard. The people work so hard here and make so little, but they are so happy. It is a humble experience. The work is great here. I love it. Even the hard parts are a blessing.

Thank you all I love you!

August 22, 2016

Hey everyone I just want to really thank you so much for all of your pictures and emails they really make me happy and I am so glad to see you all so happy.

This past week has been really busy. It has been fun though. We had a lot of stuff to do for the zone. Our zone is the Fair View zone and they are doing pretty well right now. We are in the top of the mission right now. (not that that matters) but yeah were pretty good. But really our zone is just blessed with just a lot of receptive people ready to hear the gospel. The field is really white and ready to harvest here. Especially for my area. Last Friday we had 6 baptismal interviews for our investigators and they all passed! So next Saturday we will have 6 baptisms:) 2 great amazing families. I will send the pictures of the baptism next week and talk more about that families. Our hard work has definitely paid off, but its not done yet still work to do. So tomorrow is transfer day and I will not be transfering I will do a total of 6 months in this area haha. Which means my first area and this area are half of my whole mission. But I am excited still. Even though I know just about every street and shortcut in this whole area only gives me the advantage I guess haha. I will be with Elder Abay again here which is going pretty well.

Last saturday I had exchanges with one of our District Leaders who is way good. Really cool guy. Our plans for that day were very iffy because our area is split so we were working in a small part of our area. So most of the day we tracted. Knocked on doors in the POURING rain. HAhaha my shoes were absolutely soaked, my socks were absolutely soaked. I was just wet. It doesnt help either that my shoes are starting to get holes in the bottoms haha. But it was a good day. I learned a lot. 

Lately I have been feeling kinda like something is missing. But recently I started to really do A LOT and deep scripture study. It has been really awesome. I feel so much happier, so much more motivated. It really is great what scripture study can do. This past week I have been thinking about and studying about obedience. This is a great topic. I was thinking about my obedience over my whole mission. I noticed that the first 6 months of mission I really was not that obedient. But now I feel like I am really obedient and I have gained a personal testimony of obedience on how it makes you happy and sets you free. Im gunna insert a part of my letter to my President here in this email about obedience.

This past week as I was doing my deep study I was studying about Obedience. I really loved it. Obedience is a very short part of PMG but I spent a total of a few hours just on studying that section and I havent even finished reading the suggested scriptures. I formulated a definition of obedience using scriptures that I enjoyed. "Obedience is giving up something willingly (1 Nephi 2:3) to take upon you the will of the father (Mosiah 15:7) and become his servant (mosiah 5:8, 1corinthians 7:22). One thing I have really learned on my mission is the importance of obedience. Obedience is the first law of heaven. It sets us free!! At first I thought being obedient kind of kept you away from things, but I have slowly learned that it really sets us free. Being obedient is an act of faith and expressing love to our father in heaven who knows everything! I know I am not absolutely perfect at being obedient but I really have blessings from trying.

I love and miss all of you back home. Thank you for all you do:)

August 15, 2016

Okay I failed, I only have about 8 minutes left to write. I have a few cool things to say so I will just cut to the chase. So this week was good. It rained SOOOOOOO much and its still raining. Man we got sooo soaked while we were working. But it was actually really fun and happy so thats good.

The other day I had exchanges with one of our district leaders and it was a really good day. We kept getting lessons and lessons and it was just flowing well. Then at about 7:45 we had our last lesson and we got out at about 8:15 and then we had no more plans. I was so convinced to just go get some food and head home buttt I knew it was not the right thing to do. We did go buy some food real quick and even though we were so close to home I thought that we should go visit a member along the way. So we went and taught the family. Turns out the dad was sick and he was really wanting a priesthood blessing but there was no one close to give one. So we were able to bless him and he was so thankful. So that was a blessing for being obedient.

Then last week I had exchanges with one of the assistants and that was a great experience. I have no time to write about it but it was good. 

NOw I will copy something that I wrote to our President in my weekly letter to him.

Last week while we were traveling to the assistants for exchanges Elder Abay and I had a cool experience. So it actually started to rain and we had a lot of stuff to bring so we decided to just take a taxi. After about 4 or 5 went by we finally got one. I always love sharing the gospel while I am in the taxi because the driver cant resist it haha. He already let us in and he cant say no to listening. So we started talking about the gospel. Turns out the driver lives in our area and his daughter was one of our former investigators. We had a good discussion with him and we are going back to his house tomorrow to share to his family. Priesthood holder and family. Score. 

Love you all!! Thanks for the love

-- 

Monday, August 8, 2016

August 7, 2016

I really did not have much happen this week to be honest. Well a lot happened. But I just failed to take some notes on what to email you all. Sorry its lame. I will say that it was way freakin hot this past week for a few days. When I go out to work I am not sure why but my lower back is just sooooooo sweaty. Geeze its like a swimming pool. I have no clue why.

We will be really busy this week, we have pday today, exchanges with the assistants tomorrow, then meetings on wednesday then exchanges with our district leaders on thursday. So this upcoming week will go by way fast I think then next week is the last week of the transfer which is just crazy how fast that happens.

Wake me up when September ends (so it wont be so hot anymore)

Our progressing investigators are doing well. Especially the Martinez family. THey have been to church many times, but they always where street clothes and I didint want to comment about it to see if they had some more formal clothes because I didint want to make them feel bad. But yesterday the whole family came in wearing church clothes and it was so awesome. I can tell they are really starting to fit in and it is great.

I challenged our Elders Quorum and youngmen yesterday that if they gave us 10 referrals by the end of august I would host a little ice cream party at the church in september. They seemed to get excited about it so hopefully it goes through.

Life is good. There is a possibility that I might get transferred in a couple weeks and get a different leadership position but we will see its about 50/50. No matter where I am or where I will go. I will just do my best and make the best out of everything. Its the only smart thing to do. For me and for others. 

Enjoy these couple pictures


This is for Carter Swift. This is brother Jean Marc. A less active from france that lives in my area


and these are pictures on top of the house of martinez



love you all



Friday, August 5, 2016

July 31, 2016

Magandang hapon mga kapatid, umaasa ako na lahat kayo ay okay lang. Lagi ako nagdarasal para sa inyo. Actually sa tingin ko kailangan ko maging mas magaling sa pagdarasal. Minsan pag gabi talaga sobrang pagod ako so mahirap para sa aking na magdasal. Pero ayos lang. Buhay pa rin. Ang linggo ko ay okay lang. Lagi ko binabasa ang aklat ni moron para palakasin ang aking kaalaman at pananampalataya. Meron kaming isang pamilya na nagsisimba ngayon. Sobrang astig sila. Martinez ang apelyido nila. Yung nanay ay si Jenifer and yung mga anak niya sina Joy, daisy, and Jonathan. Mabibinyagan sila sa august 27.

Mahal ko kayo!



Hello family and friends, 

Hope you all enjoyed a small taste of Tagalog. If you didint really get it, thats okay now you know how I felt the first 5 months of my mission. haha

Things are changing a lot in my area right now and a lot has changed. My new companion Elder Abay is really cool but still kinda hard right now with the adjustment. I feel like I am doing everything by myself haha but I understand because thats kinda how it is when you come into a new area you kinda rely on the last companion to do stuff but I am gunna help Elder Abay this week to start taking on some more zone leader responsibility. Also this next transfer our area will be split into two areas now. So we are gaining another companionship. So our ward will now have 2 sets of missionaries rather than one. I am not sure if I will still be in the area but I most likely will. Things are also taking a weird turn in this area. When I was here with Elder Christensen it was really easy to get lessons and teach and stuff but for some reason there has been a huge 180 and things are getting really difficult haha. I dont get mad or discouraged or anything I just kinda laugh to myself because I know that this is a trial and I gotta figure out how to work through it. But sometimes I do get annoyed, which I need to get better at. But we plan well and we have back ups and stuff but then boom they all fall through! Even our back ups so I just end up like a deer in the headlights not really knowing what to do. THen I get a little frustrated because we have no where to go so we go tracting. Which is not a problem but its kinda of difficult to do here. Then when we go tracting hahahah NOOO body wants to listen to us. (I am not murmuring or complaining I am just explaining) I just think its funny because I am witnessing right before my eyes the things that happens to all missionaries. They are doing awesome and everything goes really well then all of a sudden BOOM 180. Its happening to me right now haha. But thats okay there is always a way to get through it and we will find it.

Right now we have 2 progressing families coming to church. The first is the Martinez family and they are way cool. There is 6 of them that come to church and only 4 can be baptized because of age. But they are loving church and becoming really involved in the ward and getting fellow shipped well. We just have to continue strengthening and teaching them so that when august 27 comes they can be baptized. The other family that we have is a part member family. The mom is a less active and we are teaching her 2 step daughters who are 17 and 9. THey are kinda rich. We teach them down in the rich part of our area. THe 17 year old investigator Carmella is pretty dang golden. She is like the ideal investigator. She is very curious and keeps all our commitments. She told us that before she never really wanted to listen to church stuff or read the bible but when we came and started teaching she gained a big interest and now she even brings her book of mormon to school and she reads during her class haha.

I have been really trying to study the Book of Mormon lately and its hard. Because I dont really know exactly how to "study" it. But I have this guide that I have been using it and I read that with the scriptures and I have been learning a lot. I am really enjoying it. Its kind of amazing how much I did not know before my mission. I was really missing out. I NEVER read the scriptures I was always so so distracted by the things of the world. THat just shows that Satan is getting really good with distracting us. I remember that even when I was preparing for my mission I could barely even read the scriptures let alone understand them and apply them to peoples lives. But now its starting to become more clear to me and I am seeing the connections and the needs and I am understanding so much about how involved these prophets of old were in our daily lives right now. They knew what we needed by the Spirit of God. 

I cant believe its already August haha. Your summer is almost done! I remember back home that 3 months was a long time and that summer would go by kinda fast but there was still a lot of time but here hahaha man here 3 months is soooo quick and you guys are already back in school soon. One more year of school and ill be back baby. Watch out cuz I am comin in HOT!

Yesterday is HISTORY, Tomorrow is a MYSTERY, Today is a GIFT. Thats why it is called the... present...

Enjoy your days. Dont let them go by as a waste. Do something good and worthwhile. I love you all so much!


HUMAYO AT MAGPAKARAMI !!!!!!!!!


So these pics

Something we call a "boodle fight" the green leaves are from a banana tree and you lay down rice and "ulam" (main dish) and you eat with your hands!

Picture of some handsome missionaries before they went to work

Baptism of byron we had a few weeks ago

view of our apartment (random)





July 24, 2016

So this last week we had a really good week. A lot went on with teaching and finding and it was great. We found a lot of great new people to teach. One of which is a cool story. About a month ago Elder Christensen and I were at church and we saw this lady come in with like 2 of her young kids. I was really busy talking to investigators and trying to get them all to the right class that I didint have much time to talk to this lady but I asked her "are you a member?" and she said yes so I said oh great nice to meet you then went quickly back to my investigators. But turns out she is the only member of her family of  5 that are members. After church she was gone and I felt upset that I didint talk to her longer to get her information so we could come teach her and her family. But I thought it was okay because she would just come the next week but she didint. I felt really bad then because I missed my opportunity to teach the gospel to a family ready to hear it. Then the next week she didint come again. Then I just thought well thats it there goes my chance. But I remember I prayed and I asked God to just give me some opportunity to talk to her again to be able to teach her family. THEN last monday we were riding on a jeepney and she got on the jeep!!! I was shocked I was like "ahhhhhhhh, sister sister sister!!! Where do you live????? THen I got her address and now we are teaching her family which is really cool. One really cool experience. Sadly they didint come to church yesterday haha.  We currently have another family right now that we are teaching. The Martinez family. They are progressing really well and they are set to baptized on August 27 which I am really excited for. That will be a happy day. Sister Jennifer is the mom and 3 of her kids will be baptized as well. Sister Jennifers husband died a few years ago and she has 7 kids and 3 right now listen to us right now hopefully we can get the 2 older ones soon and the other 2 younger ones are not old enought to be baptized but they are really awesome. The little kids are so cute. 

Even though I am very lucky to be here in the Philippines with a lot of receptive people the challenge is still there for baptisms. I dont know if I have told you the requirements in the past but in order to be baptized here you have to come to church at least 4 consecutive sundays, if they have a word of wisdom problem, they have to give it up for 4 weeks before baptism, they have to receive all the missionary lessons. There are a few more but yeah its a challenge but it really creates some great converts and they are truly ready for baptism. So when we set baptismal dates for people we have to at least set them 1 month away sometimes even longer if they have word of wisdom or law of chastity problems.

My new comp Elder Abay is really cool. One of the coolest Filipinos I have met in the mission. But he always loses his money hahah just today he lost his wallet. This guy forgets everything hahah gosh, but its okay I am trying to help him I can tell he doesnt really want to be a zone leader, he thinks he is inadequate but I know he can do it. It will just take some time for him to get used to it. 

There are a lot of stressful events going on right now in this area in and zone but its good because it builds character and its never good to get really comfortable in your work, you always want to be striving to get better. Thats exactly what I am doing so thats good. 

This week has started off a little slow because we have had a lot to do with meetings and stuff but starting tomorrow we will start having let distractions and we can go back to teaching and baptizing:) So thats the fun part!

I love and miss all of you!! ALways remember to Piliin ang Tama
I have been really trying to study the Book of Mormon lately and its hard. Because I dont really know exactly how to "study" it. But I have this guide that I have been using it and I read that with the scriptures and I have been learning a lot. I am really enjoying it. Its kind of amazing how much I did not know before my mission. I was really missing out. I NEVER read the scriptures I was always so so distracted by the things of the world. THat just shows that Satan is getting really good with distracting us. I remember that even when I was preparing for my mission I could barely even read the scriptures let alone understand them and apply them to peoples lives. But now its starting to become more clear to me and I am seeing the connections and the needs and I am understanding so much about how involved these prophets of old were in our daily lives right now. They knew what we needed by the Spirit of God. 

I cant believe its already August haha. Your summer is almost done! I remember back home that 3 months was a long time and that summer would go by kinda fast but there was still a lot of time but here hahaha man here 3 months is soooo quick and you guys are already back in school soon. One more year of school and ill be back baby. Watch out cuz I am comin in HOT!

Yesterday is HISTORY, Tomorrow is a MYSTERY, Today is a GIFT. Thats why it is called the... present...

Enjoy your days. Dont let them go by as a waste. Do something good and worthwhile. I love you all so much!



HUMAYO AT MAGPAKARAMI !!!!!!!!!





July 18, 2016

Hey guys, hows it going.
Im not really sure how many people actually read this but hopefully my letters are getting a little better lately.
So this past week was strange. My comp didint actually get here until a couple days after transfers because he was in the hospital getting surgery but he is here now and he is way awesome! Elder Abay from Camerin De Sur Philippines! He is a way funny and fun guy. We have been getting along well these past few days.
I am a little sad right now for my area. Things were going well but they are slowly taking a detour. We had a family that was supposed to be baptized on the 30th but they missed church 2 weeks in a row and now we have to postpone the baptism until the end of August which is a big bummer but its okay that will just give us more time to prepare them for their baptism. Also some of our other investigators arent coming to church much and not really keeping their commitments so it kinda just feels like a stab to the heart because I feel like I am failing as a missionary if my investigators are losing the fire or something. I dont know its just tough. Also finding new investigators has been really hard lately too. It just seems like everyone that we talk to just does not want to listen at all hha. I am not trying to write negatively because I know things will be okay and I believe strongly that I am growing from my experiences but no one ever said you have to love the tough times haha just endure. 

My biggest task right now until the end of my mission is to learn how to love and be meek and not go home with any regrets. So if any of you have any advice on that I would love to hear it. One issue that I have for myself is that I am really hard on myself so I feel like a lot of things are my fault or that I am failing so I am scared that I will go home worried and a failure ahhaah sounds a little harsh but thats what I feel.
We have one really great investigator right now named Vergillo and he is awesome. He has come to church the last 2 weeks and we are helping him get over a smoking problem and he has been progressing! He is a great guy. We are actually teaching his whole family but they are not progressing as well.
I am actually really happy right now I just have some concerns, I am learning a lot and its just a blessing because I am changing a lot so I can become the person I need to be when I come home. Everybody has that point in their mission where they just dont know what to do or whats going to happen and I feel like I have hit that point now haha. But of course I am not close to giving up I am giving it my all everyday. Maybe sometimes I could try harder in some aspects but I am learning along the way.
Sorry if this letter came off as complaining or whining. I dont mean it to be. But things are good and I know things will get better. Missions are weird, awesome, hard, happy and a whole pot of mixed emotions but its the best 2 years of my life:)