July 11, 2016

Wow sooo big change now. Elder Christensen is officially gone. I miss him a lot hahah man it sucks. It will be hard to get another companion like him. He was definitely my favorite. Yesterday was his official last day of work. We had some great lessons with members and recent converts then to finish it off we taught our investigator who was supposed to be last week BUT she cant now because she is in a "live in" situation with her husband which is weird because they have been together for 21 years and they have 2 kids that are 19 and 18 so we just kinda figured that they were married but turns out they arent soo yeah she cant be baptized which is such a huge bummer because she is way ready. Her son is already a member and their family goes to church often. But after we walked out of that lesson it was 8 30 and we started to walk home and I just looked at Elder Christensen and he said "im done, this is weird" That whole walk home was just weird because that was his last lesson of his whole 2 years of his mission. I cant even imagine that when it comes to be my time. It will be weird.

So I have a new companion right now his name is Elder Abay. I dont really know him but I have heard he is cool so I am excited. I am actually really excited to have a Filipino again because now I can start speaking Tagalog as much as I can so I can get better. Having an American comp is really fun but I need to speak Tagalog more so I can keep up my teaching skills. But everything will be awesome. I will miss Elder Chris so much. He was a big part of my mission life. He was my first DL and roommate when I first came in the mission and then my comp for 3 months so I will miss him a lot. But I will see him again. He lives in Perry Utah so not super far from BYU Idaho. He will be going to Utah State this fall.

Well I dont know how much longer I will be here in this area maybe 6 more weeks maybe 12 but either way I will be happy. Just happy to be moving along with my mission and doing my best and baptizing converts. Its a great work. Nothing else like it:)

July 3, 2016

Well this was a great week! Weeks are always great.

Elder Christensen is going home. Its sad. The transition is going to be weird. I will miss him a lot. My next comp has some big shoes to fill.

So the last few days have been pretty awesome. Two days ago we had a great day of lessons and finding some new people to teach. We taught these two guys on the street the other day and it was a great lesson. They were kinda rude though haha the interupted Elder Christensen when he was talking and asked him why his Tagalog wasnt as good as mine and they said probably cuz I had been here longer and chris said no I have been here for one more year then he has and the guys just did not believe him ahah it was rude but Elder Chirstensen is a good sport, he didint care.

So yesterday on sunday, we woke up excited for our sunday! We had a baptism that day for our main guy Clark! We were also excited to go pick up this family of investigators that havent been able to come to church yet so we told them on Saturday we would come get them Sunday morning. So we left our house early and walked all the way to their house! So we got there anndddd.. They said they couldnt come. Man that was a big disappointment. So with weakened spirits and heads down we walked back to the Chapel in the heat of the day but it was okay. We especially got happier when we saw Clark early at church. He actually tried getting his friends to come to church and they didint so he was kinda disappointed as well but we all got happy when we saw eachother and started to fill up the font for his baptism. We actually ended up having 12 investigators at church which was a record for me and Elder Chris. It was awesome and we were so happy to have such a great turn out.

The baptism for Clark was great. It was awesome to have another baptism. Clarks conversion story is soo cool. He started being a little delinquent and turned into someone with such great faith and he will make a great member of the church.

After the baptism Elder Chirs and I hit the streets and started working again. We are working with about 4 families to progress towards baptism right now and one of them is the Martinez family and they are a family of about 8. and 5 are able to get baptized and they are progressing really well right now and I am so excited for that baptism it will be amazing! We are woking hard in this area to get us to the goal of baptizing weekly and I know it can happen.

Love you all thank you for the loveeeeeeee:)

June 26, 2016

Heyyyy everyone!! Thanks for your advice on how to write a letter. I know that I suck at it so I am sorry but hopefully it will get better:)

So last Tuesday we had our Zone Conference. Thats when a couple zones get together and we have an all day conference with workshops and new information and stuff so was cool. We actually have a big change in our mission now. Since it is President Bertins last year (my last year too) He wants to make this year the best year the mission has seen. We focused on the success that has been being had in another mission in the Philippines where most companionships there are baptizing WEEKLY. Yes everyweek they get baptisms. So that is the new goal and big push in our mission right now. To baptize weekly. Me personally I am very excited to start working towards this. If this is gunna happen I am definetly in the right area to do it. We are going to start next week on july 3 with Clark Beltran. He is 19 and he is pretty awesome. He actually had a smoking problem but with the help from us and the Lord he has been able to overcome it and now he will be baptized:))  It took a little while though he has been an investigator for almost 3 months now but he made it!

Last friday we went out to work at 3 oclock after our weekly planning we had set some awesome plans and we knew it was going to be a good week. We went and picked up a ward member who was gunna come work with us and we headed off to our first appointment! But BOOM she wasnt there, but thats okay we had a good back up so went and then BOOM he wasnt there. Then I got a little mad so then we went to try and contact this OYM that we had but then hey guess what.. THey were no where to be found. So then we hiked up our huge hill of an area to contact another OYM, and turned out she was some crazy lady that just talked about how if we just believe we are saved and then tried to teach us so we got out of there. THen unfortunetly, I just lost it and was mad straight up. I shouldnt have gotten mad but I did. But after that things got better so it was okay. But progressively through the night in every appointment I felt my self getting sicker and sicker. Just my body started to ache and my throat getting sore then finally at 9pm we just got home and I passed out on the floor and I was just dead. I still kinda feel it today but thats okay it happens.

Lately I have been kinda getting in a rut. I dont like it. I feel like I almost starting to kinda get maybe a lil lazy and starting to worry to much about myself, but I need to snap out of it. I have found an interest in studying about the priesthood lately and I read a small quote in from Russell M Nelson in the last priesthood session he said something along the lines of " 

I fear that too many have sadly surrendered their agency to the adversary and are saying by their conduct, “I care more about satisfying my own desires than I do about bearing the Savior’s power to bless others.

I love that qoute. I have been pondering it the last few days. Am I caring about satisfying my own desires more than I care about going out and just serving. Maybe I do sometimes. I need to stop that and just forget about myself. So thats my goal this year along with baptizing weekly. I think those two go together.

Well hopefully this letter was better. LOVE YOU GUYS!