Kilala mo po ba si Eli Manning?

Are the weeks as fast for you as they are for me? 

Water Game

The work this week was really good and REALLY good for my Tagalog.  On Wednesday night we had an FHE/Birthday at a members house.  There were a ton of people and we found a lot of less-actives.  The less-actives were asking us why we never come and visit them and so we worked really hard on contacting the less-actives in that area this week.  The lesson at the FHE was the hardest lesson I've ever taught because the lesson we were teaching I had never practiced before but the lesson was still good.  After the lesson, we were all playing games and we were playing the game where you throw the water in there face if they guess the thing right.  So of course I pick the right one but they dump the whole cup of water on my face! It was pretty funny and I was dripping wet so I got revenge when it was my turn.

FHE

On Thursday I went on splits with Elder Young from Duchesne Utah.  Elder Young has only been out for six months so our experience doesn't even total over one year yet.  This split helped my Tagalog a lot.  We were both kind of just laughing because we didn't know how good the lessons were going to be. But when we started teaching, it probably was one of the better lessons I've ever given.  His area is pretty difficult right now because they have no investigators so we ran out of people to teach after the first couple hours.  So we went tracting for the rest of the day.  We didn't know really what to expect because I've never done an OYM completely by myself. But lets just say I'm a lot more confident now.  It was by far the funnest thing I've ever done while being productive on my mission.  This is basically how I OYM in Tagalog.  

Pwede po ba magtanong

Kilala mo po ba si Carmen Electra?  (We say famous people because it's funny.) 

Then they'll say a bunch of stuff acting like they know where they(the celebrity) lives and they'll tell us probably just down the road a little ways.

We just make small talk a little bit and then we'll ask them if they know who we are and then we'll introduce ourselves and then share the Gospel.

It gets pretty funny some times because of the names we use and how the people act like they know who we are talking about.  

I got kissed again for the second time by a drunk guy this week.  I've decided I need to stay away from drunk people in general even though they are really fun to OYM.  Don't worry he didn't kiss my face just my hand. 

This week was super fun and super productive.  We have a lot of things going on in the area and there should be a baptism this week.  We're not totally sure yet if the baptism is going to happen because we're not 100% positive they are completely converted. 

   We haven't been able to really teach the referral we had last week because every time we go by he is drunk.  I think we need to just make a set time with him and then he won't be drunk when we come by.

Anyways just a good week overall.  

Elder Tribe

Hey Fam!

Felt like I was sitting in this same chair just yesterday.  This week has gone by really fast and a lot is happening in our area.  I think because of what happened in the Tacloban mission people realize that life is fragile and that at any moment a storm could come hit us and wipe us all out.  

This week probably was the best week so far in my area.  So on Tuesday, we got a new zone goal to ask for referrals from the members more because one referral is equivalent to knocking on like over 650 doors.  So this week we had a lot of lessons centered towards referrals and we received nine of them.  We have only contacted 3 but the three are amazing! 

Fellowshipper Namin

So this week I went on splits in Echague with Elder Datario.  At first I thought I wasn't going to like the splits at all but it turned out to be one of the better splits I've ever had.  We had a dinner appointment in Echague and while I was helping clean up the food, I went into the kitchen and there were 3 mice stuck to a sticky pad.  I walked out of the kitchen to get more things and when I came back there were 4.  It made me wonder if what I ate was clean.

When we contacted one referral this week, the guy is so prepared for the Gospel it's crazy.  He talked to us about how he wants to quit drinking and smoking and how he wants to change.  He told us he's been to prison and how he wants to feel forgiven for stabbing a guy.  He sounds sketchy from writing this, but he honestly is the coolest guy in the world.  We've gone back a couple times to teach him but every time he's been drunk so we would just talk.  Hopefully this week we'll be able to teach him a little and tell him about the Word of Wisdom.  

On Friday, we had splits with the Zone leaders and I stayed in Dagupan.  The split was really good but the elder I was with didn't like riding bikes around too much.  He kept asking when we were going to drop off the bikes at the apartment and just walk but I kept telling him we're going to use them whole time.  During splits we found a less active and an investigator in an area I had never been in before.

So this last Sunday was probably one of the happiest days on my mission.  When I was sitting up on the stand to bless the bread I looked out in the pews and saw 3 investigators who had shown up and also 2 less actives.  It was the best feeling in the world!  Before they came to church I told Elder Rumbaoa it would be my biggest achievement so far in the mission if those two less actives would come.  It was a really good feeling....

 

Love Elder Tribe

I'm Okay!

Thanks for all the updates about the Bagyo.  My mission wasn't really hit it just rained here.  This week was a really busy week.  After I wrote you we cleaned our apartment and I'm pretty sure it's the first time it's ever been cleaned.  It was freaking disgusting and it took 3 hours to clean just the counter top and we had to use some special cleaner.  I'll send some pics later of it.  

On Tuesday because Elder Rumbaoa is a district leader we had an interview in Echague.  During the interview while he was giving it I was in the room sitting in the corner and he would ask me what the word probation meant while giving the interview.  It was pretty funny and the girl he interviewed was completely ready for baptism.  After the interview it was too late to go home so we stayed in Echague for one night and slept on their couches.

So this week we had Elder Brent Nielson from the First Quorum of the Seventy came to tour our mission.  So on Wednesday night we left our apartment to stay at another Elders apartment to make sure we would be on time tomorrow for Zone Conference.  There was some really bad planning involved or something because there ended up being 10 missionaries at an apartment that only had enough beds for 6.  I ended up cuddling with Elder Volpe from North Carolina.  It was one of the worst nights sleep I've had on the mission so far.  When we got up in the morning we headed to Cauayan for the zone conference.  When the conference started the first thing Elder Nielson did was inform us about the bagyo and he told us it's the strongest one ever recorded.  When he told us that he asked if we could all kneel down and he'd give a prayer for the missionaries and members that would be affected.  It was cool to hear a member of the quorum of the 70 get down on his knees and pray, it'll probably never happen again in my life.  The Zone conference was about the revelatory process and the atonement.

When the conference was over we went to the Paddad Elders apartment again for one night and it wasn't bad the second night because the other Elders went to another apartment.

When we left their apartment we went back to our area taught a couple lessons and then went right back to Echague for the baptism.

 As you can tell since we traveled around the mission a lot this week we weren't able to work in our area as much as we would have liked.  We're going to have to move the baptismal dates of the 2 investigators because they didn't come to church this week.

 

 On Sunday we worked with the branch again and received a bunch of new referrals and new investigators.  Our branch is amazing and everyone wants to work with us.  The mission is great!

It rained a lot one day but nothing to worry about.  I know the storm is a big deal but even the Filipino people in our area act like they don't really care.  No we don't have a car!  We have to take a bus everywhere!  Only rich people in the Philippines have cars.

Lunch at Mama Mia's, I didn't drink the free beer!

Love Elder Tribe 

This is Elder Tribe's mom saying "Thank you" to all those who have expressed concern for Cameron and those in the Philippines after this super storm.  The mission president posted this blog:

Dear Parents, Families and Friends--this is just to let you know that the Cauayan Mission is NOT in the path of the typhoon.  We will receive rain and some wind, but we are not in danger from this storm.  Many, many others are, though, and we ask that you keep in your prayers the beautiful people of the Philippines, along with the members and missionaries--for their safety and protection.  Our missionaries have been in constant prayer as well.  Thank you-- President and Sister Rahlf

This was posted a couple of months ago and I thought it was interesting.  Here are some statistics about the Cauayan City Mission:

21  156   220   22   91   46%   17   13

21:  the number of missions in the Philippines, 4 new ones this July.

156:  the number of missionaries in the Cauayan Mission 1 year ago.

220:  the number of missionaries by this October.

22:  the number of Sister missionaries 1 year ago.

91:  the number of Sisters by October

46%:  by October, the number of our missionaries that will be on their mission six months   

        or less.

17:  the number of new apartments rented between July and October.

13:  the number of nationalities represented in our mission.

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.

Really Good Week!

Really good week here in the mission just like back at home this time of year.  

This cycle we're focusing our efforts on bringing back the less-actives in the ward.  The other day during PEC meeting with the branch president I saw the total number of members for our branch and it was almost 500.  That means out of 500 members only about 70 come to church which is terrible.  It's also really frustrating because once you baptize someone they see how every other member they know isn't going to church so they think it's acceptable. So this week because we found out the numbers were so bad, surprisingly enough the lesson we taught the most was about the Sabbath day and enduring to the end.  A lot of the members that we taught this week came to church for the first time in a long time and it was cool to see the branch welcome them all back.

Yesterday during church the single adults told me to teach them a lesson only using English.  I don't think they knew but I've been really struggling with the language and so it was a big relief to be able to teach in English.  It was also really cool because the whole time I was teaching in English I was thinking in Tagalog which made me realize I'm not as bad as I think I am.  I also told them at the end of the lesson they should feed the missionaries because we're hungry and that night we had two dinner appointments!  It's better to just be blunt about things to get stuff done on the mission. 

Elder Rumbaoa and I are really working hard and there has honestly been no problem between us.  He'll probably go down in history for being the best companion.  Elder Rumbaoa also told me some news the other day when President came by to our apartment a few weeks to talk to him.  President told him to train me to be able to be a District leader and a trainer.  I don't know if that means next cycle or just for the future but I hope it's just for the future.  I don't think I'm prepared enough to train or be a DL yet but I'll do what ever the Lord commands.  

Also a little story I forgot to tell you about last week.  So the other week it was really late and we were headed home after a long days work when we had to ride our bikes in front of a house that has the meanest dog in the area.  So what we decided to do was just ride by the house as fast as we could.  That was a bad idea because we under estimated how fast the dog was and also my companions bike.  Right as the dog ran out of it's yard to chase us my comps chain on his bike fell off so he wasn't going anywhere.  So I had to stop and shine my light on my comp while throwing rocks at the dog.  When the dog finally left and I was trying to put back on the chain, it started to rain really hard.  Neither of us had an umbrella so we were just getting soaked.  The rain all of a sudden stopped and my comp said "Wow, I just prayed for the rain to stop and it actually stopped."  It was just a cool little experience about how just little prayers are answered.  

Love you all,

Elder Tribe

Merienda time during a rain storm