Transfer Date

So this week was really rough at first.  We had Zone meeting and the lesson was all about using your time wisely and not wasting a minute.  So we decided to change our schedule up a little bit and get out of the apartment earlier when it's a little bit cooler and then come back to the apartment around 12 and finish our studies, eat and head back out to work.  Every morning this week when we went out at 10, it was the worst thing in the world!  It was so hot and everyone refused to let us teach them.  They were all super busy trying to finish all their chores that they didn't have time to meet with us.  It was terrible and so after having gone out at 10 the whole week we decided to change our schedule back to the old one of finishing our studies and lunch and then going out.  

Because of our schedule change and some interviews by Friday we only had four lessons the whole week.  I was pretty disappointed and so on Saturday we got it in gear and taught eight lessons in one day.  After teaching all those lessons and basically walking around the whole area I was super tired but it was the best tired I'd been the whole week.  We found out this week that we're also teaching three sisters and one came to church this week and we were going to give her a baptismal date yesterday but when she was reading the pamphlet about the things we need to do in this life to have eternal life in the next she read everything except baptism.  So we think we're going to talk to her a little more about it and then challenge her.

Elder Taer

We do have a baptism coming up but we think we're going to have to delay it another week because he decided to go out of town the whole week so he wasn't able to come to church and we weren't able to teach him.  Also another thing is that it's transfer week and I'm getting transferred so the amount of time to teach him all the lessons that he needs to be taught before he gets baptized is cut down by a little bit. 

The Ramon ward is going to the Manila Temple this week and I'm kinda mad I can't be here for when they get back!  It's like payday seeing people get ready to go to the temple.

My favorite family

My favorite nanay turned 50

smoking fish

She picked up a dead duck

So yeah, I'm getting transferred!  After being six months here I think it's about time even though I don't really want to be transferred because we just started teaching a bunch of people and a few are coming to church.  I'm also going to miss the families here that have treated me like I was their son while I was here.  But I'm excited to go some place new!

Well that's all that happened this week!

Love you guys

May baptismal date kami!

So lets just say I think this last week was one of the hottest in my life. Every time I went to bed I'd wake up and my sheets were soaked.  It was terrible! The fans were blowing hot air so there was really nothing you could do to cool down so it was good to get out of the house that is basically a brick oven and get out to work. 

One day this last week we decided to go teach a Nanay where every time we go talk to her she hides her cigarettes.  So we show up at her house and find out she isn't home, but her grandchild, Jon Michael, is home.  We talk to Bro. Michael and find out his uncle is Brother Danny, our Ward mission leader.  We talk to him, teach him, and then set up a return appointment.  When we came back for the return appointment he'd read the whole pamphlet we gave him, had come to church, and he had a lot of notes about what he read.  After the lesson, we challenged him to baptism on May 24.

It was probably the best Sunday in Ramon by far.  There were a lot of people who attended sacrament and we had a whole less-active family return and also an Antone who has been less active for years and then on top of that an investigator!

Mom, after I read your last letter about being a missionary, I really thought about it and then I applied it.  I went on splits this week with Elder Mccuasland again and I think it was the best splits I've had with him by far.  We talked to a lot of people and while talking to them, Elder Mccuasland asked me "Do you know these people?"  It was probably some of the best lessons I've ever taught because I just acted like myself even though I had no idea who these people were.  After the lessons people were feeding us and it was just super sick!  (good)

One funny thing that happened this week, we were interviewing a girl for baptism in another area when we asked her a question about what a prophet is and why they are important.  Right as we finished asking the question her little brother runs in the room who just finished getting interviewed and yells "hah hindi nya alam yan!" Or in English "hah she doesn't know that!" it was freaking funny and then he runs out.  

I told them we were going to pray and got a pic real quick!

Housing couple came by and dropped off some bug killer.  We went to town and the next morning there was seven more!

Well love you all!

Holy Week!

We started off last week with Zone conference on Tuesday.  President Rahlf and Sister Rahlf talked about the power of conversion through the Book of Mormon and the Atonement.  It was the best Zone conference I've ever been to.  President Rahlf talked about how Joseph Smith couldn't have written the Book of Mormon without help from God.  He talked about how during the translation when Emma was the scribe, Joseph Smith, in the middle of translating, looked up and asked, "Does Jerusalem have walls around it?"  That's just one of a hundred things that he couldn't have known unless he was a prophet of God.   President Rahlf is basically a genius and has read the Book of Mormon so many times he decided to read it backwards from the last book to the first just so he could say he did it.  When he bore his testimony about the book, it wasn't like an I know, it was like an I KNOW!  They also talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and told us as each companionship to make a special message about the Atonement of Jesus Christ for Easter. 

 Here in the Philippines they don't really celebrate Easter like we do, but they are really big about Holy Week. Over 90% of the population here is Catholic.  For their celebrations here they sing all week and have a bunch of rules they follow, like you can't leave your house one day and stuff like that so you can better remember Jesus Christ.

It was cool to share our special message about Jesus Christ and how he lived and died for us so that we can live again.  It was also cool to realize we remember Jesus Christ every week through the sacrament and everyday.  We don't just remember him one week a year.  

This week was an awesome week.  Seriously really good, because I think everyone, not just us, was thinking of Christ a little more. 

 

I just watched 'Because of Him' on LDS.org and if you haven't seen it go watch it.  It's freaking awesome I get to teach people about Him everyday.  

Mahal kita.

Fishing in the Canal

They circumcise at age 10 here! ;)

#BecauseOfHim I get to live with my family again.

Conference Week

This week at first was pretty slow which we thought would be the complete opposite, because the harvest season is over so everyone should be at home.  We'd go out to work and get punted from every single appointment.  Our spirits were definitely low.  It was too the point where we didn't know what we were doing and we had nowhere to go and teach so we decided to go to one last place to see if we could teach there.  We ended up not being able to teach because it was his birthday and they were really busy but we noticed a Nay who was shoveling a big pile of dirt into buckets and then taking the buckets too make a little wall around her house so when it rains their house doesn't flood.  It took some convincing for Nay to actually let us help but when she finally let us get to work, it was going great.  We started to talk to her a little, but before when we would talk to her she wasn't really talkative and would basically just tell us to go away but this time it was different and I could tell that because we were helping her, her trust was growing towards us.  After we finished she fed us and said we're welcome back anytime.   

Mom, after you asked me the other week about any service projects I've done in the last week I thought back through the week and couldn't remember one, so I prayed for an opportunity to serve and it was amazing how many things are there in broad day light and I never noticed them.  

So General conference was a little weird this week because I still haven't seen all the sessions because my ward only played one session on Saturday and two on Sunday, so I still haven't seen the priesthood session and one session on Saturday.  From what I saw it was all really good but the one thing I looked forward to the most in all of the talks was at the very end when they bore their testimony.  When each of them bore their testimony it was just like a shock wave of the Holy Ghost, every single time.  After I heard them bear their testimonies I was just hoping my testimony feels the same when I say it to my investigators because that's the one thing no one can deny is the feeling of the spirit.

Well I love you all and I'm loving the mission.  Everyday is a struggle and that's what makes it worth it!  I'm really so blessed to be able to serve our Father in Heaven and be a representative of him everyday.

Mahal ko kayo! 

Elder Tribe

At the Baptism

Baptism

Cleaning clothes in the river

 

So we got the transfer list this morning and my comp and I have one more cycle together so that means I'll be in Ramon for at least six months and 4 and a half with Elder Rocamada.  I'm super excited because I feel like this cycle the work is really going to be better because it's been getting better just a little bit at a time over the last four and a half months.

So I kind of have to rush writing this because we had a zone activity earlier but this week was really great and the baptism was amazing.  It was the best baptism I think I've ever been too.  Everything just went so smoothly. The end was the best part when she bore her testimony, she talked about how her husband wasn't the only reason she was baptized.  When she said that, I knew that I had done my job.  She bore her testimony about how she really knows she is a child of God and how important the Gospel really is.  I'm excited to stay in the area so I can stay with my recent convert and help her out.

This week we also had splits in Balurate.  The split was probably one of the best I've been on while in Ramon.  We went out to work and everyone was amazingly home and in harvest season that's basically impossible.  We contacted two potential investigators and the lessons were amazing and also kinda hilarious.  So the Elder I went with was Elder Mccausland again.  The lessons were all super good and it was cool to be translating for another Elder because he still doesn't quite understand what they were saying.  After working we had a huge dinner that their landlord gave us because Elder Mousley is going home.  The dinner was really weird and super fishy but it wasn't fish which was kinda weird.  I think the food they gave us was crushed up bones because every bite had over 20 little pieces of bone that you had to just swallow.  

Well it's almost time to go so I'll just wrap it up.  This week was good and I'm really thankful to be a missionary. I'm thankful that I know what is true and that I can share it with every person I meet.

Santiago North Zone

Love Elder Tribe

With the cycle coming to an end and my companion being the District leader we have been pretty busy going to all the areas and doing interviews and baptisms, so our area suffered a little bit this week with the work. 

Speaking of baptisms, we still do have our baptism scheduled this Saturday!  We are way stoked because it's our first baptism for the both of us in Ramon!  I don't remember if I told you her name but just in case I didn't it's S. C.  She is awesome and has a strong testimony of the Gospel.  When we first started teaching her, she basically was just listening because her husband is a member but now she is the one asking us when we're going to come over. The other day she had someone ask her why she is going to be baptized and she told them "Cause I want to be with my family in this life and the next."  That's when you know your time and effort has paid off and it's a good day to be a missionary. 

Yesterday on Sunday we worked with the young men from the ward for the first time since I've been here.  We had four young men show up so we split and I took half of our area and Rocky and his young men took the other half.  My first lesson was kind of rough with them because they were both pretty shy and wouldn't say much so I had to teach the whole thing but then they started opening up a little and giving the scriptural thoughts to some of the less actives and recent converts.  At the end of the splits it was a way good time.  Also one of the YM we went on splits with is waiting for his mission call and it's hard to believe that this time last year I was putting in my mission call and getting all excited to find out where I was going.  

Well that's it for this week!  Put your shoulder to the wheel and push along cause time is to short to sit and just waste time!

Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Tribe

Gonna make it short

Sunset

So earlier I was throwing up and now I have a fever so I think this letter will be really short.  

So this week was pretty rough with one of our investigators who the past couple weeks has been progressing.  The other day we went to go teach her and right as we're coming up to her house I see her take one step out the front door and then turn around and run inside.  At first I thought she was just going to go grab us chairs because that's what she usually does but when we asked if she was there the Nanay said in the most disgusting scratchy voice after taking a huge hit of her cigarette "Wala sya.  May pupuntahan sya yata." Which means she's not here and she is probably going somewhere.  She says all this and I know she is right inside hiding from us.  Not to mention we could see her sandals outside the front door.  It was pretty frustrating and I was pretty mad after it happened the second time and almost the exact same way except for the second time the Nanay comes outside in just a towel to tell us she isn't there even after her said she was inside.

 

We've been struggling pretty bad lately to get our investigators to progress by coming to church so if anyone has any ideas about getting people interested in coming to church please tell me.

We did have some success this week with bringing some less actives back to church.  On Sunday morning we showed at up their front door and said we're going to church and sure enough they got ready and came with us.  So it wasn't a terrible week with the work.

We also got a referral from a member who lives clear out in the mountains.  It was pretty awesome and the lesson was really good because the whole compound came and listened to us. 

 

Well this week was good.  Sorry for the letter but it's really hard to focus right now.

Elder Tribe

Our apartment ;)

This is how the food is cooked.