Don't be Discouraged! Heavenly Father is in Charge!

 

Dear Family,

Hello! I hope that your week was great. I honestly can't believe I'm emailing yet again. Weeks are flying by. Well, kind of. It depends on the day. I just can't believe it's Monday again. Which is good because I needed to wash my polo's (white shirts). I think they're staying white. I don't think they've turned the yellow color yet, but all is well with me. I've been sick for awhile, no it's not a parasite, just like a cold. But, it's gotten better. I still cough a bit, but all is well. Nothing bad is going on here. Everything is fine and dandy! How are y'all doing in America? Nice to hear that Ashlyn and Sam and dating now. That's a bit weird, but I hope that the boys are treating them with respect. The pictures of you Rome trip looked great. I'm so happy for you. Sounds like y'all had a great time. I've just been working hard and sweating a lot. It's actually been really weird, this week hasn't been that hot. I don't know if I'm just getting used to it, or what. The wind has been really good this week, just a nice breeze. Elder Doverte said that's how it is in January. So all is well here in the Philippines. There's been a tropical depression somewhere in the Ocean so we've been getting some of the effects. (thus the wind). It's been really cloudy all week though. It hasn't rained that much. The rainy season is during the summer time, so that's going to be fun. There was supposed to be a typhoon I think this week, but nothing ever happened with it. It only rained a little. We still work in typhoons, so it's not really a big deal. I miss the Utah and Logan cold. I've heard it's been really cold. Also this week I got a letter from Angie! Tell her thanks. I've already written her reply and I'll send it after I email. I also got dear elders from Courtney and a package. With an AWESOME new tie! And of course, the American Candy is always fantastic. So thank you so much! All the letters were from around Christmas time, so yeah, it takes a long time to get things here. Sorry everyone! But I'm honestly loving my mission and having the time of my life. Yes, it's the hardest things I've ever done. Very tiring, and very hard, also just spiritually draining. You've always got to be acting like a missionary because there are so many people watching you. Everyone knows that I'm not a very serious person and so it's been really hard for me, but I've been working on it. On Wednesday I get to go to the mission home for special training. It's just my batch that came in November so it should be fun. I'm excited. It's only 3 hours, so no we're not spending the night. So let's get started with what went on this week shall we?

Monday:

Monday is P-day. So on Monday we study and then wash our clothes, then we email. So Monday's are really good! We eat and then buy some food that get us ready for the week. It's fun. P-Days are very much needed. Usually on Monday's we try and have a Family Home Evening with someone, recent convert, or less active, or members, doesn't really matter. Last Monday we didn't have any appointments for a Family Home Evening so I was sad. So we just taught some less actives. So that's good. This week our numbers were very good and I was very happy with our work. It's been the best week in the Philippines so far.

Tuesday:
Tuesday we worked our tails off, just like any other day. However, numbers wise it just looks like we worked a lot more today. We worked in Canetown and South Bacayan. It's actually interesting I want to share two stories with you. 1. So we were walking and trying to find new investigators because we need some in our teaching pool. So we were walking around Canetown which has a little bit of richer people there. We see this woman standing on her front porch and then we just say hello. We're on the other side of her gate. She comes running down and then says, "I'm sorry, my mother is sick I can't let you in" Exactly like that. IN ENGLISH! My companion and I were like, what she say? We're not used to this! So then we were just like, okay that's fine. Is it okay if we can just come back? She says sure you bet. So we left her the restoration pamphlet and then told her we'd come back. Then story number 2. We went through our Area Book and looked at the former investigators to see if maybe they were ready for the gospel now. Well, I found one from Sister Elwood (Scott now). My MTC teacher. So we went and found them in Canetown. Their names are Angel, Rex, and Patrica. Their mom is a member, however, we never knew it because her records aren't with our ward. We found her records in Cadiz City and we're getting them transferred here. They're family is huge. There are more than just the 3 that we've taught. They're 6 that we're currently teaching now. I'll tell you more about them on the Saturday part. This lesson went really well though. They all seemed really interested and we're excited for them. I hope that everything works out. They're a way awesome family and full of excitement. On Tuesday we got 7 new investigators. In one day. That's pretty cool! Although, none of them came to church yesterday, which was a little sad, It's a least people that we can teach!

 

Wednesday:

Wednesday we went looking for some previous investigators as well. It's always fun looking for them because it's an opportunity to talk to other people. Just walk up and say, hi, do you know where this person lives? Then they say yes, right there. Then you explain why you're trying to find them, and then you teach them and talk to them about the gospel. Then get a return appointment. So far it's been really effective and we've gotten a lot of new investigators because of it. So that's fun. It's way cool to see the Lord help me with the Language because I just start talking and then words come out of my mouth. Sometimes, I think that it's totally wrong, but people are surprised that I can at least understand what they say. I'm understanding about 90% of everything that is being said. I can respond maybe 50% of the time. So I'm working on it. Hard. All is well though. I just keep praying and studying and trekking along. Wednesday we got 4 new investigators. So we're excited for that. Return appointments to them, and so we're happy. Last week we had no new investigators, but this week we have a total of 16.

Thursday:

Thursday was fun. We were in Canetown and stumbled upon this man. We just said hello as we were walking by and then we decided to go talk to him. We started telling him our purpose and that we were missionaries. Then we taught him about the restoration. Then he started talking about Joseph Smith and we're like, what? Then he told us to wait while he went and grabbed his Bible. Well, it was a Book of Mormon. We said, wait, are you a member? He said no, he used to investigate the church. His Book of Mormon had the missionaries who used to teach him and the date was 2006. So it's been a while. He even fed us and gave us food! So we asked if we could come back. He said for sure. We don't know why he stopped coming to church. He's about 55 years old, and had a stroke. So we're going to see what we can do with him. It was a way spiritually experience though. I was way happy!

Friday:

I wanted to kill myself. We went out to the Mirasol family and taught them. Then we decided to go find some less actives (not active at all) out in the Sugar Cane fields. Needless to say, we walked for 3 straight hours. Didn't find a single one! I was so mad. So mad. My feet really hurt, and no success. Friday was not a fun day. However, we did find another less active that we did not know was there. We taught him and he said that the last missionaries that came over were total jerks. So we were thankful for his compliment. He said that we could come back and were welcome and that he won't come to church, but we're more than welcome to come and teach him. So it interesting.

Saturday:

On Saturday Ward 1's young men and young women put on a mini MTC. They wanted us to come teach at it. So it was actually way fun. I think they understood me. My topic was understand and recognizing the spirit. So it was fun. After that we went to Canetown. We've been trying to find some good members in that area to strengthen it. We didn't have much success, but we did meet with Rex and Patricia again. We gave them baptismal dates! WEEEE! However, they didn't come to church. GRRRR. So we're going to see what we can do. We had a dinner appointment at Ward 1 bishops house. It was way good. I love some of the food here. Then... there's some fish, I'm trying to adjust.

Sunday:

Church. Love church. I also hate church. It's the day that we see everyone exercise their faith and go to church. We also see some of them not exercise their faith and not come to church. However, Ryan came to church. I think I told you about him. He's going to be baptized on Feb 2. So we're really excited! He's a way awesome guy. He's 23 and a school teacher. Way awesome. We had some really great teachings! We had 5 teachings, which is way good for a Sunday for us.

 

So this week was really good. I'm really happy with our work and the progress that we've made in the area. Dad wrote me and told me not to worry that I haven't been having success. So I'm going to try and not get discouraged. I do get really down when our investigators don't come to church, but that just means more teaching opportunities and more learning right? Right. Always got to keep the positive attitude or this is going to be a long 2 years.

I love you all. I know that this church is true. I wouldn't be willing to do this if I didn't know it is true. I'm seeing God's miracles working in my life and with these people. I'm so grateful for being called here. I love it here. The Philippines is the place to be! It's awesome. I don't mind the hot and the sun, it's just a big help to try and get inside people's houses so that we can teach and not be so hot. Even though there's no air-con, shade is better than the sun. I think I'm getting a little tan too. Be good and choose the right!

Cleaned the apartment.  Elder Ellis saw this little guy run under sink.  Elder Pineda readied the shoe, while Elder Ellis slowly lifted the compartment.  YUK!!!