Week 64- Meetings Week

What up! Another week and another email i do not wanna update haha bare with me my friends.

This week was super busy, and not with work haha We had a meetings and it was also district conference here so we lost saturday and half of sunday. But it was really good! The meeting was in Naga and it was super cool to learn from President Reeder, i love learning from that man! He just gets life and knows what needs to get done. So it was awesome. And district Con was legit! had the temple president talk to us and then An Area Authority of the Seventy talk to us! So it was just a cool learning experience to sit back and listen to all of them. 

Life is good! nothing too new haha but i am loving it here. This week have been doing a little self check in life to see where I am and it blows my mind how fast time has gone and to see how things have changed. Never thought it would happen! I still feel like the old me, but I feel a difference. I have felt the power of the Atonement and I know he is there for me. Funny to see how things change. but i know they have for the best! life is good, the mission is a party! and im still alive haha so dont worry! be happy, and live life the way it should be. I love you all! Thank you for everything. I leave you with a scripture Alma 33:11. Until next time folks.

Week 63 - End of Drought Week

Well folks! Another week is upon us! I will try to update you better this week since I have been terrible the past two. No promises though.

So the biggest news this week! Had a baptism this week! Went super well! 4 part members. Was legit!! And the coolest part was their recently Converted grandpa got to baptize them! haha So dope. He had the biggest smile on his face! haha It was the coolest thing to see. So pumped for them. So you could say it was successful baptism.

Work has been good this week! We got punted like crazy but the lessons we taught were way good lessons. Maybe some of the best lessons I have been apart of since I've been serving. Just seeing people's progression! We are teaching a Catholic Minister right now and each lesson, he is slowly starting to realize that the BOM is true. It is the coolest thing ever!! Last lesson he just kept saying, I feel like i am close to surrending to you guys. so legit! This week has been full of lessons like that! So it has been a huge blessing for sure.

I come home every day just beat haha that is the mission life! I am loving it. It has been a huge blessing to be here for sure! The things that I have learned prolly would not have been learned anywhere else. So it has been a huge blessing for sure. Never would have thought haha but I am grateful for it. I miss you guys! Hope all is well. Keep doing what you are doing. And if you don't like it, just try something else :) I love you all. I leave you with a scripture. Philippians 3:13-14. Until next time family.

Week 62 - Flood Week

I'm Out of time again!! I hate updating you too hah so sorry.

Good week! I got to go on exchanges with my MTC comp this week! E. Packard. That was super awesome. crazy to think how far the MTC was though. I'm getting old on the mission! But it was super fun to work with him again! Still the same guy haha i missed him. 

Craziest thing that happened this week was the bagyo! It was bad here but we had some floods. Our house was ok! but we had some elders in the zone who's house got flooded! We got a call round 11 saying it was waist deep haha it was unreal! the next morning we called them to see if they were ok and they made it past the storm but there house didnt. The flood went past there house!! it was crazy. So that day we helped them clean it out. Everything got destroyed and there was so much mud inside! We spent four hours cleaning it out haha I was so beat after.. But it was fun! And the elders made it through the night. So the next few days they crashed with us and had to wait till they got new supplies for the house. 

Sorry for such a short email again, i am just struggling with all of these haha but life is good! the mission is the best. Loving every second. Even though I come home dead beat, I would have it any other way! the church is true, and the Philippines is the place to be :) love you all! I leave you with a scripture... Romans 6:23. Until next time my people.

Week 61 - Work Week

Hey all! So each week my desire to update you all just shrinks. haha I'm sorry...

So Im here now in Sipocot! This place is rocking. And my comp is a Stud!! First american comp on the mission. Elder Klassen. He used to AP before he got here so it has been amazing working with him. This dude is the hardest worker ever! I actually got to have exchanges with him when I was in my second area and ever since then, I have dreamed of being comps with him. And it happened! haha life is good.

So Sipocot is just thriving! The work here is unreal. Teaching a ton and we had a baptism on Saturday which was awesome! Just really stoked to be here and to be comps with e. Klassen. haha just loving life.

So ya this is a really short email, im sorry! just ran out of time and just cant really think right now. I promise next week will be better! I love you all. I leave you with a scripture. Alma 18:34. Until next time peeps.

Week 60 - Crazy Week

What the fast week. I can't even really keep track anymore because they go by so quick! and this week was just way crazy and busy and to add to it, transfers are tomorrow and I am transferring haha so it just makes me lazy to write! Just got a ton of things to do. 

This week has been straight busy! So we had district conference this week and we are super duper close to becoming a stake so we spent the whole week inviting members. District Conference ended up being super sweet too! Had President Reeder there and an Area of the Seventy there so it was a huge turnout! the place was packed so it was hard work well worth it! The whole district conference was on covenants and temple marriage, just things that the district needed to hear in order to become that much closer to becoming a stake! the goal is for next year and even though I won't be here to see it, it has been cool to see the church grow. 

This week was also Iriga's City Anniversary. Craziest thing ever! So this city isn't even that big but on that day it felt like the biggest city in the world! The whole place was basically shut down. and every street was set up for this 5 hour long parade... what the long. haha so it was tough to get to work! We couldnt even get anywhere and it was just hectic. added to this crazy week.  

This week also had to kill 2 missionaries in the district. They are going home! our ZL who we live with and a sister. Let me just say it is the weirdest thing ever! this transfer with the district has been so much fun. The mission is seriously an experience you cannot get anywhere else. Nothing can replace the memories and the times here. It is just crazy on how fast it all goes... With these people going home, i feel like everyone I know is going home! it is just so weird to think about...

Bittersweet to leave. Spent 6 months here in Iriga and it has been the hardest yet best times ever. The memories and the people I have met will always be special to me. Even though the work was hard, I have never ever felt the Lord's hand more in this work until this area. This is his gospel and I feel lucky enough to be called to help him bring others to the fold. Everyday we are presented with choices. Choices that will shape our future. Sometimes things will happen that will test our choices. But as we continue to show our love to our Heavenly Father we will ultimately be moving towards the best choice of all. Eternal life. I love you all! Life is what it is. So roll with it! and have some fun :) stay safe my friends. I leave you with a scripture. D&C 50:40-42. Until next time peeps.

Week 59 - Take Care Week

hey folks! Another week is here. Which means another email...

Nothing too big this week. My comp got sick! He started feeling it last monday and his body just was way weak but he was all bout that poly life so he kept fighting. Then Friday hit and he hit a brick wall haha so we stayed in to help him get some rest... Then Saturday hit and he felt worse, so Sister Reeder the Mission President's wife said it would be best to get him checked up so we had to go to Naga! That was tiring haha. We rode a van getting there which is an hour van ride. Had a little girl sitting next to me and she was not having it. haha it led to her throwing up about 4 times... But we safely made it to Naga! and we sat in a doctor's office for about 2 hours.. I hate doctor's offices.. But they couldnt find anything. But no poly just gets weak that he can't work anymore. so it made no sense haha but we had a fun time and he is still a fighter..

So that basically was the week! Me taking care of my comp and being stuck in the house.. But got some good study time and have been studying the Pearl of Great Price lately. It is crazy how much things are in there and just another testament about Joseph Smith. But I have been grateful for the time. It is also just a good time to think about how much has gone by and seen how much growth that has happened. Still blows my mind I am in this point of my mission. and this point in my life! I wouldn't take anything back though. I could not be anywhere else. and couldnt be happier. No matter how hard think work is, it is work it. Every single second. Everyday I see the blessing from the Lord and it just blows my mind how much he really is there for us. Every second of everyday he is cheering us on to come back home. So lets just keep fighting. I love you all! you guys rock haha keep partying :) i leave you with a scripture D&C 101:15. Until next time family.

Week 58 - 20 Week

Peeps!! hello :) another week. August is almost over! Also brithday day shout out to my little sister! Sofia. She is 9!! What the oldie... Enjoy your time as a kid. haha but it was a good week. Struggle but in the end a lot of learning. Funny how things work out sometimes.

We had Zone Conference this week. Always a huge blessing to hear from our mission president. President Reeder. He just gets it! I feel way blessed to have him as my mission president because he has just been a huge help. Everytime he talks, things just hit me. This Zone Conf, we talked about the sense of the sacred. Just how things that used to be really sacred are now being taken for granted. Hit me how much things are changing and how much more we need to stand up for what we believe in and how much we have to stay alert. Huge! Just awesome.

Work has been up and down lately. We have been finding a ton lately and we actually started to have some success. So this week we had our schedules booked and ready to help these people. But everytime we went, they were gone! And we would come back in a day or so and they would still be gone! Punted for days haha it was tough.. But all is well! We had one of our part member come to church for the second time. Which was awesome! he is really cool and really prepared. Just lacking marriage haha this has been our biggest problem. People getting married! Since there is no such thing as divorce in the Philippines and it costs a lot to get married, people just skip over that part... Its a headache sometimes! But he is really awesome and we will be working with him to hopefully have them married soon.

This week I realized how important the Book of Mormon is to our conversion. We have a ton of less actives in this area. As in a ton! the membership record is up to around 600 and we get around 100 plus to church. So sometimes we spend a lot of time trying to find them. And we figured out that most of the less actives, never read the Book Of Mormon, Others have problems with Joseph Smith being a true prophet.. And it just hit me how important The Book of Mormon is in our lives. It is everything to us. It is another testament of Jesus Christ, It is what proves that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. With the book being true, it just proves everything else is. It is that simple!  I never realized it before the mission. I even struggled reading it. But here on the mission, I have grown to love this book more than anything. They are the words of christ. And they truly do tell us all the things we need to do.

I have learned more on my mission than I have probably learned in the first 20 years of my life. I have felt a love and gained a knowledge that God lives and he is there for us. Even when times are dark, I know he is there helping us through. He knows everything and sometimes he just needs us to find out things about ourselves. I could not be more grateful for all of you. The past 20 years have also just gone by way too fast! I shouldn't be this old... But I am grateful for everything I went through. All the good times and the bad. And more importantly,  all the people i have met in my life. You all have helped me out so much. More than I ever thought. Time is precious. Make the most and remember, you are here for a reason. I love you all! keep classy my friends. I leave you with a scripture. D&C 127:2. Until next time folks.

Week 57 - Surprise Week

So I ran out of time and just remembered I have to write you all! so this will be really short! Same old same old right now.. Still finding, but we are seeing some success! tracted into some cool families and we will see how it goes. Also been trying to find all the members here since there is 500 plus but only 100 come to church.. Less actives galore! but we have found some that show some potential of coming back! and they are basically are part member families so we should have some fun soon!

Explaining the pics, saturday we had a child of record baptism so we show up and the person who was supposed to be the baptizer didnt show up! so they asked me to baptize the girl... Well i didnt bring my baptismal clothes so they made me fit in a filipino sized suit... It didnt fit!! hahah I could not stand up straight or else bad things would happen. so I slouched the whole time and the members had a fun time laughing at me the whole time hahahaha it was classic, definitely a good memory. so there is the jump suit. have a little laugh :)another pic of the moon! it was orange! and then just a full moon.

I love you all! the church is true.. Jesus truly died for us and through him we can become like him. I leave you with a scripture. Moses 6:57 Until next time family.

Week 56 - Simple Week

Hey peeps! The internet is back to normal! haha finally back to our usual email place and it feels good. So this will be a better email than before!

This week we went on a hike! It was up to this catholic church haha it was awesome, hopefully we will hike up this killer mountain one day and it will be dope! but we got some sick view pics and the church was pretty cool got some pics of that! We also have had a ton of CSP's still from the storm. Still hacking down some trees. Nothing better than having a machete in your hand :)

Well work is still there haha it has been tough. still stuck on the finding part! But all is well. just trying to take it step by step. It has been getting hot though! Which means no one likes being outside and they just love sleeping... So it makes finding just a little more harder! but it's ok, we continue on the path! Been a battle lately but i truly wouldn't trade it for anything. It is funny how things work out. But even though I walk more than I feel like I should, I still feel happy, I still feel good inside. I know that it is just one huge blessing that has come from this restored gospel. One thing that cannot be replaced.

This week during my study something just hit me. How simplicity is the key to life. It is just everything! Sometimes we think we have to be the best in this and that and that we just need to be everything. That is how I was thinking before. But it just hit me that being simple is how the lord works. This gospel is simple. His work is simple, and our goal is simple. To become like him. And He works best with the most simple of ways. When Jesus called his Apostles, they were just simple fishermen. Not having any clue what to do. But he made them what they needed to be. When he called Joseph Smith, he was an unlearned 14 year old farm boy, but he made Joseph what he needed to be. And no matter who we are, if we let him, he will make us who we need to be. If we are simple just as the people he called.

The mission has been maybe the thing I need the most. It crazy how much time has gone by and how much has changed. I have been in the field for over a year but I feel like I have grown more here than compared to the 19 years I spent before. I have felt the love of our Heavenly Father and I know he is there. I wouldn't trade this time for anything else.

I freaking love you all! Seriously, you guys rock. Thank you for all of your examples. Thank you for all of the prayers. I have been blessed with some great people in my life! I hope you all are doing well! Every email from you is heaven haha so thank you for the time! Keep partrying my friends, keep doing what you ened, and just enjoy life! it is too good not to enjoy :) haha i love you all, i leave you with a scripture. D&C 64:29-30. Until next time my family.

Week 55 - Enjoy Week

So the internet is still struggling here and just causing problems! But this week was really good. I wish I could update you on the week but I just can't take this comp shop so I will leave some pics and we will always have next week! I love you all, stay classy... I leave you with a scripture. Mormon 9:27. Until next time folks.