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.