May 28, 2014

Anyways this week was probably the hardest in a while. We just were having a lot of obstacles it seems. No one working with us, our ward mission leader moved away, and we were just so busy we couldn't get out to really work. It was hard in general! But.. Things are going good and we still had some good things happen. Our one progressing investigator who just showed up with his friend, Mar, He is doing so good. He is so smart, he understand everything, and even more is he accepts thing instantly. He is sooo determined become a member it is crazy! I love teaching people like that. Anyways I am happy about that! Anyways.. it is about rainy season and it has been pouring down! Holy Moly! It gets super hot than it just pours tons and tons of rain! It has been hard with that too. It is never easy to teach with the rain keeping us from getting places. Lately I have been trying to set good goals and really come through with them. Working out was a big one. I need to lose weight to come home looking good haha. But more of all I have seen how goals are important in our lives, as well as spiritually. How can we ever become like our Heavenly Father if we aren't becoming better. We need to be better today than we were yesterday. I believe that, and I know that Heavenly Father has sen us here to do that, to become better now than last time. Anyways, that is all I really have! It has just been a rough but good week. All I know is, this Church is True, and I am proud to be here as a representative of Jesus Christ!

May 18, 2014

This week was great! We had a lot of success. We got a referral and this kid name is Mar Angelo Sy. He just out of curiosity and with a help from a friend decided to come to church. Ever since then, he seems determined to become a member of this Church. It has been great teaching him. He has accepted a baptismal date and we are looking at some good things to happen in this area by next transfer. It is insane how the work can change with the right people and the right place. We did great with finding new people, and we are hoping to be finding a couple more through referrals. The more and more I go through this mission the more i receive a firm conviction that this church is true. The work is smooth and it is a time of peace and happiness. I am sure that whatever comes in my way though is nothing, I feel so happy to be here serving and I am excited to spend my last 6 months going hard! 

May 5, 2014

Anyways mom, this week was a good week. There were a lot of suprises. first of was I was called a District Leader, I thought because I was getting a little old in the mission, President would pass me up, I was wrong. We also had just a lot of success. The kid's we baptized, their family is not complete yet. We are now working on their step dad. He is the coolest investigator though. Ever since he started reading the Book of Mormon he has just converted himself. We have been talking to him more detailed and more carefully about the Gospel, he truly has been prepared by the Lord. The only problem now is getting him to commit to a baptismal date, he just wants to take it slow, but we are Missionaries, the souls that God needs to be prepared to receive eternal salvation must be ready .. immediately. I wonder if that is selfish of me .. I really want to see him get baptized though, and make sure he gets there step by step! He is great guy. I truly have a testimony in the power of the Book of Mormon though, it truly changes peoples lives and thoughts. It humbles even the most intelligent of people to believe that Jesus is the Christ. We also found another investigator who we are excited to teach. We decided to just go through the 1st lesson with this 15 year old, he is from a different province so he isn't perfect in Tagalog. Needless to say the Spirit was really in this lesson, after struggling through the lesson, my companion who one was not keeping up with the Tagalog, me who wasn't too sure if he was understanding my think american accent Tagalog, and our ward missionary leader. We weren't sure what he understood, he is a brother of a returning member, and he answered all our questions. In the end we invited immediately to be baptized, he was way excited and he accepted! That was a crazy day, it just seemed so fast! Besides that, we also had a very crazy lesson, we went to a house, and as we were teaching .. a swarm of crazy swarming flying bugs came into the house .. it was crazy they were flying in our ears, nose, hair, everything... needless to say.. i didn't finish the lesson. haha! We ran our of their, .. that is embarrassing! Needless to say, the Church is true and I am happy to be a missionary!

April 27, 2014

Anyways this week was awesome. We were able to get a lot done and we got a baptism. We baptized two of the most smart and well behaved kids I have ever met. Their names are Markhenzie and Christine. They are so fun to teach. Even better is that their Step-dad is our investigator and he is progressing super well. He used to not be super interested, but the Book of Mormon changed it all. Anyways, it has been so long since I have had a baptism it was a huge relief. Anyways, I was kind of thinking a lot about the early saints. I just finished the Doctrine and Covenants for the first time. It is really obvious to me more now than ever that our Church is truly led by Jesus Christ himself. He uses his prophets here on the Earth to keep us in the right path. This story has like a couple of sub plots so kind of try to keep up. We were led to these people and it is just peculiar of how it happened. We met a less active named Dexter, he owns a t-shirt store in our area. He was nice, but we didn't think much about it. A week later we meet him at the bus stop with his girlfriend. Nothing strange we thought she was a member. As we reviewed somethings in the teach record, we found that they were taught, and that the sister had needed to be baptized still. We went the next day! They explained their situation, they are really good people, she is so spiritually mature and he is a RM. They are dating, and they do interact in any way against the commandment, except for the fact that they live in the same house, different rooms everything, just same house. I found myself saying to myself.. what is wrong with that? But isn't that what the Apostles and Prophets gave us a great advice and guidance about that. God doesn't change his ways, and no matter what our opinion may be, our ways are not her ways. We were led to her, she saw us in a dream, which is kind of super creepy cool. She told us she saw two Americans, they told her she needed to come back to church and get baptized. We eventually showed up and did just that. I learned many things and also gained a greater faith in Christ. We cannot change his ways, no matter how innocent the situation, they need to find a way to fit the Lords way. They need to bring their lives into harmony with the commandments. In no other way can they recieve those blessings, and in no other way can they be saved, for the sister who is not baptized. I am happy we have living prophets who guide us and lead us in our lives. My thoughts were wrong and I found that out, but we must meet the requirements for salvation. I know this Church is True and we are led by the living Christ. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

April 21, 2014

 This week was super good though. We had a lot of finding opportunities. Since it was Easter too Happy Easter! I had the opportunity to speak at a funeral. It was a part member family and as I was thinking of what to say, I first thought of the Plan of Salvation. As my turn came up, I felt that I should change it completely into a talk on Jesus Christ. I realized why, sometimes when life has troubles and hardships it is easy to rely on the atonement. In times of death times of trial we can draw power from the atonement, knowing Christ suffered these things for us. But as I continued the talk I could not help but feel inspired to relate that we can't forget the rest of the story. Christ surely did conquer death and rose again. Though we can draw comfort and strength from the atonement, we must not forget that we can also rise triumphant as Christ did. We need not just suffer and endure, but overcome.  I know that Christ lives, this Easter holiday was great. It is a great time to be a missionary. I know this Church is true and I know that we are members of the true Church here on Earth. I leave this my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I have a baptism this week so hope you are excited for some pictures!

April 8, 2014

This week was a pretty fun week. We are getting slower with our work, because we decided we could spend more time finding more progressing people than the ones we were teaching. We especially are struggling in the investigator department because we are just teaching 2 kids whose parents were less active but now are coming back! So .. we want to find those really quality good investigators that will really just help the ward and make Heavenly Father so happy to have them back in the fold. Not that he isn't happy when everyone is in, but you know what I am saying. Anyways We have been tracting and opening our mouths and we haven't seen huge progress yet so that is yet to come. Anyways I had an interesting week. We were invited to a Family Home Evening, this family was great. They were so nice and it was fun. I had previously met the sister because I bought some pearls from her, and she LOVES Koreans because she is a English Teacher to Koreans. So yeah while we were at this Family Home Evening, she was working periodically to talk to these Koreans and she kept having me come talk to them. Most of them were kids, but there was one particular one who was a dentist I guess. I definitely called her "Uni" which was a term younger sisters use to their older sisters. I also definitely was very disrespectful to her because I don't know how to speak proper Korean and that is kind of offensive. But, I got out the bare details, I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I wanted her to know that she could meet with the missionaries and learn about English and more importantly about Jesus Christ. I was unable to get her address or even explain how the heck I could ever get her to the church.. which made me feel so weak! haha But it doesn't matter, hopefully her life was affected and how knows maybe the missionaries will show up at her dentist office. All I know was is 2 things, now matter where you are or how you can share the gospel. This member decided it was perfect that even though she was thousands of miles away she could talk about the Church to her students, and more importantly, get a missionary who could barely speak Korean to talk more about it. Which.. maybe didn't help. The second was that no matter what God has promised all that if we do all we can he will do the rest. I was made a promise that I would not know the effects of my mission on others, but many will come in the next life to thank me for having given my service. Maybe a Korean will come say Hi to me.... I probably still won't understand her haha. Anyways I know this Church is True and we gotta get the word out. This week was fun and I hope everyone had a great conference, I haven't watched it yet. 

March 30, 2014

My new companion, my new area, my new ward! They are sooo amazing. My new companion's name is Elder Crabb, he is pretty new in the mission, but he is so cool. We just talk and talk for days and it is definitely better! I don't really remember other peoples names, and I don't really know what is going on, but all I know is that we have a lot of good people who really have a desire to return. We are in the jungle area and we walk a ton it feels! I definitely came here at the right time though. I have so much energy and people seem to need some good energy. Lately as I have been here I am notice we are working with a lot of part members, and less active families. These people are such good people and lately Elder Crabb and I decided, we definitely need to get these families a good goal to really fuel their desires. Of course we are going to get these people an idea about the temple and mostly on Eternal families. Some of the most basic gospel truths have so much power. Imagine a life where we spend so much time with our families, we give all we have to them, we grow such close bonds, only to see it all go away. Even when I hear that I can't accept it, Families are forever and I know that is true. This Gospel can unite us for eternity and I don't ever want to or could I ever accept it any other way. I am happy I am part of an Eternal Family, and I am also happy that my family are all doing their part to keep that holy spirit of promise. I know these things are true and I leave them in the sacred name of Jesus Christ amen. I am so happy to serve in this new area and it has really been a great week can't wait for next week!