Exchanges and an Earthquake

we went on exchanges twice.

Once I went with an elder who just got to the field two weeks ago and

the other was with one of our zone leaders. It was fun each time and I

learned alot both times. The new elder is Philippino so we didn't have

any problems with the language. Our investigators are doing

good, some are the same and some we have yet to find in our new areas.

We found out Brother Cristobal actually lives in another area so we had to

give him to the other elders. He is still doing good. He will definitely be

baptized in 3 more weeks. He needs to go to his own

ward not ours. It is good and also a little sad. He will now be able

to be taught with his family, but we are going to miss teaching him.

Other than that we have been teaching a teenage boy whose family are

all members, except for him. Somehow he was never baptized, but he will

be baptized next week he has his interview this week. We are all excited.

haha.......we just had a small earthquake as I typed this.... the whole

building just started to shake! haha a couple

people freaked out! Don't worry mom there are too many

missionaries in this building emailing for it to fall! hahaha!

Try... Try... and Try again

Finding Lost Sheep

this week was good we went out to our new area  by the sea. it is soo

pretty. it has a small fishing town wich is very poor. all the houses

are concrete and built right next to each other. we went finding and

we got lost so many times. it is the coolest town! it is just like a

maze! it is built on a hill so it has a ton of uneven stairs,

alleyways and small bridges! it is so fun to go exploring. the houses

are literally 2 feet from each other. there are also a ton of people.

it is an adventure. i will try to get a picture of the town and send

it to you next time. church was good we had 5 investigators come. we

didn't know all of them because we are still really new to our area!

haha but it was a good chance to meet them. one of the investigators

was brought by a less active family in our area so double bonus! haha.

my companion is good he is really good in lessons investigators

instantly feel comfortable around him. that is something i have a hard

time doing( building a relationship of trust). he also spoke tagalog

before because both his parents are philippinos.

Food and Olympics

we make: curry, adobo, fried chicken, spicy beef, mashed potatoes, and rice usually.

sometimes we cook together sometimes only one of us cooks. sometimes

the elders in the apartment will cook lunch for all of us then we will

cook dinner or vice versa. I haven't seen anyone watching the olympics

yet but i heard they started. it is in russia right? how is america

doing? do you watch it often?

A Perseverant Basketball Player and Missionary

We play basketball alot here in the mornings. i feel a little bit like

joe sometimes, because we play with our fellowshipers or ward members.

they are all super good! Basketball is definetly the favorite sport

here. whenever we play i always have a hard time dribbling and keeping

it away from them. they are so fast! haha it is a lot of fun though i

am definetly getting better at it. tell joe to keep practicing! make

sure that if he ever has a chance to shoot or dribble the ball he does

and doesn't pass it. the more he does the better he will get. that is

something i have learned. we do not get better by giving up our

opportunities to try. When we first started playing I airballed almost

every shot and tripped on the ball every time i tried to drive. but i

kept trying and i am still trying and i am getting better and

better.(not that im good). it is the same for missionary work i have

found. after long days of finding, getting punted, and finnaly getting

a lesson.

you never know when you might succeed! so why don't you try. i think i

have told you this already, but once while finding we saw a group of

teenager guys (beenies, low pants, maybe a tatoo or two) and we were a

little hesitant to talk to them because we had already been punted a

lot. but they weren't doing anything so we went up to them and started

talking to them. they turned out to be pretty cool they were willing

to talk to us and listen to a short lesson. they accepted some

pamphlets and the commitment to read them. you never know when you

might succeed.

pictures: 

Oma and Opa's apron they sent

sketchy bridge to cool maze town

A New Companion and Getting Lost in the Work

New Companion

My companion grew up in Australia. haha yeah he has an aussie accent

and he calls things funny names like: fries=chips. yes he talks a ton!

haha! i think he is one of those people who feels awkward if it is

quiet. haha! But he is cool. he is really good at teaching. he is

completely fluent in tagalog and knows how to speak ilicano also.

sometimes it is hard to tell what everyone is saying in lessons

because they will switch from tagolog to ilicano then back again.

haha. He has taught me a lot. He came from St. Ana, which is pretty

much the farthest area in our mission. so now he is rediscovering the

niceties of living in the city! haha!

Lost in a New Area

this week was interesting haha! we didn't really go to any of our new

area's yet, except for our new city area's we used to only have a

small area in the city but now we have a really large area and lots of

investigators, recent converts, and less actives in our area. it has

been fun trying to find them! we spent most of the time lost! haha.

Yesterday we had two investigators come to church! One, Henry

Cristobal, has come three times in a row and loves our church! he is

kind of old but he is super humble. he loves having us over and has a

huge desire to follow christ's example! he has been so prepared by

heavenly father. He litterally has no concerns other than the fact

that we might not be able to teach him everything before his baptismal

date! It is true what everyone says we as missionaries really don't

convert people! we are just there to bring the spirit and give the

spirit a chance to bear testimony of the things that we say. I love

being a missionary of the lord, because i get to see the miracles that

the gospel brings to peoples lives, like Bro. Cristobal.

haha! no one here nows about the superbowl except those who have lived

in america.(our bishop and his brother)  they are the only ones who

are going to watch it. they said It is better here because the

superbowl here is on monday so they don't have to skip church or feel

guilty when they watch it. haha!

Johnny i really liked what you shared about Nephi. I just finished 1

Nephi a couple days ago and something that i always love about Nephi

is that he is so free. he is always an agent of himself because he

dosn't give up. he never lets doubts or trials stop him from following

God. I am not sure what chapter but the story where they all break

their bows and nephi breaks his iron bow is one of my favorite

examples of this. imediatly after laman and lemuel begin to complain

and point fingers of acusation. nephi is the only one to not give up.

He does the only logical thing that there was to do. he made another

bow and arrow. then he whent to his father to know where to go. When

faced with a trial or a challenge nephi does all he can then seeks

guidance from the lord.

I also love how Nephi never followed anyone blindly he always seeked

the lord to know for himself of the things his father taught.(not that

he didn't believe his father) He developed his own testimony. opposed

to laman and lemuel, who followed and complained never seeking to

develop thier testimonies or seeking to solve their problems.

well I am out of time! Mahal ko kayo! alam ko po na itong simbahan ay

totoo at mahal na mahal po tayo ng diyos. alam ko po na kailagan

nating palakasin ang pananampalantaya natin, araw araw sa pamamagitan

ng pagsaliksik ng Aklat ni mormon, panalangin, at pagsisimba.

Cool little bridge ;)

This is my comp.

this is Elder Moyle's new companion! they live right next to us. he is

super funny and keeps us all laughing! haha.

this area is actually one of the areas we lost to the sisters. sayang!

it is so pretty! haha but its ok i heard some of the areas we got are

super pretty too.