A Wonderful Surprise

Progression
this week was another great week. we tried to focus as much as possible on the investigators that we found the last couple weeks. we also focused on extending baptismal dates to them all. it turned out pretty great! almost all commited to a date to prepare for baptism. haha! we will see how many of them are seriously commited, because a lot of the time they just say yes because they are to shy to say no. haha. sometimes i feel like the parable of the Gospel net is the theme of my mission sometimes haha. we teach and work with a lot of people but in the end most of the time we are just sepparating those that are ready from those not so ready.

this week we had a great experience. we have been working with Brother Jayel(progressing) for a couple weeks now. he has been gaining a stronger and stronger testimony of Joseph Smith every week. especially as he has come to church. everytime we visit him he has shared how close he is to completely believing that this is the true church... he is pretty close ("97%") haha. as we studied and planned for him we decided we needed to teach him the Law of Chastisy in order to help him become more prepared for his baptism in a couple weeks. we new it was going to be one of those lessons that would be very difficult for him and would be a deciding lesson in his future progression t... because he is part of the LGBT group. when we usually teach he usually asks a lot of questions but as we began to teach and explain the standards of the church he became very quiet and silently listened. when we finished explaining the standards. he asked whether it was a sin to be part of the LGBT. after we further explained the standards he said. "I know what you are teaching is true, and i want to follow it. but this commandment will be very hard for me. i can't promise that i will be able to follow it perfectly at first but i will try!" It was more than we were expecting him to say! both i and elder motley were amayzed and suprized at how converted he really is. up till this point we weren't really sure if he was following his commitments because he was being converted or whether he just liked one of us. we had him pray at the conclusion of the lesson and i remember feeling the spirit so strongly as he humbly asked for the help and strength to turn from those sins he is having such a hard time with. it was one of the most spiritual lessons i have ever had on my mission. I love seeing others as they follow the promptings of the spirit as they repent!

Flooding and Progress

Writing With an IPad weekly email

we started the week bygettingpunted from theinvestigarors that we found last week. so wejustwent finding again. we ended up finding a really nice/receptive old former investigator. we only found himbecause  i had taught himonce before when i wasonexchangeswith elder castillio. he lives in a abandoned house all byhimself but he still told us thathe would  goto church thissunday. the week was starting to look great! the nextfew hours and thenext few dayswe continued to find more andmorereceptive people toteach. as we were findingone morning we heardsomeonecallout to us "hey guys!" haha it was a middle aged guy sitting ona cool low rideing four wheeler. haha. at first we just thoughtitwasoneof theusual colls that people have for us. butwe felt htatwe should talkto him. he turnedoutsuper nice andinvited us to his house for some water. turns out that heis super rich! he hasa huge house. hetoldusabout how he started in oneof thesmallest towns in cagayan as a ordinary farmer then heandhis brother invested in minibus and the business grew and grew until now, fortyyears latter henow owns the largest/most reliable bus company of ilocos and cagayan regions. it was a realy aimspiring. story and he continued to tell us hownooneinhisfamily drinks and how they are always looking to help otqhers. he isso prepared for thegospel! hejust doesnt knowit yet. haha. we had plannedtogo back to him this friday but there was ahuge bagyo fromfridaymorning until last night. we had a lock down onfriday becausea bunchofthestreets were flooding. also ourapartment flooded about three inches on the main floor. we spentmostofthe day just making sure thatnoneofour stuff gotruined.haha. we ended up goingto work onsaturday night. the streets were still flooded and we got completly soaked. we only taught onelesson to a couple that we have recently started teaching. we taught thrm the first principle of theolan of salvation. it was definetly the spiritul highlightofthe week. theyare very poor and always working. theyhavetoldusoveradoverthat they cant goto church. butas we taught themitseemedthat the spirit boretestimonyto themthatthey needto go. it wasnt just usbut they felt that was theright thingtodo.  thisissome thing that ihave learned overandover onmymission. the spirit is always thebestteacer.

Getting Close to Finishing

Cravings

there are a lot of things i crave now. Mostly fruit(coconut,pears,grapes,mangoes,bananas,jackfruit,PEACHES,kiwi,etc.) but also other things like real cheese, ice cream, and homemade baking. haha! usually before we start personal studies we plan out who we will go to and their lessons/concerns.then in personal we focus on the investigators while we study out of the BOM,PMG, and Liahona talks. during companion study we share what revelations we recieved for each inv, plan for the lessons and then we always do practice teachings to make sure we can teach simply and effectivley. Elder Motley is great he is always down to practice teach which is something other missionaries don't do. haha. another thing we are doing is practice teaching in english during comp. study and then in tagalog during lang.(same lessons) it has helped elder motley a ton with his teaching ability. it has also helped me teach more clearly and more simply. our lessons have become so much more effective and we have felt the spirits guidance stronger because we have done all we could to be ready for thier lessons.

Finishing Up

I cant believe i am almost finished as well. haha. i still feel like i have sooo much to learn!!! ugh! thanks though for the encouragement! haha! just remember that you have always been a major factor and example for me during my whole life and mission. sometimes i have asked myself "what would Johnny do?" when tempted or tired or during any of the other parts of our schedule. haha. your example has always inspired me to want to do better. I hope that i can continue to grow and improve like you always have. I am also so happy that you are my brother and that i have always had you in my life.

Bacarra Progress

Finding

this week was really good! because we still only had a couple investigators, we hit the streets and we went finding this week! haha! we found a bunch of new people. bacarra is a super good area. it seems like a bunch of the people here have been prepared to hear the gospel, it is just a matter of finding them. me and elder Motley are still having a ton of fun together. he is super funny and normal! haha. he is helping me get my american accent back! haha.

Baptism

this week we also had Shiela's Baptism. she was really excited but also really nervous to bear her testimony in front of everyone after. it was good though. she did a great job. the next day her mom Came to see her be confirmed! we were super excited to see her there! she isn't a member yet but would be if she and her husband were married. also she cares for a really old lady who is sick so she almost never has an oportunity to leave. this sunday though she did everything to make sure that she would be able to support her daughter.

Church

we also had two other investigators come to church this week. brother bryton and JL. they are both new investigators that we have met either last week or the week before. they are both studying in college. they both have a great desire to learn the gospel and know about this church. especially bryton. he is super busy with work and school. each day he usually only gets around 6-10 hours of free time(including sleep). but he still made time to come to church! he went to work right after sacrament!(he is a nurse)

Returning to a visited area

New Companion

this week was great. Elder Motley is an american. he was raised in puyallup,washington then he moved to richmond, virginia. He is doing great! at the begining of this week he was super ready to work hard and be obedient! haha! so thats what we did. haha. he has told me a lot about his last transfer and trainer. It is pretty obvious that they weren't getting along. mostly for obedience issues. haha. He seems a lot happier now. haha.

Bacarra

Bacarra is an awesome ward!!!! the members are soooo active in missionary work!!!! we had a fellowshipper everyday this week! it was awesome! our WML (bro. Rennyboy) is super hardworking and loves working with us. i have seen that his love for the ward and the investigators we teach is what drives him! I think this is what makes this ward different from the other wards/branches i have been in. it seems that the members here, especially the leaders, love the members. they don't seem to be angry or frustrated with LA. They all have a attitude to help others. it blew my mind when i got here!!! haha! i am so blessed to be able to serve here.

Reminiscent Experiences

this week we started with very few investigators and only a couple of La families to go to. we have spent a lot of our time finding. we were blessed becase i have actually been to Bacarra several time before. when i was in my first area(laoag 2b) both the DL and ZLs were in bacarra. so it seemed like we were always here. this week i was blessed to recognize and remember a bunch of the people that the elders were teaching 2y ago. one of which was a RC family who has since gone less active. i was a little dissapointed that they have become less active because they seemed soo strong in the church before. this week we worked hard to bring back the faith that they had built so long ago. we were basically jumping for joy when they came to church yesterday!!!!! haha

there is another investigator family that the elders used to teach. i remember on exchanges i always thought that they were members. haha.turns out they were investigators. they were dropped for a long time and the elders just before us started to teach them again. they have a lot of concerns that we will need to resolve before they can be baptized (marriage being the largest) but one of their daughters(shiela) has been preparing for a while and will be having her baptism this saturday! she and  Elder Motley are both super excited! haha

I am pretty excited for it too. this will be the first investigator to get baptised for elder Motley. it will be great for him because he has gotten a bit discouraged mostly because of his last trainer, language, and lack of progression in the area. I hope this will give another boost to his confidence and help him to overcome the discouragment he has felt.

Long Letter and Lots of Pictures

Transferred

sorry i am emailing a little early because i am being transfered again and we need to travel to Lallo latter on. i was super sad when we got the text about the transfers even though i was expecting it. even though i have only been in sta ana for one transfer i have made so many new friends and have come to love them all. me and elder robles started off not knowing anything about the area and now we both feel like it is our second home. I am going to miss all the members and all our investigators! we have seen the problems and challenges, and we have seen the blessings and progression of this area during the last transfer. I feel like in the next couple transfers this small branch's progressions is going to explode! i know that elder Robles will continue to care for the people here. he is a great missionary and has taught me soo much! i am truly blessed that i was able to be his companion.

New Companion

my next companion is, elder Motley. he has only been in the mission for one cycle so i will be follow up training! haha wahoo! haha! i am getting transfered to Bacarra. it is one of the famous areas in the mission. i am pretty sure it is the wealthiest and safest city in the mission. so... mom you don't have to worry anymore. i think i will be ok for the rest of my mission. haha. I am also excited because i have heard that there is a ward there and they have a lot of fellowshipers! haha!

Strengthening the Members

other than transfers the rest if our week has been great! we are still teaching a group of great people who are mostly all progressing. we actually don't have too many investigators in this area because we have mainly focused on reacent converts and less actives. for the reason that this area used to be the promised land for missionaries. the last couple years they have probably had around 100 convert baptisms. but for some reason almost all of those baptisms are now less active or inactive... so instead of adding to that list we have been trying to bring them back as well as prepare our investigators to be the reacent converts that will be a blessing to the branch(future leaders). i feel that most of our investigators ,that we have now, could have been baptized this transfer but we saw that they need more time if they are to remain active and help the branch progress.

We will be Given what We Need

some things that i have learned from this transfer+area is that when we really focus and listen to the PEOPLE we will never need to wonder what to say. we will never need to think, "what is the best thing to say?" because it will be given to us. when we listen with love and follow the promptings of the spirit as it reveals concerns and needs the people wont only feel the spirit but they will be able to see solutions to the concerns that they have. they will see themselves changing and becoming closer to Christ! they will not only recieve a testimony of the Gospel but will be converted to the Gospel.

Testimony

I know this work is the work of God. I know that he knows and loves every one of the members, reacent converts and investigators that we have taught here in sta ana. I know that he cares about our progression. i have felt and seen his guiding hand in my life. I know that because of him i have become a better person. I have seen his hand in our lessons and in the lives of those we have taught! I have seen how much their families and lives have been blessed as they accepted and lived the Gospel. I know this is HIS church.

Baragay

Brother Ernesto

we have a baragay in our area where we teach a group(6inv) of middle aged people they are all related somehow or they are friends. haha. they all love to hear the gospel. the hard part was getting them to go to church. we have commited them a bunch of times and only one has been coming brother Ernesto. he is super humble and has a strong testimony of the gospel. ever since he went to church the first time he has felt something different. something he never felt in other churches. he is now preparing for baptism.

PMG Works!

usually Ernesto is the only one. but this week as we focused on each of their different needs he and his daughter and sister and one of their friends came as well. i know PMG is true!!! as we have studied and applied it we have felt the guidance of the spirit and our lessons have been so much better!!!! Church was a great experience for them as well. for some reason the spirit was very strong and it seemed like the members felt urged to talk to and friendship our investigators.(that doesn't usually happen) haha! we love our members!!!! hahaha!