An Exciting Week!

Quiet Week
this was a good week. not too much happened. school just started again so all the kids and teenagers are all busy. haha. it makes proselyting a little more quiet and sometimes a lot more challenging. haha sometimes the roads look like they are abandoned! haha

this week i think the most exciting things that happened was...
1. Our investigator Brother Rapada(PM) has been trying to quit drinking alchohol for a while. we were a bit worried for him because he had to take a week long trip to manila. we were worried he would fall into temptation there with his friends. but we were hapily suprised to find, once he came back, that he was had endured that trip and is still alchohol free for 2 weeks now!!! he is also coming to church and will likely be baptized soon. but it is still up in the air because he workes on a cargo ship and he leaves soon. he will likely be gone up to 9 months.

2. we had another investigator sister NevaJane(PM)- we just taught her the restoration and she was really interested. when we came back after a couple days we followed up on whether she had read the bom and prayed about joseph smith. She Had DOne BOTH! haha! she also told us that her prayer was answered that she felt the holy Ghost! she is excited and progressing for her baptism this next july!!

3.this is actually more sad than exciting... we had interviews with President Barrientos this week. he told us that we were likely to be moved into another area and sisters would replace us...He is making a lot of changes in our zone i guess. i was praying that it wouldn't happen because i love Gonzaga and the people here! I was excited for another transfer there. but lo and behold i and my new companion will be transfered to Sta Ana(same zone)

by the way it is transfer day again!!! Elder Hinton has officially completed his mission and is on his way home. i am wainting here in Magapit(near aparri) With elder Oslund(apartment mates in vigan) for My new companion. He is a philippino in my batch going home, Elder Robles. he is cool and a super good missionary. i am excited to work with him. this will be an interesting week. i need to pack, clean the apartment(before they close the contract) and move to a apartment i have never been to. haha

Short email but a lot of Pictures

this will just be short because i sent a ton of pictures.

basically this week we had pday on monday, interviews with our mission president on tuesday, we traveled to laoag on wednesday right after lunch, thursday we had our meeting and the crazy once in a mission activity!!!! haha then friday we woke up really early to travel back to gonzaga for weekly planning. it was a super busy week! haha it was also super fun!

the only bad thing that happened this week was we weren't able to teach very much because we were gone most of the week. it seems like our area has suffered a little bit. haha. but we are working hard and we are applying the trainings that our mission president has given on finding and dropping investigators. this next week we are going to go ham on finding. haha! well that is about everything that has happened.

Raining of Blessings and Miracles

Birthday

2.my last birthday was mostly spent on a bus going from aparri to laoag to pick up my trainee! haha! it was a great birthday. i felt like my present was my trainee, elder Pingol. haha! funny thing is we are both in aparri again today, along with elder payne!(my trainer), to withdraw our support(aparri is the only city in cagayan that has atms) he is doing great! he also just started to train. his trainee's name is Elder Abug. seems like my last bday was forever ago! i have seen, done, and experienced so much. i feel like i am an entirely different person! but also like you said it seems sometimes like it was just yesterday!

Traveling

this week is going to be crazy! we are in aparri today, tomorrow we have interviews with president barrientos here again! haha! then wednesday(bday) i will again spend most of the day on a... bus! haha! we need to go down to laoag again for a meeting on thursday. then friday or saturday we will come back! hahahaa! it will be a crazy week! but it will be difficult because we basically have half the time to work and teach our investigators. this area is progressing like crazy! but we have had to put a lot of work into everyday! we are just praying that those that we wont be able to teach this week will continue to feel the spirit and continue to follow their commitments.

This Week:

this week was a lot of fun! i got to go on exchanges in an area called BUGUEY. it is super pretty. right next to the beach. i worked with elder Ortiz. he is a new missionary from manila. he is just finishing up his second transfer. even though he is new he is already a great missionary! his teaching is clear and powerful. he loves the people and easily gets along with everyone. that is one of his strengths. he is not afraid to talk to people. while we worked it started to rain. haha! we hadn't brought any umbrellas. and it was his first time to work while it was raining. haha even though he didn't want to i helped him realize that we still work rain or shine! haha we were both drenched by the end of the day! haha it was great to be with him on his first time being in the rain! haha! he took it like a champ! haha.

May 28 email

Member missionaries with amazing conversions

there are two members,Jonard and israel, that works with us every sunday. they both have super cool stories! it seems like their conversion story was full of faith and miracles! before they were both taught by the missionaries they were both addicts. Bro. Israel couldn't go a day without smoking 4packs of cigaretts! he told us that after the first time he went to church he tried to light a cigaret but he said the smell/taste was different and that it had lost its apeal to him. he became completely cigarette free to this day!!!! Brother Jonards story is similar. he was also an adict. he told us he used just about everything from cigaretts-drugs. also he had a bad anger issue. but once he accepted the gospel it gave him the strength to change! unlike brother Israel it didn't happen instantly but over time as he continued to apply the gospel to his life and repent. he was baptized as well with brother israel last 2014. both their testimonies invite the spirit and when they tell investigators that they know the church is true and that the gospel changes lives we could feel the power of their words! haha! working with members truly is the most effective way to go about this work!

Blast from the Past

another blessing: this week i was able to go on exchanges with elder Hontanosas! haha he is in our district again! haha! it was super fun to work with him again! he is super fun and loves the people i am always learning from him about how to build trust with others. we had an experience that i will never forget! because it has never happened to me! until now! we had a guy come out of his house and...."Yell at us! he yelled at us to leave! multiple times! we tried to ask what the problem was but he just kept saying "Alis Kayo!" after this experience we were kind of put down. haha! then i realized... this is the first time! haha i wonder if it will ever happen again! what was once a trial actually turned out to be a blessing because it gave me a little bit of perspective of my mission! haha! i have been sooo blessed my entire mission to be serving the people here! they are so humble and kind! i don't know what i would do if i was sent to Greece, Texas, or Portugal! or anywhere else! haha

Zone Activity

another blessing: we also had a zone activity this week! it was super fun! we went to the beach/church in Bugey. we played games(bull rush,missionary tag,portrait,poison!haha) and we also had a sand castle making contest! haha! our zone is super cool most are Philappinos but they are all obedient and willing to work together. i will send you some pictures.

Lots of Pictures

Someone's Lunch, a grub, a zone activity, new apartment, sand temple

Baptismal Interviews and Hot Exchanges

Highlights from the week

1. i got to interview a young part member boy. he was really shy but he has a great knowledge and testimony of the gospel. His grandpa is the only other member in his family. He was also baptised this week. it was cool to see his grandpa baptise him. it is always hard to do something on your own especially be the only member of this church in your family. I know they will be a great support for eachother! His baptism will bless both thier lives and the lives of thier family members. hopefully they will also be able to come to have the testimony of that young boy.

2. the zoneleaders came down to Interview Prince! Wahoo! just before we reviewed the baptismal questions with him. he had a hard time remembering a few things like the steps or repentance and he kept mixing up LOC and WOW. haha i was a little worried he would get nervous in the interview and forget it or be too shy to try. haha but he passed! so next saturday he will be baptized!  He is also a PM. his older sister is the only member of their family. haha she reminds me allot of natalie. haha. she is always watching out for her little brothers and teaching them about the church and helping them out with their school work and other parts of their life.

3.I went on exchanges with Elder gamboa. he took me around in his area. he is going home this next transfer. He is super inteligent and very thoughtful. he taught me a lot about working with members and less actives. Haha I have noticed that even though i am the district leader i am usually the one that learns the most from the other missionaries! haha! it was a fun day. even though it was super hot and we walked a ton! haha.(this week it was in the 90s everyday. the highest was around 98! haha everyone is a  little bit more sunburnt each time we come home! haha)

At the beach and computer shop :)

General Conference!

General Conference

this week we were able to watch General Conference. I feel like i have like Joseph been improving on my ability to pay attention. I think it is mostly due to the knowledge and testimony i have gained on my mission of prophets and apostles. it was also partly due to my desire to become a better teacher, to help and inspire those we teach, and to help our area progress. I know that through callings/responsibilities we are pushed to be better than we would have ever pushed ourselves to be on our own. the Lord has a plan and a vision for us. I truly feel blessed to be found worthy enough to have been called on a mission. I feel as if i have grown so much, but at the same time i felt my pride cut down by the talks of General Conference.

Grace

I was especially inspired by Elder Uchtdorf's talk on Grace. I felt like it applied directly to me. my whole mission i have been so focused on being perfect, never breaking any rules, which is not necessarily bad, but I was convinced that through my obedience i would win myself the Spirit, strength and understanding. Elder Uchtdorf stated simply "Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God...Brothers and sisters, we obey the commandments of God—out of love for Him!"... I have never been more suprised at a general conference! haha! it seemed like my whole understanding of the Gospel was flipped over and emptied out! haha! it was actually very stressful at first. for some reason i had never thought of it that way. Elder Uchtdorf then continued "Grace is a gift of God, and our desire to be obedient to each of God’s commandments is the reaching out of our mortal hand to receive this sacred gift from our Heavenly Father." I know now after prayer and another go through of his talk that what he taught is true! we are saved, we recieve the spirit, and blessings because of GRACE. not because of our obedience, but we are still obedient because we love the Lord, because we want to show him we are grateful for his love,guidance, and blessings. when we are obedient, like Elder Uchtdorf said, " is the reaching out of our mortal hand to recieve [these] sacred gifts"

this new knowledge has helped me understand doctrines like Faith, repentance, and baptism as well as The Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. I have seen from the time that i listened intently to Conference that i have recieved so much Grace in my life! I love the Lord and i will be as obedient as i can be because i love him. not because i want to buy myself into his presence. because i want to make him happy. not to make others happy.

Another Packed Easter Week

Working with the Members

we have a ton of great members who work with us all the time. this week a RM came with us to work. he was super good. he knew all the doctrine and knew how to support our teaching. he was great. we also had a couple of youth who are preparing for thier missions come with us. i love working with the members! they make it so much easier for our investigators, RC, and LAs progress. we saw the evidence of  that when a bunch of the YSA who went around to the less active youth this week. there was one reacent convert who has also gone less active (paolo) that they visited. then with our BML we were also able to visit him. then yesterday he came to church! it has probably been more than 6 weeks since he last came to church!

General Conference

to answer some of your questions. we haven't been able to watch general conference yet. but they will have the CD by next week so we are getting excited to see it! it seems like the last general conference was just last week! haha time is flying!!!!! it seems like the longer i get on my mission the more and more i love being here, teaching the gospel and helping others come closer to Christ. It makes me sad sometimes that i am already more than halfway done with my mission! but it is good because it just makes me want to work even harder!

Easter

Easter Here they call it Holy week or Semana Sta. basically they celebrate thursday-sunday. for each day ( i forgot thursdays,Good friday, Black saturday, and i also forgot sundays name) mostly all they do is go to church, pray, walk around praying to all the statues that they have put up around the cities. they also made big stages out of tree branches for skits of christs crucifiction. h

Another Baptism and Getting Locked out

other than that this week we had a bunch fun. the sisters in our district had a baptism. i was the suprize baptizer again! so i got to wear the ninja baptizing suit again ahaha! also both our bikes are starting to break/ parts are falling off! haha! we also accidentaly locked our  only keys inside the apartment once! haha. we used a long stick which we put through the window to snag the keys on our desk! haha! i will try to send some pictures.

1. Locked out of apartment

1. kung fu with Brian Salvador

2. some guys burning off the hair of goat to prepare it to be cooked!