Crazy Story - The lady who knows Dad!

So yesterday we had a pretty cool experience! Well the other week we ran into this lady on the street named Rose and we started talking with her; It turns out that she used to be a really active member like 20 years ago but she has been inactive ever since, but she said that we could visit her house. 

Well yesterday we shared a message with her and even though she hasn't been to church in a really long time, she hasn't lost her testimony or forgotten about the gospel and she still remembers Ezra Taft Benson and Gordon B. Hinckley and stuff. which is really impressive considering that a lot of members here sometimes forget the name of our living prophet haha. 

But after we were done sharing, she told us of some experiences that she had back in the day and she was saying it's funny that she ran into me because she remembered one of the missionaries that she said her family was really close to was also named Elder Larson. I asked her when that was and she was like "probably the late 80s" and then everything clicked because she also had told us that she was from Baluarte, which I remembered was one of dads old areas. So I told her that I am his son and she got way happy and said that she wants to come back to church. So that was a way awesome experience for me and I'm hoping Rose will be able to come back to church again! 

As for the rest of the week, we went on splits twice. One was with the APs and I worked with Elder Waldron who is my batch and he actually went to Timpanogas High School and graduated the same year as me. I had never met him before the mission but we have a lot of mutual people that we know and we also had a pretty solid day of work. I also worked in our area with Elder Latu who is also my batch and that was another pretty good day. And Saturday we attended the baptism of the Aurora elders.

Baptism in Aurora

As I said we were planning last week, this last week we focused a little on following up the people that we have OYM'ed and one solid investigator that we have found is named Jeff and his wife is a member. Right now he is receptive to our message but he still seems to have some doubts about Joseph Smith being a true prophet because he says that he prays but doesn't feel like he is being answered. But he was at church yesterday so that was good.

 

To answer your question Dad, I think an important thing I learned this week or at least was reminded of is that the people that God puts in our paths is for a reason. And it wasn't just the experience with Rose, we met some other people this week that whether they end up accepting our message or not, at least we are the ones who will be there to invite. And I'm so grateful for all the good examples and friends in my life who have gotten me to this point in my life. It's hard to believe that some of my friends are now RMs, others are getting married, and my time as a full-time missionary will soon be coming to an end. But I know I need to make the most of the remaining time that I have because there are still people that the Lord will put in my path that I'm supposed to help. But anyways, that was a kind of long email so I think that's enough for now. Have a good week everyone!

Straight Hastening & Straight Clowning'

Another week gone by; ang bilis naman! Seems like I just barely had 100 days left and now I think it's less than 50 (but who's counting? Not me hah!) so that's pretty crazy. And I can't believe all of my friends are starting to come home! But anyways, it's been a pretty solid week for us!

Like I said, we've been focusing a lot on finding and this last week we were tearing it up and we had way more 'contacts' (meeting a new person and inviting them to learn about the gospel, usually by way of tracting or street contacting) in a week than I have ever had in my mission. We also taught more lessons this week than I ever have before so we're definitely staying pretty busy. So we've found some new investigators, continued to teach others, but the only thing is that as of now, we still don't have any investigators that are actually progressing so this week one of our focuses is going to be on following up some of those contacts to see who is actually interested and has the desire to come unto Christ by accepting our message.

This last week we went on splits with the Aurora elders and I worked with Elder Labrador so that was pretty solid. We also went to a funeral, a wedding, I was the substitute teacher for the youth class yesterday in church, Elder Monilla had to teach the Single Adults class and also both the people who were supposed to speak in sacrament meeting didn't show up so Elder Monilla and I had to fill in (two months in a row I've spoken when it's supposed to be the Relief Society lol) so what didn't happen this week haha! Oh yeah, this nanay asked us to give a priesthood blessing to her motorcycle because she wants it to be a safe motorcycle hahaha. I think I've seen it all now! I was too busy trying not to laugh and then Elder Monilla had to explain to her that we can only bless people and houses. 

So I guess you could say that some hastening of the work has occurred here this last week, but in the words of my homie Elder Wright from back in the MTC, it has been what you call clllownin. And lastly, to my good buddy Dave (Dave Larson, that is) and to all the other dads out there, Happy Fathers Day! Have a nice week!

#hastening

It's almost like I'm back at Rancherito's again! 

#selfiesunday

Busy Week w/ Finna Pics

Hey guys, it's been a pretty busy week for us! Wednesday we had MLC and went into depth into the stories of the 2000 stripling warriors and also the parable of the sower. So that is what we are going to be teaching about in zone meeting tomorrow. Friday we had zone conference and the main theme was about the nature of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how we can teach that more effectively to those we interact with. At the end of zone conference we always have a testimony meeting and it was kind of funny because during Elder Latu's testimony he basically called me out in front of everyone and told me I need to bear mine haha. So I did; Kinda crazy to think that that was the last zone conference that I will ever attend!

Mini-Roxas reunion w/ Sis. Nonu & Elder Lavalua at MLC

We also had a zone CSP on Thursday. Saturday was Elder Monilla's birthday and one of his requests was to try farming so we went to this members bukid and helped them plant their rice. It was one of those things that it's fun to try just once for the experience but it assured me that farming is definitely not a career that I am going to try and pursue in life haha. There's no way I could do that every day so good on the people who do ha!

Laboring in the bukid

 

We also got an unexpected visit from Elder Monilla's cousin, Brother Ardon. He was actually one of my first APs in the mission and this week he was visiting some of his areas in his mission so he dropped by to deliver some food and a cake for Elder Monilla as a birthday surprise. So yup, that's it for the week. Enjoy the pics while they last!

Surprise visitor

Zone pic from last cycle 

 Chill b/c we all randomly decided to wear purple on Sunday

 Dinner at the Aquino family for E. Lavelua's last day

Elder Aguilar and me on Transfer Day 

We are all enlisted

And my new companion is...

Elder Monilla! We were actually in the same ward together back in Cabagan and we've also been on splits so we've already kinda gotten to know each other and work together before so I was excited when I heard that he was going to be my companion. As for the biography questions, Elder Monilla is full Filipino but he grew up in Saudi Arabia so that makes two companions in a row that are "English-speaking" (He doesn't like it when I call him 'foreigner' haha). He turns 21 this upcoming week and has been in the field for a year and two months. This is his first cycle as a ZL so technically I'm 'training' him as Zone Leader but that doesn't really mean much because he's a super good missionary!

   

We are pretty different when it comes to personalities/interests/etc; like for example he doesn't like sports and his favorite hobby is reading but he is a super nice guy and a super hard worker so I'm glad to have Elder Monilla because he will help me to not get trunky this cycle! Haha just kidding, I'm all good! We are back to having no progressing investigators but something we have really focused on from the get go has been finding and I'm not sure if we've found anything special yet but I think there's a lot of potential out there!

Elder Latu and Elder Haacke are both training and most of the people who are new to the zone are still pretty young in the mission so I don't really know them but it seems like we've still got a pretty solid bunch. On Transfer Day, I was pretty happy because I got to see my anak Elder Aguilar for what will probably be the last time here in the mission. He is training this cycle so that means I've got a grandson now haha!

I've got pics but for some reason I let a member borrow my camera yesterday even though the Espiritu Santo told me not to, and now it's P Day and I still haven't gotten it back. So yeah, gotta remember to no make that mistake again but anyways, looks like I'll be sending those next week na lang. This week should also be really good though because we have both MLC and Zone Conference...Can't believe that the school year just ended and also that I've been done with high school for two years now but yeah, congrats to all you graduates! Mom, be sure to tell Danny and Nicole that I say thanks for the package. Or tell me their e-mail or something. Hope everyone has a nice week, and Brooke have a nice birthday as well. Love you guys!

One Big Binyag

The last week of the cycle is sometimes referred to as 'trunky week' just because it means that another cycle is down and everyone is starting to anticipate for what will happen next cycle and whatnot...For us, it was a pretty fast and busy week but the highlight was obviously the baptism, and we have some good news but unfortunately we have some bad news as well.

The bad news is that Kathlyn didn't end up getting baptized because she went MIA. Her baptismal interview was on Tuesday and everything seemed like it was good to go but on Friday we went to her boyfriend's house (which is where we usually teach her) just to visit and make sure she was ready for the next day, but she wasn't there. Then Saturday rolled around and we couldn't get hold of her. And then she wasn't at church either...Turns out that apparently something happened with her and her boyfriend and she wasn't too happy with him so she was kind of avoiding him...I guess this might have been a sign that she just wasn't quite ready yet but I hope that we'll be able to sort everything out and that she truly has a desire to be baptized and it wasn't just because of her boyfriend. 

But anyways, on to the good news: The baptism itself was great! The sisters in Branch 1 had a few baptisms as well and so did the Mallig elders and since there isn't a baptismal font in Mallig, we decided to combine all three of the baptisms and have them at the same time. It was way cool to see so many people at once who were ready to accept the baptismal covenant and there was also a lot of members from the branch who were there so it was nice to have some good support for the new converts! 

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." - D&C 18:10

Another thing that was super awesome was Joan's whole family was there. When we visited her on Friday, we invited her dad who is a member but he hasn't been to church in a really long time. He said he would try but didn't seem too sure because he said that he would probably be busy with work. I was so happy when he ended up coming and Joan's mom was even there was well. She's not a member and that was actually the first time that I had met her but hopefully we'll be able to start teaching her now and try to get her husband coming back to church again as well. 

Joan and her parents

And as we were pretty much expecting, Elder Lavelua is transferred so I'll be getting a new comp this week. The past two cycles have been an absolute blast but I'm excited to see who my new companion will be. There were very few transfers in our zone last cycle but now there is a transfer in every companionship so there is gonna be a lot of new faces around here. I'll hook it up with all the deets next Monday! Have a good week everyone!