Last Letter!

Holy cow I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! It seems like I was just barely arriving in this foreign land and now I'm about to leave...I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be a missionary. I've learned some pretty random stuff from how to do a Rubiks cube to magic card tricks. I've gotten better at the piano and at chess (hmu if you wanna challenge me when I get back haha?) and I have met so many wonderful people and made many great friendships and wonderful memories...But most importantly, I have grown spiritually and drawn closer to my Savior Jesus Christ. Through the good times and the bad, I've loved my mission so much and there's nothing I would trade for the experiences I've had over the past two years.

I don't think it's completely hit me yet that I'm going home but I am ready because I know there is still a lot in store for me and that I need to apply and live the things that I have learned while I've been out here. To the fam, see you guys in a couple of days (Make sure my room is clean and Jaron gives me my stuff back ha!) and to everyone else, circle August 14th on your calendars because that's when Asian Thunder becomes available as a free agent haha! Mahal ko kayo and I look forward to seeing y'all. You stay classy San Diego. Love you all!

 Elder Enuake said he wanted to make an appearance on the blog before I left, haha

 Making the most of the final days...#4thquarter #12thround

The newsletter confirms it...Asian Thunder is out!

Rise Up, O Men of God

Where has the time gone? It's come to the point where I am just not too sure what to say! We did have an Elders Conference this last week and the theme was being 'men of god' (hence the title). President and Sister Rahlf spoke to us, we had a few activities, a few workshops and of course a nice lunch.

My anak and my grandson at Elders Conference

As for the work, I still feel like we teach things sooo clearly to people and that accepting the gospel would be the only thing that would make sense for them but unfortunately it doesn't really work like that and we still aren't having much success with the investigators. Same goes for less actives who we always visit and share messages with and stuff and they say they will try to come to church but then they never do. It's just kind of sad to see because you can tell that there is an aspect in their life that was once there but now it's missing and they know what they're supposed to be doing, but they just don't do it. It just makes me realize how blessed I am to have grown up in the gospel and I'm so thankful for the family and the friends that I have. I can't wait to see you all in a couple of weeks.

The Final Countdown

Go ahead and turn up the background music. Thank you Europe for that lovely piece...Haha anyways I'm in my last cycle now and I can hardly believe it! On Wednesday before the transfers were announced there were a few guys that told me they wanted to 'kill' me (in a mission sense. Don't worry Mom, it wasn't a death threat ha.) but the honors went to Elder Cabaliza. He is from Manila and he's 21 years old. He is actually my batch so we got to the field at the same time and we were also in the same zone in Solano when we were the two district leaders there and we have both been assigned in San Pablo before so we kind of already knew each other. But he's all good-chill guy, good missionary-so these last few weeks should be fun and I'm just continuing to make the most of the time I've got remaining! Everyone asks me if I'm trunky and if I'm counting the days and stuff but we're still doing solid with the work and I try to not think about that too much ha!

Things are still going fine here in Roxas. I'm not too sure what to say because it's kind of same old same old--There's actually a lot of 'investigators' who come to church but almost all of them are the girlfriend of a member and they can't even get baptized because they are living together but not married. And none of our other investigators are really progressing so we just have to keep trying to find new ones.

President Rahlf actually also informed us earlier that because of some unusual circumstances, Elder Latu is going to be in a threesome with us for the rest of the cycle; So he will be joining us tomorrow but I'm not too sure on the details or if we will have to work in Mallig (his current area) or not so I guess I'll let you guys know next week. Deuces! #itsthefinalcountdown #europe

Surprise! New Companion for a Week

They say that life is life a box of chocolates because you never know what you're gonna get..And this last week something pretty unexpected happened! On Wednesday I had to go to Cauayan for Career Workshops (I'll explain what that is in a little bit) and I thought I would just be going with Elder Loitz since he is in the next zone over and also had to go to the workshops but President said that Elder Monilla would just come with me to Cauayan. Well it turned out that he was called to be the new AP (I must have done something right these last few weeks because he was only a Zone Leader for one cycle before becoming AP hahaha!) and he went directly to work with the APs so he could get a bit of training and learn the area faster, and that left me without a companion.

Well there is another missionary that left the mission because he had to donate a kidney to his twin brother. And that meant someone else was left without a companion, and guess who it was? Elder Kocherhans! So the two of us have been paired together for the last week and had to work in two areas that are a little over an hour away from each other. I think I've mentioned this before, but Elder Kocherhans and I have been in the same zone together three times and also we were same ward in Cabarroguis in both of our first areas so I guess you could say that we have 'grown up' together in the mission and now we are both close to going home but it was fun to work together for the last week.

We worked in Roxas for a few days and then went to Echague (part of Alicia Zone) for the weekend. I was only there a couple of days but the members and people there seemed really nice and I actually would say that I felt more welcome there than in my actual area haha. Of course, they also asked me to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday ha.

 

The Roxas/Alicia tag team

So anyways, that has been fun. And as for the Career Workshops, Elder and Sister Leslie (two of the couple missionaries) basically talked to us on how we can be more successful in our future careers and whatnot. It kinda put things into perspective a little bit because it's weird to think that pretty soon I'm going to have to worry about school and work and stuff like that....But anyways, this Wednesday is Transfer Day so I'll be getting my new (and last) companion then. I wasn't expecting to die here in Roxas but hey, life is a box of chocolates and chocolate tastes good so you might as well enjoy what's given to you right? Peace wit it.

Career Workshops: Last time seeing Elders Iuli and Lavelua

Murrica!

I mean, um, America. I couldn't really think of any other good title but I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July. There were obviously no fireworks here and we didn't really do much to celebrate it but the time is continuing to go by soo fast, I can hardly believe it!

 

President and Sister Rahlf were in America for a little while because Sister Rahlf had to have surgery but they made it back just in time for MLC this last Wednesday. They shared some great messages (our theme was on 'doing' and 'being') and as always, it was nice to see some friends from across the mission and have a nice meal. Another thing I find enjoyable about MLC is at the beginning of each meeting we usually talk and council about different concerns and other things throughout the mission and sometimes people start having mini-arguments about random stuff so I think that's pretty funny to watch.

 

This week we also had splits with the San Pedro elders and I worked with Elder Haacke in their area. I think that was the third time that I have split with Elder Haacke but he's a good friend of mine here in the zone so it was pretty solid and enjoyable....Normally at church, the average sacrament attendance is over 100 but yesterday it was sprinkling rain and that was enough to bring our numbers to below 60. Somewhat disappointing but on the bright side one of the people at church was Rose so I was excited to see her there.

Not much else to say for the week. Jeff wasn't at church yesterday. Most the other people that we've talked to haven't seemed all that interested and none of our investigators are really progressing at all but we just need to be patient and keep working hard. Earlier we had a zone activity (combined with the Cauayan Zone as well) at Magat Dam so I've got a few pics. Love you all, have a good one! 

 

Zone Pic

 We on a boat

Missin Utah Lake a bit haha!

'The Hanging Bridge'

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!

Preparing for the Baptism

Another solid week for us here in Roxas and things are still looking good for the baptisms this upcoming Saturday for Joan and Kathlyn. I have enjoyed watching the progression of these two over the past several weeks--Like I said last week, Joan is only fifteen but she has picked up so well on everything we have taught her and she has been super easy to teach just because she's such a well-behaved and nice girl! 

And as for Kathlyn, when we first started teaching her she would sometimes have a hard time understanding or forget some of the things we taught, but lately she's been doing way good and I think it's because she's really gained a testimony and a desire to be baptized. This last week we reviewed all of the things that we have taught her in preparation for her baptism and she is ready to go!

Aside from that, everything else is same old same old. Not much else to report on but things are still going well. This is the last week of the cycle so we're just gonna go hard and make the most of it and then-if all goes according to plan-cap things off with a baptism. Hope you all have a nice week!

Pic of the Week: Random selfie in the bukid

More Splittin' & Chill Vibes

Hey fam! It was nice talking to y'all last Monday. Crazy to think that the next time that I will be seeing you guys will be in person! But anyways, this has been another really good week for us! We taught about thirty total lessons this week, which I have only accomplished a few times throughout my whole mission so that was good! 

Along with Kathlyn, we have another investigator who has been progressing really well lately; Her name is Joanne. She lives with her grandparents who used to be kind of less active but they have recently started to come to church again consistently. Joanne is only fifteen years old but it's amazing how well and how fast she is able to pick up on everything we teach her! Our goal is for her and Kathlyn to be baptized on the same day (May 30) but right now we are just trying to finish up all the lessons.

We went on splits twice this last week and I had the opportunity to work with both of the (American) District Leaders--Elder Brandon is from Spanish Fork and graduated the same year I did. He is a few cycles behind me but has actually been a DL for quite a while. And then this is the second time that I have split with Elder Haacke; He's from Idaho and a year younger than I am in school. Both of the splits were really good! 

Some other news for the week is that I talked in church yesterday--Sometimes speakers will not show up and then we are asked to be the replacements like right before sacrament starts. This time it was supposed to be the Relief Society's week but nobody was even assigned to be speaker so it ended up just being me, the branch president, and one of his counselors...We also had quarterly interviews with President and Sister Rahlf so nice to see them as always. And it was also zone meeting on Tuesday so that was solid... We are in Santiago again right now for our P Day so earlier we played some basketball and then came to Robinsons to see everyone. But that about sums it up for the week so have a good one everyone!

Big pizza for some big guys

Happy Mothers Day!

We've had a pretty busy week but I'll just keep things short since I'm going to be calling you tomorrow (Elder Lavelua is Skyping his family now so that's why I'm online): Anyways, we had MLC this last week and it was way good and enjoyable again. The more I interact with President and Sister Rahlf, the more I truly love and appreciate them.

 

Something funny that happened is once our meeting has finished, President takes each companionship into his office and just talks to them for a few minutes on how the zone is doing and then we are supposed to go home after that. Well Sister Rahlf was taking some pictures of everyone so when President Rahlf came outside he was way confused on what we were all doing there but it was just like when a little kid is about to get in trouble but it's one of those situations where we were all sitting there like "but Mom said it was ok..." and then President joined us for a final picture before we all departed hahaha.

Our mother here in the mission - Sister Rahlf

Elders of Israel

Trying to be Poly

We also went on splits with the APs and I worked with Elder Espino again. We got to use their truck to travel from appointment to appointment so that was pretty nice. Made me pretty excited to be able to drive again! And lastly, we also had District Conference this weekend so that was solid. Anyways, so thankful for all the other mothers who have been influential in my life, especially my own, and hope you all had a nice day. Love you Mom! Lots of extra pics just for you! 

Work is better when you're using a car

At MLC with Sis. Akau - one of the chillest sister there is! (This is her last cycle)

Choir practice for District Conference (I'm a soprano btw): w/Sisters Baldomaro, Nonu, & Esguerra

An OITP Story

So our branch is leaving later today for a temple trip (By the way, the Manila temple is like 8 hours away so this is kind of a big deal that happens like once a year). Just last Sunday the members told us that we need to go and teach this 9-year-old so that he could hopefully be baptized on Saturday in order to be sealed to his family (His sister and nanay are members). But we had never even met the kid so little bit of notice would've been kind of nice, right haha?

Anyways, on Tuesday we go to his house with no idea how we are going to handle the situation but then nanay tells us that the kid is actually 8 years old. Sigh of relief because that means he is still a child of record and the ward is responsible. Thank goodness! Well it's not until Saturday morning rolls around that nanay calls and realizes that her kid is 9 years old after all so the baptism is cancelled....Like my title from a weeks ago, all those things that happened is just one of those situations that is only in the Philippines...But on the bright side, our recent convert Carmen will be going to the temple and she has some family names to do baptisms for the dead so I am happy because I know that will be a great experience for her!

This week I went on splits with Elder Pawin who was one of my former housemates back in Angadanan so that was fun. Yesterday we also had the opportunity to do the special sacrament and deliver it to the sick people who weren't able to go to the church. That is the first time I've ever done that so it was pretty cool.

 

One tatay who we gave it to has had sickness for a while and he has like no energy all the time so he hasn't been able to come to church for a few weeks but him and his wife have never been to the temple before. Because of Tatay's condition, this couple wasn't sure if they'd be able to join for the temple trip, but Tatay has faith that God will give him strength so that he and his wife can be sealed, so that was pretty awesome. 

But anyways, all is still well here in Roxas. Not trunky or anything but just as an update, I'm down to like 100 days left so I can hardly believe that! Gotta make every minute count as the final stretch is coming up! MLC is this week so that's always something to look forward to. But yup, have a good week everyone!

Jollibee for days

Transfer Day Pics

Transfer Day! There are three different transfer points (Cauayan, Tuguegarao, Solano) in the mission and Cauayan is the central one so that's where most zones meet at, so it is some nice down time to hang out with other friends in the mission and grab a meal at the SM Mall. It was nice to just chill with the homies without having to worry about getting a new companion.

As for the rest of the week, still not too much exciting news but one bright point is that we extended a baptismal date to Kathlyn for the end of May. We still have to keep things pretty simple while we're teaching to make sure she understands everything but she keeps coming to church (although still only sacrament) and has nice fellowshipping support (her boyfriend's family) so hopefully she will continue to progress as we prepare for her goal date.

Everything else is going good. Priesthood class in this branch is hilarious because all the elders quorum get in extravagant discussions about the most random things like gay marriage and stuff haha. But yeah, that's about it for now. Have a good one everyone!

Elders Glassie, Lavelua, Iuli, Larson 

Solano Zone reunited

CSP from last week

Tbt to Transfer Day - August 2014

Elders Hall, Heumann, Larson, Merza, Manabo

As of this week, my tatay Elder Merza is now an RM

End of Another Cycle

Another week gone by and another cycle down. The transfer lists are in and Elder Lavelua and I will be doing another six weeks together so I'm pretty excited for that. I feel like this is the first week in a while that I really don't have anything to report on, but we are staying busy in the work and everything is going pretty good for the most part; The only thing that has been a little difficult for us is that there seems to have been some misunderstandings with some of the members and so they have been a little critical of us regarding a few things but I won't really go into that because we are trying to fix that and I think it is getting better.

Anyways, we had a few investigators at church again but we still haven't extended any baptismal dates yet. Kathlyn attended again but she usually only comes for sacrament so hopefully we can get her coming to the classes as well. We had another weeding CSP this week but this time it was at a less active family in our branch. No pics though ha, sorry!

The zone is doing good. There are only two people transferring-Elder Frank (one of the DLs is going home) and Sister Hamblin (One of the four sisters in Roxas 1st Branch) and everything else is staying the same but I guess it will be interesting to see who the two new missionaries in our zone will be. Elder Lavelua and I still get to go to Cauayan though for Transfer Day so I'm excited to see some friends around the mission I haven't seen in a while--I guess that's one of the perks about being a ZL haha. But yup, everything is going well and I'm excited for this upcoming cycle. Have a good week everyone and by the way Mom, hope you had a great birthday! 

What the ducks?

Final zone pic

Conference!

The first time I watched Conference as a missionary was when I was still at the MTC. The next time I watch it, I will be back home with my family...I can hardly believe that! But as for my last Conference in the field, it was awesome! I love General Conference so much and like I think I've said before, I'm pretty sure I've enjoyed it even more since being a missionary. Those ten hours felt like they were over in just a blink of an eye!

All the messages were inspired but the two main themes that stuck out for me was first on the importance of families and second on staying firm in our testimonies by making Jesus Christ our foundation. Many speakers mentioned the reality of Satan's efforts to make us question our testimonies or destroy the family but the solution is this: 'Don't let things we don't understand affect the things that we do know' (Kevin W. Pearson)

As missionaries, those are also two of the main points that we teach: One-That the gospel focuses on families and as part of God's plan, families can be together forever. Two-We invite all we teach to keep commitments that will help them come closer to Jesus Christ and help to strengthen their testimonies by becoming 'spiritually rooted' in Him and not look at the gospel through a 'keyhole view' (Dallin H. Oaks).....One of my favorite talks was by Elder Wilford W. Andersen about the old medicine man and the young doctor and dancing. For almost all of us, we have been taught the dance steps but it is up to us if we will listen to the music!

Everything else is going good as well! We are keeping busy in the area and enjoying the work. No investigators with a baptismal date yet but there is one we are hoping to extend to soon--Kathlyn (22 years old I think) is the girlfriend of a member in our branch. She has been coming to church for quite a while now and we have taught her quite a few times (at the house of the member. He has three brothers who are RMs so the fellowshipping for her is really really good). She is great and I think she has a desire to be baptized but the only thing right now is she sometimes has a hard time understanding some of the things we teach so we have to focus on teaching everything in very simple terms and then constantly review just to make sure she understands.

I got my pictures to work but these are all from last last week. I forgot to mention that last P Day we went to Santiago so we could play basketball and hang out with some of the other missionaries because everybody goes to this big mall called Robinson's to e-mail for P Day. My tatay Elder Merza goes home next week so that was probably the last time that I will get to see him. I'm so thankful he was my trainer and I'm gonna miss him!! He also trained again for his last two cycles so I finally got to meet my 'younger brother' in the mission-Elder Dialino-haha but yup, that's that. Have a good week everyone!

Elder Cruzit - Funniest 26 year old on the block

Weeding CSP - Laborers in the vineyard

Roxas elders (minus two)

Father/son reunion on the basketball court

Family pic with my kapatid and tatay

Splits, MLC, etc.

It's been a pretty busy week for us! We are trying to work more with each companionship in our zone so this week we went on splits twice--For the first one I was with Elder Palas. This is his first cycle in the mission but he is doing pretty good! Then I was with Elder Cruzit--I think I have mentioned him before but we were in the same ward back in Tuguegarao and he is the funniest 26-year-old I have ever met. Just listening to him makes me laugh. Both of the splits were good though.

MLC was good as well. President & Sister Rahlf as well as the APs all have a topic and that is basically the outline of what we are to teach for zone meeting (which will be tomorrow). The topics they shared to us were on planning, diving companionships, and using time wisely. There was a nice lunch and it's also fun to just kind of hang out with some of my other friends there. It's too bad that a lot of my friends who were zone leaders have either gone home or been released as ZL recently but it's all good, I still enjoyed it. During the announcements, President Rahlf also told us that effective July 1, part of our mission would be split into a newly created Philippines Tuguegarao Mission. It was set up well, complete with geographical charts and a picture of the new mission president and wife but it just turned out to be an April Fools Day joke. We all bought it though so it was pretty funny!

We also had a CSP in the sisters area pulling weeds at this one member families bukid. But yeah, everything is going good still! We are continuing to find and teach a ton of new investigators. Nobody super progressing yet but a few people who have shown potential. The only hard thing is managing our time so that we are able to see all of them throughout the week. 

Easter was good--If anyone hasn't seen the video at helives.mormon.org I would encourage everyone to check it out because it's awesome! Hope everyone had a good Easter and also Conference weekend. I'm looking forward to watching that this week! I've got some good pictures but my card isn't working right now so hopefully I'll be able to send those next week.

Cycle 13 - Week 3

It was another week that just flew by! I am still not totally familiar with the area but it's getting better I guess and this last week we had our first splits of the cycle (For splits as ZLs it is usually all 4 in our area). I worked with one of the District Leaders, Elder Haacke--He is eighteen, from Idaho, and has been in the field about six months. I hang out with him more than anyone else in the zone so our splits was good I'd say.

 

Wednesday we had a leadership training thing in Cauayan that was pretty good--they talked about ministering/administering, responsibilities, etc;--and then afterwards we ran into one of my previous companions Elder Costacio, who is actually assigned in Cauayan Zone, so that was cool. On Friday Elder Labrador worked with us because his companion had to go to Manila for fingerprinting.

Long time no see!

The work here is also going pretty good! We have been able to do a lot of OYMs (finding people through street contacting, giving out pamphlets, etc;) lately and we actually have a pretty big teaching pool of investigators, which is pretty different than most my previous areas. We have been able to play basketball every P Day but unlike my past zones, there isn't a whole ton of missionaries so today we played with a bunch of Young Men from our branch. It was still fun though.

Ball is life

 

This week we have our monthly MLC (Mission Leadership Council for all the ZLs and STLs. This will be my first MLC.) so I'm excited for that. Can't believe it's Easter and Conference again already (although we won't get to watch it until the week after) but anyways, have a nice week everyone!

Dinner with the Aquino family. I don't know why we did this but...

Only in the Philippines

Hey guys, Happy St. Patrick's Day! That happened sometime recently, didn't it..? Anyways, everything is still going well here--We are having a lot of fun in our companionship while still going hard in the work, I'm starting to pick up some of the Poly slang and I'm also getting a little more familiar with the area...I feel like I don't have a ton to report on this last week but the topic above is a catchphrase that basically describes many things that go on around here haha. 17 months ago today I entered this country and it has been wonderful to me, although very interesting at times. Sometimes I laugh; Sometimes I scratch my head at what is going on. But anyways, I guess here are a few things that happened this week:

We had our baptism on Saturday and it went pretty good despite it starting like 30 minutes after it was supposed to (Filipino Time-This is one of the not-so-amusing head-scatcher things around here but ehh it is what it is haha). Sis. Carmen is such a funny old lady! But it was awesome that she was able to be baptized!

Yesterday, right before church started, I was asked to talk in sacrament meeting because one of the speakers didn't show up (#OITP). I'm kind of used to that though so I'd say it turned out alright. We also saw witnessed a drunk guy yelling at a tree and that was one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. One of our investigators has apparently finished the Book of Mormon already but she told us she couldn't come to church yesterday because she had a runny nose...WHAT! Oh well, there's always next week I guess hahaha.

This last week we also went on splits with the APs and I worked with Elder Espino. He was actually my zone leader back in Tuguegarao and he is an awesome guy. He is 26 years old and has only been a member for like 3 years but he's a great missionary (Guess that's why he got called to be AP haha) so it was a fun experience and I learned a lot..But anyways, I think that's it for this week.  Have a good one peeps! #OITP

The field is white and ready to harvest 

Bath time

#tbt to the MTC - Can't believe all these sisters are home now!