Life as a Parent

I did it everyone. I have successfully given birth. It's a boy and I have decided to name him Elder Aguilar. You are all invited to the baby shower! :) Anyways, my new companion is 18 years old (I'm finally older than someone! By precisely 6 months, to be exact) and is from Bicol (under Legasbi Mission). To save time and effort, I will just attach my LTP for you guys to let you know how things are going:
Fresh from the MTC, Elder Aguilar has brought that strong spirit into the mission field. On Wednesday, we didn't get back until 6:00 but we were able to get out and get a lesson in and we also ended the week with 15 total lessons, which is the actually the most I have achieved since being here in San Pablo. He is still in the early stages of adjusting to missionary life, but he has been well prepared for this calling. He makes my job as a trainer easy because he is obedient to all my instruction, but he already seems to be pretty comfortable in his teaching and knowledge of the lessons, so I don't have to do a lot of correcting. Once again, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be training and helping pave the way for a new missionary; I know that even though I have been in the field a lot longer, I will still be able to learn a lot from our companionship.

Some good news for this last week is that we taught one of our investigators, Anne, about baptism. She really seemed to understand the importance of this saving ordinance and have a desire to be baptized, so we extended her a baptismal invitation and she accepted. She hasn't been to church yet (or for quite a while at least), but I hope that with a goal date set, this is something that will give her a little bit of a boost for her and help motivate her to come to church and keep other commitments. And that's all I've got for now. Love you all! Have a great week!

I'm 19. And I'm a Dad

So the other day I woke up and realized that I was officially 19 years old. Pretty crazy to think that if it wasn't for the age change, I would still be at home right now. Thank goodness that we have a living prophet who receives revelation for our time eh? I'm old but I'm not that old; Young but I'm not that bold, am I right? 

And what did we do for my birthday? Well apparently out here, the birthday boy is the one who gets to buy the food for the party. So I bought some Tostitos chips & salsa (first time I've had that in a year), popcorn and also spaghetti which Elder Sison cooked. Saturday night after work, we invited over the Cabagan elders and one of the fellowshippers in the ward to celebrate and we just ate and played some cards. So nothing too crazy, but all in all a good time and memorable birthday to say the least. 

I like food 

Celebration

As for the title, I guess my birthday present from President Rahlf is that I'm going to be father. Not literally. That would be awkward. But this cycle with Elder Sison has come to an end and I have been called to be a trainer next cycle. It is a big responsibility because for the new missionaries, we are really the ones who help them adjust to missionary life and can really pave a way and set a tone for the rest of their mission. Training will be a very different experience, but I'm excited for the new challenge. I hope I can be close to as good of a trainer as my tatay Elder Merza was to me. 

We'll miss ya Elder Sison!

We still haven't had a ton of success yet here in San Pablo-The few investigators we have, haven't been to church yet-but we're doing better. I think the area is in better shape than it was when it was when I first arrived 6 weeks ago. So hopefully me and my 'anak' (child) can continue that progression.

Another birthday present, perhaps one of the greatest of all, was the news of one of my homies back home making the decision to be baptized. As a missionary teaching others the gospel in a foreign land, it is seriously such a cool thing to hear one of your friends has accepted the same perfect gospel that only our church can offer. So to my dear pal Kevin Borland, congratulatons buddy. Love you man and I'm so proud of you!

And with that, the cycle has come to an end. Excuse me now while I give birth to my son (although I'm not sure how that process would exactly work). Thanks for the happy birthday wishes! Love, Tay Larson

Find Them That Will Receive You

And from this place ye shall go forth into the regions westward;and inasmuch as ye shall find them that will receive you ye shall build up my church in every region

-D&C 42:8

Hello friends. So it's August now, so time is continuing to go by quickly. But anyways, this last week I had splits with our District Leader Elder Corcuera (and yes, that would be a Filipino) here in San Pablo that went pretty well. Something that Elder Corcuera is really good at is "OYMing" (Open Your Mouth. Check out these cool missionary abbreviations eh?) Or in other words, conversation skills while tracting. By the way, let me tell me how 'tracting' works here, because I don't think I really have in the 9 months that I've been here in the Philippines:

Most people here either leave their front door open or some don't even have one, so you basically just stand in someone's yard and repeat "Tao po!" (Which means people. Now imagine if that's how the whole knock-knock system worked in America haha) and stand there until someone comes outside. The next step is you pretty much say, "Hello, can we get to know you?" (Again, not sure how advisable that method would be for missionaries in the States) You then proceed to have a casual conversation about life and eventually introduce the gospel and ask if we can leave them with a pamphlet and if we can return sometime to share our message.

So that is tracting. And this is something that Elder Corcuera is good at. Like I have said before, 'finding' is something that we have needed to focus on here in San Pablo, so I was pretty grateful for our splits and his advice to me improve these skills. As a result, this week seemed to be more successful for Elder Sison and I. We technically didn't get any new investigators yet, but we found some people that hopefully can become investigators when we follow up with visits this upcoming week. And although we came up a little short of our goal for total lessons, I think we gave a better effort this past week and as a result, our total of lessons was the highest that we have achieved yet. Success doesn't always come immediately, but if we do our part, everything we do will always be worth it. And that's all I've got for now. Have a wonderful week guys!

Picture: Saturday morning, we took a little nature hike with a less active family. So here is a nice view of our area (from very far away)

Charity

Two weeks ago, I said that charity is the Christlike attribute that I wanted to strive to develop. Well right now, I want to focus a little more on that. What exactly is charity? In Moroni 7:45, we are given a pretty good description: "And Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." In 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, we are also told that if we have every quality there is and we have not charity, we are nothing. I feel like I've always been a pretty nice guy, but charity is more than just that. It is sincerely loving people for their unique and individual selves and despite their weaknesses. (As I am typing this, my charity and love is being put to the test because I am sitting in an internet cafe with dozens of teenage boys shouting as loud as they can at their computer screen. But I still love them.....)

Anyways, yesterday at church, I think I counted probably 12 in attendance from the San Pablo area. And I would say that's actually pretty solid. Unfortunately, however, our investigator Anne was not one of those twelve. But we did have two good lessons with her this past week so hopefully next Sunday.

Elder Sison and I are still doing well. Because of the struggles we we have been having in the area, I think that discourages him a little bit and so there are times I feel like the effort we give is only average, instead of our full potential. But as a little incentive to hopefully boost our motivation a bit, I told him that if we reach our goal of lessons this next week that I would treat him to a free lunch to any restaurant that he wanted. As I said last week, the work and our situation here in San Pablo is definitely different than what I was accustomed to in my first two areas. However, I think that the harder we work-instead of just going through motions-the easier it will be to find success. Peace wit it till next week!

Pictures: After zone meeting this last Tuesday, we ate at a burger place that had a deal that I think is kind of similar to the Chubby's Challenge. Finish a HUGE burger (that is like the equivalent of four) in thirteen minutes or less and you've got yourself a free meal. Our Polynesian friend Elder Paea barely failed and had to pay 500 pesos (like 12 dollars) but our ZL Elder Cousin tackled the challenge and earned himself a free lunch.

 Elder Paea

Elder Cousin

Nobody Said It Was Easy

"Nobody said it was easy." Coldplay says it as it is in their song "The Scientist". I believe LeBron James made a similar statement before he signed with the Heat. (btw lol that he is returning to Cleveland...) Anyhow, such is true in missionary work. We are still doing a lot of searching for people to teach and haven't found a ton. To paint a picture on logistics, of the 100+ members who attended church in the Cabagan ward yesterday, a total of only 5 came from the San Pablo area. However, as Jeffrey R. Holland put it: "The salvation of souls was NEVER meant to be easy."  Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, he made possible the way for every one of us to return to Him. But of course, we know that His suffering for all of our sins and pains was no easy thing. So we shouldn't expect that our work as missionaries to bring others back to Him to be a walk in the park.

Although we have been struggling a bit in the work, we did come across a light of hope this last week. We recently met Anne, who is a single mother around the age of 22. She has actually met with the missionaries before and even attended church but told us that back then she had a pretty busy schedule or something so the elders kind of stopped visiting. But we taught her this last week and she still seems pretty interested in the gospel so I think there is a lot of potential. Being a missionary can be hard. But I love it so much. And it is soo worth it. And lastly, a Happy Birthday S/O to my dear Jake 'MacDaddy' McFarland. The big 2-0. Well, hope each of you has a fantastic week. Love y'all!

P.S-Picture of the week: Last night we attended a funeral service. It was like 30 minutes away and we all had to pile into the back of a pickup truck. So that's an explanation of the following picture. Nobody else is looking at the camera. Where's Cory Adams Photography when you need it?!

Planting Seeds

Hey guys. Before we begin, I would like to wish a Happy Birthday this upcoming week to a few good pals of mine-Sawyer Norman and Braden King. Please have days full of splendor of joy.

Anyways, in regards to my message for this week, I've got some good news that doesn't exactly have to do with me or my current area. The story begins back in my first area of Cabarroguis. My tatay and Elder Merza and I often taught a 19-year-old man named Reden. We had taught him most of the lessons and although he had a good understanding of the gospel and the principles we taught. But although he had a 17-year-old sister who was active in the church, he didn't really show an interest in being baptized and was usually busy when it came to us asking him if he would attend church on Sunday. However, he continued to listen to our teachings. Fast forward to now, five months after I was transferred from Cabarroguis: I recently got word that Reden, as well as 3 more of his family members, were baptized this last week.

We weren't the ones who ended up with the opportunity of baptizing them, but to me that is not the important thing. What is important is that this young man and his family continued to come closer to Christ and were able to enter into the waters of baptism and that we were able to play a part in his conversion and introducing him to the gospel. I guess that is where the title comes in-Elder Merza and I were not around for the actual baptism, but I am happy that we were able to 'plant the seed'.

We don't have to be full-time missionaries in order to plant seeds in the hearts of others, and we don't necessarily have to inform somebody all about our church to do the planting. As members of our church, we can do it through our every day example to others...This last week, I was studying Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel (Christlike Attributes). Throughout my mission up to this point, I had really been focusing on trying to acquire the attribute of patience. Now I have decided to switch my focus to the attribute of charity and striving to develop a more Christlike love to everyone I come across. I know that if we all try a little harder to show our love towards others, people-whether they be fellow members of our church or not-will notice.

This last week, I also talked with my last companion Elder Mabini and he told me that Glen Delamente (the 17-year-old brother of our recent convert in Angadanan) will also be baptized this coming Saturday the 19th and I am very happy for him as well. As for Elder Sison and I here in San Pablo, we actually haven't been as lucky recently. We have had to do a lot of tracting lately-basically just walking around talking and getting to know as much people as we can-but right now we have only a few investigators in our teaching pool and nobody yet who seems all that interested. But I know that missionary work is not a walk in the park that is meant to easy and we just need to keep trying, and then eventually success will come and we will see the results of our work. Even if all we do is plant some seeds that can be nourished in the future.

Pair of dudes after some hard work in the pouring rain 

Yesterday was Elder Sison's birthday

Greetings from San Pablo

Well, I'm the new guy again. So let me answer the simple questions first that everyone is dying to know--I am in the San Pablo area (Tuguegarao South zone. Still very hot but luckily I got here in time for rainy season) but it is under the Cabagan ward. So there are two elders in Cabagan who we go to church with but we aren't in the same apartment. Their area has a lot more of the members because they are close to the church and we are kind of the outskirts. Our 10-minute tricee ride to sacrament meeting yesterday made me miss the 2-minute walk it took us in Angadanan, but all is well. The members in our area are nice. The ward seems more organized than Angadanan. I think Bishop likes me and other foreign missionaries, but as I sat next to and talked to him during a funeral service we had yesterday, he makes a lot of rather racist comments towards Americans; And I'm not sure he really realizes it. So I just think it's funny hahaha.

My companion is Elder Sison, from Manila. 20 years old. He has been out for like about a year and a half. I think the reason I have the 'special assignment' that I mentioned last week is for something that happened in the past and also because Elder Sison's last companion had to go to the hospital last cycle and they weren't able to work the last few weeks. However, he and I kind of seemed to click right away and I think everything will be fine. Our apartment is nice enough (I'm 3/3! Trust me-not all missionaries are as lucky as I have been with good apartments) and the only thing about the work is that we are kind of in a "finding" process for people to teach. But if we work hard, I know that everything will play out and be alright.

We had a district activity earlier at Callao Caves in commemoration of a sister's birthday (Pictures disclosed below). And speaking of birthdays, if anybody has forgotten, Bryce's (or umm Elder Larson's I mean) is in a month so if you really want to make an Asian guy happy, you can feel free to start preparing letters or something :) But if not..that's okay too. I still love you all. Have a superb week and if it ever gets really hot in Utah, there's a solid chance that it could be hotter here. Until next week.

 Callao Caves

 "Buddha" rock: Look closely and you can see his bald head and the side of his face

I'm on a boat and it's going fast (That's my comp next to me)