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