9.23.13

Maayong gab-i sa inyo tanan,

So this past week was pretty awesome!! We had our Zone Conference up in Bacolod on Wednesday. So Tuesday afternoon we went up to Bacolod and were assigned to stay with missionaries in Bacolod and to work with them for that night so we could be to the Church at 7:30 for breakfast. It was pretty cool to be in the City. Out here in Valladolid it's mostly country. Lot's of rice fields and tubo fields (sugar cane) so walking around in the city and riding a lot of Jeepney's is always fun!

We got to stay with the Office Elders and they were in the Office til about 7. We got to the office at 4 like we were told and then just waited for them, and then they had a Dinner appointment with some members. It's always fun to meet new people in different places! We had Pork Lechon, Chicken Adobo, and Shrimp for dinner. (Shrimp that still have the head on them gross me out.)

Zone Conference was pretty sweet. Even though when it was my turn to give an answer I totally blew it and answered some totally other question, it's all good tho only half the mission heard me screw up, it's no big deal. Haha Zone Conference was pretty sweet tho. My favorite part was the very end. President Lopez showed us a video with commentary from President Eyring and Elder Holland. I believe the commentary was taken from the New Mission President's Seminar from sometime. But Elder Holland was talking about how a mission isn't easy. Things aren't going to always go according to plan, we will get rejected, and we will have down times. But what he said after that was amazing. He said "Salvation never was, and never will be easy." He also said to the Mission President's that when times get hard for your missionaries, remind them of this, and remind them that when times get hard and when they are rejected, that they are standing shoulder to shoulder with the only Perfect Missionary to walk this Earth. That quote right there just hit me. We are standing shoulder to shoulder with Christ. We will never be perfect like him, but we just may endure some hard times just like him. Not quite as extreme, but just remember that he went through the same things, on a far greater scale!

So this week's work was pretty slow with being in Bacolod for like 2 whole days, but Zone Conference was pretty awesome and made me want to be even better. I've implemented some of the Study ideas that the AP's shared with us about Personal and Language study and I can see the impact already! We also received 2 more potential investigators last night, so that was pretty awesome too!

I love all of you guys! I hope that life is just as great back in the USA as I remember! :)

-Elder Walters

Just doing a lil Online Proselyting in the Bishop's Office.

Scripture Box Liwat

It was raining pretty good at the Stake Center. Lost Power a couple times!

9.16.13

Dapat kita magpangamuyo para sa kusog, agud malumpwason sang aton mga pagtilaw

So this week was much better than last week. Still no progressing investigators or investigators at church but I feel as though our effort towards our purpose was much better so there's no complaints here! As long as we're trying, right?

It obviously would be nice to have some progression here in Valladolid, but all is done in the Lord's time. We have investigators who love to listen to us, so as long as we keep giving them the chance to feel of the Spirit and come close to their Heavenly Father it will all be worked out at some point.

So this week we were given a talk by Elder Bednar to read before our upcoming Zone Conference this week. It's entitled "In the Strength of the Lord." He gave this talk at a BYU Devotional in 2000. My favorite quote from the talk is this:

"As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed."

In the scriptures there are many instances where people prayed for strength rather than to have their burden just lifted from their lives. Take Nephi for example when his brothers bound him. What did he pray for? In 1 Ne. 7:17 it says "...O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my bethren; yea, even give me STRENGTH that I may burst these bands with which I am bound."

He didn't ask to just have the bands loosed, he asked for the strength to do it himself. Just think, how much more willing be our Heavenly Father to help us if we ask for the strength to get through things ourselves rather than just asking him to change them. I was talking with Elder Hawk and I said it like this. Let's say you've been asked to rake the yard. You want some help to be able to get through that task. So you go to your Dad. Would you just say to Dad do you want to rake the yard for me? Obviously he would laugh and say no. But if you asked him, Hey Dad will you help rake the yard? In that circumstance you are asking for your father to give you added strength to get through the task, and he would be much more willing to offer his help rather than do all the work for you. So let us always remember to pray for the strength both mentally and physically to get through our trials, for our Heavenly Father is more willing to help us through them, rather than to just take care of them himself. Through our weaknesses we may become strong. Always remember that! :)

I just love reading from the Liahona and the words of the Prophets and Apostles. There is just so much to learn from them! Except when your copy is in Tagalog, then not so much, haha!

The title of today's email says: "We should pray for strength, in order to overcome our trials."

Palangga ko kamo tanan! Salamat sa inyo para sa tanan nga nagahimo n'yo para sa akon.!

-Elder Walters

Smallest Tiki I've seen yet!

Valladolid Elders, with the Sisters of Bago 1 & 2

Rice field with the Bukid (mountain) off in the distance!

Ang alagyan sa kamingawan. (The way to the wilderness.)

We almost got attacked by this "herd?" of swans haha!

The Great Waters to the West.

I could be a pro photographer with this Picture! :)

Nice pile of trash that sits in the ocean pretty much, it's got a wall keeping from going all the way out!

9.9.13

Another Week Comes and Goes

That's pretty much how it felt this week. The week came and left, and nothing really different happened from the beginning. Our teaching was low, and all our numbers were nearly nothing. Kind of a trying week. Doesn't help when you get sick and don't want to move for a couple days. I'm feeling much better today than Saturday, but still a little under the weather. Just an upset stomach as part of the adjustment period I've been told.

So like I said this week was pretty bad, but that just means next week HAS to be better, right? That's got to be the mindset, or things will never get better. It all starts with Faith. Faith in yourself, and your companionship, and more importantly Faith in our Heavenly Father. If we don't have the faith that our Heavenly Father will help us, why are we even here?

During the week I read a quote from Elder Richard L. Evans of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a Liahona. It said "We can't do everything for everyone everywhere, but we can do something for someone somewhere." This is so true, and so uplifting. So yes our numbers were bad this week, but like it says, we can't do everything for everyone. We may have taught 1 lesson, but that 1 lesson could have been exactly what they needed. We need to feel as though the work we do is helping someone, not everyone. Because we can't help EVERYONE.

Luyag ko ng ma-share ang isa pa nga sulat halin sa Liahona, halin sa anonymous nga Apostles.

"When we want to speak to God, we pray. And when we want Him to speak to us, we search the Scriptures."

I know this to be true. Our Heavenly Father wants to hear from us and wants to help us, first we must do our part by communicating with him and reading our scriptures. He always wants to help, but he wants to help even more when we put ourselves in the position to learn from his words. I know that as I read the scriptures and the words of the Apostles and Prophets that my testimony and my knowledge of this Gospel grows immensely. I wouldn't be able to build my testimony if I didn't first exercise my faith by reading and praying. Everything in life starts with faith in something. Why not put our faith in the best place possible, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Moroni 7:33 says " And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

If we have faith in our Heavenly Father and the thing we want is just, and according to the Will of God, he will surely help us through it!


I love all of you and hope that you were able to learn and be uplifted from my short and simple message. :)

Halong sa tanan!
-Elder Walters

Glass bottled Gatorade. Awwww yeah!

Visiting with Cielo, she's the girl right next to Elder Hawk, she's a recent convert. Her sister Carla who is in back is an investigator!

Standing in front of the Church!

The New Bago Zone. Our ZL1 got emergency transferred week 4!

Bago Zone liwat!

Just doing what I do best. Looking good ;)

9.2.13

FAMILY,

This week once again was slow. We have 0 progressing investigators, so that's depressing. We have people that love listening to us, and seem to understand the importance of everything we say, we just can't get them to come to church. I don't know what it is. I'm beginning to understand more and more each day, I just still can't respond to them! Always a problem, especially in just everyday conversation I usually don't know what's going on!

As Mom already saw on President Lopez's facebook page, we have now been given the OK to Online Proselyte. Each Ward in our mission will have a Missionary Run facebook page. It's pretty cool. We're given an hour each day to get on facebook and check our ward email as well. We have yet to find an investigator or teach a lesson, but we're also allowed to use skype to teach if we need to. We allowed to teach a first lesson to anyone who contacts us, but then we need to refer them to the right missionaries. I'm really excited to see it get going! Technology is a great tool if we use it in the right ways!

So last P-day we went to play basketball in Pulupandan and after we went and got dinner at Namitz, like always. Then we returned home to Valladolid to find out that the apartment keys had fallen out of my pants pocket when we changed at Pulupandan. So we had to travel all the way back to Pulupandan with out groceries from the day and all our baksetball stuff and everything at like 830. We ended up staying there because it was so late. I slept on the floor on top of couch pads. Not the best night of sleep, but what can you do when you're an idiot and you forget the keys haha! It was also quite difficult standing in the door of the bus holding on to my groceries in one hand. 2 bags draped over my shoulder and holding on for dear life with my other hand, but hey, I'm alive so It's all good!

I was reading in the July 2013 Liahona this week, and I read a pretty awesome article. It was about forgiveness. There were a couple pretty awesome quotes
but I don't have them word for word on me right now. One was from President Uchtdorf, and it said 'When the Lords commands us to forgive men, that also includes us. Sometimes we are the person who needs our forgiveness most.' I think that is so true sometimes. Sometimes we demand greatness from ourselves and we get upset when we don't reach it. Sometimes we make mistakes and think that the Lord won't forgive us so we don't forgive ourselves either. That's where the quote from Elder Holland came in. He said 'No matter what you've done, how far astray you've gone from the path of righteous you think you have gone, the talents you may or may not have, that we can never fall outside the lines of divine love. We can never travel outside the limits of the Atonement of Christ.' Those quotes aren't exact but get the point across. It's so true. Never give up on ourselves, help others to realize these same truths. No matter who we are or what we've done, forgiveness is there for us if we want it and work for it. The Lord loves us all and wants us all to be happy. He loved us all enough that he died for us. Remember that always. Never give up on yourself, and never let others give up on themselves either. There is no limit to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it's blessings.

Nothing too crazy happened this week. Rode in top of a couple jeepneys again. Rode a tricycle for like 7 miles. Didn't eat anything crazy, so just another week here in Valladolid. I love all of you guys! Take care! :)

-Elder Walters