8.25.14

This week went pretty well! We had a successful baptism for Sister Wilma Tesara on Saturday. We started late but as they say here about the Filipino Members, LDS means 'Late During Sundays' or even 'Late During Services'. haha It's true, they're always late. President Always brings it up, but yet...... still late for everything. They call it Filipino Time I think it's kinda funny sometimes!


Elder De Guzman and I get along pretty well! We don't have any problems, but sometimes we have hard time understanding each other because he speaks quite a bit of Tagalog still! It's kinda weird sometimes. But it's all good! We just CARRY ON!

So this week we went in search of a Former Investigator that I saw in our Area Book. The Elders visited her once, made her a teaching record, wrote that she accepted a return appointment, and then they never went back. Doesn't make too much sense, but we went back! They're great! There were 3 Sisters from the ages of 22-25 who listened and even participated by answering and asking questions! I love investigators like that who aren't afraid to speak! So hopefully we can continue to help them!

We also had another Sister who just came up to us at her neighbors house while we were teaching and she also is a great investigator. The only problem is that her husband doesn't want her to listen. So we need to work on that! She is an instant fellowshipper in Sister Lumogda who we just baptized last month! So hopefully we can get her husband on board.

My first lesson as a District Leader went fairly well! I just feel awkward teaching other missionaries. Sometimes I just feel as though they know all of it already or that they no more than me, so it's weird but hopefully it will get better!

Other than that, no other real exciting news! Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Love you all! :)

8.18.14

Bye-Bye Elder Busadre

Well like I said last week, this last wednesday was transfer day. I didn't expect a transfer because I had only been in Manta-angan for 1 transfer and Elder Busadre had only been there for 4 weeks. But like I said, President Lopez is unpredictable. Elder Busadre transferred. Which means that our District Leader left. So now Elder Walters is the District Leader! First time that's happened. I have been a Junior Companion for my entire mission, until now! I'm kinda nervous but kinda excited at the same time. My new companion is Elder De Guzman. He's from La Union, which is in Upper Luzon. He is Ilokano, Ilokano is crazy ridiculous and hard to understand and speak. I looked at an Ilokano Book of Mormon and I had no clue. haha He also know's Tagalog like most Filipinos. He speaks a lot of Tagalog still in our lessons but that's alright because they all understand him. He is my first companion who's been here for less time than I have. So we'll see how this goes! We're off on a new adventure! haha

Well I'd like to just share one thing that happened a couple weeks ago. We had found a new investigator in the former investigators list of our area book. We had been teaching him for a couple weeks and we had stopped by his house on a Saturday before church and invited him to church and he said "yea for sure, I don't have anywhere to go tomorrow!" So we had hoped to see him the next day. Unfortunately he didn't come. So then the next Saturday we stopped by his house again. First thing I said was "Brother, I thought you were gonna go to Church last Sunday." He replied by saying that he ended up searching for a job. At that moment the scripture 3 Nephi 13:33 popped into my head.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

That was not our plan for that day but I felt that's what he needed to hear. So we shared that scripture with him. Then I promised him that if he went to church the next day that he would find a job. So the next morning we picked him up and walked to church with him. Then that Friday, what do you know, he had a job! It was amazing. he too noticed the help that he received. Unfortunately he hasn't made it back to Church yet because of his work Schedule but we're working on that. He's seen the blessing he's received and so have we! Amazing how simple God's commandments are!

I love all of you and hope you all have a wonderful week! Don't forget to keep God's Commandments! ;) For if you do, he doth quickly bless you!

8.11.14

Another Good Week

This week has been another good one! We had quite a few lessons taught and we had lot's of members want to work with us! We had a member work with us on Friday who has a tricycle (Filipino) so that was nice because he could drive us all over and we didn't have to walk quite as much. We decided to go out to one of our farthest areas because we had a ride and when we made it out there our Branch President and two other sisters had just finished visiting the people we had planned to visit. So that was too bad hahah

Last week I had a pretty good moment. I'm not sure if I told you or not but we were walking out to one of our appointments in the middle of nowhere (which is most of our appointments) and on the way the path was super muddy and wet. There seemed to be no real way around it. So Elder Walters came up with the most genius idea. JUMP. Let me just say that it was genius while it was still in my head. But once it was put into action it turned into the stupidest idea ever. Once my feet hit the grown again I slipped and landed on my butt in the mud. Got a little bit muddy and wet. Elder Busadre had quite the laugh at my expense but it was alright. I just laughed it off as well!

We had another successful baptism this past weekend for brother John Mari and his daughter Daniela! I was able to be the baptizer. Brother John has had super long hair ever since I met him but when he showed up for his baptism on Saturday he had just gotten it cut. New hair cut, and new man, new life after baptism! It was awesome. He even mentioned in his testimony afterwards how he had been praying to ask if he should be baptized and he said he saw himself wearing all white standing in a room. He took that as his answer to be baptized but when he said that I thought much farther than just baptism. THE TEMPLE is where I think he saw himself standing! We'll just have to prepare him for that day! :) Even little 10 year old Daniela got up and bore her testimony! Testimony of the kids always hit me!

Well this week is transfer week. Not expecting a transfer but you never really know with President Lopez. He even told us at our last Mission President's Training that he loves transferring people unexpectedly, even when it's not transfer day haha. So I guess we'll find out!

One thing I just read this past week in the Book of Mosiah 7:29 :

" For behold, the Lord hath said: I will not succor my people in the day of their transgression; but I will hedge up their ways that they prosper not; and their doings shall be as a stumbling block before them."
This just stood out to me saying that if we want the Lord's help we need to be doing the right things. We can't just stop and ask for his help while we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. If we continue to do that the Lord says our "doings shall be as a stumbling block before [us]." So let's do our best to get rid of our own stumbling blocks that we've put in front of ourselves so that we won't have any obstacles in our way!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love and miss you all!

8.4.14

Well we had a good, productive week! We hit 20 lessons with a member present and we had 7 investigators at church! Two of them got interviewed for baptism and will be baptized on saturday! Two of the other investigators are working on their papers in order to get married before they can be baptized and we had 2 other investigators who attended church for the first time yesterday!

We also were able to visit a less-active recent convert (those are the best haha) for the first time this week. She's only 16 years old. The next day we went back and she invited 6 of her friends to listen to us! It was pretty awesome! haha We had texted her the night before about a girl we talked to before and told her to talk to her about the church and invite her to listen. When we got to her the next day we asked her about that girl and she said "Indi sya" or she doesn't want to listen. Then we start walking to the place where we were going to teach and she said "wait lang" and when she came back she had her 6 friends with her! It was awesome! We expected/hoped for the 1 other girl but instead we got 6 others!

It was a much much much better week than last week! I felt like a missionary this week! haha Yesterday during our fast & testimony meeting one of our Recent Converts bore her testimony and at one point she said "I wish I could read your Book of Mormon but I just can't understand it, but my husband reads it to me and helps me to understand!" When she said that tears filled my eyes. Her husband is the one who will be baptized this next Saturday and her daughter is the other. It was probably the best Testimony Sunday I've ever experienced.

I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

7.28.14

Slow, Very Slow Week :|

This week as you may have notice was.........................SLOW. I don't exactly know what happened to us. We had an awesome Mission President's Training on Tuesday with President Lopez at the Mission Home but then after that like I said I don't know what happened to us. We were super uplifted by President and the things he told us about the Bacolod Mission but when we got home it was like it all vanished from our thoughts. It was just one of those weeks where we didn't have a whole lot of motivation to do anything. Which I feel awful about.

President Lopez told us of the amazing things happening here in the Bacolod Mission and the goals they have for the rest of this year. There are so many special sacrament groups and branches being opened and there's plans to split one stake into two and to turn another district into a stake. There's even a hope for a Temple here within the next 5 years since the island of Negros is the island with the most members other than the island of Luzon. I just pictured myself at the moment in time when the Prophet announces that a temple would be built in Bacolod and I just pictured myself full of tears. A temple here would be so amazing. There are such dedicated members here that are just so poor and can't afford to go to Cebu or Manila, if there was a temple here I feel as the work would just accelerate even more. I hope that I can continue to help that work move forward as I continue here in my mission!

We hope to go out and be WAY more productive this week. I honestly don't know what happened to us. We have repented for our laziness and hope that we can go out and be at least twice as effective this week if not more!

I hope all is continuing to go well in all of your lives. I hope that each and every day we can truly remember that we are carrying the name of Christ. While teaching a lesson last night I remembered the story of President George Albert Smith. President Smith was at a pretty low time in his life, almost at the point of giving up when he had a dream one night. In that dream he was visited by his grandfather, George A. Smith. His grandfather then asked him, "What have you done with my name?" I thought to myself, what have I done with Christ's name? What would I say if Christ asked me that question? Just thought I'd leave that as a question for all of us to ponder. Let's see what we can do this week to be a better example of that name that we all carry on our hearts!

I love you all! :)

7.21.14

Week 3 in Manta-angan!

Well it's been another good week in Manta-angan. It started out kinda rough because I'm still not super familiar with our area and then my companion is even newer than me so it was kinda rough, but it turned out to be a great week after all! Our numbers weren't quite as high, but we had investigators at church and we have a baptism this next week! :) Brother Saias and Sister Mitos! Brother Saias has had quite the change in his life as he has quite all his habits in the Word of Wisdom including smoking, drinking alcohol, and drinking coffee and tea! It's been quite amazing to be a part of helping him through that struggle! They are both super excited for there baptism and are also super excited to enter the Temple in another year as well! It's so cool to see people with their minds set on the Temple!

My new companion is Elder Busadre, I'm not sure if I mentioned that last week or not. He's from Quezon City and is great! He loves to sing and is actually really good! We have a lot of fun singing in our apartment haha! Our work is full of fun and laughter! I really enjoy this companionship!

This week we had quite the rain. Everyday pretty much. Last night we had a brother and a sister work with us and neither of them had an umbrella so I gave my umbrella to the sister and let her use it as well to go home since she had a long walk and no umbrella. I however got very wet, but it's all good!

I don't have too much other exciting news to share! The work is great! The area is great and I love the people already! They are just great! :)

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! :)

7.14.14

Another Transfer Day

So today was another 'transfer day'. I'm not sure why there was another transfer day but a ton of missionaries transferred today. I just transferred two weeks ago and now my companion just transferred on me! That's right I've only been here for two weeks and now I'm left to take the lead! But it's alright I can handle it! I'm here in Manta-angan which is part of the Bacolod North Stake! Which means that I am now much much close to the Big CIty of Bacolod. I'm still about an hour away from the Mission Office but closer than that to the Mission Home! Oh and this is the nicest apartment I've had yet, so that's great! It's big and clean and even has RUNNING WATER! YEA! haha we even have a shower, still cold, but at least it's a shower!

These past couple weeks have been pretty good. The first week we didn't have too many investigators or recent convers attend church because it was pouring rain. Even though our apartment is not that far tfrom the church and we had umbrellas our pants were pretty soaked when we showed up at the church. We did actually have one recent convert who came to church even though she had to walk a really long way and she had no umbrella. She was sopping wet from head to foot. Talk about dedication!!! I got up and bore my testimony with the intention of introducing myself, but I got so into my testimony that I totally forgot to introduce myself, oh well! haha
So this past week I was able to conduct my first baptismal interview for little 8 year old Nicole. My companion is the District Leader but he had a super sore throat and couldn't really speak very well so the Zone Leaders gave the ok for me to conduct the interview. It went very well and she was ready for baptism. She's been attending church for a few years now with her grandma who is a member!

This week I also taught one of the best lessons I have probably ever taught during Gospel Principles class. I taught of the Atonement. It's amazing how much a little study of the manual can help before you actually teach a lesson! haha

So just last night we were on our way home when a car was pulling up behind us and it honked its horn. I figure they were just telling us to get out of the way and I jokingly said to Elder, "Let's ride!" The the care pulled up and gave us a ride! It was awesome. They were super nice and told us that they had seen us a few nights before walking in the rain with our umbrellas and that the wanted to give us a ride but that they were too shy. But last night they picked us up and were very nice. They started talking to me English and when I responded to them in Ilonggo they were very surprised! it was kinda cool. Before we got out we gave them a pamphlet and the Brother asked if our number was on it! So that comes as a pretty good sign! I hope it can go somewhere. They aren't from our area, but they know people who are members of the church so hopefully that can be of help to them as well!

Well i'm super hot and tired from all this travel on this unexpected transfer day so I will let you all go! I also want to say congratulation Ashley! :) Sounds like you had quite the experience but I'm sure you wouldn't trade it for anything!:) Love you baby Reed! Don't get too big before I come home! You still need to be super cute! ;) haha

I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)