12.23.13

Maligayang Pasko! (Merry Christmas!)

Maayong gab-i sa inyo tanan!

As this week is Christmas I thought I would email as many people as I could and wish you all a Maligayang Pasko!

So this week was just as productive for us as last week was! I'm super excited for our Stake Baptism this week! And even more excited to speak with my family, and hopefully hear from many of you next week after receiving this email! :)

Christmas here in the Philippines is very different from back home! For one, there is no snow!! Weird enough I kind of miss snow, I never thought I would say that in my life! But it's just so darn hot here all the time! Most people are very poor so most don't have Christmas trees and for what I've seen most people don't have very many gifts, but the important thing is that they have each other! That's what is important on Christmas, being with our families and those we love and appreciating the wonderful gift our Heavenly Father gave us, his son Jesus Christ! Sure receiving gifts is great and fun and we can show our love and appreciation for each other through the gifts we give but more important is giving thanks to one another and to our Heavenly Father for the many gifts, talents, and blessings he has given us throughout our lives! The people here in the Philippines have nothing, but they all have a belief in our Savior Jesus Christ, which is more than a lot of people back home. For those of us who believe and have faith in our Savior Jesus Christ let's do more than just say it, let's SHOW IT, by living a life that would not only make our parents proud, but would make our Heavenly Father proud. We read in James 2:20,24 "... that faith without works is dead.... Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." Christmas is a time to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, let's do just that!

Let's see, what exciting things did we do this week.......... hmmmm Oh well yesterday we were told we had to do a baptismal interview for the Elders in Pulupandan at 10:30 so after our Sacrament Meeting we left and went to Pulupandan just to find out that that's when the start their Sacrament Meeting, so we just went to theirs as well. Walay Claro Sila, ginhambal nila nga ang interview nila masugod a las 1030 pero nagsugod sila sa Sacarament Meeting, Ambot sa ila. Haha I hope you all had as much fun reading that as I did writing it! :) Now let's see who can tell me what it says!! What else........ hmmmmm... I'm not sure what else to share. Nothing else too exciting happened this week! We're still trucking along enjoying life and work in the service of the Lord.

Palangga gid ko kamo tanan, nahidlaw ako sa inyo! Makakita ako sa tanan nga inyong mga itsura sa diesiotso ka bulan! Halong kamo pirme kag Maligayang Pasko naman!

-Elder Walters

12.16.13

"Isang 'Cano kag Isang tao!"

So the title of this email just makes me laugh. When we walk down the streets or anywhere really for some reason people aren't really sure what Nationality Elder Cruz is. A lot of people ask him "where are you from in the US." His response is always I'm Filipino. A lot of little kids yell "Mga 'Cano" when we walk by, which means multiple americans and clearly I'm the only american in our companionship. But this last week we were walking back to our house after buying some eggs for lunch and a tricycle drove by with a little girl in it and she said "Isang 'Cano kag isang tao." Elder Cruz and I both started laughing as soon as she said it. It means "One American and one person." She wasn't sure what to call Elder Cruz so she just said person. One american and one other guy haha it was so funny!

This week was by far THE BEST WEEK EVER. haha We had so many teachings, so many investigators who came to church and I just felt like a productive missionary this week. We didn't have a baptism but we're getting closer and closer to having many! Our normal number of lessons taught with a member present is ususally between 10-15. This last week at our zone training meeting the zone leaders set a goal of 25 a week. My first thought was yeah right, that's not going to happen. However we got to work this week and we had 22! It's amazing what happens when you put your faith into it!

So a couple weeks ago we were teaching a less-active sister when this drunk guy who was smoking a cigarette saw us and walked up to us and stuttered his way through "Brother, I am a member of your church. I was baptized in 2007 or maybe 2008" He said it in English even. Clearly he has a few issues he needs to work on, but he then sat with us through the lesson and then told us he wanted us to teach his two daughters. So this last week we went and found his two daughters Shaine Shane(10) and Glyssa Mae(12). They were so receptive. Their Dad is a drunk and has no job and I'm not sure what happened to their mom. They were so receptive and open with us it was amazing. During our first visit with them their dad sat down next to me and just started speaking half Ilonggo and half english. So while Elder Cruz was teaching the girls I was just left to handle the drunk guy who this time said he was baptized in the year 1986. So clearly he's a little confused about things, but he said multiple times that next year he will be back at church with his family! So we have work to do! One of the girls even came to church and then yesterday asked when he baptism is! She has friends and classmates at church and everything, it's so amazing! I'm so excited for them. They have nothing in this life, but this gift is the most precious thing they can receive and will bless them for eternity. And they are so excited about it! This work is great!


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

-Elder Walters

12.9.13

Lapit na ang Paskwa! (Christmas is Close!)

How is it going my family!? Another week comes and goes, as well as another transfer day. As for the big news of where I got transferred too......... I didn't. I'm still here in Valladolid! That makes a start of my 4th transfer here! I'm so glad I'm still here and going to be here for Christmas!

I've been so excited to get to work with our new Bishopric and getting transferred would have been unfortunate! The Bishopric went on Member Exchanges with us this past Saturday which was awesome. We're able to get more work done and get to know our Bishopric better at the same time! It was also a challenge because Brother Ordenario's English isn't that great! He's actually from Manila so he's more comfortable speaking Tagalog. So at church yesterday he gave some closing remarks and he pretty much spoke Tagalog the whole time. I had no idea what he was saying. I've gotten to the point now where I can distinguish whether people are speaking Hiligaynon, Cebuano, or Tagalog. But I don't understand them obviously! But I'm making progress! So that's exciting! I actually memorized the First Vision the other day in Tagalog just for the fun of it. I'll have to recite it in both Hiligaynon and Tagalog for you so you guys can hear how awesome it sounds!

This past week our numbers increased in quite a few areas! We still have our one Investigator who will be baptized on Christmas! We will always be having it at the Stake Center. A Christmas Day Stake Baptism! It's going to be so awesome! I'm so excited! We have other investigators as well who are working towards baptism but they will probably take place in January! I'm excited!

So as for new foods I've eaten lately. I've eaten more duck, chicken intestine and liver. And I also ate some Kanding the other day. Which is goat haha. The goat wasn't too bad, but the chicken liver was awful and the chicken intestine just kinda grosses me out! I'm still alive though so it's all good!

Other than that though there isn't much that is new around here! Still doing the same thing! Living the Missionary Life. Can't wait to speak to all of you in less than 3 weeks! Going to be great! Love you all!!

-Elder Walters

12.2.13

Late Kami Liwat (we're late again)

Sorry once again that we weren't on to chat again this week. We got an offer to ride to Bacolod from the couple missionaries who came to do an apartment check this morning. Can't pass up a free ride with air conditioning! We're here now, and I hope this email finds all of you in good spirits!

So this week is transfers, I really hope that I don't get transferred! I would really like to stay here in my first area, with all the people I've grown to love, for Christmas! Like I said last week we got a new bishopric and I'm excited to get to work with them as well! I can already see the impact the new bishopric has! We had PEC for the first time I've been here, yesterday. And also for the first time since I've been all 3 members of the Bishopric were at church before it started!

I'm also excited for this next month because we have investigators who will be baptized! Sister JellyAnn has been to church for 3 weeks in a row now! She comes with her less active friend Jhesnie, who has been coming back to church with her so that is awesome! Jhesnie didn't want to go to young women for some reason yesterday but even though she didn't JellyAnn still did! I'm excited for her to be baptized, and I can tell she is too! We also have other investigators who say they want to be baptized, they just need to come to church first! haha

So during yesterday I read a quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks and I thought I would share it with you! Before you read this quite tho I want each of you to think of the how you picture the Final Judgment taking place.

"The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become."

After reading that quote my thought of the final judgment totally changed. When I first thought of it I kind of pictured it as us going through some of the good and bad things we have done in our lives, but when I read this statement it made me realize that that isn't exactly how it's going to go. It will be a judgment based on who we have become. We have our entire lives to repent of our mistakes and to become the best person we can and should be. Why not start today so that when we face the Holy one of Israel at the gate we can say that we have become the best we can. That your final you is better than the beginning and middle you! I don't why this quote had such a profound impact on me, but I hope it can change your perspectives as well. I love each and everyone of you! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We actually forgot about Thanksgiving until the morning of, but then we bought food and had our own Celebration just the four of us in our apartment that night! We had chicken, ham, mango float, and mango shakes! It was great!

As we get closer and closer to Christmas I invite each of you to remember our Savior and his love for each of us. And when you remember his love for you, how much easier it will be for you to share your love with others!

Love,
-Elder Walters

The Elders living in Valladolid for a week! Elder Cruz, Elder May and Elder Perez!

Teaching Paulan, JellyAnn and Jhesnie

Sunday School class!

11.25.13

Happy Thanksgiving!

So this week was pretty good! We had some good things happen at church and then also something kind of different! Yesterday we had a new Bishopric called!!! YEAAA!! Thankfully. In my entire 4 months of being our bishop had been here for a whole week and a half. He's been working in Manila the whole time. Talk about hard to accomplish things without a bishop. And talk about frustrating for the ward because they had no budget the entire time! It's kinda hard to have exchanges with the Bishopric when the bishop is gone and the counselors don't do anything haha. I'm so excited tho! Our bishop seems kind of nervous, but I imagine anyone would be when given that new responsibility! Should be a great new start! But who knows, I could be transferred in another week and not get to experience it anyways! I'm so excited to have a new Bishopric you don't even know! We even had dinner with Bishop last night, first dinner with Bishop haha!!

At church however during sacrament meeting one of our elderly members starting puking after he said the sacrament prayer. He was sitting behind the bench holding a bag and it just kept coming. Needless to say sacrament was delayed for a few minutes while everyone crowded around the poor guy in the corner, obviously not giving him air! Then they picked up his chair and carried him out of the Chapel and downstairs to a members vehicle and took him to the hospital! Talk about a crazy event in the middle of church! I've never had that happen before!

This week we extended quite a few baptismal dates for Dec. 25! What a great Christmas gift! Hopefully they all work out! Most of them however didn't come to church yesterday so that was a bummer, but it's still possible! We have a new investigator named JellyAnn who came to church last week with her best friend who is less active. She has a lot of questions and seems pretty interested! And it's great because she already has a friend in the church who is less active so we can teach both of them at the same time! She also has a really good singing voice. She sang for us at one of our lessons, it was pretty impressive, especially since most Filipinos can't sing very well haha!!

Also our zone leaders have been staying at out apartment the last 2 nights because the plumbing in their apartment is broken and needs to be fixed so the Couple Missionaries picked them with all their stuff and bought them over the other night. And last night the power went off right before it was time for bed, so it was SUPER HOT all night, so hard to sleep when you're hot and sweaty! And then the power came back on literally 5 minutes after we woke up! Talk about bad timing!

Well that's pretty much the news for this week! My favorite scripture for the week has been 2 Nephi 9:52. Our Heavenly Father asks us to remember the words of our God, we can do this by daily scripture study! And to pray unto him daily offering thanks for all that he does for us! I invite each of you to continue to do this as I'm sure most of you do this anyways! I just really like this scripture because it emphasizes the importance of doing it daily!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week, and Thanksgiving!

-Elder Walters

Just doing a lil shaving.

Elder Cruz got bored so he doodled on my foot!

11.11.13

Maayong Aga halin sa Pilipinas!

Well for anyone who heard the knew that the Philippines was it by a terrible Super Typhoon, that of course is true. Many Islands have experienced quite a bit of damage, many people lost there homes, and many people are probably still without power and communication. You all probably have more access to that information than I do! But as for the missionaries here in the Bacolod Mission, we are all safe and sound! Here in my zone it's as if nothing ever happened, but other areas in my mission we hit pretty badly so please keep them in your prayers, as for the rest of the Philippines as well. These peoples homes are not the American Standard, many of them are made of bamboo and tin, very poorly constructed and many were destroyed. Please pray for the health and safety, these people are amazing!!

As I said it's as if nothing ever happened here in Valladolid. We had strong winds and strong rain for maybe 30 minutes. I was expecting a lot more damage and a lot stronger of a storm to hit us, but our prayers and your prayers were answered. We are all safe and free from damage! Thank so much for your love and prayers, they mean a lot, even when we don't experience such calamities as this!

So this week not a whole go accomplished. We were informed Wednesday of the impending Typhoon and were told to prepare ourselves that night. We needed to make sure we had enough food and water and candles and everything to survive without power. Then all day Thursday and Friday we were cooped up in our apartment. We spent quite a bit of time studying, cleaning, and putting up Christmas Decorations :) ! It was honestly quite boring, but I know that by following the counsel of our Mission President and staying inside that we were blessed and protected from all the Devastation of Typhoon Yolanda. And also know that all of your prayers went a long way as well. The Lord is mindful of all of us!

So Sunday morning as we were getting ready to leave for Church, I had this strange prompting that I should take my Preach My Gospel manual with me to church. Something I haven't done once since I got here. I don't know why, but I decided to listen and to take it with me. Lo and behold when we get to church both Elder Cruz and I are asked to speak in Sacrament meeting because we had no assigned speakers, and then after Sacrament meeting Elder Cruz was asked to teach the Gospel Doctrine class. Good thing I brought my PMG with me otherwise it would've been a little rough. Just one of those moments you're glad for the promptings of the Spirit, and the fact that you heard them and listened!

Once again I'm so thankful for all of your love, support, and prayers it means so much to me to hear that everyone is thinking of us!

I love all of you!
-Elder Walters

11.4.13

All Saints Day

So November 1st here is a holiday called All Saints Day. All the Cemeteries here are very different from back home. Peoples graves are mostly all above ground. So on October 31 people come and clean up the cemetery and paint the vaults where their loved ones are buried. We were able to visit with them and offer a prayer for some families, and to help some members of our ward clean and paint their families vaults. Then on November 1st everyone comes to the cemetery and just hangs out with their family. Everyone lights candles and places them on the graves and just hangs out, it was kinda cool to be there with some members of our ward.

November 1st was also the birthday of Nanay Advincula so we were invited to have lunch with them, and to have dinner with them on November 1st, and they fed us dinner on October 31st, and what do you know they also fed us last night. I just love that family. Nanay's daughter Che lives in Arizona with her Husband and 2 kids but she has been here for the last 7 months so it's been really nice to communicate with her in English. Unfortunately she goes back to Arizona on the 18th so that'll be weird when they leave.

We had an awesome opportunity to have a meeting with Elder Neil L. Andersen, L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy, Ian S. Ardern and Larry J. Echo Hawk of the Seventy and Philippines Area Presidency this past Saturday in Talisay. Our entire mission was there and there was also a ton of youth and single adults of all of Negros Occidental as well. It was crazy. Elder Andersen talked a lot of the helping efforts of the Church after the Earthquake and how as members we have a responsibility to help our fellow brothers and sisters and all that we do. We should always be ready and willing to give of our time to assist those in need. The Church provides the resources, we just need to give freely of our time to help those in need. And in return those efforts are a perfect way for us to share the gospel and perfect finding opportunities when we are in the service of our fellow man.

Also yesterday for church Elder Echo Hawk came to our Stake. It was probably one of the coolest church meetings I have ever attended. The Spirit that he brought was amazing, and the stories and experiences he shared were awesome. He shared of his conversion story, and his experience working for President Obama before being called to serve as a General Authority for the rest of his life, it was crazy I can't fully explain it. Then at one point he asked the congregation, "Do you know that there are angels among us today?" Then he paused for second and asked it again. Then he asked for all of us full-time missionaries to stand, and he said that we were the angels among them. I felt so inadequate yet so overwhelmed with happiness at the same time it was so weird. Multiple times throughout his message I almost began to cry, the Spirit was just so strong. And I am not one to usually cry in instances like that, I just can't explain to you how amazing that meeting was I just wish all of you could've been there with me!!


Crazy story to end my message today. This morning I was in my first "tricycle accident!" haha I saw it coming though so it didn't really bother me. The tricycle we were on slammed on its brakes behind a bus, and the tricycle behind us reacted too late and slammed on his but slid into the back of ours because the road was damp. I turned around and saw it coming though so I wasn't affected! Just a fun story to tell everyone!

I love all of you! Hope you have an amazing week and always remember to thank the Lord for the wonderful blessings and lives that we have!

Halong Kamo,
-Elder Walters