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

8.26.13

Ginatudlo kami sang isa ka deaf nga babeye! (We're teaching a deaf girl!)

So this week was pretty awesome. The work is still slow, our key indicators numbers aren't very high and we don't have many progressing investigators or lessons that we teach throughout the week, but I feel like it's getting a little better! We've committed a girl named Carla( she's about 15 and her little sister is a recent convert) to be baptized on September 28. Pretty good day if you ask me. I think it'd be pretty sweet if the first person I ever baptize is one of my investigators on my birthday, so I hope that works out. She didn't come to church yesterday, which was depressing because we taught her and her sister the night before and her sister came to church, so hopefully that works out still.

We had one of our investigators come to Church yesterday though, and get this..... She's deaf! It's pretty awesome. I love when we get to "talk" with her. She knows sign language, which means she knows english! So usually we have to phones going and we just type messages and pass the phones back and forth, or sometimes we just use pen and paper. She's also taught us some sign language which is pretty awesome. She's a super nice girl and is always got a smile on her face. She seemed to really enjoy church and the young women were super nice and took her to class and everything!

Also this week, Elder Hawk and I had the opportunity to sing at a Mini-Funeral Service. Here in the Philippines funerals are crazy. The actual funeral is at some random church and like the whole town goes. After the funeral service they all walk or ride the tricycles (very slowly) until they get to the cemetery. It causes huge backups on the main highway haha. However our Ward usually does a mini funeral service at the home for the family and the ward. So Elder Hawk and I got there and got volunteered. So we sang 2 verses of "I Need Thee Every Hour" it was actually really cool. Elder Hawk has a good voice and I sing pretty well especially when the person next to me knows what they're doing ;) haha So that was fun!

Well let's see. I again rode on top of a jeepney and on top of a tricycle this week. Always fun, gets a nice breeze in the heat! I don't think anything else too crazy had happened. Just a few more lizard deaths in our home. Apparently they just can't handle us.

So I read in John chapter 10 recently and in that Chapter Christ is speaking to his newly called 12 Apostles. He tells them in verse 14 that if they do all that he asks, and they serve and love one another and keep his commandments that they aren't his servants, but his friends. I believe in that chapter that they use the word disciple rather than apostle, and we know that disciple also means all believers of Christ. So we can relate that scripture to our own lives as well. We are all brothers and sisters of our Savior Jesus Christ, while here on this Earth we have many opportunities to serve him and serve our Heavenly Father, however just like that Chapter says, if we do all that he asks and keep his commandments we aren't Christ's servants, but we are his FRIENDS. I just thought that was an awesome Chapter. Sure Christ was perfect but in all reality we have that same potential. Maybe not in this life, but in the next. We will all be friends and I just think that is awesome! I love all of you guys and all that you do for me! I hope you find as much peace and comfort in this chapter as I do!

-Palangga ko kamo.
-Elder Walters

Front of our Basketball Shirt (We used the USA Bball Logo)

The back of the shirt

The Sleeve (We stole the NBA Logo)

Just riding on top of a Jeepney

Elder Hawk on top of the Jeepney (Better)

Tiki on our Kitchen Table

The Basketball Clinic

On my camera my neck tan was a lot worse! hah

Gwapo Means Handsome - the younger girls had written this on the board and I just had to get a picture of it!

This is Jona - She's deaf! She's super fun and always has a smile on her face!

Jona again!

8.19.13

Dear Family,

So the work has been slow again this week. We had our district meeting on Tuesday and then had to travel to Bago a couple other times throughout the week so that took some time away from us to work. I was able to play basketball last week with the Elders in my Zone on p-day! It was really fun. There were a bunch of Filipino kids at the church when we got there to play, but President Lopez won't let Missionaries play with people other than Missionaries, so we had to tell them they couldn't play which kinda stinks! They ended up just sitting behind the basket and commentating the whole game for us! And cheering us on whenever we made a basket, so that was kinda fun. As if we aren't like heroes to them already, then we're good at basketball and they're even more impressed haha!

I've decided that whenever we're out riding a bus or walking and somebody just stares at me that I'm going to wave at them. Well mostly the girls, cuz that'd be kind of weird I think If I waved to guys. They really love it here when we smile and wave, especially the kids. I love it. Everyone always yells " 'Der " meaning Elder, but here in the Philippines they shortcut everything, which makes it kinda hard to understand, but hey, I probably won't understand most words if they said the whole thing anyway! :)

So in the few lessons we were able to teach this week, we came away with 2 Baptismal dates, so that's pretty awesome! We aren't too sure who for sure they are, but at least we got them to commit. Here in the Philippines, the investigator has to attend church for 4 weeks in a row before they can be baptized! I believe they can actually miss one week, but once they miss 2 it resets. So we kinda need to get our investigators to church in order for it to have a chance! It's still really hard for me to understand everyone, I definitely understand better than I can speak however!

So I was reading this morning in Alma about the Sons of Mosiah. For those of you who don't know or remember their story, these young men we're once wicked and doing horrible things, but they turned there lives around repented and served missions. They were called to serve amongst the Lamanites. Their enemies, and people who wanted to kill them. However it says in Chapter 17, they "took courage", "trusting in the Lord" and they "prayed and fasted much." I know that for me it would take a lot of courage to be called to serve people who wanted to kill me, so the Sons of Mosiah are a great example to me. My mission should never be as hard as there's because I don't need to fear for my life. I have no reason to complain about the heat or anything else because my problems aren't as bad as theirs. It says in Alma 20:29 "...nevertheless they were patient in all their sufferings." If the Sons of Mosiah could be patient while being thrown into prisons and being bound, then I can get over the little problems of heat and sweat. Just a fun little story and lesson I read and learned from today! :)

So on Saturday night we were doing our personal study because we had to attend a Baptism that morning, and I was reading Alma 5:62 when we received a text message saying "Please kindly inform Elder Walters that he has a talk tomorrow." So that was awesome. My topic was on missionary work and the verse that I was reading tied right in. Crazy how things like that happen! In that verse Alma was talking to the people, and he said "I speak by way of command to you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye to may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life." As missionaries our purpose is to "Invite others to come unto Christ." Just like Alma was saying, "I speak by way of invitation." We invite all people. Others doesn't just mean investigators, or nonmembers. We visit members as well. As missionaries we bring ourselves closer to Christ, and we bring our companion closer to Christ every morning! We all need to continue to get closer to Christ. They only way to do that is by going to church and reading our scriptures. In 3 Nephi 27: 21 & 25 Christ says "...for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do." & "...what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." How do we learn of Christ in order to become like him and do the things which he has done if we haven't read our scriptures or attended church?...... Exactly, we can't for we haven't learned anything in order to help ourselves on that path. The best way to learn of Christ is by reading of him in the Scriptures. Whether we read from The Bible, The Book of Mormon, or any other of the Standard works, they all refer to Christ. I know that as we do these things with a real intent to learn more of our Savior and a real desire to come closer to him that we can. I've been able to see it as I've studied they scriptures more diligently and more fully over the past 2 months. There's a lot to learn, that's why we continue to read and re-read our scriptures. Because there is no way we can learn everything the first time!

So I encourage all of you to read from them everyday. Even 1 verse, or 1 chapter. Start small, anything is better than nothing! I love all of you guys and all the love and support that you give me! I love seeing the families at church here in Valladolid. It reminds me of the days that I was little and went to church with all of you!

So let's see what crazy things happened this week... Well I ate squid, and calamari, which now that I think about it I'm pretty sure calamari is squid, but whatever! haha I played basketball in the rain, and walked in pouring rain. This morning on my way to email I stood on the back of a jeepney again for like 40 minutes, and for the last half of that I had to Filipino squat while standing on the back so we didn't get in trouble. Which doesn't make sense because there's like no rules here, so I don't know who would enforce anything! But that was fun. Quite the leg workout! I think that's about it --- wait just kidding. We caught a mouse last night in our apartment, and then we had to drown him :/ poor thing. But not really, I'd rather not have him crawl on me in my sleep! We also had a small Tiki (Lizard) die on our kitchen table. Makes sense because it had no tail, and it's front feet were gone, so it couldn't really move. So much death in my apartment in one day. But what can you do! ;)

Palangga ko kamo! Salamat sa inyo para sa tanan nga nagahimo ninyo para sa akon! Palangga ko diri sa Pilipinas!

(I love you guys! Thank you for all that you do for me! I love it here in the Philippines!)

-Elder Walters

8.12.13

Simana Duha sa Valladolid


It's been another week, and once again I have no idea where the time goes. We were able to shop last P-Day at Gaisano, which is pretty much just like a U.S. mall so that was nice! We also got to eat at Pizza Hut! I'm able to buy pretty much anything I would want to eat like the US. The living conditions here are terrible, but yet they have all the accommodations you need. People literally have flat screen TV's in their huts in the middle of Rice Fields, I don't even understand how they get electricity out there.

This week we had our Zone Training Meeting, and our Mission President's Training Meeting so we were pretty busy with those. We have to Travel to Bago for most meetings which is about a 20 minute bus ride away. We were pretty busy with all those meetings and had a really slow week, so we didn't get many lessons.

At our Mission President's Training we talked about some pretty sweet stuff. I'm so pumped for these next couple of weeks. In our zone we are going to pilot some of the new proselyting techniques. One group is working with Facebook, another is working on more organized church tours, and guess what my group got?!?!?!?!?!? We got BASKETBALL! Yup, that's right. Filipinos love their basketball. So President Thought it would be great for a couple of White Guys from America to teach the Primary Aged kids from 8-12 how to play basketball while the sister missionaries teach the parents! We will hold a clinic hopefully once a week, and then teach them a quick lesson before we start, and then we'll play some basketball! Gonna be totally awesome! We're even having shirts made for Elder Hawk and Me. They're going to pretty sweet. Going to have the Captain Moroni Statue, but he'll be standing on a basketball instead (totally my idea, thought it was kinda brilliant (;)

Well let's see what other crazy things I've done this week. I didn't really eat anything else crazy. We caught a lizard in our apartment, we almost caught a mouse. I saw a huge rat just outside our backdoor and that kinda grossed me out. Um I rode standing on a 1 ft. platform on the back of a Jeepney (they're like long covered trucks with benches inside them, kind of like mini busses.) I also rode on top of one of those. Totally would be illegal in the US, but here in the Philippines there's literally no rules, kinda crazy. Mother don't worry about me hanging and riding on top of cars. People do it all the time, and I have a good death-hold on everything so I'm all good!

This Sunday was Stake Conference, so that was kind of neat! Still hard to understand everyone, but church is done in mostly English. During the Stake Business, about 10 people literally opposed the Stake Presidency, and that was different. Never actually seen that happen. Apparently they have no legitimate reason, so I don't understand haha. They just kept going, no big deal!

We hoping this next week will be filled with more lessons. Cuz our Key indicators weren't the greatest, but that just means there is more room for improvement! I was able to attend a baptism for another ward, and I just can't wait to have one in ours! Going to be great!

Palangga ko kamo! Maghambal ko sa inyo karon!

-Elder Walters

Chillin in a Rice Field

The Book of Mormon in 3 Languages- Basahon = Cebauno, Aklat = Tagalog, Libro = Hiligaynon

Showering in the Rain

Our Favorite Filipino Restaurant 'Namitz' (namit means deliscious)

Bago Zone (August 2013)