Mon, 17 Sep 2012
Subject: Last week of the Cycle!!
Dear Family,
This week was a great week to end off the cycle, a lot happened and the work went great. So first of all on Tuesday we had district meeting then after that Elder Needs and I went on splits together in Jones, he is one of the Zone Leaders in the Alicia Zone. He is awesome, a really really good missionary I learned a ton from him, he played lacrosse for byu before his mission so he is a pretty big boy. He is a big sports fan, so in between appointements and stuff we talked a lot about sports and stuff it was kinda fun, since there are very few people in the mission who are big sports fans... which is probably a good thing, less distractions from the work. Then on Wednesday we got a txt from the APs that I needed to come to Cauayan on Thursday, with two other missionaries in the district, it was for Trainers Training, it looks like I am gonna be training for the next two cycles, that means I am gonna be a Tatay(father) in the mission. Thats gonna be a challenge. I would be lying if I didn't say that I wasn't a little nervous, I need to teach a brand new missionary, how to be a missionary. I am sure I will learn a ton these next two cycles. So anyway we go to Cauayan on Thursday and learn how to train, then we eat lunch there, it was great, it was Chili Dogs! Brother and Sister Carlos get a ton of food always sent to them, they had some real American hotdogs and some real American chili and... it was great, I had to eat the first one really fast to make sure that I could get seconds, she also made brownies!!! Oh yeah the Carlos's are great cooks, Sister Carlos wrote a book about cooking before the mission I guess. Anyway then on Saturday the Gottfredsons came to Jones and worked with us, so I got to be a translator, that is always fun. Then on Sunday we finally got a Gospel Essentials class going in Jones, that way our investigators aren't sitting confused in the normal Sunday School class.
This next week should be really busy as well, on Tuesday is district meeting, then Elder Lasay is for sure getting transferred, so he has to pack, then go to peoples houses and say goodbye, then on Wednesday we are going to the Farewell Fireside for the missionaries going home, then on Thursday there is transfer day and I am getting my new missionary.
On Thursday the training was really helpful, President Carlos just said, Focus on always working to have the Spirit, that is the most important thing. Also service to him, and lots of confidence building confidence and you have to let him have to trust him with some responsibilities it cant always be you or he wont learn... Friday is I already have a lesson planned where he can give the baptismal challenge. The Mallabou family has a referral for us that has come to church the past two weeks, and as missionaries we have been challenged to give baptismal challenges the very first lesson, so on Friday we have a lesson planned with this family, and my new kid is gonna have the opportunity to give the challenge.
This week we were able to teach sister Letlet the 3 times that we needed to, we were able to finish up the lessons with her, then on Saturday she had her interview, and she passed it! So next week on the 22nd she is going to get baptized, that should be exciting, the bad news for elder Lasay is he is gonna be baptized just before her baptism.
We were able to teach Sister Villiaflor this week, we taught her about Faith and we used some of the Scripts in Alma 32, its a great chapter, you guys should read it. It was a good lesson, she said that she was going to try her best to come to church... she didn't! Oh well, she I think is the strongest less actives I have taught, she is just to afraid to come back, it is just that first step that is hard. I was thinking one day though and I realized that her husband wasn't a member, he is dead now, maybe we can share with her about temples and Eternal Families, and that she can be sealed with her husband and family. There is a Branch Temple trip in December, maybe if she can get active she can go to that. That would be exciting. That is the temple trip that the Cristobal family is planning on going to, to get sealed.
Speaking of the Cristobal family, they are doing good, Sister and Brother finally got contact with each other, Brother went to Manilia to pick up sister, they should be back on Tuesday. Brother still hasn't drunk in like 1 1/2 months.
Sister Telma on of our less actives that we are teaching continues to be kinda frustrating, she is great in lessons and always says she is gonna do her best to come to church, but she just hasn't done it yet... she kinda had one of the funnier excuses that I have heard on my mission, she said that she wasn't able to find her bra... that was kinda awkward, I had no clue what to say... just like, ya.. you better find that... haha what is a missionary supposed to say to that? It was funny though on Sunday we visited her and gave a scriptural thought, and when we were done she asked us to share another verse because she enjoyed feeling the Holy Ghost, so we shared so verse in Alma 32... I forget the exact verse but we connected it to the Spirit and if she likes that feeling if she always prays and reads the scriptures and comes to church, then she doesn't need us to come and visit her for her to feel that Spirit but she can feel it herself.
We still didn't get in contact with Myra this week, I have no idea what to do that we aren't doing. We will keep trying to visit her until she is available...
We were able to teach sister Vera Cruz, she is super friendly, I think that she will come back, we a little bit of work and help from the branch.
Well things in Jones keep on going good, I am a little nervous about the my new companion, but I think that things should probably go good, I am looking forward to the opportunity, it will just be a little hard...
Well love you guys thanks for everything,
Elder James
Monday, October 7, 2013
Mon, 10 Sep 2012
Dear Family,
It is officially the last week of the cycle, this cycle went by super fast its nuts. Things didn't really change though as far as the work, but that is okay, as long as we are doing our best, which we are. We have a small problem in Jones that is really really... disappointing.
We had a investigator, Myra she is 16, she has quite a bit of support, she has a ton of members in her family, her mom and dad aren't members yet, they are working abroad though and are planning on being taught by the missionaries once they get back. Anyway, Myra was doing great in her progression, she was praying every night, reading the scriptures and reading all of our assignments that we gave her, she payed attention in lessons, came to church every Sunday. She was a great investigator, she was getting close to her baptismal interview, and I don't know what happened but her Grandpa all of the sudden said that she couldn't be baptized or taught anymore by us, we have never met him because Myra lives in a boarding house and we teach her at a members house. But her grandma and grandpa live in Jones. We aren't really sure what we should do because I mean, technically her grandparents are her legal guardians, we want to see if we can have Myra get a hold of one of her family members that is a member of the church and see if they can talk to her Grandpa, we want to find him and talk to him too. We just need to find a way to talk to Myra because every time we go over to her boarding house she isn't there... If we cant ever find a way to talk to her I don't really know what we can do.... this whole situation was really heart breaking. We will see what happens this week.
But we do have some really good news, there is this one investigator that we have, Sister Letlet, she is doing great, something funny is last cycle we were about to drop her, then after a few really really good lessons she is now doing great, she is really getting into it, she is coming to the Church, she has a strong testimony, her Husband is starting to become active again because of her.
I am really starting to get concerned for the Penuliar family, we weren't able to teach them for 2 weeks, I think brother is starting to lose interest, we have a lesson plan that we really want to share with them, I think it could really help. But first we need to get a opportunity to teach them, that is the trick.
Brother Aquino is starting to hide from us, we went over there on Sunday, and we showed up and there door was open and we could see straight into their house, and I saw brother in the kitchen, he walked in some part of the kitchen that I couldn't see him, then we Tao po'd... its basically the form of knocking a door or ringing a door bell in the Philippines... I will explain it more later, anyway sister looked back into the kitchen and was said something to brother, then she looked at us and told us that he was sleeping... I wanted to say so bad, I know that he is in the kitchen... but that would be embarrassing for them... so.. it was kinda funny though, I mean, if you don't want us to teach you just say so...
Anyway I am running out of time, we played football earlier, it was quite fun. Oh yeah I dont know if I told you guys this, but there is this new missionary that is coming in next cycle, and he used to play baseball for byu... Finally someone in the mission that likes baseball.
Sorry my email was so short this week, it was a great week, fairly normal though.
Love you guys,
Elder James
Dear Family,
It is officially the last week of the cycle, this cycle went by super fast its nuts. Things didn't really change though as far as the work, but that is okay, as long as we are doing our best, which we are. We have a small problem in Jones that is really really... disappointing.
We had a investigator, Myra she is 16, she has quite a bit of support, she has a ton of members in her family, her mom and dad aren't members yet, they are working abroad though and are planning on being taught by the missionaries once they get back. Anyway, Myra was doing great in her progression, she was praying every night, reading the scriptures and reading all of our assignments that we gave her, she payed attention in lessons, came to church every Sunday. She was a great investigator, she was getting close to her baptismal interview, and I don't know what happened but her Grandpa all of the sudden said that she couldn't be baptized or taught anymore by us, we have never met him because Myra lives in a boarding house and we teach her at a members house. But her grandma and grandpa live in Jones. We aren't really sure what we should do because I mean, technically her grandparents are her legal guardians, we want to see if we can have Myra get a hold of one of her family members that is a member of the church and see if they can talk to her Grandpa, we want to find him and talk to him too. We just need to find a way to talk to Myra because every time we go over to her boarding house she isn't there... If we cant ever find a way to talk to her I don't really know what we can do.... this whole situation was really heart breaking. We will see what happens this week.
But we do have some really good news, there is this one investigator that we have, Sister Letlet, she is doing great, something funny is last cycle we were about to drop her, then after a few really really good lessons she is now doing great, she is really getting into it, she is coming to the Church, she has a strong testimony, her Husband is starting to become active again because of her.
I am really starting to get concerned for the Penuliar family, we weren't able to teach them for 2 weeks, I think brother is starting to lose interest, we have a lesson plan that we really want to share with them, I think it could really help. But first we need to get a opportunity to teach them, that is the trick.
Brother Aquino is starting to hide from us, we went over there on Sunday, and we showed up and there door was open and we could see straight into their house, and I saw brother in the kitchen, he walked in some part of the kitchen that I couldn't see him, then we Tao po'd... its basically the form of knocking a door or ringing a door bell in the Philippines... I will explain it more later, anyway sister looked back into the kitchen and was said something to brother, then she looked at us and told us that he was sleeping... I wanted to say so bad, I know that he is in the kitchen... but that would be embarrassing for them... so.. it was kinda funny though, I mean, if you don't want us to teach you just say so...
Anyway I am running out of time, we played football earlier, it was quite fun. Oh yeah I dont know if I told you guys this, but there is this new missionary that is coming in next cycle, and he used to play baseball for byu... Finally someone in the mission that likes baseball.
Sorry my email was so short this week, it was a great week, fairly normal though.
Love you guys,
Elder James
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2012 16:10:26 +0800
Subject: Christmas Time! Yay!!
Dear Family,
This is gonna be a short letter, mostly because there really isn't much to tell you about, this week I did learn a lot though, it was probably one of the toughest weeks of the whole entire mission, as far as the work wise. We got punted harder then anything else could ever even get punted. It sucked. First of all it is harvest season for corn, so everyone is super busy with that, like every single male in Jones it seemed was harvesting corn. And three days in a row our fellowshipper dropped out on us, so that meant every single lesson that we had with a Sister automatically got canceled... there was some good stuff that happened though.
I want to start with the bad so at the end the good seems awesome. First is we couldn't teach Myra at all this week, she was sick all week, and then on Saturday she went home to Banawag... so she wasn't able to come to church, so we are gonna have to push her baptismal date back until Oct 6.. but that is okay, the most important thing is that she is ready. She is doing great in her scripture reading, we gave her a Tithing pamphlet and she read the whole thing, the only problem is that for one reason or another we haven't been able to teach her...
The Penuliar family, oh man I am starting to get worried for them, Sister Penuliar went and visited her home this week, and so she wasn't available until Sunday... and then on Sunday we were expecting her and her daughter to come to church, but there family made a visit to their home, so she didn't come to church. And brother had work on Sunday, we really haven't had much of an opportunity to talk to him about that... I am afraid that brother is starting to lose interest in the Church. Sister is still doing good, but we don't only want to bring her and her daughter to Church, it would be the best if brother came to. Also on Sunday I am not sure what happened, but we had a lesson that was scheduled for them and we showed up and sister said next time, because brother was drunk and he got in a fight and someone chopped his arm with a Machete... we went straight over to the Ribuca family, and talked to them, and they explained more of what happened. Apparently Sister and Brother got into a argument and brother got really mad went got drunk then for some reason, got into a fight... I am really nervous for them... I dont want to lose them, they are a family, and I love them too much, and this gospel can help them too much for them to not continue... in Brothers defense though he rarely drinks...
Cristobal family, well brother is doing great, I couldn't be prouder of Brother Cristobal, he has been sober of Alcohol for a long time, and their son Jayde is doing great, I believe there is a really high chance that in December on the date we prepared with them, they could be sealed in the temple!!! That would make everything I have suffered in my mission worth it... I mean it is already "worth it" but I just couldn't explain how great that would be. But I am scared for sister, she went to Manila last week to visit one of their kids, and she hasn't come back yet, and she hasn't contacted brother yet. I just pray that nothing happened to her... brother is super worried.
Something great but kinda weird happened here this week. So every tuesday the senior couple assigned here in Jones goes out and visits some members. Last tuesday they went to the Ibara family, Tatay Ibara is a member but his wife is a super devoted catholic. Lasay taught her back in the day and she was super defensive of her beliefs.. anyway so Elder Gottfredson and President Malliabou go over to their house and they visit with them, and Sister joins in, and apparently Elder Gottfredson focuses on sister, talks about Joseph Smith and all that good stuff, and apparently by the end of the lesson sister said that, 1. she felt the Spirit, 2. She knows that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet, and 3. they set a baptismal date for her for oct 20... elder Lasay and I are going to go visit them this week, teach sister and stuff, hopefully she stays true to what she said... she is a very devoted catholic though... we shall see.
As far as less actives we taught this week... well we didn't really teach any... we were only able to teach 2 lessons this week!!! We were out every single day at 12:30-8:00 and we went and did everything we could possibly think of, tracting, finding less actives.. I dont know... everything we tried we hit a dead end.. but we do have so very good news...
Sister Letlet, is doing great. She came to church this week, she even paid a fast offering... the funny part of that is we haven't even taught her about fast offerings yet!! She stayed all 3 hours and I dont know she is doing great. We are gonna give her a bapitsmal date for Sept 22 I am super excited, but a little apprehensive at giving her a date because the other people that we have given dates to have... been... facing challenges. We haven't been able to teach her all week because brother has been working until 10:30ish everyday harvesting corn... so there has been no male to be present in the lesson.
Tatay Pong was called as the Branch Mission Leader, I was super stoked when he got called.. right after church we had a meeting, talking about some potential branch missionaries, gospel essentials teachers, and we have a missionary fireside on friday that we planned.. I am excited about our fireside, we are inviting EVERYONE!!! like... Everyone!!! We are going to any and everyone and inviting them, and challenging members to bring a friend... all we are gonna do is watch the 1hr Restoration dvd... we are gonna make invitations later to give out... to invite EVERYONE!!!! And if it is only Elder Lasay me and Tatay Pong.. we then we will go buy a liter of Sprite and some cookies and watch the Restoration dvd by ourselves... you guys are invited too... just have to get here to Jones... by friday. ;)
I have finally decided to lose the 20 pounds that I gained in the Mtc and work out, I have been working out everynight for 30 minutes. We have some nice weights here and I am gonna ask the Landlord if he can make me a bench... he used to be a carpenter... so it should be pretty easy for him...
Oh yeah Merry Christmas. It is officially Christmas time here in the Philippines. Sept is the start of Christmas season here... it is called the "Ber Months" because it starts to one, "get cold"....(I think its still hot though, their cold is like 70F) the other reasone why it is the "Ber Months" is because of the BER at the end of the months.. like SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER... ect.
I am glad it is a new week, new weeks bring new possibilities, new people to meet, new lessons, a chance to improve! I learned this week that even the work here in Jones is hard sometimes, I have a lot to be grateful for, I started realizing allll of the blessings I have in my life. Yes I am sad for the other people that they aren't accepting the gospel, and gaining the same happiness that we are... but at least I am doing my best... thats all the Lord requires of me. I will do everything I can to find teach, and invite, every single person that the Lord has prepared for us in Jones...
The best is yet to come in the Church.. Elder Tae said it himself. The Philippines has not experienced nothing compared as to what is to come. Here in the Philippines in 50 years 600,000 people have joined the Church... and we are excited to see more and more... it is important to remember no unhallowed hand can stop the the work of the Lord from proceeding, our only choice is the amount of our Participation.
Love you guys, thanks for everything
Elder James
Subject: Christmas Time! Yay!!
Dear Family,
This is gonna be a short letter, mostly because there really isn't much to tell you about, this week I did learn a lot though, it was probably one of the toughest weeks of the whole entire mission, as far as the work wise. We got punted harder then anything else could ever even get punted. It sucked. First of all it is harvest season for corn, so everyone is super busy with that, like every single male in Jones it seemed was harvesting corn. And three days in a row our fellowshipper dropped out on us, so that meant every single lesson that we had with a Sister automatically got canceled... there was some good stuff that happened though.
I want to start with the bad so at the end the good seems awesome. First is we couldn't teach Myra at all this week, she was sick all week, and then on Saturday she went home to Banawag... so she wasn't able to come to church, so we are gonna have to push her baptismal date back until Oct 6.. but that is okay, the most important thing is that she is ready. She is doing great in her scripture reading, we gave her a Tithing pamphlet and she read the whole thing, the only problem is that for one reason or another we haven't been able to teach her...
The Penuliar family, oh man I am starting to get worried for them, Sister Penuliar went and visited her home this week, and so she wasn't available until Sunday... and then on Sunday we were expecting her and her daughter to come to church, but there family made a visit to their home, so she didn't come to church. And brother had work on Sunday, we really haven't had much of an opportunity to talk to him about that... I am afraid that brother is starting to lose interest in the Church. Sister is still doing good, but we don't only want to bring her and her daughter to Church, it would be the best if brother came to. Also on Sunday I am not sure what happened, but we had a lesson that was scheduled for them and we showed up and sister said next time, because brother was drunk and he got in a fight and someone chopped his arm with a Machete... we went straight over to the Ribuca family, and talked to them, and they explained more of what happened. Apparently Sister and Brother got into a argument and brother got really mad went got drunk then for some reason, got into a fight... I am really nervous for them... I dont want to lose them, they are a family, and I love them too much, and this gospel can help them too much for them to not continue... in Brothers defense though he rarely drinks...
Cristobal family, well brother is doing great, I couldn't be prouder of Brother Cristobal, he has been sober of Alcohol for a long time, and their son Jayde is doing great, I believe there is a really high chance that in December on the date we prepared with them, they could be sealed in the temple!!! That would make everything I have suffered in my mission worth it... I mean it is already "worth it" but I just couldn't explain how great that would be. But I am scared for sister, she went to Manila last week to visit one of their kids, and she hasn't come back yet, and she hasn't contacted brother yet. I just pray that nothing happened to her... brother is super worried.
Something great but kinda weird happened here this week. So every tuesday the senior couple assigned here in Jones goes out and visits some members. Last tuesday they went to the Ibara family, Tatay Ibara is a member but his wife is a super devoted catholic. Lasay taught her back in the day and she was super defensive of her beliefs.. anyway so Elder Gottfredson and President Malliabou go over to their house and they visit with them, and Sister joins in, and apparently Elder Gottfredson focuses on sister, talks about Joseph Smith and all that good stuff, and apparently by the end of the lesson sister said that, 1. she felt the Spirit, 2. She knows that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet, and 3. they set a baptismal date for her for oct 20... elder Lasay and I are going to go visit them this week, teach sister and stuff, hopefully she stays true to what she said... she is a very devoted catholic though... we shall see.
As far as less actives we taught this week... well we didn't really teach any... we were only able to teach 2 lessons this week!!! We were out every single day at 12:30-8:00 and we went and did everything we could possibly think of, tracting, finding less actives.. I dont know... everything we tried we hit a dead end.. but we do have so very good news...
Sister Letlet, is doing great. She came to church this week, she even paid a fast offering... the funny part of that is we haven't even taught her about fast offerings yet!! She stayed all 3 hours and I dont know she is doing great. We are gonna give her a bapitsmal date for Sept 22 I am super excited, but a little apprehensive at giving her a date because the other people that we have given dates to have... been... facing challenges. We haven't been able to teach her all week because brother has been working until 10:30ish everyday harvesting corn... so there has been no male to be present in the lesson.
Tatay Pong was called as the Branch Mission Leader, I was super stoked when he got called.. right after church we had a meeting, talking about some potential branch missionaries, gospel essentials teachers, and we have a missionary fireside on friday that we planned.. I am excited about our fireside, we are inviting EVERYONE!!! like... Everyone!!! We are going to any and everyone and inviting them, and challenging members to bring a friend... all we are gonna do is watch the 1hr Restoration dvd... we are gonna make invitations later to give out... to invite EVERYONE!!!! And if it is only Elder Lasay me and Tatay Pong.. we then we will go buy a liter of Sprite and some cookies and watch the Restoration dvd by ourselves... you guys are invited too... just have to get here to Jones... by friday. ;)
I have finally decided to lose the 20 pounds that I gained in the Mtc and work out, I have been working out everynight for 30 minutes. We have some nice weights here and I am gonna ask the Landlord if he can make me a bench... he used to be a carpenter... so it should be pretty easy for him...
Oh yeah Merry Christmas. It is officially Christmas time here in the Philippines. Sept is the start of Christmas season here... it is called the "Ber Months" because it starts to one, "get cold"....(I think its still hot though, their cold is like 70F) the other reasone why it is the "Ber Months" is because of the BER at the end of the months.. like SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER... ect.
I am glad it is a new week, new weeks bring new possibilities, new people to meet, new lessons, a chance to improve! I learned this week that even the work here in Jones is hard sometimes, I have a lot to be grateful for, I started realizing allll of the blessings I have in my life. Yes I am sad for the other people that they aren't accepting the gospel, and gaining the same happiness that we are... but at least I am doing my best... thats all the Lord requires of me. I will do everything I can to find teach, and invite, every single person that the Lord has prepared for us in Jones...
The best is yet to come in the Church.. Elder Tae said it himself. The Philippines has not experienced nothing compared as to what is to come. Here in the Philippines in 50 years 600,000 people have joined the Church... and we are excited to see more and more... it is important to remember no unhallowed hand can stop the the work of the Lord from proceeding, our only choice is the amount of our Participation.
Love you guys, thanks for everything
Elder James
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:17:37 +0800
Dear Family,
Dear Family,
This week was great, we got a lot of great work done. I was a very normal week, but it went by really fast, we taught some great lessons.
We were only able to teach Myra once this week, but we were able to teach her about keeping the sabbath day holy, it was a pretty straight forward lesson, but she is doing great in her reading and praying, she is in 1st Nephi 25. Sometimes I feel like I am a little pushy when it comes to our investigators reading and praying, but there is no way that they will be ready for baptism if they aren't reading and praying everyday. She also was able to go to church, she went to church in Echague though, she has a aunt and uncle that are members in Echague, her uncle is actually a high councilman. She is doing great, her baptismal date is on Sept 15.
Sister Letlet is doing amazing, I am amazed at how much she has come along. She came to church this week, that makes it two weeks in a row! She is keeping our other commitments. This week we watched the movie Finding faith in Christ with her, she got really into it, her reactions were actually kind of funny when it showed Jesus performing a miracle. The spirit was super strong during the lesson. I think, but am not sure that we are gonna give her a baptismal date for Sept 15. She is ready for it, she doesn't have any problems with any of the Commandments, she has a strong testimony, she loves our Church. She is reading the Book of Mormon. As long as she keeps coming to church, and doesn't let the argument with sister Fe get in her way, then everything should be alright.
The Cristobal family is also progressing very nicely. Brother has abstained alcohol for about 3 weeks now I think, him and his son came to church on sunday, making them "Returned less active." It is nice to see some fruit of our work starting to come through her in Jones. Sister didn't come because she went to Manila to visit her daughter there. It was nice we were able to teach brother one on one on friday. It was a great lesson, I cant remember what script verse we shared, but it was about how the Lord keeps his promises and we have to do our part to keep the commandments and like that and we will obtain all of the promises and blessing of the Lord. It was a great lesson.
The Pemuliar family is doing great, we taught them twice this week, the first lesson about Faith and Repentance, it was a great lesson, it had good flow and the spirit was super strong. The next lesson that we taught them was about baptism. The lesson was great, we gave them the baptismal invitation and the accepted, they had a lot of questions, but that is great, brother at first was confused as to why he needed to be baptized again, since he was baptized as a baby. We explained that baptism had to be done by the proper authority. It was actually a good opportunity too, to explain to them the importance of praying to know if Joseph Smith is a true prophet and if he truly restored the true church and authority back on the earth. Sister has received an answer about Joseph Smith and she knows that he is a true Prophet, but brother has received or recognized his answer yet. Their baptismal date is for Oct 6. The reason why we put it out so far is so that we can teach their little daughter too, they have a 10 year old daughter that is never present during the lessons, but sister Pemuliar says that she does all of the reading assingments and loves coming to church. We are gonna focus on the mom and dad first, and when we have the opportunity we are gonna teach her, so they can be baptized as a family.
Tatay Quijas has officially become less active. I dont know if I told you this last week, but after sacrament last week he told us that he was gonna go less active until Jojo started going to church in Cauayan where he should. We are continuing to visit him and stuff, but he has a pretty hard head..
We found this new less active sister, her name is Sister Villiaflour, we actually technically didn't just find her this week, we found her a long time ago. But this week we finally were able to teach her. She is super super nice, I thought that she was hiding from us, it just turns out that she has been very very busy. I think things have been finally getting back to normal with her. She was back in the day the "house help" for the missionaries. There is no more house help, but back in the day they had this thing called the househelp, it was just someone that the church hired, to clean the elders apartment, wash their clothes, cook their food, do pretty much everything... due to some tax stuff the church cant hire them anymore, at least her in the Philippines. Anyway she also used to be the old Relief Society President. She used to be a super strong member, she just got offended and went less active, its kinda too bad. She loves the missionaries, she started crying at the end of the lesson because she said that she misses the Church and especially the missionaries. I really want to work with her to get her active again, she could be a super big help to the ward. Her daughter and her family also live with her, we could teach her daughter and her family too at some point.
I am not sure but I believe that Tatay Pong is gonna be the new Branch Mission leader, that would be awesome, he is working with us once a week, people absolutely love him. He would be a huge help to our work, like I am not kidding, if he became the bml here, our work could really take off. I mean its already doing great, but with his help we could get more organized and more help from the branch and it would just make a huge help. He is by far my favorite member here in Jones, I mean I love all the members here, but Tatay is just awesome.
I am not gonna lie, we taught a lot of less actives this week that I was sure were gonna come to church, it was kinda disappointing when they didn't show up.
For pday we didn't do anything, we are running a little low on support, our water and electricity bill for the last two months just poof showed up, so that took a good 750 peso's to pay... We are sleeping in Angadanan later tonight instead of going all the way back to Jones, because tomorrow is district meeting, and we meet here in Alicia, so to save some money the Zone Leaders are letting us sleep in Angadanan.. which is right next to Alicia.
Oh yeah, and Elder Lasay and I asked President this week if we could on some pday make a visit to Bagabag, and he said yes... so on some pday we are gonna go to Bagabag and visit some people there for a few hours! I am pretty excited to visit the Lacaden family and the Bodegon family!
Anyway thanks for everything,
Love you Guys
Elder James
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 17:16:08 +0800
Subject: Watta week
Dear Family,
Subject: Watta week
Dear Family,
This was one of the weirdest weeks in a long time, a lot of just different stuff happened. Monday and tuesday was pretty normal, but wednesday and thurday were weird and hard, partially because we didn't teach a single lesson, and we saw this same crazy naked guy in Jones a couple times, then on Thursday some little kids tried to break into our house... I will send you the pictures, we live right next to the church, and there always these street kids, that dont go to school, and there parents dont watch after them or take care of them, they are alway really dirty and their clothes are usually raggedy, anyway they always play on church property, and on Thursday we got back to the house at night and saw that they had attempted to get into the house... the screen to the window was cut open, and the door was almost opened, but they couldn't reach the doornob and open up the door so they couldn't get in. The land lord, put up some glass spikes on the fence so the kids couldn't jump the fence, but just saturday we got home and saw that they knocked off some of the glass in a certain spot so they could get in. So they really want to get into our apartment.. I feel bad for them because they are street kids, their parents basically abandoned them, and there is no good form of foster care or orphanage here in the Philippines.. obviously these kids are probably hungry, but at the same time we don't want them stealing our stuff and getting into our house. Especially since sometimes there is a adult in the backround using these kids to get into people's houses and steal and such, because in the Philippines there is no Juvenal prisons. so if the kids get caught the police cant do anything... so the adults use them. We thief-proofed our house on Sunday, because on Sunday we went to Alicia stake center to see the Celebration of the Prophets birthday, and then later that night we just slept at the zone leaders apartment, because we couldn't get home at that time of night. There are no buses or vans going to Jones past 7:00pm...
Anyways we did have a lot of other cool stuff happen this week, like we taught sister Letlet, a amazing lesson, we went into the lesson planning on teaching her about Faith and Works, but when we got there the whole lesson changed to more of prayer and the holy ghost and forgiving... the lesson was super powerful. That is the only lesson that we were able to teach her that week, but the good news is that she came to Church, only for sacrament but that is okay.
We taught the Pemuliar family about the Plan of Salvation, the lesson was alright, well it was actually really good, just the start of it was really shaky, the last half of it was really good, brother gave the prayer at the end of the lesson, it was a great prayer, they listened really well, we had great contribution by sister Rebuca and Tatay Pong, the two members that joined the lesson. Sister Pemuliar has been reading from the book of Mormon and she received a answer about Joseph Smith! They weren't able to come to church because there little baby had a fever brother had to go to Santiago for something.
Myra we were able to teach her about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom, she doesn't have problems with either of the two so it was pretty easy to teach. She was able to come to church, her book of Mormon reading is kinda coming along slowly then preferred, we really need to get her to read the Book of Mormon... her praying is doing great though... really the only concern that we have for her is her Book of Mormon reading.
The Cristobal family is doing great, we watched the Finding Faith in Christ video with them this week, brother hasn't drank in like 2 weeks, I am really happy for them. They are doing all of the right things.
We have finally been able to teach this week the people that we found to teach, on Friday Tatay Pong came out and worked with us and we taught 6 lessons! That was a very relieving day from wednesday and thursday two days we didn't teach one lesson, completely rejected those two days... This one sister that we taught though, sister Chang, we only taught here about prayer, but the lesson was great, and she came to church and Sunday! That was very exciting!
Finally a week without any awkward experiences with gays... this is a great area, at first it was hard but I am learning to love the people and am learning that success doesn't mean the number of people, or baptisms or less actives brought back to the church. If I try my hardest and do everything I can, then I am doing what the Lord expects and wants of me.
The Prophets birthday celebration was cool, I think that was one of the first birthday celebration for a prophet ever. It was kinda cool that steve young hosted for it.
Oh yeah can you believe that I am hitting one year in about a month, that is nuts!
Anyways thanks for everything,
Love you guys,
Elder James
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:14:54 +0800
Subject: New Cycle
Dear family,
This week was a super busy week, it was a little slower then usual but it was very busy. On tuesday we had district meeting, we received the transfer list, and there was no transfer between elder Lasay and I, so we are still comps for one more cycle! Sweet! This cycle is gonna be awesome, the work is gonna get better, we are more organized, we have been finding a lot of people to teach, we have received two new referrals. We have created a schedule with the members of when they will work with us which will help our work a lot. Anyway on Wednesday we had the farewell fireside for all of the missionaries going home, there were quite a few going home, 9. That is a pretty big batch. It was a pretty good fireside, it honestly kinda makes you feel trunky, but at the same time it motivates you, cause it reminds you how short of time the mission really is. On Thursday we weren't invited to the transfer meeting since there was no transfer with us, but Elder Lasay still doesn't have his Patriarchal blessing, and so President said that we should come, so he could give Lasay the Patriarchal blessing interview and recommend, there is a Patriarch in Santiago, so someday this cycle we will go to Santiago to get Lasay's Patriarchal blessing. Then on friday we had to go to Alicia because Elder Lasay had his district leader training. So we met up with the zone leaders and the other district leader in the zone, and they had a little training meeting, Finally on Saturday things got back to normal schedule. This week was a very expensive week with all of the traveling, very tiring too!
As far as some of the lessons this week, we were able to teach the Pemuliar family, they're awesome, they are really interested in the gospel, especially sister. We taught them about the Book of Mormon, sister Abad and sister Soreno and sister Rebuca were there. They gave some powerful testimonies about the Book of Mormon, the lesson was awesome, the spirit was super strong, and I think they really understood the lesson. Alot of people have a hard time understanding that the Book of Mormon is different from the bible and how, and also how we got the Book of Mormon, so what elder Lasay and I have been doing is bring "props", when we teach, we brought the bible itself and the Book of Mormon and held them up to each other, and explained that they are same in purpose and in teaching, but they are different stories and different places and people, but the purpose of both is to Testify of Christ and show us the way of how to return back to Heavenly Father. They really understood the Book of Mormon I think. The spirit was super strong. They came to church as a whole family, as in Brother, sister, and their 3 kids.
The Cristovals have been doing great, we have been having some great lessons with them and they have been coming to Church, brother received a calling in church yesterday. He is been trying so hard to quite drinking. They met the Gottfredsons and the Gottfredsons have been a huge help to them, Elder Gottfredson has had a lot of experience with leadership and helping people get over addictions. A member of the presidency of the Alicia district used to be a drug addict and a alcoholic, he used to be the biggest drug lord in the whole Providence of Isabela! But he quite all of that and met Brother Cristoval and is going to be helping him get over his drinking problem, about 3 times a month they are meeting together to help brother get over it. We taught them about temples last night, the lesson was super powerful, they want to go to the temple so bad, they set a family date to be able to go to the temple by December! That would be awesome!
Myra was unavailable all week, and she was super sick on sunday so she couldn't come to church, that might have turned out to be a good thing.. I'll tell you why later... anyways we finally were able to talk to her face to face last night and we set up a lesson for tuesday. We had to push back her baptismal date by a couple of weeks but that is okay, the baptism doesn't happen until she is ready...
We found a whole bunch of less actives this week and set up appts. with them for this week, they are super friendly, just need a good kick in the butt to start coming back to church... well and they were almost all offended, almost all of the less actives here went less active because they got offended.
We taught the brother aquino about the atonement this week, the lesson was really good and brother said that he hopes that someday he can come back to church... I think he is a little shy and used to not coming to church.
I dont really want to spend much time on this but there was a fist fight in church on sunday, because Tatay Quijas cant forgive the clerk Jojo for something he did wrong a year and half ago. I didn't see it, but from what I hear it was a pretty good brawl. Luckly the Gottfredsons were there, man Elder Gottfredson was mad!! He gave Tatay Quijas a really good scolding, it was def Tatay Quijas's fault, Jojo shook his hand then Tatay said something got really mad and punched Jojo in the face!! Luckly for us none of our investigators were at church yet, so they didn't see anything, and the members kept it pretty hush hush.
Oh well, haha, p day was really fun we played football again, that was really fun. Other then that nothing really happened this week.
Thanks for everything, take care,
Love you guys,
Elder James
Subject: New Cycle
Dear family,
This week was a super busy week, it was a little slower then usual but it was very busy. On tuesday we had district meeting, we received the transfer list, and there was no transfer between elder Lasay and I, so we are still comps for one more cycle! Sweet! This cycle is gonna be awesome, the work is gonna get better, we are more organized, we have been finding a lot of people to teach, we have received two new referrals. We have created a schedule with the members of when they will work with us which will help our work a lot. Anyway on Wednesday we had the farewell fireside for all of the missionaries going home, there were quite a few going home, 9. That is a pretty big batch. It was a pretty good fireside, it honestly kinda makes you feel trunky, but at the same time it motivates you, cause it reminds you how short of time the mission really is. On Thursday we weren't invited to the transfer meeting since there was no transfer with us, but Elder Lasay still doesn't have his Patriarchal blessing, and so President said that we should come, so he could give Lasay the Patriarchal blessing interview and recommend, there is a Patriarch in Santiago, so someday this cycle we will go to Santiago to get Lasay's Patriarchal blessing. Then on friday we had to go to Alicia because Elder Lasay had his district leader training. So we met up with the zone leaders and the other district leader in the zone, and they had a little training meeting, Finally on Saturday things got back to normal schedule. This week was a very expensive week with all of the traveling, very tiring too!
As far as some of the lessons this week, we were able to teach the Pemuliar family, they're awesome, they are really interested in the gospel, especially sister. We taught them about the Book of Mormon, sister Abad and sister Soreno and sister Rebuca were there. They gave some powerful testimonies about the Book of Mormon, the lesson was awesome, the spirit was super strong, and I think they really understood the lesson. Alot of people have a hard time understanding that the Book of Mormon is different from the bible and how, and also how we got the Book of Mormon, so what elder Lasay and I have been doing is bring "props", when we teach, we brought the bible itself and the Book of Mormon and held them up to each other, and explained that they are same in purpose and in teaching, but they are different stories and different places and people, but the purpose of both is to Testify of Christ and show us the way of how to return back to Heavenly Father. They really understood the Book of Mormon I think. The spirit was super strong. They came to church as a whole family, as in Brother, sister, and their 3 kids.
The Cristovals have been doing great, we have been having some great lessons with them and they have been coming to Church, brother received a calling in church yesterday. He is been trying so hard to quite drinking. They met the Gottfredsons and the Gottfredsons have been a huge help to them, Elder Gottfredson has had a lot of experience with leadership and helping people get over addictions. A member of the presidency of the Alicia district used to be a drug addict and a alcoholic, he used to be the biggest drug lord in the whole Providence of Isabela! But he quite all of that and met Brother Cristoval and is going to be helping him get over his drinking problem, about 3 times a month they are meeting together to help brother get over it. We taught them about temples last night, the lesson was super powerful, they want to go to the temple so bad, they set a family date to be able to go to the temple by December! That would be awesome!
Myra was unavailable all week, and she was super sick on sunday so she couldn't come to church, that might have turned out to be a good thing.. I'll tell you why later... anyways we finally were able to talk to her face to face last night and we set up a lesson for tuesday. We had to push back her baptismal date by a couple of weeks but that is okay, the baptism doesn't happen until she is ready...
We found a whole bunch of less actives this week and set up appts. with them for this week, they are super friendly, just need a good kick in the butt to start coming back to church... well and they were almost all offended, almost all of the less actives here went less active because they got offended.
We taught the brother aquino about the atonement this week, the lesson was really good and brother said that he hopes that someday he can come back to church... I think he is a little shy and used to not coming to church.
I dont really want to spend much time on this but there was a fist fight in church on sunday, because Tatay Quijas cant forgive the clerk Jojo for something he did wrong a year and half ago. I didn't see it, but from what I hear it was a pretty good brawl. Luckly the Gottfredsons were there, man Elder Gottfredson was mad!! He gave Tatay Quijas a really good scolding, it was def Tatay Quijas's fault, Jojo shook his hand then Tatay said something got really mad and punched Jojo in the face!! Luckly for us none of our investigators were at church yet, so they didn't see anything, and the members kept it pretty hush hush.
Oh well, haha, p day was really fun we played football again, that was really fun. Other then that nothing really happened this week.
Thanks for everything, take care,
Love you guys,
Elder James
July 30, 2012
Dear Family,
I am happy once again to write to you, some good things happened this week.
First the Pemuliar family is awesome, we taught them again the rest of lesson one, which includes the apostacy and restoration. The lesson was awesome the spirit was super strong. The rebuca family was there during the lesson. They were also able to share, their testimonies, and experiences gaining faith in the Gospel, and about Joseph Smith. We committed them to pray about Joseph Smith, our next scheduled lesson with them isn't till saturday. I am excited to go back. They are a miracle of a family.
We also taught myra lesson 2 about the Plan of Salvation, and lesson 3 the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We followed up her prayer about Joseph Smith, she said that she felt different after her prayer, like her mind was clear and she had a good feeling in her. We explained that was the Holy Ghost testifying of Joseph Smith. She said that she believes in Joseph Smith and the Church, we gave her a baptismal date for august 25. She is very interested, came to church on sunday again, a young women fellowshipped her great on sunday. Its cool to find people who are ready for the Gospel and keep commitments, the Holy Ghost testifies to them so easily. Honestly sometimes when we are teaching really ready people it feels like we as missionaries dont even do anything, other then teach... if only everyone could be like that haha.
We taught the Cristoval family on saturday. That was a awesome lesson, it was simple only about prayer, but the spirit was super strong and brother was telling us how he is having problem drinking and stuff. We just testified that through prayer, he can have the strength to overcome his temptations with drinking. They're a really happy open family, who wants to return back to the Gospel, and when they thought of how long its been since they were active they were disappointed and expressed that they want to come back. A little bit of fellowship and teaching them... and they could easily come back to the church...
We have this one investigator in our area.. who has a very interesting concern. Her name is sister Letlet, she is about 30 years old and lives next to a member, her husband is a less active member. She knows the Church is true but, because of a member in the branch she does not want to come to Church. There is a member in the ward that is very rude to sister letlet, and this particular sister told sister Letlet that she wasn't worthy to be a member of our Church. I understand why she doesn't want to come to Church... we taught her about forgiveness last week, and committed her to come to Church.. but this sister in the Branch and sister letlet had some sort of bad encounter.. or arguement last week so sister Letlet didn't end up coming to Church... on Wednesday we have quarterly interviews with President, I am gonna ask him what he thinks we should do.
I got pretty sick this week, from like last sunday to thursday I was feeling miserable. I had a super sore throat and a really bad headache, a small fever and the back of neck was killing me. I tried to work through it, but on thursday I couldn't handle it anymore and we went home at about 5 and I went straight to bed, the next day when I woke up, I felt great, everything kinda just went away... except the sore throat, but that is pretty much gone too. Sister Carlos told me to take Amoxcillin for 7 days, its some sort of anti biotic, I still have a few days left of taking it.
In sacrament we talked, my talk was about Forgiveness, I enjoyed speaking, the contention in the ward is pretty much gone from where it was at when I got here... thanks to the Gottfredsons, the Senior couple.
We played football today earlier for pday, it was a lot of fun, needless to say I am not in as good of shape as I used to be in.. after drinking soda everyday and no real exercise. It was still a ton of fun though.
This is the last full week of the cycle before transfer day. I cant believe how fast this cycle went it is crazy.
Well, till next week.
Love you Guys
Elder James
Dear Family,
I am happy once again to write to you, some good things happened this week.
First the Pemuliar family is awesome, we taught them again the rest of lesson one, which includes the apostacy and restoration. The lesson was awesome the spirit was super strong. The rebuca family was there during the lesson. They were also able to share, their testimonies, and experiences gaining faith in the Gospel, and about Joseph Smith. We committed them to pray about Joseph Smith, our next scheduled lesson with them isn't till saturday. I am excited to go back. They are a miracle of a family.
We also taught myra lesson 2 about the Plan of Salvation, and lesson 3 the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We followed up her prayer about Joseph Smith, she said that she felt different after her prayer, like her mind was clear and she had a good feeling in her. We explained that was the Holy Ghost testifying of Joseph Smith. She said that she believes in Joseph Smith and the Church, we gave her a baptismal date for august 25. She is very interested, came to church on sunday again, a young women fellowshipped her great on sunday. Its cool to find people who are ready for the Gospel and keep commitments, the Holy Ghost testifies to them so easily. Honestly sometimes when we are teaching really ready people it feels like we as missionaries dont even do anything, other then teach... if only everyone could be like that haha.
We taught the Cristoval family on saturday. That was a awesome lesson, it was simple only about prayer, but the spirit was super strong and brother was telling us how he is having problem drinking and stuff. We just testified that through prayer, he can have the strength to overcome his temptations with drinking. They're a really happy open family, who wants to return back to the Gospel, and when they thought of how long its been since they were active they were disappointed and expressed that they want to come back. A little bit of fellowship and teaching them... and they could easily come back to the church...
We have this one investigator in our area.. who has a very interesting concern. Her name is sister Letlet, she is about 30 years old and lives next to a member, her husband is a less active member. She knows the Church is true but, because of a member in the branch she does not want to come to Church. There is a member in the ward that is very rude to sister letlet, and this particular sister told sister Letlet that she wasn't worthy to be a member of our Church. I understand why she doesn't want to come to Church... we taught her about forgiveness last week, and committed her to come to Church.. but this sister in the Branch and sister letlet had some sort of bad encounter.. or arguement last week so sister Letlet didn't end up coming to Church... on Wednesday we have quarterly interviews with President, I am gonna ask him what he thinks we should do.
I got pretty sick this week, from like last sunday to thursday I was feeling miserable. I had a super sore throat and a really bad headache, a small fever and the back of neck was killing me. I tried to work through it, but on thursday I couldn't handle it anymore and we went home at about 5 and I went straight to bed, the next day when I woke up, I felt great, everything kinda just went away... except the sore throat, but that is pretty much gone too. Sister Carlos told me to take Amoxcillin for 7 days, its some sort of anti biotic, I still have a few days left of taking it.
In sacrament we talked, my talk was about Forgiveness, I enjoyed speaking, the contention in the ward is pretty much gone from where it was at when I got here... thanks to the Gottfredsons, the Senior couple.
We played football today earlier for pday, it was a lot of fun, needless to say I am not in as good of shape as I used to be in.. after drinking soda everyday and no real exercise. It was still a ton of fun though.
This is the last full week of the cycle before transfer day. I cant believe how fast this cycle went it is crazy.
Well, till next week.
Love you Guys
Elder James
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