Dupax Del Norte: 6.2.14

So this week was pretty good! A lot of People are asking about how the rainy season is here. Its rains everyday here harder than I have ever seen the rain in America so its kind of crazy! There are also sometimes some really really strong storms and its sometimes hard because we cant really work when its like that because all the people are hiding and its too dangerous to go out. But its also kind of fun, life here is always an adventure.

The work is  a little bit harder here but we are doing a ton of finding. So we are going to be having a bunch of return appointments this week! I Hope we can manage to get a bunch of new investigators. Im hoping that by the end of myu time here we can have a huge pool of people to teach!

I Love my mission and even though sometimes its harder and sometimes its easier I learn new things everyday about myself, my comp, and the importance of this life and this work and for that I am eternally grateful!

Like Always My prayers go out to you in my absence. Dont forget to Pray everyone! This life wasnt designed to be done alone, we need the help of others but most importantly of our father in heaven! I  love this work and I know its the work of our Lord here on the Earth! Love you all Take care!

 

The pink house looks like peach's castle for those of you who know what that is. I always think when we walk past it one of these days, that I will see Bowser running out of it with Peach in a burlap sack.

 

Dupax Del Norte: 5.26.14

Well everyone im in Dupax del Norte. (DEW-POX) As in Mountain DEW and then Chicken POX. And the greatest news of all is that I made it to the mountains! Im in one of the prettiest areas in the mission! We have a small branch here but we have a good meeting house! We also have missionaries in Del Sur and they only have a shack for their sacrament meeting haha! But this area is amazing. We live in the jungle here in the mountains and most of the people here live in little small bamboo shacks with thatched roofs. The other thing is although Im fluent in Filipino (Tagalog) most of the people here speak Ilocano. Most of the time we can communicate through simple Tagalog but sometimes its impossible and we have to bring one of the members of our Branch to translate! Life here is definetly different! The water here we shower with is so freezing because we are higher in elevation but so is the weather so you give and you take haha! 

 The work here is cool. Its definitely slower than my last area but the Branch is very organized and we have lots of help from the members. Im hoping we can turn this area into something amazing by the end of my time here! 

My new companion is Elder Pacate. Its always kind of funny whenever I say his name I think im going to mess up and say Macate which means Itchy in Tagalog. Hes super funny and kind of crazy in a really hilarious way. So were going to have fun! Hes super hard working too which I have been praying my new companion would be. 

I havent had much of a chance to meet many people to talk about in this email so next week I will tell you about the people here, but this morning since its P-day we went hiking and I got some pictures on top of the mountain. 

Well, thank you all for your prayers and your love! I hope you all enjoy the pictures and Ill talk to you soon!

The one picture with the missionary standing in the doorway is the chapel in del sur! So crazy right?

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 5.19.14

Hey everyone were just gonna hit the highlights this week! 

We found an amazing family because its the sister of one of our recent converts and their mother is a member too! They will be baptized, they already hav a testimony of the priesthood, we have been going there this week and they are super awesome and already looking forward to baptism so we are just working on helping them build their testimony. 

I said bye to a lot of people this week and will finish saying goodbye tomorrow to everyone else because I am transferring now! Im almost done packing and I will be leaving on Wednesday so just one more day. Its sad because this area is where I learned how to be a missionary and how to be a Filipino but Im excited to move on and serve in another area. So Im sure I will have lots of new things to talk about next week!

Im thankful for all the many miracles I was able to see here and all the amazing blessings of missionary service! 

Like always thanks for your support. Until next time!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 5.5.14

Last week there was no internet in my town here where I am assigned so I had to come back on Tuesday to write a few short messages so my family would know I am still alive. Im going to keep it short this week because the work has been kind of slow! 

There are good and bad things about staying in one are in your mission for 6 months. Some bad things are you dont get to explore new places or meet very many new people. but the good things are you build good relationships with the people. Since transfer day is only 2 weeks out and Its fairly certain that I will be transferred a lot of the people have been telling me to be sure and come by before I leave. I have grown to love these people so much and Its cool to see that I have made a big enough Impact on them that they will miss me after I am gone! 

The really miracle this week is that our convert was baptized and confirmed. This mans family was baptized years ago and he was not baptized with them but this week he joined them in the covenant of our lord. His testimony after his baptism was so powerful. Its a hard translation but basically what he said is that since he knows the church is true and he is happy now he said for the rest of his life here on the earth this is where he will stay. Its been so amazing to be the missionaries that finally got into the heart of this man after he shooed the missionaries away for the past years. This man is now a priesthood holder and truly a latter-day saint. 

Its important for us all to remember that our conversion doesnt stop at our baptism. Part of the 5th principle of the gospel "enduring to the end" is continuing our conversion all the way through this life. So I invite you all to ask yourselves what you can do to be a more converted disciple of Jesus Christ and then pray for the strength to do that. 

Im eternally grateful to god for the incredible memories I make here every week! Talk to you all soon!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.29.14

Hey the internet died in our town yesterday so we couldn't email yesterday, even today its really bad so Im not really going to write other than I love you guys and Im doing fine here! Take care everyone and I promise to write a lot next week! When you serve in the Philippines sometimes the internet is bad!! Take care everyone your always in my prayers!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.21.14

This email isnt going to be insanely long this week but this week has been full of awesome experiences! 

Every chance we got this week we taught people about Easter and the Resurrection of the savior! That was a ton of fun. We taught that to all our members, investigators and our less active members! Always what it came back to is there a lot of people doing many different things all around the world on this Holiday to remember Jesus Christ but the thing we ought to be doing is the thing that he himself gave us to remember him and his sacrifice. And that is the sacrament!  

The savior knew he would be leaving for a long time so he gave the people the sacrament so that in this time that we are awaiting his return. It was amazing this week to teach families that they will live again because Jesus broke the bonds of death that they may no longer hold the sons of men. There wa a few kids that I asked what will happen after they die and they didnt know. It was such an amazing experience to get to to tell them that they will live again after their mortal body dies. And "in that day our mortal will put on its immortal". 

The other thing thats awesome this week is that the baptism is still on for our investigator for the 30th. He told us this week that when the other missionaries who taught him before would come he would be very nice to them. But he cried this week when he told us that we truly are messengers of God and he knows because every time we teach him he can feel the spirit and it testifies to him of the truth. We need to work hard and find more progressing investigators but I have grown to love that man and his family so much! And I am so excited for his baptism in the upcoming weeks! 

The last thing I want to say is that I have found one of my strength as a missionary! The truth is that I am scared to talk to people most of the time, I know that everyone thinks that missionaries are fearless but its not quite true. However I love playing with kids, I always love to talk to them and join in on the games they are playing, and if nothing else I will always tlak to them and have them teach me some Ibinag or Ilocano (those are the other two languages in my area). But I dicovered this week that If im going to play with them then the parents are going to come and see what we are doing and then we introduce they gospel to all of them. Its just good to see that missionaries are just regular people as well. So its been a ton of fun my whole mission to do that and I have seen many good things come from the people we meet by just being kind and genuine to everyone. 

I love you all and hope you had an awesome holiday! Dont forget to share your testimony of the savior when the spirit prompts you too! Take care all!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.13.14

This week was kind of an odd week because of Conference. Our stake Center is n our ride away on a bus so we have been traveling back and forth alot. So we havent been out with the people as much but conference is important. Speaking of conference it was super good. I especially loves the talks by Elder Oaks about the Priesthood as well as President Uchtdorf is always an all-star as well. Even though we watch it a week later here It was super awesome to feel the spirit of the apostles. It just builds my testimony of what we tell people all the time. That if Jesus Christ called apostles during his ministry it would warrant that the restored church has apostles as well. I know that they are all called of God. 

Anyways, this week was still pretty good. One amazing thing happened. I was having a terrible   day on Thursday, yes missionaries can have bad days as well, we had zone conference that day and for some reason my attitude was very very bad. Once we finally got back here and got to work our first appointment was at our investigator who we found a couple weeks ago because he attended church with his family. Everyone told us that he has rejected being taught by the missionaries a million times and doesnt want to listen. Well we have got news for all those people because he told us on Thursday that he knows in his heart that all these things are true and he wants to be sealed with his family. He will be baptized on April 30th. Let it suffice to say that after hearing those words I was happy for the rest of the day. The work here is like a cure all. If your unhappy or upset, hit the pavement and you will feel better in no time. 

We live in a furnace here I dont remember if I wrote this already but we move all our beds downstairs everynight to take advantage that its 5 degrees cooler downstairs. Every little bit helps. But they say that it will be rainy season in about a month. 

We had anther awesome experience with the power of the priesthood. We blessed a baby who was sick and her mom said that just a little while after we let she was better. She had been sick for a week. It would be easy to say thes things are a coincidence. But I dont think coincidences like this would be happening so frequently haha. Lets just say my testimony of blessings has significantly increased. 

One other really col thing that happened this week is that on Tuesday we felt like we should go visit this awesome family even though we had visited them just a few days before. We found them with all their things packed up and they told us our timing was good because they were about to leave to Manila. They wont be coming back. The mother said she had been praying that we would come so that we could say goodbye. It is one of the tender mercies of the Lord that I got to say goodbye with them and pray for their safety in the rest of their life. 

I know this work is true, and although we are not perfect missionaries this work is guided everyday through the hand of god. We will not fail with him at the helm. Hold tight to his word and take faith in his plan. We are all called an have a divine destiny, I do not know mine yet but I do believe that by being here in the Philippines I am getting closer to understanding. Take faith everyone. I love you and Ill catch you all next week!