Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.31.14

So this was a definitely one of those roller coaster weeks. I have been kind of having a hard time dealing with some of the opposition that we are facing here by some of the people here in our area but thats part of being a missionary and we will be fine. The highlights of this week are much more important! 

We had a baptism! We got to baptize 4 boys in a part member family. Its one of the greatest miracles of my mission so far to have had the opportunity to see this family go to inactive to completely active and all the children that are eligible to be a baptized. I seriously had a blast teaching them. We have been going there like every other day to get them ready for their baptism and its been a ton of fun to teach them everything as well as play with all those kids. Im excited too because we are going to go have a FHE with them tonight. It should be a ton of fun. Im going to link a photo that we took probably 30 seconds before they got baptized! I love those kids! 

The other people that have been progressing this week are Tatay Vargus. He says that he wants to be baptized now he just wants to make sure he is ready to live in accordance with everything. Even tyhough its only been a couple weeks so far that we have been teaching him it has been a ton of fun. He has amazing real intent and awesome questions. I know he will be baptized some day im just not sure when! 

We got to dig trenches one day this week. Digging trenches in the sun in the Philippines is a load of fun for all of us who havent tried in before! xD But later that day we got to teach our long time investigator. Normally her mother is there but this time she wasnt. She told us that she knows what we are telling her is true and she wants to act on it but she is scared to act alone. This is sad but amazing to hear! I feel bad for her situation but I can tell the spirit has really been working on her! 

I had the opportunity to speak in church yesterday. I talked about enduring trials for about 20 minutes and at the end I shared my favorite verse in all of scripture. We can find it in Revelation 20

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more ^adeath, neither ^bsorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more ^cpain: for the former things are passed away.

7 He that ^aovercometh shall ^binherit ^call things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my ^dson.

I love these verses so much. I find so much comfort in them. I hope you all can too love you all. Take Care!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.24.14

This week has been pretty awesome. Elder Domingo have been trying to teach more while we find. As missionaries we are supposed to teach while we find and find while we teach. We usually are asking for referrals but we have been struggling with the teaching while we find. But we have a new investigator this week because we decided to give it a try. She is super nice but she just keeps saying She already believes all the things we a re telling her. If thats true then I guess she will be baptized soon haha! We'll see what happens. 

The super good news for this week is we will baptize 4 people this week. We moved their baptism back a week because they missed church last week but they all came on Sunday so as long as they all pass the baptismal interview we will be good. We have been working super hard with them to prepare them so they should be fine. Its been super fun to see this family grow. The story is the mother who I have been teaching for the past 4 months got baptized last year just a few months after her husband passed away. They have 6 children and another family living in the same house. We are baptizing all the kids who are in the Part member family who are over 8. Its been a ton of fun teaching them. They all want to serve missions now. As in when we leave they try and follow us to our other appointments because they want to participate in missionary work. Its super funny as well because they never sue dot wear watched before but because they saw E. Domingo and I wearing watches and now they all magically have watches and wear them everyday now haha! I have a blast going there and teaching and being with that family. I hope the day comes when They write me a letter saying that they are all missionaries now. This work is truly amazing.  

We also have a new investigator who is the only nonmember in his whole family. Everyone always says that he doesnt want to meet with the missionaries but when My companion sat down next to him they realized they are both from Bocolod and they started speaking Hiligaynon. So we taught him after church on Sunday and I dont know what everyone was saying because that guy is like a super prepared individual. Maybe its just his time now. I pray that it is and that he progresses. He goes back to Manila in a month so I hope we can baptize him here if not we'll have to refer him to the missionaries down there. As long as he gets baptized so he can enjoy they the blessings with his family It doesnt really matter. 

Im doing great here over in the Philippines though. Im super excited for our baptisms this week and we are so blessed to be able to work in this area with these amazing people. I may be transferring soon so I am just enjoying everyday here in Tumauini. I make memories everyday that I know that I wont forget. I love you all and hope you are doing amazing! Dont forget to smile and pray always!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.17.14

Happy St Patricks day! Too bad nobody here knows what that is. Haha its barely a holiday over there in America it definitely didnt make it here. Everything moves on here as usual nothing too unusual this week but we did get to borrow bikes this week which was super fun it turned a 3 hour walk into a 25 minute ride. I didn't really like biking before my mission but now I would kill to get to use a bike everyday. 

We will be baptizing 2 children in a part member family today as long as everything goes well with their interview to I am super excited for that. But it wouldnt be the life a missionary if I also wasnt super sad that we have to move the baptismal date of our other members of a different part member family back because they havent been attending church due to sickness. The decision was ultimately left to us but we decided that they need to come to church a few more times even though they are sick. But they will be baptized soon as well nonetheless.

We had a few other people commit to baptism this week:

The first is Gladys who is a 17 year old girl who is super interested in the gospel and loves us forever because we gave her a Book of Mormon. So humble. We have a ton of fun teaching her and I hope that she can start attending church. 

Another Investigator, Tatay Launza, is the one who we have to ride the bikes too. We usually just have to take the 3 hour walk out there though. He is the husband in a family of members. I am confident that he will be baptized soon as he committed to baptism this week. I cant wait to see that family get sealed in the temple! 

Our other investigator we have been working with for a long time but finally committed to be baptized when she knows our message is true. 

I feel bad because i only write about a few people that we teach but really there are dozens and I love them all. But it suffices me to say we will keep working with them all and continue to help them make covenants with our God. 

Im just about used to the heat here in the Philippines. The key is just to take a shower every time you get the chance. The only thing cold here is the water that comes out of the shower. Kind of unfortunate but I would actually rather choose the water to always be cold rather than always hot haha! 

I love this service so much and I know that my life is changing because of it. Im learning to feel more deeply concern for everyone that I meet. And I hope that I am improving as well in the other aspects of this work. I am forever grateful for this opportunity and all of you who support me! Have an amazing week!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.10.14

This was my first full week with Elder Domingo! We have a ton of fun together. We have a ton of stuff in common including our likes in TV shows and games. Neither of which we are actually allowed to participate in but its cool that we have fun stuff to talk about and get along well. But one thing that he is super good at what we in the field call BRT it stand for Building Relationships of Trust. He is like a genius at it. I feel like im picking it up a little better with his help so I am super grateful for that. 

We were able to have a lot of work this week but as like very week it has it ups and downs. The ups being that we got to teach our prodigal children investigators who are a blast to teach. If all people were as fun and easy to teach as children the work would be a breeze. They keep their assignments they volunteer, and they ask questions. Its a blast to teach them the gospel. 

One thing that was super fun this week is we got to ride bikes on day. Although we dont have bikes our Mission President approved us to borrow our Bishops bikes when we have to go really far away. This is to prevent us getting stuck far away at night and not being able to get back in time for curfew due to a lack of transportation at night. That happened to us once this week. On top of everything else our phone dies so we couldnt even call and tell the other missionaries we were still alive. Luckily no drastic measures were taken before we arrived. 

As to the rest of our work its moves forward. No huge leaps of progress to speak of seeing as we had no investigators at church which break my heart a little every time it happens. But we did experience one miracle this week. We were planning at night one day this week and we planned for all the people we were going to teach the following day except one sister. We just felt like we should wait. WE planned the next morning for her before we left and we decided to teach here about charity. We went to her house and taught her and she was crying and just kept saying that what we were teaching her was the exact thing she needed to hear that day. 

I will testify to you that even though that is a small miracle it a miracle. And I will testify that God is a God or Miracles. He is the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Israel. He is our father and he loves all. He gives us strength when we have exhausted our own. I love this work and there is nowhere else id rather be. 

I love you all and Ill Talk to you soon!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.3.14

So this week I said goodbye to my Tatay (it means father in Tagalog) Its mission slang for my trainer. That was on Wednesday. On Tuesday we went around and taught some members and some less-actives so that Elder Espino could say goodbye. It made me realize that the day that I leave this area I will definitely cry. Just thinking about that hurts but that what we have to deal with out here. I love the people here so much. But anyways on Wednesday we rode a bus down to Cauayan and I left my umbrella on the bus by accident (don't worry mom it isnt the one you bought me, it was a cheap one i bought here). Anyways my companion headed out son after to his new area in Santiago City (He must have very strong faith because thats where hes been wanting to get transferred), and I proceeded to wait for 6 hours for my new companion to arrive from Tugegarao. 

My New companions name is Elder Domingo. Filipino of course. He is from a city called Bocolod on the Island of Bisayas. We have a lot in common: Tagalog isn't our native language. We both like Blizzard games (mainly Diablo), we both like chips and soda, and we are now both assigned in Tumauini. Hes 20 years old and his native language is Bisayas. Hes pretty good at English. We get very good at understanding broken English though so maybe hes just alright. Im teaching him though because he wants to get a job at a call center after his mission. Hes been out for around 9 months, and is super good at teaching and being friendly. Im already learning so much from him in that regard. 

Ive seen a couple miracles this week. Both small but both very significant to me. All last week after I found out my trainer would be transferred I prayed that whoever my companion would be and no matter what their weaknesses would be that they would be able to work well with me. That prayer was answered. Elder Domingo and I have a ton of fun joking together, talking, and teaching. It will be a ton of fun to work with him. The other miracle is one sister who we have been visiting for a couple of months now told us this week she wants to come back to the church and repent for the things shes done wrong in her life. I know its because of the new way we teach and make the people feel comfortable. I have really seen the hand of the lord in my life this week.

A quick summary of all the rest, we are still teaching the 3 kids of a part member family. I have a blast teaching them. We have a new investigator to this week who seems to be very interested and asks a ton of questions. She was a little skeptical about the concept of a living prophet. Elder Domingo tried to explain the reason why but it had no effect. It built my testimony greatly when although Im not as good at the language as my Filipino companion, I asked her "Who do you think God loves more: the people from the bible or the people of our generation." Or course she replied "the same". I was able to explain that since God loves all his children the same why would he give Christ's church the guidance of a living prophet in one dispensation and not another. I gained a testimony that when the spirit enlightens your mind on how to explain something you need to speak up. 

I would like to end on that note. God loves us the same as all the people before us and all the people after us. Thats why he is still a God of miracles. Pray for miracles. Have Faith. I know you will see the result. I love you all and hope you se a miracle this week.

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 2.24.14

Im going to keep it short this week because it has been super slow. The reason being that we are having the Tumauini town festival here this week. Everyone is either busy or uninterested. I hope this next week goes better. I will be having a new companion the day after tomorrow. I hope he is ready to work because there is alot more to be done here. The one highlight of my week, is that we set a baptismal date with the 3 children of our recent convert. This means we will have atleast 3 baptisms next month if all goes through (it should). Im super excited for that. 

Im anxious to see who my new comp will be and excited for the many adventures ahead of me. Love you all and hope I have more to share next week!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 2.16.14

This week was fairly average. The cycle here is coming to a close and I will have a new companion next week. I wonder who it will be! Anyways we have a few new updates this week:

Catriz Boys: 

We started teaching 3 sons of our Recent convert. They will more than likely be baptized next month. Its a blast teaching them though. Teaching kids is my favorite. I suppose thats why the scriptures tell us to become like children. ITs when we are like children that we are most receptive to learning and growth.

Nester:

This is the wife of a member who we have never been able to teach til this week. Its sort of too soon to tell but I think he will progress. He was so thankful for us teaching him. His wife who we visit every week was so thankful for us teaching her husband that I though she was going to cry. I hope his heart continues to soften. One hilarious thing is after our lesson which was in the middle of nowhere we were walking back when he rode up on his scooter. He offered us a ride we reluctantly accepted and then proceeded to put 3 men on one vespa sized scooter and go. It was hilarious. but the most I have ever seen here is 5 people on a motorcycle. I pray I never see  6. 

Guiyab:

One thing about the Philippines is everyone and their dog is Catholic and worships idol and mother Mary,  but nobody including their dogs know what the Bible actually  says. We have been teaching this sister for a month now but not much progress but the past couple lessons there have been really good she seems to be opening up. This week she asked us why we dont worship Idols. We showed her in her bible where God specifically tells the entire world to not create aor worship graven images. Shock. We'll see where it goes but I hope her heart continues to soften. 

I love the work here and although I dont have time to write about everyone here I love them all. I love my area here and I love all you back home and serving elsewhere in the world. Have a good one!