Maulan ang linggo

So this week has been alright once again. The weather has been kind of weird though. Sometimes it has been pretty rainy and we've needed to use raincoats and umbrellas but then it will immediately stop and become super hot and humid again. Trying to anticipate the weather is also a little difficult since we can't really see the news, but other than the weather, it's been pretty normal. We've tried lots of finding pretty much every day.

Monday -

Not much happened last Monday other than our typical p-day activities. I also prepared a lesson for our district council meeting.

Tuesday -

In the morning we headed to San Nicolas centro for our district meeting with the two sister companionships in our district. The lesson I prepared was about the first lesson we share as missionaries, the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and why it's so important. We discussed techniques on how to simplify our teaching for people and emphasize the importance of authority given of God.

Once we got back to our area we did some finding once again and talked to some people but it never really turned into much serious work. At the end of the day we ate dinner once again with the part-member Tumamao family. While we were there we saw part of the nightly news. There were two weird stories we saw. One of them was about elementary aged students being issued coconut helmets just in case of an earthquake, and the other was about someone giving the victim of a car wreck a pig for forgiveness. The coconut thing was pretty funny because they interviewed a teacher and during the "serious" interview she was wearing the helmet and it looked hilarious.

Wednesday -

In the morning we did some work in this area called Samac. We just talked to a bunch of people as usual and actually ran into the father of our bishop's wife. He was not very interested in our message and claimed be a member of "all religions." Apparently he's been in contact with missionaries for a long time but just doesn't care too much about what we have to say. After some work we had our interviews with President Peterson in Laoag at the mission office. The interviews themselves went smooth as normal, but the journey back home took forever. Of course we always travel around by riding on a mix of triceys and jeepneys which is slow anyways, but for some reason there was also ridiculous amounts of traffic as well and it took forever. By the time we got back to our area, there wasn't really a ton of time to get much work done.

Thursday - 

So in our work we found some new people, the Payaoaon (I think that's the spelling) family. They were super nice and allowed us to talk with them. The doctrinal aspect of the conversation didn't get super in depth (of course it wasn't non-existent either)  but we did have a nice time getting to know them and talk to them. Unfortunately, the two people that talked to us the most are actually leaving in a couple weeks. This couple, both of whom are in their up 20's, are returning to Saudi Arabia to continue their work as nurses. We talked to them for a while and they even bought us some merienda. Though the most talkative of them won't be around when we return, we are still excited to return and try and teach their family. Also on our way home to our apartment we got invited into the home of the Rafol family. They're members and they gave us some hot chocolate because we were all wet from the rain.

Friday - 

While we were doing our weekly planning in the morning the office elder stopped by our apartment and gave me a couple packages from home. They're nice packages specifically designed for my one year mark in the mission. Though, they're slightly early they are greatly appreciated and the contents of the package will be in the pictures below. 

Once we headed out for some work we went to our area in Bingao. When it hit dinner time we then headed over to the wealthy Barruga household for our weekly meal with them. After dinner ended we headed over to the church to have our missionary council meeting with the ward missionaries and ward mission leader. Unfortunately it was cancelled because no one else showed up.

Saturday - 

On Saturday we always eat dinner with the Bulatao family. Because of this we talked with Sister Bulatao and organized an opportunity to teach their neighbor who had attended church last week. Unfortunately she never showed up for us to teach her. That was a little disappointing since that was the appointment we had been anticipating the whole day. At the end of the day I also started preparing a talk that I was asked to give in church about choices and accountability. I prepared an introduction but then decided it was talking too much time and just did a general outline for the rest of the talk with some scripture references.

Sunday -

I gave my talk and even though I didn't have much in depth preparation it actually went very well. Usually I like to have the entire talk planned out, but this time I went moderately unprepared compared to usual. I ended up going up and speaking about whatever came to my mind concerning the topic while citing fairly random scripture references and quotes from prophets and apostles. I also joked around a little bit. I wasn't very concerned about preparation for my talk though because the last time I talked in sacrament meeting here no one really paid much attention. This time people seemed more engaged and it went well. Bishop Sugui told me it was a good talk and was impressed that I managed to fill the rest of the time since the first two talks were pretty short. I was actually surprised because I was pretty sure I was going to be short on time because of lack of preparation, but by the time I finished I had taken way more time than I was anticipating.

Also, this Sunday only one of the four interested people that attended church last week returned. That was a little disappointing but we are glad that the one did return. We ended up teaching her again later after church. Also during our work we had a fellow shipper named Ezra with us the whole time.

Note - 

So I just want to share this quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks that I used during my talk, it says 

"if our works are to be credited for good, they must be done for the right reasons... it is not enough to serve God with all our might and strength. He who looks into our hearts and knows our minds demands more than this. In order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him with all our heart and mind"

This quote, though not necessarily referencing very deep or unusual doctrine, is very powerful and important to us. We can always be doing the right things and make the right decisions, but if it isn't with the right heart it credits us nothing at that last day of judgement. So, I invite all of you, including myself as well, to try and be more sincere in all that we do. Though it can be very hard sometimes I know that as we simply try to be more sincere in our righteous works we will find ourselves having greater desire to do those things the Lord has asked of us. His work will become less of a 'task' and more of a joy that we want to do.

Pictures - 

some goats on a car, starving cows, our rainy weather apparel, pictures of things from my one year package, pictures with our investigator

Saganang Tinuturuan

So, this week started out initially slow but by the end of the week we were able to find some success and I'm very thankful for it, especially since the work here has been so slow for so long. Now I'm not saying that work here has sped up to the level of work in my last area, but we have seen a slight increase which is very exciting.

Monday -

On Monday, aside from typical p-day activities, we also traveled to the mission office to say goodbye to some departing missionaries, and then we had "family home evening" at the Rafol household.

Tuesday -

We had some slow proselyting time in Barangay St. Agustin. We just did lots of door-to-door finding and ended up teaching a lesson, but no body seemed overly interested. We then ended the day with dinner with the Tumamao family, which is a part member family that is close to the missionaries.

Wednesday -

We did some work in this area called Samac and tried to return to some recently found new people. Unfortunately, none of them were there. We then just kept trying to find some new people once again.

Thursday -

We decided to return to the area of San Pablo. We haven't worked here very much so we wanted to see if there were any new teaching opportunities. We did some street contacting of some unenthusiastic people, and then also found a short cut to another section of our area. So that's nice I guess.

Friday -

We did our typical weekly planning in the morning as usual. By the time it hit the afternoon we headed out of our area to centro San Nicolas; this is the sister missionaries area. I then interviewed two of their baptismal candidates since I'm their district leader. The first lady I interviewed was super old and honestly pretty forgetful of the doctrine it seems, but from what I could tell her heart seemed in the right place. I also talked with the sister missionaries about her for a little bit and then I cleared her for baptism. The spirit of discernment said nothing contrary. The second person interviewed was a 13 year old girl. Despite her age she was actually pretty tall, especially for some here in the Philippines. She, unlike the older lady, seemed to know what the sister missionaries taught her and passed just fine.

After that was over, we didn't really have much extra time to work, so I just started preparing a lesson for an upcoming ward leadership training that we were invited too help with.

Saturday -

The previously stated ward leadership training occurred on Saturday the next day. In the morning we headed to the house of the former stake president Brother Rafol to get a ride to the training meeting. We ended up getting a ride with a member named Michael. He's a returned missionary. He gave us a ride on a kurong-kurong (kinda like a tricey). About half way through the ride he decided to tell us that the motorcycle didn't have a brake.. So that was a little sketchy but nothing bad ended up happening. He just had to slow down way before each turn or stop and also couldn't get up to very high speed just in case we needed to stop quickly.

The venue of the event itself was pretty cool. It was at this places called JTL Resort or something. Though it claims the title 'resort' it is far from any resort we're familiar with back home. 'Resort' basically means it has a pool. Anyways, the view was actually very cool. On one side you could see this big lake called Paoay Lake, and then on the other side you could see the South China sea in the distance. The training itself was alright and mostly about ministering. We missionaries were assigned to share about the relationship between Members, Ministering and full time missionaries. Since, I was the only one to prepare anything, I just talked the whole time and then told my companion Elder Doyle to read aloud the scriptures references I found. Our teaching was just about how ministering is basically missionary work for members, and we focused on the idea of "every member a missionary" by David O. McKay. That concept isn't understood very well in this area. Usually, they try and make us do everything because we're the missionaries even though the things they want us to do are ones they could easily accomplish themselves. It seemed to go pretty well. As I was talking I realized no one was any longer paying attention so I just summarized everything and then ended it. That's usually how it goes. 

Once that ended, we headed over to barangay Payas to a return appointment we had set up. We showed up and no one was there. After that we then headed to our dinner appointment with the Bulatao family. It was dark for much of the meal because we had an electrical brown-out the entire day, but near the end of the meal the lights flickered back on. 

Sunday -

There was a miracle of four investigators that attended sacrament meeting. We were anticipating only two of them (because we'd previously taught them), but it turns out that two of the members that had attended the training meeting the day before brought two new people with them to church as well. So that's awesome and we're excited to start teaching them. Also, later in the day after we did some work we were just walking on the road like usual. As we walked on the road, a guy went by on a motorcycle and we smiled and waved as usual. To our surprise, after about 30 seconds or so, he returned and stopped us. He said something (in Tagalog of course) to the effect of "I want to become a member of your religion. How do I do that?.. Oh, I'm Warmboy Acosta by the way." We then had a nice conversation with him and explained our purpose to him and how we'd be excited to share the lessons with him. He also said that he would be coming to church next week since that's one of the requirements of preparation for baptism. He's also 24 years old and 12th grade school teacher which is pretty cool. If you're a teacher here in the Philippines that's kind of a big deal because it means you're a little more educated than the average person. That means he also should know English a little better than the average fellow as well.

After that Elder Doyle and I walked away very excited. That's the first time that a person has went out and found us. Usually we're the ones finding, but it's cool to see that people are being prepared for the gospel beforehand. Warmboy also talked about how he had recently see a movie called "God's Not Dead" and he felt like it was a spiritual wake-up call for him. So we're just looking forward to start teaching him.

Pictures -

Should include some pictures from the ward leadership training venue, a nice bahay kubo, 'Landslide Phrone Area', and Fiesta Street.

Isa pang cycle sa San Lorenzo

At the beginning of this week we had our Zone Conference. This time Elder Schmutz of the Seventy came and shared with us. The rest of the week was fairy average other than that. This week we did manage to find some new investigators though. Hopefully they'll progress. I think that a couple of them have some potential and are actually interested in our message unlike a lot of the people that just 'entertain' us with no intention of changing. Yesterday, I also learned that I'll be staying one more cycle here in San Lorenzo. My companion is also the same. That means I will hit my one year mark only in my second area.

Tuesday -

We had our 'mission tour' (which just means zone conference with a member of the seventy I guess) with Elder Schmutz. It was pretty enjoyable and I could definitely feel the spirit. Our two main points of discussion were first, 2 Nephi 31 and then our testimonies of Joseph Smith. So first we all read 2 Nephi 31 and then we focused on the things we learned about the purpose of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost separately. We discussed individually what each of them do, and how they support one another. It was a very interesting discussion open to any of the missionaries thoughts. There was a lot of cool stuff to learn. The other thing we focused on was our testimonies of Joseph Smith. So of course, the message of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important message in the world. The message about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the second most important message in the world. This second message also revolves around the prophet Joseph Smith. So this idea is kind of what the discussion revolved around. We talked about his importance as a instrument in the Lord's hands.

Wednesday -

We just did finding. We did more of a house-to-house approach. Usually we just street contact since lots of people are always outside, but after reading in the New Testament about Paul going home to home, I thought we might as well give it a shot. It turned out pretty decent and we talked to around 22 new people, some of which we hope to return to because of their interest. The house to house thing went alright, except for one time. We walked up to this door and said "tao po" like usual and then some old lady answered and said "Wala sila" or "they're not here" and then shut the door and immediately locked it. So we don't know who "they" are or who she thought we were looking for but that was the only minor incident. 

Thursday -

We did a lot of work in our area called Samac. We actually even found two new people to teach So yeah, that's nice. We'll probably go back their later.

Friday -

We did more work and finding in our area of Bingao. We talked to some people who said that we can return and teach them later but they didn't seems super interested in all honesty. We'll probably go back to them one time to give them a chance but if they're not very serious we'll leave them alone. 

Saturday -

So we were heading to our area Baay to do some finding again. While we were there we walked by the house of Sister Nena Gado. She waved us over and then introduced us to the two guests at her house. It was the daughter of her cousin and that person's husband. So we talked to them and they were very open and allowed us to share the first lesson to them. They are very interested and already said they want to be baptized. So that's pretty nice and we're excited to teach them. They're the Sugui family. 

Sunday -

We did a little work in Bingao again and then had dinner at the house of Nena Gado again. Once again brother and sister Sugui were there, even though they live out of our area in a place called Banna. We ate dinner and were going to teach them again but they had to leave early.

Pictures -

I failed to get many pictures this week. I only have a couple from our finding. We were walking really far and didn't know where we were but we found a firing range which was kind of interesting. Also, as you can see I'm wearing my glasses which I usually refuse to do, but because of the slow work here I've been trying everything I can do to get new people to teach, even if that means looking silly in  my glasses so we can find more people. Though I do look weird and I have had many people say "Nerdy ka" or "you look nerdy" right to my face it's okay because the work has got a little better. I'll probably keep wearing my glasses. Hopefully it helps humble me a little bit as well.

 

Independence Day BBQ and Paoay Church

June 25-30, 2019

So this week once again has been alright. I really do love our personal study sessions and I finally finished reading 'Jesus the Christ' by James E. Talmage and I highly recommend it to everyone. Even though the work has still continued to be kind of slow, we were able to get a nice break today for our p-day. We had both a BBQ with around 26 missionaries and also went to the 'Paoay Church' which is kind of a tourist spot.

Tuesday -

Our district meeting in the morning went fine like usual. I assigned Sister Calipayan to do training. She taught about using the Book of Mormon in our teachings. It went well and her teaching style kind of seemed like an elementary school teacher which is funny. After that we all ate at McDonalds ('MacDoh') as a district.  As Elder Doyle and I returned home to our apartment we saw several text messages and mixed calls from Nanay Ulep. She's a member and our landlord. Instead of just texting back we decided to just go over to her house since it's close and her concern seemed important. We headed over to her house and she seemed very concerned and upset because it was our due date to pay our electric bill and we hadn't done it yet. It turns out that they found our electric bill torn up and on the ground somewhere and were kind of upset with us, but in all honesty we never even saw the bill because the electric company mistakenly put it on the vacant apartment below ours. We explained the situation and Nanay Ulep seemed to be relieved. She then told us to pay the bill at the Ilocos Norte Electric Company office. Usually we just go to the 7/11 just outside of our area and pay it at a machine but we had to go to the main office since we were paying on the due date. I'd never been to this office and it was kind of far away and we had to wait in a long line. It kind of reminded me of a DMV back home. 

After that we headed to a place in our area called Baay. I tried to call home to my family for my dad's birthday (which is now allowed with the communication change for missionaries) but of course the quality of the computers made that impossible. We just ended up trying to do a little work there and then it got pretty dark. When we made it back to the highway there was only one tricey left. We asked if we could get a ride back to San Lorenzo and the driver just said, "Hindi (no)" and didn't give us an explanation why or even use the respect article of "po" which you usually use when talking to strangers. We had to walk all the way home in the dark from one of our furthest areas. 

Wednesday -

During my personal study I re-read the scripture John 16:33. Though I've read it other times before, it really felt significant to me this time. It says "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." It stood out to me a little more than usual because I had been reading 'Jesus the Christ' that explained the context of this verse a little more. To keep it short, Christ's disciples were scared because he was going to preform the atonement and be crucified and they weren't sure what they'd do after he was gone, but in reality they needn't worry because He is victorious over the world. That's a promise applicable to us as well.

Thursday -

We were able to successfully teach another lesson to our investigator Aldridge Allado. The lesson kind of started off when I showed him a picture from my gospel artbook. Then he asked if the entire book was full of pictures. I then started explaining each story and parable from the artbook to him one-by-one. He was very entertained and interested and his mom was kind of listening in as well. Once I got the the Book of Mormon stories I then transitioned into our lesson to him about the Book of Mormon. It was really awesome and once we finished it sounded like he actually had sincere desire to read it which has previously not always been the case with our other investigators. We of course gave him a copy.

Friday -

We had our weekly planning in the morning. It mostly consisted of formulating plans for finding new people.

Also, another verse that stood out to me was Job 19:25 - "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." 

Saturday - 

We went to barangay St. Maria to teach the Allado family but no one was there so we headed over to the barangay basketball court to find some people. While we were there, lots of kids asked me to dunk (because I'm tall and American), so I dunked on their hoop that was probably about 9 feet off the ground. It ended up partially breaking which is awkward. It didn't fall over but one of the branches that held it up on the tree was kind of broken so the hoop is super shaky now. That's too bad for them.

Sunday -

We had church and since it was the fifth Sunday it was different than usual. Apparently the area seventy Elder Schmutz requested that all the wards show a video about financial maintenance because it's a very big concern for members here. It turns out that there's been an issue here across the nation with lots of members not being careful and getting unknowingly involved in pyramid schemes, ponzi schemes, and other scams. The biggest concern was that a lot of people have been investing in a company that is legally listed as a church by governmental agencies. When they join the investment they also sign-up to join that church and accept that church's leader as a living prophet. It's pretty weird stuff to say the least.

After doing some work I did normal weekly follow-ups with the other companionships in the district. The four sister missionaries called in kind of late because they had attended a 'necrological service'.

Monday -

This morning we went to the Paoay Church which is just a tourist spot here.It's also one of the few places to visit on p-day in this mission since there's not really many museums or thing around.  It's an old Spanish church built in 1710 using eggshell cement or something. It was pretty cool and we even went inside. We didn't go to far though because it's still in use today. 

Once that was finished we headed to the mission office to have a big independence day barbecue with 24 other elder missionaries. It was pretty good. We had fairly legitimate burgers, watermelon, cookies, mango cupcakes, and ribs (which were pretty rough and not very tender).

Pictures -

a text from a member asking us to bless their motor, some pictures from work, the Paoay church, our BBQ