Week 98 - Capoocan 4/28/2013

so big week i have some big news but ill get to that

Tuesday morning we got up at 4 and showered and headed to Allen for surprise exchanges i wont say too much but ill say I'm glad we went. Tuesday morning we learned a lot from the very moment we walked onto the apartment. so we then attended district meeting with them and it was good and i received some revelation and after district meeting we got all 6 of the elders together and had a meeting about things that we wanted for them and got to learn things from them it was really good. i just hope they got something out of it i don't think 2 of them cared they just looked like they were mad the whole time but that's ok we did our job.

Then Wednesday we went home in the morning after a good exchange and we went straight to catarman to help the elders move apartments but they ended up not being able to move so we were about to leave when the assistants called with the transfer announcement and 7 of our missionaries transferred and 2 of them are staying in the zone. we were instructed to have them leave there luggage in catarman. so then we went home and got a contract signed in bobon for the sisters, hopefully, and then sent the contract off though email.

Then Thursday we got up at 4 again and went to the catarman bus terminal and cleaned for a service project then we helped the elders move and then we went home and i grabbed all my stuff because i am also one of the 7 that transferred! so ya crazy! only 5 weeks left and I'm in a new area. But the weirdest part of the transfer is i was companions with a sister missionary for the rest of the day on Thursday. for our 7 hours of travel it was just the 2 of us, very weird after almost two years of only being with other elders. i spent 7 hours straight with sister karagdag but it wasn't as bad as i thought she is super nice but she doesn't talk much but still ok so we got to tacloban at around 8 pm and went to the mission office and because i have been super stressed lately, i have only eaten a few times in the past 5 days, (this makes me want him home!) but I'm ok now and back to normal. so when we got to the apartment to sleep that night Elder Leichman (companion from the MTC) was there too and he is also transferred its so weird we only have 5 weeks left. so then we got up Friday for transfer meeting and there are 10 new sisters and 13 new elders like almost all the sisters are training right now its crazy. then my new companion is Elder Sakay he is from Mindanao and we got here the same day, we are "batch" as its called here. so its weird. I'm still zone leader but i am in Capoocan, Carigarra zone. its really nice here it actually just became a stake a few months ago and things are going good. we have some really good missionaries and I'm excited. we are going to be super busy for my next 5 weeks and its going to be amazing. our area is amazing and we have already taught nine lessons in 2 days and i spoke in sacrament meeting Sunday and it was actually about the Holy Ghost as well. but mine was more focused on being reverent so that we can feel the spirit in our meetings and throughout our life as we learn to be reverent in what we do and not go to crazy and i used a quote from preach my gospel about the spirit its says something like, the spirit will not get our attention by shouting but it is a small voice just enough for us to notice it and if we are preoccupied then we may not feel it at all. i just feel that this is something that will help me for the rest of my life as i constantly seek to feel the spirit in my life and then i will be able to know what Gods plan for me is and its just awesome.

well about mothers day (I asked if we would Skype, or telephone!) i actually don't know yet but i think ill find out this Wednesday in our meeting with president Andaya.

well i know its your birthday on Sunday mom so i just want to say i love you and i hope you are able to have a good birthday and and hopefully you can wait just a few more weeks to see me i know i told you i don't want to talk about it but for you I'm going to do it for your birthday but i still don't know what day ill be home only the office knows for now but when i find out ill let you know.

love Elder Zachary Coontz

Week 97 - Bonbon 4/21/2013

well this week has been amazing i love companion exchanges they really keep me going. But that's so cool that you know people in Tyler's mission and people here know dad that's crazy. i read his email and the only advice i have for him with finding is you have to be excited and want to do it being excited is a good sign of your faith its awesome and ill get to the reason why later. so Monday night we traveled to lavezares for exchanges and i worked with elder Carlson again he is awesome in the morning Tuesday we attended district meeting because we are having some problems in that district that we are trying to work out. Then we ate and headed back to Lavezares for companion study and elder Carlson and i talked a lot about the blessings of the mission and he asked me to share what i thought would help him to become a successful missionary so i shared with him my definition of a successful missionary i shared some scriptures that have helped me and i shared my final and ultimate goal for my mission and that is in john 15:10-14, and that is to become friends with Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Then we talked about the spirit and how it brings so much joy and happiness not only to ourselves but to others as well. and something i have been finding and focusing a lot lately is testimony and what it is and what it can do you me and others and i have learned that no one can gain that seed of faith until they hear a testimony and the spirit testifies to them so i have been trying to find a way to bear my testimony with every one. and it has been really helpful. then i read something the other day in preach my Gospel and it says that you work with many converts every day ask them what helped them to learn the truth and i thought even people who were not taught by the missionaries still were converted in some way and i would like to ask any and everyone who is willing to share to share with me their conversion story and what it took to get you to where you are today so that i can better bring those experiences into the lives of others. and i would like to share with you mine. all i remember in my life is going to church and mutual and never being able to remember anything that was taught because i didn't understand the spirit and what it was and as far as i remember i don't think anyone ever asked me to read and pray about the book of Mormon until EFY one year and i thought to my self ok ill try it and it worked but i never really read from the Book of Mormon again until i left on my mission so the main that that made a difference for me is a simple invitation to pray and now i ask all the time for different things like if Jesus suffered for my sins and if He is still alive today and i know that those answers came from Our Father in Heaven through the Holy Ghost and that we can all learn. then during our day me and elder Carlson did a lot of walking and when we finally got to our last appointment after not teaching any all day we sat down and like 2 minutes later the power went out so we shared a spiritual thought and went to buy food and meet up with our companions and we saw them with some members and elder Carlson shook hands with all of them and also with a random guy sitting on the corner. That man then looked up looked me in the eyes and asked what defines pure religion? in English and i was worried because that usually means the person wants to argue but i answered any way and said it is the laws and commandments given from God that people follow and then he said base your answer off the bible so i quoted that scripture i used earlier in john and he said that's good and he continued to ask then i remembered a letter uncle peter sent me about gospel conversation so i asked sir what is you religion and he said he is Jehovah's Witness so then i asked him what they believe and he continued to explain and then i asked him why he knew that that was Gods church and he said that he read it in the bible and instead of telling him he was wrong, which is never a good idea, i bore my testimony that i knew the church was true because i asked God and he answered my prayer and i invited him to listen to the missionaries and he said sure it was amazing. then we had exchanges in mondragon Friday and me and Elder Johnson had an amazing day we taught 6 lessons and saw many miracles we went to one members house and they weren't home but then we just said that's ok and started walking the 3 kilometers back to town to go finding and then they came back and we shared a great message and then that happened another time later in the day and then we went finding and this is where the happy part comes into play we stopped somewhere and prayed and asked to be guided and for the faith we needed then we started walking not knowing where we were going we just knew we were going to be guided and we were just smiling away as happy as can be and we walked up to a big house that they had tried before and the guy just walked out to us and we shared our testimonies and got  invited in shared a short message and then got a return appointment and then prayed again after we left and gave thanks for the guidance pray is such a big role and another thing we had 2 people receive and answer that the book of Mormon was true during our lessons so amazing and i know the gift of tongues is real we taught a lesson in Tagalog 4 in warry and the hardest lesson we taught that day was in English who'd a thought that two Americans would struggle to teach in English but it was hard but it was still good. well then Saturday we got up and traveled to Allen to conduct a baptismal interview and on the way home i was hoping to give a Book of Mormon out that day but in the morning i grabbed an English not Tagalog and i wasn't sure why but on the Jeep home a guy got on and he was not Filipino and i was so nervous to talk to him i just kept praying and finally i asked where he was from and he was from France working for a french Russian company he was 26 and we talked the whole way home and i actually gave a Book of Mormon to a guy from France so cool and he said he would let the missionaries come over but he is never home he travels all over the Philippines and he was only home for like 2 days and we just happened to catch him so cool i just hope he reads it then when he goes back he can find the missionaries so amazing what a small testimony can do i have felt my testimony grow so much this week its so amazing how when you use it more fully and efficiently it works like muscles and gets stronger i love it. well that's all really and we got fed twice on Sunday this ward is awesome but we have lots of work to do to prepare for the new missionaries they are adding this transfer day on Friday. 

 

 

these pictures are from the stake missionary activity or little MTC  and house i live in

Week 96 - Bonbon 4/15/2013

well this week was ok until conference then it was amazing i say ok because we taught 0 lessons this week Monday we had a good meeting with our district leaders then we had a family home evening with some of the members behind our apartment and ate some good food then one of the elders started to have an allergic reaction to the food we ate not good then 2 of the other elders were laughing at him and i just thought to myself how upset i would be with them if i wasn't so worried about the other elder. well finally we got a ride for him to the hospital and the 2 who were joking got what they needed turns out they are allergic too but then me and elder baker had to go to the pharmacy's at night to buy the medicine since the hospital doesn't even keep stock of medicine they make you go out and buy it but it was ok the only bad thing was we were at the hospital until 1 in the morning because we couldn't find the medicine i just remember praying to be able to stay calm and get the things that were asked of me and everything worked out then we came home and got to our apartment around 1:30 and i read from the Book of Mormon then went to bed because Tuesday we had whats called zone training meeting. in that meeting me and elder baker give a training we prepared from the trainings given in zone leaders council so that we can pass on information and also add things that we received as revelation its a really good meeting but very difficult to give with 4 hours of sleep. then we went home and we were invited by the stake to speak at a stake fireside. the fireside was for all the potential missionaries in the stake. it was probably the coolest activity i have ever heard of its what they call a little MTC its a 3 day activity and they have a fireside the first two nights and they have classes throughout the day about teaching skills and everything its so cool and we were invited to be a part of it. we were guest speakers and we also made musical numbers. i really enjoyed the activity and think it would be a great activity for anywhere in the world right now with the burst of missionaries. so that was until Thursday around noon then we went to a baptism in the afternoon and then visited a member after for dinner but tons of people were there so we didn't get to share just eat. then Friday i was dehydrated so i was required to stay inside and rest then Saturday conference and we took pictures of an apartment for the future sister missionaries. then we ate and i now have had diarrhea since Saturday so no work Sunday either life is getting really hard but its ok I'm hoping to have a good week we are going to Lavezares tonight for exchanges and hopefully we will be able to help them out my trainee is actually assigned in this area so ill get to be with him again it'll be fun. well i learned a lot during conference and i got made fun of because my favorite talk was by Elder Cardon they made fun of my because it was about successful marriage, but that's not why its my favorite. its my favorite because of the beginning when he said he learned it all by watching and i thought that applies to all parts of life even as missionaries if you've seen missionaries do certain things and it didn't work that means you need to try something different but if you see something that did work you should apply it to your work as well and it has endless possibilities. well that's really all I'm still a little sick but I'm getting better and I'm hoping to be able to go work tomorrow in Lavezares and do all i can to help their area to grow. well i love you and hope to be able to do all i can to help all of you while I am still here but i cant help unless you allow me to love you all

Week 95 - Bonbon 4 /8/2013

so this week was absolutely hectic we went to district meeting for the opening prayer then got on a van for Tacloban to attend ZLC (zone leader conference) because they moved the day to wednesday so weird but it was amazing i leaned a really good lesson from President Andaya about leadership his trainings lately have been really simple with lots of time for us to share new revelation that we have received and i leaned we need not only rely on the revelation we received but we need to learn from the revelation of our councilors and all other people around us and we actually prepared a training for tomorrow where we are going to give time to our missionaries to share what they have done and learned about certain topics. but then after zlc we rode the night bus and got home at 2 a.m. and then no work thursday because we prepared for interviews and we prepared a training . Then we had interviews and i got to learn some good things in my interview with president he is just amazing. and then he thanked me for my service because this is my last interview until june 4 when i will be going home and everyone keeps reminding me but it still doesn't feel like it will ever come. but then we got a special assignment from president Andaya to find 3 new apartments because they are going to add 6 missionaries to our zone so we will have 24 missionaries next transfer its going to be crazy we are going to be so much more busy than we are now and we have tons of work to do but then Saturday we finally got to work but didn't accomplish much we just looked for an apartment and held a great family home evening with one of our families we are helping come back into activity. then Sunday was ok but we went to church studied at the church ate and went to an appointment and they were leaving so we sang some hymns with members and then headed to stake p.e.c. and reported on the progress of the zone and then headed home to prepare some more for today and this morning we had a zone activity, and thanks to the birthday money i bought whats called a sapaktakraw ball and dad said he had a companion that had one its a bamboo ball that you play volleyball with your feet with, so i learned how to play today and its really fun you should look it up online its the national sport of the Philippines.

well later tonight we have a meeting with all of our district leaders at 6 then at 7 we have a family home evening with missionaries and some members from the ward its going to be awesome. oh i don't know if i ever told you but i love fish its amazing and i actually requested fish for dinner tonight I'm so excited this week is going to be awesome we are giving like 3 trainings and and singing at a stake missionary activity and we have 2 exchanges this week we are going to be so busy I'm so excited.

well that's so cool we have so many missionaries in the family and its going to be like never ending soon and i hope Tyler is doing well we have a different p-day so i will get them a week late but that's ok I'm excited to here what its like in a different mission well i love you all and i wish you all the best and i am trying to decide what else to do with the money you sent i got some cool things but things are cheap here and i haven't even spent half of it yet so we'll see what i can get i bought a bag made out of native material after my friend convinced me it would be good for when i go HOME. what'll happen maybe president will let me stay for 3 years with him and ill come home next year but i doubt it. well be safe bye bye
I'm starting to accept it but I'm still not sure

Week 94 - Bonbon 3/31/2013

so great week we go to clean our apartment Monday and it looks so much better than before we then had a great family home evening with the Delorino family and its the first time i have ever taught the entire family normally the dad leaves but i hope he starts to listen more often they have tons of kids and two of them submitted their mission papers on the same day last week so that'll be awesome when their calls come. Then Tuesday we had a good district meeting about Easter and the Resurrection it was amazing. then later that night we traveled to Allen and its crazy there there is a person there that has a Saint Bernard dog and its massive. But then we had amazing exchanges i got to work with elder Origines he is an amazing elder and always looking for new ways to make work more effective so we made a goal that if the people were to busy for us to teach we would sing a hymn with or for them and then say a prayer with them before we left and the people all accepted it not one person since then has said no so cool. but then we were able to, when we sang to people who don't know hymns, to sing in Tagalog and its so nice because they actually understand us and it brings the spirit so strong when everyone understands. Then we traveled from Allen to the over side of the island to Mondragon on Thursday morning and we interview a family for them that will be baptized this coming Saturday so cool our missionaries are the best. Then we went home and studied and went to work and were able to teach a little and we set up a family home evening then Friday was good Friday so we are not allowed to work here in our mission if its good Friday. Then our Saturday was amazing we were able to go out and even though we couldn't teach we were able to sing with a family then pray with another but then we were able to teach 4 lessons in the afternoon and it was really good and elder Baker is starting to get good at the language here its cool to hear Cebuano but not when other people don't understand him so we are working on that. so for Sunday we had a good time at church the primary were the speakers and they did a special musical number so cool and the little 10 year old girl named honey gave the closing prayer in English and it was amazing. but the primary president translated her prayer into English for her but still good. then after church we met with our new ward mission leader who just came home from his mission this week he is awesome and so ready to help he even came and worked with us and gave us some referrals of his non-member family. then we were talking while we walked to our next appointment and he actually dated a girl from Dulag before his mission who i know its so cool we always say its a small word but its even smaller here in the Philippines it seems like every few days i find a freind in common with some one here so cool. Well thats really all for now but this is the start of a really tiring week today is pday then tomorrow we go to tacloban then wednesday is ZLC then we tarvel home and get back to bobon at like 2 am thurday then we have a ton of appointments thurday then friday we have interviews so we have to clean the church before and after then we have lots to do and we have pec our meeting with our ward mission leader and stake pec this week its going to be crazy we only have like 13 hours for work this week and its going to be really hard to stay diligent but we can do it as ling as we keep praying and trusting in the Lord to help us well thats all for this week and thats awesome that ebers and jay are coaching they are amazing tell them i said hey. well thank you for forwarding tylers letter i want to write him every week he is going to be amazing when he gets out there and finally gets to be with people well i love you all and hope you know that mayaon ko sin maupai nga pagpamatuod kan Cristo. maaram ak nga buhi cea yana ngan mkabalik kit sa autbangan nea kun sundon naton and kanya mga kasugoan. love you Easter is amazing and the Philippines is still hot and rainy.

Week 93 - Bonbon 3/24/2013

alright so that's so cool everyone is going to speak Portuguese that's so exciting. And that's awesome for Jessica i don't remember him but i do remember that last name Allred. well for Tyler that's awesome he'll learn a lot just needs to keep going and keep being obedient and it'll all work out in the end. That's really cool about the baptism we were able to attend a baptism for the sisters assigned in Catarman i actually interview a few of them they had 8 baptisms on Saturday it was an entire family and its a family of 10 they have eight kids and their baby is named Elton John so cool. But watching all 8 of them e baptized was amazing they looked so happy and then the mom got up and and bore her testimony and said good morning every one, then everyone laughed because it was 6 in the evening but she then said i know its evening but this is the morning of my new life and i thought it was amazing to see her and her family just so happy. Well this week we haven't been able to work much Tuesday we were able to teach 2 lessons and then Wednesday we had to do our weekly planning and prepare for the coming interview next week so not much then Thursday we did apartment checks we traveled all of Northern Samar and it took all day we rode 5 tricycles and 2 jeeps to do the whole thing it was crazy. Then we did exchanges with the San Isidro elders on Friday good day. i was able to work with elder Mahoni who is Tongan from New Zealand and is very big so we had a fun day of work and got to teach some really good, unplanned, lessons. The whole day was just really hard and we were able to teach 4 lessons but none of them were the people we planned on teaching, which makes the day a lot harder. Then Saturday was the baptism and then i haven't been feeling to well since but I think I'm getting better now, I hope. Well this week we have exchanges in Allen and Friday no work because its Good Friday so not much but the week after this is going to be absolutely crazy. Monday is p-day then Tuesday district meeting and travel to Tacloban then Wednesday, my birthday, is ZLC (zone leaders council) so i will get the package then it'll be amazing then we travel home Thursday is weekly planning Friday is interviews for the whole day then Saturday we have PEC and our meeting with our ward mission leader so I'm just hoping to be able to get 2 lessons in then. But i guess I should just worry about it when it comes. Well that's really all. I love you all so much and I want to thank you for the birthday stuff i really appreciate it it always makes my life so much easier when i get them. Tell Bishop thank you too i've never thanked him for his help he is the best Bishop ever

Week 92 - Bonbon 3/18/2013

OK so that's super cool that they are missionaries now two i know Patrick isn't actually our brother but its like 3 of us are out at the same time i love it and for the package just some good food i was thinking re-fried beans and tortillas and the Ipod would be nice for the end of my mission and corkys but the money would be nice to buy souvenirs or even just to survive if i run out of money again which i might do this week and i still have 2 weeks until we get money again we do way to much traveling i just keep asking president for a car but i doubt it will happen while I'm in this mission but oh well it will be nice for future missionaries but ya then for the apartment thing that would be awesome but I'm not sure if i would get accepted but if you think i could you can try and i need to apply soon I'm sure but i cant do that here I'm not allowed to use the computer for anything other than email and i can use Mormon.org so if you can set it up and do it for me i would be glad to join in on that it sounds amazing i just wasn't sure if i could go to school right away because i don't know how to do that stuff but i love you mom for asking because i would not have done anything but if i need to do anything to apply just let me know and ill do it and president Andaya will write a recommendation if i ask he always does. so for this week not much work we did our zone training meeting an then had exchanges i worked in bobon with elder Banawan he is amazing him and his brother are the only members in their family and he is on his mission and his brother is about to leave but he doesn't know where his brother is going because they don't email him and he just keeps going amazing so much sacrifice. but then at lunch i got a call from the assistants and transfer announcement and there were eight transfers from our Zion wow i just messed up typing and got Zion not zone but its kinda true we have the best missionaries here but elder Myers transferred and so did elder Banawan's companion so we stayed together until Saturday and my new companion is now elder Baker he is from Logan Utah we made some really good plans on Saturday and did a lot of organizing some things in the apartment i like it a lot i don't know if i told you but my apartment is really big most missionaries might think so it is a 2 story house it has 3 bed rooms a living room kitchen dinning room and its just amazing its just a super nice house i love it ill send a picture of the outside hopefully today if i can get the thing to work but the Sunday we had stake conference and it was awesome it was a broad cast and elders Holland and Hales spoke so cool i learned a ton one thing i learned from elder Holland he said a good missionary always feels inadequate but he trusts in the Lord to make up for his inadequacies  so cool to think about because this work cannot be done by people alone but only with the Lords help awesome then we didnt get to sork sunday because of reporting issues but im excited for later tonight to go and teach with elder Baker well i love you all and im sorry if i didnt do much but i know i did what i was supposed to. oh and my trainee elder dariagan is now in my zone so cool ill get to work with him again hopefully but thats about all but a scripture that has really helped me recently is Mosiah 5:13 it got me thinking the other day and the only way we will know our Father in Heaven in this life is if we serve him during this life and its so true i feel i have come so much closer to him during my mission and i hope to be able to better get to know him as i continue to serve him and im so excited