Week 37 - San Roque 2/28/2012

you suck Tyler! that's no fun at all, but it all comes back just don't give up and make it fun in some way or you'll just suffer the whole time. but i know exactly how you feel. (referring to his upcoming knee surgery) kamrie keep it up your a lot smarter than i was i can't even do half that stuff right now!
for your question my last area in dulag was all flat and rice farms, but san roque even though it is really close is just a beach then a mountain. its crazy! there is a sign by the church for tsunami evacuation, everything is either sand or rock and it floods like crazy because the peoples job is to take the sand and make cinder blocks of whats called halo blocks here and that word isn't pronounced like the video game halo its like hallow and also every where you are there are trees but its not rain forest they are coconut and banana trees. its pretty Nice when its really hot out.
so this week has been fun, not completely sure what happened but we didn't teach very many lessons. it seemed like i was back in dulag, but luckily the attendance came back up to 67 so that was a good side. we also had a service project cutting grass with machetes, yes! but now i have blisters on my hands. all in all fun week.
Tuesday i gave my first training as district leader i was a little nervous and while i was preparing i learned a very valuable lesson. as i started preparing in my bed i was reading and struggling to put anything down on paper on what i can train to better improve our work. then i realized i wasn't doing it right. so i got up and sat at my desk and got on my knees and asked for help and it all just came and within 5 minutes. i had prepared a 1 hour training it was so cool, i really feel like our work is going to change. also during my training the zone leaders invited an SA who is preparing to go on a mission so he can get a taste of what its like. one problem, he is kind of special and needs and injection in order to be normal and his normal is still really out there. he was asking some of the craziest questions that were completely off topic so it was an interesting meeting. i also got to church this sunday and only like 5 people were there ahhh! president asked me if i would speak, dang! so i asked what the hymns were and one was secret prayer so i chose prayer. luckily some other people showed up since we started 15 minutes late which really should not happen, every time there is a question they look to me because apparently i know everything about the church, it is really difficult some times to explain without offending them because half the stuff they do isn't right. but i'm glad they ask because this branch is already starting to change and it is a lot more reverent on sunday and they are wanting to do their own missionary work. i'm just glad the spirit is there to help me out because i really need his help everyday here in the mission because i'm not a very good teacher. so if i don't fully have the spirit the lessons are horrible and no one understands. i have really noticed that with a new companion who is new in the mission because if i mess up i can't just let him teach and pray and wait for the spirit to come i have to have it at all times and i have really enjoyed it. i was able to help during our missionary coordination meeting because the members all seemed like why aren't you visiting more inactives, and then the spirit came in as i explained to them that that isn't supposed to be our job and that the area 70 have invited the missionaries to help because the members are not doing what they are supposed to do and every one just goes inactive. and then they got a little down and then excited to go and they started scheduling days to work with us and im so excited to see what happens this coming week. we have a family home evening later with a family who tried to feed us yesterday too. they are amazing, mom is blind dad is dead and the 2 daughters that live at home one is married with kids and the other is 25 and works all day to provide for them all. i love them so much. all they do is try to help everyone, i hope i can try to do that as well.

well that's all for this week i hope i gave enough info about the land and i think i'm fine as far as the package all i need are scriptures mine are starting to get damaged well i love you all

babush

Week 36 - San Roque 2/17/2012

like you mom i was sick this week, not fun, but ill get to that later.
monday we had a family home evening and it was really good. its a part member family and the dad is the only one that isn't a member. we have been teaching him like 3 or 4 times a week, maybe my first baptism. but this week has been full of us planning something and then teaching something completely different, or teaching completely different people. its really weird but i have really loved the lessons we have taught, they were all led by the spirit and completely amazing.

wednesday i had LTM [leadership training meeting] and it was amazing. i got to learn so much and also got to learn from some amazing missionaries, most of which are going home next transfer. but i would really like to get to know them again after the mission. one is named elder Cox, from Utah of course, just like all the American missionaries in this mission. but he was also trained in Dulag and is kinda crazy, everyone remembers him even if they aren't members. he is an amazing missionary. then during our teaching practice or real play as President Andaya calls them we were able to solve the concern of a member for another set of missionaries, and hopefully help him understand why he needs to do all he can to follow and not worry about the other people. its amazing when the spirit speaks through you, its like an adrenaline rush and you don't want it to stop. i love it! i also have been really trying to improve on my Christ like attributes lately as i realize i have no patience. it's hard to help people when you don't have patience and it's really been helping, i better understand the people. another thing is charity, because with charity every thing else just comes. it's so cool! i gave a talk on charity yesterday and while i was preparing realized there is so much more to charity then just helping other people. it all starts with you being worthy of Christ love first, then you can show that Christ like love to other people. and i know that that can truly help us no matter what we are doing because if we serve others we serve God and blessings come. it's amazing to see all the blessings that come from it.

One thing about teaching with just the spirit though is if i don't write down what we taught right away i forget and its really hard to plan for the next appointment.

this week on friday the Zone leaders reminded us that we are supposed to be singing at their baptism saturday, no practice ,gay, but what ever. so we practiced a ton and then they didn't have the baptism it's next week, which is good because we were not ready. but bad because she is waiting to get baptized because of her job, darn. just glad i didn't have to interview her because she doesn't speak any Warray Warray just Tagalog and my Tagalog is still really basic. i don't get to practice very often so its hard because my companion isn't very good at tagalog any more because of Warray so all i ever speak is Warray. we have a member we taught who only speaks Tagalog and we both struggled to speak Tagalog but he understood the message even though it was really mixed with Warray. they are an amazing family and have a lot of potential in this branch.

friday night i came home and i was dead tired my heart was pounding and it was hard to breath so i went to bed and woke up to the alarm and its almost like i didn't sleep at all. my heart was still pounding and beating pretty fast so i took my pulse and it was about 80 i thought that was kind of high for just waking up. so later i texted sister andaya and she said i have heartburn and acid reflux and i'm kind of dehydrated, not good. so she told me increase my water intake avoid fried fatty and spicy foods, lol, one problem, that's all we eat. everything is fried and its usually spicy. fun. so i have basically eaten all of my soup and noodles that the ward sent me and i eat like pasta and stuff when we eat out. its nice but i feel like its not enough. luckily there are lots of apples here so i have eaten quite a few of them.

Saturday i basically slept all day and was still super tired so i went to bed and got up for my talk sunday. i felt a little better but still really tired. i spoke in sacrament and i taught priesthood and we had a district councilmen. his calling is basically like dads, but he talked with the Zone leaders about my lesson and talk, turns out i need to replace him in his calling! lol i dont think so! then we taught 2 inactive SAs (single adults) and our investigator and came home because i was dead tired. then i cooked dinner for everyone and ate my soup and while we were talking after dinner the ZLs (zone leaders) received a phone call from the APs (assistant to president) and they said you have a new AP in your zone. he is a phillipino that got here the same day as me, that's crazy! he hasn't even been senior companion yet and now he is the assistant to the president. he is amazing! he is the only one of the philippinos i remembered from the first day. he is going to be an amazing missionary.

well that's all about me. tyler better not be hurt or i kill him! lol that stinks that chads partner didn't show, oh well maybe next time. thing's happen. kamrie, stay cute i love getting pictures of you and i don't see a whole lot of Scott which is weird he is usually everywhere.
well i love you all and can't wait till next week to email and hear from you again it just comes to fast every week  

Week 35 - San Roque 2/12/2012

alright so i got my package full of food and i was so excited to just eat it all!  i have eaten about half of it and really love all the candy because it really expensive here, but it is awesome! i have been eating soup all the time now and its Delicious.
this week has been a lot different because i am now the oldest person in Tolosa zone. (missions are divided into "areas", several "areas" make up a "zone") well, i have been in tolosa for the longest and i have been in the mission longer than my companion too, so i do most of the teaching, but he is getting better. i never speak english anymore because its easier for us to both just speak Warry or Tagalog, even though the language he speaks is called ilango and its way different, but he is really helping my language skills. i don't make little simple mistakes anymore and i am starting to think in Warray and not English so its getting hard to speak English. i need to talk to some American missionaries some time to make sure i don't forgetbut its starting to happen. we taught some really good lessons this week and really helped quite a few people. i have really had to depend on the spirit lately because i dont know any one or any of their concerns. its nice to know i am able to figure it out so easily if i just ask for help. while im teaching one thing i try to do is always be praying both for me and my companion and for the member to feel the spirit and its guidance and it has really helped lately.
only one problem, it rained basicly non stop all week and its raining right now and san Roque is prone to flooding. the building is on about a 4 foot foundation because the land its on fills up with water always. its pretty funny we had a giant swiming pool outside the church yesterday, really fun. d
during the week we were able to go to some parts of the area with members that elder andrada had never been to and find some inactive members we didn't know yet and one came to church! really fun! the members are really excited to work they just aren't sure how they can help when they don't have time to go work with us. i just asked them to become examples for their friends and they will be able to help us and they really seemed to like it. because of the flooding our attendance dropped a ton our goal for this week was 92 and we only had 52 come to church, every ones attendance dropped. if it's raining you don't do anything here because rain makes you sick apparently, luckily my companion is ok and not like that. but ya if its raining people stop everything their doing and wait even if they had a party planned they just stop and no one goes its ridiculous. but that's ok there is always next week.
 i know we are going to make a difference here but the zone leaders and my companion keep saying i'm only going to stay for one transfer because i'm going to become a trainer some where else, or i'm becoming Zone leader. but luckily they don't choose that, the lord does. i'm ready for whatever else he has for me while i'm here. there is still so much more to come, everything goes so fast but it's ok i'm starting to figure everything out. i was reading in jacob 3 the other day and verse 10 kind of worried me about after my mission but i received an answer on how i can prepare. so no worries now, and i know this mission is preparing me for the rest of my life. i really hope i can continue to learn and find things to help me with the rest of my life.
so i thank you all so very much for all you have done for me and i'm happy to hear Conner is leaving soon and know he will be a great missionary and i hope you all are able to remember the lord always because that is the way for us to truly become examples for everyone else and i love you all bye bye

Week 34 - Dulag/San Roque 2/5/2012

I did get transferred and it has been a long week. transfers are on Fridays so Monday we played pool and went to tacloban to get our money for February.  we ate pizza at shakeys then no money! there was something wrong with all the servers so no money and a bunch of broke missionaries! luckily I'm pretty good at budgeting and still had more than 1000 pesos left. (something he has clearly learned since being in the Phillipines)  then we went back to dulag and had a family home evening at sister yepez's restaurant. it was awesome and they invited a freind and she even made dinner.  like half the branch was there!
i have also decided i want a small set of scriptures for my birthday for 2 reasons: the ones i have are getting old and i dont want them to get destroyed since they are my first ones, and they are heavy.  oh and could  they have my name on them?  but if not thats fine. what i really want are some small hymn books because members here cant buy them and the members here all try to take the ones home from the church so they can sing at home. thats a problem sometimes. sigi
then on tuesday we had a normal day of walking in dulag and taught a few lessons. then wednesday they said the money was in and we could go to Tacloban, so we did, and ate pizza again it was awesome. then that night we got the transfer anouncement right before we went out to a place called luan where a member was going to go work with us. she is awesome she is going to be an amazing missionary. the announcement was kinda weird it said i needed to leave my stuff in the zone leaders apartment, only one other person transfered in tolosa zone, another went home and one is in abuyog. but the other elder is training and the other is a trainee and his trainer went home so i knew where i was going.
Thursday i said good bye to a lot of people taught a few lessons that night then sister Yepez invited us over for dinner before i left.
Friday i took my things to tolosa and they told me i am transferring to San Roque which is just one branch north of dulag and the southern part of my new area is the northern part of dulag kinda weird. i went to the transfer meeting and got my new call letter and i am now senior companion/district leader and follow up trainer. this is going to be fun. (pretty sure that was sarcasm) my new companion is elder Andrada, his trainer was sick so they really didn't do very much. his trainer had to end his mission one transfer early so he could go to manila to have surgery. now i have to finish his training! too bad i just got finished being trained 3 months ago! oh well the lord called me here and I'm ready to serve. from what I've seen this is a really strong branch but they are short on priesthood. the branch presidency is a little short handed the councilors have to work on Sunday even during church sometimes. they can't be there with him to submit the tithing so that's a problem because the clerk is also the 2nd councilor.  i plan to try and find a way to help with that, not totally sure how though. the attendance was 82 on sunday its so different. the building is awesome, ill try to send some pictures its so philipino. the walls inside are made out of woven bamboo, its awesome! and they actually have benches not just chairs. this is going to be awesome!
both saturday and sunday we had people work with us, its so nice. there is one problem with the area, we live in tolosa and we cant stay past 6 pm or there are no rides going back to tolosa!  so im not too excited about that but if the Branch Presient isnt busy we just pay him to drive us on his motor cycle. he is super nice, and he lives in dulag, i used to see him all the time because he works at the court house by the appartment in dulag.
every time they ask me where my last area was my companion always tells them its really far away, lol. but then i tell them and they are like oh so you know Warray so then i get to switch back to Warray Warray from Tagalog. my companion is from close to Bocolod and he speaks a language called ilango its really cool but at least he is really good at Warry so we can still comunicate. he is part of a new progam president Andaya made and has to learn english and i have to learn Tagalog, Warray and Cebuano! it'll be fun, we are actually having an english day right now with our Zone Leaders since one is philipino and the other is tongan. they have to learn english but since i know english i have to only speak tagalog. its really hard, they know a lot more english than i do tagalog, oh well, itll really help and they can help me.
i am in tacloban right now because we had an activity earlier. we played basketball and it rained it was hard because the basketball courts are all outside but still really fun. we have a FHE with the branch president later so i can better get to know him and his family of 9 kids and 4 Grandkids they are awesome.

The Church in his new area.

The Church after a good rain!













The Chapel.

 well that's all for now i love you guys and pray for you always

Week 33 - Dulag 1/29/2012

That's awesome! Conner is going to love it, everything happens so fast once you actually leave home. (Conner is a friend that just received his mission call)
This week has been another interesting one, transfers are not until this Friday so I don't know yet if I'm leaving, but pretty sure I am. I'm not really to worried about it.
Monday we tried to play pool but it didn't happen.  You have to place your bet if you want to play!  Elder Ostler played 2 and got destroyed. It was funny!  Today we tried again as a district and got to play, it was fun! Turns out I'm ok, I've only ever played like once in my whole life. I was really close to wining almost every game.  I want to keep playing and maybe try and play when i get home. I was thinking the other day, because I have some friends that are going home, I have been out for like 8 months now!  That's crazy, and I'm not completely sure what I've done yet. So also this week we had interviews and Elder Ostler has been sick, so we only taught like 4 lessons. Not extremely fun.  I got to do a lot of studying and chilling. It was really not very fun.  One time we got a text that the district president needed us to go get some one, but Elder Ostler was asleep, so I grabbed one of the Filipino elders and we went.  It was nice to get out of the house.  I also started doing a lot of working out again and hope that I can keep it up but I doubt it.
Friday was also Elder Ostlers birthday and he was sick.  So in the morning we gave a member a blessing grabbed some ice cream and went home for him to go to sleep. I texted a bunch of people like mom did to me the one year and let them know it was his birthday and then deleted the sent text. He then got phone calls and texts from people I didn't even tell.  It made him happy until the one member didn't get it and asked me to tell him happy birthday and get well soon ahhh! lol  Oh well, it was still really good.
Sunday we taught the combined RS/priesthood lesson ad we decided as a branch presidency that we would use the Family Proclamation.  The first councilor gave his and it was only 2 minutes instead of 15. Then the clerk just read the whole thing and turned it into an open discussion, darn there goes my topic. I decided just to show them that as members we have lots of things to help while parents in the BofM and they seemed to really like it.  I just used everything I could think of and I ended up teaching and talking with them for like 25 minutes. Then Elder Ostler only had like 10 minutes, he wasn't really excited about that. After church I got to join the RS presidency meeting since I am over the RS.  It was fun.  Then they fed us since they had food for their reactivation activity.  It was really good apparently but we didn't help.  Elder Ostler went to sleep then I studied some more, not fun.  Then that's all I have, a FHE later today and i just hope it doesn't rain since i left my umbrella in Dulag. That's really all this week and I really hope that you all know iIam so very thankful for your support and all the love you have shown me I miss you all.

Week 32 - Dulag 1/22/2012

So this week we have had lots of fun! Monday night we had a FHE (Family Home Evening) with a family and Elder Ostler gave the lesson and we played a really fun game. We will have to play when I get home, it was so funny.
Tuesday was just a normal day. We walked about 5 miles going to all the leaders to let them know there was a leadership training in Tolosa, because most of them don't have cell phones. Then we were able to teach some good lessons that evening about the temple, I cant wait to be able to go back some day.
Wednesday we had splits with the district leader. He was the batch before mine in the mtc so i already knew him pretty well.  It was a really good day, we taught a family about personal and family scripture study and I realized how I wish I would have been more diligent in studying before my mission. I learn so much every day. Then we taught a family who has one kid on a mission, the older brother got married to a non member and the other two are in college and high school. They are all inactive except for mom, and dad is dead. We have really been focusing on them and looked back at our own life and realized they don't want to do church stuff they just want to hang out with friends. It's hard since their friends don't come to church either. We have really just been trying to help them realize we were just like them about a year ago and so was their brother.  The difference is, we figured it out and we have to help them understand as well so they don't completely disappear from the church.
Friday we had a lot of work to do because I had a doctor check up in the morning. The doctor was impressed with my range of motion but my arm still needs 18 degrees before it is completely straight so i need to work on that. Then we went around and walked a ton and only were able to teach 1 person we planned to teach but taught 2 other inactive people who we haven't visited in a while, they were really good and one of them came to church!
Saturday we were in Tolosa all day from 9 AM to about 4 PM then we came home and prepared for an activity the RS put on. It was a FHE for a group of inactive families who all live really close. It was amazing and a member who hasn't been to church in about 6 years came on Sunday, it was so worth it.
Sunday the mission had a special fast for a sister missionary who has been in the hospital since new years, she should be out soon now. Then during church we finally hit our goal of 45 attendance and we are planning on getting 50 next week.  I never realized how easy it would actually be.  We had a few people missing and we have a family of 6 that would be there this week. I'm so excited, this place is becoming amazing! After church we had our missionary coordination meeting. We shared the new goals we have set for the year to increase our attendance to 70 our Melchizedek priesthood from 3 to 11 and our ysa's from 6 to 22.  Its going to be an amazing year for Dulag.  I love it here and still don't want to leave but I may only have one more week after this here. I know it will be what the Lord wants.  Well I'm glad you all are able to have a good time and continue in all that you are doing in your lives, but just remember no matter what it is your are doing whether it is sports or school the Lord can help with anything and you don't have to do anything on your own.
I love you all and hope you all remember as members of this church we  are all representatives of Jesus Christ love you

Babush

Week 31 - Dulag 2/12/2012

That's awesome that Cooper is doing well in Russia and it isn't super cold. (Cooper is my nephew) And katlyn is marrying zac,  that's awesome.(They are friends of  his) I really miss the sandwich shop, I still have the card in my wallet! (it is his favorite place to eat, and we ate there this week)
This week has been amazing, we haven't had a lot of lessons, but we have had really good lessons! Tuesday we had a training in Tolosa and it was just great. The mission has new standards for all the missionaries, to make sure we are ready for any kind of calling in the mission. It involves a lot of memorization of scripture and I have memorized the articles of faith and d&c 4 in 2 days. It's awesome! The mission is going to have a really big change here really soon.  So just a minute ago I got to see elder mits again (a companion from the MEC) but he is going home for surgery on his ankle and to have his tonsils out. But I got an email from elder leichman saying he is in the MTC and will be back in about 3 to 6 weeks. Its really cool, he is working in the referral office while he is healing. We have had some really good lessons this week. One was with a family where the wife is a member but the husband and here kids aren't. They are super fun to be around, they have 3 small kids and are just trying to get by. The only real reason why he isn't  baptized yet "is because he works on Sunday". We just think his testimony isn't strong enough, but he is getting there. He is reading the BofM (Book of Mormon) almost every day and he is learning a lot. We are just hoping to find that one thing that causes a change in him.
On Thursday we were invited to a birthday in a really far away part of our area. We went and another member came with us and we talked and helped with all of the stuff they did. Then went to another members house and waited for their motor to come get us. It poured rain on the way home, and we were on the back of a motor cycle so not to fun.  Got a little wet, but that's ok because we bought rubber shoes for like 4 dollars the other day so my shoes are fine.
Friday the 13th, lol, it was cleaning day for the whole mission. so no work but our apartment looks so good! We did whats called haras, its cutting the grass, but you use a stick and a machete! Its really fun but we got lots of blisters. Then we cut down some banana trees in our yard that are dieing so that they can grow again. Then the mayorga elders decided to punch one down! It was amazing! All we did was punch it over and over again until it was weak and the top half fell over. Then I grabbed my machete and jumped up and chopped it in half with one swing. It was awesome! Elder ostler has a video, I'll get and send to you all some time.
Saturday we had a really great lesson with a family where all the kids and the dad are inactive but dad has been to the temple. We shared with them and left smiles on their faces. They were all good members before but dad stopped going so his sons did too, not good. But dad came to church, so if we keep that going it will only be a matter of time before they all come back.  Then we taught one more lesson and went to another training in tolosa for all auxiliary leaders. The stats for the Philippines are ridiculous. They basically just said, you all are not good enough yet and have to step up.  There are 170,000 single adult members in the philippines but only 17,000 are active! Not good.  The prophet has said that if we don't save the rising generation, in the next 50 years or so there will be no more church in the Philippines. We have a huge job to do!
Sunday we had 42 attendance again but had 10 people who weren't there the week before. We could easily get 50 plus.  oh well, it'll happen some day.
The reason why this email is coming a little late is because we had a zone activity this morning we played foot ball and Frisbee on the beach and got a little sunburned, but its all worth it. Our zone is amazing but I guess it has to be since it is the most struggling zone in the mission. But every week attendance is going up and members are returning. I know in a few months this place will be amazing. One problem is I don't want to leave yet and everyone tells me I'm leaving and that I have been here for too long. I just love it and not sure how I will take to the difference in work. Oh well, it all depends on the Lord.
I love you all and miss you a lot, but its going so fast I'm not too worried. well until next week

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