2014-03-23 "Well, he's not as dead as we would have hoped..."" Kroooonk!!!

The Second Epistle of Matthew to his brethren in the land of Utah 

Chapter 2

1. And the Elder did say unto his brethren, "Lovest thou me?"

2. And they answered unto the Elder, and said, "Yeah Elder, we do love thee." And he said unto them, "feed my Inbox."

3. Then he saith unto them again, "Lovest thou me."

4. And they replied again unto him again, "Yeah Elder, we do love thee." And he said unto them again, "feed my Inbox."

5. And then he saith unto them a third time, "Lovest thou me?" And they replied, "Yea Elder, Thou knowest that we love thee." And he saith unto them, "Fill my mailbox. That I may have reason to rejoice when I shall enter therein to the computer shop. 

6. And thus saith the Elder unto his brethren in the Land of Utah, for they had given unto him no such thing. They had not headed unto the words of their brother in the wilderness when he did cry unto them with one voice, and in one accord, saying unto them, that they should read these things, and ponder them in their hearts, that they might know of a surety of themselves that the elder did want their letters. 

7. And the elder did prophesy many things unto them, concerning the desires of there hearts, but they would not heed unto him, insomuch that the elder did receive no mail. 

8. The Elder wept.

Chapter 3

1. And now I say unto you, how think ye? If a man have an hundred people to write, and one of them hath written back, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth unto the one, and respondeth unto that which hath written him? 

2. And if so be that he find that one hath written him, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that person, than of the ninety and nine which did not write. 

3. Even so, it is not meet that man should be alone. So it must needs be that he receiveth mail from his brethren. 

Chapter 4

1. And Behold, there was a man which did want to write his brother. And they asked him, saying, is it lawful to send letters on the sabbath day? that they might accuse him. 

2. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

3. How much then is an Elder better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath day. 

4. And thus spoke the elder in parables unto his brethren. And this, that his brethren would understand the meaning of the saying, write thine brethren in the mission field, that thine days may be prolonged upon the land. But his brethren understood it not, for he received no mail. 

Haha, anyways, it was quite the awesome week. We started the new group in Basud this week! And now as soon as we can find an apartment for them we are going to have new elders moving in and we are splitting the area!!! We had so many people come to church this week!!! It was awesome! So in the morning we went to Daet for church, and then at 2 we went out to Basud to be with them for there sacrament meeting and other meetings. 6 hours of church! Whew! Ya, after that we walked to Joels house. He is doing just awesome... still struggling as far as work goes, but he's doing a little better I think. We finally got his wife to start listening to us! We are super excited for them! 

The Santillan family came again! There dad is a stud. He had a couple problems with the WofW, but he dropped it just like that, and is gonna be baptized with his kids! He has a kid in Manila that he is gonna have come down for the baptism. 

And because we were starting this new group down in Basud we had a TON of less actives come! Most of them just had a problem coming to church because it was too far. Now because it is so close to them, they are all coming! Super exciting there! 

So the nice thing about this area, is the hardest thing... we just don't have enough time to teach everyone! We weren't looking for new investigators this week and ended up with 6. It is slightly a problem, because we only hit each city twice in a week, and we have so many people that two days isn't enough to get everyone! Its nice, but its rough sometimes. 

Sad news, Tom is now leaving back home sooner than we thought, so now he will be being baptized when he gets home. He'll be solid, but he leaves in a weekish. 

Bah! My memory is aweful! I cant remember exactly what happened this week and my handwriting takes too long to read. So.. Pictures na!

This first picture is me and the two Elders leaving on missions in the next month. The one in the middle is going to Utah! So family, look for him! Elder De Leon! He's a man stud! The other one is going to the Philippines... Hes really awesome too. Both of them work with us a lot, so I am gonna be sad to see them leave.

This one is for Stephanie. Randomly they had an awesome Pineapple hanging on there door. This investigator is unfortunately never home, but there pineapple is now very familiar to me! Hmm, also another thing that I am noticing, they have a dang nice door!!

As you can tell, I like the night photos... I'm not sure this one is as cool as it was for us, but, yeah.... it was a beautiful night! 

Alright, I love you Family! I hope you all have marvolous weeks! (Especially with that brother of mine heading back home!). Peace Out Folks! "Tha that tha thats all for now folks!" -At the end of every Loony Toons

2014--03-17 OOOH the Shame! I put a change in my Name! And I got down hearted, every time that I... Pumba! Not in front of the kids! Oh, Sorry!

Hakuna matata! What a wonderful phrase!

Anyways, sorry, I am singing lion king in my head right now....

How is my wonderfully beautiful family on this fine Monday morning?!?! I hope you are doing as well as me. But, that's doubtful! Oh yes, it was a fantastic week for me! Our week didn't look as good on paper as it did last week, but it was just as good if not better!

So first of all, Tuesday was fantastic because we had Trainers Training. Which means I saw my comps from the MTC! Such a good day! It was so good to see them. It was a very good meeting and it was a very nice time seeing my comps. Elder Tuitavake is on the other side of the mission from me, so that is the only time for a very long time I will see him again, but it was a good call! Unfortunately, I left my journal at home again! So.... yeah, I'll do my best to remember the week.

First off, This morning. The Assistant Ward Mission Leader in our ward is a returned missionary. He is a total stud, just got back from Cali. So this morning we played some ping pong with him for fun. What I was unaware of, is that he is pretty much a ping pong champ. Ping pong is the sport over here! So, I am okay at ping pong, but he was the Bicol Region Representative for Ping Pong... Basically, he is way good. I played him this morning..... I didn't win. haha, yeah, I was actually keeping up with him really well for a long time, and then he spanked me... My comp is actually really good too. He beat me. That one was a lot closer, but... these guys are legit!!! You would have that the Filipino was doing some sort of MMA combat fighting the way he jumped around with his paddle! That was some pretty salty stuff! Anywho, I have been humbled...

So the best part of this week, is that we found an AMAZING family!!!! The mom is a member. The father has a WoW problem, and he and the kids are Catholic. Luckily for us, they live right next to us, so we can visit them any day of the week. So we visited them three times this week. And they were AWESOME lessons!!!!! Sooo good! Basically, they all have baptismal dates, came to church yesterday, and they are just super awesome. Actually, the girls asked us if they could be baptized before we even challenged them! It was way sick! They are always super excited to see us! They are my favorite!

So yesterday, as well as the Santillan (the family previously mentioned), Tom came to church again! He is progressing very nicely to baptism. The problem is, he is only visiting his sister, and in a month-ish, he is gonna be heading home... He is making good progress, and he still comes and teaches with us!!!

So, apparently there is this girl that has been coming to church for sometime that we never knew about. She is the maid of one of the sisters in the ward and is interested in the church. So we taught her this week. Visiting them is their grandpa. He is WAY COOL!!!!! Basically, he is a killer artist! He sells his pictures for thousands of dollars! and he actually has a picture of Christ hanging in Salt Lake somewhere. He is a member. And tattooed head to foot. But he is way cool. And super funny! Josh needs to meet this man, that's all I could think about as I looked at his pictures. They were way cool!

We also went on splits with the ZL's this week. They are way cool! I went with Elder Maroket to his area. It was way cool. Hard, because he is Filipino and didn't translate or anything for me. But I am getting to the point where I can pretty much understand what is going on. I miss lots of words, but usually I know what's going on. It was way fun to teach with him. He is a really good teacher and its always fun to learn from someone like him! We were teaching this LA family. Basically the mother finally told us that when they were baptized her husband prayed about the BoM, but she didn't. He was the one that received the answer, she didn't. And basically she struggles a lot with her testimony, but no matter how much we tried to get her to read the BoM and pray about it, she was just getting offended saying that we were doubting her testimony, which got me really confused, because the whole problem we were trying to fix was her doubting her testimony... Yeah.... she didn't make any sense and I don't know enough Tagalog to help that make sense to her.

Sooooo, yeah, lots of really good stuff happened this week, but I don't remember all of it cause wala journal. Sorry, it is slightly disappointing...

Hmmm, I started reading a little from Jesus the Christ this week... Its way good!!!

Umm.... Oh yeah! So last week I said that there is this awesome lady here, Nanay Abiera. Well, I was talking to her this week, she has has over 175 referral baptisms!!!! She is so unreal! She has a new referral for us like, every week or two. And most of her referrals lead to baptisms. She is way cool. She was studying to be a nun when she found the church. Now she is the best member missionary I know. The missionaries that baptized her had NO IDEA really what exactly they were doing. We could easily start a ward with all the people she has referred to baptism. Easily. Yeah, anyways, she is just my daily dose of inspiration!

Alright, gotta run! Mahal Ko kayo! Kita Kitz! Peace Out!

2014/03/09 "Hey dad, why can't dinosaurs talk?...It's cause they're dead."

Hello Folks!!!

How is my wonderful family doing!?!? For those of you who don't know the quote (said some what like a child bearing his testimony, "for those of you who don't know me, my name is Matt C

hristensen, I 4 years old.) its from Brian Regan. His son made it up. Isn't that wonderful?! haha, maybe not, but i think it is. Anyways, speaking of wonderful things ("rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens"... hmm... actually I think I recall them being the favorite things, but wonderful works too.) It was another killer-awesome-fabulous-blow-everyone-away kind of week! Oh do I love this area!!!! So basically, the bad news is, I locked my journal in the church yesterday after meetings and now I do not have any kind of notes or anything to go off of! And this week is kind of a blur to me... The other bad news is that I now have The Sound of Music stuck in my head! haha, I guess that's ok.

Ok, so I know that numbers mean nothing, but we seriously found at least one new investigator every day and they are all gonna be quality people! Ten new investigators!!! And they are all awesome! Like, so this one day we were walking down the street and my comp was like, "Kumusta Po Nanay." Basically like, "whats up woman." And he was speaking to a man.... yup, whoops!! So we quickly booked it down the next street, and then we walked up, saw this guy on his porch and started talking to him. He was like, "yeah, I have a Book of Mormon. My wife used to get taught by some sister missionaries last year. We just couldn't put it down! It just made us feel so happy and light inside and we just wanted to know more! Will you come back and teach us when my wife is here?" haha, (jaw drops to the ground, kinda like a Tom and Jerry kind of jaw drop) umm... I suppose we could come back... if you really want us to... we might make you beg though! haha, not! So they are gonna be awesome. This other guy we met was like, "yeah, I have a Book of Mormon. I've been to your church before but its hard for me to get there cause I am old now." No matter! We can help him! Super good week!

So we got this referral from the ZL's, they met this lady last week. Turns out she is a less active and her family is all catholic. She has been attending catholic mass but asked for the missionaries. We went there last night. It was a super awesome lesson!!! The two older girls said that they want to be baptized and the father was super into the lesson! You could just tell, they are as golden as it comes. They will be a very strong family in a very short time. Haha, they were all very intrigued by my socks... you see, they may or may not have small purple spots on them in a very professional way, and the children very much enjoyed that! Haha, they were also very impressed that I could do some magic tricks! Dad, I used yours, and then I did a card trick, and then i did my favorite one. I have them close their eyes really hard and think of there number (before they close there eyes I had them tell the person next to them so that we knew they "weren't cheating"), and then I cheated and while they had their eyes closed I convinced there mom to tell me the number! Then when they opened their eyes I knew the number! hahahaha, as the scriptures say, "They were sore amazed." well, maybe it says that, it sounded fun to say! Anyways, they are a super awesome family! And my Tagalog is improving in heaps and bounds (I say this every week, and yet, I am still awful.... it feels like its improving a ton though!!!).

We had a half day mission this week! It was super good! All the ward members came with us into Basud and we went and talked to all the less actives there!!!! It was super good! For lunch we went to a members house and cut down coconuts and drank coconut milk, and we ate the insides, we harvested some Jack Fruit, the members said we will have to have some this next week. I'm down! Then we had some bread. So it was coconuts and bread for lunch! Which was actually quite delicious! We are starting the new branch soon. First though, they are going to have it be under the direction of the ward. They will just have like 7 or 8 people to sacrament meeting up in San Felipe and the bishop or whomever he sends will preside over it for now. Then in a bit when they find a real place to meet and have more people, they will make it into a branch! And then the mission president says we will split the area!

So, randomly Sister Alma (my first baptism) moved up north for work. We had no idea she was moving until she was gone. Her mother says that she was just waiting to be baptized and now she is gone. We had no idea, so it came as kind of a shock!

Haha, so we had an investigator come to church yesterday. Leo. He is amazing!!!! Basically, I don't remember if this was last week or not, but whatever. They gave him a BofM a while ago. Now we are visiting him again. We asked him if he's read much and basically he reads every morning and every night. He just finished the Words of Mormon... yeah, we can't get anybody to read that much! Then we were talking to him and we was like, "I like reading it a lot! But there is something missing." We were just like, Uh-oh. And he was like, "yeah, I read this verse about repentance and baptism... I feel super good when I am reading but then it goes away. I just feel like I need to be baptized and then I can feel like that all the time." Yeah, another jaw drop moment. haha, Then he came to church and was like, "yeah, I just feel like... I don't know (makes an uplifting motion with hands)... inside me." hahaha, yeah, he's awesome!!! He's a for sure baptism. Both he and Tom like to go out as investigators to work with us! What?!?!! Its super dope!!! The rest of his family is starting to be interested too.

So basically, Tons of other awesome stuff happened this week, but I cant remember!!! I am sorry!!!! This week we have splits with the ZL's, that is gonna be super awesome!!! And we have newbie training!!! Which means that I get to see Elder Tuitavake again and Elder McMurtrey! Well, I actually say Elder McMurtrey this week too! He is in my zone, so I saw him at Zone training. That was pretty sweet!

"I say unto thee, farewell. For my time is short at hand. I leave unto thee these final words. Cleave unto the Lord thy God in all thy doings. That thine days may be filled with joy and happiness. May the lord thy god bless thee in all thine doings. I say unto thee, farewell, my love is with thee, from now till the eternities. And thus ended the forth week of the reign of the Elders, and thus ended the writings of Elder Christensen on these plates." 2 Matthew 4:12

(obviously 1 Matthew would have been in the MTC, 4 for the week.... and 12... for the hour of writing... I suppose. hmm, sometimes its fun to talk like the scriptures...)

Peace Out!

(P.S.- Translated into normal English, I love you all!!! I hope you have a fantastic Week! Gotta Run!!!)

2014/03/02 "Can I have some cookies? No...how about you try on some of my shoes? Oh, ok."

Hello Lovely Family of mine!!!!!

Once again we had a freaking good week!!!! I'm am starting to wonder if that will change... hmm. Probably not. It seems pretty consistent. So, this week was pretty spankin'

good! I seem to have left my journal at home though so this is all gonna just be off the top of my head.... sorry!

So probably one of my favorite parts of the week was when Tom came to work with us!!! So we were teaching him one day and after the lesson he said that he wanted to come work with us if he could. We were just like, Um, Yeah! Ok!! So he did! Tom is the one that we found about two weeks ago while we were looking for Andrew. So he came with us and we had 3 killer lessons!!! The spirit was super strong!!! We explained to him what a testimony was, and basically he told us that he had a testimony of Joseph Smith and that God lives. What?!! That was sick! We asked him if he wanted to share his testimony, and he said not this time, he wanted to see how things went. But he wants to keep going with us whenever we go to that area, and next time he wants to bear testimony. What?!?! Dang that's awesome! As we walked him home after the lessons we cleared up a ton of stuff for him and now he is super excited for his baptism!! Also he is a lot like Joel, so we are gonna try and get the two of them to meet because they are gonna be really good friends! And then they will get baptized together!!! The hard thing though, is that Joel doesn't have a house any more, so we can't really get the two of them to meet yet. Hopefully he will find a house this week. And he got a job in our area! So that means that he is still most likely gonna be in our area!!!! We are super excited for the two of them. Both of them want to be baptized, but now we have to push their baptismal dates back because Tom was sick and didn't come to church, and Joel couldn't come because of something to do with a house.... I didn't really catch what it was, but he and his wife really want to come to church. So that was awesome this week!

So, we teach this family named the Favias. They are a super awesome family, and right before I got here three of there girls got baptized. Now we are teaching them the new member lessons.... They have a little sister that is probably 6... she bites. Hard. So during the lesson she was sitting next to me on the couch and all the sudden she bit my arm! She is worse than the mosquitoes! I got bitten by her 8 times during the lesson! And when she sets her jaw in, there is no getting her off! I woke up the next morning and still had a red mark from one of her bites! She is fun, but when she starts biting..... look out! haha, they are a really awesome family though. She is actually one of my favorite kids.... but.... yeah, that was an amusing anecdote.

So unfortunately like... nobody came to church this week. It was a sad day. Especially cause this week we can't even blame the rain! So, we had one investigator show up. Sister Cristlyne. She is a long term investigator waiting on marriage papers. This last week she got her Birth Certificate I think, and then she just needs to actually go and get her marriage papers, so she could be getting baptized this next month! She is super Converted though. She is just as involved in the ward as everyone else. She even has a calling kinda... how crazy is that! but ya, she says she is gonna try to get that done this week, so we are super pumped!

Nanay Abiera, she is amazing. All I am gonna say! Ok, not really. She is pretty much the epidamy  (epitome) of what a member missionary is. She is kind of a pioneer member in this area and she can look at about half the ward and say, "She was my referral 20 years ago!" Ya, she is kinda unreal. We are trying to reach another of her referrals with her, but we are having a hard time catching them at home. She gave us another referral two weeks ago that committed to baptism. But he got in a tricey accident and has been in the hospital. Hopefully we can start teaching him again this week. She is awesome! Apparently back in the day she was studying very hard to become a nun when she started taking the lessons. Now she is pretty much the best member I have ever met!

So they are going to start a new branch up in San Felipe in a couple weeks and President says that when they split the ward he is going to bring in new missionaries and split the area. Which is going to be really awesome because San Felipe is a 45 minute jeepney ride away, and this will give us more time to work in our other areas. So I am super excited for that! This week we were going to have a half day mission with the ward in our area, but it got canceled. So yesterday in Ward Council we got it all set up for this week and we are now going to do a full day mission! Basically we are going to visit every less active in Basud! There are a ton that I have never even met so this is gonna be really good! Its gonna be weird though because we are gonna be on splits for this. I am gonna be with one of the members in the ward. That's gonna be super hard cause I don't know the area Super well yet, and my Tagalog is still really bad. I'll be passable hopefully, but its gonna be a killer awesome opportunity to grow! While we are doing this half day mission the ZL's are going to go up to San Felipe with the Bishop to find a meeting house for the new branch.

This week at Zone conference I will see Elder McMurtrey again! He is one city away and in our zone but I haven't been able to see him yet. But this week we have Zone Conference so I am gonna be able to see him! I am super pumped! Then next Tuesday all of us newbies are going with our trainer for some training at the mission home or something... So I should See Elder McMurtrey again and Elder Tuitavake! I am pretty excited!
 

This last week a Super Market opened in our area that should have real cheese! I am super pumped! I love cheese! And we have potatoes, so we are gonna try baked potatoes in our toaster oven... I love the food here, but I wouldn't mind eating a baked potato again if we had some cheese!

Sadly, Andrew flew back to America this week. Hopefully he will find some more missionaries there. The good news is that his mom is still here and we can teach her. And because of him we found Tom and we have a potential investigator down the street that we got to talk to because of him, and one behind him because of Tom, and we only know Tom because of Andrew! So basically, it is sad that he is leaving, but he kind of led us to a ton of other people!!!

Alright, well, I could go on forever, but I'll stop here. I love you all so so so so so so soooo super duper much! And I hope you have a fantastic week! Peace Out!

Oh, P.S. That movie quote at the top is from While You Were Sleeping. The reason being for this quote, my shoes got completely soaked, which was totally awesome cause that means that it was raining, and I enjoy the rain, but dry shoes are always a nice thing.

  

2014/02/23 "That's what you need...that! And a brain."

Haha, yes, I really did just quote that! Bam!

Hello my wonderful wonderful family!!!!

How is everyone this fine week?!?!?! Once again, I had a super dope killer awesome week! First off, the good news is, they are putting in a store that will sell cheese, and it opens this week... I am super excited! Because cheese I am pretty sure is another word for "food of the gods!" Yup, I am super excited, cause nobody here has cheese! which, I mean, they don't exactly need it, there food is fantastic! But when I am cookin' at home, and don't know how to cook their food exactly, some cheese is always welcome. Especially in the morning for breakfast... through some cheese on them rice! Yeah! That sounds like some breakfast-y stuff! hahaha, anyways, this week was super great! As far as numbers, it probably didn't look the best... we got punted for two days straight, and then Sunday we only got one real lesson in... so that was slightly sad. But we had some other super awesome things like my first Baptism!!! Sister Alma. She is super awesome and this week she got baptized... the only problem was, the person that was supposed to conduct didn't show up, so I had to....... yeah.... lets just say my Tagalog skills are improving. And we spent the first half of Saturday doing a service project! Which was super dope! So the numbers didn't look all that good, but since when did numbers mean anything!?

Yup, so it was a super great week. One of our investigators, Joel... man he is a stud! He was the one that just kinda dropped everything immediately when we taught him the word of wisdom... We taught him the Plan of salvation this week. He got super excited! So he read the pamphlet we gave him really in-depth, then he taught his wife (who is pregnant, and never joins in with the lessons) And then came to church on Sunday with his wife! He is super awesome. Haha, so we talked about how the he knew through the Holy Ghost that the BofM was true. And then he was like, "Ya, and if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a True Prophet, so this is gods one and only true church on the earth today, so I want to be baptized." All by himself... it was kinda unreal. And then he was talking about how once we are baptized its our responsibility to share it with others and he told us how he wants us to teach some of his friends.... dang! He is a stud! so golden. I keep wondering if its even necessary to even teach him! Oh yeah, and the way we found him was that he walked up to the church during sacrament meeting and asked for missionaries. What?! His biggest problem is that he is so so so so so so so so soooooo dirt poor that he cant afford to come to church every week. like... a peso is about 2 cents... and so church round trip at most costs like... 40-50 pesos with his wife.... so like a dollar.... and unless he saves every penny during the week, he honestly cant afford to go to church... its way sad! Its crazy to think how poor some people are in the Philippines. The good news is that he came this week and he really has the desire to come to church. He is awesome.

So we were out tracting my first week and we found Tom and his sister Mayline. I think I already told you about them. But one of them has to stay in the shop every week. So they can only come every other week. The sad news was that Mayline didn't come this week. But, hopefully Tom will come next week... They are progressing really well though and we are hoping to set a baptismal date with them tonight.

It was really cool this week. We got punted from one of our appointments, and as we were walking away we remembered a less active that hasn't been to church in years. My comp has visited her once in the two or three transfers that he has been here... so we decided to go talk to her. So we were talking to her about why she doesn't go to church and her answer was really weird. She said something about "people at church have sexy bodies and distract us from god. So we just worship at home." It was a really weird excuse, oh, also she said something about, "I feel Satan's presence at church." It seemed really odd to me and kinda made up since that is the exact opposite of what the rest of us feel. So we were talking to her, and I had no idea what we were talking about, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere so I jumped in and started teaching her about how families can be together forever through temples. And of course she wanted that. So then we taught her about what she needs to do to go to the temple with her family to be sealed forever. She ended up getting super excited and then she got super serious and told us that actually she has been thinking for a while about going back to church and sometimes she cries at night and just wants to go back... but she was afraid to because she didn't feel like she was worthy or something. So basically her excuse was just that... an excuse! So she came to church yesterday! And the members did a super good job at fellow-shipping her and making her feel welcome! So hopefully she will come next week too! So that was super awesome and I was so so so so happy for her!
So, we were walking into this little neighborhood village thing and one of the little kids said something to me. So of course I did my best to talk to him in Tagalog. The kid started laughing and went and got all of his friends. Our appointment was on the porch of this investigators house and all the kids came and gathered round to hear the bago misyonero speaking Tagalog. (First, you have to understand that all of the Philippinos call us Joe. Like... literally all of them. I think it is a reference to GI-Joe...) But I found out that they respond to Joe too! The kids were being a little bit noisy (cause I was speaking Tagalog and it was very funny to them), and so I turned to the boy that was the loudest and said with a very sarcastic face, "Hey Joe, shhh!" And he did! haha, it made me laugh. After the lesson the kids followed us so they could hear me talk some more. Always a good time ;)

Anyways, its been a super awesome week for me! I love you all! And I hope you all just have simply fantastic weeks! Till next time, Peace Out!

2014/02/16 "He's got that sissy stringy thingy. We've been through this, it's a harp. Ok, that's a harp, and that's a dress."

Hey wonderful family of mine!!!

So, its been quite the awesome crazy week! Like, the most crazy awesome week ever!!! Haha, well, its basically a lot like I was expecting... except that I could never in my wildest dreams have expected how beautiful the scenery here would be, or how delicious the food would be, or how nice the people would be! Man! I feel like I am in a movie!!!! So first, my trainer, Elder Packard from Texas. He has been here for since July. He is super awesome!! He speaks really well, and I am learning a lot from him! There is just so much that has happened this week!!

Ok, first of all, the bucket showers.. that was an interesting first experience... I like my showers, so I am still trying to get used to the cold water bucket shower, but Its a good thing!

Bathrooms are interesting... that's all I am gonna say....

I flew in on Wednesday and got to meet with the Mission President and his wife. We had some delicious food and got to meet our new Trainers. The mission president is super awesome!

Man, the people here just have such awesome faith! My first lesson was with a man named Joel... We taught him the Word of Wisdom. He said, "Well, if its the word of god, he would never say to do something that isn't good for us, so I'll do it." It didn't even phase him that he would have to give up coffee, drinking, and smoking, and he dropped it just like that! I was super impressed!

Haha, I gave a talk on Sunday.... hahaha, my Tagalog is still awful, which makes things super fun! They don't expect my Tagalog to be good, so I just talk and people try to understand... its kinda like a fun mix between charades, and just... matt sucks at Tagalog... Anyways, so my talk! I know I said a lot of things wrong because there were several times people laughed at very serious things! haha, the only thing I know for sure that I said wrong was, "my Tagalog is Wicked/evil!" hahaha, we got a kick out of that. I was trying to say that I didn't speak Tagalog well, but that wasn't really necessary! haha, durring my talk I said something about a scripture in Alma, about in my strength I am nothing, but through god, I can do all things that he requires of me... haha, the bishop stood up after me and was like, "haha, in his strength he is nothing (said with lots of sarcasm), he's like a UFC fighter!!" hahaha, hes a funny man.

Its amazing to me though, how even in my very very very very very very very very broken Tagalog, I am still able to help the people and be a good missionary. Its crazy to me! I speak just a handful of words, so I know that its not so much WHAT I am saying, as it is that the spirit is talking to them. And that is the coolest thing ever!!!

My area here is really awesome! And its the ward that makes it so awesome! the Bishop is a stud! The ward is super missionary focused and help us so much! The Bishop helps us out so much! Even the Mission President was telling me that he is probably the best bishop in the mission!

So my comp is from the US too, and he struggles with just talking to people randomly, even though his Tagalog is really good. So we made a goal that we were basically gonna just talk to everyone! There is this one guy that we teach, Andrew, who has a problem with alcohol... that is why he first let us start teaching him. But we couldn't find him... So we went down the street and asked a lady if she had seen him (he never leaves his neighborhood)... she said no, but she let us teach her because she has seen how much we care about Andrew and how diligent we are with him. She has seen how much we really care about him as a person and try to help him. And she wanted that too. Then we talked to his next door neighbors... kinda the same thing. They saw how diligent we are with Andrew so they told us to come in. It turns out that their mom used to be LDS but we didn't make that connection until we pulled out a Book of Mormon. And then they both wanted one! (They are brother and sister... the brother was just visiting and will be leaving soon). They were super excited about the gospel and came to church with us the next day! Then we talked to Andrews mom who never listens to us. But she sees how much we care about her son and she wants to start preparing for baptism! It was amazing! Andrew isn't making much progress, but because we are so diligent with him, every one around him is starting to accept the gospel! That was probably the coolest thing this week. And it also showed that when we randomly decided to talk open our mouths and talk to all the neighbors, we never would have been able to help them too!

The people here are all just so nice! and the food is amazing!!! Oh man its good!! Always rice, but I like rice, so that's a good thing!

One of the 15 year olds here just got baptized, and now he wants to start prepping for a mission so he is gonna start coming with us to teach today!!! He is super dope!

haha, All of the kids here like to yell at us, "hey, hey dude!" or, "Hey Joe!" haha, we get that about a million times every day. And then when I wave at them they all laugh and chase after us. The kids here are super great!

We live with the ZL's, they are both super awesome, both of them are from the Philippines. And they are super dope! Its hard to talk to them, but its good practice!

I just love the people here! And the Food! And the Scenery! I just cant get over it! Every time we take a jeepney, its just like, wow!!!!

Oh, and I got to try coconut this week! One of the less actives went and got one from a tree in his yard and chopped it open with a machete on the spot! I got to drink straight from it and then eat some of the coconut which was actually really tasty... Disney lied to me though.... its nothing like they make it look like, with the white milky goodness and all... it was tasty though!

I took a ton of good pictures but I totally forgot to bring my cord!!!! So I cant send them to you :( Sorry! I'll do better next week! Sorry that this letter is so all over the place. I just LOVE IT HERE!!!!! This is seriously the best place I've ever been, I don't know if I've stressed that much... I LOOOOOVE IT!!!!!! Every thing about it here! Its a little bit of adjusting, the language is a beast, but I am learning so fast!

I've got so much to work on, but I just love it here and it is all coming super fast to me! I am already starting to understand what people are saying a lot more! Talking hasn't improved quite as much, but I'm understanding probably about half of what is going on! Its super awesome! People are always way surprised when I say that I've only been speaking 6 weeks. The gift of tongues is so real! I wonder how my comps from the MTC are doing.... They were both speaking better than me when we left... they must be doing crazy awesome... anyways, I love you all! And I hope you are all just having marvelous wonderful times! Peace Out!

2014/02/03 "Nemo! That's so funny!!!...I don't get it..."

Hello Dearest family of mine!!!!

How are yalls doing!!! I am just doing oh so so good this week! (funny that I seem to say that every week)... sooooo.... I am heading out to the Philippines next week!!!! 4:30 AM!!! I am just too pumped to get on that plane and start flying out! I cant wait to finally hit some heat! Not to mention, I am excited to try the bucket brigade for the shower... "That's new..." -Princess and the Frog. Its gonna be so tight! well, basically my week consisted of, hey! A ton of Tagalog! Which is super awesome, i fell like I am starting to get it a bit. I don't speak like a native, but i can throw it down when I need to! So the new district that we got this week is super tight. And to think, that was me not very long ago, and I am already heading out!!! Its crazy! And super awesome!! I know the investigators here are fake, but I was super pleased, we had a lesson that was falling apart, and then we went on to something completely different and then ended up committing her to baptism! it was pretty dope! So, cool story, I accidentally just deleted the email, but this ldsmail stuff is pretty rad, and it saved it for me! So I hit the un-discard button and it brought it back... Oh, and grandma, the popcorn is going to good use! Even the janitor that just passed just loves me now. Its pretty great...

So basically, we learned a lot about the gospel, had a lot of awesome spiritual experiences, learned a bunch of Tagalog, and listened to some awesome talks! It was a pretty great week! I am ever so slightly nervous about headed to the Philippines and getting a new companion, cause my companions are super dope and I feel like I have known them forever! I'm gonna be sad to say goodbye to them. They're gonna be awesome missionaries!

hmmm... I forget if this was this week or last week, but in my brilliance I managed to rip my pants right in front of Brother Danahoo one of the councilors in our branch presidency (luckily it was in the residence halls). Luckily, I happen to be immune to embarrassing moments, but now I need to sow them up. Yay!

its awesome that I get free hair cuts here whenever I want! So I cut my hair every two weeks. This last time I said to cut it as short as they are aloud to... I literally said that to them.... and then they started cutting my hair... my first reaction was, "holy cow! I didn't realize you could cut it that short!" And then my next reaction was the un-humble one that I need to work on where I said, "Mmmmmm, that looks good! Dang son!" Don't worry momma, I didn't say that out loud... But I might have been thinking it. I like the short hair... anyways, I don't know why people get sick of the food hear. I enjoy it. The food is different every day, and my go to that they have every day is the chicken wrap that they have every day... basically Cafe Rio or subway style... UNREAL!

Haha, so when we picked up the new district, we decided that at least for the first little bit we wouldn't speak English... you should have seen how white their faces went!!! Hahaha, they didn't realize how bad the Tagalog was, all they realized (or thought they realized) is that there zone leaders were speaking to them in Tagalog and there was no hope that they would ever understand anybody!!! (evil malicious laugh!) And then we spoke English to them.. it was fun!

Anyways, it was a super awesome week and I am loving you all tons!!!! Talk to ya next week! peace out!!!

2014/01/27 "We must follow the 11th commandment, do unto others before they do unto you."

Hey there dearest family of mine!

How are yalls doing!!! I hope you are all doing well. This week, is kinda the usual, because as usual, you are finding me, TOTALLY 100% PUMPED TO BE HERE!!!!!! Basically, this place never ceases to amaze me!! I love it here!!! Every day I learn more about the gospel and my language skills get better! My language skills are about as good as using a bent rusty nail to open a can of beans in the middle of Antarctica with no fingers, but, that's better than having no bent rusty nail at all! (ok, slight exaggeration, its amazing how fast the language is coming, during lessons now we just go in and start talking now. We don't have to script out our lines or anything cause we can sorta speak it out in broken-ish Tagalog. Today the older district left, leaving us the oldest district.... which means that in two weeks I fly out to the Philippines!!!! I am so freaking pumped you could probably imagine a three year old in a candy factory and have the right picture in mind (unless you imagine that child to be lost and crying for his momma... that only happens at night ;). So one of the missionaries in my district happens to be really short... so we happen to make a lot of short jokes... They told us they like short jokes, so I don't feel bad telling them... but we have been having so much fun with them! Haha, like, "Hey Elder Jones, you are a good missionary, you seem to be really DOWN TO EARTH!!! Boom, roasted." Hahaha, I know, I am really lame, but its all good fun! Kind of the saying here is that the days are long and the weeks are fast.... I disagree... its more that I get into bed every night exhausted saying, "Where did my day go!!! That was so fast!" Its so good here! I love that Elder Tuitavake has such a good voice! As we are walking around we will randomly start breaking into song, and we get some pretty sick harmonies going! Today I got a pocket sized hymnal so we have a little more variety in songs we can sing...

We have a new district coming in this week, but this time itll be my turn to give them orientation... that'll be weird, I feel like I just got here myself! And they're gonna be looking up to me? Thats a little weird. Oh well, it'll be a good time.

well, this week several awesome things happened, like... well, pretty much everything was awesome. Teaching, eating, running into grandparents... it was a good week. I am sorry that I don't send big awesome letters like Dallin, but the I am gonna try to send some pics now, so this is gonna be it this week so I have time to figure this out... sorry!

I love you all so much! And I hope you all had killer awesome times without me! Peace Out!