May 26, 2014

do you all get sick of hearing about how amazing this country and this area is?! cause i don't get sick of saying how amazing it is!!!!

It is now week 3 of the transfers and it feels like it just started last week, our house is super amazing, mainly because we have 4 Americans that are all from UTAH!!!

This week was pretty awesome, we had a bunch of awesome lessons but we only got about 15... our "MISSION STANDARD" is 25. but we did have something super awesome happen! we had the first Investigator come to church in the last 3 years!! It was super awesome, he is one of our "Joe" investigators, and lets just say that was a crazy experience for him, as it was for us, he took a TON of notes and seemed like he was in shock for a little while because everything was in Cebuano, so he barely understood anything, other than the stuff that was obvious and clear in English!!!

this week we had a super cool CSP, we got to go and cut a path through the bukid to someones house. what was even cooler about this is that i got to see some of the people from my last area because we were helping their family here in bohol!!!! that was super awesome, it was almost like i never left!

I dont really have too much to write about today... next week we will be going to Chocolate Hills, Tarsier park, the Hanging Bridge, and making sundangs, and other stuff like that... so hopefully in a couple of weeks i will have some cool stuff to write about, it almost just seems like it is the same old same old stuff each week...

-Elder POGI-Larson

May 19, 2014

May 18 at 9:28 PM

Can anyone really tell me how long i have been out on my mission?! i honestly am to the point where i have no clue, i know i have been out somewhere between 6 months and 12 months or about 6 transfers!

Oh yeah so i guess i still need to finish up the letter from last week! So last week we were walking to an appointment from "Tangnan" which is about an hour long walk. we were walking along the highway, and there was a car that went speeding by and as it going by we heard someone from the car yell "ELDERS!!!" so we started running to the car because it was obviously someone who knows us, or at least who we are. so we got to the car and it was a young couple from America, the sister from Vernal, Utah. and the brother from Billings, Montana. They were here on their honeymoon, because that is what this island is used for... they then offered us a ride and we accepted, so our hour long walk got turned into a 5 minute ride in a car, because of how fast they were driving.

Oh yeah so i was going to say more about Brother Hope, our American investigator, from Atlanta, Georgia. Last week we just really started teaching him, we taught him the restoration and then this week we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It is so amazing having one of the people we teach actually understand what we are saying, and then they are also willing to do stuff, like read, and pray, and just anything we really ask.

This week we are planning on giving him an IBD, and if we end up baptizing him and his wife, they will be the 2nd and 3rd baptisms in Panglao, Bohol in the last 4 years... And this is just about the only area in the mission that we could potentially baptize an AMERICAN!!!!

oh yeah so this week we were looking for new investigators and we ended up wandering into the bukid..(on purpose) because we wanted to get some exploring in, and we got lost for about 3 hours wandering in the bukid, and of course that day was the one day that i forgot to take my camera!!! it was so AMAZING!!!

 i cant even describe how cool it was, and how amazing this country is!!!

it is so awesome being here!!! i hope you all are having even half as much fun and enjoying life half of what i am right now!!!! this is so amazing.

NAHIGUGMA KO KANINYO!!! MAHAL TA MO!!! OR I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Elder POGI-Larson

May 11, 2014

Oh My Goodness, today was super awesome, i got to skype my parents, hopefully they had a cool experience listening to me talk to the people here! WOW, i cant believe it, that was probably one of the coolest experiences ever, i can finally speak Cebuano, and i am pretty fluent... or at least i feel fluent, you have to ask my family what they thought. This week was also super awesome, i am now finally in my second area!!! that was the longest first area EVER!!!! 

This week i was transferred to Panglao B, Bohol, it is totally different than my last area, we basically live on the beach. Which could potentially be a major problem, but right now we are doing pretty good...

lets just say this... MARAMING NG MGA MAGANDA!!! if you don't understand Tagolog, in Cebuano it is... DAGHAN NGA MGA GUAPA!!! and if you really don't understand either in english it is... MANY/A LOT OF BEAUTIFUL!!! everything here is just so much more different than it was in Cebu.

I love my new comp, his name is Elder Wright from Springville, Utah. He is my senior batch, and spent his first 6 months in Comotes, which is almost one of the coolest islands in the mission. Right now we are in the smallest house in the mission, we have 4 missionaries in about the same amount of space as a mini-van.... it is ridiculous!!!

So right now in our area, there are A TON of foreigners because there are so many beach resorts and everything. It is so awesome, one of our BEST investigators is a "Joe" he is from Atlanta, Georgia. he has lived here since about 2009, and he has a Filipina wife. They are so amazing, he has no real religion other than "LOVE." we have been teaching them for the last few days....

well i will finish this next week... OUT OF TIME!!!! 

May 4, 2014

Do i transfer or do i not, that my friends is the question!!!! This coming up transfer is going to be kind of weird, my companion right now (E. Durham) has a very good chance of becoming a ZL next transfer, and  that means that he could transfer, leaving me here for one more transfer, which wouldn't be the worst thing to happen... but then i have been here for the last 6 months, so it is about my time to move on, and transfer to another area, but... we wont know until tomorrow night who will be transferring this week.

This week was pretty fun, we had a HUGE CSP (community service project) at one of the members house (TATAY QUINTEN-83 years old) he has been paying tithing even though he is super poor(5 pesos), even though he works a full time job and everything... this CSP we rebuilt his entire house/payag, it is just kinda a hut, it started at about 6:45 am, and finished at about 6 pm... it was super long, but now we have some new investigators from it... one of them is super bright(SMART) and she really likes to read, she came to church this Sunday, and she is the apo(grandchild) of Tatay Quinten.

It is crazy how "elect" she is!!! she really has a desire to learn, and to know everything!!!

Well, i guess i will let you all know what transfers are like next Monday!!!! love you all!!!!!

-Elder POGI-Larson