November 23 2014

How are you this week??? (Please use at least 3 sentences to describe your present state.)

I am doing good. this week was probably one of the most sucky (if that is ok to use as a missionary) that i have had... the only thing that kept us going was the baptism of Sister Joana on Saturday. We struggled with teaching all week, Elder Head was stuggling with the language which is expected, of course. it was just an all around hard week. right now i am super tired and sore, we got up at 5 A.M. to go and play basketball, i rolled my ankle, and got punched it the face(on accident he was going for the ball and missed a little bit...).

What was the highlight of the last week???

The highlight was the baptism of Sister Joana, I was lucky enough to be the one that got to go down into the water with her. It was a pretty good service, there were 3 talks, 1 ELDER HEAD, 2 BROTHER PAUL MULDONG(he is now our NEW ward mission leader) 3 SISTER SHEILA FLORES. they were all way good talks. then when we got down into the water, even though it was pretty cold. right as i held the wrist of Joana, she started to cry, it was so cool! but no one knew cause about 10 seconds later she was soaking wet with water running all over!!!

We saw pics from the baptism.  Was it at a chapel???  Do you meet in a regular chapel like the ones here???

Yes, it was at the Stake Center. we do, at least right now, in this area.... over in Panglao we just met in a house of one of the members. it is fairly big sized, it is about the size of the average chapel in Utah, but it is a stake center...

How is Elder Head???  Did he survive his Feared Filipino Food Fest???

He has survived... i have put him through just about everything that i can think of up until this point... i will keep looking for weird stuff for us to eat. We had some Durian pie yesterday, it was DELICIOUS! haha, for those of you that have had it.... you know the taste, and just talking about it just makes my mouth salivate... haha.... lets just say that "IT IS THE FRUIT OF THE GODS." "it tastes like heaven but smells like poo...."

Do you drink a lot of soda pop there???  Is it safer than the water when you are out and about???

i have been trying to cut down on the soda, but it is really good. we drink what we can afford..... some weeks it is soda, other.... water. they have these things called ATMs(automatic TUBIG*water machine), that usually have clean water... key word right there is USUALLY! but for the most part we are able to drink just about anything. if we eat somewhere, or something sketchy we usually will drink a soda.

How are the investigators???

They are still alive.... 

Have any hearts softened or do we need to pray harder for anyone???

ummm.... 

1. Alibo Family; they are awesome, they just dont understand yet that they NEED to become a member...
2. Frances Ortiz; she accepted a baptismal date, but said she had concerns, some of them being that her dad needed to consent to baptism(which he didn't) and she needed to receive an answer to the her prayers(which she did) she knows it is true, she just "can't" she also needs to make it to church. we shared with her MATT10:35-39, and later today we are going to go by and teach her.

What was the best food you ate in the last week???

well, i can tell you what the not best food that we ate... durian pie...

probably the best is our POT BROWNIES... we have no ovens in the Philippines, but we do have a stove top, we mixed up the brownie mix and threw it on the stove, and did a double boil thing.... i am a genius because it worked out amazing!!!!

How many ties do you have now???  Have you given a lot of them away???

I am down to about 30, i gave a ton away!!!!!

Aunt V wants to know what has been your favorite area so far???

I dont know if i can answer this one.... i have had a ton of favorite parts of each my areas so far.... but if i have to choose one(which i am sure you all might want me to, i will choose the MTC(is that ok?) i choose it because of the air conditioning, the unlimited food, the chocolate milk, the ice-cream on Wednesdays and Saturdays.... but in all actuallity, my favorite area has to be my first area in CONSOLACION 1B, i just had so much fun there, i wish that i was still there... our area was in the BUKID*jungle/mountains but we lived in the city, so it was super easy.

there is amazing stuff about each of my areas!

Uncle Durv wants to know what the craziest adventure you have had to date is???

well.... i dont really know if i have any.... define "CRAZIEST ADVENTURE" for me.... i have been trying to likay buang nga mga butang(*avoid crazy things).... especially crazy people(like literal crazy).

OTHERS

1. this week i got to go back and see Nicka, Kate, and Russell from my first area, about 6 months ago, they have gotten a ton bigger!!!
2. BAPTISM of JOANA!!

 

 

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION!!!! OCT 2013-OCT 2015 

November 16, 2014... Bonus week. Yay

Sorry last weeks email is a little late, i thought i sent it off, but apparently i didnt! So for this week i will just kinda talk about the week because i dont have a set of questions to answer...

Monday- we had our thanksgiving feast(on the words of Christ), i was feeling very gutom*(hungry) afterword because we skipped lunch because we were running late. we also had NO work today because we had to do all of our P-day stuff (shopping, laba, and others)...

Tuesday- we didnt have much work... we had District Meeting until about 1:00, then lunch until 2:00... then when we went out to work, while at work be basically got sent away(PUNTED) from everyone we went to go and try to teach... that wasn't a first.

We also had a dinner appointment with the Bailey family(from Logan UT), it was so amazing, they fed us ENCHILADAS, and FRIED RICE, as well as desert was CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!! AHHH!! they were still warm when we ate them, the last time i ate cookies or anything like that was 13 months ago!!!!

Wednesday- we decided to actually go to work, we started working super hard, in total we taught 9 lessons, and had 5 new investigators today. we worked in TIPOLO, we usually struggled with teaching there before Elder Head got here, but for some reason Elder Head seems to be a magic trick, or i guess a LUCKY CHARM for Tipolo! We goaled to teach 10+ lessons, but we were both satisfied with 9!!!

We started off with teaching one of our inv, she has been struggling with believing that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet of God. so we read in 2 Nephi 3, about Joseph of Egypt and his Prophecy. We also taught some of our new investigators, they were all busy in their own little area, so we decided to teach a bunch of short, but powerful lessons...

Thursday- we had work out it Cabancalan, we decided to do some work there as well... we taught 6 lessons today, but they were a lot different, and most a little bit longer. today, i also started to get a little bit sick, developed a cough, and running nose. It makes it super hard to speak clear Cebuano, but they manage to understand what i am talking about...

Friday- we went to Tipolo for the first couple of hours then we went back to Cabancalan, because there were a lot of people that we didnt get to teach because they weren't home, or they said to come back tomorrow. Today we taught another 8 lessons!!! it was unreal, i got a little bit more sick as well... the first part of the day we taught 3-20 minute lessons. we have found that we actually get more through to them if we teach more frequently and SHORTER!!! after that we went to Cabancalan, we actually ended up giving 4 priesthood blessings there, there were some youth/kids that are/were sick. they(members) asked us to give them blessings. one of them was in bed all week and then on sunday we saw him at church... PRIESTHOOD POWER!!!

Saturday- we had a baptismal interview for one of our INV (Joana) when Elder Jandoquile came out (after almost 2 hours of being in there) he said that she didnt pass.... but i called him out on it, because he had the biggest smile EVER!!! She will be baptized this coming NOVEMBER 22. She chose that both of us will baptize her, we got it worked out, i will hold her hands and Elder Head will hold her legs and we will just throw her in!!! JUST KIDDING, she ended up choosing me to baptize her... it is such an honor and a privilege!!! So ELDER LARSON THE OLDER WILL BE have a BAPTISM as well this coming week!!! AWESOME!!!

I also went and got a chest x-ray, that took quite a while but in all actuality it was quick.

then to close off the day, we had stake conference, priesthood, and adult sessions. Elder Collada was presiding, he went and played hardball with the members about the LoT(Law of Tithing) and Fast offerings!!! it was crazy to watch him go!!!

Sunday- we finished off our stake conference, the only bad part is... BROWN OUT(NO POWER) which means NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! in the philippines when there is 1000+ people in 1 building and there is no air conditioning it is super HOT!! and to add to it i am sick... everyone was pouring sweat!! we passed out all of our pamphlets to use as fans!!! it was so HOT!!! ahh, for dinner we went to our Bishops house for dinner, because it was his Daughters birthday!!! it was delicious!!!

 

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION!!!! OCT 2013-OCT 2015 

November 16, 2014... Missed last week (him not me)

You gypped us week, so the question goes back to first...  Please use 3 complete sentences to describe your current state.  Please do not use the words "fine" "busy" or "tired".    There are many adjectives in the English language.  Please use some NEW ones.

There are many adjectives, but i can only remember a few of them!!! i am really first-class/super-eminent! i feel very exasperated from the amount of work we have been doing. and i am tickled pink that this week is over and that it is P-day!!!

We just got back from our "thanksgiving" get together, even though it is closer to Kalagkalag than it is to the Thanksgiving. It was just all the missionaries from Cebu Island that were there today, there were talks given on Gratitude, and as well, there was ICE CREAM, and as well there was APPLE CRUMB PIE... it was DELICIOUS!!!!

(HOW DO YOU LIKE THOSE 4 Adjectives....?)

What was the best moment you had in the last week???

we have had a ton of "best moments." one of my favorites is that happened this week, is that we now have 4 IBDs(Investigators with a Baptismal Date) and we finally had a SIT down talk with our Bishop about what we can do to help him, and what he can do to help the work progress in Mandaue 1st ward!!! it was awesome to hear him talk about everything, and really work with us. it was the first time that this has happened on my mission!

Also, i got 6 pairs of pants (all tailored to ME), 2 polos/dress shirts (tailored to ME), and about 46 new ties for trading last P-day.... the only problem now is that i am running low on quarta!!! but that is ok, i have everything i need for a while, a VERY long while!!! that brings me up to about 100+ ties.... (I will be sending home some of them!!!

What miracles have happened in your world in the last week???

we have seen many miracles! too many to really keep track of the one that i want to say. we have just followed the promptings, and just kinda wandered around looking for someone, and what not.. we have had a ton of success in TIPOLO, which last transfer we would go all day without teaching, now we have to run between appointments so that we can teach everyone that we have!

Are you doing a lot of tracting???

It is unreal how much tracting we do! for the most part we try and fit in at least 1 hour a day. today our plan is that we will tract for 3 hours later tonight! that is about all that we do during our free time...

What is your best source for finding investigators???

we just kinda do it... we just go out everyday, and if someone even gives us the time of day, we instantly start a conversation with them. then we slowly do some BRT(build respect and trust), then we set a return appointment... it works out pretty well...

How often are you with members of the the ward you are in???

we are usually with them every sunday from 9-12... but other than that it is basically just Elder Head and I going out to work every day... they rarely help us with kuyog(coming with us to teach), and they don't really fellowship until we have an INV come to church, so our INV are super shy, and feel OP (out of place), which is why Bishop had the talk with us on sunday, seeing what he could do for us!

Do ward members go out teaching with you???

we dont really, just rare opportunities we get help from the ward

How many missionaries are in your area/district/zone???

We have the smallest Zone, it is 12 missionaries, there are 3 wards that our zone covers, so there are 4 missionaries in each ward...

Sisters JOHNSON, and DALO are comps

Sisters CADIMAS, and TOMAS are comps

Elder JANDOQUILE, and LOPEZ are comps

Elder JOEL, and LASTIMOSO are comps

Elder MICABANI, and AMATA are comps

Elder LARSON, and HEAD are comps

Elder Micabani, and Amata are the ZL's.

Elder Jandoquile is the DL

Do you do splits often???

Nope, not really, we try it once a transfer.... maybe more, we havent had it yet though... maybe this coming week we will go on splits, but i am not too sure yet...

How is Elder Head???

HE IS GOOD, HE HAS NOW GRADUATED by eating BALUT, the MOST FEARED food of the philippines.... lets just say that it isn't his favorite food ever (as you see in the pictures) i was just busting-a-gut! it was good, i ate it with him, but my balut exploded for some reason.

What events did you have in the last week???

we didnt really have any events this last week other than our ZTM, and then we had meetings until 3:30 on sunday.... Today/earlier we had our mission thanksgiving which we did more feasting on the spiritual things, than feasting on the food!!! ONLY 1 MORE YEAR LEFT;P and i will be FEASTING on the food!

What events do you have planned for the next week???

We have a few dinners planned for the week so far. we have 1 tomorrow with a family from Logan UT. they have lived here for the last 4 years, they have 3 kids, and are super awesome (The Bailey family), also we have a dinner appointment with our bishop on Friday, because it is the birthday of someone, i believe his daughter... other than that i dont think we have anything else coming up this week. Oh yeah we do have a baptismal interview on Saturday for next week, and also Stake conference is this coming Saturday, and Sunday for us...

Please share a scripture or quote that touched your heart in the last week.

WE NEED TO HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE!!!

-ELDER HEAD earlier today he gave a talk on gratitude for half the mission.

I like this one cause..... ALMOST THANKSGIVING!!!! and mainly cause today was our thanksgiving get together as a mission!

Anyone we can pray for???  Any names to put in the Temple???

Ummmmm...

1. Barangan Family-(Jingle, Jasmin, Caramaline, Raphael) the bana*(husband) of Sister Jingle wont sugot nga makabunyagan sila*(agree to let them be baptized) he works abroad.
2. Charmine- she is a bagong Investigator*(new) and is super ready for the gospel, she just has limited time to listen to us....
3. Alibo Family-(Agripina, Mary, Marianne, McRio) they are new investigators as well... they are amazing, they take notes during the lessons!!!
4. Arthur Pakidin-(Less Active) this past sunday was the first time nga nagsimba siya*(that he has come to church) in about 2+ years... he is awesome, just needs to have his heart softened...

 

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION!!!! OCT 2013-OCT 2015 

November 2, 2014

Do Filipino's celebrate Halloween or some form of it???

They celebrate a thing called KALAG-KALAG. so on the 30th of October until the 2nd of November basically the entire population of the Philippines goes and sleeps in the cemetery!!! ummm, also i almost forgot, they have "ALL SAINTS DAY" on the 1st, and on the 2nd is "ALL SOULS DAY'. everybody had about 5 or so candles burning outside of their houses... ummm, there was almost no one dressed up for it!!! it was super different.

Is Filipino candy a lot different than American candy???

basically all of their candy is american candy made in Saudi Arabia! but they have different ones as well! either way it is all way good, we had some fruity candies the other night! they were DELICIOUS!!!

What was the highlight of the last week???

ummmm.... highlight, we taught 25 lessons!!! we also have 1 new IBD!!! Elder Head is going to have his first convert/baptism in about 2 weeks from this Saturday! we also had a ton of success teaching and doing everything! we did some tracting on Saturday and taught the Restoration to them, and then they started to say "GINOO MAN GIHAPON" which basically means "we believe in Jesus Christ". So i asked them a question that was along the lines of "do you know where you are going after this life?!" they answered no, and then assumed that i didnt have the answer to this question, so they wanted me to answer them right then but i said we would come back and share about that... it was so awesome!!!

Do you guys have many opportunities for service in this area???  What kind of service???

we rarely have time to do service, and very rarely do it... we usually try and do just small things, like help people cut up some fire wood!

You said you live in a pretty large Ward, is it spread out over a large area???  
it is about 130 members average attending church weekly... it is not too big, we have 2 main areas... TIPOLO, and CABANCALAN/BANILAD.

Do you attend ward activities???

nope, we are too busy teaching and doing other stuff, it is not missionary appropriate....

How large is the Stake???  I bet there is some traveling involved in going to Stake Conference.

it has a ton of wards, but one thing is that it is about the same area size as any stake in Utah.... or about that.....

What was your best/strangest teaching opportunity in the last week???

already answered on part... we had a member pass away last tuesday, so on saturday we went by to say hello to his wife, they were married in the temple in Manila, she has been a LA for the last 8 years, we shared a little about the plan of salvation with her...

Elder head got lost in the conversation with Cebuano, and thought that only the brother that passed away was a member and that she wasnt... so towards the end he started to ask the baptismal commitment to her.... haha, it was awesome!!! it is crazy to see where i was 1 year ago!!! and now where i am!!!

How is Elder Head???  Please say you have not introduced him to ballut(sp?)!!!

not yet, we are planning on going sometime this week to get some balut!!!!

Are you having a great time being the Training Companion???  (Do they not use Senior?/Junior anymore?)

I am the Tatay of elder Head, so i am Senior, but i am trainer right now!!!

HOW ARE YOU??? (I bet you thought you wouldn't have to answer that question this week)  Please use  3 complete sentences to describe your current physical, psychological and emotional state!!!!

I AM OUT OF TIME!!! but i am MAAYO(GOOD), i wish i could write 3 sentences.... but i have taken way too long writing this week...

 

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION!!!! OCT 2013-OCT 2015