July 19, 2015

Well this week i don't have a ton to share, mainly because i used most of my time writing another email... so there is a couple of things that i learned this week.

when playing basketball in the Philippines in full proselyting attire it gets REALLY HOT! well, on Saturday at around 3 in the afternoon there were a couple of guys who challenged us to a game of basketball. well, our plans were to do some finding, well, some times the Lord puts people into your path or puts you into theirs. so we took their challenge. the game was to 17 (i dont have a clue why just to 17) well, we ended up losing the first game... but as many of you know, i dont like to lose, so i rechallenged them to another game and said that if we win we will share a message, if we lose we will just walk away, well ride away, we had our bikes. well sad to say.... we lost that game as well, (i dont keep track of points) they will always win if i dont count.

at then end of the game we were both super sweaty. we went to get a drink, well when we were getting a drink we decided to see how wet we really were, well... elder Jennings litterally rung out his tie, and his shirt was dripping, it was almost like he had just done laundry and put his shirt directly on without drying it out, or ringing it out.

so our bikes have had some more issues in the last week, some MAJOR breakdowns. on monday last week we were going to our appointment, and we were going down a road nicknamed "broken bike road", well lets just say it didnt get its name from fixing our bikes. it is a gravel road going to the velasco families house. we were going and.... well the rear gear shifter basically was, hmmm, how to put this in English, became discombobulated, well it was a little bit more than that. in Cebuano it would be GILAGLAGAN (DESTROYED). it was crazy. so we were super lucky because i had some parachute cord as a tow rope. so Elder Jennings was kind enough to tow me all the way back home.

last week we also had Zone conference, i got to see a lot of missionaries as well, it was awesome. also learned from the leaders of the mission, and we had a 10 minute presentation on Testifying and Contacting people.... STRESSFUL!!!! ahhh, 60 missionaries, the AP's, and President looking at us!!!!

 

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION!!!! OCT 2013-JAN 2016 

July 5, 2015

Well, HELLO FAMILY, and FRIENDS!

So i know that it has only been about 4 days since you last heard from me, which means that i dont have a TON of stuff to write you about. but i have had a couple of pretty awesome experiences.

on transfer day (Thursday) we were blessed to have stayed together, but we had to still go down to the chapel to open it up for the rest of the transfering missionaries. we didnt really get in a full study, but we got to meet some of the new incoming missionaries to the zone. they are awesome! we had some really good lessons that we had planned the night before.

we had 4 lessons total. but the last one was probably the most memorable. we have an investigator that wants to be helped financially by the church, and they will join any church as long as they are given a type of financial support. well i basically poured my heart and soul into teaching him because we love him, and his family so much. (this is the Velasco family) from 2 weeks ago until now i have seen so many changes in their lives to bring them in closer harmony with the gospel. when i was talking to him, i was realizing what i need to be doing in my life, here in the mission, and when i get home. it was a real eye opener for me. i also, probably for the first time, felt the spirit teaching through me with convincing power. i am not sure if it was teaching me or if it was testifying to the hearts of our investigators, but either way it was a powerful experience.

So there was a sister while i was home that posted on the FB page for the Philippines Cebu East Mission that she was going to be serving in the Cebu East mission, and i replied to her and said that i would help her with the language before coming back or her entering the MTC. well, because i got called back so abruptly i never had a chance to really help her... that is until now. she just arrived to the mission field and just happens chance that she is in my district. so i will be able to help her here in the field. Sister Paget, and her trainer is Sister Tarrobago. it should be pretty fun, cause they are in the same ward as us.

As of right now i have 7 kids in the mission, i have 3 sons (Elder Edoloverio, Elder Head, and Elder Jennings) and 4 daughters (Sister Johnson, Sister Nalawas, Sister Paget, and Sister Duran) so in the mission the DL is the father of the new sisters being trained. it is pretty weird how the relationships in the mission work.

so we received several referrals from the Velasco family, one of them being a guy named "Jake-Jake" so we were out looking for where exactly he lived, we walked up to a house and i asked him if he knew someone named Jake-Jake, he said no, but there was someone named "Jay-Jay" down at the end of the road we were on. i then asked, i guess an inspired question. "Brother, what is your name?" he then answered and said "Jake-Jake". both elder Jennings and i had a good laugh afterword. it was almost like, haha, caught you, you can't hide that well...

also this coming saturday 7/11/15 we have 2 baptisms, from a part member family. it will be super awesome, Elder Jennings is going to do the dunking. AHHH!!! this is fun!

 

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

PHILIPPINES CEBU EAST MISSION!!!! OCT 2013-JAN 2016