April 8, 2014

April 1, 2014

well, i always say this, but TIME GOES BY TOO FAST!!!! well in about 6 days i am officially at my 6 month mark, my companion suggested that we but ice cream and burn a tie, the cool thing about my companion right now, is he is only 3 months older than me in the mission, so he just went through this a little while ago!!! this week was a little more different, it was in some ways harder, and in other ways it was super easy!!! right now i am basically being retrained how to teach effectively, and properly, PMG(preach my gospel) is one of the best teaching tools, and resources!!! i have really underused it! my new companion and i have gotten a nickname from everyone in the mission, we are "THE POWERHOUSE COMPANIONSHIP." it is just about one of the best companionship's in the mission right now... we have the best area, and we are teaching like PMG... it is amazing how effective it is! o n Thursday i brought 3 new missionaries to the Consolacion 1 apartment, i then spent Thursday and Friday showing them around their area, and introducing them to some of the members and the investigators... their area was basically DEAD, they are resurrecting their area now... it is super hard, and right now we are rebuild/resurrecting our area too... ummmmm.. ASK ME QUESTIONS PLEASE!!! THAT MAKES IT SO MUCH EASIER, I CANT JUST THINK OF RANDOM STUFF DURING THE WEEK TO TALK ABOUT!!!! it is super hard to do!!!! April 8, 2014 well, i hate to say it but THAT WAS THE FASTEST 6 MONTHS. well this week was super fast because we were working hard... (OF COURSE) on Thursday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders, we were down in a place called "DECCA HOMES" it is almost right in the center of our area, and while there we saw a white man looking up at what looks to be a very expensive home, that has been being built for the last 4 months... we stopped and talked to him... lets just say IT IS SUPER HARD TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH AFTER 4 MONTHS OF JUST TRYING TO SPEAK CEBUANO!!!! but we were talking to him about his life and everything, he is from LONDON, ENGLAND... so we couldn't talk about the gospel too much, so we asked him about the house he was having built... it is a 6.2 million peso house or about 139-thousand USD... it was so crazy, he was then talking about how he is going to be putting up 16 Filipinos from the streets in it. on Thursday we also saw a bunch of kids playing basketball, and they challenged us to a game... so of course 2 6'+ missionaries said yes to play against them. we challenged them to a game to 10, if we won we got to teach them for 5 minutes and if we lost, we had to go, they thought that was good because there were 4 of them so... to make the story short we won 10-2... then we taught them... it was awesome, they all actually seemed pretty interested. this week has also been super rough!!!! we have been doing a lot of "FINDING, TRACTING, SEARCHING, LOOKING, SEEKING etc." this week we have probably walked about 140+ KM. it has been super hard, but we have been pulling through... we are also having a TON of success, well and of course i am getting in better shape now... well my companion is super legit, and i am so glad to have him, he keeps me from going crazy and killing the other missionaries. so it is super helpful!! for the last 4.5 months i have done dishes EVERY DAY, it has turned into a workout in the morning, it is kinda fun... in a way. we have all been eating healthy.. vegetables, and fruit, and just eating all the food groups!!! basta, kita ta sunod semana!!!

March 27, 2014

well i will just start off by saying this week can't be over yet, it just started!!!! but i guess it is....

This transfer i have been pretty destructive with the Consolacion 1 ward... at least with the missionaries, i will now demonstrate what happened this last transfer.

DAY 10-Deported E. Francis to TACLOBAN MISSION

DAY 22-BANISHED/EXHILED E. Raymundo to LILO-AN 3

DAY 39-KILLED E. Veloria to his HOUSE in Pangasinan

The ward went from having 4 missionaries six weeks ago to having 1, i am leading 2 areas, and helping the zone leaders in their area... i am super busy, have no time to do anything but work and study, which i guess is SUPER AWESOME, cause then the time goes by faster!!!

So tomorrow is transfers, my new companion is Elder Durham, from CANADA, so i will have had a companion from UTAH, AUSTRALIA, PHILIPPINES(GEN-SAN, PANGASINAN), UTAH, UTAH, and now CANADA. i get my new companion and i am staying in the same area. CONSOLACION 1B. tomorrow i am going to be bringing 3 new missionaries to the house!!! yay, now there will actually be people!!!

I am starting to love the language, and i am able to speak somewhat fluently and understand a good portion. 

the food... all i have to say about the food is that... IT IS DELICIOUS!!!! well most of the time anyway. 

my favorite things are the people, the hours and the service, also growing myself. right now i am in Helaman 5, in 6 weeks i have read this far, and for those of you that knew me before my mission can vouch for me, I NEVER READ, i hated reading, and if i started to read i would fall asleep!!!

my least favorite things are that i am not nearly as good as i want to be, or i thing i should be at this point. 

I just got out the trio with E. Raymundo, and E. Veloria, but now i am in a trio again with the ZL's. my favorite companion so far was Elder Francis, we just had so much fun together, my least favorite was Elder Veloria(mainly because he was super trunky.

Right now i am the temporary DL, and i guess in a way a ZL, i do all the things the ZL's do, it is kapoy(tiring/tired)!!! I AM SUPER TIRED, i got super sick this last week, i think possibly pneumonia, or bronchitis... but it is slowly getting better, i also read from ALMA 26 to HELAMAN 1.... kapoy!!!

March 19, 2014

March  11, 2014

Well, i have no clue at all how long i have actually been on my mission, all i know is that i have to make it through today, and then today will be over, and it will be tomorrow.

this week was pretty crazy! remember how last week i got put into a trio, well on Saturday one of them (ELDER RAYMUDO) got ET(ed) or in English he was Emergency Transferred, because of the missionaries going back to the Tacloban Mission! so there were 3 that went back this week and president didn't want to have 4 trios, so that means that i get to kill Elder Veloria myself!!!! yay!!! i have started mission off crazy, i have become a serial killer the past transfer, i will have killed 2 different missionaries in 1 transfer!!!

i also received news about this coming transfer, because i am going to be killing elder veloria, i will be staying here in CONSOLACION 1B, and then i will also be helping the new elders/sisters, open up the 1A. That means that this next week or 2 i need to learn that area. so our area is the entire Lacion 1 ward, which is HUGE!!! just to give an idea of our teaching pool, we have 59 investigators, 55 less actives, 6 recent converts, and we still do finding every day!!! it is so crazy!!!

Saturday and Sunday was the first ever Semi-annual stake conference for the Consolacion Stake. it was super awesome, the stake president talked about "Sister Yolanda" how she is the most amazing Visiting Teacher, Home Teacher, and missionary. Before the typhoon November 8 in Tacloban and surrounding areas, the average attendance for church was between 30-100, but after the typhoon the attendance was upwards of 500-700 everywhere!!

Monday elder Raymundo left to Lilo-an 3. we also had our Zone Training Meeting, it was awesome! we also had Elder Jackson(area doctor/medical consultant) come and talk to us about health, because there is a lot of injuries, sickness, and other stuff!!!

yesterday we had to pay bills or they were going to disconnect us... so we spent about 3 hours standing in lines waiting to pay the bills, if i wasn't 6'1" and WHITE i could have just snuck to the front and payed, but we just had to wait. it was so crazy long. and tedious!!!

um that is about it!!! love you all! hope you are all having so much fun!!! because i know i am! kita kits, gihigugma ta mo!!!

March 19, 2014

Wow!!!!!!! time goes by super fast when you are busy, i don't even have much to write about this week, it just went by so fast!!!

this week on Friday we had a temple tour for our investigators, we had 6 of them come, there were 5 kids, and then the "live in" of their mom. the MOM is a member, also a RM, but the divorce laws here are difficult. we did the tour and walked around the temple then we got to go inside and everyone got to feel the quiet and sublime feeling inside. there is not a quiet place in the Philippines other than inside the temple... so they got to experience that, and it helped them with wanting to be baptized. They flat out told us that they wanted to be baptized, we had been struggling with getting them to want to be baptized, but after this they all said they wanted to be baptized!!!

so on Saturday we had the baptismal interview, and they all passed, but we have to move the baptismal date to April 12, they were supposed to be baptized this week on Saturday, but we need to have a little more commitment and help from the mom...

Sunday we gave them the new goal, and gave things that needed to do in order for baptism on the 12th of April... it was so awesome.

Tuesday we had to teach them about the law of tithing. it was so hard to teach, the language barrier and then i had to teach kids 11, and younger the importance and how to pay tithing!!! it was so crazy hard. then i didn't really get any help from my companion, he was just super quiet!!

well that is all i have to say!!!

March 6, 2014

From February 25th:

well this last week was pretty awesome, except for the whole my companion being SUPER TRUNKY!!! We got very few lessons, and we only went out to work 3 days of the week...

Thursday- i went to the Chung Hua Hospital for an operation on my finger... it was super over done, it was even more drastic than my knee surgery last year... i had to get COMPLETELY NAKED... and put on a hospital gown... then they rolled me back on a bed... this whole time the nurse was hitting on me... while i am naked. when we get back there to the operation table, i get on the table and i lay down, they put heart monitors on me blood pressure as well... remind you this is just a small thing for my pinkie.... they could have just taken a pair of scissors and done it.. they lay my hand out on the rolly table and then spray it down with alcohol so it will be sterile...

the doctor comes over and says not to look, so of course i watch, he stabs my finger with the stuff that makes it numb... and keeps using it because i could feel pretty much everything... he had to stick me with that about 8 times....... because i could still feel the poking!!! so after that he took like an exacto and just cut my finger open!!! it was so crazy... a bunch of blood just drained out and what not... and then he spent the next little while making sure that he got everything!!!! after the "surgery" they wheeled me back, little did i know that we would be there for another 4 hours, and i would have to pay out of pocket for my surgery and another elders ingrown toe.. the total price for just the 2 surgeries was 15,898.25 PESOS, or about $356...

On Friday we went to the mission office to have everything reimbursed, it was about 20,021 pesos, or about $450

On Monday was Elder Francis' last day in 'Lacion so he just wanted to spend as much time in the apartment as possible so we didn't even leave the apartment until about 3:45 when we needed to go to the mission office to have him checked out of the mission... so he could return to the Tacloban Mission.

So i ended up killing him(from the mission not really murder, because that is frowned upon for some reason). so now my new companions are Elder Raymundo, and Elder Veloria. both of them are Filipino, elder Veloria is a native Tagolog speaker, so he is slowly teaching me Tagolog, and then elder Raymundo is a visayan speaker, so we work together super well!!! it is awesome!!!

this week we started out terrible!! we have 2 lessons in 3 days...

UM i guess this is all i have to email about today... any questions???

i also gave one of our investigators a blessing, he just had a major surgery, he has a BD of 3/15/14 but he just needs to come to church, he is super awesome!!!!!! i have had such a crazy week... but now we have an even crazier week ahead!

From March 4th:

I don't know about the rest of you but it doesn't feel like it is march yet... It feels like I am just getting to the Philippines so i guess it feels about November, or maybe December. but i guess it isn't, the calendar never lies... or does it!!!

This last week has been super fast, i don't really remember what happened, oh yeah so last week i got my 2 new companions, so now we are in a trio, it is a little harder to teach with three of us, but it still works out. the hardest part for me is that they rarely speak in English so it is super hard for me to understand what is going on, but slowly i am getting there, i am becoming "BISTAK" or i guess fluent in the language. 

so lets see, this last week was pretty good...

this last week was ZONE INTERVIEWS, so president Tanner, Sister Tanner, and the AP's were in our zone. they each gave a workshop, and president talked about reading the New Testament to learn about Christ. i liked his idea, it is super amazing... 

the AP's taught about the necessity of commitments. commitments are one of the most important things to do at the end of a lesson.

then the ZL's finished their workshop from last time... it was awesome then we had about 1 hour for practice teaching.

then we had lunch... MC-DO!!! it is weird here, they have the same burgers, but instead of fries, most of the time, they give rice with EVERYTHING. don't get me wrong i love rice, it is starting to grow on me!!! haha!!! i am starting to get "tumbok." i am the biggest now that i have ever been, i am almost as big as my older brothers.

after lunch we had a workshop by sister tanner, hers was about EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, and with good reason to. after the typhoon, and earthquake, sister tanner wanted to have us get stuff that we needed to have for emergencies and a plan for emergencies...

On Monday we went on SUPER SPLITS, because there are 3 of us we can do this, we all go a member as a companion, and went and taught a bunch of lessons... it was awesome, i was a little nervous at first because i don't feel adequate at the language, but then i ended up doing super awesome apparently. i taught a bunch of people, and they all said that i am super amazing at the language, because i am from America... (they always like to point that out) but now that i am super tan, they cant make fun of me as much for being "PUTI"-white.

today we are going on a zone activity to discovery hills, (this is the second time...) it is super awesome, but there isn't too much to do there... and today is HOT!!! it is 11:01, on march 5, but it feels like i am back in the old Olympus high first day of school, no air conditioning, super sweaty, nervous, learning a ton, and everything... it is so hot!!!!!!!!!!! 

i believe that is just about everything for the week!!! i am sweating out of everywhere, it is so weird, and the rest of you are probably huddled up with a blanket!!!

February 18, 2014

well this week has been weird, and hard, and fun, and just all around different.

Thursday, we went to the mission office to pick up my new companion and to drop off elder Ewell, then i got to see my junior-junior batch... there is 90% sisters, there were only 2 elders. oh yeah, so my new companion is Elder Francis from Brisbane Australia, about 40 minutes from Australia zoo!!! he got to see and shake hands with Steve Irwin before he died. that is so crazy!!! and then when i first saw him, i thought to myself that i knew him before the mission, i swear i saw him when i was in Australia...

on Saturday we went to Lahug to the chapel for a devotional, we didn't really know who was going to be speaking but when we got there we found out that it was Sister McConkie, and Sister Burton. if you don't know who they are, they are the general relief society president and the general young women's president!!! then Elder Arden, the area presidency.

on our way back from the devotional there was a guy walking across the street, and there was a car that didn't see him, that is about all i want to share... he is alive still though. that was the first and only car accident i have seen while here, the drivers are all super crazy but for some odd reason they never get in any accidents!!!

On Monday we got no lessons because we went to the city to Chong Hua hospital, elder Francis has an ingrown toenail and it is super bad, and then i asked them about this thing on my pinkie, the doctor said that he will need to remove it, so we set a return appointment for tomorrow (Thursday)

on Tuesday we had an AMAZING day planned out, but then no one was home!!! it was about 102'F without the humidity so it was so much hotter with the humidity!!! we spent the entire day walking around, we got 2 lessons out of the 12 that we planned out!!! and then we got a wa'y klaro (not clear) referral from the sisters in Consolacion 2, we spent 2 hours walking around through the bukid looking for her...

WEDNESDAY, well we just got off the phone with President Tanner. Well dang... Lets just put it this way, this is my last week with him, so i gotta make the most of it!!! He goes back to the Tacloban mission on Sunday!!! i am so sad!!! i am going to miss him, i feel like i just really got to know him, now i gotta say goodbye... this week is starting off terrible, and then it will end terrible as well, i lose my companion, and we only have 2 days to work this week... darn:(

But i guess i will look at the positive side of it!!! i am kugihan sa Cebuano language, i am able to teach all the lessons and do small talk with everyone. I talked to several taxi drivers, and got to know them on our 4 hours of riding in taxis this week!

He also said he is doing wonderful. He has gained 30 pounds which made me laugh because I have lost 30 pounds. I told him how much more I wanted to lose and he told me NO because he didn't want to find that much more. hahaha  Kid still cracks me up.

Until next time......

February 11, 2014

WOW THIS WEEK WENT FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So last P-day we went fishing for ISDA (fish), which i guess makes perfect sense!!! That was pretty fun, but it was almost like going catching instead of fishing, we were at a fish pond... it was super sayon(easy) i caught 2 in about 30 seconds. The fish here is actually super good, i don't know if it is just because they are super fresh or if it is just good because i am forced to eat it!!!

On Thursday we went on splits again, i was the leader in our area, in ONE day we were able to get 10 lessons!!!! in one day that is UNREAL!!!! and we got a new IBD, right now in my area there are 8 investigators with a baptismal date!!! that is an unreal number!!! especially since i was in training until now! so we have an EXTRA hour of studies!!!

on Friday we had an OK day, mainly because i had just gone and taught the entire teaching pool the day before!!! we got a few new investigators. we were in a lesson with a Pentecostal, and Elder Ewell decided that because he knew about the Bible, because he just finished the New Testament that he could bible "debate" but he started to bible bash the man.... lets just say the Pentecostal knew A LOT more than Elder Ewell... he was super angry, he kept arguing how the Bible is the only word of God and that it was "PERFECT". i decided to bring up 2Ne29:8-10, about the bible being the only word of god... he was really quite after that... he just didn't want to say anything more, because i had disproved him. i gave him the 17 points to the true church card as well, hopefully that works for the benefit of us and doesn't hurt, their doctrine was perfect except for the lack of the Priesthood and then the prayer... and he was super humble and had faith. he was really awesome after we got over the bible bash!!!

Sunday was pretty awesome!!! we had 6 investigators attend church!!!! that is a new high, and then they are able to keep their IBD!!!! and we finished the week with a total of 26 lessons!!!!

mOnDaY was CRAZY!!! we only got one lesson, we had Zone Training meeting until 2, and then transfer calls, then lunch, and because i am DL's companion we had to go and check apartments, so we didnt start work until about 5... then we had an FHE about a 20 minute motor cycle ride away from our area. wow!!! crazy!!! oh yeah so about transfer calls, i am staying here in Consolacion, but Elder Ewell is transferring to Bohol, he will be the ZL for the Tagbilaran Zone. That is crazy!!! my new companion for at least a few weeks is Elder Francis, he is from the Tacloban Mission, and by the end of this next transfer they want all the missionaries back in Tacloban!!! so i dont know how long i will have him for!!! he is from Brisbane Australia!!! so i was there a couple of years ago!!! so it is a small world, hopefully i will be able to pick up an Australian accent in just a few weeks!!!

Today!!!! we got to go to the TEMPLE again!!!! yeah!!! 3 times at the temple in 3 months... wow three months already!!! time flies by so fast.... especially when having loads of fun and doing work... there is no time to do anything else, but the time is super fast!!!

-Elder POGI-Larson

February 5, 2014

The last 2 weeks of e-mails. Sorry behind yet again

sigi, kini mao ang pinaka lisod semana para sa amo, pero sa pinaka makalilisanggihapon. naa mi daghan mga appointments uban sa mga investigator. kami sa 25 mga leskyon. unta karon semana sa pinaka maayo, na mi 29 mga leskyon giplano. kon dili nasabtan kini, paggamit sa GOOGLE paghubad.

so this week the overcast or system of low pressure finally moved over! finally after 17 days of no sun, and waking up to clouds and super "cold".  the reason i say super cold is because it is always HOT here, so when it is about 68 degrees no one likes it. everyone was wearing like thick winter jackets!!! it was super funny, they were asking Elder Ewell and i if we were cold, of course we weren't. we tried to explain that this was still hot compared to the states right now!!!

So this week i guess we had some funny moments, we were walking, (mainly cause it makes great homecoming talk subjects and what not) and i was holding a leaf, i saw a dog just following us because i guess it thought we had food for it... and i tossed the leaf at it, it hit the dog (mind you this is a leaf) the dog started whining and running away yelping like i just shot it with a gun!!! it was so crazy!!!

last week we had some pretty cool teaching opportunities, we have an investigator that has some physical issues, he is about 15 years old, we had to teach him how to pray... it was almost like teaching a 4 year old, i taught him by example, so i would say something and then he would repeat it. it was so awesome, i now know what my parents felt like when teaching me and my siblings how to pray...

last Friday we had a SUPER DUPER busy day!!! we had a total of 12 lessons planned out for the day, and we defiantly had the potential to get all of them... but we ended up only getting 6 of the 12 we wanted. which, don't get me wrong, is an amazing amount of lessons to get in one day.

Saturday we had probably the worst lesson so far!!! we were teaching a bunch of kids Nika, Kate, Russel, and their 2 cousins, all under the age of 11... they didn't pay attention to what we were talking about, and were super distracted, there was no way we could feel the spirit, and it was like 10 minutes. they didn't show respect to their grandpa... it was just super hard all the way around...

but yesterday we went back and their mom was there (she is an RM very LA) we had about a 2 hour(very long i know) conversation with all of them on why they think that we come over, and just about our purpose, hopefully they start acting more their ages, and acting for themselves and stop relying on us so much. they have been receiving the missionary lessons for the last 1 year and about 3 months...

so in the MTC the teachers were saying that the people here are super kind, and that they are super honest... Sister Powell also said that if you are bigger than a Filipino that they would call you FAT, or TAMBOK, i didn't believe them until this week, when i almost went through the floor of a house... it was so crazy. so the floors are made out of bamboo sheets just across some 2X4's, i happened to step right in between the 2X4's and my foot went in!!!

oh yeah, so there were a couple of other dogs fighting and i threw a rock purposely trying to miss them. then they started to run, i picked up another rock and just tossed it up and random, one of them ran under it. and from about 50+ yards away you could just hear it yelp. it was so crazy, i didn't think i could even hit them. i wasn't trying... (ASHLEE don't judge me)!!!

I think that is about all for the weekly Email...

If any of you have any questions or comments just ask them.... it is hard trying to write without stuff to write about, or to answer any questions...

This week....

well i have no clue what week it truly is, it all just feels like one super big day! with of course short naps in between!

this week we had another RM in the ward where i am serving, he is OVER KUGI, or OVER DILIGENT!!! he is the son of one of the less active members that we are teaching, day 1 of him being home, he saw his brother for the first time in 2 years and started to chastise him for not reading his scriptures. he is just not fun for anyone to be around...

on Thursday we had the R.M. kuyog with us or i guess accompany us to the lessons. we went to a recent convert... he didn't say anything until the end and then at the end he just started saying what the sister was doing wrong and what she needed to do to be better, but it was NOT in a loving way, oh yeah, and he wasn't nice about it at all... i refuse to take him anymore with us... he is just not helpful to us!!! we took him home and then went to another lesson, this was our last lesson for the day i extended baptismal commitment to them and they finally said yes!!! the 11, 9, and 8 year old... they are super hard to teach, and they have flat out refused the commitment before, so we are slowly making progress...

on Friday we had a community service project (CSP) we went and used our sundangs (machetes) to help cut down trees and make a path! we were there for about 4 hours, we did the CSP for 3 and then went in and had a snack, ate some pan(bread) and binignit, i am not sure what it is, it was like hot chocolate stuff, not my favorite.. so after the CSP we had to walk home because it was raining really hard, it was about an hour long walk because of where we were at and where we had to go! once we finally got home Elder Ewell was feeling sick, so i had him check his Temperature, because i am just the boss man... he had a fever of 102.2, so yeah that isn't good as a missionary... we didn't have any water so we went to get some and then we just went back home... Later in the evening there was a lot of wind, we had been hearing rumors of a typhoon coming, but we had heard about those a lot! but there was a typhoon on Friday night, it was only a 2 so it wasn't too bad, but now i can say i went through a typhoon!!

Saturday was weird, nothing felt right for the entire day! we went to a baptism... of course Elder Ewell was feeling better, we were the only two people at the baptism other than the person being baptized and the sister missionaries.... after the baptism the sisters wanted us to go to their area really quick to give an investigator that has cancer a priesthood blessing... it was super awesome, i was so nervous about it...

Sunday was another weird/off day! we found a super elect person after being punted 2 times... and then at church we have a member that makes customized jewelry, he is making a "CEBU EAST MISSION" ring for me, it is solid silver and then a CTR/PAM ring for 1000 pesos or 1500 for both!!! and then i will probably get a few more things too! it is so crazy what you can get here for just a little bit of money.

on Monday we had 3 different kuyogs, they had no knowledge of what we were doing, they just made teaching so much harder... it feels like we just cut some ropes to the bridges that we have been building with the members, and investigators... and then i had to do all of the teaching because elder ewell couldn't speak... laryngitis... and then the kuyogs we had chastised me because i am not perfect at the language... they were just super terrible i don't like having kuyogs any more!!!!

yesterday we had a sick day, couldn't really do much and i hated it because we couldn't do anything!!!