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

April 29, 2014

This week was pretty interesting, so as everyone knows, last week was my first baptism, and this week was their first week as members. We went and visited them because we had no one else to visit. We had planned on visiting them like the next day, but then we just kinda went there.

while there the youngest one is super happy, because... "Now that we are members we don't have to do that reading thing anymore." well lets just say that talk went pretty well with them, we spent about the next 30 minutes telling them about the importance of ENDURE TO THE END... it was pretty good, we then made sure that they were going to be coming to church, and then the next day they didn't come to church... man, some of the false traditions are super hard to get out of the people....

This last week we also had a CRAZY CSP(community service project) we went up to the bukid(wilderness/forest/mountain) to cut down some trees to make charcoal to cook with, we had to climb about 400+ yards at about a 75` angle, so basically we were rock climbing without ropes to get to the top. The sisters took forever to get to the top, and this CSP was almost pushing the boundaries between being safe, and not. The best part about this is.. i am the only one who brought some machetes... it is a good thing that i went to the public market and bought 3 of them before we left. so as of right now i have 8 machetes. They are super cheep which is super good, and i may have to leave some of them in this area so i have room for the more important stuff.

This week is going to be the last one i have with Elder Durham... it is going to be super fun, and this week i should be transferring.... i have no clue where to yet, but people have been saying Bogo, and others have said Bohol. either way i know i will be going where i need to be, where i can do the most effective work, and help the most people.

This week i also started to get a little sick, i hope it doesn't get too bad, cause that will not be very good, especially if i transfer.

-Elder POGI-Larson

April 22, 2014

well, happy Easter everyone!!!! i don't remember how we celebrated Easter, but i don't think that it was quite like it is in the Philippines... I cant really tell you what really happened here, but if you would like to find out go right on ahead and do some research... "HOLY WEEK IN THE PHILIPPINES," you may find some stuff that could, and should SHOCK THE HECK OUT OF YOU!!!

this week was really super awesome... (notice the emphasis) this week was my first BAPTISM!!! yay!!! We have been waiting for this one for about 3 months... which is about 2 transfers ago... i am super glad that i had the opportunity to see this one through until they were baptized. I was the baptizer of course, Nicka, Kate, and Russell... it was so crazy, i almost had to drown Kate, and Nicka because their hair kept floating to the surface!!! so we had to redo them once more each... After the actual baptism we got to confirm them as well, it was so cool. Elder Durham got to confirm Russell, and we both were in the circle for the confirmations!

so i don't know if anyone knows about the "DIRTY ICE-CREAM" but if any of you decide to come to the Philippines to get some ice cream, make sure you DO NOT get it from the ice cream vendors that ride either a bike down the road, or a motor cycle... it is not the most healthy... and you could possibly get super sick from it... (like dead)... dead is not a good sickness diba?

well this week was a good one, it is crazy how just by being EXACTLY obedient we recieve more blessings, and we receive guidance, and super amazing investigators. OBEDIENCE IS KEY TO HAVE SUCCESS!!! it really works!!!!!! sigi amping mo, wala ko og lain sa makaistoria... gihigugma ta mo!!!! 

April 16, 2014 again

oh yeah... I almost forgot!!!! this last weekend we had our General Conference!!!! it was so awesome!!! I hope you all remember the talks from it!!!!

on saturday we watched 6 straight hours, and on sunday we watched 4 straight hours... in the Philippines they dont like to mess around, they went 6 hour CONFERENCE marathon!!!!!!!!! UNREAL!!!!! there was nothing like getting punched in the face with doctrine and gospel for 6 hours straight without any time to even stand and stretch!!!!

April 16, 2014

this week was super nindot kaayo! it has also been super difficult, the best part about it is that i don't ever remember all the struggles and difficulties. This week we had a TON of tracting, finding, and searching(go figure, right???).... we have been doing a ton of that the last while, our teaching pool started at about 6 people 3 weeks ago and now we are about to 24.

we found a 7 year old, gave him a articles of faith card, we asked if we could come and visit with his family. he said that we definitely could. so of course we went and visited them, they started off when we got there saying "GINOO MAN GIHAPON," that is probably the worst thing to hear when you are a missionary... they kept saying that until we started teaching, and bearing testimony, then they just kinda got quiet... they then decided that what we were teaching something pretty cool, and that they hadn't heard anything like it. we got a good follow up lesson with them as well.

we had another pretty cool lesson, it was later in the evening, about 7 pm. we were on our way to another teaching appointment, and elder Durham and I walked by a little place on the side of the road where they have a barbecue, and then about 10 seconds later we looked at each other, and both said, "Lets go back to them." it turns out they have been "searching for the true church" they have tried basically every other church... and they had just started to give up hope!!! well lets just say, we were led to them, just at that exact time.

well today we went to the TEMPLE, that makes it 6 times now going to the CEBU TEMPLE, i was super lucky to be put where i was for my first area!!!! i am so happy that i got to go... i don't know if you all know, or if you have seen it, but there is a BRAND NEW, newer than the last one 6 months ago, temple video!!! all i can say really about it is... I CANNOT FALL ASLEEP DURING IT, THE OLD ONE I COULD, BUT I CANNOT!!!! IT IS SO AMAZING!!!!

well i just want to do a couple of shout outs!!!

1-ELDER LARSON THE OLDER: MAAYO MAN!!! I am so glad you got a glimpse of the heat that i have spent the last 6 months in without getting a break!!!!! also nindot ang imong WEEKLY LETTER!!!!

2-THE SANDY 2nd WARD: THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEO!!! That was pretty cool!!! i wasn't expecting anything like that!!!

3-FOR MY PARENTS (Janel, Rachel, and Harvey): KAMO *y'all ARE SO AMAZING!!!! i love you all!!! i dont know what i would be without all the time and effort you put into me!!

 !