Transfer to Guimba

Okay, so yeah, i have 2 companions! and i am not counting the Holy Ghost! hahaha yeah i am back to the Threesome again! we are all co-seniors and Elder Wihongi-Ritchie is a Maori (from New Zealand, of course) and he is our District leader and the other is Elder Castro. Yeah, um, they are awesome missionaries and i have enjoyed this transfer. my area is a small unorganized branch. the area is Guimba. Elder Latu [Elder Grow's companion at the MTC] is in the same zone but in the other district. the area is HUGE, but our working area [although] big is smaller, wayyyy smaller than Jaen! ...so everything is going good here, just trying to adjust to the new people and accents... and oh, this is an ilokano [dialect] area, but everyone knows tagalog also. so, yeah, new dialect and all. Well, that's about it for the new area. i will get a picture next week of me and my Companions!

oh, our house is HUGE! ...the only down side is our house is always really reallllllly hot!

english is getting harder... [my Tagalog] is fine but it should be really good after this transfer cause i don't get to speak english ...I haven't spoken english in like 2 weeks!!!! mainly cause Elder Wihongi-Ritchie speaks Maori and his english is just as bad as the Filipino's and Elder Castro doesn't speak english but knows words, so yeah it [english] is pointless

oh, I have been reading "Teaching, No Greater Call"... wow i fell in love with it. if you haven't been reading it lately, READ it. read Finding Lessons Everywhere [correct title: "Looking for Lessons Everywhere" in Part A, article 10, page 22] the story about the Garden was great! it has REALLLY improved my teaching and i teach complete with the Spirit. i don't even think of what to say, i just kinda go blank and words tumble from my mouth and its reallllllly an amazing experience.

...I learned from the story [L. Tom Perry General Conference April 3, 2010, Saturday Afternoon "Mothers Teaching Children In The World"] about the Apostle's mom who prepared HUGE LESSONS for Relief Society but would shorten them up for her class. but the things that she left out of her lesson, she taught parts of them to him. And after she passed away, many many many years later he was going through alll her notes and remembered the lessons and STILL learned from them. So yes, if you don't prepare your lessons thoughtfully then your lesson won't have any thought behind it.. it will just be another boring old lesson from the manual.

6 Months! and Pics

Well its been Six months! 4 Months here in the Philippines! Wow time has gone by fast! I am also being transferred to a New Area although we figured this and many Members have been very sad about it but its what the Lord has chosen and you just kinda have to go with it! =P hahaha well all is well here in Jaen and i hope that things continue to Progress while i am gone. We have found a lot of potential investigators and i really hope that they will truly listen to the message and come unto Christ's Fold. I have been doing the whole Bible study thing and yes its hard but I truly do love the Parable of the Sheep especially the 99 and 1 Parable. Its one of my favorites because of Jaen. There are so many inactive that need to come back before they become Spiritually Dead and continue to fall away. Also the Parable of the Two Sons and the one that left and Sinned but came back and the Father Greeted him with open arms and gave him the Fattest of all the (Goats?) and the obedient son was so mad at his Father for doing this. The Father just said because you have been obedient your reward is far greater! But because your brother who was lost has returned it's a time of Celebration! Now let us be happy! and in comparison of the 99 and 1 it says when you find that lost Sheep how great is the joy of finding that one that you put it on your shoulders and carry it back and tell your neighbors, “I have found the one!” If we take these parables and apply them to the ones who are lost in our wards and loved ones, and use the teachings of Jesus about Let your Light Shine from 3 Nephi 12:14-16 and 3 Nephi 18:24, and we do our best to help them see that Light that We have, and guide them out of the Darkness back into Christ's Fold, oh how great will that day be! But not for us, but for them-- for they have been lost and have been found and returned! This is the thing i have learned from Jaen: that we need to do our part to be that Example of Christ and Find those Lost Ones and not by forcing and chastising them, but by Being an Example unto them and greet them with open hands and kindness. This is how Jesus taught and that is how we should act. Once again i am sorry for the Preaching but this is what i do and what i teach to the members. I love everyone of you and challenge you to find and hearken unto your lost sheep or the other sheep that know not. Through your Examples and kindness to them. they will want what you have, and you will be the one that has opened or reopened their hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for all your love and support!

FHE with the Flaminanos
Question: What game did you play at the Flaminanos' house? Looks like you were not very good at it!
Handa Kilos. THEY GANGED UP ON ME! It was not fair!!
You will have to explain the game some day!
Handa Kilos means: Ready.... Action! but yeah, its not a game you can explain, you have to show

[Today, April 19] its my last FHE here in Jaen! its going to be a good one!
By the way its reallllly hot here!

Life on the mission

Comments on General Conference:

...the members don’t like [ to watch conference in] Tagalog because they can’t feel the Spirit from the translators, so they had it in English and Tagalog in the RS Room. Yeah it was about the Best Conference I have seen, very powerful. Loved Elder Holland’s talk mainly cause he can be so bold and firm in his Speaking and yet say jokes.

Regarding Food:

...i buy a lot of random food from these things called Tindahans which are like windows [through which] people sell food from their houses. so i buy things and then i am like ew... this is not good... then some kids are walking by and speak really bad english and i just tell them to come here and give them the nasty food.. hahahah i give a lot of food away! hahaha

About discouragement:

around here you kinda need to feel depressed and discouraged but if you let it destroy you then you lose, but if you let it strengthen you then you become stronger and better. So trust me i never have wanted to go home but i have wanted to go to a new area which i should be doing next week even thought i will miss this area i just want to see what the next challenges are.

Is Elder Grow’s Tagalog improving?

yes my companion says i am and i talk to our Nanay if she is washing our clothes outside and we are home i go out and talk to her so yeah i can function here

Hard Week

Question: Do you get to see conference or do you have to wait for the Ensign?

i get to see it this saturday and sunday most likely in tagalog so that will be interesting They do this amazing thing called translators... thats why its a week late... =P then i will get the ensign next month

Well I have been feeling tired, worn out from the 30 minute walk to one appointment then the 40 minute walk to the next. Also i walk through a Corn Field that is rather random never thought i would have to do that. Anyways so I have been feeling a little discouraged lately and having troubles. I have just felt very depressed, because we have great investigators but the lessons haven’t seemed to help get that spark going. I just keep trying to think of something to share, a personal experience or something to help them feel that strong Spirit, but I just fall short I guess. It’s been very hard and I was having a lot of troubles towards the end of the week and just prayed and fasted that Sunday for strength and for my investigators to feel the Spirit to understand that feeling. It came on that Sunday night we weren’t having any real good success but we went to an old investigator and wanted to share the Finding Faith in Christ DVD, but their DVD player just broke recently. So we decided to share. I couldn’t think of anything to share and just looked up at her and in that moment some of my personal study had come back to me. I had been studying all the events in the Bible of the Atonement and Luke 22:40-46 my favorite passage about the Garden of Gethsemane and so I shared about it. I shared my thoughts about how at times when I think of my life being so hard and difficult and want to just give up, that I need to think of this moment when Jesus Christ asked Heavenly Father if there was another way please do it, if not then I will do it. The Spirit came so strong at that moment and tears just filled her eyes and she started to share about her personal experience and how she has felt that the Spirit of God keeps knocking on her door but she just is not answering. I shared with her about Jesus Christ and how so many people did not accept him for who he really was but he always kept accepting them. I told her God will not give up on you and you will finally answer that door. That was just what I needed, it really brought my Spirits back up. I realized that Heavenly Father is answering my prayers, that He is giving me that support I ask for, I just need to do a better job at looking for His support. I have also lessened my disliking of the Bible and started to study it more now. I take one of the Events of Jesus Christ's Ministry and Read all the Accounts of it and gain a big picture of it. it has been a good experience and a confusing one as well.. i tried this whole reading Joseph Smith Translation but i dont understand that... i will just go back to the reading the Bible Dictionary when i am finished! hahahaha anyways love ya all hope that you are staying alive out there! I wonder what Coldness feels like cause its only like 75 here at night and that feels cold but its not really. hahaha