Restless Week

This week has been rather a restless week! I am not sure if I was just having a hard time getting a good nights rest this week because of maybe a sickness or if just thinking A LOT about concerns and situations of our investigators and our area. Trying to find investigators is just not working for us. We can’t get return appointments or we have conflicting schedules that we can not make it to their houses. There were two very uplifting things: The Domingo family came to Church on Sunday even though they might not be baptized anytime soon because of their situation they are specifically in right now. They have committed to continue to come to Church and wait until they can be baptized. Also Nanay Lydia actually committed to a Specific Date for baptism! So we are very excited about that and as she will continue reading, praying and going to Church, she will for sure be ready to make that special Covenant to Heaven Father through Baptism. I read in Mosiah Chapter 18 which I shared with Nanay about a part of the Covenant we make with Heavenly Father when we are Baptized, which talked a lot about becoming one people (or a Zion people). I used the same question Alma asked to the people to Nanay and she shared how she would love those blessings and Covenant to God. We talked a little more and Extended a Date to her. She was a little hesitant because she was worried about not being Worthy and we talked about how all you need is a desire to want to change then afterwards make that change. We talked about a new life as being part of Christ’s Sheep and how after baptism you will receive that new life to start over. She finally agreed that Jan. 15 will be her date. We told her to pray about this date and if it feels right then that is your answer and that this is your time to Prepare. She was very happy after we ended our lesson with her which was great to see. On Sunday I felt just a huge weight upon my shoulders not really sure why maybe exhaustion or maybe just the weight of the missionary work on my shoulders. Later I was asked to share a lesson in Gospel Essentials. I liked the talk that was given earlier about Talents and based our lesson about Talents, Weaknesses, and Blessings. We talked about how we all have talents, God Given Talents, which we should use in our lives; we also have weaknesses in our lives. We talked about how our Weaknesses can strengthen our Talents or how we can make our Weaknesses turn into a talent and making it a Strength and Grow from them. I asked a question to the Class about Weaknesses, “Weaknesses… If God gives us Weaknesses, are they a Trial or a Blessing?” The Class had a split decision between the two. We came to that decision that after we overcome the trial of our weaknesses we receive blessings from the Lord. We talked about how our Faith will grow and we will increase in eternal progression. We came back to Talents for our close about how we should always share and use our talents because they will be strengthen and become better and help others as well. That is the purpose of why the Lord has given them to us. Every missionary has talents that have appeared here in the mission that they might not have known they had. They should not bury their talents, or hide them and not share them. I know that I have seen talents appear since I have been out here and how I can use them afterwards and I am grateful for that. I do not want to lose them or hide them that is for sure! Anyways I love this work even when it just gets tough and tiring, but nothing like asking the Lord for help and receiving that Comfort! Anyways love it here for the most part! hahahaha oh I ate DOG adobo style... IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! I have heard that Cat Adobo is apparently way better! soooo Duck (Check), Balot (Check), Frog (Check), Dog (Check), Snake ( ), Rat ( ), Cat ( ), Bat ( ) not sure if i am wanting to eat bat yet... anyways Love ya all

No Complaints

my day is good... no complaints! had an awesome district meeting in the morning lots of laughs and improvement in our teachings. Went to the mall.. ate good food filippino bbq...

OYM - Open Your Mouth

Well this week we enjoyed the work. We have seen how much control Satan can have over people that are so close to finding their answers. Our investigators are struggling with coming to church but understand the importance and have even followed the words of Moroni “… Doubt not, but be believing…” They started to realize how these things they have been learning and studying are true but the feeling of how it all cannot be true. Each investigator believes that the Book of Mormon is true, and with the explanation that if they know that the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith and the Church have to be true hands down. They understand this and then when they get so close to making big commitments Satan comes and just tempts them with things that seem so small and insignificant and they end up becoming further and further away from their answers. This is hard and tiring because we don’t have much control over this and we constantly encourage them to come back to the right path. I have gone back recently and studied Lehi’s Dream and just looked at that Dream as if you were a missionary. You would be Lehi and everyone around you would be your investigator, you have partaken of this fruit (which would be the Church or Baptism) and you are waiting for the others to come as you beckon for them. There are those who have partaken and felt embarrassed from those laughing and pointing from the building and fall away. They become lost in that dark mist and end up worse then before. As missionaries we stand tall holding our light for those to come and partake or return to that warmth and comfort that was felt when you partook of the fruit. I also had a new insight or a testifying moment in the mission work about being in the right place at the right time. I testify right now that as missionaries you are PUT or PLACED not just in your area but in brief moments, to OPEN YOUR MOUTH. We had a horrible afternoon the area we worked in had a party going on so no one was home. So we went to our back up area to re-contact some OYM’s we had. No one was home as well so we circled about and stopped a at recent converts cell phone load booth thing to check up on how things are going. Her “boss” is a very nice lady but kind of quiet. Elder Gregorio pointed out the Book of Mormon that was on the desk and asked “Have you been reading it?” She replied “No, well sometimes, just a little here and there.” We asked a series of simple follow up question which lead to her asking a lot of perfect questions about the Book of Mormon. We then had a great opportunity to share about the Book of Mormon to her. She like immediately understood that this is not a new Bible, that these were Prophets called to teach the gospel and write down the things that are happening in their lives. We introduced to her The Restoration briefly so that we can come back and talk more about it with her. We then immediately met this Nanay who was looking for lotto numbers and had an immediate contact and shared briefly about what we do as missionaries and explained the pamphlet to her. She agreed to a return appointment and just seemed really happy to have met us. As missionaries when you get depressed when basically all of your appointments fall through and you tend not to open your mouth because you are just so depressed, but this is the time to just find new people even if they are not interested right now about the message because you did your part by inviting them, they need to choose to accept. As long as we do our best our garments are clean, don’t miss good opportunities to Share the Gospel! So guess what the next time you are randomly somewhere or doing something just think how can i share something about the Gospel to someone and invite them to "come to church, read the book of mormon (that you just gave them, hahaha) or pray to know that what you shared is true" Just think about how many missed opportunities you have had in your life. Anyways last Christmas in the fillipines! Enjoying it while i can! Love ya all!

Tatay

Elder Grow is tired! hahahaha so here in Victoria the work is kind of leveling off but this is the normal occurrence in Victoria. We went out finding and met two new people. one is 81 which i still do not believe because his mind is way Sharp and witty and he doesnt look like the normal 81 year old filippino who looks like he is like one week from dying! so he said okay to being taught BRIEFLY but he ended up Talking WAY too much and what we taught was brief because he interrupted every 2 minutes. then we closed the lesson and me and Elder Landingin (the Assistant to the President) knelt down and Tatay just kept talking away! So we asked him like 4 times if he would kneel and pray with us.. he just continued and me and elder landingin just waited and tried not to laugh. Mainly because we were late to meet with our companions. Anyways Work is going good. we had received great comments from the Assistants to the President about our work and how our Recent converts and investigators really trust us and they would like to know our secret. We had no answer for them, we just rock and gain peoples trust.

I made this graham cracker freezer cake that is delicious and i make french toast a lot! And as much as missionaries complain about their houses being horribly gross i laugh because I have seen and been in houses that one.. smelled worst then any house here and two... That were horribly disgusting then any house i have been in here! Some houses [here] do not have a floor.. it is Dirt... and Yet that is more clean then some of the houses me and dad have been in! So i am a very happy missionary whether or not my roof leaks or i do not have a Shower Head! hahahaha But cold showers are something i could do with out! and just to make people laugh... The bucket of water is way cleaner then using Toilet paper! You will be converted if you use it! hahahahaha well thats whats going on with the mission life of Elder Grow and last remark here... "Do not let the little moments pass you by in the mission because you will regret the things you had a chance to do but chose not to! Love the mission love the life, get the work done!" Love ya all and thanks for the Support!

Dancing??!!

so we had a baptism on saturday! that was nice.. very unorganized but he got dunked... TWICE hahaha he had a toe pop up out of the water so we had to re-do it. no, i did not do the baptizing...

What will Elder Grow be doing this Thursday (Thanksgiving)?

"will be having a District leader meeting then practicing a presentation for our christmas conference!

elder nicholes has been assigned to come up with something... it could be a skit.. it could be dancing.... it could be singing...

the dancing is always horrible and not very funny... mainly because there are people who try..."

8 Days A Week

nope, no transfers... we will be doing 6 more weeks here! thats the news

i saw the manual (new Church Handbook) and looked at it. the opening and closing prayer for sacrament was a new thing i did not know. Married couples should not give both prayers. i thought that was interesting

We have a baptism on saturday which i get to attend because i am still here! hahaha Too bad everyone thinks i am transferred! it will be fun to see their reactions that now i am not!

This church is true whether there is or isnt reverence in sacrament meeting! hahahaha we had a primary presentation in our ward and we had an investigator who really is scared to come to church but he ended up coming and even tho the children are not so focused it was good. but the members were so irreverent during it all [that] our investigator did not get the experience he was looking for, but it was okay. we followed up with him and explained in more detail the purpose of primary presentations. so yeah he was okay i guess.. i just hope he will come next week!

[I still have a] hole in the shoe and i'm tired cause we had 8 days of no pday! that is a long week!!!

anyways i am leaving now

bye love ya

A Long Week Ahead

"i just want this next long week over with to know if i am getting transferred or not! its really going to be a long week over here this new schedule is soooooooo not cool for out 6th week in the transfer. i want to know if i am training... or becoming a zone leader or am i going to be a district leader still but in a new area or am i not getting transferred.... that is the usual thoughts that come when we are close to transfers... and especially this one cause we will only have one night to pack."

"its hot! its very hot! hahahaha weather is very weird here"

"yeah i am just not feeling like i want to write... but i do want to say i found A&W cream soda and hickory smoked bbq sauce and i will be cooking pulled pork sandwiches and will be happy! yeah so i am very anxious about that!"

"One of our investigators Angie has not been very active in our lessons and seems to want to stop listening. I feel one of the issues is that she is very shy about being asked questions during lessons. She often thinks that her answers are wrong even though we stress to her that what she says can in no possible way be wrong. When questions are asked she often just freezes up and we wait for her to answer and she will give a good almost correct response. We had a lesson that she was almost like not wanting to even be there. I felt that we needed to address this issue and talk about why we ask questions. She understood and I hope that she understands more and will want to answer questions more next time. Sherwin on the other hand is like way amazing and studies a lot. He is very active in seminary and he asks very good questions about what he would like to understand. He is scheduled to have a baptism on November 20. We also have two other people that we haven’t been able to teach but they came to church which was shocking, Mark and Kevin. Mark is an older brother to our recent converts and Kevin is the older brother of Sherwin. They both want to know why their siblings are so interested in all of this. Mark was once interested but stopped. Things in Victoria are still going strong although one of those lulls in the work is what it feels like, but to me it just means to step up and work more.

Elder Gregorio and I are doing well. Teaching is about the same. I do notice sometimes he will change certain parts in a lesson and won’t just repeat the same things over and over again. I had one lesson where I just felt I needed to be bold with a few of our not progressing investigators. I stressed at the end of the lesson on the plan of salvation that if they want to return to live with our heavenly father again they need to be baptized and find out for themselves if this is the true church. We gave a baptismal goal date to them and invited them to church and I felt that if they would come they would feel closer to the Lord and be able to receive their answers. I promised them this if they would just take the first step. They sadly did not come to church on Sunday. I know that I am at least doing my part and sharing with them what they need to do to know if this is the true church and they need to do their part.

Well I love my mission even with the ups and downs!"

PHOTOS!

"Me and Elder Latu posing as we wait for someone to open the gate to the church"
Sep 5, 201"Simbahan natin.... wow i just wrote tagalog... Thats our Church"
Sep 5, 2010"Posing for the camera"
September 17, 2010"Coming back from zone activity"
Sep 20, 2010"This is Deo. He was in a Seminary for 3 years to be a priest... NOT ANYMORE! hahaha he got baptized... sometimes he preaches when he is asked to share his testimony"
Sep 25, 2010"I caught a baby goat"
Sep 26, 2010"remember Deo yeah well he still had his seminarian outfit... we asked to borrow it... hahaha"
Oct 16, 2010"evil monkey! Actually not so evil.. i gave it a banana once.. i do not trust him tho!"
Oct 22, 2010"This dog hates me.... Sometimes... not sure why but now i can at least pet him and he licks my hand."
Oct 22, 2010This is J-Mark (his real name is Hazell) he just got baptized on saturday. also my new companion elder gregorio. (More Bars) (I believe the brownings will laugh at the more bars joke)"
October 30 2010

The Victoria Ward

Well this week is great, boy do I just love Victoria! We get these new investigators that just kind of pop up out of nowhere, especially when we are struggling at finding a solid investigator. We have two new investigators, Sherwin and Angie. Sherwin is a cousin to our recent convert and Angie is a friend to them. We had just started to teach their nephew who is a part member family and we had made an agreement with him to come to church 4 times consecutively before we start to teach him. He had come 4 times in a row and asked us to teach him. His name is John Palolo, he is 9 years old and really wants to be baptized. We had taught him the first lesson one day and then Sherwin had come to church. They suggested that we teach him with John. After we taught to them they invited their friend Angie to come and listen. Angie did not really want to come. she was very hesitant during the lesson, but she was taking those first steps into new territory. Angie did not come to church this last Sunday, but when we asked her why she said she was sick. She did however read, she actually read a lot! So we were very proud that she did take the time to read. Teaching to them is a little chaotic at times but the whole time they are trying their hardest to focus and be active in the lessons. but towards the end of lessons after disturbances have ceased, right there at the end, everything just calms down and we get to review shortly, testify, ask follow up questions about the lesson and give commitments to them. We have also found one family where their daughter is the only member in the church and her mother really wants to be a member but her husband just never received his answer, when the missionaries had taught him before. He had read the Book of Mormon, all of it as he says, and prayed and waited for that feeling that this is all true. He had said that he believes in all of the things we say and he has read and I explained that we can’t receive answers for things that we already know. We definitely saw something kind of click with him then. We gave them a baptismal goal date and encouraged them to prepare themselves to come to church on Sunday. There was no hesitation in their commitment to do so. We have definitely seen the Lord’s hand in the work especially when we were down and struggling. We also will have a Baptism on the 29th of October at 3:30pm for J-Mark, which will be very exciting. he is ready for his baptism! Yeah so our work here in Victoria is awesome no complaints really! Elder Grow doing some Harvesting!

Regarding Typhoon Juan, October 18:

surprisingly the weather people are very accurate here they know like the hours of the storm! they were like 6pm we will have a storm and sure enough like 620 we had a storm! it wasnt anything horrible it was just like a bad rain storm back at home, nothing scary. The normal path we take was flooded tho and what i thought was shallow... happened to be very deep. so yeah i used the boots which was a HORRIBLE IDEA so i had water in my shoes for a good while! hahahaha but other than that it was weeak! and i forgot to close some windows and our desks got wet but they dried off in like 3 hours so nothing was damaged. seriously i was disappointed. i expected some fallen down trees or something like back at home... but no..

October 18 2010

sooo last week me and my batch (that means those who are going home or came to the mission at the same time) were talking about the date when we will come home because we received a card signed by President Monson with the date we will be finished with our mission. we looked at the calender and discovered our transfer date will be the week of Oct 19th 2011. so yeah we will all get an extra week in the mission! hahaha yeah that was the cool fact we found out. we will probably leave like on the 18th.Elder Latu should get home in tonga on the 19th but for me i will arrive on the same day again, the morning of the 18th.

nope never got a chance to see conference! but thats okay... Yesterday i found a monkey at a house we were oym'ing and i thought it was a cat in a tree but then i was like hey a monkey! well more like... TiSH! (its a noise you make here to get people's attention) UNGOY! Its pretty rare to see a monkey here so we were all amazed by it... but i know that kind of monkey and its a horrible nasty type... Deo (he is the one that gets scared easily) is from manila so he is a city boy and was like where? he should wear glasses all the time but chooses not to. so he was walking really close to it and then i was like wait, stop. then the monkey started to freak out ( it is on a small chain) and started to bite its hand and jump up and down... i instructed Deo to walk away from the monkey cause he might start flinging poop at him... although i would have fully and completely enjoyed that... but i did not have my camera so it would have not been so great.... next time! hahahaha yeah that was a sweet day yesterday we have a good contact and found a monkey! he is rather big too! But i know its like an EVIL monkey!

Yeah so we should be having a baptism again on oct 29 so that is good. We are out finding [investigators] and we have received some new referrals. and some people [who know our] investigators are asking them questions and asking for a Book of Mormon so hopefully they will ask to have us come teach. Anyways I do not like having a companion that is new to the mission but has been out just enough to think he doesnt need to learn anything more [about how to] teach... so yeah he is annoying me a little when it comes to teaching, but other than that, he is really fun to be with. we are always laughing and joking but man... he needs to learn to teach. But really other than that all is good! we are pretty similar actually ........ he is always joking and laughing and basically messing with Deo and then i scared elder gregorio. And we are very nice to deo and he knows its all fun and games i think he is starting to not become so startled by things now, at least he has stopped using the Lord's name in vain and swearing when he freaks out! hahaha

yep i am heading out! love ya!

Birthday Week

Last Thursday, Elder Grow got a new companion, and also had the opportunity to eat at a Pizza Hut!

"Pizza Hut was delicious. my New Companion comes from Guimba. we were in the same district back there. this is his second area. his name is Elder Gregorio. I am his first co-senior and he is annoying me hahahaha! no, really he is nice, just TRUNKY for being only 3 months out! He is the result of a trainer who was not a very good trainer to him and then a follow up trainer who was WAY TOO STRICT! I mean, where i come from when members are playing sports and you show up and join in (example of the elders playing football at your ward activity) there is nothing wrong with that. Well his follow-up trainer would scold him for an hour about it... So now he just gives me a headache... but he is really good at teaching and thats all i am glad about! "

He also got his birthday package!

"I got my package and everything. It was awesome! Thank you. Didnt really celebrate my birthday just got wished happy birthday a lot had dinner at a members house then sat around and talked good laughs!"

Bug of the week:

" I found a GIANT Beetle the other day, the horned kind, and when you pick it up it hisses. that was way awesome! they fly and i dont like flying bugs so i got rid of it before it decided to fly in my face!"

Elder Quentin L. Cook and Bishop Keith B. McMullin, of the Presiding Bishopric came to visit the Philippines Angeles Mission on Saturday and Sunday.

"Elder Cook and Bishop McMullen came to speak to us and they taught about serving a mission and the blessings that are in store for you and the ones you can be receiving right now. Elder Cook gave a blessing to all of us that we will overcome sickness and temptations as we serve. it was pretty awesome."

Did he get to shake Elder Cook's hand?

"yeah i did, that was cool!"

Baptism, Former Companion, and Recent Convert

Well lets see what else is going on right now. We should have a baptism going on nov. 6 for J-Mark. he is our new investigator and he is golden. he is a for sure baptism. Elder Wihongi-Ritchie is now my Zone Leader so we are going to be having splits again and working together sometime this month that will be awesome. He was asking if its okay for two foreigners to be together on exchanges. i reminded him that that rule has been lifted for me because i was companions with Elder Latu hahahaha he surely laughed and then said something in a ghetto new zealand accent. Our Recent convert Deo, he is like the ultimate person to scare, he jumps so easily. and you know those goats that if you scare they pass out... i think he has that part in him. there has been several times that i have scared him and he has collapsed to the ground hahahaha. he is really afraid of snakes and dogs and the streets always have dogs everywhere! so when we get one barking and following us if you are walking beside him you can reach down and grab his leg and he thinks the dog is attacking him! hahahahaha he is a good sport in it all and he tries his best to scare us but it never works. Oh and loud noises make him jump hahahaha well anyways life is good over here!

The end of today

yeah i am still happy. thanks for the birthday wishes and the love you send at me!

well i am tired.. we hit up an all you can eat place here earlier and i think i am going into a food coma! hahaha

well i am off goodbye Love ya lots Elder Grow

The Pancake House

I am not getting transferred and i am not Training! YES! .....but..... sadly Elder Latu is heading out....

so i ate at this Pancake House place here... its a restaurant but its like a really nice restaurant about the closest thing to feeling like you are back in the US hahaha. I said hey its my birthday next week and they say they have american meat here.. I will go all american stereotype here and order this burger and a root beer float! hahaha yeah it was over priced thats for sure but it was very tasty! i do not have any regrets! hahaha it cost me about 10 bucks for it all. Then after we left it clicked that hey we are still in the Philippines! Even though we were all speaking tagalog... except for the waitress for some reason if we said something in tagalog she would repeat it in english... hahaha

We had a baptism on saturday and there will be at least one for sure this transfer with our new investigator. He is a golden investigator and we have only taught him twice and he has commited to live the Word of Wisdom without a single problem. He even shared his testimony to us about the book of mormon... we have only taught directly to him 3 or 4 times. his cousins just recently got baptized and he would always excuse himself from the room but secretly listen to our lesson from the other room. Regarding the new Urbaneta Temple: The members i dont think know and i was just told earlier about it. It is in our mission boundries actually. So yeah i wish me and Elder Latu can go one more transfer because our work is just cooking up a storm over here! But he has received a calling to be a district leader and that is going to force him to speak english in District meetings! His trainer is our zone leader right now and he recommended him to be a District leader which he does not want at all, but he shouldnt have any problems with the step up he is awesome! Anyways yeah thats about all i gots for an update!

I really got sick!

We had to stay at the zone leaders house [Sunday night]... so the whole sleeping was not so good and all that.. [the next night] i got really sick! I dont know what happened but i woke up at like 2 in the morning on fire but with the chills. so i like wrapped myself up in towels and a bed sheet. oh and my lymph node (or that gland on the side of your neck that sometimes gets swollen) on my left was HUGE and it hurt to touch... i just pumped myself with Ibuprofen and survived that day. then the next day it didnt hurt but was still a little swollen and then by thursday i was all good! so yeah you probably didnt need to know that, but hey i told ya anyways!

We did have a baptism on saturday which President Puzey and Sister Puzey attended... that was a surprise for sure. They just pop up at baptisms to see whats going on in the mission. they have a list of places that have baptisms and they just go to ones they think they can make it to on time. Yeah, everyone thought they were the couple missionaries and they thought that they had to speak english and were very scared... hahahaha i told them no, he is our mission president and you do not have to speak english to him that is my job... that was a task and a half! to me, my english is good but we have a new sister who is in our district and sometimes she gives me a face that is like she doesnt understand my english which might be true... hahaha yeah she is from utah and she doesnt speak tagalog or understand it very well either... Her english is very good! hahaha

We have one baptism on this saturday as well, then our investigator pool is like down to 3 and we are starting to go hunting in some new areas

Transfers are coming up and we think that Elder Latu is getting the boot and the feeling of me becoming a trainer might happen... so how about we all pray and not let that happen!! I really do not think i should have that big of a responsibility of trainer... Plus i want 6 months here in victoria... this is one sweet area! If you train, you are like doomed to only have 1 transfer. after wards, if you're lucky, 2 transfers with your trainee. Well thats about all that is going on around here, I am alive. surprisingly me and Elder Latu havent offended anyone with our foreigner ways! hahaha Sometimes Filippinos dont understand sarcasm and i think sometimes Elder Latu is more sarcastic than me! hahaha Well thats it for this week on.... The Mission of Elder Grow in The Angeles Philippines Mission... Tune in Next week for maybe just maybe some excitement! hahaha love ya!

i gots nothing

i gots nothing really We have a baptism coming up on saturday. work has been sweet. we actually had an awesome week, great lessons, new investigators that are looking to be really good yeah... next week maybe there will be more things, more outcomes!

The Victoria Ward

Okay so i am in the Victoria Ward. There is only one ward here and we are the 8:30am time slot. Yeah we have an average attendance of 140 people. People attend their classes and actually fulfill their callings. They have activities more regularly than most wards and branches here. They understand what their roles are when it comes to investigators at church. As for referrals we are working on that. If we ask, we might get one, or they will be like-- yeah maybe, but they live far away, i will ask them. so its like yeah i have this referral but i am not going to give you the information. hahaha. Most Wards and Branches have a Young Single Adult Class here rather than another ward. Mainly because there arent enough to make a ward. They are rather active in the church and are basically the ward missionaries as well. We have a lot of High Priests in this ward surprisingly, so when they split there are only like 7 elders including us. I need to explain to the Bishop that when you have a functioning ward to call on members to be speakers! Yeah i was a concluding speaker yesterday and Elder Latu has given a talk at least 4 or 5 times since he has been here. I think its time to tell him about Youth Speakers. hahahaha Anyways this area is prettttyy sweet. Me and Elder Latu are having a blast. I am trying to convince him to hook me up with one of the skirt things that Missionaries in Tonga Wear and to teach me "The Haka." At Zone Conference all the Polynesians gather at one table and yeah they are all like, "Elder Grow is Polynesian and will sit with us". Elder Wihongi-Ritchie was like "ya bro, he is Maori" (that is really how he talks just imagine a thick aussie accent) hahaha Elder Arona was in my first zone when i arrived and he is Samoan-- he was like, "No! my boy is Samoan!" (also with an aussie accent) Then Elder Latu came in with one of the only english sayings he knows how to speak clearly-- "no That's my baby!!" hahahahaha Yeah Zone Conference was way fun! Anyways we had a baptism on saturday. he is going to be a really solid member to the church. we also have 2 more on the 25th of september and if the husband of a recent convert will continue to stop smoking he is on week 2 then he will be ready (on oct 2nd i think) for baptism. Yeah the work here is going good having fun and just getting to it! So yeah thats about it for an update with whats going on here! =D

11 Months

11 months. yeah its been a long time but it really doesn't feel like it until you share about the experiences you have had with investigators and members you teach then yeah its like wow i have been out for a while.

we have had dinner appointments but we cook quite often except i was lazy and just bought bbq pork one night and it was very good. 1 kilo worth!

i don't really have much to tell you actually-- just been working and getting stuff done trying to find new investigators and make sure those who are preparing for baptism are ready and solid. Oh yeah our Districts have changed so now in my district are 2 sister companionships and me and Elder Latu. Piece of cake to be the District Leader! This came to mind because in our district meeting earlier i have to teach about the new curriculum and i basically had an experience for everything that i was teaching. One of the sisters she is only 6 months out maybe but she seems like she is over a year. She was like Elder Grow how long have you been out? my answer not even a year just been stuck in 2 areas with a lot of issues to be solved. Anyways yeah sometimes i forget how long its been and i am like ummmm 7 months... wait no... 9 months here in the philippines.

"I am still working on fixing my shoes... they are getting water logged! i need to fix the hole somehow. I have an idea with the putty stuff that is waterproof that you mix the two compounds together and it hardens. so yeah we will see if that helps! i dont need shoes! i just need to fix my shoe that is all. and the only thing that is wrong with them is the store hole in the bottom because the logo fell off! they are just really comfortable! The leather is nice and worn so it makes it easy to slip on and off and they are just awesome shoes and will survive the whole mission with me! even if it means putting my foot in plastic bags and then into my shoes! hahahaha i have an extra pair they just aren't the best for walkin in. I can buy these cheap shoes here but mostly every month that will be 180 pesos [about $4 US] that will be spent. [and my] boots are kind of hard to take on and off which we do almost every appointment. anyways thats about it!"

Reunited... and it feels so good!

hahaha well i was going to just wait for the letter to arrive telling you [Mom and Dad] that i am a District leader now.... I am not really happy about that but i have the best companion i could have received and the ward here wow its great! So this companionship we have is the first time President Puzey has made this transfer. I am companions with Elder Latu again! hahaha We are the first foreigner companionship in the mission since President Puzey. We got a little meeting with him after the transfer was called and everybody was compaining (more like jealous) Because we are batch (means we arrived the same time) we were companions in the MTC and we are Foreingers. So he talked to us and told us that when he recieved the inspiration that we are to be companions he knew that it was the first time, but he has his trust in us to basically not screw around and get the work done. So yeah its pretty crazy! The Zone i am in is Huge-- Tarlac Zone and my area is Victoria. Yeah its pretty close to Guimba my last area. I am also the District leader over Elder Leavitt he was in our district back in the MTC. Anyways our Ward has over 100 people attend they are ACTIVE members and we have functioning Ward Missionaries. This is the first time in a long time where we just had to relax and enjoy Sacrament meeting.

yeah this is like the best transfer so far, we are having a lot of fun. I think we are the only foreigners that dont speak english to each other... like ever! hahahaha this area is awesome its like a ward at home and actually we do not really have dinner appointments but i made some great first impressions so yeah i am working on getting fed ;) hahahaha In this area it is pretty easy to get things [groceries etc] we are kind of a city here, but not really, its in between a farming area and a city. i am having a hard time learning the area, lots of turns and streets, not like the street highway guimba was like.

Um Well there are Zones and in each Zone there are 2-3 District Leaders. In each district you have at least 2 or more companionships. The District leader is in charge of those Elders in helping them in their work. We also have to conduct Baptism interviews for their investigators to see if they are ready for baptism. We also have to report the work of our district to our zone leaders and now we have to get workshops in every district meeting about the new curriculum. Before the new Curriculum it would just rotate every week. So yeah its a whole lot of responsibilities i really don't want... but i did get an awesome companion out of it so i wont complain too much!

I was transfered!

well i got transferred! I will be going to a new area on thursday and it will be on the other side of the mission.

Transfers go like this. Your Zone Leaders get a text sunday night about who is being transferred then on monday for p day we have the announcement. Then on thursday that is when you will go to your new area but you dont know where or who is your companion until then. There are two sides to the mission, the Angeles Side and the Cabanatuan Side. i am going to angeles. There are like 8 zones in each side. So all you know is that you will go to that side of the mission at the Transfer point and then there will be an announcement of who are companions and their area. Then you pile up in a jeepnee and head to your area! Its all very hetic! so next monday i will tell you all about where i am. Re Cabanatuan: i go there all the time-- well went there all the time... that is were we go for our mission conferences. Its a city and rather big. most of the missionaries i know started there. my trainer Elder Pajela is the Zone Leader of Cabanatuan. He might have gotten transferred now though.

so our walls are not painted they are just concrete and we found a box of chalk in our house-- so since we dont have white board like most houses have to write about investigators and what not, I just started writing on walls: Trike fares and jeepnee fares to places in our area and random tagalog words to learn. Well i was like hey its just chalk and that looks like a good place for my name!

well i am off i am hungry and i am going on the Good-bye Tour! hahahaha love ya!

A Pretty Good Week

So this was a pretty good week! We had investigators come to church! We had 4 investigators come-- they are teenagers, though. but hey, everybody needs the gospel in their life! We even have a referral that we have only taught twice but when we followed-up about her praying to know, she got a taste of the Holy Ghost bearing witness to her. we explained to her what that was, and we are trying to teach her whole family. We have talked to her mother and encouraged her to listen with her daughter. Surprisingly i dont really do the whole teenager scene, mainly cause they sometimes aren't too serious about it all, but the ones we have been teaching actually listen and keep their commitments. Because we have been learning this new curriculum and they are new investigators of ours, we have been applying what we learn to them. We have seen some dramatic results! Our new Branch President Mario Cortez, was the Branch President when it was just a meeting house and that was sometime ago. We had our first PEC Meeting with him and we just went over what is expected in a PEC Meeting and what would help us out as of right now. We talked about a Branch Missionary Leader. So things are looking like they are on the incline which is sad and great at the same time. sad because it seems that when i get dumped into an area that is well what people say 'Hard', just before transfers the area starts doing good and yep i get the boot! hahaha I will take it as i did my job correctly though! This is what happened in Jean and so it looks like it might happen again just got that strong feeling. I have had splits with two Americans which was unavoidable. one was our Zone Leader he is Samoan and lives in Utah. He is way nice and we had a lot of fun on Splits. he is going home next transfer and it was starting to set in for him. He was like man i am going home and i am scared its going to be way weird. I just laughed at him and was like yeah i dont need to worry about that for another 14 months! Well the time is going by way fast and i am just continuing to have fun, teach and preach (i dont do the whole preaching thing cause that is basically just talking at someone and that is not a good Gospel Teacher). Well i hope all is well at home! I might have some pictures next week! Love ya all!

Q & A

We got a new branch presidency and our attendance was 92 this week !

Oh, also this is the land where all our old broken toys end up. I have seen toys that i am like Wow i had that when i was a little kid and i swear it was broken the same way! hahahaha

Question: How did you solve the problem of the house you live in so that you don't need to find another one?

Answer: The problem was that the nanay who washes our clothes had to wash clothes inside our house because there was no place outside to do so because there is a house behind us and we cant just leave our clothes hanging out all day. But we talked with the house manger and we closed off the path to the house behind us and locked our gate with a lock so our clothes are safe and people aren't always walking through our area and the facet outside needed to be replaced and some wires placed for hanging the clothes so all is well now and that episode is over!

Q: What about the mud in the yard.. still need cement work?

A: We have some gravel for the outside.

Q: What about grocery shopping and what do you do for breakfast?

A: We have a grocery store it is over in the city. We actually are lucky and have dinner appointments with members, but yes we cook. The morning is Rice and a fried egg sometimes or hot dog (its nothing like a hot dog you would know hahahaha) Or rice and noodles. But yeah all meals are with a plate of rice.

Q: Did you ever get a watch?

A: No i don't use a watch i have completely adapted to the time and just know what time it is. My companion has a watch and i am like its like 6:30 now isn't it? and he is like yeah its like 6:35 so yeah i know what time it is normally by if it is dark or how bright it is