Dear Family,

Salamat po para an imo information. This last week has been great, our main focus has been less actives. We visited 11 this week. Some we have been visiting for a while most of them were less active were we made first contact with them. It is a sweet experience for them. Like I have said earlier, there are so many less actives in the Philippines and my area is no exception. My heart just swells with joy when I see them return to church. That reminds me of the parable of the lost sheep. Since its difficult to find where these people live, we often have to rely on the leaders to help us find them. This last week we visited an brother who was baptized in the 80's. H.e invited us in we talked for awhile to get to know him I guess he was in the Philippine military and he talked a-lot about how the gospel helped him at that time in his life. It was a good experience. When we started to share our message we asked him if he had a BOM (Book of Mormon) he said yes, he then pulled out the BOM that the missionaries gave to him at the time of his conversion. It was old and tattered, in fact it was so old that the Translation (Tagalog) wasn't even complete yet. So we shared our message and siempre ginhatagan namon siya bago an Aklat ni Mormon. Tagalog Version. Then he gave me the old one which is extremely rare so needless to say I have added it to my collection of Book of Mormon's.   

Wow it sounds like you are getting a-lot of snow! I wished I had some here, it's just been raining pirme. I can honestly say I have never used an umbrella as much as I have now. It pretty much is your best friend rain or shine. Wow damong mga tao ginkarawat nira calls! Shoot I think Cody enters the MTC next week. Ayaw Kabalaka I haven't been missing home to much. My homesickness is fleeting, it doesn't stay around and linger. I have been bitten by so many mosquitoes I am surprised that I haven't contracted dengue pa. Damong mga salamat mom I can't wait to see all of the scrap booking that you will have accomplished by the time igbalik nakon. Oh and keep up the good work Dad!! You are building an empire. 

Well ya'll are eagles!! So spread your wings and fly. I love you.

Your Missionary Son

The Work Continues

     I am doing great , this last Saturday we had a baptism ,it was great! Oh ha katapuson ginkarawat nakon an package thank you for all that you put in it!! 40% is the % for the mosquito spray. I would enjoy some Oreo's and beef jerky if you could send them.  American food is the only thing I want at this at this point in time. Is not that the food here is bad, I just want some food from home. Things are great I have been forgetting to tell you that I have already lost 10 pounds!  I get plenty to eat though. Especially this last week! 
     We contacted the mayor this last Friday, she invited us in and we had a friendly chat She actually knew a-lot about us. Basta, she invited us to diner that night at her sisters house. It was so nice. We talked for about two hours. It's a small world ,I found out she has a friend in Twin Falls that owns those hotels off of I-84 near Twin Falls, you know were we always stop for gas. I guess she also has been skiing in sun valley. She is a world traveler she has been to Jerusalem, Asia, Europe, and the US.  She likes American sports such as pro football, college football and basketball. She has six kids three of which live in the US. 
      Akabaraka I am wearing my retainer and brushing my teeth kada gabii. Wow its is hard to believe that I have been in my area for almost duha ka transfers na! Each transfer period is for 6 weeks. Siguro I will get a follow up trainer after my 12 weeks of training are over which is soon. I have a-lot of letters to write. I got so many from grandma this last week gihapon I got one from your sister (Jill and Steve). I was in Tacloban this last week for a special mission conference. The whole mission was there. So siempre they released all the mail. 


Well I love ya'll and hope your good.

P.S. Hiton hi Brother Nari nagbalik missionary nija. The one performing the ordinance, he is a recently returned missionary. 

Nothing like January in the Tropics

     Wow time is flying by! The weather here is the same everyday. Right now OVERCAST and raining. Yesterday was the only exception for all of the last week.  The work is going great here we have a Baptism scheduled this Saturday. For right now we mostly visit less-actives. Of course we still find and teach investigators, but our focus is on less actives. There are so many. Yesterday was pretty interesting. I was asked to teach priesthood on the spot. It was an interesting experience. I guess I never realized how lucky I was to be in such a organized ward. Most of the time people will be asked to give a talk 20 to 30 minutes before sacrament begins so there is little preparation, but yet they go through with it and do great. Filipinos are really good at doing things on the spot. I guess that is something I will get good at throughout the mission. The  whole mission is going to down in Tacloban on Wednesday so I will see If the package arrived. (Hopefully). Tell Grandma, Lyn and Ronnie that I got their letters. Oh by the way I wrote a letter to The Hooper's (your cousin) I will mail it when I am in Tacloban on Wednesday. 

New Year 2013

   These are this weeks pictures.  Some of dialects Dylan is learning.  

  New year here is crazy non-stop fireworks. The work here is good.  We have about 9 investigators, one of which is getting baptized on the 26 hopefully (if he continues) to keep all of his commitments. Thats cool that Jake got his call to Iowa!    Wow I guess our house is a owl paradise!! I have learned so much about myself and about God's will for me. I have learned so much from the scriptures. I have been feasting upon the words of Christ!! See 2 Nephi 32. Thanks for the encouragement. I needed it. Well this last week was a good week looking forward for next week!! 

Christmas 2011

     My Christmas was just another day. They do things very different here in the Philippines instead of going to sleep they stay up late and have a very big feast.  The equivalent here for turkey is Lechon, a big roasted pig. Funny enough it tastes like turkey. I ate so much food because I had three dinner appointments.  Needless to say, I was  stuffed by the end of the day.  Plus, by the end of our last dinner appointment, it was raining super hard and it didn't look like it was going to let up so we had to trudge through it. I was so drenched by the time we got back to the apartment. Still waiting on the package ,I will probably get it by the second week of January. The baptism went great. Since there was no font I performed the ordinance in a river. Today has been great, our Zone had a CSP (community service project) earlier this morning. We cleared out a bunch of shrubs with mga sundang (machetes) tapos (then) we constructed a fence. While we were building the fence it started to rain really hard but we worked through it. We have five investigators who we have taught 1st lesson to. Later this week we go to Can-avid. We have people there who are Investigators, but we haven't began teaching them yet. Basta, I guess New Years here in the Philippines is crazy, well I will find out later! Oh please with your next package send some OFF 40% deet mosquito spray non-aresol. May da kamo maupay nga adlaw ngan mabuhay. Oh and please I don't know if you forgot or what please next email send a picture of my mission plaque. Malipayon bago nga tuig!