I'm German???

Well conference was waaaay awesome. I wrote down a ton, but haven't had
time to go over it all yet, so I think I will talk more about that next
week. But Elder Uchtdorf's talk in Priesthood (we watched that first),
really helped set the tone for the rest of Conference for me. I went in at
first thinking about all the things I needed to find answers for for
investigators, less actives, members of my district, and so on. But he said
some really great things that helped me realize that I can't help others if
I can't help myself first. So while of course I still looked for answers
for others, I really tried hard to see what I could learn too.
One of the other things I felt from conference was something I've been
thinking about a lot lately. When gaining eternal life becomes our greatest
desire in this life, we will achieve it. And by that I don't mean simply
wanting something. Of course when something is your *greatest* desire,
nothing will get in the way of you working towards that. There were quite a
few talks about distractions and let things get in the way of ultimate
goals. But when will we decide that eternal life is something to work for,
not just some distant dream?
Besides all of that, I think I've given up on trying to explain to people
where I'm from. I always get asked that, and I answer the U.S. Then they
ask where. So I say Utah, and that confuses them because they have no idea
where that is. "Is that in California?" is a usual reply. The question that
follows is along the lines of, "Then why is your last name German?". I
don't try to explain that it's Dutch anymore. I say that's where my
ancestors are from. "Oh so your father and mother immigrated to the U.S.?"
No, we've been in the U.S. for generations. "Then why is your last name not
American?" I try to explain that everyone in the U.S. is descended from
immigrants, so last names vary. Now, they are really confused because they
think the U.S. is currently full of Northern European immigrants. After all
of this explanation, the question usually comes again: So you're German?
Too frustrated at this point, I just answer yes. Then, occasionally, they
say, so your a Nazi...
So I think I will just start to tell people I'm German to save time and
energy.
Well I hope you all have a great week! Love y'all.

20 in Libmanan

Well I'm 20 now. So that's pretty cool.

But enough about that.

Everything here in Libmanan is going really great! Last week a big river flooded about 15-20 feet so that was fun. We had a really good attendance the yesterday at church, and 9, yes 9, investigators came to church. Some of those are now pretty much qualified for baptism! Along with that, we had 15 less active members come, some of them for the first time in a loooong time. This was accompanied by some great lessons about the Restoration, and many other things. 

Getting a ride in the dump truck

One thing we also taught a lot this week was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Really helped me to learn that it's not just some check list (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, endure to the end), but a process of becoming something. All of these things, as grand and beautiful as they are, mean absolutely nothing without any application in our lives. So the question is: who am I now? Who do I want to be? And what am I going to do to become that? Of course the obvious answer is I want to be like Jesus. But also an important step is to recognize the special talents and gifts we've been given, and what we want to make of those. How do we apply the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the blessings we've been given (along with the trials) in our lives? Never forget what He did for you, and always remember what you can do for Him. For me, just going through the motions doesn't make you any more of a Christian than simply putting on scrubs makes you a doctor or putting on a nametag makes you a missionary. It's all about effort, and becoming something, and becoming something for the right reason.

Excited for the upcoming week and who we will be able to help!

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

8/21/14

4 Baptisms Last Week

Hey everyone.
Well we had 4 baptisms last week, so that was really great. My companion
baptized the four of them and I conducted and we had some pretty good
attendance! We hope to start a couple of them in preparing to serve a
mission in a couple years, so that will be pretty exciting too. We also saw
some less actives at church that haven't attended for a really long time.
So, to put it simply, everything is goin pretty well here in Libmanan. I
also found out that neither my companion or I will be transferred, which is
great because I feel like we've been working really well together.
We've also had some disappointments with Less Active members. We try again
and again with some of them, but they never seem to make real progress. I
guess I've learned a lot about agency in the past little bit. It's one of
the greatest gifts we've been given in this life, the ability to choose
what we want to make of it. We are all born with weaknesses, or challenges,
physical, mental, or emotional. But we also have a potential that no one
can take away except ourselves. That potential is always there, but can
only be unlocked through the Atonement of Christ, through following the
counsel of modern prophets. I like to think that our potential is exactly
what Jesus thought of as he suffered through the Atonement. On the other
hand, it can only be held from us by our own disobedience, not by the
dictations of anyone else. But no matter what path we may have taken in the
past, or what others around us may be doing, there is always healing
available for us and them. The world is dark. Life isn't easy. It was never
meant to be. That heaviness can be compounded by the decisions of others.
But in the end, we can *always* bear up that weight and carry on to a
better future and a brighter day. I may not be able to make someone come to
church. I know I can never force a man to pray or to believe in modern
revelation, or do any number of other things. But I can do that for myself.
I will close with a favorite poem of mine.

Invictus by William Ernest Henley



Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods my be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not whined or cried aloud,

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul

Birthday Week!!! 20 years old!

Well I'm 20 now. So that's pretty cool.

But enough about that.

Everything here in Libmanan is going really great! Last week a big river flooded about 15-20 feet so that was fun. We had a really good attendance the yesterday at church, and 9, yes 9, investigators came to church. Some of those are now pretty much qualified for baptism! Along with that, we had 15 less active members come, some of them for the first time in a loooong time. This was accompanied by some great lessons about the Restoration, and many other things. 

One thing we also taught a lot this week was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Really helped me to learn that it's not just some check list (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, endure to the end), but a process of becoming something. All of these things, as grand and beautiful as they are, mean absolutely nothing without any application in our lives. So the question is: who am I now? Who do I want to be? And what am I going to do to become that? Of course the obvious answer is I want to be like Jesus. But also an important step is to recognize the special talents and gifts we've been given, and what we want to make of those. How do we apply the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the blessings we've been given (along with the trials) in our lives? Never forget what He did for you, and always remember what you can do for Him. For me, just going through the motions doesn't make you any more of a Christian than simply putting on scrubs makes you a doctor or putting on a nametag makes you a missionary. It's all about effort, and becoming something, and becoming something for the right reason.

Excited for the upcoming week and who we will be able to help!

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

9/21/14

New Area, Libmanan!

Well I got transferred! I'm in an area called Libmanan, just a little north of where I was before. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but is a pretty nice place and we even have a 7-11. The branch here is also pretty strong, but still having some struggles with less actives. There are about 500 members here, and only about 100 were at church yesterday, so we have a lot of work to do, especially in reactivating priesthood bearers. So far, we've had some pretty great work, and have some progressing investigators and several new investigators that have some potential. My new companion is Filipino, Elder Mercado. My two other housemates are also Filipino, so I guess my Tagalog might start to improve again. There's also two sisters here, one from Virginia, and one who just arrived from Peru, and they are both great. Sorry, I don't have a whole lot more, I'm still getting used to the area! Love you all and I'll have more next week

9/14/14

My Surgery in the Philippines

No I didn't actually have surgery here. I just wanted Mom to have a small heart attack when she read the subject line haha.

Good last week for me here in San Fernando. On Saturday I found out that I would be transferred to a new area, which I will be going to tomorrow. Still don't know where I'll be goin or who I'll be with but that's part of the fun right?

Our week wasn't super eventful, but we were able to visit a lot of the members and work with a few of our investigators which is nice. Problem is, one of them left for Manila early in the week because her daughter there is sick, so...I guess we'll teach her when she's back haha. But we are still working with her family that is still here. We also finally figured things out with one investigator, Louie. He's been on the fence for a bit about moving to another town for college, so we weren't really sure what to do with him. But he finally decided to stay in our area for a few months at least. He's golden, already completely believes in everything and has a great testimony and desire to know more and completely follow what we teach him. He already looks forward to an eternal marriage (I think he's 19). He has some funny questions about the church though, just because he's still really unfamiliar with a lot of things. "Do we believe in Christmas in this church?" I just like the way he says it, because it's not "your church" but "our church".

Anyway, like I said I'll be leavin tomorrow, off to a different place! One thing that was interesting was talking with some of the missionaries that will be going home tomorrow. I realized how much I'll miss some of them, and that that will be me in just 9 and a half months. So I guess I better work even harder; there's not much time left! Love you all, have a great week!

9/8/14

A Sense of Sacred

Helllllooooo again.

The past week was great, got to spend some good time on service and building houses. Then we had a great Zone Conference where we talked about obedience and about the talk "A Sense of the Sacred". It's a really great talk, if any of you want to try reading it. It talks all about how we can gain an appreciation and reverence for sacred things, and the importance of that in our lives. It was really great to hear from President and Sister Reeder as well! We also had a decent turnout yesterday for church, with 7 of our Less Active members coming to church. We've found out that they don't really need a big long lesson once a week, but constant, short visits just for us to show them that we really care for them. We did have several great spiritual lessons that did end up with bringing members back to church. Our less active second counselor opened up to us and told us he thinks he's ready to begin the repentance process to come back to church and lead his family again. So hopefully we can get moving on that with the help of our Branch President! Besides that, not really an eventful week. Near nighttime on the way to an appointment, we walked passed a "Hot Babes Bar" where there were some women outside who were yelling at us to join them, for free because we're foreigners, but we thanked them for the offer and said we're ok and kept goin haha. Kind of a random experience. I thought of the great and spacious building, but this one wasn't very tempting haha. Random lesson to not get distracted from the Lord's work. Anyway, hope you all have a great week

9/1/14