Letter from November 13th
"For 179 years this book (The Book of Mormon) has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart, like perhaps no other book in modern religious history. Perhaps like no other book in any religious history. In this I stand with my own great grandfather, he said it simply enough, 'No wicked man could write such a book as this and no good man would write it, unless it were true, or commanded of God to do so.' I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work and there by find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these our times until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ of whom it testifies." -Jeffrey R. Holland
November 7, 2016: Another preparation day. When I woke up I had a some little red bumps on my arms, legs and feet... we slept outside but they don't itch like bug bites, so I'm not sure what they are. We did personal study for an hour next. Then we went to get haircuts. They gave me a better hair cut here then they ever did in the U.S. at the hair cutting places haha. The lady who cut my hair was deaf and taught herself how to speak! How awesome is that! It was only 50 peco's which converts to $1 in the U.S.! We went back home and showered and then prepared to go email. I love emailing and hearing from everyone! Elder Pitt and I have a continuing tradition from past missionaries to go to McDo (Thats what they call McDonalds here in the Philippines) every p-day. Later at the house we rested and prepared to proselyte. We started out proselyting at the Obierta family's house. We had 1 lesson with them and we have been trying to schedule more lessons but they keep avoiding it so today we went there and asked them to honestly tell us if they wanted to learn more... we did this with the Pudol family as well, and thy both said 'not really'. So we had to drop 5 investigators today... It's sad but it's their choice. We just want to help people. We ended our day at the Alafriz family's house. We introduced 'The Plan of Salvation' to them and they were really interested and had lots of questions. It went very well!
November 8, 2016: ELECTION DAY! In the Philippines haha. We are a day ahead so tomorrow we will find out who the next president of the United States is! I'm excited!... Anyway, It was a good day! When I woke up I had a lot more little red dots on me. They are only on the places that are exposed like my arms, legs, feet, and face. Elder Pitt and I decided to go to the hospital. At the hospital in Candon, which was very small, the Dr said "Are you sure you haven't or don't have a fever?" like 20 times haha. He couldn't figure out what the spots are. He ended up just blaming them on mosquitoes... but idk if I trust him because when he saw my drivers license he said "Oh, you are a minor?" Elder Pitt said, because this is all in Tagalog, "Actually we are considered adults in the U.S.". The Dr. then said "No... You are minors in the U.S."... It was funny because we are from America and me know the laws there haha! So I got my medicine and headed home. We taught Brother Dominador the old man, a less active member, and we taught him about building your rock on the foundation of Christ... or Helaman 5:12. It went very well. We also went to visit and investigator who had to find out from her husband if she can take the lessons. So we stopped by and she wasn't home... probably because she is a school teacher. She does have a pet monkey leashed to a tree though! I got some great pictures of it! It was gross when the monkey started eating the lizard haha! We had to head to Santa Maria because of a district emergency thing which meant that as district leader, Elder Pitt had to be there. We went to the Melo's house for dinner after the district thing. Elder Pitt made chicken sisig for the dinner. It was really good and a lot of fun! Only the kids were there... not the dad. So we just had fun and ate. The other Elders were there as well. After the dinner we called the Alafriz family to take them up on an offer the husband gave us which was that he could give us a ride on his trike if we ever needed one, so we called and asked if he could pick us up from a gas station near the Melo's house and bring us home because it was kinda far. He said yes and did so! He is awesome! We ended the day with a night prayer with the Alafriz family which was great because Brother Alafriz asked for it!
November 9, 2016: Today was a good day! A little long though, but that's okay. From 8-2:00 we had district meeting and then a meeting from President Bangal. It was really helpful! Elder Pitt taught in district meeting and did a wonderful job! We ate lunch at Abra Miki, us 4 missionaries in Narvacan. It has really good food! For proselyting time we first went to visit Sister Nera because she wants to do our laundry for us! How awesome is that! She is great! On the way out from her neighborhood this 70 year old man said hello and called us over so him. He was really nice and gave us the opportunity to teach him! We gave him a pamphlet and taught him about God and Jesus Christ and invited him to church. He isn't sure if he will go though, but we will teach him again on Saturday. We later decided to go to San Antonio to find some more people to teach. While walking a guy and his 9 year old daughter pulled up next to us on a scooter/moped and said "Hey, lets go to my house for bible study." and drove off for us to follow him. We weren't sure what to think... We thought that it was going to end up being a bible bash thing. It turned out to be really good though! They said they have seen us walking around and are interested in our message. The parents have 3 kids. The husband, who was driving the scooter told us that when he was little his family had the missionaries over a few times. Him and his wife said they was a good religion for their kids! We asked what religion they were and the wife said, "wala" which means none, and the husband said Catholic, but only because that what they grew up as. They aren't active Catholics. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and gave them a copy of it! We marked some scriptures for them to read and study until we return. The family was really interested! We exchanged numbers and set a date to return on Saturday. They liked the message so much that after, they bought us food and drinks! They are gonna be great investigators! To end the day we visited some members. We visited the Leones family and they are doing great. Also the Cambe family which are always awesome! And Brother Amante and he asked to teach with us again! He is such a blessing to us as missionaries! While at the Leones' house we heard over the TV in the background "The next President of The United States is... Donald Trump." Wow! What an election! I was surprised and not surprised... I think he will do good as a president! I'll be here though for 2 years so let me know how it goes!
November 10, 2016:A slow day... but a good one! :) For personal study I made a new goal for myself. To read through the Book of Mormon again from cover to cover! So I read 1 Nephi 1-5 in an hour and really tried to study and understand it. For companionship inventory we talk about what we read and Elder Pitt always has great stuff to tell! He reads the Book or Mormon and then reads this book about being a leader and it's about Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith as leaders! It's so good! Weekly planning was good! We set goals for our up coming week and planned who to focus on and had companion inventory. Inventory was good. We fixed any problems that we had, discussed our strong points and made some great goals! To start our proselyting time we went to Nanay Zennis house to see if we could set a day with her son Marco and his coworker Casey and teach Casey because he isn't a member but has had lessons before. We then took a trike all the way to a new barangay for us called Codoog. It is 5 Brgy's away from ours. We went our there to visit some recent converts. The Lardizabal's. They were so happy to see us and so nice to us! We shared a great message on the light of Christ and how we can be that light in the world today. They even gave us 2 referrals! This never happens! YAY! We want to the 1st referral and they were too busy. The other referral could only listen for a bit because she had to set up for a Catholic event at her house haha. How ironic. We tracked all the way back to Brother Bobs house, which is near our house, to see how he is doing. He wasn't home though. We visited with the Liberato family just down the road. The husband is the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. They were really nice. He even offered a ride home on his trike. Fun note... All Mormons here who own or drive a trike have 'LDS' sewn into the leather on the the back of the trike! That's awesome! We visited Jerico, an active youth in the ward, and he lives right across the street from the Liberato's. He is a very cool and fun kid! He is 16 and loves basketball. We talked to him about having him help us with missionary work. He accepted but wants to prepare a week ahead, so next week he will help us! On the way home we remembered this family we had talked to and gave a pamphlet to on like my 1st or 2nd day and stopped by their home. They are doing great and read a little bit of the pamphlet but not all of it. They wanted us to visit again and teach! Awesome, I can't wait! It was a good day and full of the spirit!
November 11, 2016: For personal study I read 1 Nephi 6-10. I love reading the Book of Mormon and starting from the beginning! During 12 weeks we watched a video made for training missionaries and it was about testifying of the Book of Mormon. The investigator in the video said she didn't know if the Book of Mormon was true and the missionaries asked what she had read and she said nothing yet... so the missionaries said that that's why she doesn't know because she hasn't read it and asked God if it were true! That one of the most important things we and investigators can do to know the truth of this gospel! At the end a clip of a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland was played and he said "For 179 years this book (The Book of Mormon) has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart, like perhaps no other book in modern religious history. Perhaps like no other book in any religious history. In this I stand with my own great grandfather, he said it simply enough, 'No wicked man could write such a book as this and no good man would write it, unless it were true, or commanded of God to do so.' I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work and there by find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these our times until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ of whom it testifies." I think this is amazing and very true! I love this talk! For proselyting time we headed to Rivedavia to see if Brother Michael was home. He wasn't... so we walked and tracked to Brother Mario's house and he wasn't home either haha. Not until 5:00 his family said. So we planned to go to a new Brgy next to Rivedavia called Cagayangan. Let's just say we did a lot of walking! On the way we were able to TC (Testifying of Christ) to this family and it went really well! After TCing there we 5:00 came around and we headed back to Mario's house. We ended up talking to this guy on Mario's street named Patrick. He is super nice and funny! We will probably teach him soon but he was busy. We talked with Mario and he was interested in going to church again! He is also reading a lot of the Book of Mormon which is awesome and he understands it! After we visited the Cacho family, who are members. We only met with the wife and one of her family friends. They were both really nice to us. They also fed us dinner. Filipinos are so loving and kind! It is amazing! We ended our night at the Alafriz's house like usual. We didn't teach anything specific. We just talked about what they thought of the lessons and answered any questions that they had. It was kinda hard for Brother Alafriz to take in everything but he is getting there. We won't give up on him!
November 12, 2016: We woke up at 5:00 so we could play basketball with Brother Rambo and some of the youth in the ward. It was a lot of fun! When you loose here the losers have to crawl under the winners legs haha! It's so much fun! For personal study I read 1 Nephi 11-13. It is about Nephi asking and seeing his father, Lehi's, vision. I chapter 13 it talks about a man discovering the Americas and it is a vision of Christopher Columbus! How cool is that! We aren't supposed to teach lessons during morning study but the Valdez family called and asked for us to teach them at 10:00am so we asked our zone leaders and they said it was okay. We taught them about families and teaching your children about the gospel and about Jesus Christ. We used the scriptures Mosiah 4: 14-15 and Proverbs 22:6. It went really well and they enjoyed the lesson! I am excited to see if they come to church on Sunday! Later in the day we met this guy and we taught him about the pamphlet of the restoration. A member joined in on the lesson because they were just passing by and they were friends. The lesson was great and we are going back next Saturday to teach! I also found out the the guy we taught has a brother in Connecticut. He lives in West Hartford CT. Their last name is Valasco. Small world haha. The member that was with us was Brother Claveria, he is an less-active member. He invited us to his home and we taught him, his kids, and their friends haha. A lot of people! We taught them about the importance of church attendance and they liked it! Hopefully they go to church tomorrow. Only the father is a member. We went the the Cabe's house to teach them but the uncle, the adult figure in the house, wasn't home so we couldn't teach because it was just the 2 daughters and the son. There is a video I took of the son playing a Star Wars song on an app on his tablet! It was so cool! He is really good at it too! We ended the night at the Alafriz's house but they were so busy with there business that we couldn't teach them. We live close to a big basketball court and that's where they live and work and it's basketball season here so they are really busy. We just talked to them because Brother Alafriz was busy.
November 13, 2016: Sunday! I love Sundays! Before church starts us missionaries greet everyone. We had the Alafriz family and Valdez family attend church today! Our investigators are so awesome! The sacrament meeting talks were all about the gospel of Jesus Christ and Elder Wenceslao was one of the speakers! He did a great job! They all did. After we had Brother Valdez and Sister Alafriz come to Gospel Principles. I joined them while Elder Pitt joined the youth because that's where their kids are. Gospel Principles went well that they were both very attentive. I got to explain the 1st vision to them too and I thought it went pretty well. I'm glad to see them progressing. For 3rd hour the Valdez family had to go home. I am glad they stayed for 2 hours because that is very good for an investigator! The Alafriz family stayed the whole time. Sister went to Relief Society while Gwen, her daughter, went to young women. Tony-boy went to primary and Sunday school. They enjoyed it and Gwen mad a lot of new friends which is great for her. We ate lunch at Abra Miki because they let us eat free and it is always so good! Our first stop of proselyting is Nanay Zennis house to pick up the water. We got our drinking water from her. Then to a referral we got from Nanay Zenni, named Sister Nova. We couldn't teach her because he husband wasn't home. We went to see Brother Prado next and he was home so we got to teach him! We taught him about the apostasy and prophets. Elder Pitt did a great job of testifying after the message and did a great job of extending an invitation to get baptized. He agree to the invitation and we set a date for December 24th. He is really old so I hope he can make it to church next Sunday! We had an appointment with the Pagaduan Family, who I talked about a while ago and we met them on like my 1st or 2nd day. They asked for us to come back and we did but the father wasn't home so we couldn't teach the mother and daughter. This happens a lot so we are used to it haha. We just got to know them some more and talked about the church and answered their questions. The daughter is very smart! She knows like 3-4 languages and is good a math! It was ice to talk with them. We will return to them sometime this week. We ended the day at the Alafriz's house again but like last night they were too busy again. We are going to try to figure out a better time to teach them. After we ate free dinner at Abra Miki haha. It is so good!
That was my week! I want you all to do your best to find the missionaries in your ward and do something special for them! They work really hard, at least I hope so, and they deserve to be helped in their work. You can help them by going teaching with them, giving them referrals, of feeding them. Anything helps! :) Thanks! Email me also! I'd love to hear about your week. I'm loving it out here and it keeps getting better! I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!
Elder ScottNovember 7, 2016: Another preparation day. When I woke up I had a some little red bumps on my arms, legs and feet... we slept outside but they don't itch like bug bites, so I'm not sure what they are. We did personal study for an hour next. Then we went to get haircuts. They gave me a better hair cut here then they ever did in the U.S. at the hair cutting places haha. The lady who cut my hair was deaf and taught herself how to speak! How awesome is that! It was only 50 peco's which converts to $1 in the U.S.! We went back home and showered and then prepared to go email. I love emailing and hearing from everyone! Elder Pitt and I have a continuing tradition from past missionaries to go to McDo (Thats what they call McDonalds here in the Philippines) every p-day. Later at the house we rested and prepared to proselyte. We started out proselyting at the Obierta family's house. We had 1 lesson with them and we have been trying to schedule more lessons but they keep avoiding it so today we went there and asked them to honestly tell us if they wanted to learn more... we did this with the Pudol family as well, and thy both said 'not really'. So we had to drop 5 investigators today... It's sad but it's their choice. We just want to help people. We ended our day at the Alafriz family's house. We introduced 'The Plan of Salvation' to them and they were really interested and had lots of questions. It went very well!
November 8, 2016: ELECTION DAY! In the Philippines haha. We are a day ahead so tomorrow we will find out who the next president of the United States is! I'm excited!... Anyway, It was a good day! When I woke up I had a lot more little red dots on me. They are only on the places that are exposed like my arms, legs, feet, and face. Elder Pitt and I decided to go to the hospital. At the hospital in Candon, which was very small, the Dr said "Are you sure you haven't or don't have a fever?" like 20 times haha. He couldn't figure out what the spots are. He ended up just blaming them on mosquitoes... but idk if I trust him because when he saw my drivers license he said "Oh, you are a minor?" Elder Pitt said, because this is all in Tagalog, "Actually we are considered adults in the U.S.". The Dr. then said "No... You are minors in the U.S."... It was funny because we are from America and me know the laws there haha! So I got my medicine and headed home. We taught Brother Dominador the old man, a less active member, and we taught him about building your rock on the foundation of Christ... or Helaman 5:12. It went very well. We also went to visit and investigator who had to find out from her husband if she can take the lessons. So we stopped by and she wasn't home... probably because she is a school teacher. She does have a pet monkey leashed to a tree though! I got some great pictures of it! It was gross when the monkey started eating the lizard haha! We had to head to Santa Maria because of a district emergency thing which meant that as district leader, Elder Pitt had to be there. We went to the Melo's house for dinner after the district thing. Elder Pitt made chicken sisig for the dinner. It was really good and a lot of fun! Only the kids were there... not the dad. So we just had fun and ate. The other Elders were there as well. After the dinner we called the Alafriz family to take them up on an offer the husband gave us which was that he could give us a ride on his trike if we ever needed one, so we called and asked if he could pick us up from a gas station near the Melo's house and bring us home because it was kinda far. He said yes and did so! He is awesome! We ended the day with a night prayer with the Alafriz family which was great because Brother Alafriz asked for it!
November 9, 2016: Today was a good day! A little long though, but that's okay. From 8-2:00 we had district meeting and then a meeting from President Bangal. It was really helpful! Elder Pitt taught in district meeting and did a wonderful job! We ate lunch at Abra Miki, us 4 missionaries in Narvacan. It has really good food! For proselyting time we first went to visit Sister Nera because she wants to do our laundry for us! How awesome is that! She is great! On the way out from her neighborhood this 70 year old man said hello and called us over so him. He was really nice and gave us the opportunity to teach him! We gave him a pamphlet and taught him about God and Jesus Christ and invited him to church. He isn't sure if he will go though, but we will teach him again on Saturday. We later decided to go to San Antonio to find some more people to teach. While walking a guy and his 9 year old daughter pulled up next to us on a scooter/moped and said "Hey, lets go to my house for bible study." and drove off for us to follow him. We weren't sure what to think... We thought that it was going to end up being a bible bash thing. It turned out to be really good though! They said they have seen us walking around and are interested in our message. The parents have 3 kids. The husband, who was driving the scooter told us that when he was little his family had the missionaries over a few times. Him and his wife said they was a good religion for their kids! We asked what religion they were and the wife said, "wala" which means none, and the husband said Catholic, but only because that what they grew up as. They aren't active Catholics. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and gave them a copy of it! We marked some scriptures for them to read and study until we return. The family was really interested! We exchanged numbers and set a date to return on Saturday. They liked the message so much that after, they bought us food and drinks! They are gonna be great investigators! To end the day we visited some members. We visited the Leones family and they are doing great. Also the Cambe family which are always awesome! And Brother Amante and he asked to teach with us again! He is such a blessing to us as missionaries! While at the Leones' house we heard over the TV in the background "The next President of The United States is... Donald Trump." Wow! What an election! I was surprised and not surprised... I think he will do good as a president! I'll be here though for 2 years so let me know how it goes!
November 10, 2016:A slow day... but a good one! :) For personal study I made a new goal for myself. To read through the Book of Mormon again from cover to cover! So I read 1 Nephi 1-5 in an hour and really tried to study and understand it. For companionship inventory we talk about what we read and Elder Pitt always has great stuff to tell! He reads the Book or Mormon and then reads this book about being a leader and it's about Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith as leaders! It's so good! Weekly planning was good! We set goals for our up coming week and planned who to focus on and had companion inventory. Inventory was good. We fixed any problems that we had, discussed our strong points and made some great goals! To start our proselyting time we went to Nanay Zennis house to see if we could set a day with her son Marco and his coworker Casey and teach Casey because he isn't a member but has had lessons before. We then took a trike all the way to a new barangay for us called Codoog. It is 5 Brgy's away from ours. We went our there to visit some recent converts. The Lardizabal's. They were so happy to see us and so nice to us! We shared a great message on the light of Christ and how we can be that light in the world today. They even gave us 2 referrals! This never happens! YAY! We want to the 1st referral and they were too busy. The other referral could only listen for a bit because she had to set up for a Catholic event at her house haha. How ironic. We tracked all the way back to Brother Bobs house, which is near our house, to see how he is doing. He wasn't home though. We visited with the Liberato family just down the road. The husband is the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. They were really nice. He even offered a ride home on his trike. Fun note... All Mormons here who own or drive a trike have 'LDS' sewn into the leather on the the back of the trike! That's awesome! We visited Jerico, an active youth in the ward, and he lives right across the street from the Liberato's. He is a very cool and fun kid! He is 16 and loves basketball. We talked to him about having him help us with missionary work. He accepted but wants to prepare a week ahead, so next week he will help us! On the way home we remembered this family we had talked to and gave a pamphlet to on like my 1st or 2nd day and stopped by their home. They are doing great and read a little bit of the pamphlet but not all of it. They wanted us to visit again and teach! Awesome, I can't wait! It was a good day and full of the spirit!
November 11, 2016: For personal study I read 1 Nephi 6-10. I love reading the Book of Mormon and starting from the beginning! During 12 weeks we watched a video made for training missionaries and it was about testifying of the Book of Mormon. The investigator in the video said she didn't know if the Book of Mormon was true and the missionaries asked what she had read and she said nothing yet... so the missionaries said that that's why she doesn't know because she hasn't read it and asked God if it were true! That one of the most important things we and investigators can do to know the truth of this gospel! At the end a clip of a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland was played and he said "For 179 years this book (The Book of Mormon) has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart, like perhaps no other book in modern religious history. Perhaps like no other book in any religious history. In this I stand with my own great grandfather, he said it simply enough, 'No wicked man could write such a book as this and no good man would write it, unless it were true, or commanded of God to do so.' I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work and there by find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these our times until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ of whom it testifies." I think this is amazing and very true! I love this talk! For proselyting time we headed to Rivedavia to see if Brother Michael was home. He wasn't... so we walked and tracked to Brother Mario's house and he wasn't home either haha. Not until 5:00 his family said. So we planned to go to a new Brgy next to Rivedavia called Cagayangan. Let's just say we did a lot of walking! On the way we were able to TC (Testifying of Christ) to this family and it went really well! After TCing there we 5:00 came around and we headed back to Mario's house. We ended up talking to this guy on Mario's street named Patrick. He is super nice and funny! We will probably teach him soon but he was busy. We talked with Mario and he was interested in going to church again! He is also reading a lot of the Book of Mormon which is awesome and he understands it! After we visited the Cacho family, who are members. We only met with the wife and one of her family friends. They were both really nice to us. They also fed us dinner. Filipinos are so loving and kind! It is amazing! We ended our night at the Alafriz's house like usual. We didn't teach anything specific. We just talked about what they thought of the lessons and answered any questions that they had. It was kinda hard for Brother Alafriz to take in everything but he is getting there. We won't give up on him!
November 12, 2016: We woke up at 5:00 so we could play basketball with Brother Rambo and some of the youth in the ward. It was a lot of fun! When you loose here the losers have to crawl under the winners legs haha! It's so much fun! For personal study I read 1 Nephi 11-13. It is about Nephi asking and seeing his father, Lehi's, vision. I chapter 13 it talks about a man discovering the Americas and it is a vision of Christopher Columbus! How cool is that! We aren't supposed to teach lessons during morning study but the Valdez family called and asked for us to teach them at 10:00am so we asked our zone leaders and they said it was okay. We taught them about families and teaching your children about the gospel and about Jesus Christ. We used the scriptures Mosiah 4: 14-15 and Proverbs 22:6. It went really well and they enjoyed the lesson! I am excited to see if they come to church on Sunday! Later in the day we met this guy and we taught him about the pamphlet of the restoration. A member joined in on the lesson because they were just passing by and they were friends. The lesson was great and we are going back next Saturday to teach! I also found out the the guy we taught has a brother in Connecticut. He lives in West Hartford CT. Their last name is Valasco. Small world haha. The member that was with us was Brother Claveria, he is an less-active member. He invited us to his home and we taught him, his kids, and their friends haha. A lot of people! We taught them about the importance of church attendance and they liked it! Hopefully they go to church tomorrow. Only the father is a member. We went the the Cabe's house to teach them but the uncle, the adult figure in the house, wasn't home so we couldn't teach because it was just the 2 daughters and the son. There is a video I took of the son playing a Star Wars song on an app on his tablet! It was so cool! He is really good at it too! We ended the night at the Alafriz's house but they were so busy with there business that we couldn't teach them. We live close to a big basketball court and that's where they live and work and it's basketball season here so they are really busy. We just talked to them because Brother Alafriz was busy.
November 13, 2016: Sunday! I love Sundays! Before church starts us missionaries greet everyone. We had the Alafriz family and Valdez family attend church today! Our investigators are so awesome! The sacrament meeting talks were all about the gospel of Jesus Christ and Elder Wenceslao was one of the speakers! He did a great job! They all did. After we had Brother Valdez and Sister Alafriz come to Gospel Principles. I joined them while Elder Pitt joined the youth because that's where their kids are. Gospel Principles went well that they were both very attentive. I got to explain the 1st vision to them too and I thought it went pretty well. I'm glad to see them progressing. For 3rd hour the Valdez family had to go home. I am glad they stayed for 2 hours because that is very good for an investigator! The Alafriz family stayed the whole time. Sister went to Relief Society while Gwen, her daughter, went to young women. Tony-boy went to primary and Sunday school. They enjoyed it and Gwen mad a lot of new friends which is great for her. We ate lunch at Abra Miki because they let us eat free and it is always so good! Our first stop of proselyting is Nanay Zennis house to pick up the water. We got our drinking water from her. Then to a referral we got from Nanay Zenni, named Sister Nova. We couldn't teach her because he husband wasn't home. We went to see Brother Prado next and he was home so we got to teach him! We taught him about the apostasy and prophets. Elder Pitt did a great job of testifying after the message and did a great job of extending an invitation to get baptized. He agree to the invitation and we set a date for December 24th. He is really old so I hope he can make it to church next Sunday! We had an appointment with the Pagaduan Family, who I talked about a while ago and we met them on like my 1st or 2nd day. They asked for us to come back and we did but the father wasn't home so we couldn't teach the mother and daughter. This happens a lot so we are used to it haha. We just got to know them some more and talked about the church and answered their questions. The daughter is very smart! She knows like 3-4 languages and is good a math! It was ice to talk with them. We will return to them sometime this week. We ended the day at the Alafriz's house again but like last night they were too busy again. We are going to try to figure out a better time to teach them. After we ate free dinner at Abra Miki haha. It is so good!
That was my week! I want you all to do your best to find the missionaries in your ward and do something special for them! They work really hard, at least I hope so, and they deserve to be helped in their work. You can help them by going teaching with them, giving them referrals, of feeding them. Anything helps! :) Thanks! Email me also! I'd love to hear about your week. I'm loving it out here and it keeps getting better! I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!
Letter from November 6th
October 31, 2016: It's Halloween! They don't really celebrate it here though. They have day of the dead tomorrow and Wednesday. Today is my 1st p-day in the mission. We got out studying done and in 12 weeks Elder Pitt had me practice teaching one of our investigators about promising blessing when extending commitments. It went well. We started out p-day by going to the computer place and emailing out family and friends for an hour and a half. After this we went to Candon to go grocery shopping. We got food for breakfast and lunch with some snacks. We ate lunch at McDonald's too haha. After all of this we went home to relax until 6:00. I started to read 'Way To Be' by Gordon B. Hinckley and it is really good! We started to proselyte at 6:00. I love proselyting! We found 2 new investigators! The Cabuslay family. They own this store/restaurant place and are really nice. We are gonna visit them again on Thursday. Around 8:00 we went to our nightly appointment with the Alafriz family. This time we taught about prayer and they both prayed in our lesson which is awesome! We also let them know why we are teaching them and that are here for them. The lesson went really well. The spirit helped a lot! Sis Alafriz said she is looking for a church to believe in for her and her family to grow in and learn... especially her kids. This family is great! I am really happy for them!:) They have blessed me so much!
November 1, 2016: Twas a good day! We studied how to do a baptismal question/invitation during study time. It was really helpful. We went to Nanay Zenni's house @ 11:30 for lunch. It was wild haha. She is a very jolly person and very happy. She fed us well and kept us entertained. She had us there till 1:30. We started proselyting and gave out quite a bit of restoration pamphlets. A lot of people weren't home though because today is the day of the dead. Around 3:30 we taught the Oberita family in San Antonio. The lesson went really well. They liked it and accepted to meet again! A new investigator! YAY! We taught an old man, Fe, right across the street. His kids are members but he isn't. I is another new investigator for us now. I'm excited to teach him some more! After that we realized that we forgot to do our daily goals so we made some and asked in a prayer specifically 3 new investigators. A couple and the a single person. We continued to walk down the street and we came across this man doing yard work. His name is Mario. He accepted out invitation to teach him. So we got to know him and introduced ourselves like every other lesson and then began to teach him about The Book of Mormon and he told us that some of his family in America are members. They have been asking him to go to church. So we did just that... we invited him to church on Sunday and he said he will be there and that we can meet some more right after church! The spirit was definitely helping in our lesson! I'm excited! We continued to walk towards the end of the road we asked to teach a lesson to this young couple with 2 young kids. Their home was torn apart from the last typhoon but it inspires me how happy they still are! I love it! They agreed to be taught and the lesson was well. They didn't seem 100% interested but they agreed to have us return! That's good. God answered our prayers! We got a couple and a lone investigator in like an hour! It's amazing what prayer and the spirit can do! At the end of the day we taught the Alafriz family. I love this family. We taught the 1st two principles in the restoration pamphlet which are about God, and families. Their 8 year old son, who is really interested, was there too! We also talked about baptism and going to church. Sister Alafriz promised to go with her kids but Brother Alafriz isn't sure yet... I hope he decides to in the future. It was a pretty good day!
November 2, 2016: I love the mission field! We headed to Santa Maria so Elder Pitt could do a surprise check on the other elders in out district because he is out district leader. After, at about 10:30, we got home and and did companion and language study for 30 mins total. Then did personal study for an hour. I love personal study! After I started my laundry and let me tell you... it is hard to do laundry by hand! It takes a long time too! I started to read 'The Teachings of Presidents of The Church. Ezra Taft Benson.' and it is really interesting and fun to read! For lunch Elder Pitt made us all Chicken Cicig (or Sisig) and it is a really good Filipino food! At the beginning of proselyting time we headed went to Pantoc Barangay (It is what we call neighborhoods in America). We went there to see Brother Amante Leones, who we plan to take teaching with us tomorrow night with the Cabuslay family and Alazriz family. I'm excited to teach with him tomorrow! We went on our way and handed out more pamphlets, talked to people, and tracked till about 6:30. We headed to the Cabuslay Family home to teach and follow us but we had to reschedule because the husbands child is in the hospital and they were busy calling her and the doctor. On the way to the Alafriz family to teach we stopped by 7-Eleven and got a quick snack and on my way out this little kid came up to me with his hand out and I gave him a high five but I guess he was asking for money... He pretended to have a heart attack on the floor and then got right back up... It was kind of weird haha. We got to meet their child Gwen, who is 12, and we haven't met her yet because she has been living with her aunt so today they dropped of their 10 year old daughter with the aunt in another town and picked up Gwen. We taught the family about the apostacy, Jesus Christ establishing his church, and Joseph Smith. Sis Alafriz is loving it and is starting to gain a testimony of it but Bro Alafriz not so much. He is a very strong Catholic so he will take more time and we invite him to pray and ask about out message and it's truthfulness. They are a great family and are growing and I am excited to see where these lessons go in the future! :)
November 3, 2016: Today is weekly planning day. We spent 2 hour planning for the upcoming week. We set goals, talk about investigators, and have companionship inventory. I had some time to read more of the teachings from Ezra T. Benson and I enjoy learning about him and his teachings. We went to eat lunch at Brother Marco's restaurant, Abra Miki. I got chicken alfredo with fries. It was SO good! We then began proselyting and went to Ravidavia Barangay which is so far! We walked there and we met a guy named Michael, or Mike for short. He was really nice and let us teach and talk to him. Throughout the lesson some of his friends joined. They all liked the lesson and said we can come back and teach them! After this we met with some members and just talked and made sure they were all right and asked if they needed any help. We stopped by the Crisolo family home. They are really nice to us. They went to Nanay Zenni's house. While we were there she gave us a referral, which is awesome! Then we visited Brother Bob, who always buys food and drinks for us haha. They are all doing great! I love the members in the Narvacan Ward. We also went to Brother Amante's house because we are going to have him teach our investigators for the rest of the night. He is awesome and knows a lot about the gospel! We planned on going to the Cabuslay home to teach because they are our investigators but they were not home... So we went to the Alafriz family. As always they are amazing! We taught them about Joseph Smith and about the Book of Mormon. They said they enjoyed it and will read the B of M and pray to know if it is true. After we brought Brother Amante home and returned to our house.
November 4: 2016: What a long day... We had zone training @9:00 but we had to be there @8:00 because Elder Pitt had a meeting. It went till 2:30. President Bangal came to it as well and we got to hear from him! He talked about obedience because some missionaries are not as obedient as he would like them to be. He is new to being a mission president and doesn't like disobedience. He shared something that I liked... He said "Why did God make Moses go to the top of the really high mountain? Instead of just calling Moses to the bottom? It is because we have to give effort for Gods gifts!" It was really good! At the end they bought us Jollybee's and McDonalds. Jollybee is the Filipinio version of McDonalds. It took us an hour to get back to Narvacan from Candon. Once we got home we got all our stuff together and started proselyting. We tried to teach an old man, we taught him once, who's name is Fe. But this time he wasn't as interested. We wont give up on him though. We tried to visit the Obierta and Pudol family but they were all busy.:( Around 6:00 we went to our MCM meeting, which is where the missionaries meet with the ward mission leader, Brother Leones, and the ward missionaries, only the Mina boy came. A common phrase in the Philippines is to say 'Nose Bleed' when Americans speak English to Filipinos and they don't understand or when Filipinos speak Tagalog to an American and they don't understand... During the meeting they were all speaking Tagalog and I can't understand Tagalog yet and my nose actually started to bleed! haha! It was funny! After we went to the Mina family's house and had Family Home Evening and Dinner. It was awesome! We met the Mina family who are amazing and the Ruiz couple were also there! Brother Ruiz is super funny and nice to us missionaries! It was a great Family Home Evening!
November 5, 2016: Another good day. For Personal, Companion, 12 weeks, and Language Study I was super tired and almost fell asleep a lot! But I learned a lot as well! We had a big lunch that Elders Wencesloe and Pitt made because tomorrow is Fast Sunday! Elder Pitt and I planned to start fasting at 4:00pm. We had a lot planned for the day but a lot of people weren't home! We met Sister Nera and she told us that she would like to do our laundry! YAY! Doing laundry is hard by hand here and takes a solid 3 hours. We will pay her too. We also met her children. She has 7 kids and they are all so sweet!We triked to Rivadavia to see if our investigator Mike was home but he wasn't. We were informed by the bishop that there is a less-active in this area so we found her house with the help of a local kid and he looked into the window and told her the "Mormon Missionaries are here" and she ran and hid!... Not sure why though. We walked all the way back to Santa Lucia, where we live, and on the way me gave pamphlets to this really nice family! They were a big family too! We went to visit some investigators next. The Calixterio family was first on our list. Unfortunately this time Sis. Calixterio wasn't very interested... She was with some friends and family and they were all girls. While we were there some of the younger girls asked if we were taken haha. It was funny! Girls here love Americans! After this we stopped at a bakery to get a quick snack before our fasting began. The bakery food was good. We later met with the Melo family for the 1st time. They have to daughters and a son and then the father. The father and daughters are members, but not the son. When Elder Pitt went to enter the home their dog attacked him and bit his thigh! It didn't puncture the skin though which is good. He was alright though. It was nice getting to know this member family. We went to another member family. The Cabe family. They have 2 daughters also, a son, and just the father. The oldest daughter is super excited to go on a mission. She hasn't started papers yet but she really wants to serve a mission which is awesome! We taught them a lesson about Alma and Amulek. Just like Dieter F. Uchtorf's talk in General Conference. It went really well! We ended the night with the usual Alafriz Family. This time we focused on the father. We BRT'd (Build a Relationship of Trust) and he liked it. We also asked him not to drink during our lessons and he agreed. The spirit was strong during our lesson. He was able to be a part of it fully because he didn't drink and I think it helped him! We invited them to church and I hope they come! We will find out tomorrow...
November 6, 2016: It's Sunday again! At church we were looking for 2 of our investigators to come. Mario and the Alafriz family! Mario showed up early and he was happy to be there. The Alafriz family was a little late but i'm just glad they were there. The husband wasn't there though... :( Today is Fast Sunday which means fast and testimony meeting! Because Elder Pitt and I didn't get to introduce our selves we are gonna do it today. Elder Pitt was the first to go the the stand and bare his testimony and then me. I brought a little paper with me that has my thoughts in Tagalog so everyone will understand. We both sat with Brother Mario. I was super happy to be able to sit with Brother Mario and explain sacrament meeting to him! At the end he said he enjoyed it but doesn't wanna got to 2nd or 3rd hour of church until he reads more of the Book of Mormon. He is doing great though! The Alafriz family really enjoyed sacrament meeting too! Especially the mother and little 8 year old boy! A lot of people thanked me for my testimony and they were surprised at the amount of Tagalog I knew but then they saw the paper when I got off the stand but said that the really appreciate the effort to translate it all to Tagalog for them to understand. I love this ward! We joined the youth for 2nd hour and Sis Alafriz went with her baby to nursery. The 8y/o went to primary. We love being with the youth and gaining a better relationship with them! We went to elders quorum next. After church we asked the Alafriz family how they liked it and the 8y/o loved it! He want's to come back every Sunday! The mother liked it too. For lunch we went to Brother Marco's restaurant, 'Abra Miki Republic'. Missionaries get free Miki every Sunday and soft drinks too! It was SO good! After lunch we went home and had P, C, 12W, L Study time. It went well. At 3:00 we started proselyting. We started by going to Nanay Zennis house to ask her about the referral she gave us and to tell her about how good her sons restaurant is! She loves having us! We then went to set up a date to meet with Sis Nova, Nanay Zennis referral. Once that was set we went to visit with Brother Bob. He is so nice to us! We asked if we could help him in anyway but he said he was good. We love talking with him. After that we went to meet Sister Vallentos because we didn't see her husband a church today, but on the way there we say this mother with her 2 daughters moving bags of coal and we asked to help them and we did. After helping them we taught them about the pamphlets we gave them and taught them a small lesson. It was good! Sister Vallentos lives right across the street. We visited her but her husband was busy in the field. It is really nice to visit members. We later went to the Melo family again because we didn't see them at church. We made sure there was no dog to bite Elder Pitt this time haha. The family is really nice and funny. We got to teach them a lesson on the importance of service by reading one of my favorite scriptures... Mosiah 18: 8-10. It is a really good section about service. It definitely brought the spirit into their home. We finished are appointments with the Alafriz family. We got to ask them about their thoughts on church with the father there. Also we informed them about the upcoming lessons which will now be on the Plan of Salvation and the pamphlet that goes with is. When we said that the 8y/o boy got really excited and happy! He is such a good kid He even said the closing pray for us! We had to end the lesson early because we had to go to the Abra Miki Restaurant again with the other elders to end our night. I love the food there! Then we headed home and planned for the next day.
Thanks for reading this! I hope you are all doing great! Please feel free to email me and let me know how you are doing:)
-Elder Scott
Letter from October 30th
Hello Everyone! It has been a while since I have sent out an email. That's because I have been traveling from Provo, to the Philippines and then to my first area. It has been a lot of fun! Sorry about the super long email but there has been a lot going on. If you just want to read about my new area then go to October 25. Well how are your families? How are your lives going? Email me and let me know because I wanna knew!:) Here goes my email...
October 14, 2016: Today is Infield Orientation Day. We have this from 8:00am-5:30pm... It's going to be a LONG day! The point of this orientation was to prepare us for the field. What we learned about 'Teaching People and Baptizing Converts'. There is this story about Thomas S. Monson when he was a mission president for the Ontario Mission. Here is how it goes... While he was the mission pres he would always get emails from missionaries asking to not have to serve in the Kingston, Ontario area. They were asking not to serve there because there hasn't been a baptism there in 6 years and they thought it wouldn't change. So Monson had this great idea! He decided to remove that area from the mission for a while. Later on that year, he told all the missionaries a story. it was the story of how there is this town in their mission that Brigham Young passed through and baptized 45 people in 40 day! Monson decided not to tell them the name of the town because everyone still wouldn't want to go there. Because of the example of Brigham Young, these missionaries had a changed attitude and changed expectation and when they went to the 'new area' (aka Kingston). When they went there to serve it because the highest baptizing area in that mission! This shows what you can do with the right attitude and great expectations! We also learned about Goal Setting & Planning, Finding and Working with Members. Working tith members is key! They give so many referrals to missionaries and that is key! Later in class we taught out investigator Josephine for our lesson all we did was really get to know her and find out what she is having trouble with, which helped both us and her a ton! We asked her to get baptized like every other past lesson but this time she said YES!!! yay!! Elder Warner did a great job!
October 16, 2016: I had my last branch meeting at 7:00am. Sacrament meeting was great! It is our last MTC Sunday! Each speaker spoke on 'Enduring to The End'. All current Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and District Leaders got released. The new ZL's were called as well as the DL's and STL's. I happy with the choices the branch presidency made. These missionaries will make great leaders! I learned that when we leave, we'll have 3 new districts come it! 28 missionaries and 13 of them being sisters! That's a lot more than we are used to! During our mormon message watch time we watched this video called something like 'hope' or something like that but it is like a TedTalk but on mormonchannel.org. The guy in the video had some great quotes I'd like to share with you all... "Will this matter in a thousand years? If not, don't do it!" "What are you worried about right now that wont matter in a thousand years?" Stop worrying about it and do something about it!" He also gave a quote by Steve Harvey saying... "Gifts and talents are different. Talents are, for example, being funny. While gifts are, for example, the ability to decode words and phrases to be funny!" These are all great quotes that I liked from this video. The temple walk was amazing! I took some more pictures and got to know the newer districts even more. I sure do love these new districts! They are great! October 18, 2016: Today is our last full day at the MTC! It went by so fast! For service we did a lot of small jobs. For exercise time we played sand volleyball and it is so fun haha! We had our last lesson for Bing today. We taught about prophets and then said our goodbyes. The devotional we had was by Elder Robins (President of the 70). He told us this story about a missionary who was an assistant to the principle and he went to this meeting that was about a missionary who was disobedient and they were deciding if he should be sent home or not. Two of the leaders said that he should... but when is came to this missionaries turn he said not to have him leave. He will take the disobedient as his companion for the rest of his mission in order to change him. Because of that he was blessed and changed the missionaries life! It's a great story. I had to meet with Brother Eddington (who is new to the branch) and he was telling me about a phrase called 'Holy Cow'... meaning 'Holy Ghost + C:companion O:obedience W:work hard.' This was cool!
October 19, 2016: Today is the Big Day! We woke up @5:15 thinking that there would be an endowment session @6:00but after we RAN to the temple we found out the the earliest session is @7:00! We had to wait till then. When 7:00 came along we met with Elders Leone, Bell, Atkinson, Vance, Gross, & Robertson. The endowment session was amazing! After the temple we went back to the MTC and put our luggage in our assigned travel room and were ready to go. We still had till 1:50 though. For the last little bit I spent a lot of time with the 3 new districts and my own district. I'm gonna misss everyone! So it was time to go... We hopped on the charter bus and headed for the train station. The train station led to another station and then to another until we got the the airport haha. I'm not sure why they moved us this way... but thats how it was. When we got to the airport we found a place to to set our bags with another elder and tried to find a phone. What I didn't mention was that for traveling I was placed with another companion instead of Elder Warner. I was put with Elder Atkinson. He is amazing! He is one of my closest friends here in the mission so far. We went to go find phones to call our families. I loved calling my family! It was awesome to hear their voices again! I got onto the plane towards LAX... On the plane I did a lot of sleeping haha. When we got to LAX Elder Atkinson and I were hungry so we went and got so Panda Express. We were at this airport for about 3 hours. I didn't get to call my family again because LAX got rid of all their payphones! We boarded the plane to Hong Kong. It was a GIANT plane!!! We had TV's on the plane but it wasn't useful because we couldn't use them haha. Elder Atkinson and I slept for 12 out of the 15 hours we were on the flight! It was super helpful! The Hong Kong airport is HUGE! They have like 500+ gates haha! We got McDonalds while we were there and it said it was $34 and we were like WHAT?! but then we realized 1 US Dollar is the equivalent of 7 Dollars in Hong Kong haha. I called my family again and talk with mom for another hour. It is super nice talking to everyone! After the call we had to board the plane towards Manila. It was only a 2 hour flight! the Philippines is BEAUTIFUL!!! When we got off the plane we could instantly feel the humidity haha. It is extremely humid here. We got our luggage, met the MTC Pres and loaded our luggage into vans. The MTC is only like 30 mins away from the airport... but because traffic is trerrible and there are no traffic laws, it took us an hour and half to get there! We were in a charter bus the whole way. They gave us a little snack and it was amazing! We could tell when we got to the MTC because we could see the Temple! It is gorgeous! When we got to the MTC we were shocked at how small it is! The Provo MTC holds 3,000 missionaries while the Manila MTC holds only 200!! The meals we got when we got to the MTC are amazing! We have rice with EVERY meal haha! It is all so good! Well this is all under October 19th but by now its really the 21st because we skipped an entire day by flying of the time zone change. It was quite the journey and a great experience! I can already tell I'm gonna love it here.
October 22, 2016: Today was a lot of fun! The best part of the day was proselyting! We went to a near ward building and met with some Manila missionaries. Elder Warner and I got to Proselyte with a missionary from Kiribati or kitabes or something like that... I just don't know how to spell it. He has only been out here for 3 month! He did a great job teaching us though and knows Tagalog really well! We started by praying and planning the 3 hours we were proselyting for. Then we walked to his area. His area was close to the ward building. Here in the Philippines us white guys stand out haha! Everyone notices us! I loved proselyting because we got to see and talk to a lot of little kids or mga anak! They all call us 'Joe' or 'Americanos' haha. They love giving us high fives too! We talked to a lot of people and got like 6 new people who wanna learn more! We were so happy! The homes here are tiny and cramped! But everyone is so happy! I love it! Everyone has flat screen tv's though which is kinda strange haha. When we got new people to teach we have to memorize where they live because there are no addresses here... we have to write down things that we could notice in the future to help us to find our way back to their home. This culture is gonna change me... and I can't wait to experience 2 years of it! I love it here so much!
October 23, 2016: Today is Sunday! We watched an old devotional by Elder Bednar. There was no specific topic to it. During the devo he had given out 200 phones to missionaries in the Provo audience and had them text in questions. He did a great job at answering all of the questions! We had a class to learn about the Philippines culture. We leaned about the people, food and the lifestyle. For priesthood session we had Elder Graham volunteer to teach us about Christlike Attributes. he had us think of the attribute we are best at and define it. Then he had us write down the attribute we would like to work on and define it as well. It was a good lesson. You should all do the same and do your best to work on the attribute you want to improve on. We had sacrament meeting later in the day due to the amount of missionaries. The talks were about Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, and the Holy Ghost. They were all great! At the end of the day the MTC Pres and his wife had a devotional for us and it was a good devotional but it was super long! It was supposed to be only an hour but ended up being 2 and a half hours long! Once the MTC president got the mic, he didn't take a single breath haha. He kept talking. But the meaning was good.
October 24, 2016: Today was a normal day. One day closer to being in the field! Most of the day we were in class practicing teaching, learning the language, learning grammar, or studying. We had TRC and we had a good lesson! We taught about Christlike Attributes and they loved it. We ended the day with another devotional about being a good missionary and preparing for the field.
October 26, 2016: What a day! I woke up @5:00 to get ready to leave for Baguio! YAY! We had to leave by 6:00. Elder Atkinson and I got into a van with all the luggage while everyone else was in a separate van. We got to sin in the front by the driver and it was scary haha! I got a video of how a little bit of traffic works here. You can go check it out on the google drive page. We thought we were gonna be in the van for 8 hours to Baguio but then we realized we weren't when we go the a charter bus place. We unloaded and then loaded onto the bus. Most of the bus ride I was attempting to sleep haha. 8 hours later we arrived at the Mission Office and Mission President's home. Once we got there Brother and Sister Therman, the office elderly people workers, had us drop our bags off the the side and then head into the office to fill out paperwork, take a picture, get our signature, and email our parents. They are super nice! After all of that we each had a 1-on-1 interview with the Mission President, President Bangal. My interview went great. He is a great mission pres! He is super happy, nice, and funny haha. His wife, Sister Bangal, then invited us to eat lunch/dinner. We went into her home and ate spaghetti with fried chicken. It was sooo good! After we ate we got to hear from the AP's, office staff, and the President and his wife. The meeting was about the rules and mission stuff. After that meeting we ate again haha! We had pizza and then ice cream. The ice cream was SUPER good! Sister Bangal is too good to us missionaries! We ended the night with testimony meeting and then heading the the rooms. They have this building reserved for the young office staff and the AP's. It was crowded there and super hot/humid but it was great. I had a fan right next to me so I wasn't too hot.
October 27, 2016: Today I get to meet my trainer and finally go out to the field! We had to be up and ready for the day by 7:30 to eat with the president and his wife. She gave us eggs, rice, and spam for breakfast. After breakfast we headed down towards the ward building, which was right next door. At the ward building we had a little orientation from the AP's about our training in the first 12 weeks. Then we got to meet President Bangal's counselors. One of the counselors, President Boone, spoke to us and he was inspiring and super cool! He knows any and all things about church history and also knows a lot about sports, cars, and almost all of history! Wow! All of the trainers walked in and sat down. The AP's then presented a slide show type thing showing us who our trainers were. It went by alphabetical order in the last name and I was 2nd to last to find out. My trainer and new companion is Elder Pitt! He is a white guy from Washington State, likes snowboarding, basketball, and music. He has 3 older sisters. He's is a pretty cool guy! After getting to know each other we ate lunch. We then said our goodbyes and got ready to head to the bus. Elder Pitt and I are taking a charter bus to our new area. We are a part of the Candon Stake and the Narvacan Ward. It takes 3 hours to get there from the mission home. Throughout the ride Elder Pitt and I got to know each other. I had asked if they knew before hand who their trainee would be and he said they knew who it would be but he said that he wasn't supposed to get me... He was to have Elder Pason, a Filipino, but after the interviews yesterday with the Mission President, the pres changed everyone around. That is how inspiration works. I'm glad I'm with Elder Pitt. He is going to help me a ton and bless my life as a trainer. We got to our home around 4-5:00. Elder Pitt told me that is was a nice home compared to others. It has a running shower and toilet, a nice kitchen, and big rooms. Elder Pitt and I did some planning next. We also did companionship inventory. We told each other our goals and what we want to work on so we can help each other. Around 7:00 Elder Pitt had to leave for a meeting because he is a newly called District Leader! I stayed back with the two room mates, who are Filipino. They are really funny haha. They had a dinner appointment at the wards 1st counselor's house. They fed us fish, with vegitables, and rice. But this fish was different... it was the entire fish and it was weird for me to eat. It tasted great but looked weird haha. They were really nice to me. They don't know much english so Elders Wencesloe and Alberez helped my with translating. After dinner we went back and as I was unpacking I found a note with a pack of Starburst's on my bed hiding behind my suitcase. it read "Welcome to the mission. You'll probably miss American food soon. ...Eat Sparingly..." haaha! It was from Elder Pitt. He is an amazing companion and cares so much for me! I'm am so greatful to have him as my companion.
October 28, 2016: Another great day in the mission! We woke up and I did all my preparing and studying from 8-12 with Elders Alverez and Wensesloe. In personal study I studied the story about Ammon and Aaron taught Lamoni and converted him. It is a really good scripture! We had planned to wait for Elder Pitt for return around 2:00 but he said he wasn't gonna be home till late. So we went on our way to introduce me to members that the other two Elder;s knew were close by. They introduced me to Brother's Marco, Bob, Liberato, Jerico, and Rambo. I also met Sister's Yoley and Joane. The families I met were the Saridad family and the Crisolo family. They are so amazing and kind! I loved visiting the Crisolo family. We met with the Grandma, son(19), and daughter(16). We shared a message about Mosiah 18:8-9. The spirit was so strong and the message was so powerful to them! The daughter, Joy, even cried! The whole day we met with member. The last member we met with fed us too. It was really nice of them! Elder Pitt got home right after the dinner. By this time my companion and I have only had 4 hours together haha but we have 12 ahead of us!:)
October 29, 2016: WOW! What a day! We did the same prep and practice as the previous morning. Every morning has the same schedule when you are a trainee. I love it! Personal study is the best! @1:00 we went to meet Bishop Daquel and the Stake President. They live a little further than most of the members. We got there and they weren't home... so we went to visit the former bishop who lives close by. His name is Brother David. He is a great guy with great knowledge. He fed us a sandwiches with cheese in them. They use 'Chees Wiz' for sandwiches. It was actually pretty good! After this visit, we split up. The other companionship went to visit a member they are teaching and we tracted. We love tracting! We taught 38 people! We tracted from like 4-7. We didn't teach them full lessons, we taught them about the pamphlet we gave them and invited them to read it. We invited everyone to come to our church too! Hopefully some will come! @7:00the former bishop had a get together dinner at his house with a ton of the ward members and families. It was a lot of fun! I loved spending time with the Filipino kids!:) It was a good day. I also got to use my bubbles that my mom sent me with little kids here and they love bubbles haha!
October 30, 2016: Sunday!!! YAY!! It is my 1st Sunday in the feild. Church starts @8:00 here. We woke up, ate, and got ready and headed to church at around 7:15. We had to take a trike to get to work because to it's a little bit of a ways away. In sacrament meeting Elder Pitt and I didn't have to introduce ourselves and bare our testimonies because there was a primary program. It was SO cute! :) When the bishop spoke after the program I had to have Elder Pitt help translate because I don't understand the Tagalog or Ilocano that he was speaking haha. For 2nd hour Elder Pitt and I joined the youth in Sunday School. It was a great way for us to connect with the youth! The youth here love American Missionaries! In class the teacher handed out a test on the Book of Mormon and some of the youth got better grades than Elder Pit and I. We took one test for the both of us haha. The youth here are amazing! For 3rd hour there was a combined meeting with everyone in the ward. It was to watch a video sent from the Philippines Area Presidency. They talked about doing service before this upcomming Christmas. Bishop handed out an 'Ornament Service Kit' where we cut our the ornament paper and write what we are going to do for service that day and then hang it on your tree. I thought it was pretty cool! After church had ended we talked with some of the members we don't know yet. We talked with Brother Leones, who is the ward mission leader, and set a time later today to go by his house and meet with him and his family to get to know them. We were talking to the youth too and 3 of the sister youth asked to take pictures with Elder Pitt and I haha! They love Americans here which is awesome! We went back to the appartment and had 30 mins till lunch time. I took a little nap. For lunch Elder Pitt made oatmeal and it was so good! It was honey and banana flavored. We then had 30 mins each of Personal, Companion, 12 Weeks, and Language Study. It went really well! @3:00 we went to Brother Leones' house to meet his family. While Elder Pitt spoke with him and I tried to listen and understand, I also played with the kids and showed them magic tricks as well as bubbles haha. I like little kids here! After this visit we went the the Cambe's house who live ing the same neighborhood. Brother Cambe is the 1st councelor in the bishopric. They are super nice to the missionaries. I was talking with Nanay Cambe (we call the elderly ladies nanay) and she told me about her daughter who lives in Sacramento California and is in a spanish ward!!! My sister is serving in Sacramento CA and is speaking spanish! No Way! We went to Brother Amante Leones, who is the brother of the other Brother Leones, and we found out he loves missionary work but hasn't had the chance to do any latley. So we invited him to teach with us sometime and he loved that idea! He has a very strong testimony and I am excited to see how he changes peoples lives! Next we tracted some more because we had no more appointments. We met a lot of people and handed out a lot of pamphlets. We met this 83 year old man and found out that he is a member but hasn't attended church in 15 years! We taught him about the importance of church attendance and read some scriptures and invited him to come to church next Sunday! He said he will do his best to try. I hope he comes! Later in the night around 7:55 we got back to our area near our appartment and had an 8:00appointment with our new investigators, the Alafrez family. They read the pamphlet and the intro to the Book of Mormon and they respected them both. We taught about how God sent his sone to the earth over 2000 years ago. And about how we are here for them and want to help them. They seem interested but they are a little hesitent to leave their Catholic religion. They don't attend church but they do read the bible a lot. We invited them to go to our church and maybe give them a tour of the church but the husband has his shop and doesn't wanna loose money. We made them a promise that is they desire to learn more and got to the church that God will provide a way for them to do both. So we came up with the idea of having one parent go this Sunday and the other go the following Sunday and he liked that idea! I'm excited for them! We will teach them tomorrow again and hopefully we can continue to help them grow. I am super excited for this family!
Well that was my last 2 weeks. Thank you all for reading it and supporting me! I hope you have a wonderful week because I am here! Love you all! God loves you! If you wanna send packages or letters I have a new address... Thanks again:)
-Elder Scott
Address:
Letters:
PO Box #115
Brgy. Lingsat, San Fernando
2500 La Union
Philippines
Brgy. Lingsat, San Fernando
2500 La Union
Philippines
Packages:
LDS Chapel National Highway
Brgy. Lingsat
San Fernando,
2500 La Union
Philippines
Brgy. Lingsat
San Fernando,
2500 La Union
Philippines
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