Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Kumusta family!!
well this week was a pretty eventful week, so first, i'll start with the Abuyog festival. ok, so the festival is this HUGE festival that last a whole week and more. and its actually been awarded to be the nations best here in the philippines for the past 2 years. i guess their festivals are judged and this won national 2 times. so it was pretty big. so on saturday, they had the main festival, which was a bunch of street dancing..parade is what youd call it...kinda. but what it is is all the kids from the schools dress up and do like a tribal dance to describe like how abuyog got its name. so they dance in the street, and thousands of people come to watch. so since its was so big, there were no people home so my companion and i got to watch. so i went, and i swear, they weren't watching the dancers...they were watching ME! im not kidding, i stand out like a red thumb! not only do they just look at me and notice that im white, but they STARE at me and stare and stare...its quite annoying! but thousands of people were there. then after all the schools performed it was time to be judged. so they went to their "fair grounds" i guess what youd call it. and so thousands of people gathered infront of this huge stage. and there were a couple of tents set up for important people it was called...Balikbayan..which means the tents are reserved for foreigners...and guess who is the foreigner?? I AM! haha so my companion and i sat in the shade while the other thousands of people sat on the Dirt and in the sun. they also fed us and gave us drinks! it was pretty awesome! and then, they had a camera crew..for the news. and they wanted to interview me...haha so i was interviewed and i'll be on the news! :/ yikes, i hope the church doesn't mind about the publicity.....haha but they asked me how i heard about the festival and what i thought and where i was from...stupid questions. so i'll be on the news here in the philippines! haha try and look up the Abuyog festival...maybe in a couple days it'll be on the internet.
so then after that, they performed again, and where judged. then they had fireworks afterwards. and i think they were actually better than the ones in america...i was quite impressed! they lasted forever! it was awesome! and since this week is festival week, there is a ton of fiestas..which is just a ton of food! and remember how i told you about the them killing the pig behind our apartment? well i found out that that is actually a butcher. and since this week is so specially, they killed a lot of pigs this week. and last night, they killed 18 pigs...so it was a little hard to sleep. and in the morning, they were all on sticks. its called Lechun Baboy which is roasted pig. (ask ryan, he'll explain). and also this week, we were at a members house. and he knows english and so he talks to me in mix of cebuano and english, which is awesome cuz i can understand him. but we were talking, and then he said "when you marry a filipina, you'll have a beautiful generation" haha i thought that was pretty funny, and i think he meant to say "If you marry.." haha
but other than that, this week was pretty eventful week, but also a hard and disappointing week. so our investigator, the one who texted us saying that she is ready for baptism, Her husband doesn't agree and doesn't want her to get baptized. so we cant baptize her until he agrees. but she really wants to be baptized. we can still meet with her and teach her. during our lesson, she started crying cuz she wanted to be baptized so bad. she really is ready, and already has a strong testimony! so we will just wait until he agrees. we're gonna try and teach her husband, but its hard cuz he's always working and they live far away. so we only have limited times to teach them. so i pray that she'll be able to be baptized.
we also have another investigator who is suppose to have a baptismal interview this week. so i hope that follows thru. so far so good, but you never know. but this week has also been a very humbling week. last week the new missionaries got here, and so i wasn't the new one anymore. and i felt like i was doing pretty well the language and was getting pretty comfortable....but not any more. i was humbled. i could barely talk at times. it was hard and frustrating. so i humbled myself, and trying to be humble and have patience. the language is coming, but slowly. im learning every day, but its hard and humbling. but its also given me the chance to come closer to my savior. and ive really been relying on him and on my testimony. one of the things that i've been really grateful this week is that i grew up in a family centered on the gospel. and having extended family in the gospel as well. cuz here, most all the members are converts, and alot of them have a spouse who is not a member or less active. or they're the only member of the church in their family. so im very grateful for families centered on the gospel. i love this work, and love bringing people unto Christ! so we are very lucky! count your blessings! :)
well, im out of time, thanks for all you your support! i love you all! and i really do miss you! i think about you all often, and am proud of you all. but i know this is where im supposed to be. and im trying to do my best and trying to forget myself and "go to work". i love you!
have a great day!
Gugma, Elder Nelson
well this week was a pretty eventful week, so first, i'll start with the Abuyog festival. ok, so the festival is this HUGE festival that last a whole week and more. and its actually been awarded to be the nations best here in the philippines for the past 2 years. i guess their festivals are judged and this won national 2 times. so it was pretty big. so on saturday, they had the main festival, which was a bunch of street dancing..parade is what youd call it...kinda. but what it is is all the kids from the schools dress up and do like a tribal dance to describe like how abuyog got its name. so they dance in the street, and thousands of people come to watch. so since its was so big, there were no people home so my companion and i got to watch. so i went, and i swear, they weren't watching the dancers...they were watching ME! im not kidding, i stand out like a red thumb! not only do they just look at me and notice that im white, but they STARE at me and stare and stare...its quite annoying! but thousands of people were there. then after all the schools performed it was time to be judged. so they went to their "fair grounds" i guess what youd call it. and so thousands of people gathered infront of this huge stage. and there were a couple of tents set up for important people it was called...Balikbayan..which means the tents are reserved for foreigners...and guess who is the foreigner?? I AM! haha so my companion and i sat in the shade while the other thousands of people sat on the Dirt and in the sun. they also fed us and gave us drinks! it was pretty awesome! and then, they had a camera crew..for the news. and they wanted to interview me...haha so i was interviewed and i'll be on the news! :/ yikes, i hope the church doesn't mind about the publicity.....haha but they asked me how i heard about the festival and what i thought and where i was from...stupid questions. so i'll be on the news here in the philippines! haha try and look up the Abuyog festival...maybe in a couple days it'll be on the internet.
so then after that, they performed again, and where judged. then they had fireworks afterwards. and i think they were actually better than the ones in america...i was quite impressed! they lasted forever! it was awesome! and since this week is festival week, there is a ton of fiestas..which is just a ton of food! and remember how i told you about the them killing the pig behind our apartment? well i found out that that is actually a butcher. and since this week is so specially, they killed a lot of pigs this week. and last night, they killed 18 pigs...so it was a little hard to sleep. and in the morning, they were all on sticks. its called Lechun Baboy which is roasted pig. (ask ryan, he'll explain). and also this week, we were at a members house. and he knows english and so he talks to me in mix of cebuano and english, which is awesome cuz i can understand him. but we were talking, and then he said "when you marry a filipina, you'll have a beautiful generation" haha i thought that was pretty funny, and i think he meant to say "If you marry.." haha
but other than that, this week was pretty eventful week, but also a hard and disappointing week. so our investigator, the one who texted us saying that she is ready for baptism, Her husband doesn't agree and doesn't want her to get baptized. so we cant baptize her until he agrees. but she really wants to be baptized. we can still meet with her and teach her. during our lesson, she started crying cuz she wanted to be baptized so bad. she really is ready, and already has a strong testimony! so we will just wait until he agrees. we're gonna try and teach her husband, but its hard cuz he's always working and they live far away. so we only have limited times to teach them. so i pray that she'll be able to be baptized.
we also have another investigator who is suppose to have a baptismal interview this week. so i hope that follows thru. so far so good, but you never know. but this week has also been a very humbling week. last week the new missionaries got here, and so i wasn't the new one anymore. and i felt like i was doing pretty well the language and was getting pretty comfortable....but not any more. i was humbled. i could barely talk at times. it was hard and frustrating. so i humbled myself, and trying to be humble and have patience. the language is coming, but slowly. im learning every day, but its hard and humbling. but its also given me the chance to come closer to my savior. and ive really been relying on him and on my testimony. one of the things that i've been really grateful this week is that i grew up in a family centered on the gospel. and having extended family in the gospel as well. cuz here, most all the members are converts, and alot of them have a spouse who is not a member or less active. or they're the only member of the church in their family. so im very grateful for families centered on the gospel. i love this work, and love bringing people unto Christ! so we are very lucky! count your blessings! :)
well, im out of time, thanks for all you your support! i love you all! and i really do miss you! i think about you all often, and am proud of you all. but i know this is where im supposed to be. and im trying to do my best and trying to forget myself and "go to work". i love you!
have a great day!
Gugma, Elder Nelson
Monday, August 22, 2011
Kamusta kamo!?
hello everyone. well this week was another good week, and its really starting to fly by. so this last week was transfer week...and guess what...im not getting transfered! Elder Allanic and i are staying here in Abuyog for this transfer. which is good, because we are starting to have a lot of success. ah, this week was just a great week! and i'll tell ya why. so we have this investigator, Sister Lowelyn Ibanez, who is a referral of the Branch Presidents wife. and we've been teaching her the lessons. and she was committed to baptism on august 27, which is this week!! and so on thursday, we had weekly planning, and we receive a text, out of the blue, from Sister Ibanez. and it said (i'll translate, cuz it was in cebuano) she said"Elders, i am ready to be baptized on the 27". i couldn't believe it! i was so happy! and then we were like shoot! we haven't taught her all the lessons yet that she needs to be taught to be baptized. and in order to be baptized she needs to be interviewed by the district leader a week before the baptism. so she would've had to be interviewed on saturday (8/20) and so we had to extend the baptism to september 3rd. and she'll most likely be interviewed this week, and then be baptized next week!!!!!!!! i was so happy when we heard about that! I don't think i've felt that much joy before! I've never been this happy! and just love her, and so glad that she is making the decision to be baptized! we've had some really good lessons, and i know she is ready. she really wants to be baptized! i'm really excited! and we have more baptisms scheduled for september too, but sister Ibanez is the closest right now. so that was the joy of the week! it was awesome!
also on thursday, i experienced a murder..a murder of a pig! haha so behind our apartment, there is this pig that is super annoying, and screams and squeals really loud like at 430 AM until...well i don't think it ever stops. but its just really hard to sleep when its squealing really loud. super annoying, i''ve almost got up and killed it myself a few times. but anyways, during weekly planning, it was 3 pm, and this pig starts screaming again. and i was thinking to myself, thats weird, it usually doesn't scream at this time of day. so i got up, and looked out of the window, and saw the pig laying down with its feet tied together trying to get away. and then the guy picked up the pig and laid it on the table. then i saw him grab a knife, and he started sharping it. and while he was doing this, the pig was going crazy, and just screaming and screaming super loud, then he grabbed the pigs mouth and took the knife and stabbed the pig in the neck. and all this blood like shot out of the bigs throat, then he grabbed a bucket and drained all the blood into. and slowly, the big got quieter and quieter..until...no more pig! haha so im glad that happened cuz i can sleep better now. haha so that was a weird experience!haha
and also this week, we had district meeting, which is every two weeks in Dulag, about half hour away. and our district leader is an american, so its really fun to talk to him. and so a few weeks back when i went out splits with him, we met these kids, and i showed them a magic trick, and thats all i did. and then when i was talking to Elder Andrus (district leader) this week, he said that he met those kids again, and they kept saying.."where's elder nelson? where's elder nelson? is he ever coming back??" it was pretty funny. the little kids here love the magic tricks. i've learned a few pretty good ones that always gets em. haha
mom, that made me laugh about the van and porter! and how you fit you, and spencer on down in the car. reminded me of this place. these people just cram as many people as they can into anything.. so they have these things called tricycles, which is a motorcylce with a big side car on the side. and it can sit 6 in there comfortablly. and they use these to go to farther places of the town. and one day we got in one to go to lakdas, which is probably 15 mins away, and we were driving around town to find more passengers...and soon enough we had 6 but he kept looking. before i knew it, i started counting the people in it, and there were 14 people on this like tricylce! it was crazy!! they dont have a speed limit here! theres like no rules, its awesome! haha
also this coming week, is the Abuyog festival. which is super big and only happens once a year. and theres a lot of little stages set up everywhere with speakers. it really reminded me of dad and RMAV. and maybe itd be a good idea to open up an office here in the philippines...haha JOKE! don't do it! but it just reminded me of dad, i miss setting up speakers! haha and this saturday, is the main festival, and so we cant work on saturday cuz there won't be any people home, so we get to watch. im excited!
so yesterday, sunday, we were the speakers for sacrament meeting. and my topic was on Sacrifice. and it was a really good topic, and i really enjoyed studying it and talking about it. talked about the sacrifice of going to the temple. and talked about Pres monson's talk "A beacon to the world"i think thats what its called...from General conference. and in there it says that there is no sacrifice too big,or too hard or no price to high, to recieve the blessings of the temple. it was really good talk! and i had all their attention, which is rare, cuz during talks, they usaully are just talking with one another and not listening. but the spirit was there and what was even better, they understood me. i spoke in waray waray and cebuano, and read in english then translated me best. and the spirit did everything else. afterwards, Elder Allanic said i did really good job, and that i had their attention, and that the spirit was really strong. and another member said she loved the talk, and said that im really good with waray and cebuano. and is surprised that this is only my first area. she said im doing alot better than normal. so that made me feel good, and really grateful that the lord is blessing me with the language. my heart is full of gratitude and so thankful for the blessings. i know i couldn't do this without His help. and as i continue to be obedient, work hard, and have faith, he'll help me with the language and with the work here in abuyog. he's really blessed us with success. the previous missionaries were here for 6 months, and had no baptisms. and they didn't work. our Branch Pres. said that he is so grateful for us. and he wants us to stay here for 6 months! and said we're good missionaries. and thats cuz we work. so we've really been blessed here. and there really is a joy to missionary work. im loving it here! and i love teaching! i'm learning so much, and my testimony is growing each day! and the language is improving each day. i've experienced so many blessings and miracles! one time we were teaching an investigator and she was speaking tagalog, and i was able to understand here. idk how, but i did. and i don't even know tagalog. but i know that it was the spirit. and that Heavenly father is blessing me with the language. and i know with his help, i can do what he has asked me to do. which is to preach the gospel in "their own tongue". its still hard tho, and i still don't understand everyone. but im humble, and i know that it'll come. i love it tho. and i can feel the help from all your prayers! thank you so much! i love you all! i love this work, and i love our Savior. and i know that he loves all of us and knows of all our needs. the Church is True!
have a great week! cant wait to hear from you! :)
I love you!
mamahal,
Elder Nelson
hello everyone. well this week was another good week, and its really starting to fly by. so this last week was transfer week...and guess what...im not getting transfered! Elder Allanic and i are staying here in Abuyog for this transfer. which is good, because we are starting to have a lot of success. ah, this week was just a great week! and i'll tell ya why. so we have this investigator, Sister Lowelyn Ibanez, who is a referral of the Branch Presidents wife. and we've been teaching her the lessons. and she was committed to baptism on august 27, which is this week!! and so on thursday, we had weekly planning, and we receive a text, out of the blue, from Sister Ibanez. and it said (i'll translate, cuz it was in cebuano) she said"Elders, i am ready to be baptized on the 27". i couldn't believe it! i was so happy! and then we were like shoot! we haven't taught her all the lessons yet that she needs to be taught to be baptized. and in order to be baptized she needs to be interviewed by the district leader a week before the baptism. so she would've had to be interviewed on saturday (8/20) and so we had to extend the baptism to september 3rd. and she'll most likely be interviewed this week, and then be baptized next week!!!!!!!! i was so happy when we heard about that! I don't think i've felt that much joy before! I've never been this happy! and just love her, and so glad that she is making the decision to be baptized! we've had some really good lessons, and i know she is ready. she really wants to be baptized! i'm really excited! and we have more baptisms scheduled for september too, but sister Ibanez is the closest right now. so that was the joy of the week! it was awesome!
also on thursday, i experienced a murder..a murder of a pig! haha so behind our apartment, there is this pig that is super annoying, and screams and squeals really loud like at 430 AM until...well i don't think it ever stops. but its just really hard to sleep when its squealing really loud. super annoying, i''ve almost got up and killed it myself a few times. but anyways, during weekly planning, it was 3 pm, and this pig starts screaming again. and i was thinking to myself, thats weird, it usually doesn't scream at this time of day. so i got up, and looked out of the window, and saw the pig laying down with its feet tied together trying to get away. and then the guy picked up the pig and laid it on the table. then i saw him grab a knife, and he started sharping it. and while he was doing this, the pig was going crazy, and just screaming and screaming super loud, then he grabbed the pigs mouth and took the knife and stabbed the pig in the neck. and all this blood like shot out of the bigs throat, then he grabbed a bucket and drained all the blood into. and slowly, the big got quieter and quieter..until...no more pig! haha so im glad that happened cuz i can sleep better now. haha so that was a weird experience!haha
and also this week, we had district meeting, which is every two weeks in Dulag, about half hour away. and our district leader is an american, so its really fun to talk to him. and so a few weeks back when i went out splits with him, we met these kids, and i showed them a magic trick, and thats all i did. and then when i was talking to Elder Andrus (district leader) this week, he said that he met those kids again, and they kept saying.."where's elder nelson? where's elder nelson? is he ever coming back??" it was pretty funny. the little kids here love the magic tricks. i've learned a few pretty good ones that always gets em. haha
mom, that made me laugh about the van and porter! and how you fit you, and spencer on down in the car. reminded me of this place. these people just cram as many people as they can into anything.. so they have these things called tricycles, which is a motorcylce with a big side car on the side. and it can sit 6 in there comfortablly. and they use these to go to farther places of the town. and one day we got in one to go to lakdas, which is probably 15 mins away, and we were driving around town to find more passengers...and soon enough we had 6 but he kept looking. before i knew it, i started counting the people in it, and there were 14 people on this like tricylce! it was crazy!! they dont have a speed limit here! theres like no rules, its awesome! haha
also this coming week, is the Abuyog festival. which is super big and only happens once a year. and theres a lot of little stages set up everywhere with speakers. it really reminded me of dad and RMAV. and maybe itd be a good idea to open up an office here in the philippines...haha JOKE! don't do it! but it just reminded me of dad, i miss setting up speakers! haha and this saturday, is the main festival, and so we cant work on saturday cuz there won't be any people home, so we get to watch. im excited!
so yesterday, sunday, we were the speakers for sacrament meeting. and my topic was on Sacrifice. and it was a really good topic, and i really enjoyed studying it and talking about it. talked about the sacrifice of going to the temple. and talked about Pres monson's talk "A beacon to the world"i think thats what its called...from General conference. and in there it says that there is no sacrifice too big,or too hard or no price to high, to recieve the blessings of the temple. it was really good talk! and i had all their attention, which is rare, cuz during talks, they usaully are just talking with one another and not listening. but the spirit was there and what was even better, they understood me. i spoke in waray waray and cebuano, and read in english then translated me best. and the spirit did everything else. afterwards, Elder Allanic said i did really good job, and that i had their attention, and that the spirit was really strong. and another member said she loved the talk, and said that im really good with waray and cebuano. and is surprised that this is only my first area. she said im doing alot better than normal. so that made me feel good, and really grateful that the lord is blessing me with the language. my heart is full of gratitude and so thankful for the blessings. i know i couldn't do this without His help. and as i continue to be obedient, work hard, and have faith, he'll help me with the language and with the work here in abuyog. he's really blessed us with success. the previous missionaries were here for 6 months, and had no baptisms. and they didn't work. our Branch Pres. said that he is so grateful for us. and he wants us to stay here for 6 months! and said we're good missionaries. and thats cuz we work. so we've really been blessed here. and there really is a joy to missionary work. im loving it here! and i love teaching! i'm learning so much, and my testimony is growing each day! and the language is improving each day. i've experienced so many blessings and miracles! one time we were teaching an investigator and she was speaking tagalog, and i was able to understand here. idk how, but i did. and i don't even know tagalog. but i know that it was the spirit. and that Heavenly father is blessing me with the language. and i know with his help, i can do what he has asked me to do. which is to preach the gospel in "their own tongue". its still hard tho, and i still don't understand everyone. but im humble, and i know that it'll come. i love it tho. and i can feel the help from all your prayers! thank you so much! i love you all! i love this work, and i love our Savior. and i know that he loves all of us and knows of all our needs. the Church is True!
have a great week! cant wait to hear from you! :)
I love you!
mamahal,
Elder Nelson
Monday, August 15, 2011
Maupay ng aga! good morning..well its morning here..
well this week has been great! where to start??!
well first, thanks for all the emails! i love reading them and knowing whats going on. and as far as letters go, i have sent letters, and they say it takes over a month to get there...so wait patiently..haha mom-dad, did you get my letter? it should have arrived now. and i recieve letters like...every three months i think. thats what they told me. so i cant wait to get mail! but for now, i love the emails. i print them off so i can read them later. usually, we take about an hour on p days for email. since its just me and elder allanic here, we have a pretty open schedule. so first, i'll tell you about last p day. last pday was awesome! we went to balinsasayao...which is about 20-30mins away. and we went to this spring resort. and it was beautiful! mahusay hinduro ini! (waraywaray)
pero, so it had these beautiful pools, with clear water(which is unsual cuz its so dirty here!) and it was glass ontop. and water was PERFECT
temperature! but don't worry i didn't go swimming, i just put my feet in. but it was tempting! haha i won't ever go swimming tho. it just looked reaally nice! haha i wanted to. we also played bball. and i am amazing at bball here! cuz im taller than ever one. i don't even have to try.haha and there was another monkey here. and also the philippine eagle. i'll send pictures. but that was just really fun, and it was just a sweet resort in the middle of the jungle!
ok, so the weather here...its unpredictable! it'll be blazing hot, then it'll start raining, and then there'll be a breeze..then it'll be hot again. and you never..NEVER stop sweating! like during dinner..or breakfast in our appt, when we cook it gets really hot and its like eating in a sauna(idk how to speall it..the thing that you sit in and it makes you sweat) thats what it is like here. but this week has been nice! instead of being 90 degrees in my appartment AT NIGHT, its been 85! and its so nice! i've moved my mattress to the floor instead of the bunkbed, and its been much cooler! and as far as the seasons...i don't really know for sure cuz everyone tells me something different. but this is what i understand it to be...April and may is summer..so thats when its the hottest, then rest of the months are just hot as well, and rains here an there. and i guess December and january are the cool months! so im really exited for that weather! and sept til november are stormy months..and im excited for that as well, but as far as storms..like typhoons, they aren't too big cuz there isn't alot of pressure here or something...ambot (idk). but you are always sweating!
but on a more serious note, i have noticed that God knows every ones circumstances. these ppl are so poor, and he has provided them with tones of natural resources to provide for food, and shelter. and on saturday, we had a service project and helped build another house..or hut actually. we tore doen the roof and put a new roof on.
also this week, my mission president, Andaya, came to abuyog on thursday and worked with us the whole day! first he had to interview our investigator who is an x convict..killed a couple ppl. and so he interviewed him and now we have to get approval from the 1st presidency. so that'll take a few months i think. but i hope he can be baptised! and then we got to work with pres andaya for the rest of the day. we did our weekly planning with him, and our companion study with him. and let me tell you of some of the advice that he gave us. he talked about writing in a study journal while you do personal study, comp. study and so on so forth. and so i started to do that during personal study, and i am amazed at how much more i have learned. and i have recieved revelation from it. and its been amazing! and the spirit has been teaching me. and so im just really grateful for his advice cuz it has helped so much. so i encourage you to do the same..after reading a verse, write down what it is talking about then write down how you can apply it to your own life. and you'll be amazed at what you'll learn.!
Then, the other good thing about having pres Andaya work with us is becuase he paid for everything! he took us to the nicest resturant in Abuyog. ha so in abuyog, there is this ONE supper supper nice hotel, and inside they have a resturant. and its expensive! but he took us there and they had AIR CON too! oh it was awesome!! and he was really happy with us cuz we've been doing our best to be obedient. and he said that our appartment was really clean...and was alot better than most missionaries. mom, you proud of me? i clean my own dishes...my own clothes.."im a big boy now"ha but he did give us more advice on how to be better. you can always be better! he said that my waray was good too. which made me feel good cuz i feel like i suck! ha
and so yesterday, we were talking with a member, and she was talking about college. and asked me how many months i had left in the mission (thinking that i only had a few more months left) i told here thats its only been like a month in the field! and she was shocked cuz she said that my waray and cebuano is really good compared to most missionaries. so that was really good to hear. cuz im trying my best to exercise faith that it'll come. and tht Heavenly father will help me. and im trying to be humble. and im grateful for the help that heavenly father has given me. im still far from fluent and still cant understand everyone, but i know im improving each day with his help. and ive been writing things that im thankful for in a notebook every night, and i've seen lots of blessings from that! "count your many blessings, see what god has done". and i really am loving it here! and im getting settled in now, and have accepted that im going to be here for 2 years,and this is my life. i try my best to be teachable and to forget myself and go to work. i love the scriptures! and i love studying them! especially with a study journal. its a night and day difference. you learn so much more and recieve more revelation.
Thanks for everything! and thanks for all your prayers! i can feel the extra help from your prayers! i love being a missionary, and i am loving it here in Abuyog! and this week is transfer week! i cant believe that its already transfer. i have a feeling that elder allanic and i will stay here in abuyog but you never know. i hope we stay here. Heavenly Father has blessed us with success here, and i hope to stay to see it grow more, our sacrament attendance is increasing. and we have two baptismal interviews next week, if they follow thru. so i hope they do, and pray that they will.
i know that Heavenly Father loves us. and he loves all his children. and he knows all of our individual needs. the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the only true church on the earth. and im so grateful to be a missionary!!
thanks for everything! i love you! Nahigugma ko sa inyo! Ingat!!
Gugma,
Elder Nelson
well this week has been great! where to start??!
well first, thanks for all the emails! i love reading them and knowing whats going on. and as far as letters go, i have sent letters, and they say it takes over a month to get there...so wait patiently..haha mom-dad, did you get my letter? it should have arrived now. and i recieve letters like...every three months i think. thats what they told me. so i cant wait to get mail! but for now, i love the emails. i print them off so i can read them later. usually, we take about an hour on p days for email. since its just me and elder allanic here, we have a pretty open schedule. so first, i'll tell you about last p day. last pday was awesome! we went to balinsasayao...which is about 20-30mins away. and we went to this spring resort. and it was beautiful! mahusay hinduro ini! (waraywaray)
pero, so it had these beautiful pools, with clear water(which is unsual cuz its so dirty here!) and it was glass ontop. and water was PERFECT
temperature! but don't worry i didn't go swimming, i just put my feet in. but it was tempting! haha i won't ever go swimming tho. it just looked reaally nice! haha i wanted to. we also played bball. and i am amazing at bball here! cuz im taller than ever one. i don't even have to try.haha and there was another monkey here. and also the philippine eagle. i'll send pictures. but that was just really fun, and it was just a sweet resort in the middle of the jungle!
ok, so the weather here...its unpredictable! it'll be blazing hot, then it'll start raining, and then there'll be a breeze..then it'll be hot again. and you never..NEVER stop sweating! like during dinner..or breakfast in our appt, when we cook it gets really hot and its like eating in a sauna(idk how to speall it..the thing that you sit in and it makes you sweat) thats what it is like here. but this week has been nice! instead of being 90 degrees in my appartment AT NIGHT, its been 85! and its so nice! i've moved my mattress to the floor instead of the bunkbed, and its been much cooler! and as far as the seasons...i don't really know for sure cuz everyone tells me something different. but this is what i understand it to be...April and may is summer..so thats when its the hottest, then rest of the months are just hot as well, and rains here an there. and i guess December and january are the cool months! so im really exited for that weather! and sept til november are stormy months..and im excited for that as well, but as far as storms..like typhoons, they aren't too big cuz there isn't alot of pressure here or something...ambot (idk). but you are always sweating!
but on a more serious note, i have noticed that God knows every ones circumstances. these ppl are so poor, and he has provided them with tones of natural resources to provide for food, and shelter. and on saturday, we had a service project and helped build another house..or hut actually. we tore doen the roof and put a new roof on.
also this week, my mission president, Andaya, came to abuyog on thursday and worked with us the whole day! first he had to interview our investigator who is an x convict..killed a couple ppl. and so he interviewed him and now we have to get approval from the 1st presidency. so that'll take a few months i think. but i hope he can be baptised! and then we got to work with pres andaya for the rest of the day. we did our weekly planning with him, and our companion study with him. and let me tell you of some of the advice that he gave us. he talked about writing in a study journal while you do personal study, comp. study and so on so forth. and so i started to do that during personal study, and i am amazed at how much more i have learned. and i have recieved revelation from it. and its been amazing! and the spirit has been teaching me. and so im just really grateful for his advice cuz it has helped so much. so i encourage you to do the same..after reading a verse, write down what it is talking about then write down how you can apply it to your own life. and you'll be amazed at what you'll learn.!
Then, the other good thing about having pres Andaya work with us is becuase he paid for everything! he took us to the nicest resturant in Abuyog. ha so in abuyog, there is this ONE supper supper nice hotel, and inside they have a resturant. and its expensive! but he took us there and they had AIR CON too! oh it was awesome!! and he was really happy with us cuz we've been doing our best to be obedient. and he said that our appartment was really clean...and was alot better than most missionaries. mom, you proud of me? i clean my own dishes...my own clothes.."im a big boy now"ha but he did give us more advice on how to be better. you can always be better! he said that my waray was good too. which made me feel good cuz i feel like i suck! ha
and so yesterday, we were talking with a member, and she was talking about college. and asked me how many months i had left in the mission (thinking that i only had a few more months left) i told here thats its only been like a month in the field! and she was shocked cuz she said that my waray and cebuano is really good compared to most missionaries. so that was really good to hear. cuz im trying my best to exercise faith that it'll come. and tht Heavenly father will help me. and im trying to be humble. and im grateful for the help that heavenly father has given me. im still far from fluent and still cant understand everyone, but i know im improving each day with his help. and ive been writing things that im thankful for in a notebook every night, and i've seen lots of blessings from that! "count your many blessings, see what god has done". and i really am loving it here! and im getting settled in now, and have accepted that im going to be here for 2 years,and this is my life. i try my best to be teachable and to forget myself and go to work. i love the scriptures! and i love studying them! especially with a study journal. its a night and day difference. you learn so much more and recieve more revelation.
Thanks for everything! and thanks for all your prayers! i can feel the extra help from your prayers! i love being a missionary, and i am loving it here in Abuyog! and this week is transfer week! i cant believe that its already transfer. i have a feeling that elder allanic and i will stay here in abuyog but you never know. i hope we stay here. Heavenly Father has blessed us with success here, and i hope to stay to see it grow more, our sacrament attendance is increasing. and we have two baptismal interviews next week, if they follow thru. so i hope they do, and pray that they will.
i know that Heavenly Father loves us. and he loves all his children. and he knows all of our individual needs. the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the only true church on the earth. and im so grateful to be a missionary!!
thanks for everything! i love you! Nahigugma ko sa inyo! Ingat!!
Gugma,
Elder Nelson
Monday, August 8, 2011
4th Week - Monkeys Are Here!
Hows it going!? hows work and life going?! i love hearing from you, and from your wise wisdom and knowledge. i just wanted to tell you thank you for the way that you raised me and thank you for teaching me how to work. this is flippin hard, and i don't think i could do it if you didn't teach me how to work, but most in importantly, you taught me the gospel. and helped my testimony grow. and i am very grateful for your example! im glad that you have a desire to do whats right and to raise us, kids, in the gospel. and i really admire how you can relate almost anything to the gospel, and that is something that i want to develop.
but hope all is well, and hope every thing is good at work.tell Aaron congrats for me! that's awesome!
i love you! keep up the good work! and endure to the end. God knows our trials, and they are for our own good if we endure them well.
love you!
have a great day!
Love, Elder Nelson...the 3rd!:)
and don't worry bout my line of authority,,,,i found it and i lamented it.
Kourtnee, its awesome to hear from you! and awesome to hear those experience. i can't tell you how happy that makes me feel, hearing that you are doing the right thing. Im glad that you are having those experiences! don't ever forget them. I, too, know that Joseph smith is a prophet. his experience changed the world, changed my life, and is continueing to change the lives of theres! during the mtc, i decided to ask Heavenly Father again, if it was true, and my pray was answered as well. but it wasn't the way i expected. it wasn't at the exact time that i prayed, and it wasn't thru my prayer that it was answered. it was answered as another elder testified to me about joseph smith was a true prophet. and i felt the spirit confirm to me again that he really is a tru prophet. so we need to continue to read and pray about joseph smith, just cuz we asked once doesn't mean we're done. we need to continue. prophet david o mckay said that if we read joseph smith's first vision, we'll never fall away from the church. and i can testify that that is true! well, you should get me your email address! now that you have the evo, what an easier way to email me..whenever you want!! haha well i'm loving it here, and this week was awesome! i'll explain in my other email! thanks for your prayers! and for state, i wish you best of look. and what ever turns out, it'll be gods plan. just remember to read and study the scriptures, pray and go to church, and he'll provide everything else. and do you best! and watever turns out will be the best. he knows what will be for your good, so keep that in mind! i think you can do it! good luck! youre awesome! mahal kita!
love you!
Love, elder nelson
love you!
Love, elder nelson
4th Week - Family Letter
Hello!
well this week was awesome! and probably the best week so far. and it was just fun! First was on monday, we had FHE with the branch presidents family, and two investigators was there as well! it was so fun! i had the lesson, and i did an object lesson about trials. and it was really good! and i was so glad that our investigators showed up!the spirit was strong. and im getting better in the language...well im improving...at a very slow rate it seems like. but the members have been really good and supportive with me with the language. and are really encouraging. but after fhe, we ate...NO-OS which is also known as SQUID! yum....ha so this was my first time trying squid, and it wasn't that bad, but i definitely wouldn't eat it like candy! ha it tasted like shrimp kinda..with a little crunch in it. ha but they fried it so it was really rubbery. and one bite took me like literally 6 or 7 minutes to chew. i thought i was going to puke. but i muscled it down. then afterwards i asked elder allanic if his was hard to chew, and he said that he just swallowed the whole thing without chewing...so im wondering if i was eaithing it right. haha. so that was a fun night, i'll include pictures of it too.
then during the day, last p day, we went to tacloban to get our support ($$) and i got to see Elder wilkes and Sister Apina from my batch. and that was really nice, cuz we became so close during the mtc, and its nice to talk to them about how theyre doing in the mission field. and it was comforting to hear that they couldn't understand anyone either! so that made me feel like im not the only one that doesn't understand anyone. haha but im doing alot better now. i have really felt the help of Heavenly Father with this language. and he helps me just enough to get my message across, and to keep me humble. cuz the times when i think.."oh yeah, i got this now, i am doing good now"....lets just say i get humbled really fast. so ive been trying my best to be humble. and teachable. and he's really been helping me, and im so grateful for everything he's done for me. i count my blessings every night, and thank him for it. and because of that i've seen even more blessings.
Also this week, we had splits. and so we traveled to Dulag, which is about 30 mins or 45 mins away. and i went on splits with elder Andrus, who is from washington. so it was so nice to spend time with an american! i miss americans! haha just cuz i can understand them, and he knows what im going thru with the language and all. and so we were out finding, and we found this american!! who is from Hawaii and has lived here in the philippines for 10 years or so. and he's 65, and lives on the beach, and is a surfer bum is what he said. so he loves to serf. and so we were talking to him, and i asked him if he had any kids...and he said "yes, i have 7 kids, with 6 different wives".....i was like what?!? he said that each marriage lasted for every 5 years or so. so that was interesting. his name was tom. and so we asked if we could share a message with him, and he said that would be ok. so i was just going to share one scripture with him. so i started to share mosiah 2:41 with him and talk about the blessings that come from the gospel and following the commandments. then i had the impression to talk about Joseph smith. he said that he knew a little bit about the BOM. so during my sharing of this scripture, he seemed a little bit interested, but when i mentioned Joseph smith, he sat up in his chair and leaned forward to listen to me. i explained the first vision, and how the BOM came forth. and then i bore my testimony to him that i knew that it was true. and that we want him to read the BOM. so we gave him the BOM and he said that he would read it. the spirit was so strong and present during the lesson. and i hope he accepts it. unfortunelty, he wasn't in my area, so i probably wont ever get to see him again. but i hope the other elders keep teaching him. and the best part was...Brother Tom didn't understand cebuano..which meant he was fluent in English!!! so we taught him in english!! ah it was awesome!! i love english!!!haha so that was a really neat experience. he told us that he moved here to get away from a drug addiction. but he smokes now, and has pornagraphy tattooed all over his body. but even tho he had that, i felt protected as we taught him, and there was no temptation. so afterwards when we were walking home i was talking with elder andrus, and said that i felt impressed to talk about joseph smith, he said that he felt the same impression, and said if i didn't he would share it. so that was cool that i was able to recognize the spirit and follow it.
also, this week here in abuyog, has been a really successful week. our branch probably has an average of 65 members that regularly attend church. and our goal was to get the attendance to 80. and yesterday, our attendance was 85!! it was so awesome to see the less active there at church and some of our investigators. so i know that the lord has blessed us with success according to our obdience.that was was a miracle. and everything that we were fasting for started to come forth! ah it was awesome! im loving it here! and trying my very best to forget myself and go to work. my goals have been to be teachable and to learn as much as i can from elder Allanic. even tho we're very different, i love him, and so grateful that he is my companion. he's been a very good help with the language too!
well i got to go, i'll send pictures of the monkey that i held this week! :) I love you, MOM, DAD and family! and thanks for all your support!
hope all is well!!
I love you!
Love,Elder nelson!
ps. so how is everyone? id love to get everyones email..like kelseys, dane, grandparents..so forth..
well this week was awesome! and probably the best week so far. and it was just fun! First was on monday, we had FHE with the branch presidents family, and two investigators was there as well! it was so fun! i had the lesson, and i did an object lesson about trials. and it was really good! and i was so glad that our investigators showed up!the spirit was strong. and im getting better in the language...well im improving...at a very slow rate it seems like. but the members have been really good and supportive with me with the language. and are really encouraging. but after fhe, we ate...NO-OS which is also known as SQUID! yum....ha so this was my first time trying squid, and it wasn't that bad, but i definitely wouldn't eat it like candy! ha it tasted like shrimp kinda..with a little crunch in it. ha but they fried it so it was really rubbery. and one bite took me like literally 6 or 7 minutes to chew. i thought i was going to puke. but i muscled it down. then afterwards i asked elder allanic if his was hard to chew, and he said that he just swallowed the whole thing without chewing...so im wondering if i was eaithing it right. haha. so that was a fun night, i'll include pictures of it too.
then during the day, last p day, we went to tacloban to get our support ($$) and i got to see Elder wilkes and Sister Apina from my batch. and that was really nice, cuz we became so close during the mtc, and its nice to talk to them about how theyre doing in the mission field. and it was comforting to hear that they couldn't understand anyone either! so that made me feel like im not the only one that doesn't understand anyone. haha but im doing alot better now. i have really felt the help of Heavenly Father with this language. and he helps me just enough to get my message across, and to keep me humble. cuz the times when i think.."oh yeah, i got this now, i am doing good now"....lets just say i get humbled really fast. so ive been trying my best to be humble. and teachable. and he's really been helping me, and im so grateful for everything he's done for me. i count my blessings every night, and thank him for it. and because of that i've seen even more blessings.
Also this week, we had splits. and so we traveled to Dulag, which is about 30 mins or 45 mins away. and i went on splits with elder Andrus, who is from washington. so it was so nice to spend time with an american! i miss americans! haha just cuz i can understand them, and he knows what im going thru with the language and all. and so we were out finding, and we found this american!! who is from Hawaii and has lived here in the philippines for 10 years or so. and he's 65, and lives on the beach, and is a surfer bum is what he said. so he loves to serf. and so we were talking to him, and i asked him if he had any kids...and he said "yes, i have 7 kids, with 6 different wives".....i was like what?!? he said that each marriage lasted for every 5 years or so. so that was interesting. his name was tom. and so we asked if we could share a message with him, and he said that would be ok. so i was just going to share one scripture with him. so i started to share mosiah 2:41 with him and talk about the blessings that come from the gospel and following the commandments. then i had the impression to talk about Joseph smith. he said that he knew a little bit about the BOM. so during my sharing of this scripture, he seemed a little bit interested, but when i mentioned Joseph smith, he sat up in his chair and leaned forward to listen to me. i explained the first vision, and how the BOM came forth. and then i bore my testimony to him that i knew that it was true. and that we want him to read the BOM. so we gave him the BOM and he said that he would read it. the spirit was so strong and present during the lesson. and i hope he accepts it. unfortunelty, he wasn't in my area, so i probably wont ever get to see him again. but i hope the other elders keep teaching him. and the best part was...Brother Tom didn't understand cebuano..which meant he was fluent in English!!! so we taught him in english!! ah it was awesome!! i love english!!!haha so that was a really neat experience. he told us that he moved here to get away from a drug addiction. but he smokes now, and has pornagraphy tattooed all over his body. but even tho he had that, i felt protected as we taught him, and there was no temptation. so afterwards when we were walking home i was talking with elder andrus, and said that i felt impressed to talk about joseph smith, he said that he felt the same impression, and said if i didn't he would share it. so that was cool that i was able to recognize the spirit and follow it.
also, this week here in abuyog, has been a really successful week. our branch probably has an average of 65 members that regularly attend church. and our goal was to get the attendance to 80. and yesterday, our attendance was 85!! it was so awesome to see the less active there at church and some of our investigators. so i know that the lord has blessed us with success according to our obdience.that was was a miracle. and everything that we were fasting for started to come forth! ah it was awesome! im loving it here! and trying my very best to forget myself and go to work. my goals have been to be teachable and to learn as much as i can from elder Allanic. even tho we're very different, i love him, and so grateful that he is my companion. he's been a very good help with the language too!
well i got to go, i'll send pictures of the monkey that i held this week! :) I love you, MOM, DAD and family! and thanks for all your support!
hope all is well!!
I love you!
Love,Elder nelson!
ps. so how is everyone? id love to get everyones email..like kelseys, dane, grandparents..so forth..
Monday, August 1, 2011
3rd Week Philipines with Elder Allanic
well happy birthday to those who just had one and for those coming up...like kourtnee, dad, dane, grandpa..olivia had one right?? and this week happy birthday Brig, and next few weeks happy birthday Kelsey! i'd love to get you something, but its too expensive to send home. so you'll have to wait...21 more months! haha well, this week will be my 3rd full month and then onto the 4th! time has flown by! i feel like i've been here in the philippines for only a few days, yet again i feel like i've been here forever!
so this week was a good week, and went by pretty fast! i ate Chicken heart and chicken liver this week...on accident! so we went to this restaurant that is owned by one of the sisters in the ward, and i was tired of eating fish and steak with rice. and so i saw that they had this meal with noodles and meat..i thought it looked like meat. so i asked for that and she looked at me really weird and gave it to me. so i was really excited, so we took it home, and when we sat down to eat i put it on my plate and looked more closely...and it didn't look like meat! then i thought it looked like mushrooms, but they were too big to be mushrooms, so i asked elder allanic..What is this?? and he kindly told me "oh thats chicken heart and liver"! i was like what?!? heck no, i don't want to eat this! so i tried it,and then let elder allanic eat it. ha and it probably would've been ok if i didn't know what it was. the taste wasn't too bad, i just didn't want to eat it! ha but the food here is really good! im really starting to love rice, and fish, and every morning we cook rice with cheese filled hot dogs! its kinda like sausage here in the philippines. the hot dogs are red too, which is weird, but they're good! and every month we have to travel to tacloban to withdraw our money, and there's a mall here in tacloban with a grocery store, so we get a lot of good food for the month! and everything is so cheap!! like there's these really really yummy rolls, kinda like cinnamon rolls for 5 pesos! so cheap! thats like negative 25 cents in us dollars!haha
but this week was also a hard week. two of our investigators decided that they didn't want to listen to us. one told us that he did what we told him to do, he said that he prayed, and god told him that its not for him, and we'll both go our separate ways. so we all know thats not the right answer. then another one told us that in the bible that it says to not accept anything other than the bible (referring to Rev. 22:18 i believe) and so we gave him some scriptures to read about that, and he hasn't responded to us. but other than that, that was hard cuz i thought they were really good investigators. and another one of our investigators is an x-convict. he's killed two ppl, and one was out of self defensive. and he is seperated from his wife for 22 years, and lives with a member and they aren't married. in the philippines there's no divorce, or its just really expensive. but he wants to be baptised, but he can't until Pres. Andaya Interviews him and gets permission from the first presidency. so thats pretty crazy.
as far as the language..its coming along. its really really hard! i have to learn waray waray, cebuano, and hopefully Tagalog. and i was being too hard on myself this week, and was frustrated that i couldn't speak very well. and it was just really hard. and then last night we were teaching this girl, and she spoke waray waray, and i tried to talk and she just couldn't understand me. and she was rude about it too, giving me these weird faces, and she even said that she wanted to listen to my companion instead of me. ah, so that was really frustrating! and so we were eating dinner at a members house and i asked what i could do to learn the language, and she said "You've been here for almost 3 weeks, and you can already speak cebuano and waray pretty decently, so don't worry, you'll get it, and you'll be able to learn tagalog too". so that really turned my day around, and i realized that i was being to hard on myself. i know i won't be perfect in the language, and that it'll take time.
. and the kids here...sometimes get really annoying! every where i go..EVERYWHERE i go, the kids stare at me..and then they say hey joe, whats your name, what are you doing, where are you going, where do you live, and other things in their broken english. and sometimes i just want to grab one and chuck him into the ocean. but some of them are nice, and cute and i don't mind it. so it is a huge test of patience for me.haha
but anyways, i was wondering if you could do some favors for me..
1. can one of you..Dad or Kelsey, ask nate peters which areas he served in and which area he got the picture painted of Christ?
2.Dad, do you think you can send me my line of authority? i don't think i have it..
3. do you think you could send me a small Preach my Gospel and a pocket sized Book of mormon? my companion elder allanic really wants one, and his family is too poor to buy one, and you cant order them here in the philippines. so if you could that'd be great.
4. and Dad, do you have any ideas for object lessons? we do alot of family home evenings with members,and i want more ideas for fun object lessons.so i thought youd know of some either from your mission or some that you know of.
5.and can you send me grandma's and kelsey's email addresses? or just tell them to email me.
i wrote a letter home, and they said that it'll take 2 weeks to 1 month. so just wait patiently for it!
6. oh and what i really want are some recent general conference Editions! i think of all the things i've asked for i really just want those the most. just this last april and October, and even older ones if you have them. just a couple would be ok. thank you!!
so how is everyone? whats going on in Boise? oh and if the ward splits you gotta let me know so i can tell my mission president! and mom, i would love to read some of Coelton's emails from his blog if thats possible.
but other than that, its doing good here! my companion is a really good cook, he knows how to cook like every filipino recipe! and i tried those small bananas this week. they're like bite size and are literally the best food here in the philippines! and so cheap!! they are so sweet! the bananas at home are gross compared to these!! haha so the food really is good!
so this week we sung Count your many blessing, and so one of the things that i've been doing this week, is i have this small little note book, and every night i write down the things that i am thankful for in it. cuz in the song it says count your many blessing and see what god has done..and thats really helped me be thankful, and humble. i really love preaching the gospel. and i know that inorder to experience some happy and good times, i have to experience some rough times. other wise i wouldn't be able to know what the happy times are like. i know that god loves his children, and that he has created a perfect plan for us to return to him. one of the things that i regret that i didn't do before my mission, is share the gospel more with my friends and help the missionaries. Elder Quinton L Cook said that "many of our friends would accept the message of the restored gospel if we had the faith to share it with them" and i know that is true. and wish i did that more before i came out here. and i wish i helped out the missionaries more. here, we rely alot on the members for referrals, and their help with teaching inactive and non members. and i've made a commitment that after my mission, i won't stop being a missionary. we are all missionaries, and we need to share the gospel with others! so thats my little piece of advice to you all. :)
but i gotta go, have a great Sabbath day, i believe its 7pm there..its 10am here. i think im 15 hours ahead!
I love you all!
Gugma, Elder Nelson!
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