I got shipped off to Abra

This week was a pretty good one. One of the highlights was when I placed my first English Book of Mormon. For those of you that have seen The Best 2 Years, just picture me saying "I just placed my first Book of Mormon." I have placed a lot of Tagalog Aklat ni Mormons, but we met a white guy who had a question about why there were so many languages in the world. We told him that we knew of a book that might answer his question. Then we also met a black dude who properly addressed us as his "homies." He was super cool. It was kind of weird because you can literally put on one hand the number of people in our area that aren't Filipino. But we met two of them. It was kind of nice (and kind of weird) to teach a little bit in English.

This week we also had transfers. I kind of thought that I would stay in my area because I had been there for only 3 months. But, me and my companion both got transferred. I will be a Zone Leader way up in the top of our mission. I am super excited. I was just a little sad to leave a family that actually came to church. We met them on the street like 3 weeks ago and they have come to church the last 2 weeks. They said that they feel like they have found a place where their harts are full and they fit in. It is awesome.

We also had interviews with our new President. He is awesome. He has a focus and desire to really get things rolling out here. It has kind of given me another spark to really get things going. He shared in a talk that he gave in my branch about being "perfectly willing." In the sacrament prayers, it says that we are "willing to take upon us the name of Christ, always remember him, and keep his commandments." It doesn't say that we WILL always be perfect in remembering Christ or keeping the commandments. But, we can be perfectly WILLING. All that God requires of us is that we do our best and he has given to us a plan that through His Son, we can return to live with him.

This week, our district had 3 baptisms. It was awesome. I was lucky enough to go to all of them. I actually sang at one of them. Let me tell ya... it was nice. I am not sure how I got pulled into it and it was definitely a first for me. I sang with 2 Filipina sisters. But, It was pretty good... I think. 

Sorry, I don't have pictures this week. I just got to the area and most of my stuff is packed away. But, my area looks beautiful and I will send lots next week. Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers and emails. 

Love Elder Thomas

Fire Cleanup

Not gonna lie, the funnest part of this week was the cleanup at a members house that had burned. We took hammers and crowbars to the house for like 6 hours and completely removed all the roof and anything else in the house that wasn't cement. It was awesome. It was super cool to see all the members show up to help. We also helped a member who was moving up to Baguio. It was kind of sad to see them leave because we were pretty close with them.

But, I think that the best part of this week was on Sunday. We were at the church waiting for President and Sister Oldroyd to show up. They were supposed to be at our sacrament meeting. Then a few minutes later, an older couple came rolling up on this electric bike type thing. It was a couple that we had contacted 3 weeks ago. We taught them twice and felt like we should share a lesson about the importance of the sacrament. We shared it with them and then they actually showed up to church. We haven't had any of our investigators show up to church in a while, so it was awesome to see them there. 

This week was also cool because our district had a lot of success. I got to go out and do 3 different baptismal interviews. It is awesome to see how the gospel has been able to change the lives of those who learn about Christ's church here again on the earth. 

Another awesome experience this week was when I was on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was in their area and we really didn't have anywhere to go for an hour or 2. We were finding and we sat down with these 2 young ladies. One of them had a baby, so we starting kind of sharing a thought about the importance of families in God's eternal plan. But, she wasn't really that interested. Then I had the feeling to just talk about Joseph Smith. I shared his experience in just a few sentences and then the other girl started to ask a lot of questions. We found out that she had been studying with the INC (one of the other religions in the area), but she stopped because she had a lot of questions about prophets that weren't answered. We answered a few of her questions and she asked when we could come back to teach here more. That morning, me and Elder Diez had done a study about "teaching people, not lessons." It mentions in PMG that regardless of our initial contact, we should quickly refer to our unique message to the world. The gospel has been restored and a prophet still leads and guides this church.

The gospel is awesome. It has the power to change lives and we are a part of the most important work in the world today. I love you all. Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers, and emails. 

-Elder Thomas

Meet the President

This week, we finally got to meet the new mission President. He and his wife are awesome. He shared a thought that I really liked. It was from Romans 8:38-39. It says, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate of from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." If you take out all of the big words, basically it means that there is nothing that we can possible do that will change the fact that GOD LOVES US. Sometimes Satan leads us to believe that God doesn't love us because of something that we have done or a mistake that we have made. Sometimes, we don't show our love to God the way that we should. But, He loves us unconditionally. He loves us enough to send His only Son to atone for and die for us so that we can return to live with Him.

This week, we had kind of a cool "last second finding experience" again. For those of you that read Caitlin's emails, it was similar to her's. It was pretty late and we were about to go home, but we decided to stop at one more house. Caitlin said "It's all about the last door." But, this house didn't actually have a door. It was kind of just open. So we yelled "tao po" and people came out. Before we had really even said anything, they said, "sit down. We will listen to whatever you have to say." We hope to get back to them this week. 

We also had a lot of service projects this week. We did one at a school in our area where we dug a water trench because we are getting into rain season. Them we had one another day where we weeded at a members house and then we had a burial service for one of their kittens that died. Our last service project was on Saturday. It was at a members house that had burned down. It was super sad. There wasn't a lot that we could do because they hadn't done an investigation yet to find the cause of the fire. But, it was awesome to see all the other members come together bringing boxes of food, clothes, blankets, and other house supplies. Some of the members who have very little to begin with were willing to give whatever they could to help someone in need. It was awesome. We are going back on Wednesday for a big cleanup before they start building the house again. 

Thank you for all the emails and thoughts.

-Elder Thomas

1 Year + the man in the wheelchair

This week was alright. We saw lots of awesome miracles. 

One little story... We were walking out on the beach and we started throwing a ball with some little kids. Somehow, I lost my name-tag with my little booklet. It had my license and my debit card in it. We didn't notice that I had lost it until like another 45 minutes later. The moment that we saw that it was gone, Elder Sanford said, "we should just say a prayer." We did and then we ran back to the beach. We didn't find it there, so we retraced our steps for like 45 minutes looking for it. It was nowhere. We had the feeling to go back to the beach even though we had searched every inch of it. We went back and like 2 minutes later a guy walked past with his dog. He came up and asked for my name. I said "Elder Thomas." Then he handed me my tag and booklet. It was awesome that we happened to be there at the beach almost an hour later at the moment that he was walking back up the beach with his dog. But, of course it wasn't a coincidence. It was the hand of the Lord in every part of our work. Even the little things. If it is important to us, it is important to Him.

We also had kind of a cool experience with an investigator that wasn't even in our area. He is like a 70 year old man we call tatay Bautista. He is confined to a wheelchair with some pretty crazy health problems. But, we got to church and we saw him there. He is actually supposed to attend the other ward. He said that he had woken up at 4 in the morning so that he could wheel himself almost a mile to the church. We told him that he should just attend our ward and that we would help him get home. We got to push him home and he was super grateful because we made it home in just under a half hour and it took him 2 hours to get to church. Man, I wish that my faith was like this guy. He has a lot of excuses to just sit and home and rely on the grace of God. But, he knows that there is more that he can do. He acted and I know that he will be blessed.

This week, I also did my first baptismal interview. It was awesome. I was able to see how the gospel truly had changed the life of this lady. No one else in here family is a member yet, but she hopes that one day they will follow her steps. She actually still had a problem with coffee. So, her baptism ended up getting pushed back for 2 weeks. But, She is sooo prepared and loves the gospel. I love seeing the faith of the newest members of the church.

This week, I also got ba-blasted by the flu. We missed a day of work which was kind of sad. I was sitting in my house (87 degrees) wrapped in a blanket and I was freezing. It was awful. But, I got over it quickly and we worked the next day. Did you really make it to one year in the mission if you didn't miss at least a day of work due to sickness? I don't really think so. But, I did it. I made it 1 year and I am even more excited for the year to come. Thank you all for the thoughts, emails, support and prayers.

-Elder Thomas

Agyaman Kami

This last week was awesome. One Tuesday, we got punted at our first 3 appointments. We were a little bit disappointed. But, we kept going and ended up at a house that we had to been to before. The old grandma and grandpa were there trying to mix cement so that they could put a pole up in their yard. We helped them and then we were able to teach them and some of their kids. It was awesome. 

Then on Thursday, we went on splits with one of the AP's. I learned sooo much. We taught 10 lessons that day which is crazy. In the whole last week, we had only taught like 12 lessons, and then in one day, we taught 10. It changed that way that I look at things. We were able to sit down with a lot of people and share a quick message about Christ and His gospel. Most of them, I would normally have just walked past. Me just walking past them, is denying them the chance to hear about the restored gospel. Now, we talk to EVERYONE.

We also had a cool experience on a day where we got caught in a crazy rain storm. There was like no one out and it was after dark, so we decided that we would just go home a little bit early. Then Elder Sanford said, "lets just knock one more door." We knocked one more door and they actually let us in. We found a lady named Alma who seemed super happy to see us. We taught her a quick lesson about the Plan on Salvation and will hopefully get back to her again. The Lord is always preparing people for the gospel. We just have to find them.

This week was also the last week with President Bangal. It was kind of sad to see him go. But, I know that President Oldroyd is the man now called to preside over the Baguio mission. 

The church is true and it is Christs church again on the earth. We have a living prophet who leads and guides us. Christ is our Savior and it is our job to prepare people here on earth for the day that He will return. Love you all!!

-Elder Thomas

-I stole a goat

-I got hair extensions

-bye-bye President Bangal

-The worlds largest ?Avacado?

-Agyaman Kami "Thank you" Good-bye party