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

The rain makes my bucket showers cold

Well... we are officially in rainy season. That means that we get soaked at least 3 times a week even if we carry umbrellas. But, it also means that it gets just a little bit hotter here on the days that it doesn't rain because of the humidity. 

This week, we had kind of a sad experience. We found a man who used to be an active member. But, he kind of got into some anti-stuff and fell away pretty quick. We sat down with him for a while and had a little conversation with him. He had a lot of questions that had clearly shaken his faith. He had so much doubts about even the most basic church doctrine. He showed us his handwritten testimony from the day that he was confirmed a member of the church. It made me super sad that even just some little doubts had taken over all the truths that he had once known. Elder Sanford said "The Lord will give you a million reasons to believe and then one reason to doubt." This is soooo true. This man knew that these things were true, but he let the evils of the world overpower that. Part of God's perfect plan for us is that we will not know everything. We passed through the veil and that means that faith is our first step in our journey back to Him. That is the first principle of the Gospel of Christ. So, stay strong in the faith!! Remember days like your baptism, ordination, entering the temple for the first time, scout camps, girls camps and other experiences where you felt of God's love for you. 

On Tuesday of this week, my companion was super sick. Probably from dehydration or food poisoning. So we spent most of the day inside. But, the next day, we got out and found a new investigator. It was late at night and we were about to go home, but we ended up getting kind of lost in this little field that we hadn't been in before. We finally recognized this little path and then found a man that we had tried to contact a few weeks ago. It was awesome. The more that I look for the Lord in the work, the more that I realize that he is involved in each and every part of it. It is His work and He is the head of the only true and living church on the earth. I love you all!!

-Elder Thomas

Moving day. (Loading the house on top of a jeep)

I majestically caught the sun before it disappeared in the deep blue ocean

Find Them

This week, our coolest experience was while were were just walking around finding. We had kind of gotten punted for most of the day and it was around 5:00. We still had 4 hours to work and we really had nowhere to go. We were right in the middle of our area and we didn't know where we should go. Elder Sanford decided that we should walk out to a member that we hadn't visited yet that week. We walked way out to his house and he wasn't home. We were both kind of wondering why we had walked all the way out there. Then we saw this little group of kids messing around in the dirt. Elder Sanford has a couple of little magic tricks that we do to the kids. We sat and did magic for them and after a while, their mom was out watching. She invited us to sit in their front yard and do the tricks.

We starting talking to her, but neither of us felt like we should start a lesson. It was super weird. Usually we would just try to quickly transfer to a quick L1 and get a return appointment. But, after talking to this lady for a second, we learned that she had a 13 year old kid who had recently passed away from dengue fever. L1 (restoration) was definitely not what she needed to hear. It was kind of late at this point, so we quickly bore our testimonies about eternal families and told her that we would come back. We went back and she invited us inside with her sister and 2 kids. It was awesome. 

We learned a lot from this experience about how God really is preparing people to hear this amazing message. If we didn't get punted to start the day, we wouldn't have been anywhere near that part of our area. Then if we didn't do some magic with some of the kids, we would have left too early. And if we had just started a lesson, she probably would not have invited us back. The Spirit is awesome and it really leads us to be part of Gods perfect plan for others.

This week we also had the last zone conference with President Bangal. It was kind of sad. In another 2 weeks, we have our new President coming. It will be fun to meet him. We also just passed another transfer. I honestly don't know how that happened. It is crazy. But, nothing really changed at all. No one from our district transferred and only 1 missionary from our zone transferred. So, I will officially hit my year mark with only American companions which is kind of crazy. That'll about do it for the week. I love you all and send lots of prayers your way. 

-Elder Thomas

-Our path flooded

-future missionary

-Bawal Umihi dito = forbidden to pee here  

 

I almost killed the Pastor

This week was awesome. As far as work goes, we did not teach a lot of lessons, and we did not have a lot of investigators at church. But, it was an awesome week. This week we focused on finding Less Active and Part Member families. Around 30 years ago, missionaries baptized a lot of youth who quickly went inactive once the missionaries left the area. We are doing a lot of work now trying to find those members and inviting them back to church.

Another thing that we did a lot this week was little "on-the-go service projects." We found a man next door to one of our members building a chicken coop. He was not at all interested in what we had to say to him, but we told him that all we wanted to do was help him. We chopped bamboo with machetes and then built a coop for him with hammers and nails. It was awesome. Then we found another part member family chopping wood. We went up to them and started chopping wood with them. Then we found an old Tati. He was about to take his trash to the garbage pickup. He had 4 bags that were pretty heavy. He really didn't want us to help him, but we just picked up the bags and in 1 trip, we saved the man like 3 hours of his life. It was an awesome way to show people that we work to live what we teach. The people were all very welcoming when we asked them if we could come back on another day.

On Sunday, we found a little group of kids playing soccer in a dirt field. I was pretty happy because it is like the first soccer game that I have seen. We started playing with them and had an awesome time. But, I almost killed the Pastor later in the game. We were playing and the kids asked me to drop kick the ball. I managed to kick the ball as far as I have ever kicked a soccer ball in my life. It went across the field and dropped out of the sky about 2 feet from the pastor of the neighboring church. I know that God watches his missionaries because He stepped in and protected this old Pastor. 

For those of you wondering what kind of new foods I have eaten, the answer is that I have quite literally eaten every part of a chicken. This last week, we ate chicken intestine, chicken butt, and chicken throat. It was actually all pretty tasty, but mentally, it is kind of hard to get past. 

This Saturday, we will know if anyone will transfer from our district. I don't know how I made it though yet another transfer, but I love it. I love the mission, even though it is going wayyy to fast. This church is true and we are a part of preparing the world for the Second Coming of our Savior. I love you all and send lots of prayers your way. 

-Elder Thomas

They won and then we won

Well... this week was pretty good. We spent quite a bit of time with some boys that were playing in a basketball tournament here in our area. Some of the boys from the team were members from our ward. The team won the championship and then we asked them if we could teach them after. We got a few of them that we the most interested and taught them. So, that was the biggest win of the night. 

We also got back to a lot of the Sisters old investigators out here. We basically spent our whole week trying to find them. We ended up with 11 new investigators. So, we will see how all that goes in the coming weeks.

One of my favorite lessons this week was with an old Nani named Cita. She was one of the sisters investigators a few months ago. But, she told us the first time that we visited her that she had basically punted the sisters. So, we taught her anyway and she let us come back. We went back this week and she didn't seem all that excited to see us. But, we had an awesome lesson about how we were really not there to convince her that what we had to way was right. But, that our purpose as missionaries was to give others the way so that they can know for themselves if the church is true. At the end of the lesson, she asked us when we would be able to come back to teach her more. She is super busy, but hopefully we find a way to make it work.

We also taught a lesson with one of our progressing investigators. We just taught about Faith and Repentance. That is kind of the new focus in our mission now. We are supposed to really focus on faith and repentance before we even talk about baptism. It has been super effective in finding people who are truly ready to change and become converted to this perfect gospel. 

We didn't have any investigators at church this week, so that was kind of a downer, but that isn't something we can control. So, we will work more and see what happens next week.

I know that this gospel is true and that we are all a part of the most important work on the earth now. Keep it up and find those who God will put in your path. 

-Elder Thomas

Here is a video life between a little calf and a mama cow. We had to take this path to get to an investigator and Elder Sanford ended up with a pretty muddy shoe after running away through the mud

The Pit of Doom got Bigger

This week was pretty good. I think that things are starting to turn around here. Last Tuesday, we went out to try to find some of the people that had been taught by missionaries in the past. We found this one couple and they started by telling us that they had basically punted the sisters who used to teach them. We were kind of sad, but we decided to teach them anyway. We taught them about the Apostasy and how the truth in it's fullness was taken from the earth. But, that through another prophet, it was restored to the earth. It was an awesome lesson and it seemed to click for them. They said that we could come back and teach again in the future. 

We also found this old Nani in the middle of a field. She was sitting way out in the ghetto on a bucket under a tree. We talked to her and she told us that missionaries had taught her back in the day. We taught her and she invited us back to teach her family next week. It was super cool.

Right after that, we found an old guy who was digging a hole to bury all of the mangos that had fallen from the tree. We offered to help him and then we taught him a quick lesson. We found out that he is actually the brother of another older guy that we have taught. It was super cool to find him. 

We also had a musical presentation this week by some of the missionaries. President Bangal is going on tour to all of the Zones before he leaves the mission. They got a group together who performs at each zone. It was super cool. We invited a ton of members, investigators, and less actives. The spirit was awesome. The focus was on ministering. Trying to find those who are prepared to hear the gospel. Or those who are ready to come back into the fold. 

Plus, the pit of doom grew about 7 inches and Elder Sanford jumped it again. So, that was neat. 

The church is true and we are all a part of the most important work on the earth. Keep it up!!

Elder Thomas

Jump the Pit of Doom

Well... not a lot happened here this week. It was a pretty good week. Our last P-day was on Wednesday because of the Election and then our Zone Conference. So, the week felt super fast.

Most of our work out here has really been looking for part member families and less actives. We actually found a few of them when we got challenged to a basketball game. The court we were playing on was nothing more than a piece of metal on a tree. They all challenged us to game and we told them that if we won, we could come back and teach a little bit. After playing for a while, we learned that most of them (the adults) were actually baptized. But, they are all inactive. Our goal is to get back to them this week and teach them. 

This week, we taught our most progressing investigator. She was taught by the sisters for a few weeks before Elders were put back into this area. But, we taught her a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. She realized that she really wanted to do this with her family. We tried to stress that because her husband has never been interested. So, hopefully this next week, we will be able to teach both of them with their 2 kids. 

We did a couple of CSP's (community service projects) with our branch. It was a good way to work with some of the members and try to gain their trust. We spent a good part of the day tearing down election posters and then cleaning up the beach. 

Me and my comp play a lot of basketball in proselyting clothes as a way to start talking to people. We really don't have a lot of investigators and we spend a lot of time finding every day. It is sometimes hard to find motivation because we sweat all day and rarely see a lot of lessons. But, it is good. God definitely prepares the hearts of people to hear the gospel in their own time. Our job is to simply find those that are prepared. The gospel is true and we are all a part of the most important work that is happening in the world today. Keep it up!!

-Elder Thomas

Pictures on the beach. (I am not that fat. It is the wind :)

pictures of basketball with some kids

Elder Sanford jumped the pit of doom

I met Elder Fenn knew my sisters at college and served here in Bauang a few years ago