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

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