Dalawang Americanos

Man, what a crazy week. I took a 2 hour bus ride down to San Fernando last Tuesday to pick up my trainee. Not gonna lie... I was kind of hoping that I would get a Filipino companion because then at least one of us would know the language haha. But, It didn't work out that way. I have an American companion from California. He is awesome. I am only 12 weeks in the field and am still very new with the language. But, the Lord will prepare a way. We have only had a few days to work, but I actually surprised myself with the language. I know more than I think I did. This is an awesome opportunity that I have to really figure things out here.

I also now have kabahay (roommates). It is super different. We split the area and it was honestly a little bit sad. The half of the area that the other companionship will be working in has 5 baptisms in the next few weeks. The area that I am in only has 1. Me and my last companion put a lot of work in on the other half the area. But, it is all good. The work is the same and the work is certainly progressing here in the Philippines. 

I don't have a lot more to say this week. We really only worked in our area for like 2 1/2 days this week. It will be interesting to see how this next week goes as we really get into the swing of things. 

The mission is awesome. I love the chance that I have everyday to share the message of the restored gospel here with the people of the Philippines. I love you all and send lots of prayers your way. 

Love Elder Thomas

Me and my comp Elder Hamilton

-kind of a crazy week and I didn't have my camera for most of it. But, I will send more pictures next week :)

 

Trainee to Trainer

Well... another 6 weeks came and went. We got transfer calls and I found out that I am going to be a trainer. It is a little bit scary because I don't exactly speak Tagalog all that well yet. But, I am more than excited. I don't know if my comp will be Filipino or American yet, but I will find out on Thursday after trainers training. It would definitely be a blessing if I could train a filipino because then, at least one of us would know the language haha. But either way. The Lord knows how we can best get the work done. He manages to get the work done with a bunch of 18-21 year old kids and it is seriously amazing.

I now have 4 people that will be at my house. They added another set of Elders to our area. I am a little bit sad because the area that the other Elders will take has 3 of our next 4 baptisms. But, the area that I am in has a lot of progressing investigators, so I am super excited. The work is all the same regardless of who does it. 

One of the funnest things that we did this week was ride a water buffalo. We found out that one of the members in our ward had a water buffalo and so we asked if we could ride it. It was super fun. 

We also went to another members house this week for dinner. We got there and they told us that if we want to eat, we had to catch one of their ducks. In our white shirts and ties, we ran around for like 20 minutes trying to catch a duck. We finally did. And then they told us that we were not really Filipinos unless we killed it. So, we held it while they killed it. It was wild. But, it was one of the best meals that I have had here. 

This week, I really thought about the temple a lot. Addie and Caitlin are going through the temple for the first time which is super exciting. The youth in our ward are planning a temple trip in a few months. It is awesome to see how excited they are. They are all working to raise money so that they can make the 7 hour bus ride down to Manila to the temple. I always took for granted the fact that I could get to like 5 or 6 temples within an hour drive. It is awesome. 

I love the gospel and the chance that I have to share it here in the Philippines. I am grateful for all of you and I send lots of prayers your way. 

Love Elder Thomas

 

How many people fit on a jeep?? One more

The best part of this week was that we got to go up to Querino. My comp is the district leader and we had to go out there for some baptismal interviews. My area in Santiago is like 2 hours away from a big city. We are kind of out in the ghetto. But, Querino is like 3 hours away from us and is like way out in the ghetto. The only way to get there is to get onto a van at 4:30 in the morning that leaves to go up there.

We got to the pickup place and there was a 14 passenger van. Then, we fit 19 of us on it and started our 3 hour ride up to Querino. Transportation here is wild. You can always fit one more person that you think into a vehicle haha. It was kind of rough, but it was absolutely beautiful. There are little bamboo huts everywhere. I was completely lost because the people up there really only speak Ilicano. I hardly even know Tagalog yet, so I was lost. But it was super fun. 

Another highlight this week was that we had 6 investigators that attended church. They are progressing really well. And we are now teaching a couple of families which is super fun. We have 16 people that are on date for baptism. We have almost more work than we know what to do with which is definitely not a bad problem to have as a missionary. 

We are almost positive that this next week, with transfers, we will get 2 more Elders in our area. I am pretty sure that I am going to train which might be a little bit rough. But, there are actually quite a few Filipinos coming in this batch, so there is a chance that we won't be completely lost. 

I love it here. The mission is by far the hardest thing that I have ever done, but I love every second of it. Sharing the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is really one of the most important things that we can do here in this life. I love you all back home, I think about you, and I send lots of prayers your way from this side of the world. 

Love Elder Thomas

Pictures:

The view in Querino

A trike with a Utah license plate

The kids we take to church

The spider we found at our house

Me and Elder Maddox dressed up for Halloween as eachother. We switched name tags, wore matching pants, and wore the rain coats President gave us.

 

Excitement back home

This week was awesome. But, most of the excitement didn't come from anything that happened out here in the Philippines. Addie and Caitlin both have their mission calls which is super exciting. It was the thing that I looked forward to the most for the last two weeks.

But, out here, the work is awesome. We have more progressing investigators than we know what to do with. We hear lots of rumors that next transfer (in 2 weeks), we will have another set of Elders in our area. That would be awesome. 

Some people are wondering about the storm that came through here. It was kind of lame. It rained for a while and got kind of windy but, nothing too crazy. We didn't have power for the day and kind of just at around and waited for it to pass. But, then we were back to work on Wednesday.

The highlight this week was that we were able to put a family of 5 on date. It was the second time that we taught them and we were teaching them about the Plan of Salvation. This is obviously a lesson that stands out to families and it really gives us purpose here in this life. So, they were super interested. In the context of the Plan of Salvation, we invited the family to be baptized. They all accepted and it will be exciting to see how they progress. 

I only have 2 more weeks until I finish my 12 weeks of training. Then, there is a good chance that I will be a trainer. That is kind of scary because I am still learning and the language is pretty rough still. But, we will get through it. I know that the Lord can prepare a way. It is his gospel and it will be taught regardless of our shortcomings. I have thought about that a lot. The Lord is able to teach his gospel throughout the whole world with a bunch of 18 and 19 year old kids. It is incredible. And the gospel is soo true. I love every bit of the experience out here. The good and the bad. I love you all and send lots of prayers your way. 

Love Elder Thomas

Pictures:

For Halloween, I dressed up as Elder Maddox. And he dressed up as me

we found a trike with a Utah License plate

kids playing soccer in the field

colored chicks

the kids

***Tried the whole hour I was here to upload pictures but it was too slow. I'll try again next week!

A biking area with no bikes...

This week was awesome! I had my 8 week followup. I am now 2/3 the way through my training which is crazy. I love every bit of it.

This week, my companions bike broke a few times. We fixed it twice, but finally on the third time, we just decided that we would walk. On Sunday, we walked 6 miles out to the far end of our area. It was actually awesome. We talked to so many people. 

And we found a couple of drunk guys along the way. They are super funny to talk to because when they are drunk and they see white guys, they start talking in English, even though they are horrible at it. One guy kept apologizing to us saying that he was sorry that his friend was drunk. They were both drunk out of their minds, but they really wanted us to come back and teach them because they said they wanted to change their lives. Maybe we will go back some time when they are sober and tell them about how they said they wanted to change their lives haha. 

After that, we taught two of the best lessons ever. One was to a family (with 3 kids). They are super receptive and can't wait to start reading the Book of Mormon as a family. The other was to the man that we found a few weeks ago. He is soo prepared and loves the Book of Mormon. We got to his house super late because we didn't have bikes and we had to walk. But, because of that, we were able to teach his wife who was finally home from work. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways. Then we made the six miles back to our house. 

It is super windy here right now. Another storm is expected to make landfall here tomorrow. I am not getting evacuated, but we are not allowed to proselyte tomorrow. Kind of sad because we have a lot of work to do here. We have 11 investigators with baptismal dates and lots of them are progressing well. 

I love the mission and all the comes with it. The good and the bad. I love the gospel and the chance that I have to share it here in the Philipipines for a short 2 years. I love you all and send lots of prayers your way from the Philippines. 

Love Elder Thomas

Pictures:

-We found "Joe" painted on the side of a house. This is what everyone yells at us when they see two white kids walking down the road

 -We got locked out of the fence that leads to our house. So, we had to jump the fence. But, It was a lot higher than my comp thought. So, he "died" for a second when he landed

-We found a bucket of tar on the side of the road and decided to leave a message for when the workers came back

 -We saved a star fish

Stoned, Spit Upon and Cast Out...

Well... we have officially experienced it all. We were spit on. We had rocks thrown at us. And we we were chased out. ......... by a 6 year old. It was wild. haha

This week we got to go to a resort way up in the mountains. We got permission to go with the YSA in our ward to their activity. It was beautiful. We drove for like an hour way up this canyon. I had a giant river running through it. It reminded me of kind of a slot canyon in southern Utah, except that it was super green. The resort was just full of all sorts of little bamboo huts and pools. Our ward had the place rented out, but we could only watch :(

The highlight this week was yesterday. We taught a family which was awesome. The mom had been given a Book of Mormon from a friend that she met abroad. We taught them and they were all super interested. It will be fun to go back there for follow up visits. 

We also taught the man that we found last week while tracting. He is sooo prepared to hear the gospel. He loves the book of Mormon and asked us if we would be able to come back more times each week so that we can teach him more often. 

This week, the AP's were in our area on splits. One of them told me that there is a "really good chance that I will train as soon as I finish my training." I finish training in 4 weeks. I will likely be training before I even finish 3 months in the field. It is crazy. Me and my trainee will probably be lost for a few weeks haha. But, I know that the Lord will prepare a way. I love the mission and all that comes because of it. The days are extra long, but, there is nothing so rewarding. I love you all. 

Love Elder Thomas

Pictures:

The house we built last month survived the storms

Changing our TC cards to the proper name of the church

Bishop's family

The Resort

Merry Conference

The highlight this week was definitely conference. I know that I am a week behind all of you guys, but Conference was incredible. I felt like all the talks were about missionary work. The leaders are soo inspired and the work is progressing like never before. I love it here.

We had an awesome experience this week. We were biking out to find a referral that we had been given. My companion was feeling a little bit sick and wanted to stop at a tindihan (little shop) to get a drink so that he could take a pill. For whatever reason, we passed like 15 tindihans. Neither of us really knew why, but we just kept biking. We finally stopped at one. We got drinks and sat there for like 5 minutes.

 Finally, I asked the guy there if he knew the girl that we were looking for. He kind of pointed us in the right direction, but we just stayed and talked to him. We talked for like 40 minutes. He told us that he had completely turned his life around. He used to drink and smoke and do all sorts of drugs. But, one day he felt that his life was soo wrong. He stopped drinking and smoking and even stopped drinking coffee. He basically keeps the word of wisdom, he just doesn't know it. Then he told all his friends that they can't drink or smoke near his tindihan because he doesn't want that kind of influence by his kids. 

He also has lots of problems with the catholic church. He doesn't know why they worship marry, and why only the priests get the water when they take the sacrament. Questions like this are awesome because it means that he is thinking about things and he is willing to change. We went back to him yesterday and had an awesome L1. 

It was incredible to really see someone that was prepared to hear the message that we have to share. The Lord really does prepare people. We just have to find them. 

The mission is awesome. It is by far the hardest thing that I have ever done. But I love every second of it. I love you all and send lots of prayers your way from the Philippines. 

Love Elder Thomas

Pictures: Water Buffalo

We fit 6 of us on a trike. 2 Elders are on the back of the dudes motorcycle

Our attempt at making Filipino food haha