Hey all- how is it going this Monday! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and hope you had a good birthday, Kenny. Dee, I hope you had a good one too. I remembered it, but it was only the second day of the Mission so I was getting into the swing of things and didn’t rememeber to wish you one when it happened! Right now as I am emailing, LDS.org put up the past 3 church Christmas devotionals, so I’m listening to the Christmas music on there! It’s so nice since we can’t listen to it in our rooms, we can only do it on the computer! But yeah like I said I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! I know I did. At first when the 6:30 alarm clock went off Thursday morning I thought I was going to go play in a couple turkey bowls over by Corona or something, but when I opened my eyes I rememebered where I was and just thought it was going to be another day in the MTC but zi was soon wrong!! So that morning we had a devotional. We were supposed to be ushering for it and we were stoked cause that meant that we'd get like front row for an Apostle! But when we got to the building to check in for ushering, 5 min early, they said we were 20 min late and they'd replaced us and told us to go get in line at the regular entrance. We were way bummed but right when that happened another group of missionaries came to usher and got told the same thing. And then right when we were all about to leave to go stand in line, President Brown, the Mtc Pres, came around the corner asked us what was up and let us in early to get first dibs on seats! It was such a blessing!! So we got like front seats just off to the side in the cushion seats! Everyone was way happy! I made a predictions list on the chalkboard in our classroom for the elders in my disctrcit to guess which Apostle it was. I guessed Cook just kinda as a joke cause we don’t hear much about him! They all thought that was funny. Most people guessed Holland and what do you know... in walks JEFFERY R. HOLLAND!!!!! Everyone in the room just gasped and was so excited!! Holland is everyones favorite for sure! Its kinda funny! But he gave such a cool talk. Pres Brown got up and gave him a really respectable and nice intro and pretty much said this is Hollands program he can do what he wants for the next 2 hours! Elder Holland had his whole family there and had some of his grandkids sing, play the piano and give their testimony. His grandkids are really talented! It was very spiritual. One of his granddaughters was maybe 10-12 and sang “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” and it was one of the best songs I’ve heard by a kid. She was so good and the words in that song just permeated in that room! It was awesome! Then Sister Holland got up. What a cool lady. It’s fun to see the wives talk cause you never see/hear about them! She bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and talked about how she was on a subway once in NY and was sitting next to some guy. She barley noticed him though cause she was reading the last chapter of Book of Mormon. She read Mormoni 10:3-5 and said a prayer to know if the Book of Mormon was a true book of God and if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. She said she had the most overwheming feeling she had ever felt before in her life and when that happend she turned to the guy sitting next to her and just started yelling "I know this book is True! It’s so True! I prayed and I got an answer! She said after she finished yelling this guy ended up asking her about the book and she gave him her copy. Long story short.... He ended up getting baptized! It was such a cool story. Then she ended with saying how much she loved her husband but the part that stood out to me is when she said.... "I would deny that he is my husband before I would deny that he is a chosen Apostle of the Lord in this day and age in the restored church of Jesus Christ! It was such a strong testimony! Then finally Holland got up. He gave a talk that dad would have loved! He talked about the “why” of everything and how he doesn’t know anything. He talked about why we are here on this earth at this time and how we probably won’t know the exact reason untill we die, return to heaven and see a panoramic view of the earth and the way it blossomed from the time of Adam to now. He said he doesn’t know why we are here except to return to our Father in heaven. He then said that families are forever and how sad it'd be if one of us couldn’t make it back to heaven cause of the wrong choices we made. He then said that Heavenly Father has that same view. We are all his children which makes us family. Holland said that there is nothing more important then a mission cause it is our job to bring people who have gone down the wrong path and to bring them back into the family but more importantly to return to our Father in Heaven! It was such a cool talk!! Holland is a BEAST!!!

After that ended, we went to lunch to having a turkey dinner and then got to take a nap. At night it was a service project and then they gave everyone here a big bag of Kettle Korn and we watched the movie “17 Miracles.” That movie is so good! The pioneers did some crazy stuff and the Lord blessed them big time!

That was my Thanksgiving. Just a few things before I leave....

My chest is now fine. No more pain. I just stopped taking Advil and sucked it up. It went away within 1 day! If it comes back I’ll go back, but as of now I am fine. So no more worrying family!!!

Mom, I kinda have scriptures and PMG in Hiligaynon. They only have the Book of Mormon and Chapter 3 of PMG translated but they are both really deep and our teachers say that very few people understand a scripture right off the bat when they read it in the Philippines! So they are useful It just takes more explaining which requires more language which requires more work but it’s pretty easy to explain what a verse means in Hiligaynon at this point in the language! Oh and dad.. I’ve been studying chapter three, lesson 2 right now!

This is my 4th week. It’s pretty crazy! One month is already up pretty much!! It’s crazy to think that it’s already gone that fast! I think the mission will go fast for me cause I’m going to be so busy all the time!

Question.... Will you guys send me more ties from my closet! I just need nice colorful ties to trade! I got some quality ties here but I need some solid ties to get some more solid ties!

Also.... mom will you send me one of those tooth brush holder things? Like the tube thing. I was thinking that the cockroaches in the Philippines will probably eat at my toothbrush if I don’t have anything covering it!!

Well family I gots to go. I’m not sure if you sent me a list of questions but we haven’t gotten mail cause Thanksgiving threw us off and they don’t do mail here Saturday nights I think. Or like dear elder doesn’t print them on Saturday or something like that!

But know that I love you and miss you all! friends and family! It’s so nice to get updates of everything back home! Especially the sports update that you send dad! Keep those coming! There are three of us that are sport freaks and we love updates. The teams we follow are the Suns, the Lakers, the Nets, the Heat! Oh and James Harden!! Any update or stats or standings of those teams are always great! We have basketball discussions all the time. That package you sent with the newspaper as padding was the best. We seriously spent all night getting ready for bed looking over stats and talking basketball, baseball and football. It’s a great break from the day! But anyway back to what I was saying... I love you and miss you. The mission is great and I cant wait to get to the Philippines to help those that are lost like Holland said, and bring them back to their Father in Heaven! It’s a great blessing that we have to be in the True Church at this time under the direction of Jesus Christ through our modern day propeht Thomas S. Monson! Families are forever. That’s why I left for two years... To make it possible for other families to be forever together! 2 years seems like a long time but it’ll go by fast! I know it will! Christ lives... the Church is true and I love it all!

Love you all again!

Elder Sargent!!

Have a good week! Listen to Christmas music on the radio for me cause I miss it!!!

Hey family! How is it going!! I hope all is well back in the AZ! All is well up here at the MTC!! Looking forward to this week cause we are having an Apostle come on Thanksgiving!! Then the rest of that day is just doing a service project!! It should be really good! This past week has been pretty good. A little long this past weekend. We did a lot of language stuff this past week and we've been reviewing like crazy so it’s been a lot, but it’s coming pretty good. I understand all the concepts and structuring but it’s just the fact of putting it in a sentence and coming up with vocab to use and putting it in sentences is where it gets hard! It’s really not too bad of a language though. The hardest part is just retaining everything you learned before you move on to the next thing. We play games though as a district that helps a lot. Some one says a sentence in English and we have to translate it on the chalkboard and whoever gets it correct first wins and the person that loses goes to the end of the line! We also play "Shot Clock". Someone will say a sentence then the person will translate, speaking it, while the other person is counting down from ten outloud! That’s the hardest game cause it’s hard to focus when some one is "Shot Clocking" you out loud! They help though alot! I was able to see Nate Tingey a couple of times this past weekend. I saw him once just walking around then the other time on the Temple walk yesterday afternoon. It was raining yesterday so it was kinda a bummer to walk in the rain up to the temple then just stand underneath a wall that had a cover on top to not get wet. It was still fun though. Me and a kid in my district Elder Cannon (going to bacolod) just debated the whole time on if the Miami Heat are Lebron James team or Dwayne Wade. I said Wade but he begged to differ. It was a good discussion. If anyone has input let me know!!

 So for a couple of more questions that mom has asked this past week....

1) I don’t need those shirts hanging in my closet by the white shirts you’re going to send me. I wont have need for them.

2) MY Chest pains:

I went back to the Clinic cause they told me to if it didn’t stop after like 4 days. Well it was a week and it still bothered me when I ate. So I went back to the same doctor and he didn’t even pull up my last visit. He just asked if it hurt to the touch and when I said no he just gave me a lame answer that said "If it’s not your heart there isn’t much I can do about it cause it’s hard to diagnose it in the area you are having pains. So I just left with no answer again. Luckily it’s been progressivly getting better. At times it hurts when I eat and at times it doesn’t. I dont know what’s up but I’ve just been praying and I think that’s the best medicine I’ve taken yet for it!

3) Language. Compare to learning Spanish? How I stack up?

So like I said the language is pretty simple just hard to retain everything. I stack up pretty evenly with everyone in one aspect or another. It’s hard to gauge who is the best and who is the worst. I’m not the best and I’m not the worst. There is one kid that understands it pretty good but he stumbles and stutters when he speaks so it’s hard to say he’s the best. I think he thinks he’s really smart cause he was homeschooled so I think he thinks he knows it better then he actually does. If I had to compare it to Spanish it’s two different things. School Spanish was somewhat of a joke. I think if I was learning Spanish I would definitely be the best.. possibly moved up in a higher district. I was at dinner the other night and some kid was talking to me and we started to have a convo in Spanish and he doesn’t know how to speak. He’s some Utah kid that has been here for like 4 weeks. He said Como estas then I said bien y tu? Then he responded with bueno. Ustedes. I just stop and was like you just asked me how I was doing right after you already asked me. He was all confused and was like asking what he should’ve said so I had to like teach him a mini Spanish lesson. This kid had been here for 4 weeks!! haha. Thanks Shauna for speaking to me in only Spanish half the time cause I can understand alot! haha

4) What I do on Sundays?

We have church as a zone in the mornings then after that it’s just studying and disctrict meetings then the Sunday fireside at night. We pretty much just watch mormon messages all day cause those things are awesome!!! We also get on to I’m a mormom and just look at peoples things. It’s like the Missionary FB! haha We also have temple walk at 3-345 and I went to the MTC choir yesterday. It was okay. I may go again but it’s not like I need to really. I may go again to see if it was better next time. The choirister was okay and everyone was just talking the whole time so it’s kinda annoying more then spiritual.

5) Do I need anything??

Not in need of anything really. I enjoy getting letters from the family but I would enjoy some from my friends! yeah mom you said something about putting my address on FB. What ever you want to do I don’t care. Just put my address or the dearelder site up. Whatever you want! BTW... how is the BLOG? Do people read it??

6) You asked me about my mission president?? Did you mean the one in the Philippines or the one here that is over me right now at the MTC..... He reminds me of Count Olaf from the series of Unfortunate Events. If you don’t know what he looks like just google him. Yesterday in church he got up and said that a missionary look should be..... qoute... "Blah ties and Blah hair." He was saying that everyone in the room needed a haircut and what not. I'm getting one today and I’m kinda scared cause I heard half the time the people don’t give a choice and just cut it off. Not a shave but they just chop it off. Hopefully it goes good. My hair is all I got here! haha

Well family!! It’s time for me to get off! Know that I love you all and miss you. I can’t believe I’ve already been here 20 days. Its gone by really quick to me. I don’t know if it has for you guys but it has to me. Know that there isn’t a day that passes by where I don’t think about you all! But at the same time there is no other place I’d rather be than to be serving a mission. It states in the first line of the "Missionary Purpose" that my purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ." How true that is. I’m not out here to force people to become Mormon. I’m here to humbly and sincerely invite others to come unto Christ. I’m going to the Philippines to share with people how great my life is and how great their life can be if they simply come unto Christ. I know He lives and I know He has a plan for us all. I know that by serving Him, my life will be blessed but more importantly those around me will be influenced by the spirit of the Lord!!

Again I love you all and miss you all!!

Until next week,

Halong(bye in hiligaynon)

Palangga,

Elder Sargent!

 





11/12/12

Kamusta pamilya!

I hope all of you guys are doing good today!! This past week has gone by pretty fast. The days seem like weeks but the weeks seem like days. I don’t think anything spectacular or funny happened this week. OH wait. Yeah so I had to go to the health center cause I had a sharp pain in chest when I'd breathe deeply or eat. They told me I had inflamed cartilage in betweeen two of my ribs. They said its basically like spraining your ankle but instead the sternum. Didn’t know that was possible. I don’t even know how Ii could have done that! They told me to take advil so thats what I’ve been doing. It’s gotten better though... it just hurst at times when I eat and I swallow my food or drink. Hopefully it gets better this week! And also we did get like 6 inches of snow. I hate Utah. It’s been freezing here. I need AZ or Cali weather. It was so cold especially when we walked to the temple at 630 in the morning today!! Its terrible. My ears and nose get frozen then my lips are like ice scupltures! They just hang in place-frozen!! The worst part is is no matter how sunny it is the snow still doesn’t melt. Makes me grateful!! Well, me and my comps are still getting along! I don’t think I’ve been annoyed with them once! It’s pretty nice! I’m so thankful that I have two good elders as my companions cause I look around up here at some of the kids and I’m just like you got to be kidding me! There are some weird ones. I’m just thankful I got good ones!! We took some pictures as a distrcit but the computers here won’t let the computer upload them but Elder Andersons does so I’ll try to put my memory card in his camera and upload them from there! They aren’t the best photos but that’s what happens when you get a 19 year old kid to use your camera. I should’ve know better and asked a sister! haha

So mom sent me some questions that she'd like me to answer so here they are!

1) Departure date?

I think I leave the 31st. I dont get my itenerary till the like last week I’m here but they gave me a slip with my mailbox and it said the 31st. But the address you have still works so I don’t know really! haha

2)My schedule?

Everyday it’s wake up at 630 get ready leave the room at like 7 go to the class and do daily planning and study till breakfast at 8. After that the schedule just varies. I always have class for either 3 or 6 hours a day depending on the day then also I have additional study language study and personal study. Everyday we teach an "investagator" of the church in Hiligaynon. It’s so hard not to laugh cause we have no idea what we are saying and have no idea what the "investagator" is saying so half the time it’s just awkward silence. Then I start laughing and my comps start laughing. It was bad at first but we are getting better at it! It’s just hard to teach casue we don’t know the language yet! haha

3) New elders?

We got like 5 new elders and 3 sisters in our zone this past week. Some are going to Ventura California and some like Lubbock Texas or something like that. This next week we are supposed to get 16 new elders and 4 sisters. I've heard that the mtc is supposed to be getting like 700 new elders this week! That’s so many! It’s going to be crowded!

4)top three gospel things I’ve learned?

1) No matter how much language you know The Lord has promissed to loosen our tongues at that very hour as we study the gospel and the language and are diligent in our work.

2) Studying is an act of faith. As we are faithful, diligent and sincere about studying the Lord will bless you with knowledge

3) People are waiting for a message of happiness and the message that missionaries teach is what brings us happiness in this life.

5) Gym time is awesome! I look foward to it! All I do is play basketball! The competition is pretty fun but everyone hates guarding me cause I just make threes all day then when they try to guard me at the three I just drive right past them! It’s super fun! It’s like church ball but with a lot better competition!

6)There is an MTC choir. I haven’t done it yet. They practice Sunday and Tue. Sunday its during dinner and I’m always starving. Then Tues is usually when we have class or are teaching! So it’s hard to get there. I may try out to do a solo at like the Sunday or Tuesday devotionals in front of everyone! We'll see though!

7)I think I’ve brought everything. I did recieve your letter about those one pills you found. I have two bottles so I have one here with me! I didn’t bring L-lysine though and that would be nice cause I’m bound to get canker sores pretty soon!

8)I am warm enough! It’s freezing though! I’m not outside much but when I am I’m fine! Sleeping like a baby as usuall! My companions always make fun of me cause I sleep under my blankets like I’m hibernating! It’s the only way to sleep though! So much more warm and cozy!!! They also say I sleep talk all the time! haha!

9) I haven’t learned much about the Philippines. Haven’t had time to ask questions and all the questions that are asked I usually knew the answer to prior!!

Well fam! I love you but I gotta go!! The mission is great! The church is true! I know it from my own studying of the scriptures and praying for an answer! I wish everyone had the knowledge and blessing of the Lord that I have at this time! I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else than serving the Lord for 2 years! The people of the Philippines need me. For what I’m not quite sure yet but I’m sure I will know when I meet the first one I teach!! Love you all! Hope all is well!!

palangga,(love in hiligaynon)

Elder Sargent



 

 

 

 

 

official missionary nametag

the famous map pic...going to the Philippines!

Me and my comps...

Provo Utah...winter wonderland

Austin Turley and me...friend from BYU..

.ran into him at the Provo Temple

companions three!

Provo temple...my district



First email from the MTC

11/5/12 

Hey family! first email home in the MTC. mom your are going to need forward this to everyone cause i couldnt figure out how to send it to multiple people. also much editing may need to go into this! So so far i have loved the MTC!!! its a great place to be for the time being!! i felt like ive been here a month already but ive survived the past days! My companions are awesome! im in a three some with Elder Anderson from Mission Viejo going to Iloilo and also Elder Gille from Tampa going to Iloilo.  There are 9 in my distrcit. 5 going to Bacolod and 4 to Iloilo.  Elder Anderson is Best friends with a kid i knew At BYU and he's also the one i saw at In and Out before i entered into the MTC. I swear 90% of the time we are laughing at something.  Elder Anderson reminds me of Beau Sitton. Really cool and funny! we are always joking and messing with each other and others in our district. Elder Gille is super cool too. he reminds me of some one but i cant figure it out yet. hes way nice and easy going! My teacher is Brother Oldroyd (Cameron Farnsworth Comp... the one we meet at confrence.) He's a Stud. way cool and funny. just a goofy guy!

Throughout the week we've has some great experiances!!! Yesterday was Fast sunday and we were able to go to Missionary Conference and the Fireside.  It was such a good spirit all day long! when you study the gospel here i swear the Spirit is 10 times stronger.  This morning we got up 30 minutes early to go to the Temple.  Once the lights went down and the music came on i was struggling to stay awake. I frogot my mentos in my suit so i couldnt chew on anything to keep me awake!!!

So back to my district.... 9 elders. no sister.  The 4 going to Iloilo are Elder Anderson, Gille, Singler(way cool kid from Farmington utah, goes to Utah State, District leader.) and Elder Pierce(got a lot to say about that kid)! the 5 going to Bacolod are Me. Elder Pulsipher(San Diego. Way Cool kid!), Elder Butler( from N.C. kinda reminds me of Noah Brown. He performs in opras and stuff.) Elder Cannon( Funny quite kid from blackfoot idaho) and Elder Crosland( quite like a mouse. from preston idaho.)  I definetly have the best companionship!! TM. 

My zone is half english speaking people going to the US then the rest of it is people speaking Cebuano. The ones speaking Cebuano are really cool! fun kids to be here with!

I've seen alot of people here that i know. Like Jeff Kerr. He leaves tue for NY and then Connor Toolson for Warriors back in the day hes going to Nicuagra! hes been her for like a month.  Then there are other from BYU i've randomly ran into. One was a good friend from Mission Prep. He's in my Zone leaves this Wed to L.A.  Its really cool to run into people and meet new people going all over the Place!! Yesterday at Temple walk i ran into Austin Turley!! it was so fun to see him! we took a picture but the glare from the Sun was terrible so hopefully i see him again to get another!! 

So thanks for the Dear elders! they are awesome. its Hard to read them though cause when they print them off they like will cut the page half way through a sentence then you have to go find the other half of the letter pasted underneath someone elses letter. Its kinda Confusing but im getting the Hang of It i think!!!

hahah.  Well fam! the work here is great. the food is pretty good just like at BYU. Me and Elder Anderson Pound the Salad. it so good for some reason!!! we have like 2-3 bowls every meal!!! I love the MTC and everything about it! How great it is that i can be a part of the Lords work to help bring people unto Christ! its going to be the best 2 years of my life i can already tell! the language is hard to retain but with studying the gosple it will come i know it will!!! thanks for all your support and letter! i love you all. the church is true!! write me write me write me!! my friends to write me!!!

I love you all and miss you guys when i can think about home which is rare!! haha

palangga (love),

Elder Sargent.

P.S. i dont think i can send photos home on the Computer and they dont print them anymore but ill try to find my way around that!!!

LOVE YOU!!!

Pictures from October 31, 2012

Elder Sargent enters the MTC...

At the SLC Airport

Eating one last lunch at In-n-Out before being dropped off at the MTC!

 He randomly ended up meeting another Elder, Elder Anderson, who 

is also going to the Philippines. They are now companions in the MTC. Crazy!

All smiles with his suitcases while being dropped off!