Hope you all are having a good Christmas today! They gave us some time to email home and wish our families a Merry Christmas! So today was pretty awesome! We got 2nd row seats dead center at our morning devotional! Russell M Nelson was the Apostle who spoke this morning! He always gives good solid talks! He just talked about making the best missionaries we can be and remembering our purpose! It was awesome! I was seriously like 7-10 feet away from him! For dinner they had turkey and stuffing and potatoes! I was hoping it's be like ham but it was still good!! I just always accociate turkey with thanksgiving! But I just want you all to know that I love you all and miss you! Yesterday and today have been great! The Christmas Spirit has been here with me the whole time this holiday season! Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and the Son of God! This day 2012 years ago He was born in a manger and sent here by our loving Heavenly Father so we could return to Him again through the Atonement of Christ! I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! Love you all.

Elder Sargent!!!

I title my email Merry Christmas and a happy new year because 1) I won't be in contact wtih you on Christmas and 2) I leave Monday so I will be on a plane next Monday to the Philippines!!!! Yes I indeed we did get our flight plans!!!!

I'll try writing them down but I will also send a picture of it so its easier to read!!! This time next week I will be at the SLC airport....

Alright so flight plans...

Delta Airlines - Flight #4829 - SLC-San Francisco Flight takes off at 945 get into SF at 11

Delta Airlines - Flight #617 - SF-Tokyo Japan Flight leaves at 1235pm on Dec 31 get into Japan at 525 PM Jan 1st cause of the time change

Delta Airlines - Flight #173 - Tokyo-Manila Flight leaves at 620PM get into manila at 1025PM still Jan 1st

Philippines Airlines- Flight #157 -Manila-Bacolod Flight leaves at 2pm Jan 2 and gets into Bacolod at 315pm Jan2

Let me know when the best time is to call. Probably only allowed to call in SLC and SF. I bought a calling card and have like 300 minutes so I should be good!

So crazy!!! I'm grateful though cause all the other people going to the Philippines to different missions like Iloilo are leaving Sunday night flying all the way to NY then have 6-7 hour layover then fly to Manila from NY. We get into Manila at the same time so maybe we'll see each other at the Manila airport or something! Who knows!!!

But I'm so excited! And like I said I'll take a picture and send it to you during wash so you can more easily read it.

So with the letter! This week has been pretty good! It's been kinda bummer cause its Christmas time and I've just been missing home on occassion just thinking about all the music lights and festivities going on with the family and the kids tracking santa on his sleigh running out side trying to find him and rudolf in the night sky! I wish I could be there to help all them find him. I'll make sure I look for him tonight though in the night sky here at the MTC! Hopefully he doesn't forget about us elders and sisters here at the MTC! I think santa has a better idea than I do though so I think he'll find me! Better "leave some cookies out" (Justin Beiber Shout out for Shauna)! speaking of shout outs Happy birthday to EVAN BELL!!! I can't believe you are already 6! Such a big boy! Your Uncle Robbie is proud of you and just think in two years I'll be home and you'll just about be 8 so I can be at your baptism! Such a cool thought huh? Grandma and your mom told me you had a good birthday with lots of presents! Hope you had a good one!

So back to Christmas! Although I said I've been missing home I'm really excited for Christmas. We have lots of fun thing going on like movie nights with different Christmas movies and also a lot of devotionals which I'm excited about. So my district made friends with the Excecutive secratary and he said he'll save us seats on the 2nd row for tomorrow when eiher an Apostle or someone from the First presidency is here! It's going to be so sweet!! I'm really excited!

So to answer some questions!!!

1)My chest is doing good! Been off the meds for about a week and still doing good. I went back in and he gave me more medicene just in case it comes back while I'm in the Philippines! So all is good there

2)Yeah so the phone call says that there is a surcharge and its says that 35% of the the total cost of the call will apply! I really have no idea what that means and neither did the people at the bookstore. It was only 5 bucks so I just bought it....!!! any advice or anything! let me know!!!

4) I'm going to start packing everything I don't need these next 2 days to send out the package back home either wed or thursday so I should be good there!

I thought there were more questions then that but I guess not! haha

So fam and friends! Know that I love and miss you all!

I can't believe it's Christmas and I'm not at home but I'm so excited cause I know that I'm were I am supposed to be and by serving a mission I am giving the Lord myself for 2 years and that is the greatest gift I can give him at this time! Know that I love and miss you all! I wrote in my journal last night... "First christmas away from those who I love and miss the most, won't be a good Christmas if Christ isn't close." How true is that! I don't think I could actually do it this Christmas and have a good Christmas if I wasn't looking for Christ and really relying on Him to make it a good one for me as I am away! Without His comfort and direction I don't know where I would be right now! It's crazy to think how much he does for us and we don't notice until we actively search for Him! I know that this will be one of the best Christmas's I can have if I make it a CHRIST-mas! I'm so thankful for all that He has given me and blessed me with! I know that for serving a mission I will be blessed forever and ever as I continue to follow him!!!

I can't wait to call home next week at the airport and talk to you!! I'm so excited to be able to go to the Philippines and teach and preach to the filipinos about Christ and our message that we share that we have Christ True Church back on this earth today through a prophet named Joseph Smith.I'm so thankful that I have this knowledge! For this Christmas I leave with all of you my testimony that Christ does live! He is our Savior our Redemer and our Messiah. We have a Loving Heavenly Father who has put a Prophet on this earth today to lead us a guide us so we can live with our families forever in the presence of God! I know this is true!

I love you and miss you all!!! Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Sargent!!!

Hey everyone how are you all doing!!! Can't believe I only have two weeks left here and next week is already Christmas! Time just flies here! It goes by so fast! You'll be happy to know that I have pictures to send today so those will get sent after this letter! Sorry it’s a little later then usual! This morning the temple is cleaned for cleaning and my district was able to go clean it! Me and Elder Anderson were doing construction in the temple! This guy was knocking down walls for more rooms and so we were helping take down walls and just demolishing everything! It was pretty sweet! Everyone was stuck cleaning and dusting! They only needed two people so me and Anderson went an did it cause Elder Gille was already dusting! So Elders Anderson and Gille are the best! It’s gonna be sad to leave them in 2 weeks cause I’ve spent every moment with them and they have become some of my best friends! Luckily I’ve got some other Elders like Cannon and Pulsipher who are going to Bacolod that are cool as well! Us 5 just do everything together! So this week has been great! Just another good one but I got alot of questions to answer so that’s what I’ll be doing right about now....

1) So yes I am taking pictures well at least this week I did! I’ll send them after this!!

2) The language is so awesome! At times I just feel like I'll never learn it cause I dont understand what is going on and when I try to speak I just fail big time! But then at times I’m just speaking like crazy..I’ll just go on rants like in lessons. It’s weird! The hardest part is that it’s like backwards of how we speak English. so getting the structure down of the sentence is the hardest part. Our teacher told us that we probably have doubled the amount of vocab that her other district has. So that was pretty nice to hear! But this next week I’m just going to really try to understand the structure before I leave in 2 weeks for the Philippines unless I'll just be completely lost! I still will be no matter what but maybe I can at least say some things or understand some things!

3) Yeah I’ve seen Dan. He's in my zone and his bedroom is right down the hall and his class room is right across the hall way! So I see him alot. He seems to be doing good! Haven’t talked to him much but he seems like he’s doing good!

4)Directing the Newbies was awesome! I actually got to host instead of directing cause we got a new district leader so directing is their job! But there were like 300 elders that came in last week... this week..... 700!!! GRABI!!! (that means like holy cow/oh my gosh/any amount of expression pretty much) haha so we are hosting again! That is so many people coming in! It’s going to be packed here! It already is!! But it'll be fun for a week I guess... Then I’m gonzo!!!

5) Oh yes... I can see a huge difference between the new elders that just got here speaking Hiligaynon and us! The language is actually not that hard it’s just the retaining and making sure that everything is in the right structure order! Every one back home has been asking me if I can like pray and bear my testimony in Hiligaynon. you learn how to do that like day 2! It takes like a week or 2 to get it down but after that it’s easy! We can go into lessons that we teach without notes and have a good lesson for a good 30 minutes! Its pretty fun! The language is so fun to speak though cause nobody has any idea what we are saying! It’s awesome!

6)Chest pain is good! The pills I got are helping! I have like one left. I’m not sure if it treats the pain or just helps the pain. When you called did they tell you anything! I may want to go and check cause if so I need to get another prescription before I leave to the Philippines and since I'm out as of tomorrow! So I’ll do that today or tomorrow!

7) I checked on Phone cards. They are like 5 bucks for 300 minutes. So I’ll get one of those when I leave!

8) I haven’t recieved my travel plans yet but I will this week!! I’m so excited! It will be awesome!!

9) So for Christmas Eve and Christmas I know that we will have a couple devotionals. We made friends with the executive secretary here at the MTC cause he looks like one of the kids in our district! He loves us! Don’t know if he knows our names but he always talks to us! We were asking him about who is coming on Christmas and he wasn’t allowed to tell us but he told us that it’s not the Prophet but he has a higher calling then Holland! I’m thinking Uchtdorf!! It will be so awesome if that’s who its is!!! I cant wait though to see who it is!!!!

10) Meals here are meals. The food is pretty good! That probably just cause we are always hungry!! haha. Between the elders in my district we'll just be studying the Book of Mormon personally and some one... usually Elder Cannon, Me or Anderson will just say.... "Dude. I’m just starved!" we all just start laughing and just want to go eat! There are only like three things we look forward to here.... Meal time, gym and mail! haha oh and sleep!!!! But some times the food just looks gross or is gross so I load up on Lucky Charms but usually it is pretty good! The topic we talk about here is sports! There are like three of us that are just sport buffs. Me Anderson and Cannon and so we always talk about that! If it’s not that it’s about like surfing or wakeboarding cause a couple of us do that! It all just depends on who starts a conversation!!
11) Not much you can do to help me out before I leave! I've enjoyed the Christmas package so far and haven't guessed any of the clues right yet but Anderson or Gille usually get them pretty fast! haha! Just keep praying that I'll be as ready as I can be before I leave the MTC!! and keep writing letters! I love letters! FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

12) I'm a little anxious about the language before I leave just cause that's a huge obstacle but besides that that’s all im anxious about! But I'm just excited to leave! Im excited to get to the Philippines and bless peoples lives cause I know that this gospel we testify and preach to the world about is true and has blessed my life for sure the past weeks since I've been gone!! I know that it can bless anyone as they live it and gain a true testimony of it! I love the Book of Mormon and what is has to offer to my life! As I apply the writings of scripture to my life I can truly see a night and day difference! The gospel is true. That’s what I’m most excited about the Philippines! Is to teach people that!

I miss you all but love you more! I love the mission and can’t wait to be in the Philippines serving the people of Bacolod! It’s a blessing for me to be able to be part of this important work!!

I love the mission!!

Love you all.... until next week!

 



Hey Family! and Friends....

How is everyone doing!!! This week has been good, not much has happened. Glad I got some questions so I have enough to write about. Its been kinda just a normal week. Nothing crazy happened and nothing bad happened! So its been just a good week full of learning and growing in the work. Both my compainons have been sick this weekened but seem to be getting over it. Hopefully it doesn’t get me sick cause thats the last thing I need!

So I got my ties and they have been a hit for tie trading! Its been nice to have Oreos everynight before I go to bed! They are so good! Already done with 2 out of the 3 packages! And half way done with the chips! They were great!

So to the questions.....

1) About the chest pain. It has gone down fully! They put me on some meds I take once every morning and I dont have anything throughout the day. I'm not sure when I’m done if I’m supposed to get the prescription refilled. Did they say anything about that when you called mom?

2) When the new missionaries come in I just feel bad for them! I see there faces and just think back to October 31st and how bad that day was and just kinda think about home. But then I see some Elder with a smile on his face and hope I looked like that walking into the MTC and just think how blessed I am to be here serving a mission!! But now that we are at our 7th week we get to escort new missionaries these next weeks till we go I think. This week I’m directing traffic which is a bummer cause I won’t have any interaction with the newbies! But hopefully the weeks after that!.... Oh will somebody send me the forecast for the weeks for here on out! The weather in Utah is bipolar. One moment it’s nice then the next it’s snowing! Utah is indi maayo(no good) in the winter!

3) Yeah Dan Peterson does get here on Wed and will be in my zone and probably right across the hall from me on my floor. Possibly his residence hall room will be on my floor! So I’ll be seeing him alot!

4) I covered that question in answer #2

5)You can send up my other shirts at any given time. I’ll probably send everything home the day we get our travel plans cause that way I’ll know I’m for sure leaving and I'll know what I need to keep and send! I’m debating if I should send home my speakers cause it has my alarm clock on it but I can’t use the music so i'm debating if you just send a small alarm clock (which I put the extra in Dees room on the night stand before I left) cause its smaller and less weight! What do you think! I should be getting my travel plans next week already so that'll be fun and you’ll know by then! You get travel plans 10 days before but I’m thinking since Christmas is within those 10 days they'll give them out earlier!

6) I haven’t checked on phone cards yet. I know you can buy them here...I just need to remember to check on that! So I’ll try to remember that today!

7) This week I’ve been studying just in the Book of Mormon! The best insight I’ve had is hard to say cause I get a lot of insight! I'd have to say though that when we repent we aren’t just becoming clean we are to change! When we repent we are to "put off the natural man and become a saint through the Atonement of Christ our Lord" - Mosiah 3:19. It’s interesting cause I looked up the definition of a saint and it said that a saint is "free of blemish" so the only true way we can become a saint is if we are clean and the only way we are clean is through the repentence process with the mercy of Christ’s atonement and suffering.

8) Yeah I did get that email from Janis. Elder Anderson says that his friend in their mission says Gordon and Janis are the best!

9) I see Nate Tingey every couple days! I see Mckay Tanner about the same! It’s fun to see them both! They are both awesome elders! It’s fun to be serving with them at the same time! Not hearing from many friends. I'd love to hear from more though!! I try to write back as soon as I can but it’s time consuming and I don’t have much time to write letters!

Well all! All is good here! I love your letters and packages so keep them coming!! The mission is great! I can’t believe I leave in like 3 weeks! The Philippines is going to be so awesome! The Church is true! The Gospel is true! Christ lives and God knows us and loves us and wants to help us when we ask for help sincerely! I've seen that in my own life and I’m sure I’m not the only one!

I love you all!!

Elder Sargent!

 

 

Taking a little Sunday nap in the classroom!

 Elder Anderson likes taking pictures of us sleeping!! haha

 

This is me freezing in the snow!!!!

Yo family. Happy December! Can’t believe how time flies by so fast! What is up this Monday morning! I’m doing pretty good today. This past week has been pretty good! At the beginning of the week I was stressing about the language a little cause we were just cranking out new grammer and sentence structure like 2 new lessons a day and what not so it was kinda hard to keep up. Plus when I was teaching I couldn’t recall anything from the past. I kinda have a thing when I teach I just freeze and can’t think about what to say or how to say it... then by the time that I think of it we've already moved on from that part of the lesson. So it’s a little frustrating but luckily my comps are bomb at the language and are helping me feel more comfortable when I speak it. I've learned I know the concepts, I just have to go for it! The MTC is a time to crash and burn so I’d rather do it here then in the actual mission feild! But towards the end of the week I think the light bulb came on and now I’m slowing increasing the speed at which I talk and can talk! It’s kinda crazy how once a simple concept clicks everything is just easy. Plus I couldnt do it without many prayers and faith that I can do it! The Lord blesses big time!

So the past week I don’t think there are many funny stories. A couple gross things I probably shouldn’t share but hey that’s what you get with 9 guys in one class room!!

Just a couple highlights from this past week....

1) Not really a highlight but I thought I'd let you guys know. So the chest pain is back but this time it’s on my left side of the chest. I went into the doctors this morning and have yet another appointment so hopefully they get me a new doctor or I can get it checked cause this is the third time and it doesn’t really hurt as much as it’s annoying this time. It’s not as strong which is good and it seems to be going away already but I figured I should find out what’s wrong before I leave to the Philippines in like 4 weeks!

I'll let you know via snailmail what's up so you'll probably get it on Wed!

2) Yesterday was awesome! It was Fast sunday so that was good. But they let us watch the General First Presidency Christmas Devotional yesterday night! It was so good! The words/messages that were shared were so awesome. If you didnt see it. Go watch it! I don’t care if you’re Mormon or not Mormon! It was awesome! One of my favorite lines from last night was President Thomas when he said... "Just like the Wiseman, we need to search for the star..... We need to go to Bethlehem (spirtually) and offer the Lord our gift of a loving heart!" That what Christmas is all about! I also loved President Uchtdorf when he talked about being receivers of the greatest gift of God.. His Son. Jesus Christ. We can use that gift in our lives more then any other gift we will receive in our lifetime and all eternity! I thought those two points were awesome and that’s my plan for not just the Christmas season but also for the whole mission and my life!

3) Shauna got your package with the pictures and the Oreos! Looks like you all had a fun Thanksgiving! And I think I ate 2 rows of Oreos to myself Sat night. All the Oreos are already gone! They were gone so fast! They were delicious though! We all love Oreos!!

4) Glad Tessa sent you those pictures. Every Thursday night we have this thing called TRC which stands for teaching resource center and we just go and have discussions about the Gospel of Christ with return missionaries for like 1 hour. I walked into the building and into the room and Tessa was just there with a friend who served in Illoillo. It was so random! Everyone one was like who is this girl? and I was like that’s my cousin! It was so nice to be able to see her! She seemed way happy to see me and my comps/district! Hopefully I looked good in those pictures! haha! It’s weird to ask to see a picture on a phone cause I haven’t touched a phone for like a month so I didnt!... Also since we are on the topic of Tessa... Uncle Scott and Aunt Lynell. Thanks for the package! We love the snow globe! It’s like a toy to us! haha!

5) Just to wrap things up.... If you guys have any questions for me send them to me on Friday via dearelder cause they don’t do mail here on Saturdays except for the mornings then I dont have much to write about on Mondays cause I haven’t received all my weekened letters! I feel like it would work better that way for all of us!

Well... Know that i miss you all but love you more! I've said it before but there is no othere place I'd rather be right now then on a mission! The days are long but the weeks are so fast. By the time I know it I’ll be home and off to other things! It’s my goal to really take advantage of the Mission. I watched a talk by Holland last night called "Missions are Forever".. try to look it up! It gave me so much hope to do more and strive to work as hard as I can so when I get home in 2 years I’ll have no regrets! My testimony has been strengthened so much here through prayer and the Book of Mormon. My testimony this week is more of a challange! I’d just like to challenge all that read this letter today to have the true Christmas Spirit. It’s not about the gifts or the dinners or the parties or decorations. It’s about Christ. He is the greatest gift of all. As The Motab was singing Silent night last night I flipped open to Luke 2 in the bible and read about the night when Christ was born. I had an overwhelming feeling that brought a tear to my eye that Christ was born that He did perform miralces. He did atone for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and that He died for us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father after this life. He is the true Son of God and the greatest gift we can recieve this year is indeed Him. Jesus Christ. The Son of God. Our Messiah. If we look for the star in our lives and follow that light that shines (just like the wiseman) then we will be able to find Him. We can also know that He is the light to follow like it said in John 8:12. We shouldn’t offer gold or other riches to Him but we can give him our humble hearts and that’s the most important gift to Him! I promise that as we have this outlook this Christmas season and always in our lives we will be so blessed in ways we can’t even imagine!

Know that I love you and miss you all!

Elder Sargent!!!