Hey all! 

I'm so glad that everything is going good for everyone! For this week has been pretty good! pretty fast and I'm looking forward to this one! 

So just a low down on everything! 

So our teaching! we are improving our numbers and finding more investigators. We realized earlier this week some things we needed to work out in our companionship to make it better and have the spirit with us more and more everyday.  We realized that both of us were just waiting for the other person to act or take lead.  For Elder Delos Santos he just wanted to sit back and have me lead so i can learn then for me i just thought he was trunkie and just kinda lost his motive(which there is still a little) haha but we sat down and talked and finally had some communication on what to do to make this the best 4 weeks of his mission. I straight up told him that I'm fine  with leading but at the same time I can't be babysitting. I cant be the only one planning or deciding were to go or who to teach or just what to do! cause that's what i was doing and I wasnt getting any help.  He would always just ask me where are we going. or you plan. or just little things.  But on wed we finally talked it out and have doing   alot better with share of responsibility of 2 people in a companionship. I'm still leading but there is more help on planning or just deciding important things.  

For me I learned a lot. I really learned that if there is no communication in a companionship this work can't be done.  its true. the spirit leaves and wont help one no matter how hard he tries. I felt like after I had support of him the spirit came back into our teaching and we were able to increase our numbers and just have a better week.  Of course we aren't perfect teachers or companionship but everyday we have been trying to progress. i still see some areas that could work out a little more and can work on that this week! 

For investigators this week! 

So first

Alota Family:

So the Alota family. I'm not sure if I've mentioned them but they are all investigators.  There are 4 of them. Nanay and Tatay(Mom and dad) then there son and his wife. Nay and Tay are probably in there 60's and his son Joven and his wife Likem are probably 30ish and have one daughter maybe 3 years old.  so we meet them a couple weeks ago and teach them about once a week. last week we set a baptismal date with them but they didn't so up to church. This week we are going to focus on helping them progress and getting to them to church! 

Angelo Dela Cruz! so far he is our only progressing investigator. This week we plan on getting him a baptismal date. We had a plan last time but we brought our branch president and he just messed up the lesson. He didn't stop talking! haha. so this week na lang! 

pero im not sure about him! I faith with him but whenever we teach him he seems like he's not interested yet he still comes to church and does our commitments! 

So my fun story of the week! We went up to this one barangy with our branch president cause we had a potential investigator who we were going to stop by but she wasn't there so we just thought sige ah. (okay) we'll just teach to the neighbors around.  So probably 90% of this area is Seventh Day and the just like to debate about the Sabbath day. Our first house went really good. she was 7th Day but she was very interested in mormons and our culture and how I knew the language and she just thought it was really cool that we would spend time devoting to the Lord! then the next house! Here is my story! 

So go up to the door yell "Balay" which is their way of knocking here then the open the door invite us in and the debate is off! this lady just is asking questions and opening her bible then I'm just sitting there not understanding really I just know the topic then I was like well I don't want to sit here. How can I prove this lady.  So I think think think. then say....

"sister. may ara ko isa ka pamongkot lang sa imo" (sister i have one question for you)  "sino natuga sang modern day calendar"( who created the modern day calender") her response tawo gani(people) then i just was like exactly that sister. so I mean that Jesus Christ didn't make this calendar. Whose to say there were calendars back in that day that.  In the bible it just says 7th day. So it's not important that the sabbath day is on sat or sunday but that its the first day because after the ressurection of Christ that's when the Aapostles took the sacrament. It really doesn't matter the day we have a Sabbath but as long as you have one a week and rest from you labors as the commandment commands.  She didn't know what to say but was just like that's not the commandment the commandment is Sunday.

So she just wanted to debate.haha.

But thats my week in a nutshell! 

Hope all is well this week for all of you! Language is still a struggle but I try not to look at that anymore and just pray that God will bless me! Don't worry I will learn this language. and if I don't.. I don't know! haha but that's not the important thing. The important thing is that I serve with all my heart might mind and strength. the Lord didn't  send me to master a language but to master the spirit. to serve diligently and obediently and in return I can receive blessing for me and more importantly be a blessing for someone else! I see my time moving faster and faster which kinda scares me but at the same time its good I just have to work harder to keep up with it! 

The Church is True. Its truly a blessing we have a living Prophet.  Think about it! That's all I have to say this week! 

I love you all and miss you all! 

Elder Sargent! 

P.S.- sorry about the spelling! 

Here is a Picture riding on top of a Tubo Truck! or the big truck the use for loading sugar canes! seriously these trucks are large! I'll take a picture this week of a full one! But this is our Branch President Pilicano. this is after going to a little barangy(town) and debating with many 7th day about the Sabbath day! the story ill include in my big letter! haha

hey family! so can I just say it was great to skype all of you last week! it seems like a month has pasted already. kinda a long week but it wasn't a bad week. I think time was just running a little slow! 

But this week has been good! its been a good week of just focusing on new investigators and trying to find some people to teach. Haven't had much success yet but we may have some good future potential. 

This past week we went through our area book both potential and past investigators and we probably went out with close to 15 names one day in one area and just went out looking for them.  we found out that probably like maybe 11 of those 15 died didn't live there anymore or nobody knew them! haha.  so we just contacted those ones and set up days to come back to teach but when we came to the day and time they told us no one was home! kinda frustrating. but we just had some time before our next appointment about an 45 minute walk away so we went and bought some bread from a bakery and then stopped at a house to buy some water in there little store and ended up talking to her and passed on a restoration pamphlet. so i guess no effort is wasted. she didn't seem too interested but anyway we may stop back! haha. so then after our 45 minute walk we showed up to teach a less active Bro. Pilipil(ive mentioned him before) who is a returning member but then he'll miss one week of church so his time starts over. haha. every time! but anyway he was still out in the sugar fields working so we had his daughter in law go get him but they never returned so who knows but we ended up  meeting a new family and teaching them. we gave them a pamphlet to read but they cant read so I just told them to look at the picture and we'll explain them the next time and they agreed to do that! who know but hopefully! I forgot their last name though. the names here are all confusing! haha they're all the same or all nicknames so it's hard to keep them straight! 

So that's my run down on this week. At Church on Sunday we had one investigator at church then later that night we stopped by his house and taught him. he was very smart with prophets. he's my buddy here in Bug-ang so we always talk and i told him to come to church and he did. haha. he's friends with a member in town who spoke yesterday in sacrament meeting so that was good! so hopefully something can come out of that! his name is Angelo Dela Cruz.  Mga 25ish id guess. he works at the elementary school as kinda the security electrician and janitor so he just kinda roams around the campus all day.  

This week has been. still working hard with the language and not giving up. some days its good on both aspects.  I was listening to a talk by Uchtdorf on Patience this past week a bunch of times. he gave it during a priesthood session maybe a couple years back but it is a really good talk on learning and growing and being patient! but yeah its definitely a good talk for anything! haha but I feel like I've progressed in speaking this week! We'll see has this week goes! 

Missionary work continues to be great no matter the trouble problems and area. its what I signed up for and I continue to push through it waiting for that day were I'm the best missionary I can be! It's in the near future I hope! haha. I remember thinking when I first arrived here in the Philippines thinking oh just wait till June or July and you'll be fine with everything! Maybe a little bit of a estimate error but it doesn't get me down. I have just over 17 months to succeed. I can do it! even if it takes me another year! I can still do it! and that's all that matters! 

Well family! know that I love you all and miss you all! I love this work and love my mission but most of all I love this gospel. its true and I know it! I just have to teach it now! I keep you n my prayers and know that I am in yours because of the support I feel!  I know Christ is our Savior Redeemer and Lord.  He wants the best for all of us so that's why he suffered for us! I hope you all know that to! Love you all again! 

Sorry about the spelling! 

Until next week! 

Love you,

Elder Sargent          

 

 

so these first two pictures are a shirt this guy was wearing. i asked to take a picture. he's not a member but he's a friend of mine in town and a new investigator so it wasn't awkward... haha but it says my the horse be with you then sa likod(on the back) siling niya(it says) cause you look like a horse! its tagalog but Elder Delos Santos translated it! haha. i though that shirt would be the perfect family shirt! if only i can find that shirt! haha

me and a chicken getting ready to eat it. we bought a chicken the other day to raise for about a month until its big and then we will kill it and eat it! im excited to learn how to do all this for when i get home! haha

Hey mom and dad. we found a internet shop open! haha. so we decided to get on and send our numbers. i just decided to write you a little note and tell you all how much i loved skyping! thinking back i think i was a little shy. dont know. maybe when i return ill just be silent around you all! haha. i think thats most missionaries. but anyways! until next week! 

I love you all and miss you all! Happy Mothers day! you are the best mom in the world! I didnt know that adam gave hugs to others except his girlfriends but since he is my best friend i'm sure he did it for me to you even if he didnt realize it! only adam could fill in for me. right! hope that makes sense! but serioulsy! thank you for all you do for me. i love you more then words can explain! 

until next week! 

Elder Sargent

Hope you a had a good mothers day!  

 

Hey everyone! Can you believe where the time has gone. I feel like this week just blew by! I’m now closer to my one year mark than the day I entered the MTC and yet again another transfer week this week! I really have no idea what is happening or what is in store for me. I may just stay with elder delos santos... maybe I’ll be a trainer... maybe I’ll be a junior ...maybe I’ll be transferred! I really have no idea what will happen.  So sorry this email is so late today. We went with the youth in our ward to a  hanging bridge. I sent some pictures! It was so fun! It hung about 50 feet in the air and was about 100 feet long! Pretty good size! All the youth went swimming and cliff jumping into the river and I wanted to join so bad.  But I was obedient and didnt! haha But we had a nice little picnic up there by the bridge and all the youth enjoyed it! Good activity for them! I wish we had swinging bridges and rivers in AZ! haha

 

But this week has been good! Numbers still continue to be low here but we continue to work hard and find more investigators. SO FRUSTRATING.

 

So I told you all about Sis lovely and that she was already baptized so we decided to fellowship and continue to teach and teach their children! So it’s been going good with the lessons to the children. They have some trouble remembering information but when we give them a hint or two they ususally have it! But the frustrating part is that a investigator has to go to church 4X in a row before he/she can be baptized so we went in with a good solid lesson on commandments and obedience. We had a really good lesson... like really good. We had them thinking about why they need to be obedient and why it’s important. The parents definitely understood and we committed them to go to church and they thought about it for a while and then they finally said yes that they would. I felt good about there commitment to going to church but Sunday came around and they didn’t show up. It’s like dang. What can we do now? They understand they need to go to church. We had a two good lessons with them especially on Saturday night and they don’t come. I feel bad for them. They are like really poor and so I understand their problems but at the same time the Lord understands a lot better and He will bless them!

As for our other investigators we continue to find and stop by their house but we've yet to get one to keep commitments! So hard.  As a missionary I cant give up! I just gotta keep working!

 

As for last week Zone Training with President Lopez.... AWESOME!! He's really a good guy. He just knows the doctrine to every point and teaches is so clearly!

 

Our topic was the Lesson 1 in chapter 3 of PMG, or in other words, the Restoration.  If there is one thing that he told us that stuck out to me the most in that lesson is that he said... "When we teach the Restoration we need to take the Sacred Grove with us"  He had us, that had been to the Sacred Grove, explain what is was like... the feeling the nature and everything.  He said as the spirit dwells still in the Sacred grove and we can take the Sacred Grove or that Spirit and teach people to really know! He also said the most important thing you can do after you do that is to kneel when you pray at the end of that lesson. He said think about it... Joseph smith kneeled on a dirt floor that day. Most of your houses you go to have dirt floors. It’s bringing the Sacred Grove into their lives even more! I really liked that and I’m excited for the next time I have an opportunity to teach the restoration to my next investigator. Also at that Zone training we had American hot dogs. Like pure American. Even with American Heinz catsup!  It was awesome!

 

As for me, I am doing good this week! The language continues to be a struggle. My conversational skills are okay. My understanding is still struggling pretty bad and also my teaching. I just can’t express myself. It’s so hard to teach in another language cause so many thoughts enter in your mind but you don’t know how to say them or if you try you just stutter and if you do know how to say them they still don’t come out clear. haha. I’m not down on myself or anything. I just keep trying. I just wish I could’ve have progressed faster. It’s alright though... I still have a long time. I’m excited to see what transfers bring though. I think Elder Delos Santos wants to be transferred, but for me it doesn’t really matter. I’m game for whatever right now at this moment! Maybe my feeling will be different in like 2 days on transfer day but I’ve just decided that whoever my companion is I’m just going to take lead. It’s going to be my mission.  I’m ready just to learn how to do everything through experience. I can’t wait around for things to happen to me... if I have been!

 

I know the church is true. Maybe I don’t know all the doctrine or all the ins and outs of everything in life yet, but I do know enough to say that this Church is True!   I know that I’m here in the Philippines for a reason. I know that I do have a reason here but I’m not sure exactly what that reason is yet so I continue to find ways to really know why I’m here.  I know that that day will come though when I know exactly why I’m here. I’m thankful for all your support in everything that I do and I love you all very much! I

Love you and pray for you even more!

 

Love,

 

Elder Sargent

then the last picture is our lunch! Cannon(rice) chicken adobo(famous dish here) and isda(fish) 

so earlier today we went with the youth to this area with a hanging bridge! the first time i did it. i was scared so i returned. the second i did it. the third i did it with no hands then the fourth and so on it was like i was a natural pinoy(philippino) crossing the bridge. there were people crossing it with like bundles of bamboo on there right shoulder. these people have incredible balance here! not sure how they do it! but this is me on the bridge.

the youth in our ward and there leaders. the leaders are Bro Dave and Sister April. Bro dave is sitting next to me and sister april is above me in the pink shirt.  they just recently got married in the temple. Bro dave is a RM from the illongopo mission and sister april is a convert. they've been married a couple years now i believe. they are really cool. bro dave is the son of the stake president here in sagay.