Hey everyone! So I've gotten like 3 mentions that today is my 8 months mark on the mission meaning that im 1/3 done. my time does move. I didn't really even notice this 8 month mark had hit me yet.  I realized it but it was never going through my head like holy cow. I'm at my 8 month mark. Good and scary. Nothing bad.  Good that time is moving and moving fast but at the same time its like ahh shoot. I've let time just pass. Still feel a little lost at times or like I'm at my 3 months mark again just cause of my progression I think can be better but I don't know how to progress. At times I feel like it's just time that I'm waiting on but at the same time when will that time come? But before I know it July will be over and who knows what this month will bring me.  

 

But as for this past week it was okay...

 

I'm still trying to figure out this area. It's different. Our area actually isn't like in the city. We have like 4 areas that we go to that all are like out in the bukkid about a 10-15 min tricycle ride away. So the teaching are still a little hard to have a lot a lot but we are definitely teaching more than Minapasok.  We have a baptism next sat the 13th which I'm looking forward to.  She's a 12 year old part member but she doesn't really have any support from her family cause the people she lives with I don't think are members. 

 

I can't figure out the area yet with our members and our investigators.  I've been trying to figure out who they all area and I'm getting a hold of the Less Actives but the investigators I don't know who they are yet. Whenever we plan to teach a investigator I ask Elder Dalumpines who they are and he just is like oh this is a house that has some investigators that we can teach.  It's almost like they aren't set in stone it's like if they are there they are there and we can teach them but they aren't progressing.  I'm trying to find some new ones that we can just start over and kinda reshape this area and the progression cause I truly believe that if we can get the ward to help this ward is going to be even stronger than it is. and it's a good ward! I like the membership support.  We always have referalls from the members but they never know the address or anything so we can't really contact them.  So maybe just a little bit more clarification on some things can help a lot here.

 

We did find a few new investigators that I'll update you with next week.  One is

 

Richard- about 14 years old. One day we were just taking a rest on a rock and this kid just sat down and started talking to us like we were best friends.  We decided to open our mouths and share a message with him so hopefully this week we can teach him again.

 

JayR Amato- about 22 years old. He was actually blessed in the LDS church cause his parents are members but split when he was still young. He's been interested in learning more about Mormon's and what not but he only believes in the Bible and likes when we have Bible references to our teaching to back up our points cause he wants to change but he wants to make sure that its like a legit plan for him and he feels like the Bible is the book to give him the answers.  So maybe this week we'll teach him more about the BOM and hopefully we have some progression. 

 

Well family.

 

I hope this answers most of your questions with the new area.  Kinda scattered brain but just a lot on my brain to figure everything out.  Lately I've been so tired and I have no idea why. I want to work harder but my body just drags and it's hard to focus at times and even harder to push through it. Pray for me that I'll have strength this week! Know that I love you all.  This work is true and it's hard but I'm chippin away at it trying to find my groove.  It will come. Like I said it's just time at this point and I'm just waiting.  I pray for you often and hope that all is well!

 

 

Love you all!!

 

Elder Sargent!

 

Well I have been transferred and made a Senior Companion. My New Companion is Elder Dalumpines from the Manila Area.  He just finished his 12 weeks training but since he's filipino he doesn't have a follow up so i was just made his senior. My New Area is called Kabankalan. its about 4 hours south of Bacolod.  Its a city so its pretty nice.  All the rooms in the Church have air conditioning which is nice! haha

So here is my week!

So monday and tuesday. so monday and tuesday i was in sagay with Elder Manu. that was a really good experience and that area definitely has some prepared investigators ready to be baptized. good opportunity to me to actually see some progressing areas after being in Minapasok for 6 months.  Tue after district meeting i got the call notifying me that i would be transferred so we had to go all the way back out to minapasok and pack up everything and clean up the house a little.  I thought there would be no more missionaries there but turns out that the the elders that got assigned there were already in the sagay zone and are now the Zone Leaders. So hopefully they can do something there.

Wed- bright and early we headed out to Bacolod to meet up with our new companions.  At the Chapel we meet at i saw a couple elders from my batch and Elder Leng. haha. that was pretty fun. Turns out the Elder Cannon is my District Leader! haha. we are both excited for that! should be a fun experience.

Thursday- thursday was a full day of work.  I was excited cause pure illongo but turns out its like my first week in the Philippines all over again. im not understanding anything. the vocabulary is way different here plus the speak way fast. im picking up maybe like 5%.  its bad. i don't know what else i can do with the language learning. every area in this mission has a different set of vocab and accent i swear. Just when i think i see a light the power goes out. its very difficult to grasp and figure out what else i can do. i know that i still have a long time but you think that 8 months out id understand more then 5 percent in the language i learned. But the work goes on.

Friday- i didn't wake up feeling too good. i thought i could just work it out but turns out that afternoon i ended up returning home and have had a flu the past days. ive spent my hours just resting and loading up on medicine and water.  Today i'm doing fine. my body is just in a little shock maybe cause its just stiff and i still have a runny nose but i think i'm on the mend. (i'd much rather take the flu for 4 days then a kidney stone for 8 hrs!)  

The new area should be good. have some good strong members that are willing to help and actually have teachers in all the classes! My new comp... he's good. he doesn't speak any english.  He's like 5'2 so i got a whole foot on him! haha.  he's kinda quiet around the house but he has good relationships with the members which is good. it should be a good companionship. i just need a little more time to figure out the area and then start finding teaching and baptizing.  (just wish i new the language)

Well family hope you all have a great week this week.  I'm looking forward to this week. We have Zone Conference tomorrow which should be good. i'm looking forward to that. hopefully my sickness doesn't stop my mind from working and i can get everything out of what president tells us.  Should be a good week of learning the language again and teaching and finding and strengthening this area. I've been called to lead this area for a reason so i will do all i can to do that! hopefully i can fulfill my purpose!

Know that i love you all! time moves quick. take advantage of it! do your part and the lord will do his!

Loves,

Elder Sargent

 

Me and my new comp Elder Dalumpines.

 

 

hey family how are you doing??? First Off HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL!!!  this week has been pretty good i guess. not much progress but not much digression either ill explain later.  But yes this week is transfers.  I was thinking this week that this week is transfers which means just 2 more transfers after this and ill be at my my 1 year mark.  crazy to think that way. that in about 18 weeks ill be one year down. its seems long 18 weeks but at the same time transfers just go by really fast. it seems like just 2 weeks ago i figured i would be staying again in minapasok with elder delos santos and no he's already packed and ready to go home. I have no idea what transfers will be except that i will have a new companion. i don't know where ill be or who it will be but i've set some new goals for me. I guess that i don't care who my companion is or what he's like but 'im going to live my mission the way i want it to be. after my training i think i was still a little shy with the members and with the people and just kinda let Elder Delos Santos come in and take Charge but now its going to be me. that's my goal. i realized that 'im definitely a better leader than a follower so tha'ts one thing i'm going to strengthen is my leadership no matter the circumstance.  

So as for this week kinda like a last farewell week for Elder Delos Santos. we spent alot of time at members house and while we still taught i wish we coul'dve taught a little more.  but at the same time a lot of our lessons fell through AGAIN!! 

Sis Maurine - For Sister Maurine she told us that tue was her only night that she could do it so we had a plan to go there tue but when tue night came around we had waay lalaki (no male) so without a male we cant enter in there house. we had plan to watch the restoration movie with her cause we talked about the restoration last time and she seemed to like it so we though that clearing it up with a video would be nice and she just just watch and lesson and take in the spirit. so HOPEFULLY WE HAVE A LALAKI THIS WEEK!!! 

Angelo - Angelo had had a fever for like 1 week so we were'nt able to teach him so we finally texted him again and he didnt respond so we just decided alright we'll just stop by cause maybe he just doesn't have load(money to text)  so we stopped by but he was kinda angry that we stopped by without texting him but we did so he said next time again. 

I don't know about him anymore.  he just come up with excuses now. hopefully i can work with him to find his problem before its to late.

Alota Family - Alota Family i think is a no go know since they moved. They still may visit the old house cause they have a farm area there so it may just be stop by and see if there and if not then continue on with the work.  

So that is pretty my week in a nutshell. for the first half of the week i will be working in Sagay with Elder Manu. he's been here for 6 weeks now in the field. he's the one i  went on splits with in Minapasok.  His trainer and E. Delos Santos are the same batch so they return to there homes this week. then the second half of the week i don't know who or will ill be and i really have no idea what will happen so i'm up for anything i guess! 

I Hope you are all doing good and having a good time. I want you to know that i feel your support here in the mission. Everyone in my zone says that im the the Dear Elder Owner cause i get so many letters!! haha.  I love you all so much and i hope you the Best.

This week should be good. i'm going to hit it hard! that's what i signed up for so that's the plan.

The Church is true! 

Love you all! 

Elder Sargent

 

us eating carabou. i dont know if we have those in America.

killing a chicken!!

dinner sunday night for the farewell of E. Delos Santos at the Stake President house!

 

THIS IS EVIDENCE THAT I DO MY WASH!!! 

 

Hello all again! Weeks just get faster and faster and faster! Like this week June is already half way done! Its crazy how time passes. Everyone says that the first 6 months are the slowest then the next 6 are faster then the last year is just a slide.  I compare it to a water slide. The first 6 months of this mission are like waiting in the line for a water slide. Just slow. Excited but just want to switch lines already cause you don't like wasting the time when there are other slides to ride but then you get to the top finally (latter 6th months part of the year) and are about 3 people behind from sliding. Still nervous cause you don't now what to expect but you can see that this slide has made everyone else down at the bottom want to ride it again but you still have doubts. Then I think you get to the 1 year mark and that's when the line conductor says "alright you can go"  you still are just scared nervous excited and just take that final breath and kinda scoot to the edge of the slide until you drop! that's what I feel like the mission is! So I’m close to the final drop! 

 

Does that seem like a fair comparison??

 

But anyway this week has been pretty good. 

 

Angelo- .... yeah.... hes been giving us excuses every night that he's busy. I’ve been praying for him that he'll have at least one night open were we can finish teaching him the RESTORATION!! The most important part! So hopefully this week na lang!

 

ALOTA FAMILY-  They didn't come to church. We stopped by Thursday the usual time they tell us to come by and only the daughter in law was there. She told us to come back on Sunday same time when everyone should be back or home. So Sunday we went there and only the son and his wife were there. They are actually moving this week like 4 hour walk into the Bukkid so probably wont see them again :(  but we taught them about the plan of salvation and they enjoyed our message. Hopefully sometime they can accept our message. I feel like we planted a seed and now down the road they'll be ready to accept! 

 

Sis Maurine- Sis Maurine is actually from a very small indian country. Starts with an A. I cant pronounce it. She has lived in Bug-ang for 19 years now cause she moved here for work with her sister, met here husband in Manilla and now lives in Bug-ang.  She is fluent in like 7 languages. Cebuano, illongo, english, indian, portugues, and I think one other.  Her English isn't that great but she understands.  I actually tried teaching her in English but my mind would just flip over in illongo. Kinda weird.  She said she wants to get baptized but her family is against mormons.  She said the most Humble Prayer at the end of the lesson.  just thanking the lord for sending us to help her get closer to Him.  I definitely feel like this is an "elect"!  We have a meeting with her tuesday so hopefully everything goes good!!

 

So its kinda back to Square one with finding but its alright cause its fun to find new people and hope that the except us!  This is Elder Delos Santos last week then transfers next week so hopefully he just works hard with me and doesn't become to trunkie! haha but I got faith in him!!

 

Well family that is my update for this week!

 

I sent some good pictures and am taking more! so be happy and cherish my face! haha!

 

Know that i love you and miss you all! not much else to say besides that!

 

The Church is TRUE people. The Book of Mormon is true. remember the words of Jeffery R. Hollands Grandfather:

 

  "No evil man could write such and book and no good man would write such a book, unless he were called of God."

 

I know that is true!

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Sargent! 

 

 

 

after we stopped by a little resturant that has a real american taste. the  pizza and hamburger were great then to top it off i had a chocolate banana shake!! PERPECTO!!! 

 zone pictures

Hello all! 

How are you all doing today this week this new month?? can you believe its already june. I remember thinking in January and February while struggling.... "ahh just get to june or july and you'll be fine.  I think im still not totally fine in all the areas i thought i would but i am definitely in a better place then i was then and im only doing better from now on hopefully! its so crazy how time goes fast doesnt it. like im 7 months out on my mission now. thats a long time. like i was thinking you guys probably tell people how long ive been out like a couple months ago like for example "oh yeah hes been out for three months." that just sounds like baby stage but when you say 7 months its like im experianced now. i dont nkow to me it just seems like ive graduated from baby missionary to like something more. 7 months. dasig gid( very fast).  

So this week has been pretty great! all though we are struggling wtih our investagators we have been tlaking to people like crazy just trying to find the "Elect" here in this area. We have some new investagators that we are excited about that excepted our first message last week pretty well and we are going to return to them this week so if anything good happens ill let you know about it next week! 

So for aour investagatros this past week... 

Little bit of a bummer but lots to work with them this next week.

So for...

Angelo: Angelo has been working all day this week. Hes been preparing the school grounds at the elemntry school casue school starts today. everyday we texted him asking if he was availible and he always told us i wont get back till like 10 at night! so we actually didnt have the chance to teach him this week but hopefully since school started we can find time were he is available.  

Alota Family:  So we had a great lesson with them this week.  we taught them about the WOrd of Wisdom. The father and the son are the only ones that smoke and drink and they admitted they just do it as a hobbie more then anything. so they realized the importance of it and commited to start living it. daily by slowly but surley stopping.  so then we told them that this isnt a commandment of Jospeh SMith but of God and to know that Jospeh Smith is a true Prophet they need to come to church. the really wanted to and were asking what time it would start and what they should wear. we thought they were going to show up but they didnt! ahhh. 

Now that we have good investagators we just need to find ways for them to progress to the best level that they can! 

As for the rest of this week. ive just been working on my understanding of grammer and hopefully that can help me understand better! ive also had two splits this past week. both missionaries were only 3 weeks in the field. one from manilla so pure tagolog and the other form New Zealand. pure english! so it was pretty differnet but fun at the same time. ive learned that if i need to train now i can do it. i can carry a lesson and find people to teach so that was pretty good.

Besides that thats about it here in Minapasok! Looking forward to this week and all that it has for us to do.  I know the church is true and that this work is only going to get better and bigger these next few days weeks months years! im excited and looking forward to it! Im just working hard and letting the lord do the rest! 

KNow that i love you all and miss you all! 

Sorry about my speeling and english. it has never been the best but its hard to type cause in my mind i think half illogo then half english so sometimes i have to sit and think of the word in english or prhase in english.! haha hopefuylly i forget english when i get home! thatd be pretty fun! 

But anyways love you and miss you all! and with that im off! 

Love,

Elder Sargent