Week #45

August 23, 2015

Maupay nga aga!

Well this week has been awesome and I am so happy with the work that we accomplished! Sadly our ISA went down but that was because there was family problems. So I am willing to accept their excuses. 

Well I have some good news!! So I think I told you but the Alcala family is awesome! Anyways this past week the daughter and her boyfriend arranged some marriage plans and they are getting married!!!!!!!! So awesome! And the grandma and grandpa are getting married also and they asked us if they can all get baptized on the same day! This family is awesome and they are the perfect example of what investigators should do! They are dragging us to baptism and not the other way around! So yeah karuyag namon to CTD them this coming week so hopefully everything works out and they can figure out a date! 

So crazy thing happened this week at district meeting! So district meeting is always in Catbalogan so we have to travel every Tuesday. Anyways so we got to the church and guess who we saw there! The zone leaders. So story is they decided on a whim to come to my district meeting so that was pretty stressful. But wait there's more. As we were starting the meeting President and Sister Maurer walk into the room! Talk about stress. I then proceeded to give a training to my district, the zone leaders, and the mission president. So that was fun! My training was on the talk "The Music of the Gospel". So it was actually pretty good!

So this week there was a fiesta in Gandara so it was fun to see all the drunk people.

Well that's it for this week! Spiritual thought can be found in Jacob 1. We need to magnify our callings or the sins of the people we could have helped will be answered upon our own heads. Well thank you for all your love and support!

Elder Child

Notes:

*His SD card reader is broken so we didn't get any pictures.  Hopefully he can pick up another one today and send pics next week.

*My favorite message from Brett and Mark going back and forth a little bit: "Yeah she is pretty much the coolest mom on earth. if I had a different mom I would run away and go find her."  Thanks Brett!!

*Brett's Christmas box is going out this week.  If you would like to include something for him drop it by any time.  He loves getting pictures and hand written letters!

Week #44

August 17, 2015

Hello! 

Well this week has had its ups and downs!!! To start off the week I wasn't feeling very good, in the middle I felt great, then at the end I felt terrible again! But the work was great!! 

So of course like always we had some amazing lessons!! But we had one that we taught to the Alcala family this week that was just awesome! We taught about the priesthood and temple ordinances while incorporating it with the Plan of Salvation. It was an awesome lesson and while using Helaman 10:7 we were able to explain the role of the priesthood in temple ordinances and the eternal significance of it. Also this week I had the opportunity to read a talk titled "The Music of the Gospel" but sadly I forgot the person who gave the talk. Anyways this talk talks about dance steps and music being two separate things. If we perform the dance steps or follow the commandments but we can't hear the music/feel the holy ghost and the joy of following the commandments, eventually we will fall away. We must keep our lives tuned to the right frequency and always strive to feel the spirit in our lives. I highly recommend this talk.

Well being a district leader is still just as hard. But by far giving trainings is the worst. Every week I have to train the missionaries in my district but luckily they are all awesome and they don't judge me on my teaching skills because it's getting harder and harder to teach in English.

My area is doing awesome and progressing great!!! I am so happy for the opportunity I have to serve the people in Gandara!! Brother Velasco is still going strong and is being called as a branch missionary next week!!!

Well that's it for this week!! Thanks for all you do and I love you all!

Elder Child

Pic 1 - Brett's companion, Elder Castillo

Pic 2 - Climbing a cell tower - he told me that if he fell angels would catch him because he is a missionary.  I told him that I was going to send angels to kick some sense into him.  Crazy boy!

Pic 3 - Having a meal with the Zone leader and Brother Nikki.  Bro. Nikki is a convert who was taught the gospel by one of Brett's teachers in the MTC.  He works with the missionaries every night.  They are eating at Jollibee, which apparently they have in California and Nevada.  I love that the box says "juicylicious".

Week #43 - 300 days out

August 10, 2015

Hello!!!

Well this past week has been awesome!!! We have had so much success with all of our lessons and even had a baptism on Saturday!! I am not transferring so I am super happy and neither is my companion!! 3rd cycle in Gandara here I come!!

So like I said this week has been super successful in all of our lessons! I think this is the first week I have really felt the spirit in every single one of our lessons! Every once in a while there is a lesson where the spirit is missing but this week waray!! There was one lesson that really stuck out to me though. We were teaching the Alcala family about missionary work. This is also one of my pinaka favorite lessons to teach because it applies to my life so much right now! Basta as we were teaching the lesson the spirit was so strong and it really helped that we had members working with us also because they got to testify about the blessings they have seen when they do missionary work. The scripture verse we used was 3 Nephi 18:27 which is the time of the Lord's teachings in the Americas. In this scripture verso he says that he has has invited all to come unto him and thus shall we do unto the world. But there is also a promise at the end of the verse. If we don't do missionary work we risk falling into temptation. From this verse we can see that missionary work really is the Lord's work and he will bless us if we serve him. Like the prophet Joseph Smith said, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel."

The baptism was amazing. Brother Velasco was so happy and couldn't find the words to speak after he was baptized. Before the baptism he was the perfect example of reverence. Afterwards I asked him how he felt and the only thing he said was"happy". And he truly was! The rest of that day he was all smiles! The spirit was also so strong at the baptism. There was a recent convert from Calbayog that gave a talk and our branch president gave a talk also! It was an amazing experience!

Well that's pretty much it for this week!! I love you all so very much!

Elder Child

Notes:

*For transfers he gets to stay where he is and keep the same companion.  Brett says that he is happy to be staying with him and help him progress "line by line."  Brett continues to be a District Leader for another round.

Pic 1 - Brett and his companion

Pic 2 - on the left is a missionary that was in the MTC with Brett when he was the Zone Leader, in the middle is a missionary that served Tacloban, and Brett on the right

Pic 3 - Zone Training Meeting

Pic 4-5 - Brother Velasco's baptism

Week #42

August 3, 2015

hello!!

Well this letter won't be very long because we are running very very late right now!!! Basta this past week has been a little hard once again. But luckily because our investigators are amazing and so faithful, we had a great turn out at church!!

There is one lesson that we had this week that I would really like to talk about! Yesterday after church we went less active contacting with some members and we stopped at one less actives house who just stopped coming to church 3 weeks ago. Our lesson started out just sharing a short scripture verse in Mosiah 4:30. But it quickly turned around as the family talked to us and told us about their problems!!! As they talked about the fighting that takes place in their home and all the problems they have in their family. As I listened to them speak I suddenly remembered a problem similar to theirs I had in my last area with some less actives. So I talked to them for a little bit and figured that they don't pray as a family. So we taught about prayer.

Basta that's pretty much it for this week. Sorry for the short letter!!!!!

Love,

Elder Child

Notes: 

Brother Valasco passed his baptism interview and will be baptized on Saturday.  That has been Brett's goal since the first day he got to Gandara so he is beyond excited.  Transfers are next week and he doesn't know if he will stay or go to a new area so he is happy to be able to witness that baptism first.  His wife is already a member and they will begin working towards being sealed in the temple next year with their four children.
Picture 1 - Brett's district

Picture 2 - some of his little friends