Hey Everyone!
It was a great Christmas week, filled with lots of food and weight gaining experiences ha ha. I think for 3 days all we did was eat! On Tuesday we went to Olongapo for our Christmas Conference which was fun. We saw a lot of the other missionaries that we haven't seen in a long while coming from 4 different zones. We had a big discussion on a bunch of topics that we had questions on. It is always amazing to see how the spirit comes thru. When you have a discussion like that, there is no set curriculum and you don't know what exactly your gonna teach but you just have to prepare for anything and rely on the spirit. President Aquino has worked for the CES for a long time, most of his life and so he is a very effective teacher. A couple of weeks ago I planned to do that with the district, just see where they needed help in their areas and work then teach to their needs, I thought we could all focus on 1-2 subjects/principles. When I asked what their needs were, they threw out problems that I had never seen coming. But as I erased the board I just heard something say "it will be alright just listen" So that's what I did and somehow I managed to tie 4-5 scattered subjects together. The Spirit is such a sweet ride!
Anyways back to the week, we went to the Balanga Christmas party right after the Christmas Conference, where we lead the games and stuff, it was fun. Its a good thing that Elder Cagayanan is good with that kinds of stuff so he was able to take charge.
Friday and Saturday we couldn't teach anyone because of the Holiday. Here in the Philippines they celebrate Christmas on the 24th at 12:00 am. Then just spend time sleeping and time with family on the 25th. As for me I went to bed at about 9 on the 24th and the 25th we went and bonded with the members and ate food. ha ha. Including the Stake President, and the bishops family. It was a lot of fun.
We are trying to start getting things sorted out in this branch and get them strengthened. Yesterday I saw the Elders Quorum President give a list of new Home Teaching Companionship's. I was so excited. Things just might take off here, I know that the RS presidency is visiting people. So things are looking up. They'll stand by and lend a helping hand where they can.
I'll be transferred tomorrow. Its mixed feelings. I'm leaving probably my roughest area thus far and I don't feel like I've finished what I need to do here but the Lord thinks otherwise so I'll be helping somewhere else. Elder Cagayanan will continue to strengthen this area and I know he will do fine. He cried earlier when he found out I was transferring. Transfers are probably the hardest part of the mission but good always comes from them. So I can't complain.
I want to tell you about Dondon. I mentioned him a while ago. He's 10 years old, optimistic, thinks like a grown up, very interested in the gospel, feels he has a mission here on earth. They found a tumor on his Brain when he was 9 years old then it grew, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and blind. Nevertheless he was always smiling brightly when we made the long walk to his house. About a month ago, he started to get worse, his hearing weakened and his voice went away. He had a little smile but not a very big one. I sadly watched for a few weeks as he slowly deteriorated. I thought death was inevitable for him, he was always in my prayers and his family too. Then one time when we were out there something just said, don't feel bad, give him a blessing. So we did. Nothing happened until 2 weeks ago we went out to his house and I came around the corner and yelled "Dondon!" he replied, "What?" I was shocked, I said "You heard me?" "Yeah." I was so excited. We shared with him and his dad and I know it was because of the Blessing. His family took him to the Herb Doctor, and strangely after that he got better but I don't know. I'm thinking it was because of the blessing.
I won't be able to see him again but I did what I could for him and I'll see him on the other side.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year.
I love you all!
Elder Chase
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
20 Dec 2010
Hey Everyone!
Well this month has just flown by again like none other. It has been a crazy one too, Friday and Saturday we had Christmas parties, then tomorrow we will go to Olongapo for the Christmas Conference then hurry back to Balanga for our Ward Christmas party then on Saturday we don't really have anything planned except going to a members house, Valero family to celebrate Elder Cagayanan's Birthday. I hope everyone is ready for Christmas because it is really close. It has been really easy surprisingly to get into the Christmas Spirit.
Last week we got the Elders Quorum President to work with us on Tuesday so that was a nice change. We went around in this one Barangay and found all the members that were on the CMIS, we had a ton that ran and hid from us. That's one thing about the Filipino culture, its nicer to hide from you than to just come out and tell you that they don't want to talk to you. I guess there's just some things I'll never understand. But we did get a referral from one of them so that was good too.
Today made up for the slowness of the week. We got up at 3:00 this morning and went to Orani for a 1 day Mission where we went to this one Barangay, and did a little program and then got to go teach them all, about the Book of Mormon, there were so many people that were willing to listen and are ready to hear the gospel. They were all Aitas, which is the native Filipinos. They are really dark skinned and have Curly hair. They were soo nice! I hope they will be able to go back there and teach them again. We had like 10 missionaries there and we all took members and split up so we were able to talk to a lot more people.
As for the missionary work in our area. The work with investigators has kind of stopped. It does us no good to baptize if the people just go inactive right after their baptism. So we have been working with strengthening the ward then when they have a little bit of unity, then we will go back to finding and teaching investigators. The mission wants all our lessons to be with members and no other lessons but we are not doing very good at that right now. Its only a matter of time though.
We have no one that invited us over for Christmas it kinda blows. Last year we had a bunch of people and we had to turn some down. But oh well. One thing that I've kinda noticed is that we have a trunky missionary in our apartment and my companion is catching on to things that he does so I'm gonna have to spend next transfer breaking of stuff that he can't be doing. It kinda blows that I have to be the bad guy but I guess its better its me than someone else. Hopefully he will thank me someday.
Merry Christmas to you all this week. Remember the true meaning of Christmas and Why we have it.
Love you all
Elder Chase
Well this month has just flown by again like none other. It has been a crazy one too, Friday and Saturday we had Christmas parties, then tomorrow we will go to Olongapo for the Christmas Conference then hurry back to Balanga for our Ward Christmas party then on Saturday we don't really have anything planned except going to a members house, Valero family to celebrate Elder Cagayanan's Birthday. I hope everyone is ready for Christmas because it is really close. It has been really easy surprisingly to get into the Christmas Spirit.
Last week we got the Elders Quorum President to work with us on Tuesday so that was a nice change. We went around in this one Barangay and found all the members that were on the CMIS, we had a ton that ran and hid from us. That's one thing about the Filipino culture, its nicer to hide from you than to just come out and tell you that they don't want to talk to you. I guess there's just some things I'll never understand. But we did get a referral from one of them so that was good too.
Today made up for the slowness of the week. We got up at 3:00 this morning and went to Orani for a 1 day Mission where we went to this one Barangay, and did a little program and then got to go teach them all, about the Book of Mormon, there were so many people that were willing to listen and are ready to hear the gospel. They were all Aitas, which is the native Filipinos. They are really dark skinned and have Curly hair. They were soo nice! I hope they will be able to go back there and teach them again. We had like 10 missionaries there and we all took members and split up so we were able to talk to a lot more people.
As for the missionary work in our area. The work with investigators has kind of stopped. It does us no good to baptize if the people just go inactive right after their baptism. So we have been working with strengthening the ward then when they have a little bit of unity, then we will go back to finding and teaching investigators. The mission wants all our lessons to be with members and no other lessons but we are not doing very good at that right now. Its only a matter of time though.
We have no one that invited us over for Christmas it kinda blows. Last year we had a bunch of people and we had to turn some down. But oh well. One thing that I've kinda noticed is that we have a trunky missionary in our apartment and my companion is catching on to things that he does so I'm gonna have to spend next transfer breaking of stuff that he can't be doing. It kinda blows that I have to be the bad guy but I guess its better its me than someone else. Hopefully he will thank me someday.
Merry Christmas to you all this week. Remember the true meaning of Christmas and Why we have it.
Love you all
Elder Chase
Sunday, December 12, 2010
13 Dec 2010
Hey everybody,
Well we got another week done and to be honest I don't have much to report on this week. I went and did exchanges in Bagac on Friday. Last week the Zone Leaders told us that President was gonna come and work with us on Tuesday so we went to the area we would be working and set up appointments for Tuesday so that we would have sure appointments and avoid getting punted. We canceled our dinner appointment and we were feeling ready then on Tuesday during the Specialized training he didn't end up coming with us. I guess that's a good thing because it means that he didn't see anything wrong with what we were doing. It was funny, and it turns out that the ZL's were just joking with us. They just wanted to make us sweat. It was cool though because we had a full schedule of work and we were able to leave an imprint on the people we taught because we had a member with us. Brother Valero, the 1st counselor in the Bishopric.
Yesterday we went to Orani in the morning so that I could do a baptismal Interview and when we got done, the lady came out of the room crying. So the sisters got mad at me. To tell the truth she was crying nearly the entire interview. But the good news is, not because of me! No, it turns out that her husband left her and her kids for another woman. So that was sad because her kids kinda went off the deep end when their dad went bad. Its sad how busy Satan is right now attacking family on every end. I hope it doesn't happen to anyone that is reading this email.
We went back to Balanga for church, which was kind of a let down, because no one came to church. But it got better after church because we got to go watch the 1st presidency Christmas devotional. It actually made me start to miss my family a little bit. Just a little bit
. But it also made me start to feel the Christmas spirit a lot more. I don't know why I never really watched the devotional before because it was really good.
Elder Cagayanan is still getting along well. He has been getting a little crazy lately so I had to talk to him but he's still doing good. ha ha. I am blessed to have him as a companion. I have so much to learn from him.
Sorry I haven't written anyone lately, I haven't forgotten you, I just haven't had time to write anyone.
Thank you for your support. Green Valley 1st Ward, thank you for the Christmas package! You guys are awesome!
Well I gotta run.
Love you all
Elder Chase
Well we got another week done and to be honest I don't have much to report on this week. I went and did exchanges in Bagac on Friday. Last week the Zone Leaders told us that President was gonna come and work with us on Tuesday so we went to the area we would be working and set up appointments for Tuesday so that we would have sure appointments and avoid getting punted. We canceled our dinner appointment and we were feeling ready then on Tuesday during the Specialized training he didn't end up coming with us. I guess that's a good thing because it means that he didn't see anything wrong with what we were doing. It was funny, and it turns out that the ZL's were just joking with us. They just wanted to make us sweat. It was cool though because we had a full schedule of work and we were able to leave an imprint on the people we taught because we had a member with us. Brother Valero, the 1st counselor in the Bishopric.
Yesterday we went to Orani in the morning so that I could do a baptismal Interview and when we got done, the lady came out of the room crying. So the sisters got mad at me. To tell the truth she was crying nearly the entire interview. But the good news is, not because of me! No, it turns out that her husband left her and her kids for another woman. So that was sad because her kids kinda went off the deep end when their dad went bad. Its sad how busy Satan is right now attacking family on every end. I hope it doesn't happen to anyone that is reading this email.
We went back to Balanga for church, which was kind of a let down, because no one came to church. But it got better after church because we got to go watch the 1st presidency Christmas devotional. It actually made me start to miss my family a little bit. Just a little bit
Elder Cagayanan is still getting along well. He has been getting a little crazy lately so I had to talk to him but he's still doing good. ha ha. I am blessed to have him as a companion. I have so much to learn from him.
Sorry I haven't written anyone lately, I haven't forgotten you, I just haven't had time to write anyone.
Thank you for your support. Green Valley 1st Ward, thank you for the Christmas package! You guys are awesome!
Well I gotta run.
Love you all
Elder Chase
Monday, December 6, 2010
5 Dec 2010
Hey Everyone
Okay, I officially say that we can start celebrating Christmas. We've hit December. ha ha I am such a Grinch its not even funny.
Well it was a great Sunday yesterday. We had 4 confirmations, 1 baby blessing, and 3 great potential priesthood investigators attend church. The confirmations and the baby blessing really set a great mood for the sacrament service and Elder Cagayanan did a great job with his first confirmation. One of the investigators, Brother Alvero, came to church for the first time and last week was the first time we taught him. ha ha. He's great! Then one of the others that came, was baptized over a year ago, but never confirmed, then his wife left him, then he became inactive and started drinking to try and drown the pain. He was singing a whiskey lullaby. ha ha sorry mom.
We got to attend Ward council yesterday and we brought up the concern about Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching. Then we worked with them to realized that they needed to reorganize their programs. The very last testimony of the day was a big let down. This Sister got up and basically told everyone that the leaders of the church are not good and told a sob story about how she went inactive and no one followed up on her or visited her. I can understand her frustration, and the leaders should have done their job and followed up with members especially when they ask for someone to come visit them but then again she should have brought that up in private not in front our investigators and all the new members. We told her that last night when we went to her house. She apologized and its a good thing that my companion is around, he handled the situation perfect. I sure hope that everyone that is members of the church are fulfilling their callings. Because you are not the only ones that suffer if you don't. Don't be selfish and say that you are too busy because we don't want the Lord to say that he is too busy for us.
We just got back from Mt Samat earlier. It is so cool up there!!!! Oh my gosh, and its cold. The Cross puts you way up in the air and you can see 3 of the towns around the area. ha ha. I got some cool pictures and a cool T-shirt. Then we went down into the museum and looked at all the guns and pictures of the POW's and the Philippines at the time of the war. It was crazy. It kinda made me sad thinking about how evil people get sometimes.
I'm outta time I love you all
Elder Westwood.
Okay, I officially say that we can start celebrating Christmas. We've hit December. ha ha I am such a Grinch its not even funny.
Well it was a great Sunday yesterday. We had 4 confirmations, 1 baby blessing, and 3 great potential priesthood investigators attend church. The confirmations and the baby blessing really set a great mood for the sacrament service and Elder Cagayanan did a great job with his first confirmation. One of the investigators, Brother Alvero, came to church for the first time and last week was the first time we taught him. ha ha. He's great! Then one of the others that came, was baptized over a year ago, but never confirmed, then his wife left him, then he became inactive and started drinking to try and drown the pain. He was singing a whiskey lullaby. ha ha sorry mom.
We got to attend Ward council yesterday and we brought up the concern about Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching. Then we worked with them to realized that they needed to reorganize their programs. The very last testimony of the day was a big let down. This Sister got up and basically told everyone that the leaders of the church are not good and told a sob story about how she went inactive and no one followed up on her or visited her. I can understand her frustration, and the leaders should have done their job and followed up with members especially when they ask for someone to come visit them but then again she should have brought that up in private not in front our investigators and all the new members. We told her that last night when we went to her house. She apologized and its a good thing that my companion is around, he handled the situation perfect. I sure hope that everyone that is members of the church are fulfilling their callings. Because you are not the only ones that suffer if you don't. Don't be selfish and say that you are too busy because we don't want the Lord to say that he is too busy for us.
We just got back from Mt Samat earlier. It is so cool up there!!!! Oh my gosh, and its cold. The Cross puts you way up in the air and you can see 3 of the towns around the area. ha ha. I got some cool pictures and a cool T-shirt. Then we went down into the museum and looked at all the guns and pictures of the POW's and the Philippines at the time of the war. It was crazy. It kinda made me sad thinking about how evil people get sometimes.
I'm outta time I love you all
Elder Westwood.
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