Thursday, July 31, 2014

20 out of 21 days of rain

We had an interesting week that didn't turn out just as we thought it would. Lots of promptings and going to houses to get bad results. Oh well, it has to happen sometimes.

First of all, Sister Droa didn't get baptized. She came across a family problem that we couldn't control. We are waiting to visit her to see what is going on and see if we can help to get her baptized. We are hoping for next week but she might not be able. It was sad to hear but we understand her situation. Jona is doing great. Very receptive just need the marriage. That is going to be awhile so I will let you know what happens there. Earljohn still won't come to church. We don't know his concern. He is always to tired so we are promoting him to go to bed early so he won't get tired. We didn't see Pingping because she went to Talisay and so we weren't able to teach her so we will try to connect with her this week. We got some new investigators that look like they might be good. The Amante family is very nice. Very willing to listen. We haven't been able to teach them because their daughter-in-law is a member and they want her there to listen. She has had a sick child so hasn't been able to do much. All others is a slow process.

It has been raining like crazy here. We are now at 20/21 days of rain. Lots of typhoons coming through. We hope it dries out this week and gives us some warm days.

Sorry short letter. Not much this week. Lots of walking around.

 Love you,

Elder Nielsen

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Wonderful Experiences

It rained everyday this week except Friday making 13/14 days of rain the past two weeks. We held Anafe's baptism this Sunday. It was really great. She has such a great testimony. She has investigated a lot of churches to find out which one is true and she says that she felt this was the true one while the others where good but felt like something was missing. It was such a wonderful experience to be with her for that. As far as investigators go, Sister Droa's interview will be on Tuesday because the zone leaders are far away so they will be doing it on Tuesday. We are excited for that so we can prepare for her baptism this next Sunday. She is doing really great and we are very excited for her. Jona came to church again which we were excited about. She is loving the church and has had some really good experiences. We haven't given her a date because we still have to check up on somethings before we can let her be baptized but she is really looking forward to that date. Earljohn still hasn't been to church. He always has an excuse. We are working to strengthen his testimony so he will come to church and his excuses will fade away. We are also still working with Bella Consulta. We learned a lot about her this week and it is going to difficult to help her but through a lot of faith we will be able to. We contacted a new investigator this week named Pingping. She is a former investigator that stopped because she moved places. She is very interested and we were able to give her a baptismal date for August 31. She was a little shocked but I think it will be good. Sister Teruel is doing great. Still waiting for them to process their marriage papers so she can be married but they are suppose to do it this week. We are also teaching Gemma Mag-usara. She is very interested and she wants to be baptized but can't because she isn't married. Her husband doesn't want to marry so we have a problem. It might be because of money because he has no identification so it is more expensive but their is a law we can try to help them with so they can be married. We will have to see how he accepts it.

I had to laugh this week. I was transferred her 2 weeks ago and just last Monday, one of the sisters from Bacolod 2nd got transferred here as well. It was funny that we both came from the same ward and got put here.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Very Wet


This was an ok week. We had a good teaching week and lots of time to find. That made things a little interesting for us.

First of all, Anafe is doing great. She will be baptized on Sunday. We are very excited for her because she was so ready. We have gone through the commandments with her very quick and she readily accepted all of them. She is so great. We are also expecting a interview this Sunday with Leonida Droa. She is such a wonderful woman. She readily accepts everything and is very excited for her baptism. We are getting excited for that. We also got Jona to church this week!!! We were excited about her coming because we wondered if she would because her siblings told us that she was in Bago and was coming back on Sunday. We stopped by her house just in case to invite her to church and she came!!! She doesn't have a baptismal date yet because we are waiting for her to be married first. That is a big step for her to prepare for baptism. We are teaching a boy named Earljohn. He is doing alright just having a hard time getting him to church because he is so busy!!! It is weird that kids can get so busy that they don't have time for anything else! We are working with him and he has a desire to be baptized but church is keeping him from baptism. We gave him a date for Aug. 10 for his baptism. We are also teaching Bella Consulta. She is a long time former investigator. She is very receptive and wants to follow Christ. We gave her a baptismal date for Aug 24 because she wants it close to her birthday, Aug 25. Sister Teruel is doing good as well. Still waiting for her to process her marriage papers. They are planning on doing it this week so we will see how that goes.

I just got to tell you it has rained all week!!! I am very wet! We had a typhoon pass through this week which just brought a lot of rain and they say that today or tomorrow another one is going to come through. It makes my area very muddy. My area is very city making things very hot when the sun comes out. Lots of the area is just dirt roads so it is dirty. There is a lot of big houses and businesses in our area. The big houses are hard to get into if there is no referral given so we are trying to talk to them when they are out of their houses but that is hard because they usually aren't. It is an interesting area and is going to be a challenge but it is good. We walk a lot in circles in our area but it is good.

Sorry still getting to know the area. I will try to write more next week.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

Friday, July 11, 2014

Surprise Transfer

Well, I have something to tell you . . . I was transferred on Tuesday so I don't know how the investigators are doing in Bacolod 2nd even though I am right next door in Alijis (All-eh-he's). Sorry trying to help you pronounce it.
I was shocked when I got the call on Monday during a family home evening that I was being transferred so it was interesting and very unexpected.
I am in a good area. My companion is Elder Monzales. He is from Isabella, same place as Elder Lapitan and Elder Bermudez. I am follow-up training him right now and am a district leader of 10, 2 elders (us) and 8 sisters. It is going to be an adjustment for sure.
Our area is pretty small but we do good work. Our next planned baptism is July 19. Her name is Anafe. She has a strong testimony of the gospel. She was suppose to be this week but we moved it to give time to finish teaching the lessons to her because we have quite a bit more to do. The next planned on is Sister Droa. She is very strong in the gospel. She is to be baptized on August 2. She loves what we teach and is willing to go all the way. We also have some strong investigators. Pamela Teruel is a good investigator. She just needs to get married for baptism. Her two kids just got baptized last week so we are just waiting for them to process their papers. They went one day but there was a big line so they didn't wait. We are also teaching Jona. She is really good. She loves to listen and is having great experiences in the Book of Mormon. We are just working on getting her to church for her to be baptized. She often attends another church with her cousin so we are working to get her to come to the church she knows is true.
After that we have a lot of potential. I will tell you more when I get to know the area better.
I am excited to serve here. I think it will be my last area so I am going to work hard. The members are willing and we are getting referrals so I think that it will all work out.
Just so you know, it is very rainy here. The last 3 days, it has just been pouring water. It is crazy and hard for our area because there are rivers and they have flooded because of all the rain. It is ok. We are making it and it isn't causing to many problems.
Love you all,
Elder Nielsen

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Finding New Investigators

We had an ok week. We had our problems, as normal but we are coming. We are still working on finding new investigators which is the hardest part because like you said, we are struggling with getting new investigators. It makes it hard to teach if we don't have anyone to teach. We have been working a lot with former investigators to try to find new people to teach. We didn't get much success this week but we are coming.

It is also very rainy. We try to stay in member or investigator's houses during the heavy rain but when it is light, we go out and go the next closes house. It makes things interesting and fun.

This week, Carmela is coming along pretty well. She still is about the same but she was a lot more open when we taught her last time. We started teaching her the commandments so we can help her to repent of her sins or to try to find out her concern. It was a good lesson. She is doing great with her reading, she was in 4Nephi last Wednesday and we probably expect her in Ether when we go there on Wednesday. We are hoping she will just have a great experience in the Book of Mormon and will tell us she is ready for baptism.

We started teaching a kid named Marvin. His mom is less active because she works in Ilo-ilo so she isn't home to come to church and she usually is traveling back to work on Sunday (she comes home on Saturdays). He is a little bit hard but I think he will come along just fine.

Manuel was so excited for us to teach him on Wednesday and we had a good lesson but he didn't come to church again. We don't know what is going on so we will see what happens.

We didn't see a lot of our investigators this week. Some of them dropped us or are too busy to listen so we are working a lot with members to get new people to teach and then are talking to people on the streets to teach them. That is our work for the week. We will also work a lot on finding less actives because we have 500+ members but only 130 comes to church. That is a lot better way for finding new investigators then knocking on doors.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen