Last Baptism

We had a great week. We had the baptism for the Baliguat couple. They are so amazing. They are going to endure well in the church. Brother is so strong and has a great testimony. He tells us about how all these other pastors are going to their house because of his kids and he talks about how he doesn't like it and some he says won't come back. He is really funny.

We had a good sacrament attendance for our investigators this last Sunday. We got 4 investigators there. It was good to get that many there again. The only problem is none can be baptized at the present. 3 of them have to get married first before they can be baptized and I think the other doesn't live in our area. I think they are really a part of the Kabankalan Ward area so I will have to check to see if we can go there or not.

We got Elvy to come to church. We have taught her for a while. Her husband came as well. He is a less active member. They are so nice and are doing great. They are planning on getting married in January and then she can be baptized.  We taught the Sa-ad family. They are a part member that were close to being baptized before. We are working on getting them to church. They have a baptismal date for November 29. The grandchildren of Baliguat might be this next month as well.

We will be working on finding a lot this week to help Elder Liquiran prepare them for baptism.

I think that is it for this week.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

PS I want Christmas music on when I get home and you can start putting up the Christmas tree now.

Time is Just Getting Faster

We had an ok week. It was a little hard because we kept on having important things to do that is taking us away from where we wanted or needed to go but it was alright. We are moving forward.

We should baptize Baliguat this week. They went to Bacolod this last weekend so we will do their interview on Wednesday. I am excited for my last baptism!!! We didn't get to many of the other investigators. We were busy with assignments. Elizar is a new investigator. He is 70+ and is really good. He wanted to come to church but was sick and didn't make it. He likes to listen though. We are also trying a lot of former investigators to see if they are willing to listen again. We hope for the best.

The weather is good. It rained a few times. For the most part it was a little bit hot for me. I hope it comes with me. I want the warm weather not the cold.

This week went by fast. I don't remember much. Time is just getting faster.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

PS Sorry the letters are getting small. I am trying to stay as focused as I can while here and writing is started to get really hard.

General Conference Week in the Philippines

General Conference was amazing!!! I didn't get to see the last half of the last session because bishop got up and said that we were going to hold a meeting. It was a little disappointing but I will download it and watch today. :) I liked Elder Cooks talk and President Uchtdorf's in priesthood. They were probably my favorite talking about our choices and how we need to be responsible and go toward our goals. It was all in English. I did like how some spoke in their own language which was cool. It was a little sad that our investigators didn't come because lots where busy with their rice fields getting them planted.

We got to work a lot this week!!! It was great. Baliguat is good for the 25th. Brother is way excited. I am excited for them. We didn't go to Gaston. We think they don't really want to listen so we are setting them aside. We got some new investigators that will be really good. They want to listen to our message so it is good. One is the Saad family. They have a son that is a member. We are working with them to come to church and be baptized. We taught the Sabico family. We had a great lesson on Sunday with them and brother commited to come to church himself. We are happy that he wants to help his family to make it eternal. The others are just coming along. We are working hard to get them to read and pray.

We have been getting a lot of rain. This week was full of it because of Typhoon Opong that went through this week. It was hard to work in some areas this week because it was to muddy and the rivers were overflowing so we had to figure out what else we could do instead. We visited a lot of members to get some referrals. That worked pretty well. We have referrals coming in so we are doing pretty good.

Zone Conference is on October 21 so we will be good for a week. We will get as much as we need to work.

Sorry, a little bit boring of a week. Next week might be more exciting.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

PS: I would like to order 2 jackets, 1 coat, 2 pairs of gloves, a face mask, beeny, earmuffs, hand and feet warmers and a scarf when I get home. I would like that in the airport so I don't die. Thanks. I am serious about this.

At the Manila Temple last week

Manila Temple

This was a really good week. Going to Manila was good. I love the temple!!! I was so happy to go back and do a session. We will get one more time to go there and do another session so I am pretty excited!!!

Elder Liquiran is doing great. He is almost fluent in Ilonggo so it is great. He worked in Kabankalan while I went to Manila. It was weird because I went with the Tabugon missionaries to Bacolod but I was all by myself going back to Kabankalan.

Our investigators are doing ok as long as we can teach them. We haven't had much time since I went to Manila. It is pretty ruff when you don't get a full week to work.

Baliguat is doing good. We are excited for their baptism. We are just pushing them along. We will be baptizing anywhere from 3-5 of them. We found out this week that Brother Carbadilla is a member. Everyone was saying that he was baptized but wasn't confirmed but the records said he was so we are now just trying to get him to church. It looked like it was going to rain and did on Sunday so they didn't come this week. We had a typhoon pass on Saturday and Sunday so it was pretty ruff. We got a few more new investigators so we will see how they go. We did get to Gaston this week. They are really busy with their rice fields so they aren't home very often.

We are excited to watch general conference. They will be watching the Sunday sessions on Sunday so we will attend in Tapi for Saturday we will be in Kabankalan. We are excited that our investigators will be able to attend those sessions. It will be good for them.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

Training

This was a great week. We had such good experiences this week. It was a little weird because the batch ahead went home. One of the elder's parents came here to pick him up and visit his areas. I got to talk to them and it was weird. They have a very thick accent and I didn't understand what they were saying some of the time. It was weird. They asked "Where are you from?" and I said "Utah" and then they said "We know that but what part?" and it was weird because usually people are ok with that. I didn't know what to do. It was like culture shock all over again!
This week I worked in Tabugon from Monday until Wednesday. I stayed with them for that time since I didn't have a companion. Wednesday was off to Bacolod to pick up Elder Liquiran. I picked him up on Thursday and went back to the area and was finally able to work.
Elder Liquiran is from Pangasinan. He speaks Tagalog. We have fun trying to talk to each other. I try to talk in a ruff Tagalog language and he tries to do the same in English so we understand each other but it sometimes takes a while before we get what the other is saying hahaha. He is really great though. He is picking up Ilonggo really quick. I am surprised. He is a really quick learner. He is going to be a great missionary.
As far as investigators go, we didn't get much teaching in so it was a little bit hard but we did alright. Baliguat will actually be baptized on October 25. They wanted to be baptized as one family unit so we moved them so they can. We needed more time anyway because we are still trying to help sister with praying. She is struggling learning how to pray so we are helping her to learn. The Gaston family we haven't taught all week. They found some work and haven't been home because of work so we haven't taught them for a while now. We are going to keep trying so that we can continue. Brother Sabico we didn't see either. He has been busy and we haven't had time to go there so we will see if we can teach him this next week. We did get to teach Brother Carbadilla. He is willing to do everything but  hasn't come to church for a while so we are working on him again to get baptized. We are working on finding a fellowshipper for him to help him. Adrian's and Bryan's mom said that they couldn't be baptized. We still need to talk to her so we are hoping to do so this week to help them. They really want to be baptized but we need her permission and it would be great if she would join as well.
We are getting excited for General Conference as well. Our bishop is going to ask the stake president if we could do a showing in Tapi so that it would be closer for everyone to see. If that doesn't happen it will be in Kabankalan which will be hard for the members because it is 64-66 pesos for 1 person to attend which is really expensive. We are hoping it will just be in Tapi to make it easier for the members and our investigators because they will want to go attend as well.
This week I will be going to Manila. We have to do fingerprinting there so we can return to the USA and while we are there we get to go to the temple!!!! I am excited to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you all,
Elder Nielsen