More Rain and Mud

First of all, we got a little scaried because Baliguat said they were going to Manila for a couple of weeks. We didn't know why but they were going. We found out later that is was because brother wants to stop smoking so he thought he could do it easier in Manila. They are going to stay here now but we will have to wait for their baptisms until he stops. He didn't smoke on Saturday so he might have started already. We still aren't sure when the baptism will be. We are teaching Adrian and Bryan. They are doing great and love the gospel but we will have to wait a few months before they can be baptized. Our bishop wants to make sure that they stay active so we will have to see if they continue coming to church after their fellowshipper has gone on his mission. We don't know when that will be either. The Gaston family is doing great. They love to listen and we have a good relationship with them. They really wanted to come to church this week but didn't make it. It would have been hard for them this week because it rained really hard on Saturday and Sunday making it really muddy and hard to bring the kids to church. Maybe next week they will come. We are also working with Brother Sabico. He is probably in the same position. That was a lot of our week.

It was a little hard to work. It rained so hard that we couldn't go out at some points because it rained so hard and then some places we coudn't go because the mud and one area flooded. It was a little bit trying but we should be good for this next week. The rain is hard but it should be better this week.

Elder Delima is still working very hard. He is great and is a great missionary. I will need a new cook when he goes home. He cooks so well that I am gaining weight!

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

In the Mountains

This has been a very good week and I am very tired because we are always walking. It takes a long time to go from house to house and it is a very mountainous area. Mabini wasn't even close to this. To get to Kabankalan it takes 3-4 hours and then it is another 30-40 minutes to get to Tapi. It is fun!

Elder Delima is great. We were in the same apartment for a short time while we were in Escalante. He is a great companion and has already taught me a lot. I am kind of sad that he is going home in 2 weeks.

The weather has been a lot of rain. We are high enough in the mountains that we get fog sometimes. It has been pretty cold were we are. I just have to say the water is freezing. I am looking forward to that warm shower waiting for me when I get home!!!

Tapi is a very good ward. Everything is set up and the bishop is great. He is an return missionary and does everything he needs too. Tapi became a ward last March is it is a pretty new ward.

We have lots of good investigators. Lots of families. It is amazing to see the work happening here. We had a baptism on Saturday of Reynaldo Rose (Roo- see). He has a great testimony. His wife was a member so it really helped him. We will be having a baptism on September 20th. The Baliguat family has been preparing and are doing great. They are an older couple and brother wanted to be closer to God so when the missionaries went to him he was so prepared to listen. They also have a grandchild that will be baptized on October 11 named Macie. Then we will be having Adrian and Bryan being baptized on September 27. They are 9 & 8. Our ward mission leader is really helping them. He is their support to come to church and they love it. He says they ask him if they are going to the church everyday they are so excited to be at the church. We also have a lot more investigators. I will tell you more when I can remember them more and can tell you more. I don't know the area very well yet so it is a working progress. I will send you pictures of a family that we are teaching. They were making smashed bananas with sugar which was really good. I will show you how they make it. We are also working in one area called Balicotoc. It is pretty far. We have to walk 30 minutes to get there after a 10 minute motor ride. They motors are called habol-habol. It is a pretty fun ride. In that area we are having a special sacrament and are hoping to start baptizing there so we can have a group there. A group will allow missionaries to be there so they can then progress to be a branch. It was an amazing week. I look forward to the coming weeks to see what the Lord has in store for the area and for us.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

PS I just want to be the first to wish you all a Merry Christmas. The season has started here in the Philippines.

PSS I expect to hear Christmas when I get home!

Week Full of Surprises

Well this was a better week and it was full of surprises. You will never guess but I am transferring today! I wasn't expecting it but it happened. I am with my new companion right now. Elder Delima is my companion. He is pretty new in the mission. I think about 23 weeks and 1 week. Yeah he goes home in about 3 weeks. He is the district leader so I get to be junior for the next couple of weeks. By the way I am in Tapi in Kabankalan zone. I can't tell you where I live, I haven't been there yet.

This week we did a lot of good work. It didn't show all the way but that was alright. We found a part member couple. Brother Jonathan is a member and his wife and her sister aren't. We started teaching them and they were very receptive. We gave them a date for October 6. They will probably continue for that date. We were so excited to find them. Then we went to some formers that were pretty interested. They just stopped because the missionaries got transferred and no one returned. We were going to go back to them this week. Spencer was going to come to church this week but his head was hurting. We gave him a blessing. He will be baptized soon. Sister is no longer working so they will be able to come to church. Earljon got shy right before church so he didn't come. He needs member support in order to progress. Jona has work now. She is 2 months pregnant. We didn't get to go to her because she is working 7 days a week now. It makes things hard for us. Hopefully it will work out for her.

I don't know what else to say. I haven't gone to the new area yet. We are e-mailing then we will eat and then head down there I will tell you a more next week when I know more about the area. I hear it is in the mountains so I am pretty excited for the area. I like the mountains better then the city.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Full Week

This week we got to do a lot more than last week. We had a full week to work and no distractions. It was nice but it turned out to be a very challenging week.

We spent a lot of this week trying to talk to people and find some less actives. We did a lot of that. We talked to a lot of people and contacted some less actives but we had little success with both of them. We couldn't get any return appointment with our contacting and the less actives weren't willing to let us in or to really talk to them. It was a bit ruff but I guess it wasn't their time.

As far as investigators go for this week. Jona is doing alright. Still reading and praying but she didn't come to church again this week. She might have been in Bago so that might have been why because she went there on Saturday and might not have come back. She has been struggling lately because of the pregnancy. She says that it is causing her teeth to really hurt. It has been a trial for her. Earljohn seemed so sure he was going to come to church this week. He has been reading and was excited on Saturday. We went to pick him up and he said that his head was hurting so he didn't come again. That has been a struggle as well. Satan sure does like to make that poor kid sick. Spencer is also doing pretty good. We didn't get to teach him much this week because they have been busy. He went downtown on Sunday so he didn't make it to church. They say this week they should be good. They had to take care of some stuff for his grandmother because she isn't around right now. We did find a new investigator this week. His name is Leopoldo. He seems pretty interested and might be pretty good. He was sick when we found him so it was a little hard. We will be going back to him this week to continue teaching him.

That was pretty much this week. Lots of trials but that is ok. There has to be an opposition in all things to help us and them to improve. If there was none, we would be the same as Adam and Eve with no improvement or development.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Teaching for Understanding

We did have transfers this week. Elder Monzales went off to his second area and I am now with Elder Alfeche. He is from Marikina City in Manila (same as Elder Paaño). I have known him for a long time now. He is a great missionary and I am happy that I get to work with him. He is really good. I have gone on exchanges with him before in the past and so I am really excited that he now is my companion.

So this week . . . It went by very quick it is hard to remember what happened this week.

Tuesday was a day of saying goodbye for Elder Monzales and Wednesday was picking up Elder Alfeche. The rest of the week was about normal. Jona is doing the same. She didn't come to church this week and we don't know why so we will follow up with her. Earljohn is still struggling to come to church. We will probably have to take another approach to help him. We didn't make it Spencer this week. We were very busy with some mission assignments so we didn't get to do as much work as we wanted or could. It made things a little bit ruff this week. If you remember Anafe, she is doing really great. She loves to talk to others about the gospel and share her testimony. We are working with her to get a referral so that should be coming soon. We are still working with the Turuel family. Sister isn't there anymore. There was some things that she has to do somewhere else so we won't see here for a long time. Other than that we have been working with members and less actives to help them come back or continue to enter the fold.

I would just to tell you a little bit about what I have been studying lately. It our district meetings, where I give my lessons, we have been focusing on chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel which focuses on how to teach and improve your teaching skills. Last week I gave a training on Teaching for Understanding. I was thinking about that last Monday on how I would present my lesson and I thought about it for a long time. I finally figured that I would focus on language and about not giving too much information as we teach. A big concern in all teaching is that we want to be so clear that we share everything making a disturbance and a change of focus. That causes things to be very unclear so we need to give the needed information and a couple extras that that person can understand. The Spirit is the guide for how much we can give. That is been a big help in my teaching is focusing on what they can understand and teaching a simple understandable manner in the language they speak. In this language, there are lots of old terms the people don't understand that we are taught to use. But as we simplify it, they receive a greater conversion.

I think that is important in all teaching whether religion based or not.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen  

Strong Testimonies

We had a pretty slow week this week. It seemed like we were doing so well with teaching and then we came to look at what we got done and it was very little. Oh well, we made a lot of progress this week on figuring out what needs to be done.

Our investigators are about the same. They love to listen but are struggling with their commitments. We will have to see how they continue to go.

Jona is still holding out strong. Earljohn is still listening but still struggling to get to church. We went to pick him up for church but he was too tired to come. I guess he needs a stronger testimony of the gospel. The Elisa family is doing good. They have such strong testimonies. They still haven't come to church and we were able to find out their concern so now we get to focus on that to help them overcome that hurdle. We were able to get back to Mylene Villarosa. She is doing good. Lots of questions about the gospel. She is extremely busy with school but we were able to figure out her schedule so we can now make plans to help her and to continue teaching her and her sisters.

Elder Monzales got sick again this week. This has been a big trial between us because he has been getting sick a lot so we haven't been able to work as much as we would like. I got to clean the house and we were able to find some old records that could help us in the future to find more investigators. That has also been a trial. We have been searching but haven't found very much and when we do find, we go back and they aren't there. It is a working progress but I am sure that we will get more success in the coming weeks.

As far as rain, there hasn't been any rain this week!!! It has been nice weather for the most part and the other part it has been extremely hot. We are sweating a lot. It has been a quick change but I am ok with it.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

We are just His tools

Here is the update this week, it has rained 26/28 days this past month!!! We had some sunny days but it ended up raining later but that was alright. The sun did dry up some of the rain so it isn't as bad as it use to be.

As far as this week, we had a good week even though Elder Monzales and I were both sick. We took a day rest and are now both fine. We did a lot of finding this week and it came up with some new investigators so we will see how that goes.

Jona is doing great as always. There is nothing really to teach her anymore. She understands everything and has a great testimony. She reads everyday so we just have to wait for the marriage. We hope it is soon but it doesn't look like that will happen. It might be another 3 months before that goes. We went back to Sister Droa and she is doing great. She says that her husband wants her to wait for when he is ready to get baptized. We are ok with that but she wants to go ahead of him because she believes it will be a while before he is prepared because he hasn't listened to us yet. When we go, he always gets up and leaves. We are hoping he will come along soon. Earljohn was so sure that he was going to go to church this week and we even went there on Sunday and he said he was going to but he never showed. We don't know how else to help him because he isn't helping himself. That is the hard part of it. We will keep working and maybe next week he will come. We started teaching a boy named Spencer Elisa. His parents are members and he is really great. He is loving the gospel and is very smart. We gave him a baptismal date for August 30. We hope to continue it. It will be hard to get him to church because the parents always goes to her mother on Sunday mornings so we will see what we can do to get them to church. We also got a referral from an investigator in the sister's area for their children. We contacted Mylene and Mariel Villarosa. They are really nice. We didn't get much time with them but we did invite them for baptism on August 30th. Their schedule is very hard but he hope to continue with them. It will be hard to get them again but we will keep trying.

We did some talking to people where members were present and we shared a little to them and got return appointments with them. We are going to contact them again and see how we can help them to progress.

Lots of good things are happening. We are just struggling to get them to church. We don't know the problem but the Lord does so we have to trust in him to convert them. We are just His tools.

Our area is very urban. It is all houses and stores. It makes things pretty hard to be in the city because it is hard to get people while outside of their houses. We don't do any door knocking so we jump on the opportunities we get to talk to people. It is better that way so they are more receptive.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen