Greetings from the Philippines! Week 12 :)

Hello everyone! 

Greetings from the Asian side of the world over here in the Philippines! 

This week was an interesting week.. Wednesday I packed all up and took a taxi over to my new area in Antipolo 2nd Ward. It is only about twenty minutes away, and so it isn't super different than my first area here. My companions are Elder Schenk (greenie American) and Elder Algara (Filipino). It has been an interesting week proselyting-wise because Elder Schenk is the senior in the area, but he has only been on his mission for 6 weeks here in the Philippines, so things are kind of hectic. He doesn't know very much, so we are trying to learn on the fly. Elder Algara is quiet, but I like him.

Thursday and Friday were similar to Wednesday. Really awkward. Haha but Saturday was awesome! I got permission from President Revillo to go back to Taytay to show the Sisters around the area and also to attend the baptism of some of our investigators. The Sisters there are really cool (and pretty) haha so that was pretty fun to go back around and see all my friends back in Taytay. Then the baptism was awesome. I baptized Benz and my companion baptized his cousin, Jammil. It was a really good service and it was really fun to go back. I am sad that I was transferred, but it's okay. 

Sunday was okay. The ward is kinda weird. They just want us to do our own thing, so we don't really have too much connection with them. The WML in ward council said that we needed more referrals and the YOung Men's President sighed and said that we have finding ideas in our planners that we could try... Haha so things here will be interesting.

I'm really excited to go back to India. I am praying that I can go back quickly and get on with the next phase of my mission. I'm tired of this transition phase haha I just want to get on with it! 

Thanks for all the support! 

Love you!

Elder Head

PS. Happy Birthday to Ian on Tuesday :)

Baptisms in the TayTay Ward in the Philippines

Elder Head and his new companions Antipolo 2nd Ward

Things are good, I miss India, but the Philippines is good too -week 11

Hello everyone!
Well, this week was a really good week. It was hectic and crazy, but that is what makes missionary work fun! :) 
We had mission tour this week with Elder Ian S. Ardern from the First Quorum of the Seventy and that was really cool. His wife did a really cool thing where she had the pianist play hymn #26, Joseph Smith's First Prayer and #27, Praise to the Man and then read the account of the First Vision and also D&C 135. I felt the Spirit so strongly and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God! 
Another interesting thing is that I am getting transferred from Taytay 2nd Ward to a new area called Cogeo-Antipolo 2nd Ward. I'll be in a threesome... I'm not very excited because threesomes usually suck, but I'll do whatever! I am really sad to get transferred though. I got really close to a lot of the members here and we have the best investigators, but I'll go where He wants me to go! A cool thing is that they are replacing us both with Sister missionaries and so President Revillo wants us to come back and show them around the area and we can come for our baptism this Saturday so we are pretty excited! :) 
Things are good. I miss India, but the Philippines is good too. I love you all! 
Love,
Elder Head

The Philippines week 10!

Hello everyone!
This week was a good week for my companion and I! We worked SO HARD. Every morning I woke up and looked at my watch and just groaned. 6:30 comes way too fast and it never feels like enough sleep. 
Haha but the week was really good. Our focus as a companionship has been to work with less-active, part-member families and so far that has been really successful for us! We found two families this week that were less-active and they also had children who are not members and so we get to kill two birds with one stone! But it is really successful because the children really like us and the parents know the blessings of the Church, but sometimes lose sight of the ultimate goal. It is so fun to work with these families and help bring the gospel light back to these families lives. 
One of the families is the Genoso family. One of their daughters is a ward missionary and is active, but the rest of the family is inactive and they have a 12-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter who are not members. We have been teaching them for a couple of weeks and on Saturday night, they asked us when they could be baptized. That is the golden question that we love to hear! Haha so we set them with a date for October 19th. Then, their mother came to church on Sunday! That was really surprising because she hasn't been to church for at least 2 years. We are working slowly on her husband, but we are seeing progress. 
Things here are good. I love this ward and I am grateful for all the lessons that I have learned so far on my mission, especially the lessons that I have learned here in the Philippines. 
Love you!
Elder Head

A musical week in the Philippines - week 9 :)

Hello everyone!
This week was a pretty good week! I had a really interesting experience that is really kind of funny!
We worked hard this week. We have two investigators that are especially progressing well. A 12-year-old boy named Jammil and an 8-year-old boy named Benz. Their grandmother is a member and she encouraged us to teach them and so we did! They really like us coming over and they keep all their commitments and so we are really happy with them! They really like me, even though I can't speak Tagalog and they don't speak English. But I'm going to try to change that. The ZL's are getting Elder Aydelott and I Tagalog learning books so we can try to learn while we are here. But I got word this week that Elder Taylor's batch is back in India now so hopefully we'll go soon! 
The interesting part this week was that I taught a piano lesson! Haha it is funny because I didn't really play the piano too much before I left on my mission and when I tried to pick it back up again, my mom told me to stop "banging around on the piano." Haha just kidding mom :) But it was a really good, but tough experience. The youth wanted to learn and so they asked me to teach them and when we showed up for the lesson, there were 26 students there ready to be taught how to play. The problem was that there are only two pianos in our chapel -- one in the chapel and the other in the Relief Society room. The stake was using the Relief Society room and they said no to using the chapel so.... We didn't have a piano. But eventually they relented and we were able to use the chapel. It was a really cool experience and I am very grateful that I know how to play and can share that with others! 
Other than that, the week was pretty average. My last companion in India sent me some pictures of a family that we taught getting baptized and I was really excited to see that they are still reaping over there in India. I can't wait to go back, but I will miss this ward! Oh and I also ate blood yesterday that the Ward Mission Leader fed us. He didn't tell me what it was until after I finished. It didn't taste bad, but the thought that it was blood was really upsetting to my stomach...
Haha love you! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Head

Philippines - week 8

Hello everyone! 
Sorry that this is a day late. We had temple day today and I was able to visit the Manila temple for the second time in my time here in the Philippines. The temple is such a special place and I can't wait to get one in India. Speaking of India, I got an email from one of my converts today and they are good and happy! That made my day! :)
Well this week was a good week for my companion and I. Last week was a weird week with all of the typhoons and what not and so this week we were able to focus entirely on the work. We worked super hard. We met a lot of less-active families and part-member families and so we were able to hit a lot of "two-birds-with-one-stone." The members are really supportive and I think that they like me because we get fed a lot! Almost everyday this week a member fed us and every appointment we get some kind of snack. Which is really nice of them but I'm gaining weight! 
Heavenly Father doesn't want me to gain weight so He put his personal humidifier over the Philippines and turned it on full blast and then turned off the AC on the Philippines. It is so hot and humid here! Haha everyday we just sweat like crazy. It reminds me a lot of Kakinada, my first area. Things are good. I'm really happy and that is just a testimony building experience for me because last transfer was so miserable when we were doing trunky things and this transfer is so much better because we are obedient and working hard.
The highlight for the week was one of our Ward Missionaries here that works with us a lot got his mission call! He will be serving in the Philippines so he is really excited and wants to work with us everyday which is fine with me! He helps a lot with the teaching because not too many of our investigators understand enough English for me to teach. He will be an awesome missionary. 
Well. Keep up the good work on the homefront. I love and miss all of you and you are all in my prayers. Especially Holden (you got a battle scar!) and Grandma Alice! 

Love you!
Elder Head

P.S.

Also a special shout-out to the best Dad in the whole world! Happy birthday! I tried to send a package, but it is so freaking expensive that I'll just buy something for you on the way home and I'll give it to you when I see you haha. Love you!