Philippines 10-27-13

Hello everyone! 

This week was a little bit of an uneventful week for us.. A lot of hard work and we had Zone Interviews with President Revillo!

On Thursday we had Zone Interviews with President Carlos Revillo. President and Sister Revillo are both from the Philippines and they are the first native Filipino's to preside over the Philippines Quezon City Mission, which is usually done by a foreigner. President worked abroad in Hong Kong and so his family all speaks really good English. He is actually younger than Dad which is pretty crazy that he is serving as a mission president. It is really cool. I like him. 

My interview was pretty standard. He told me that the reason our visas are taking so long is because the Indian government just switched their procedures for visas and so the most ineffiecient government in the whole world has to try to implement a whole new system.. President said that they were expecting us to leave three weeks ago, but they are just taking us day to day. Because of the new system, they aren't sure when we will get our visas.. yay.. 

Haha so that's all the big news! We worked hard this weekend and had 3 investigators at church and 8 less-actives. It was really good. A few weeks ago they made the Ward Mission Plan for the 2013 year (in October) haha and so the Bishopric has been going on visits and so they have been crucial in helping people come back to church. 

That's it for this week. Keep up the good work everyone! The church is true! 

Love,

Elder Head

Philippines still :)

Hello everyone! 
I forgot to write a few things last week that I'll include in this weeks. Conference was awesome. There were a lot of technical difficulties, which doesn't surprise me at all, but other than that it was awesome. I really loved the talks in the Priesthood session and my favorite talk was by Richard G. Scott about the fathers of the Stripling Warriors and the power of the Atonement. That is one thing that I have really come to appreciate is the power of the Atonement. 
This has been a really tough time for me waiting here in the Philippines. I have had more struggles and trials than I ever have had in my life and it has been tough. But even through all those times, there have been two constants that have really helped me to overcome the trials -- my family and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As I have the opportunity to study each morning, my latest studies have been marking scriptures that refer to the Atonement of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon, and learning from Preach My Gospel on things that I need to do to improve and become better.
I'm grateful for the refining moments I've had. Is it hard? Yes. Is it a struggle? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. I have felt the love of my Savior on my mission and I know that this work is true. I know that the Savior has stood in my place, has felt my pains and the weight of the troubles of my soul, and that gives me solace. I don't worry about when I go back anymore. I try to focus on why I'm here. I try to refine and improve in hopes of returning, but that is not the driving factor for me anymore. I do the things I do for the Savior and because I want one day to hear Heavenly Father tell me, "Behold my son, in whom I am well pleased." 
I'm grateful for this gospel and the healing power that it has. I have seen tormented souls and troubled pasts washed away and made clean as they accept the healing of the Savior's Atonement. For those who are struggling, for those who have trials and problems, for those who feel they have lost hope -- don't. Always remember that there is Someone there who understands, whose arms are always wide open to accept and comfort, to heal and bring peace. I know that my Redeemer lives and that He loves me. A lot. 
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Elder Head

Still safe in the Philippines :) - he's officially been there 3 months!

Hello everyone! 
Sorry for the late email.. I know that Mom was having a heart-attack when I didn't email on Monday... But when Tuesday came around.. I thought for sure that she would be on a plane over here to Manila to come find me... Haha but luckily she doesn't know how to find me here, so... :) 
I'M STILL HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES. 
It has officially been three months since I first came here to wait for my visa. It took me about this much time the first time around, so it isn't unexpected, however it is inconvenient. I get emails from all my Indian friends and it makes me miss India! I like being here because I have met a LOT of really cool people and I have had unforgettable experiences, but I want to have more experiences like that in my assigned mission... :) 
This week was okay. Nothing too exciting happened this week. We are actually supposed to leave for India this week, but that is what they have said for two weeks in a row now, so we kind of don't really believe them anymore. I went on exchange with the ZL's this week and we tracted for like 5 hours. I don't like tracting. It isn't useful in India so we don't do it very often, but here they do it a lot. It is so awkward! But sometimes it is necessary... Well.. Not too much else happened this week... 
Pray for my visa! Fast if you want! Haha 
Love you! 

Elder Head

Elder Head aka well digger.....the Philippines week 13 :)

Hello everyone! 
How was Conference? Any big news announcements? Any new temples? We get to watch Conference this week and so I don't know anything about what is going on! It was just a year ago that I was sitting in the little chapel in my very first area watching Conference with some of my converts... How I miss those days! 
I'm still here in the Philippines. That's okay. It has been a really fun and interesting experience. How many people can say that they legitimately served in two missions for more than a few months? That has been a really cool blessing. I have learned a lot by experience and also from differences that I have noticed between this mission and ours. I have learned a lot and I am very grateful for the blessings and experience that I have gained.
This week was an okay week. We are still trying to figure out how exactly to work the area. Our area is pretty small and only one out of the three of us knows Tagalog, so tracting is kind of out of the question. One thing that has worked so far has been working through our Area Book with former investigators and part-members. I am a firm believer in teaching part-member families because that is where I have seen a lot of success on my mission. We found 12 new investigators this week, so let's hope that things keep getting better! 
We did a service project for a family and we dug a well! But none of the 5 of us actually know how to dig wells, so it was like an hour of digging and then two hours of fixing what we had dug. Haha they wanted the well to be the width of two cement blocks, but we decided that it would look better at about the width of 5... Haha but it is their fault for asking missionaries to do it and not professionals! 
It has been fun. But I will be so happy to go back to India, especially because I miss Indian FOOD. 
Love you! 

Elder Head

Well Diggers??

No! They're missionaries :)

Pondering??

Declaring...

Waiting!!

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