10/27/19 Pictures #2
10/27/19
Family and Friends,
my theme of this week is really simple...and that is that hope is our most powerful tool against the adversary. his most powerful tool is doubt and fear, but hope will bring comfort and help to over come, but I've learned this week that hope when combined with action, will trample any obstacle we may face.
Also this week was a huge testimony builder of the gift of tongues, Elder Dacayanan had me teaching a lot more lessons and I know that I couldn't have done it with out the gift of tongues. and also I'm starting to see that when I open my mouth it is filled; it is really amazing. I am no where close to where I want to be with the language, but I see that when I have hope and act on it by opening my mouth, it is filled. it really shows how much love the Savior has for us as missionaries, He is always looking out for us.
This week was kind of frustrating in terms of the work, we have a solid teaching pool now, and everyone seems receptive and they are so kind and eager to learn and people are keeping almost all of their commitments, but it's just a struggle trying to get people to church. its only frustrating because we know that if they come to church they will feel the Spirit, and we love them and want that for them so bad.
but other than that this week was a pretty standard week!! I'm excited for zone conference and its going to be good to see all the new people in the zone.
just loving the work, loving the people, life is good.
-Elder snow <3
my theme of this week is really simple...and that is that hope is our most powerful tool against the adversary. his most powerful tool is doubt and fear, but hope will bring comfort and help to over come, but I've learned this week that hope when combined with action, will trample any obstacle we may face.
Also this week was a huge testimony builder of the gift of tongues, Elder Dacayanan had me teaching a lot more lessons and I know that I couldn't have done it with out the gift of tongues. and also I'm starting to see that when I open my mouth it is filled; it is really amazing. I am no where close to where I want to be with the language, but I see that when I have hope and act on it by opening my mouth, it is filled. it really shows how much love the Savior has for us as missionaries, He is always looking out for us.
This week was kind of frustrating in terms of the work, we have a solid teaching pool now, and everyone seems receptive and they are so kind and eager to learn and people are keeping almost all of their commitments, but it's just a struggle trying to get people to church. its only frustrating because we know that if they come to church they will feel the Spirit, and we love them and want that for them so bad.
but other than that this week was a pretty standard week!! I'm excited for zone conference and its going to be good to see all the new people in the zone.
just loving the work, loving the people, life is good.
-Elder snow <3
10/20/2019
This week was amazing if I am being honest!! we had a lot of good finding opportunities and had a lot of good lessons and a lot of experiences that we definitely were guided by the Lord. Its been really cool to see the hand of the Lord in our work this week. It's just a testament to the fact that the Lord has people that he has prepared for us... one of them came when we were just walking to an appointment our normal way. when off the road there was just a dirt path that lead into the trees. and we both stopped and were like, "huh I wonder where that goes!!" so we went and ended up teaching two lessons!! it was awesome!
Also this week me and elder Dacayanan had a talk about how as missionaries we can always do more and at the end of our talk it came down to that doing more always comes down to love...the difference between good missionary and a good Tagalog speaker is love. you can speak beautiful Tagalog to people but if they can't see that there is love then it is all for not. so I have been trying to focus on just showing pure love to people even if I can't speak the language very well. and I'm learning that most of the time to show people you care is to try and speak the language even when it's wrong.
Now as far as the work is coming, its just slow and steady...we have a bunch of new people and we are stoked about this nay that we found...we literally just helped her with her palay and then invited her to church and she came!! It was actually awesome!! She stayed for both hours even, and it was cool because we talked to her husband just before her on the same highway... but he couldn't talk for long because he had a cancer treatment in San Fernando... but it was awesome.
looking for ward to another great transfer with elder Dacayanan again...
Also this week me and elder Dacayanan had a talk about how as missionaries we can always do more and at the end of our talk it came down to that doing more always comes down to love...the difference between good missionary and a good Tagalog speaker is love. you can speak beautiful Tagalog to people but if they can't see that there is love then it is all for not. so I have been trying to focus on just showing pure love to people even if I can't speak the language very well. and I'm learning that most of the time to show people you care is to try and speak the language even when it's wrong.
Now as far as the work is coming, its just slow and steady...we have a bunch of new people and we are stoked about this nay that we found...we literally just helped her with her palay and then invited her to church and she came!! It was actually awesome!! She stayed for both hours even, and it was cool because we talked to her husband just before her on the same highway... but he couldn't talk for long because he had a cancer treatment in San Fernando... but it was awesome.
looking for ward to another great transfer with elder Dacayanan again...
i love you all and if you have any questions please let me know!!! there is a ton to talk about so its hard to chose
ayayaten ka <3
elder snow
Week #8 pictures - Part 1
pic 1. conference with the district!!!
pic 2.visiting members (foto cred: elder dacyanan
Monday, October 14, 2019
this week had some of my highest highs and also some lowest lows haha. one Friday we had four week follow up... it was amazing and helped me feel like a way better missionary! President said this thing about last reps...and it actually really applied to my week this week!! i had a last rep day on Wednesday...looking back on it now it was mostly brought on by me being too pessimistic. but none the less I was at my wits end a little with my self. after I got back from work that night and I prayed for a lot of things but mostly just the strength to keep trying to be happy. its truly amazing. the Lord knows exactly how much we can take...and He knows exactly how to help us and more importantly He knows exactly how much He can give us to stretch us so we can become better than before.
Plus during conference one of the things I noticed was trying to cultivate an attitude of happiness. and one of the things I'm taking from my personal study of the Book of Mormon is gratitude and how it relates to our personal happiness... so I started doing a thing where every time I check my watch, I take a second and think of something I am grateful for..I've only been doing it for a few days and already I can see a difference. it just keeps things in perspective of how lucky we are to be here and sharing the gospel. and no matter how bleak things may seem (like tearing your pants on your way home from proselyting at the end of an already hard day, haha) that there will always be our eternal spotter waiting to give us help and rest when we need it and most importantly, encourage us for one more set.
now as far as the work goes,its hard to say! we have been doing a lot of finding and trying to expand our teaching pool but anytime we sent a return appointment we seemed to get punted. but that hasn't gotten us down and isn't too frustrating...there are always new people to find. now the teaching pool we have is progressing! but the frustrating thing is that they are just progressing baby baby steps at a time. and its amazing to see their progress. but its just baby steps. which I'm just trying to be as patient as possible.
our most promising person is still probably mark, he is just came so far even in my first transfer. and i am excited to see his growth for the rest of the time I'm in Agoo
but yeah! I love the work, I love the people, I love my companion, and I'm just trying to love the struggle at this point. because like you said struggle means growth!! especially when my Savior is my spotter haha
Plus during conference one of the things I noticed was trying to cultivate an attitude of happiness. and one of the things I'm taking from my personal study of the Book of Mormon is gratitude and how it relates to our personal happiness... so I started doing a thing where every time I check my watch, I take a second and think of something I am grateful for..I've only been doing it for a few days and already I can see a difference. it just keeps things in perspective of how lucky we are to be here and sharing the gospel. and no matter how bleak things may seem (like tearing your pants on your way home from proselyting at the end of an already hard day, haha) that there will always be our eternal spotter waiting to give us help and rest when we need it and most importantly, encourage us for one more set.
now as far as the work goes,its hard to say! we have been doing a lot of finding and trying to expand our teaching pool but anytime we sent a return appointment we seemed to get punted. but that hasn't gotten us down and isn't too frustrating...there are always new people to find. now the teaching pool we have is progressing! but the frustrating thing is that they are just progressing baby baby steps at a time. and its amazing to see their progress. but its just baby steps. which I'm just trying to be as patient as possible.
our most promising person is still probably mark, he is just came so far even in my first transfer. and i am excited to see his growth for the rest of the time I'm in Agoo
but yeah! I love the work, I love the people, I love my companion, and I'm just trying to love the struggle at this point. because like you said struggle means growth!! especially when my Savior is my spotter haha
anyways its crazy to see how crazy the time flies when you are doing your best to be happy:))))
I love you all so much and let me know of anything that you want to hear about in my next email!!
Ayayatenka
mahal kita
-elder snow
also p.s I'm trying to learn a little Ilocano and its outrageous
Week #8
kumusta lahat!!!
aynako!! this was a weird week!! it wasn't like super hard but just we all felt a lil weird...probably because we found out on Tuesday night that we had to make the 2 hour bus ride to Baguio on Wednesday... but any who!!
Monday was p-day and that was pretty tight!! just talked with the fam and did some shopping!1 nothing super crazy there!!
Tuesday was a pretty standard work day as well!! just really trying to find!! we spent like 3 hours in this really sketchy barangay on the coast called Belwarte trying to find these two dudes that just randomly showed up at church the Sunday before!! we actually ended up finding their mom but it was awesome to get to know that area and the people there better.. plus no lie its super sick to proselyte on the beach hehe. plus the people there even though its our least active area, the people there are soo so so kind...
Wednesday: we got to go to Baguio!!!! it was flippin dope there!!!! except it kinda sucked because it felt just like we were in America! Everyone spoke English and was kinda rude and it was kind of weird to NOT get weird looks for being sobrang maputi... but I got to buy a ukulele which was dope and also Baguio feels like Flagstaff in the fall so it was nice to get out of the heat a bit.
Thursday was a pretty hard day just because we were tired from the day before but yeah just did lots of finding because all 5 of our appointments punted us which kinda sucked but hey...magigin maayos lahat..
Friday was a dope day!!!! we actually just did a ton of finding and then the sisters in our area needed us to go to an appointment with them because it was just a single tay. so that was cool!! and then we had a dinner appointment at Bishop's house
Saturday was a learning day: we did a lot of exploring and finding and actually taught this amazing lady named Lordess! she seemed pretty receptive and started crying during the lesson because she was moved at the fact that two young men would give up two years to share the word of God.. so we are really excited about her and are going back this week. also we got to help this lady with her palay (rice before it has been processed) it was actually super cool because she turned out to be a member of a church that doesn't like us very much so that was sick to do and also a good work out hahah those bags of rice weigh 80 pounds a piece.
Sunday was good too because we just got to go to church and then went out to go teach with a stud of a member named Christian. he actually just got home the transfer I got here so he has been home the same time I have been out. but he is a stud and just got called to be in the Bishopric so I'm stoked for him..but anyways we went and got to teach those guys that we found on Tuesday. and it was a very powerful lesson.
anyways that's pretty much the week!! just trying to study my buns off and get better at the language. but its a grind for sure. but a lesson that I have learned this week is to always try to see the good in everything. no matter who or what it is. because as I am learning in life everyone you meet is your superior in some way. always stay humble and prayerful and never think you are above anyone else. anyways mahal ko kayo!! pls shoot me an email if you want!!
ang kaibigan nyo po-
elder snow<3
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