I may not be able to literally put my shoes on, but spiritually they are on!

Elder Minson With Friends in Bacolod

Elder Minson and our long distance friend Micheal Dacutan

Dear Family of Worries,

Alright so here is the thing. Last week was good. We worked hard Tuesday and Wednesday. We taught tons of people on Tuesday and saw great new families coming out of the wood works. One being the Barannggan Family. They were a referral and they were super nice. The first contact was with the Mother and her kids as of 2 weeks ago. They seemed only somewhat interested and we were not sure how they would progress. Well we went back on Tuesday because we only have so much time in a week and they are pretty far out there. When we went back we got to meet the father and man oh man he is awesome! Such a great father figure! He has a great presence about him and he seemed extremely interested because we were focusing on the family! Saddly I am not sure if he went to church or not...

Sadly I have a terrible sense of judgement when it comes to myself. Because I woke up Wednesday and thought "maybe I should rest... nah!" So we went out and no one was home!!! We walked and walked and walked and little success came out of it! So yeah it took a hit on me. I woke up thursday and I have big sores all along the side of my foot and tips of my toes. Sorry no pictures, if I could I still wouldn't send them to you. I AM FINE!!!! The reason I am on bed rest is the whole foot got hit by infection.I was trying to keep it healthy but my area just did not have medical care to do so. So I am here in Bacolod with the office staff the next week. I will be typing in baptismal records and helping with supply!

My feet are healing right now though. I have drugs consistently going in me and I am doing much better.Walking is still a struggle but I can walk! I will be okay by the end of the week! President Ferrin and the Mower Couple is taking great care of me and I love them for that!

This just taught me a lesson in life! We can't push to hard, the Lord will still accomplish his work! He would rather have resting servants then Dead servants! I know he is helping me now though! Everyday my feet are getting stronger and better and I am more desirous to work! I love this country and the work here! I love you all keep strong! I may not be able to literally put my shoes on, but spiritually they are on! Miss you and love you!

Love,

Elder Minson

I love the work and love my mission! This truly is a blessed and holy place!

Dear Family that is Perfect for ME,

Good week. Lots of good came out of this week! We had 8 investigators come to church and every week is just getting more and more! The week was nice, lots of teachings lots of great people i got to me and see progress.

One being Sister Merna Palma! She is this sweet single old lady and when we first got this referral we thought she was a bit crazy... which she is! In all the right ways though! She loves the gospel of Christ and is such a great spirit! She loves to laugh and have fun, but also loves to read and understand the gospel. She has been approached by many religions but they all pushed her to hard and scared her. She says she loves this religion because we come just to help and the members are so kind and welcome her to everything! She is just the sweetest person ever! She will be baptized on March 7th! 

We then had this weird lesson to this other old lady. She is 80+ years old and is crazy in a crazy way. She has had weird dreams of pretty much Satan and stopped coming to church in Decemeber. Well we decided to go back and teach her, but it is more like a call to repentance haha! I feel like a prophet in the Book of Mormon when we teach her. We really have to just say, "Repent, go to church, and Baptized or you will got to.. imperno." It is harsh, but for this old Nanay Daguhoy it got results! She went to church and accepted to be baptized on March 21! haha! 

So through out this week I have been really trying to work hard, and for some reason every night after the work I would sit there and think about my feet and how they hurt... and I realize now how selfish I was being... This morning we were riding on this jeepney and when we were riding I have never seen so many nice things happen. It was hard this morning with people making those sligh remarks saying "hey joe" and other things that just prick at the nerves... as we sat on this jeepney my attitude was not so good. I looked around and started to see something though. The people were talking and complementing eachother and talking about their kids and things. These things I have not seen very much sense I have been here in in the field. Well as we were on our 1 hour trip to get to Kabankalan so many people were cramming on this jeepney. I think we had a good 30 people on the inside of this thing and others on top of it. Well even though we were crammed there was this old man around 70-80 years old and the people squeezed together so tightly just to fit him on. As we were on I looked around and saw this old mans feet... and it was something that I will never forget. It really took me back a couple steps. This man had large sores on his feet from his whole life of hard labor in the Sugar Cane fields. I thought of my feet and how though I too have painful sores on my feet, I at least of good medical care and money and means to fix it. This man had on flip flops and his feet were dirty just from walking around in the dust. And after about 5 minutes I noticed that he was looking directly at me, not in a weird creepy way, but it in a way like he saw something different about me. Not like I am an American in the Philippines either. The way he was looking at me made me feel as if I had something that he didn't. I think he saw the Spirit and Priesthood of Jesus Christ. I am a representative of Jesus Christ, who suffered everything in the Garden of Gethsemane. I can make this without complaining! 

My goal this week is to do all I can to be a better person and spread this gospel and just keep a smiling face! I love the work and love my mission! This truly is a blessed and holy place! 

I love you all and miss you! Email me send me pictures and questions and I will try respond the best I can! I love you! Keep those shoes on! 

Love,

Elder Minson 

I think the mission is a clear reflection of how we will be in life and how obedient we will be to the commandments of God!

Dear Family Lapit na ko makita,

Well this week has been filled with the same ole' same ole'! Haha! It was a good week! We started it off with our MLC and had a great experience! We trained on it and it went well, I think. We taught many people this week and it seems the area is starting to progress.

First, about MLC! So it was fantastic! I love our new Mission President, President Ferrin and Sister Ferrin!! They are super kind and are spiritual giants! I love them just as much as I love President and Sister Lopez! They had great training's and for the most part of what i got out of all of them was Obedience. I think the mission is a clear reflection of how we will be in life and how obedient we will be to the commandments of God! If we can be obedient here we can be obedient after! It really gives you great perspective on how important the mission really is for the young men of this world! 

Before training, last Monday Brother Michael Dacuton took us to dinner! He treated us and he was so nice too! It was not a cheap meal! We went and ate GIANT BURGERS!! It was delicious and I just love that man! 

Well after we had a good training. We kept the focus of obedience to help make this zone strong. This zone consists of only 6 companionship and all are Elders.... So pretty much a district and not really a zone. This zone has struggled for a while in baptisms and things. So that is our goal while we are here is to push the work forward and make this a better and stronger zone! 

Well the teachings are going well. We have a strong companionship when it comes to teaching! It is a bit rough here.The work before we not progressing to well. We are getting it picked up though! We had 5 investigators at church and we hope we can keep them coming! We feel like by the end of this month the area will be at full speed! 

Well not much else to tell. We are working hard and trying to stay obedient! I love you and please keep your shoes on! Keep strong and focused on the Lord's work!

Love,

Elder Minson

 

Brock is cooking on fire due to a lack of propane.
He said he now has charcoal and hopes to have propane soon

 

We have church in our house!

Dear Family I will see SOON!!,

Alrighty then! So this week was very awesome! I am in a area that is quite like Dian-ay, but has more accessibility and the people are not as poor! sadly though it is not weekly baptizing right now... it will be soon though because we are flipping the area! We did great this week, the Lord really is blessing us because we are getting many new investigators with great fellow shippers in the ward/group!

So as you can see my title last week was wrong... I am in the Tabugon Group! So it is part of Tapi Ward, but farther out! We have church in our house! I guess the past average attendance for our group has been 30 on average, this last week we had 43! A great increase, and I know with help from the Lord it will just keep increasing! I have pictures but I am not sure if I trust this computer shop with my card, I will find a way to send you the pictures this next week! 

So yeah My companion is Elder Torres! He was in my apartment back in Cadiz! He was with Elder Howell! So yeah we get along real well, he is trying to work really hard to make the area progress. I guess before this area was just a regular area with no zone leaders,....  now he wants to... get this area going! And we are already seeing the fruits of obedience! I am loving it! 

I don't have much else to say... oh! This Recent Convert asked me the other day what she should name her new born baby, and I told her to name him Brigham! She said she saw that name in one of the books at the church and really liked it! Well Saturday she told me she did name him Brigham!! Hahaha! I thought that was really cool! 

Well other then that I am just getting use to a new area and a new companion and doing new things! I think I will have one more area after this though! Just a gut feeling! I am loving my mission and keeping my shoes on!

Love,

Elder Minson

 

Brock's Apartment/Church