My body has never been so tired.

Dear Family Pirme sa akon Paminsaharon,

Well this week has been very average... Sorry to say. Nothing to amazingly fantastic came. Well I might have a couple more things! ;) I will try to explain them the best I can.

Well this week was kind of a fixing week. We have been really focusing on getting the auxiliary leaders working and the area functioning before we went finding again. We are in a bit of a pickle here. We could use many prayers for the leadership here and for the members to preform and magnify their callings! 

Luckily for us we had a couple great referrals from our amazing recent convert Sister Nida! She has 3 families she is fellow shipping all at the same time! They are all really amazing too and willing to listen and do the things we ask! She is also trying to get her whole family in on the action in the church! 

Well one of the referrals is this older couple, the Robelo Family. They are a great family. Brother Robelo is half paralyzed. He had a stroke year ago and half his body on the Left side is not able to function. His wife is the only one who can provide. Well we visited them once and left them the pamphlet. The next time we came back we asked how things were, they told us they read the whole pamphlet! It was shocking and great. Then they told us a bit of a story. After they read the pamphlet they decided to pray about Joseph Smith, and they said the next day they received the blessings they needed with money and everything! They are gaining a testimony for themselves and will be great members of the church. 

Other then that we have been just working hard on reactivation and other things. We need all the prayers we can get for Brother Ceasar Mondejar and his family. They didn't come to church yesterday and their baptism should be this week.We really need to know what is going on there. They have a livein situation, but due to laws in the Philippines I don't know what to consider it. Just pray things will work out for this great family. 

Well other then that nothing else really happened! Just keep praying I need strength. My body has never been so tired. I really need to be able to function and do all the work that is required of me! 

I love you all I miss you and I hope you are all enjoying your lives. Mom I am so proud of you on your final exam! Brody keep on being gwapo and singing. Brigham you keep running and look gwapo while doing it! And Dad I am so proud of you and your example you have given to me! Keep those shoes on! 

Love,

Elder Minson

 

Well this is it, my last transfer in the mission, I am coming home in 6 weeks.... I know this gospel is true! I love the work and I love the people of the Philippines!

Dear Family of Spiritual Giants,

Well no transfers have happened! Officially Elder Shumway is my last companion in my mission! I am in Pulupandan 1st and this is where I will die as a missionary! Just to be resurrected and be hard working member missionary back home! Well this is it, my last transfer in the mission, I am coming home in 6 weeks. Well these next 6 weeks will just have to be the best I can possibly do! 

Well this week Sister Christine Gargarita was baptized. What an amazing thing it was to see. She was the first investigator I met in this area and I told Elder Shumway after the first night that I thought she was going to progress. Well she is now baptized. She is struggling with some family issues still and could use all of your prayers though to help her. 

Well Sister Nida De Leon is a spiritual giant. Just went to her house yesterday and she said that she will work with us and help find new investigators. She is almost done reading the whole Book of Mormon and she was only confirmed yesterday... SHE IS AMAZING! We just got a text from her that she has someone she wants to be taught tonight! Just crazy how prepared she was by God. 

Well the next people to be baptized is the M. family. Brother Ceasar, Sister Nida and their 2 grandchildren Renelyn and Rhealyn! They need lots of prayers that they will pass their interview. They have a weird living situation and President Ferrin needs to interview them because technically they are a live in, but due to laws here in the Philippines they have been together longer then 8 years and can be considered legally married. It all depends on their interview with President. 

We then yesterday had this Less Active show up to church, his name is Brother Erroll Villiaflor. He is a great man and is an RM. He had lots of difficulty before and that is why he went Less Active. Well last night he invited us to his house for dinner and he was the nicest man ever! He fed us well. He saw my pretty beat up watch and gave me a really nice new one that he said didn't fit him... and he said he will help us in the missionary efforts here! He is amazing!

Well this week was good overall. We need lots of prayers this next transfer to find new investigators and figure things out with the ward. We need to get things working! Please keep Pulupandan 1st Ward in your prayers! 

Well thats all for the week! I love you! I know this gospel is true! I love the work and I love the people of the Philippines! Love you!! 

Love,
Elder Minson

 

 

Am I really more gwapo if I work harder at my calling? I hope Sister Burton was right there!

Dear Amazing and Very Trunkie Family,

Well this week has been a lightning fast one.... Holy cow I have no idea where the time has gone..... Well this week did not have too many crazy amazing things happen. We had a baptism, we had General Conference, and we have some pretty amazing investigators!!!

Well first the baptism was that of Sister Nide De Leon. She was the sisters in Pulupandan 2nd Ward, but she lives in our ward so they had to pass her off to us! So yeah she was just totally elect and is amazing! She is so pumped up for doing missionary work! She attended General Conference which just pumped her up even more!! Anyway she is just an amazing lady and wants God to be in her families life! So that is our next goal! 

Next about my last General Conference here in the field... IT WAS AMAZING!!! I mean I was getting a little trunkie, not a lot, but I was a little because of the Saturday Session and the focus on getting home and getting married for all time and ETERNITY!! Haha! Man it was awesome! Am I really more gwapo if I work harder at my calling? I hope Sister Burton was right there! I hope to be more gwapo ;) I loved President Monson's talk in priesthood session! It probably was my favorite! It was so inspiring! Same with Jeffery R. Hollands and the story of the Brothers! It was just an amazing conference! 

Lastly we should be having a baptism this week as well! Sister Christine is an amazing single mother. She is really struggling with family issues and really opened up to us yesterday! She needs all the prayers she can get this week so that she can be ready for baptism, we might have to postpone it another week.

Brother Ceasar Mondejar and his family are just super elect, they are the ones we met through Sister Christine, and man are the progressing! They live in some of the poorest conditions but are so willing to live the gospel and become Saints! Every prayer Brother Ceasar gives is for us to find new people to teach and spread the gospel to the world! He even joins us in all the teachings over by his place! It is just amazing! 

For Spiritual thought to Everyone in the World:

This last week in District Meeting I trained on Our Missionary Purpose. I felt so spiritually edified to share how we need to be inviting correctly and we need to make sure our investigators are receiving correctly. I see to many times on my mission, where missionaries are getting 40+ member presents but only 2 to 3 are going to church... The reason why is because missionaries are forgetting their purpose!!! FAITH is first and they cannot get to baptism without it, second is REPENTANCE and we cannot allow our investigators to be baptized unless they have fully repented! If I could I wish I could share that to the whole mission. Our weekly baptisms needs to be 100% quality if we want to say that we are the best mission in the world. I have been pushing really hard with the whole zone to make sure that the numbers and statistics are not interfering with our true calling. We are here to INVITE others to come unto Christ by HELPING them RECEIVE the Restored Gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. There are 3 key words Invite, Help, and then they will need to Receive. 

Well I got nothing else to really say... I just love you all to death! I can't wait to see you all! I hope things are going well! I mean I got like 7 weeks or something like that! Haha! Well I love you!

Love,
Elder Minson

The field is white already to harvest! We are instruments in the Lords hands trying to accomplish an amazing work!

Dear Eternal Family,

 aWell this week has been a quite one for the books. It was Holy Week here. Back home we call it Easter. Where we are all from, Easter is to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and to bolster our faith in him. Here they celebrate Holy Thursday and Good Friday and parade around with huge statues of idols and Jesus Nailed to the Cross... It was a hard week for teachings due to this. The other religions here hold such a strong grasp on the people, but that does not discourage me because we have the truth! 

This week nothing I can remember too crazy happened. We worked hard. Got really tired and then worked some more! We just have kept in perspective that this work is going to be hard. We are really starting from scratch here, but we know as we work hard slowly the Lord will help us find his lost sheep! 

My companion, Elder Shumway, is a great man! He keeps a great attitude and really tries to keep positive and pushes really hard to be a great Elder. He struggles with the language (don't we all), but he does not let himself get down about it. He is improving everyday! 

We had 6 investigators show up to church and they are all our next couple baptisms. We have 1 this week and 1 next week and maybe one the week after! And on May 2nd we have a whole family of 5 being baptized that are totally elect! The field is white already to harvest! We are instruments in the Lords hands trying to accomplish an amazing work! 

I don't really have much to share. I got the package! Thank you to all who wrote me and for the candy and oils! :) I loved it all! I am strong and healthy and doing all I can to focus on the work! My feet are fine, I am having to go at a slower pace... Which I do not like, but will deal with it. I am happy! I love the work!

I miss you all cannot wait to see your faces! Thank you for the pictures! Please keep me updated on what is going on! For all my friends who read this, I would love to hear from every single one of you too! I just want you all to know I know that this gospel is true. That our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Atoned for our sins and is our Savior! I love you all thank you so much! 

Love,
Elder Minson