Elder Head in the Philippines - Week 24 - A fun week!

Hey Dad!! About the service project, it went super well! We helped our Branch President build a tindahan that he is gonna sell halo halo out of it. It was super cool! We're working on expanding our area. The missionaries in the past, just like last area, have only focued on 3 parts of our area. But our area is HUGE. I'm working with the office elders to get us some bikes here so that we can go deeper into our area without having to use half of the day walking to find the area. Haha.

I SAW A FILIPINO VERSIONOF YOU HERE. I didn't get a picture unfortunately cause we were on a bus at the time but it was SO WEIRD. Haha!! Love you Pops! Thanks for giving me some of your 'Gwapo" genes. Haha.

L8r Gator.

Mitchell

Hey momma!

Sorry it's taking me so long ro email you guys! The internet here in Duero is atrociously slow and for that reason there's not gonna be any pictures this week. Sorry kaayo!

I have already talked to Ryan and Dad about my car. But Ryan is new car is super gwapo! Hey so 

my package is here. It is in the office right now. It will get to me this Thursday at Zone Training Meeting. :)

Hey will you send me some of my gwapo american ties in my next package. I'm sick of ugly Filipino neck ties. Haha. ALSO, I found my backpack in Tagbilaran last week and I forgot to say in my letter!! So don't worry about the missionary library and stuff. :) Everything was actually there which was surprising. Haha.

So here's my letter now :)

Happy week 68! Just kidding I have no idea what week it is.

So this week was fun, I gave an impromptu talk this week in church cause the speakers just didn't show up. So I spoke on carrying our cross and following the Savior. It was super cool.  The words just kind of came. It was a really cool experience.

This week we went on splits on Saturday and I the area with Elder Albar. It was super awesome we made some good contacts we can follow up on and we taught some of our investigators! It's really cool going on splits just to see everyone else's different teaching styles.

I played piano again this week and it was NOT a disaster like last week! It was super cool. The gift of tongues with piano is real. That's probably not the sacto name of it but anyways I was able to play the piano in sacrament with people singing and not have to trail off and play one note the whole time so I'd call that a blessing. Haha.

We're working with the office elders to get bikes for my area cause it's really big in parts and REALLY  jungle-y so there's a lot of houses in concentrated parts way in the jungle that takes half of the day to walk to  and the rest of the day to walk home from. Haha. So hopefully that'll go through.

For some reason this whole week I've just wanted a cheese enchilada but there is neither cheese that you can buy in the jungle or tortillas here in the Philippines which is a shame. Just thought I'd share that for a minute.

Lately I've been studying the New Testament a lot along with a lot of Book of Mormon reading and it just happened to line up that I'm reading the Gospel of John along with 3rd Nephi where Jesus Christ shows himself to the Nephites in Bountiful, so my heart has really been full of love, respect, and adoration for the Savior at this time. We're so blessed that our Father in Heaven loved us enough to make such an incredible plan for each of us as His children, We're so blessed to have a Savior that knows us perfectly and wants so badly to give us comfort, strength, and forgiveness. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and his Sacrifice for each of us and his willingness to yield His will to the will of the Father. I truly have a much deeper appreciation for them and my understanding is becoming so much deeper of their love for each and everyone of us.

K

-Elder Head

Elder Head in the Philippines - Week 23 :)

I’m glad you loved my topic last week for my talk on Self Reliance haha!  It was a super weird topic for me! But I enjoyed it. Haha :) This week I taught Priesthood on a talk from Conference "Joseph Smith" by Elder Neil L. Anderson. I focused on "Putting on your spiritual oxygen mask" like it said in the talk. Yeah my retainer just got in! I'm excited to get it. It'll probably be here like next week..? I'm cooking a lot more but there's not really anyone that feeds us. I've eaten some seaweed stuff which is actually not bad. Haha :)

That sounds like it was a super fun week! I'm glad Reagan got a new iPad. Otherwise the ride home would've definitely been a "Trail of Tears"

Here's my letter!

Hey guys! So this week was super weird. Haha.

Elder Gavin and I both were sick for a few days. We still worked though! But Elder Gavin had to go to Cebu for a District Leader Conference so the Zone Leaders had me go to Tagbilaran for a couple days this week. So we haven't been able to do a lot in our area this past week. But it was good! I was able to help out a few new missionaries with their language study and teach some lessons with them out in Dauis. 

Other than that this week has been super duper slow. We haven't been able to do a lot cause of this and that and every other reason. So it was just super weird. 

Today we're doing a CSP (Community Service Project for the n00bs not used to mission lingo. Just kidding. Haha) for our branch president today! I'm super excited to help them put up a little store in front of their house so they can sell Halo-halo (It's said like Hollow) so they can produce some more income for their family! So hopefully this will help them out a little more. 

There's really not a whole lot more that happened this week. Like I said. It was a weird week. Haha. 

-Elder Head

Elder Head in the Philippines - Week 22 - Teaching self reliance as a 19 year-old :)

Hey guys!

So this week was a LOT of tracting. Cause we got punted. Hard. Every day. Haha. Like it was 4th down and 27 yards to go. But it's good. They were just all busy for one reason for another and felt bad and we have return appointments with all our investigators this week! So no worries.

So funny moment for this week. They called on me to play the opening hymn in Priesthood meeting yesterday. So I attempted last minute sight reading while people sang. It turned into me playing a single note for them to sing to cause I've never played the song that they wanted me to and I haven't really been able to practice in the past 5 weeks or so. I tried super hard but it just wasn't meant to be! Haha. So I think I'll be making the requests now and not them.

I gave a talk this week! On self reliance. Now as a missionary being the age of 19 who has lived with/off of his parents for his entire life, this was a new concept for me. I taught about how it's a commandment from God that we provide for ourselves (Genesis 3:19), how God doesn't give any commandments that we can't do (1 Nephi 3:7), how we can do it by working hard and being obedient, then I finished with talking about how every blessing we receive is dependant on our obedience to the laws and ordinances that have been given to us. How it's not enough for us to just sit and ask to be self reliant if we're not doing our part. It just doesn't work like that. We need to do our best to grow in the Gospel and as we grow ourselves, so will our blessings. Then we will receive added help we need and we can become more self reliant. 

There's a lot more I want to say but my two hours is up!

I love you guys, I know that God lives and he loves each and everyone of us. I know Christ lived, died, and was resurrected. I know that Joseph Smith saw both of them in the Sacred Grove. I know that Jesus Christ restored His church and His gospel through Joseph Smith.  

K. Later.

Elder Head

Elder Head in the Philippines - Week 21 - As long as you work hard & do your very best..... :)

Hey Dad. I'm glad you guys had fun! I'm glad that fam is getting along well too. Elder Gavin is a super hard worker and we are going to try to kick some butt. But first we need to work on the branch. It's struggling. SO we're gonna work with some of the members to try to strengthen them more as well as balance finding new people. This area in the past has been a "hard" area. I feel confident that there's no such thing as a hard area. As long as you work hard and do your very best to do your part, the Lord will put people in your path that you can help. How's your personal scripture study and stuff going pops?

I'll try to type another good email. Haha. Love ya!

Elder Head

Hey Momma,

I'm glad you guys had a great time in Mexico and Cali! I love just listening to the waves crashing onto the rocks as I fall asleep. It's the best. Haha. Yeah will you please send me a new gospel library? Also, I've had a change of heart and decided that the mission ties are super ugly. So when you send my next package will you send a legitimate gwapo neck tie? One similar to the ones we bought with my one suit, the super cool ones that's like the paisley blue, the green squares, and the purple dots? Thanks Momma. :) Nah I haven't gotten that last package yet. It's still on it's way I'm sure. Church started SUPER late. We're gonna try to work with the auxiliaries and get everyone there on time so when we get investigators to church they're not just waiting in the Mercado for an hour waiting for the church to be unlocked. But it was good. I'm giving a talk next week. I'll be playing the piano for sacrament when Elder Gavin leaves the area next transfer. So let's all pray I get good at piano real fast. Haha. Elder Gavin and I get a long really well and we're both working towards the same goal, to make Duero a really progressing area. :) He's sick right now so our goal has been slowed down a little cause he's recuperating at the moment but we should be good to go by later this week! Yes I have to do laundry by hand. It's the absolute worst thing EVER. You freaking get exhausted. Haha. I'll get the hang of it though. So I had really REALLY good pictures at first, but then I got a virus or something on my memory card and all my pictures got deleted before I could switch them to my SD card. So I took some replacements but they're not as nindot as my actual area is. I'll work on retaking better photos. Yeah Lindsey's mission papers are in right now so that'll be awesome for her she told me. I'm glad you guys had an awesome vacation! Looks like it was way relaxing. :)

Tell Phophe Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Letter starts now:

Hey there folks.

So this week my camera died, and I thought that I left my charger in my backpack but I can testify to you all that Tender Mercies of the Lord are real. After 3 days of wallowing in self loathe (I was mad at myself cause I thought I left it in my backpack that was lost) I finally unpacked the rest of my bags and THERE IT WAS. After telling myself I'm a moron, I charged it up only to find that all my pictures on my memory card had gotten deleted by a virus or something else crappy. So it sucks that my pictures got deleted but tender mercy cause I still have my charger so I can actually retake them instead of just having my nice camera turn into a paper weight. 

This week was super good! The investigators they found last transfer dropped them cause they talked to their Catholic Defender friends and they "Saw the light that is Catholicism" which is a bummer for us but, hey, you gotta respect their agency. So we're starting to branch out our tracting a little more to parts of that they didn't go into and we've found some super good new investigators. 

The place we've been tracting is called Madua Sor. Which is spanish for something. I think. Basta, one of our new investigators is a 17 year old named Lloyd. His family was taught by the missionaries in 2010 but haven't seen missionaries since. He's SUPER smart. He has a lot of super awesome input in the lessons. His whole family was taught at an earlier time but they seem kind of apprehensive of us but we've just been serving them lately and getting to know them and they're also getting to know us so the rest of the family is warming up a lot too. 

The other cool family we've tracted are named the Cabalan family. They're Seventh Day Adventists, so when they let us in to talk with us I was getting mentally prepared to be on the recipient end of some angry bible bashing, but they were SUPER nice and very receptive to the message. Their names are Moises, Elsa, and their daughter Agnes. One of their neighbours were investigators a long time ago and received a Basahon Ni Mormon, but since then nothing happened with them so they threw the Book of Mormon in the trash, but the Cabalan family picked it up and brought it in their house for who knows how long because they said that people need to respect the word of God. So they've had a Book of Mormon in their house for years. So that's awesome. They're just great people. I'm super excited to see how things go with them. 

Elder Gavin is sick with a gnarly cold so we haven't been able to work the past few days but he's almost over it so we should be out kicking butt and taking names in a few days. Hopefully tomorrow. 

Lately I've been reading about the Armies of Helaman. They're the men!! They took what they learned from their mothers, lived it, and loved it so much they were willing to put their lives on the line for it. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending me my angel of a mother. I love you Mom. Thanks so much for teaching me and accepting me always, even when I wasn't always the perfect son. I love you Mom and Happy Birthday this week. :) I know the church is true and I'm so grateful for it. 

-Elder Head 

Elder Head's front yard :)

Bamboo house

Rice fields everywhere

Elder Head in the Philippines week 20 - Duero - absolutely incredible!!

When Mitch was preparing for his mission and we were driving home from getting his wisdom teeth out, and while still very under the influence of having been "put out" for the procedure, he promised me that he would take so many pictures, this conversation was captured on video and he was vvery funny! This is how he started his letter out to me tonight, which I loved btw :)


"Mom, don't worry. On my mission, I'm gonna take SO MANY PICTURES. And you're gonna be like "WOW. You're doing SO GOOD."

Yeah. I took a crapton of pictures. You wanna know what sucks SUPER BAD though? My SD card reader just broke. So I can't send any pictures this week either. Which is a bummer cause I took a few that are FB profile picture worthy, if you ask me. My area now is like the complete opposite of my first area. My house is right across the street from the ocean. Then behind my house is straight jungle. I kid you not. It's so freaking cool. I'll get you pictures that I took (CAUSE I TOOK SO MANY) to you guys next week. There's one of me in front of the ocean which is pretty gwapo.      I'll just write my letter now I guess. Haha.      

Hey guys!
So I'm in Duero with only 2/3 of my luggage. So that's good. Haha. After the boat ride from Cebu to Tagbilaran port, we waited there at the bus station to board a series bus to Valencia. We all grabbed lunch and then after that we just threw everyone's stuff on the series. There wasn't really any order to it.  We just took whoever's stuff was there and chucked it on. So I grabbed one of my big suitcases and one of the sister's big suit cases and put it on the bus.  After that it looked like all the luggage was on the bus so we boarded and got the heck out of Tagbi. In Valencia Zone our whole zone just follows one highway with Duero being almost the very last companionship on the bus. Then when we got to our house we got off and the conductor handed me my two suitcases, but my backpack was gone. Then we argued just a minute trying to find my backpack. Then the guy said he threw it off the bus at Tagbi port cause no one picked it up off the seat. Which sucks cause it had my Missionary Library books, my Preach My Gospel, and my Book of Mormon, Bible, and Doctrine and Covenants in it that I took to the mission from home. Luckily Elder Gavin has 4 Preach My Gospels. One little english, one big english, one big cebuano, and one big tagalog. We're still trying to get that whole thing figured out.

Other than that though it's been a super sick week. Right after I got here and got over the crushing loss of my books (It's not crushing, it's just a bummer is all. SOrry Pops before hand that I'm a Walay claro ongoi.) it's been a super good week! We hit the ground running and Elder Gavin and I got straight to work. I met the Branch President and we went and taught a lesson to one of the members. Then the next day we went and taught 7 investigators and 2 less actives. Sunday was weird cause I'm only used to wards but we went church and we don't have an actual church. We have an old house that the church bought that they renovated to look like a church. It's super sick though (Sick as in cool or nindot. Not cool as in gross.) I'll send some pictures next week. Today we're going into Jagna to take out our money and go shopping cause there's no ATM's in Duero. Haha. That's about it. My comp is from St. George, Utah. He really likes running so I run with him in the mornings which is good cause I need to like running. Haha. The air here is so fresh and the oceanbreeze is absolutely incredible. I fall asleep to the sound of waves at night. It's incredible here.

The earth is truly incredible. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father created all this through his Son, Jesus Christ, for all of us. We are truly blessed.

Later fools!

-Elder Head