Elder Head in the Philippines - Filipino BBQ/mini FHE :)

Hey Ma,

I didn't make it into BYU which means my next plan is to find out about this "required test" that I'm supposed to take for entry into UVU. They say that I need to take it before August 1st. I'm gonna do some searching to see if I could potentially take it somewhere here in the Philippines. I've already talked with President Tanner about this and he said that if I could take it here, I should. But if I can't take it here, I'll need to get home early enough for me to take it. But Ryan claims that he needed to take that test too, then never did, and he's fine. I dunno if lightning will strike twice for us there though, so I should probably take it. Maybe I can transfer over to BYU. Maybe.

This week we had a district activity where we had Filipino BBQ and had a mini FHE in this beach resort thing. It was really cool and here's a picture from it. (It was a lot bigger and you could see more of the surroundings, but my garment bottoms were showing on the bottom, so I cropped it out. Sorry lang. Haha.)

This week we had to do a realignment of two of the areas in our zone. There is now a small group that meets in the middle of their areas which caused confusion with the branch and the missionaries about where each of the investigators and members would meet from each area. After much planning and conferring with one another the missionaries and the District Leader of their area, we worked out a solution and we all feel confident that it was a good change. So that was fun.

I've noticed in myself that I have taken a leaf out of dad's book and am not really all that compassionate (Sorry Dad). I've been working to be more loving and compassionate and understanding with our investigators. I feel it's been more effective.

This is really long.

Love you Momma!

-Elder Head

Yo Pop,

I didn't make it into BYU. Which is a bummer. Especially because Chris and Connor sent me a group email this week talking about housing at BYU this fall......OUCH. Just kidding. I told them either to do off campus housing so I can be with them, or I can just hang out with them if I live with Ryer.

I totally knew that Bishop Gardner would be released before I got home. I'm really excited for those three, you'll all be doing great things.

We're finding so many new investigators, like we got 11 last week and 6 this past week, but they just are not progressing or keeping any commitments. We're going to try to give out IBD's like candy this week so they'll feel they have something to work towards so we'll see if that helps them to move in the right direction to get an answer. Let me know what you feel about that.

It's so weird that I'm just about to hit my 18 month mark next week. I can't believe how fast time is going now. Haha. Who will be the next bishop of our ward??

Do you remember how before my mission, if we'd watch movies in the basement at night I'd always fall asleep? That happens a lot in our planning lately. I guess my body is still adjusting to being out and moving all day. haha.

Love you Pop Pop.

-Elder Head

We sure love missionary pics....in any form...focused or not :)  #hurryup6months

Elder Head in the Philippines - lots of exchanges this week :)

Yo.

This last week was so good! We've done a lot of exchanges with missionaries so I can better get to know my zone. We were also able to do Zone Interviews this week. I love just talking with President Tanner even though it was just a short time, you can still feel his love for you. There's this family that's SO awesome here Dad. They allowed us to share a message with them. Brother Ivy, the father, started out as a Catholic, then went Seventh Day Adventist, then brought his family to a church here in the Philippines called "Iglesia ni Cristo", and now just does his own thing. He said each of those churches taught well and he liked their doctrine, but something felt missing from each of them. Yeah. He's solid. His family is so good too. They're all super humble and receptive. It's like the Lord just gave us a late Christmas present. They're so great. I'll let you know what else goes on with them. :)

Is there still no news about BYU?

So this week, I tried to focus my studies on the gospel and how we can receive peace from it. In my life, there have been many times where I could not find any peace for my soul until I practiced the principles of the gospel. Mainly faith and repentance. It's funny to see how our studies affect our work because that seemed to be the topic of most of our discussions with people this week. About guilt and how to relieve it. I can truly say that nothing has brought true and lasting peace to my heart, other than living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can say that because there have been times when I felt have not lived the gospel. The contrast is very large and very real. It's only through faith and repentance that we can achieve that freedom from guilt and sorrow. I know this is true.

We cycled through some of the investigators we found last week. Some were busy and others just plain hid from us. Haha. But we worked hard every day and are still looking for those people who are ready to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Mangrobang is a GREAT cook. I'm trying to learn from him. Haha.

Love ya Momma & Pops!!

Elder Head

On exchanges w/Elder Beltiar FHE fun :)

Mitch decided to share a bathroom (CR) photo just for fun. EW!

His description of this photo was #tallpeopleprobs

Elder Head in the Philippines - Bogo City :)

Mom and Pop,

I'm still super sorry about last week. It's been kicking my butt this last week. It won't happen like that again.

So I've now reviewed your emails from last week and now feel confident that I can answer your questions.

*Ahem*

Last week Pop asked, "Are you a Zone Leader now?" Yes I'm a Zone Leader now here in Bogo. Last week we had a leadership meeting down in Lilo-an so I took the 2 hour bus ride from Bogo to Lilo-an on Thursday of last week, then we did it on Monday night, then we turned around and did it again on Tuesday afternoon. Buses are fun. Haha. I met a French fellow named Phillip and we talked for the entire bus ride on Thursday. He committed to read the Book of Mormon after I shared to him one of my favorite verses: 3rd Nephi 9:14.

UPDATE. I got my package from Grandma Vonnie on Monday night and it was intact. Let her know and I will also send her a thank you note. :)

Mom asked last week, "How's the area? (Give lots of details)" So my area is here up in Bogo City reaching out to the bukid (remote areas). We've been focusing our efforts in a part of our area that's closer to the city and has a higher population of members for us to work with called Gairan. It's been pretty hot, so I've been getting darker, but not sunburnt (SWEET). We get a lot of support from the ward and have people to work with us most days. I don't have any pictures of it because me camera died this week and is now charging in the house, but the area is beautiful.We ride a tricycle into and out of the area but walk around our area during the day. Our house isn't too bad either. We have termites in our stairs going up to the top floor, where we sleep, but we can live with that for the moment. We live close to the ocean and have a cool, ocean breeze at night when we sleep. We have a terrace at the back of our house (I say terrace, but it's not really a terrace. It's more like a baby deck. But that might be the meaning of terrace and I just don't know).

Another one from Mom, "How's your companion? How long has he been serving?" So my companion's name is Elder Mangrobang from Tarlac. He's super kind and easy-going. We get along really well. Also, he's a really hard worker which I like. We push each other in the work. He's my batch going home so he'll go home in August with me.

Another one from Mom, "Needs from home?" Short answer: Nah, I'm all good.

Another one from Momma, "Do you have a lot of stuff to do in the branch?" Not really. The branch is really well run. All we really have to do is get investigators of the church to come and everything else gets taken care of. It's really nice. Haha.

Last question from Momma "How was your week?" Okay! So this week I was able to go on exchanges with one of the district leaders companion in our zone to do a baptismal interview for on of their old investigators (There were sisters that were added to their ward last week so their technically the investigators of the sisters that were almost completely taught by the district leader.) Anyways. The investigators were great and they were baptized on Saturday. We attended that one leadership meeting on Tuesday but had to be there in Lilo-an on Monday night to get to the meeting on time. We did a TON of tracting this week, which was hard, but we have a few people that we met who look like they have some real interest in our message. There were also some others that were not as interested... Haha. But we'll be following up on them all starting tomorrow.

The branch missionaries think my laugh is goofy and make fun of it. But I think it's hilarious when they try to impersonate it. It's a good time.

Earlier today we were able to do a CSP with a medical foundation for children with cleft lips and for adults with cataracts. So we did mainly translating because it was foreigners that volunteered and came from the states. But it was really fun!

I hope that this letter was big enough and detailed enough for you to rescind that swear word from your latest letter Pops. Let us all speak kind words to each other. ;)

I love you guys and I'm really grateful for you that you still emailed me even though i was a jerk last week. Haha.

I love you! Happy late anniversary!

-Elder Mitchell Head