Elder Mitchell Head

Elder Mitchell Head

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Elder Head in the Philippines - Farewell to President & Sister Tanner

This week has been so good. There was a meeting in Bohol as a last farewell of President and Sister Tanner to the missionaries and each zone did a musical presentation. The highlight of the whole activity was when all the missionaries on the island of Bohol sang for President and Sister Tanner a medley of 'As Sisters in Zion' and 'We'll Bring the World His Truth'. It was so powerful. The spirit in the meeting was absolutely palpable. It wasn't done by the greatest of singers, but it was sang with all of their hearts and it sounded absolutely perfect.

Later in the week we had another meeting for the missionaries on the island of Cebu. In our zone, Liloan Zone, we redid the lyrics of a song to match the occasion. The message of the song was one of gratitude for President and Sister Tanner's devoted service for the past 3 years and our gratitude for them. It was really emotional.

I've been so blessed to have been able to work with them so closely and have them to have been such a big part of my life. I've learned so many lessons from President and Sister Tanner. This week, saying goodbye to them will be so hard. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye.

We're excited for President and Sister Maughn to come. We're nervous because we don't know what to expect, but we know they were also called of God and will have much to teach us as well. I'm excited for the opportunity to meet them this coming week.

-Elder Mitchell Head

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Elder Head in the Philippines - Transfer week ;)

Dad.

I'm sorry that I'm just now emailing you but my Preparation days will once again be moved to Saturday. So...I'll be staying until August 24th. The reason for this is because the Lord has called me to be President Tanner's assistant. The mission needs me to stay for that last week because I've gotten a taste of just how hectic it truly is and I don't think that the Lord would want me to leave early with transfers and all the things we'll be working on that week. Thanks for understanding. With regards to my homecoming talk, we'll have to move it to August 28th, if that's okay. Tell Kate congratulations and I'm excited to talk to her for a week before she goes in. Haha.

Ryan and Madi look so happy which makes me really happy too. :) I'm excited to meet everyone in person but that's still a little ways away. Tell them I say congratulations as well. I don't think I'll actually have a really solid set day to email because this next month will be really busy with President Tanner going out and President Maughan coming in.

Yesterday at the LTO I had a really cool experience. So the LTO is like the DMV, but it takes approximately 3 times the amount of time. So my companion, Elder Baladad, went in to get his license and it turned into a whole day affair. We got there at about 8:30 in the morning and didn't end up going home until 5 pm. For the most of my time there I was sitting in a large room on metal chairs with a tiny electric fan blowing on our heads. There was a television in the room which wasn't too hard to avoid with my companion sitting next to me. For the first few hours we just sat and talked to each other and the other people sitting next to us. After those first few hours, Elder Baladad had to go and take the driving test which ended up taking another 2-1/2 hours. That's when things started to get tempting. They were playing movies on the TV that I had never seen before which sounded REALLY cool. I caught myself a couple times staring at it. But I knew that I shouldn't and tried really hard not too look.

After a while, I started to think, "Well, why not?" So I decided to read in the white handbook why the heck it wasn't allowed. In the white handbook under most of the headings, they have assorted scriptures to help broaden your understanding about the rules. James 4:4 was really cool, which said basically that you can't be a friend of the world and also expect to be friends with God.

I then started to feel bad, as we should when we do something we know to be wrong. I prayed and asked for forgiveness and strength to not watch it anymore. As I prayed, I felt prompted to talk to the old tatay next to me who just sat down. So I did and it turns out he knew missionaries from last year. The old tatay then asked me where my companion was. I told him that Elder Baladad was in the next room taking the test. The tatay then proceeded to stand up and walk directly into the room that said "No entry" which was restricted for the workers only. He came back a few seconds later and told me, "My grandson is the one giving our the test. I talked with him and he agreed to let you sit in with your companion in the testing room." So minutes later, to the surprise of my companion, we were sitting next to each other in the nice, quiet, aircon-ed room with no television.

Man, it was so cool. Father really listened to my prayer. He helped me to be obedient. I feel like he will do that for us in a lot of other aspects as well. We just need to ask, seek, and knock. Ask for help, seek a way, and act on that way.

Love ya so much,

Elder Mitchell Jeffrey Head



Last week we received some pics. Good times in the 'Pines :)