APRIL showers bing MAY flowers...but in the Philipines...it's summer....

FROM APRIL 4, 2011:

AYOS!! hahaha. (that means "woo hooo"!)

I love hearing (and reading) the words of the prophets. Recently I have finished Jesus the Christ, so I have undertaken reading all the Ensigns (or "Liahonas") we have in our apartment. We have them way back to 2006! hahah. I also have been reading teachings of Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young, and Joseph Smith. All very good. We have been busy inviting all our investigators and active and less active memebers to Conference, so I hope we have a good turn out.

This week has been alright. Nothing too big to report, except for the story that I forgot to tell you guys last week! It has started getting pretty hot this week though. April is apparently the hottest month, so we'll see how it goes! haha. We mostly have just been contacting all the referrals that we recieved last week form our "one day mission". Most of them have turned out to be duds, but like I said, it was mostly for the members. hahah. We did get a few promising new investigators though, so we'll see what happens. :)

The story is about an investigator named Alvin. Elder M started teaching him the transfer before I got here, and he is the son of a recent convert. But apparently, before I got here, he used to always run and hide form the elders and was just a punk. He's 18 and just graduated and is in a gang that smokes and drinks and gets in fights and all that stuff. It's actually really common here to be in gangs. And kids start smoking and drinking when they are about 7 even when they aren't involved in gangs. Even little girls! Sometimes it's heartbreaking! Well, last transfer we dropped by a few times, but he was never there so I never met him, just heard about him. We were about to give up on this kid, then for some reason, something changed. All of a sudden we got to meet with him, and he was this really quiet, kinda shy, deep thinker who has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and trying to make changes in his life. Me and Elder M STILL don't know what happened, but Elder M was blown away at the change in this kid. I mean, before, he wanted nothing to do with the church, and now, he's a golden investigator! You can feel the spirit radiating from this kid. It has been so amazing to see him making the changes in his life and seeing the change in him. He's still got some problems to take care of before he is ready to be baptized, but hopefully within the next few months he will be ready. Hopefully I'll still be here when he is baptized! and for our other investigators too!

Transfers are next week and I really have no clue on what's going to happen. My guess is that either Elder M will stay and train someone new and I will go, or I will stay and have a new senior for one more transfer. I kinda hope I get to stay though, so I can be here for my first real baptism on the 24th of april! (the first one just kind of fell into our hands our first week in Pulupandan, and this one has been delayed a few times to help them be sure they are ready.) Anyways, we are about to go to a really cool cultural festival down here in a few minutes, so that's exciting. So maybe next week I will have some cool pictures. hahaha Well I'm still alive, still healthy, still working hard, and still learning and growing! I think that's about it! I hope everything continues to go well back at home! I'm always praying for you guys!!

Halong guid, kag palangga ko kamo! :) (take care, and I love you guys!)

-Elder Lee

From April 11, 2011:

Hey everyone!!

Well first off, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and messages!! I really appreciated and enjoyed them. :)

As far as celebrating went, we pretty much just... worked. hahaha. that's the life of a missionary! I did get to have a nice dinner two nights in a row with ward members, but that's about it. haha. I guess General Conference was a pretty nice birthday present, though! ;) And I did get alot of birthday wishes, so that's nice. haha. and thanks again for all your birthday wishes! :)

Well, as far as transfers go..... I don't know yet! hahaha. This time they are trying something different and not announcing it until Tuesday for some reason. That's gonna be kinda rough because if you transfer, you leave Wednesday morning. So there is like... NO time to pack and say goodbyes. It also kinda stinks because... we don't know what to shop for today during p-day! hahaha. Like, we don't want to buy a week's worth of food and have to pack it over with us if we transfer. ugh. anyways, next week pa guid mabal-an ninyo! (next week you guys will know!)

General Conference went really great. I was able to go to all sessions and a really learned a lot. I don't have my notes with me, but I got alot of good quotes and things to think about. :) General Conference is such a great time for personal revelation! That's one thing I have been studying lately. When Elder Teh came for our mission tour in February, He said that every meeting we hold in the church should be a time for personal revelation. And that is really what makes our church different. The fact that we have direct communication with God, through His authority and through prayer, is really what the sets this church apart, and makes it the Church of Christ, led by Him. Anyways, I learned alot of things that hit me personally, so I will try my best to apply them.

Anyways, we were lucky enough to have our two investigators with a baptismal date come to all sessions, too! I was kinda disappointed, because we were expecting about 7 or 8, and only 2 showed up, but still it was good for them. Hannah and Jezel are so ready to be baptized. They have their baptismal interview scheduled for this week, so that's exciting. :)

I did, however, get a HORRIBLE haircut this past week. After I wrote you guys last week I went to a barber here, but.... he should NOT be a barber. There were patches in my head! Bald patches! hahaha. luckily, my tongan roomate, elder t had buzzers, so we tried to fix it the best we could, but it was still way bad. Everyone this week has been saying straight up, "What happened to your HAIR?" hahahaha. Luckily, I don't think I have any pictures. sorry. haha. but it'll grow back eventually.

We did have a few pretty good lessons this week, even though with general conference and other mission-wide meetings we didn't get too much working time. One was with a recent convert who is a widow and a single mom. Her name is sister villianueva. Her kids are horrible to her, and she just has been having a rough time keeping food on the table and going to church and things like that. Normally, I have a hard time understanding the way she speaks, but this time the spirit was so strong that I understood everything and was able to know what to say back. She was bawling and there was just a great spirit present. It was one of the first times I really felt the spirit working through me to say what the Lord wanted her to hear. Not what I wanted or thought was best.

The other experience was the same night. We went to a family for our first appointment with them. The mom is catholic, the dad baptist, the son iglesia ni cristo (remind me to tell you about that church when i get back. basically they are the church of the devil here in the Philippines), and the 11 year old daughter wanted to be Mormon. Well, we had a talk with the parents about how we can't just teach her daughter (obviously it will be hard for her to stay active and strong by herself), and I also felt the spirit working through me very clearly. It started off with them wanting to debate and wanting us just to teach her daughter, but something happened in the lesson and by the end of it, they all had baptismal commitments. It was amazing! And i know that wasn't just me or Elder M. We definitely had the Lord's help.

Well, this is getting long, but basically that is my week. haha. Next week I guess you will know if I get transferred or not or what happens, so untill then, you can just live in suspense. hahaha.

Have a great week, and try to apply what you guys learned at conference, otherwise it will go to waste! Palangga ko kamo, kag halong guid!! you are always in my prayers.

-Elder Lee

From April 18, 2011:

Happy Holy Week, everyone!

Man, I swear, EVERYONE here celebrates holy week. Everything shuts down. Even the members can't do stuff sometimes! It's nuts. hahaha

I guess I'll start by saying that I'm still in Murcia, but I got a new companion! He is my first Filipino companion and his name is Elder P. He's not very good at English OR ilonggo, (he speaks Tagolog) so it makes things interesting sometimes. hahaha. Luckily we have another Filipino in our apartment who is absolutely fluent in English and Tagolog so he serves as our translator. hahaha. But Elder P is a great guy, and I think we will have a great transfer. We are already off to a good start. :) Even though it's the same old area, it feels like a fresh start to me just because of that extra boost of a new companion. We've been doing alot of dropping old investigators that have needed to be dropped and trying to find alot of new ones. It keeps us busy! But it has been pretty fun leading the area this week since I am the only one who knows the people and area. haha.

Anyways, yeah, everyone is WAY pumped for this 50th anniversary celebration of the church in the Philippines. I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it yet! People have been preparing for the past year, and it's going to be in May. I think. or the beginning of June. Not totally sure. hahaa. But it's going to be big, and all the members on Negros Occidental are going to go to Bacolod for it. :D

Oh yeah! and I got my birthday package! it came on tuesday, only 2 days after my birthday! GREAT timing! hahaha. :D I especially loved the pictures, the red robin seasoning (you know how I love my steak fries), cadbury eggs, the cards and notes from friends and everything else! it really made my week! :) now I've just got to ration all that great food till the next package comes! (yeah right! ;)) haha. and thanks also for sending all my facebook birthday wishes.

Hannah and Giselle had their baptismal interviews this week and they passed, so they will be baptized on Sunday (the 24th). The district leader that interviewed them at the end took me aside and said, "man, Elder Lee, I would be SO HAPPY if any my investigators were that strong and that prepared for baptism. good work." they both came out crying of their interviews and it was just a great experience. I'm so excited for Sunday! :)

Other than that, one thing I definitely have learned this week is that it is SO important to know the doctrine of Christ as taught in 3rd nephi 31. (faith, repentance, baptism by authority, recieving the gift of the holy ghost, enduring to the end, and following christ's example.) We've been trying a new way of weaving that into the first lesson and inviting to baptism on the first lesson to really bring out concerns and weed out those who aren't ready. We have been running into alot of really hard-headed and hard-hearted people lately, and it has really helped them realize what the Lord asks of us. It is SO important for people to know why you are there and what they need to do. It is a very true principle that when people know what is expected of them, they will usually rise to the occasion and do it.

Anyways, i think that's about it. I love you guys and am praying for you gihapon! ("as always!") have a great week! and happy easter sunday!

Palangga ko kamo! halong guid!

-Elder Lee

From April 25, 2011:

Ayos! (great!)

For Easter here, things were a little different. haha. I'm sure you guys know that the entire country of the Philippines is Catholic. EVERYBODY. hahaha. So holy week was HUGE here. In fact, it was a little over the top. I was not expecting it to be such a big deal! Before I came here, I didn't even know for sure what week it was! haha. It was SO HARD to talk to people this week. We would spend 2 hours in a neighborhood and not see a single person. The streets were deserted because every day people went to church! The whole day! In Murcia, the plaza was packed every day with activities and games and ceremonies and stuff. So it was really interesting. We didn't really do anything for Easter, except I ate alot of the easter candy you sent me (that's the most important part of easter, right? ;)) haha. Even for church, there weren't any talks about Easter.

The closest thing we had to a celebration was the baptism of Hannah and Giselle! which by the way, went VERY well. They ended up having Sister Moreno upod (join in) their baptism. Sister Moreno just had to be re-baptized because her records were lost. Hannah and Giselle's mom was able to attend and hear them both bear their testimonies after the baptism, so that was really great. We had great support from the ward. It was just so good to see them finally reach the waters of baptism. :)

Anyways, the rest of the work has been going good too. Despite the immense heat! It was SO HOT this week! Summer is really kickin in over here! haha. Because of holy week, one day we decided to take 3 hours and finally cut down the 10-foot grass in our front yard in the blazing hot sun with machetes. It was hard, but it's done now and we got to burn it all a few nights ago. haha.

Anyways, back to the work. hahaha. we have been teaching 3 families lately that have a really high potential. The Hingkos, the Berzinas, and the Oxianas. They are all accepting the gospel, have support from their neighbors (not persecution is what I mean), have good fellowshippers from the ward, and are just great. I'm excited to see them progress. They just have to go to church is all! haha.

Other than that we have a few with goals for baptism right now, so we'll see how they continue to progress. The area is going well and Elder P and I are on the same page, now that he has gotten used to the area.

Spiritual thought for this week: if you have a problem with anybody, or don't know how to handle a certain situation, the answer is to JUST LOVE THEM. That's it. Just love them and do everything out of love.

I hope you know you guys are always in my prayers! Halong guid kaayo, kag palangga ko kamo!!

-Elder Lee

MARCH 2011

From March 7, 2011:

Hey everybody! Kumusta kamo subong nga semana? (how are you all doin this week? :) )
I am really excited to hear how the PBD does at nationals this year! man, it is weird not being there! If I could say one thing to everyone at Nationals, it would be to be a team, no matter what. Even in individual competitions. Cheer each other on and be unified. :) That has actually been a big focus of ours this week in our ward. The Lord has said "if you are not one, you are not mine." oh yeah! and GOOD LUCK!! :D and to all guys going to BYU right now, tell them good luck from me too, and that I miss them and dance a ton! hahaha. (but i'm still working hard.) ;)

(editors note: pictures will be up on Facebook and/or Adam's blog when Sarah gets back from her trip to Europe....priorities-sheez!)

Elder M and I are actually getting along great now! The work is starting to pick up again in Murcia too. We have recently found alot of new investigators which is really good, because we are still trying to work with our normal investigators and all their many problems and roadblocks that came up last week. haha. but things are looking up and I can really see the Lord's hand in his work here.

Actually, we have had to come down hard on a lot of investigators lately, now that I look at it. For some reason, a lot of them have been very stubborn and not listening to us or the spirit. We have one guy who is studying the Mormon religion for his thesis for a theology major in college, so he asks us a lot of questions and does a lot of research. He always thinks about things so logically, which is good, but he is missing the most important part, and that is the feelings of the spirit and prayer. What greater gift do we have here than to be able to receive direct communication with our Father in Heaven?? Well we have told him this over and over but this last week we finally got serious.

A few weeks ago, we met with this 18 yr. old boy who is a member but started going to the Baptist church and plays guitar in the band there. We invited him to come back to church, but he said he has responsibilites at this other church and people are counting on him to be there. Well Elder M flat out said "you don't understand!! you have the priesthood!! you have NO greater responsibility!!" Well, the kid got offended, but Elder M really felt it needed to be said. The next few weeks he hid from us everytime we went to talk to him, but this last week we saw him at a Stake function and he said that he thought about it, and we were right. He thanked us and apologized and is now active again. phew! I guess although it is good to be respectful of each other, sometimes we need wakeup calls. haha.

Anyways, we ended up going to the mountains today again with one of our investigators as our guide. This was a place called "Bugas", and it wasn't as cool as Mumbukal was, but still way beautiful and fun. I did get pretty sunburned though, which was weird because I haven't yet here. Neither has Elder M, but for some reason we both are. haha. oh well.

Well, i think that's about it for this week. I am learning so much everyday, thank you for your thoughts and prayers! I hope you all know that you are in my thoughts and prayers too! Halong guid, kamo! kag maayo nga semana! (take care, and have a good week!)

-Elder Lee

From March 14, 2011:

wooo hooo!! Way to represent, PBD!! and all the PBD alumni too. :D :D It was pretty exciting to hear about everyone doing so well!!

Well this week has been another interesting one. Not too much to report, though. Yes, we heard all about Japan. Plus apparently a nuclear plant blew up over there yesterday, so things are kind of crazy for them. And New Zealand too, a few weeks ago, right? man, that is crazy. Luckily, we don't have any tsunami warnings, just in the northern Philippines. like Quezon and Manilla. phew! haha.

There have been quite a few more brown outs this week, (like black outs but short term and not a whole city), so maybe that has something to do with it. Of course, we have brown outs all the time. At least twice a week. haha. One time a few weeks ago, someone was asking us if god would show them a sign, and as soon as we said yes but probably not a great experience like Joseph Smith, a brown out hit. haha. kinda funny.

Hmmm... Well I can't really think of any cool stories to share this week. haha. We're just pressing on in the work of the Lord, amo man gihapon. (as usual). Hopefully in the middle of April we will have a baptism of two investigators! They are totally ready, they just need to go to church enough times to qualify. I'm not sure if I will still be here though, because that is after this transfer, but we'll see! haha. Good luck to everyone in your endeavors, this week! Have a great one, and God be with you! Halong guid, kag palangga ko kamo!

-Elder Lee

PS- Happy St. Patty's Day this week!! :D

From March 21, 2011:

Hey all!!
So I've got as bit more to write this week. Sorry if last week wasn't very descriptive, I really couldn't think of what to write! but this week I wrote down things when they happened so I wouldn't forget. haha.

Well, to be honest, this has kind of been a hard time for me, but it has kinda been that way ever since I got to Murcia. Things are actually getting cleaned up really well in our area, and companionship and our work here, and I can definitely see the Lord's hand and feel his strength behind me as I do my best and lean on Him. :) I have really began to notice how our success really depends on the little things we choose to do or don't do. As soon as we start to slip on the basic, little things, it is hard to pick ourselves out of a slump, but I have learned that as we feel we start to slip, if we just go back to the basics, we'll be alright. I've noticed that in a lot of other things too, not just missionary work. like dance, or hard classes, or whatever. but like I said, I think it's getting better here. :) thanks for all your support!

Anyways, this week was pretty busy. For one, we pulled together a last minute baptism after church for an investigator of the two other missionaries in our ward. It was crazy! During church, the other two elders were running around printing programs and asking people during the classes if they would speak and stuff. hahaha. it was fun. When it came time to fill the font, it was SO NASTY, that we were rushing to clean it up before church ended! Then we went to fill it up and it only got to like shin height before all the water in the entire building shut off! So I decided to just have everybody sing hymns while they were trying to fix the problems and explain to the investigator what was going on. hahahaha. Luckily, it all turned out to be a really nice baptism--actually, probably one of the best have seen here! I was really proud of us for working together to pull off this last minute baptism! hahaha.

I also learned a lot this week about how dangerous a "pride of knowledge" is. For some reason, lately we have had a lot of theology majors and priests come up and talk to us who have a huge knowledge of the Bible. It just amazes me how we could lay things out so plainly for them, right in front of their faces, but because they weren't listening to the Holy Ghost, they couldn't see it. hm. The Holy Ghost is truly the most important part, and no matter how much we know, we just have to be humble to know the truth of things!

Well i hope you all have an amazing week! keep up the good work everyone! Halong guid, kag palangga ko kamo! (take care, and i love you guys!)

-Elder Lee

From March 28,2011:

This week has actually been a GREAT one for us here in Murcia. for one, we FINALLY had a few of our investigators come to church that hadn't ever come before!!! I swear, EVERY week something has happened to make it so they couldn't come. But after about 2 months, they were able to make it. and they had a great time, too! It really lifted our spirits.

Right now our two strongest investigators are Gizelle and Hannah who are scheduled to be baptized on April 24th (easter!). It's been delayed a few times, just because they need to meet a few more requirements. But our goal lately has been to involve their family more often, who until now have been totally opposed to listening to us. "sila na lang!" (just them!) anyways, we have really had some great experiences with them and have seen their hearts softened because of the change they see in their daughters. They are really great.

We had this cool activity on Saturday called a "one day mission", where all the members spend about 4 hours being missionaries and getting referrals for us! We met in the morning and had a training/orientation, then had lunch, and then split into companionships, divided our area, and went.Iit was great for the members to start to feel the spirit of missionary work. One is even preparing for a mission so it was good to see what it was like! We had a great turn out and ended up with 41 referrals! That is insane! Normally you only get about 5-10 a transfer. Of course, alot of them are not very quality referrals, but I'd say about 5-10 of them are solid. :) Plus it was just a good experience for our group in Murcia.

We also have had good experiences helping our active families in our group (there are about 3) prepare for the temple. We have been working to get everything figured out like, if people have the priesthood or are paying their tithing or not, and have been meeting with one family every Monday to have FHE and help build the dad's desire to go to the temple. It has been going great and the families have shown a lot of growth and gratitude.

The kids here know how to play baseball! Usually, basketball and boxing are the only sports you hear about here, but a few days ago we ran into a group of kids playing baseball in a campo ( a tubo field. oh. tubo is sugarcane. haha.) that was recently plowed. They were playing with rolled up socks, a bamboo stick, and cement blocks for bases! Elder M and I played a few innings with them. They weren't too bad and it was SO FUN! hahaha. (but we are still working hard. ;))

Another cool thing was that earlier today, I killed a pig! yup! well, not really ME, but I took out the guts. It was SICK. hahaha. I'll spare you the details, but it was an experience alright. hahaha. We were making lechon baboy (roasted pig, like at hawaiin luaus) for a tri-zone activity earlier today. So we got a member to help us and it was DELICIOUS. :)

Have a great week, everyone! Remember to count your many blessings. Even if things may be hard at times, Heavenly Father will ALWAYS pull through. Obviously he has the capacity to follow through on his promises, and he will, as long as we are doing our part. :)

Halong guid! Palangga ko kamo! ( Take care! i love you all!)

-Elder Lee

ps- about general conference, we will watch it on april 9-10 here because it is delayed a week. but we will just watch it in english at a local stake center like normal. hopefully we can get some investigators to attend! :)