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! :)