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! :)

FEBRUARY 2011!

The LOST EMAIL from January 31, 2011:

NOTE FROM ELDER LEE: here's what you WOULD have gotten that week! I really sent it, I swear! haha :)

----------------------

anyways, my report from this week is ok-lang (just ok).

well for one thing, last week I told you about that family in my ward that is related to someone in the my home stake, di ba? (right?) well this week I made sure to listen to the name. I didn't get it at first, because of the heavy accent they had when they were telling me the names. they kept saying kreepees". haha. so yeah, apparently they used to all live in this ward in Paglaum! Everyone knows them. They have alot of cousins and stuff here. Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool. haha.

As far as our work here goes, this week has actually been pretty tough. We had one day that was just amazing, meaning everyone we set appointments with was there, the lessons with them went great, we found alot of new investogators we felt really good about, and we were getting along awesome as a companionship. but the rest of the week.... not so great. haha. We have just had a rough time. Things have just been hitting all at once. Like as soon as we find good investigators, they go insane on us, and as soon as we start getting our less-active members to go to our branch in Murcia, President Tobias tells us we can't go there anymore for sacrament. Which is strange, because that's the area we are assigned specifically to work in. I mean, we trust his judgement of course, but it has just made things more difficult for us. But I have found alot of comfort in the scriptures and in my patriarchal blessing and other things. Did I tell you I was reading Jesus the Christ? I started it in the MTC and I am almost done now. Anyways, it's a great book. haha. Hopefully this week will turn around. Tomorrow I'm going on splits with our district leader so we will see how that goes! I don't know how to get anywhere in our area! hahaha.

Anyways, last bit of news. Today for p-day we went up to the mountains in a place called Mambukal. It was absolutely beautiful there and we had a blast hiking all day. I can tell I am going to be sore tomorrow, though. We are pooped. After we got the normal tourist hike done with, we decided to go on a 3 hour trek to the volcano here called Canlaon. We found someone who lived way out there to take us up there and he took us through all these "shortcuts" that were really just trekking through a forest with no trail. We literally hiked straight up the face of the mountain. So we got there fast, but it was TOUGH. haha. Well when we got there we found out that we couldn't go to the actual volcano peak without a permit, so we got a ride back down with the nice security guards with large guns. hahaha. It was fun.

Anyways, that's about it. halong guid!

-Elder Lee

From February 7th, 2011:

Tani, amoni and ulihing nga mensahe!!

I also wanted to say that I also found out that a bunch of people know Doctor Jarstad down here from when he came here to do his eye work. He stayed in my ward for a day and a ton of people know him. really small world!!

Well this week was another crazy one. We have still had alot of confusion on what we are supposed to do with our area, since we are currently serving under the Paglaum ward, but in an area with a group that is trying to become a branch. It was kind of a mess, but we finally had an opportunity on Thursday for President Tobias to come and talk with us for a good few hours. He and the Stake President and our bishop all had different visions for this area we are over, so we finally sat down and heard what President Tobias wanted us to do, since we are under his stewardship and not the bishop or Stake President. Then just yesterday President Tobias met with the Stake President and all the important people in the area in a really intense meeting and worked it all out. So FINALLY we all have one unified vision. We know what we have to do now, so hopefully this next week we can put it into action and make the needed changes. haha. That's basically it. Other than that it has just been a normal week of eat, sleep, and work!

Halong guid!
-Elder Lee

FROM February 14, 2011 <3 :

Maayong Adlaw sang Palangga man!

(Happy Valentines Day too!)

Well this week has been another interesting one. For one, we had Elder Teh of the Quorum of the Seventy who is in the Philippines area presidency come and tour our mission. On wednesday we all went to Bacolod and had a 6 hour long fireside with him and his wife. Recently I started a quote book, so I got alot of neat quotes from the conference! He touched on alot of different subjects, but basically it focused on having confidence and being obedient. We were asked to go to the meeting fasting to recieve personal revelation, and I can see that I totally did. It was a great reminder of alot of things. :)

We have had a big week of correlating meetings with the Stake President and Bishop, and now the ward knows what the vision for this area finally is too. At the moment, my companion and I are now working every other day in Murcia and Paglaum, but our main priority is building the ward in Paglaum, not the "almost branch" in Murcia. We have a few investigators in Murcia with baptismal dates for March. It's really exciting when you have people that actually WANT to read and pray and progress. hahaha. So now that we have a good amount of investigators in Murcia, we need to build up our teaching pool in Paglaum too.

It's really crazy to try to explain the reasoning and everything, but basically, we realized that we just simply follow what the Lord, and what his servants, say. I especially realized that when I was studying from "our heritage" about zion's camp in the early days of the church, and how there really wasn't any point to it besides to test the faith of the saints and weed out those who wouldn't build the church. I totally saw that in some of our meetings. Over the past 10 or so years, the plans have changed over and over for this area and the members are starting to grumble about it. They are starting to grumble about things like going a whole 3.5 kilometers more to church. If we remember the early saints, they were moved from place to place like 6 or so different times! way more than 3.5 kilometers. I realized that maybe the Lord is testing the Saints here. Those with strong faith will accept the changes and those who won't... well... they won't be happy. Anyways, it was a learning experience for me and I am at peace with the decisions that were made by our leaders, even if I don't fully understand them. :)

There is one more thing I want to say about this week though, for some reason, we have had TONS of people tell us about their dreams! Like FREAKY dreams, too! It's hilarious! I don't know what it is either, whether its because we are white, or they can tell we are missionaries, or the water here makes everyone loco, but everyone has the need to share with us their latest "revelation". And it happens all the time, not just this week! hahaha! One of my favorites this week: this man dreamed that godzilla was attacking bacolod, and he threw a marshmallow into its mouth to make it sticky and stop eating everything, and then the man decided to lure godzilla and kill it. And for some reason, THAT'S how he knows the Catholic Church is true. I mean, really?!? That wasn't even a joke. He acted it out and everything. And that was just one example. It cracks me up! We get this all the time! hahaha!

Oh yeah! and another cool thing that happened this week was that one night I saw a bunch of fireflies. I actually caught one, too! It was just something i always wanted to do is all. haha. I really love the nature here. It amazes me everyday. There is no way this was all created by chance. :)

Halong guid,
kamo! Palangga ko kamo!

-Elder Lee

From FEBRUARY 21, 2011:

Kumusta Pamilya ko!

Well, as far as this week goes, we are just beginning our last full week of this transfer, and I think my companion and I are finally getting along and doing good work here! hahah. It has been kind of a struggle compared to my last area, but we have had alot of talks and straightened alot of things out. :) Too bad we probably only have one week left. :-/ Next monday we find out what is going to happen. This transfer FLEW by!

Things aren't getting TOO hot here yet. But I can tell it's starting to amp up. Everyone says come March it is full on summer. yikes! hahah. But I've just gotten used to constantly sweating, I think. ;) and our investigators are doing well. We still have about 5 at the moment that we are focusing on, 2 with a baptismal date that is probably going to have to get moved. Our big struggle at the moment (just like every other week), is getting people to go to church!!! I swear that is the biggest problem here. And then once they come and are baptized, to get them to KEEP coming. haha. But like i said, that is our focus EVERY week. So not really anything new. haha.

I had a few cool experiences this week. One was late at night, we were at a park, and a huge group of kids came running up to us. I noticed one was standing off to the side and not talking, so while my companion played with them I took him aside and talked to him. He said both his parents died last year and he is living with his other neighborhood friends making money by yelling "BACOLOD!!!" over and over before a jeepnie (the transportation here) leaves then the driver tosses out 5 pesos and drives off. sadly, that happens all the time. for some reason i was impressed to talk to him about the plan of salvation, so i quickly said something to the effect of "through the gospel of Jesus Christ you can see your mom and dad again." then handed him a plan of salvation pamphlet. he told me he couldn't read but he liked the pictures, and that was that. well, that was 2 weeks ago, and this week he came running up to me and said that he found someone to read it to him. he was so excited. sadly, he's only 7 so we can't teach him, but for some reason i think he will find the gospel one day. :)

The other experience witnessed to me of the reality of the gift of tongues! This crazy old american man came up to us today in the super market and said something like "i'm not interested in your religion, but i have lived here 11 years and you missionaries know more ilonggo than i do in 2 or 3 months! "I am willing to pay ANYTHING to meet with your guys' tutor." We simply explained to him about the gift of tongues and that really, the spirit was our tutor. haha. I just thought it was an interesting experience. We have alot of americans or british people come talk to us and ask us how we learn Ilonggo and what different things mean. It's a great way to introduce the gospel! ;)

I also heard "naturally" by selena gomez over the speakers at the supermarket today and it made me think of Keira. Shout out to the little niece!!


Well i wish you all another awesome week! Halong guid kamo!! (Take care!)

-Elder Lee

FROM FEBRUARY 28th, 2011:

Kumusta kamo!

Well! the results are in. I'm staying in Murcia for another transfer and with the same companion.

This was another good week. Looking back on it, we got a lot accomplished. For one, I rode on a carabaw! haha. that was pretty fun. :D but seriously, this week me and Elder M did some pretty good work. As far as numbers go, in the last week of the transfer we brought the area to the highest it has been for 10 months. So we are all ready for another 6 weeks, where hopefully, we can get it up to mission standards.

It has been a pretty tough week as far as our investigators go. for reals. haha.EVERY single one of our focus inestigators had big problems come up. every one! We are teaching about 4 or 5 boys who are all around 18 (we're teaching them seperately) who one by one have all told us for different reasons that they can't keep meeting with us. Some it is because of their parents. Some because of persecution. But every one of them has said that they know it's true, and they feel really good every time they talk to us, but for various reasons can not join the church or even go to sacrament. So that was kind of disheartening.

Then we have this investigator who really wants to be baptized and is totally into the gospel, but has a kid and is living with his girlfriend unmarried. Well to be baptized obviously they need to be married. Basically we talked to him about prayer and how to make big decisions.

We are also teaching two girls who have a cousin that is a member and lives close but is in a different stake, so they want to go to church there. We had to talk to them about coming to our ward, and continuing there after they are baptized. And there are actually like 3 more inestigators that have had problems, but I don't have time to explain it all. hahah. It's been an exhausting week, lots of surprises for us, but I think things will start to look up soon. :)

Anyways, bring on another 6 weeks, eh? hahaha. I can really see that I have learned a TON this transfer. and me and Elder M are getting along great now, so we'll see how things continue to look up. :) The work of the Lord will go forth! :)

anyways, good luck with all that snow back at home! I miss snow! hahaha. have a great week everyone!! palangga ko kamo kag halong guid!

-Elder Lee

January 2011

From January 3, 2011:

To start off, i just need to say that Disney never gets old and never ceases to amaze me. hahaha. That being said, my New Years went pretty good! We were inside at six and watched Disney movie after Disney movie, so that was fun. Everything here is pirated, so we only had 4 dvds, but there were about 120 different Disney movies on them. We spent the night just watching our favorite clips of things. It was a blast. Then we watched Tarzan all the way through. It was hard to go to bed because of all the noise. I don't want to scare anyone, but people weren't joking when they said that people blow up bombs here...like...LOUD bombs. Remember the "Obooma"? It was like that, except all day and night. hahaha. crazy. I probably saw about 25 or so explosions before I got in at 6, and then people just went nuts. But like I said, I'M SAFE. :) hahah. and I had a lot of fun. It was great to relive alot of childhood memories (the movies-not the bombs).

We have had a few problems though this week. Different types of drama, some of which had to do with ALOT of huge disobedience issues with the other Elders in our apartment.

Another thing I forgot to mention are all the little kids here! They are crazy!! I swear, every little kid in this town knows my name. Every street we walk down, "Elder Lee! Elder Lee!!!", and then they jump on us and try to shake our hands. It's pretty ridiculous and it got to the point that we can't visit some of our investigators on one street because all the kids would literally stampede towards us when we turned the corner. yikes. hahaha.

I got a haircut this week from one of our investigators and although I told him not to, he decided to give me a new hairstyle, so.... it's interesting. For the most part my "tidal wave" is still trying to come through, but it just looks different. hahaha. Everyone says i look guwapo guwapo (handsome handsome) though, so that's good! hahaha.

I am also pretty sure I'll be incredibly tan when I get back. It hasn't even been too sunny here, but I tan easy! In 3 weeks, I have a MASSIVE farmers tan and the tan on my neck is very definite.

I did wanna say though, that one person totally makes all the difference on a mission. Everyone always says that, but I have really seen that apparent this week. We have a few investigators in particular that are just SO ready to hear the gospel, and it feels so great when they are interested in the scriptures and everything! We had a ton of punted appointments (that's when we show up for an appointment and no one is there) with our main group of investigators, so that was kind of disheartening. But in being punted, we found about 3 more families of very strong investigators, so luckily we were able to see what the Lord had in store for us after being punted so much.

Our ward is doing well too. Yesterday was testimony meeting, and although only half the members showed up than normally do, they really surprised us with their testimonies!
Anyways, I think I'm just babbling on now. hahaa. Halong!!

-Elder Lee

From January 8, 2011:

Whoever wants to send me emails that it is totally puwede (allowed), I just can't send them BACK. So... yeah. :) But for whoever reads my blog, I have already gotten letters from becka, erika, and lauren and a postcard from Jason. Thank you so much guys! I'm sorry it may be a while before I write back, though. First off, I barely have any time, and second, I have no idea how the mail system works here. hahaha.

Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, I'm VERy happy this week. First off, for a while we have been struggling hitting our mission goals in numbers for the past few weeks (and by struggling, I mean not even getting halfway there). Well, this week, we exceeded almost all the mission standard's goals! We don't even know how it happened, but it did, so that is pretty exciting. We also have an AWESOME group of progressing investigators. As of now, 3 of them have baptism dates and we're planning on giving out about 4 more this week. woot woot! We had AMAZING sacrament attendance and almost all of our less-active members that we have been focusing on came to church and had a great time. We're making progress with our Bishop and our members are starting to give us referrals! I'm just so pumped! hahaha. The challenge is carrying it on through the next few weeks. I kind oif hope I don't get transferred, but there is a possibility that I might get transferred in the next 2 weeks! yikes! Mostly I don't want to leave cuz then I will miss the baptisms of our 3 investigators!

We also had a pretty crazy opportunity to do service early on last week. On Monday and Tuesday, we had 2 monsoons in a row, so the houses by the beach got flooded really bad, and in the recovery, got flooded again (don't worry though, I'm very safe). Our house is very far from the beach and the monsoons weren't that bad. But one of the houses was an inactive member and her house was nearly carried away. It moved about 50 feet! So when we found out about it we grabbed our Bishop and 1st counselor who are both kagawads (leaders of the town) and got them to help us do sand bags and build back their house with bamboo. It was really effective and felt great to help them out. Plus the town was able to see these officials helping out members of their church. Smart, eh? ;) hahaha. But really, it was a huge testimony to me of how easily our things can all be wiped out. These people now literally have a roof over their head and the clothes on their back. So humbling.

Well I also got to go on splits with the zone leaders this week, because my companion is our district leader. I went to Masville and had an experience all in itself. I spent 2 nights and one day there and learned a ton...like how to play mahjong! hahaha. for reals! Everyone does it here. It's like bingo in Lima. hahahaha. ;) Anyways, even though it's p-day, we still booked ourselves with appointments, so I'm crunched for time yet again.

bali, liwat!

-Elder Lee

From January 17, 2011:

Well, things have been going good here. We hit the end of my first transfer, so I've been thinking alot about all I've learned and done, and it amazes me!

We did have one pretty cool experience this week. We have an investigator named Marchie that we have had since the beginning of this transfer, and were considering dropping. Well on one visit, it just so happened that we had about 4 members upod (come with) us. A few were meant as fellowshippers, but the rest just kinda tagged along like characters from the Wizard of Oz. hahah Well, we had everyone testify to her of the Book of Mormon and then we commited her to read and pray and tell us next time if she wanted to continue. We gave her about a week and when we went to check up,she told us there was a brown out (what they call black outs here. they happen ALL the time), so she decided to read. She didn't read what we left her, but she flipped to a random page and found her answer. She read in 2 Nephi 27:14 (i think) and it talks about having many witnesses testify of the Lord's word, and wo be unto him who rejects the lord's word. hahaha It was kind of ironic, but at the same time a huge testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows his children. Going in, we actually kind of thought that she wouldn't want to continue, which in retrospect was a lack of faith on our part, but I am so glad that I was able to have that experience. Now I won't be so shy when committing people to a "make it or break it committment." hahaha. Because sa tuod-tuod (in all honesty), now I know for SURE that the Lord backs up his promises. :)

Anyway, I ate pig intestine quite a few times this week. It actually is really good. The barbeque here is SO GOOD. hahahaa. Now it's getting to the point where I'll eat just about anything as long as no one tells me what it is till AFTER I eat it, it's barbequed, and I know it's safe to eat. hahah.

I also realized during a lesson we had with a Tagolog speaker that I'm forgetting my Tagolog already! I understand it just fine, but when I tried to speak it, only Ilonggo kept coming into my head! I guess it's a good thing, but it kinda scared me too. oh well.

Well the biggest thing on my mind right now is that we just had transfer meetings and I found out I'm getting transferred tomorrow! So today I'm packing and tomorrow morning I will say goodbye to everyone in Pulupandan. I don't know where I'm going yet, I won't until tomorrow, but i'm kinda bummed, because I absolutely LOVED Pulupandan! Not just cause it was my first area, because I have visited other areas. I love the people, the town, the size, just everything! Plus I'm sad to leave my companion. He is an AWESOME companion and we had alot in common and just worked really well together. Plus, we spent this whole transfer whitewashing and getting to build our teaching pool, and now I have to leave it! We had 6 people scheduled for baptisms in the next few weeks, so I guess I will just have to let someone else reap those rewards. hahaha.dang.

Halong!
-Elder Lee

From January 24, 2011:

phew!! this week has been pretty crazy!!

Well this transfer I ended up in..... (drum roll please...) Murcia!! It is just outside Bacolod to the southeast, so it is really weird being in a very.. "americanized" and city-like environment. Bacolod is so big!

Anyways, my new companion is American too, which is good. We did already have to have sort of a "DTR" though. They call it a "companionship inventory" on the mission. yeah.... apparently he doesn't get along well with any of his companions, and he has had a comp. inventory with every one of them by at least the 2nd day. He has been emergency transferred twice because of that. (ps it is NOT common to have companionship inventories) Luckily I lasted till the 3rd day- better than the others. hahaha. But don't worry, I think we will be ok now. He just likes to be sort of disobedient, and we have very different personalities and goals for the area, but like I said, i think we are finally warming up to each other and we get along pretty well now.

Apparently this area has not been doing well, and has been closed on and off for the past couple years. We are part of the Paglaum ward, which is another nearby city, but there is a small group of members that meet in Murcia every Sunday because it costs too much to go to Paglaum. we have alot of less-actives because of that. They are about to become a branch though, so alot of our focus is helping that to happen soon. Hopefully within the next few transfers. There are two other elders that we are living with that are over Paglaum specifically.

Another obstacle is that most missionaries that come here have heard that it is a "budlay gid" (very hard) area so decide not to work hard. Normally, a companionship should get about 20-25 teachings a week, and last transfer the highest they got was 8 as a companionship, and on average they would get about 3. soooo... yeah. It will be fun trying to work together to get this area back up and running. At the moment we have no investigators, so hopefully this week we will see things start to change. :)So yes, it will be a challenge, but I'm sure I will also learn a TON and have an absolute blast here. It is so fun already. haha. We are very close to the mountains, so next Monday we are going to go up to Mambukal and hike for our p-day. I'll take lots of pictures. :) I'm pretty excited. haha.

So being close to the mountains is a little different than right on the beach! I already saw a monkey and next time I do I am determined to get a picture. haha. I also saw the kind of trees that vicks vapo-rub is made out of! A member in our ward owns a grove of them. It smells SO GOOD. hahaha.

My first experience in my new ward was pretty fun, too. I bore my testimony in sacrament, and afterwards I was told that I was teaching the new investigator/recent convert gospel essentials class. Well since I'm not too sagad (skilled?) at the language yet, it was pretty scary. Well, then I walk in and there is a class of about 15 girls from ages 13-17. Not even kidding. It really got me wondering what the old elders in this area were doing. hahahaha. So I walk in and they all start to giggle and I see "welcome to the ward elder gwapo (handsome) lee" on the board. and the WHOLE time they were saying "gwapo gwapo gwapo!" Not even kidding. I'm not saying this to brag, either. haha. I couldn't get a word in! so then I found out what the topic was. ...Priesthood! hahaha. It was a disaster and I just laughed about it the rest of the day. phew.

Well THEN, I had a really cool encounter! I met a family from my new ward that apparently has family living in Washington! In my home stake!

Anyways, I think that's about all the news for this week.

halong kamo!
-Elder Lee

the rest of December 2010

from December 12, 2010:

This week, I'm happy to say, has been a lot more... fruitful. I havebeen understanding a little more ilonggo and we have been able to seealot of our finding efforts from last week really start to progress. We have a few investigators that are just great. Right now our biggest concerns are finding potential priesthood holders, working to strengthen our ward by helping the ward leaders to take charge, and working with less active families, because that is the big problem in the Philippines. Retention is so hard. Only about 1/4of our ward is active. yikes. I do really love our ward though. The people are great.

It's the creepy things I could do without. The other day, I saw a spider as big as my HAND in our apartment! and every night our ceilingis literally covered in little geckos called "tikis". My companion said not to be surprised if one falls on me at night. hahaha.

Oh yeah, my very first day here, I plugged in my clock and it exploded. So now I will never ever forget to put in my adapter. ;)

So Christmas is coming and we just had our stake Christmas party! There were some pretty awesome dance numbers.

I get to call home this week! International calling cards are REALLY expensive here, so what everyone does here is they SKYPE! haha. So I think that's what I'll do!

THANK YOU for your support and prayers!
Maayong Pasko, kag Halong! (Merry Christmas and Take care!)

-Elder Lee

A photo from Adam's Christmas Eve Skype call!

from December 27, 2010:

I miss Christmas back home, but it was soooo good Skype!!

We are working hard still. This Sunday, Sacrament Meeting started only 20 minutes late, instead of an hour and a half! woo hooo!! hahahah. It's the little joys in life that count, right? ;)

Anyways, here's the deal with the balut (chicken embryo-a delicacy in the Philippines). I am NEVER going to eat it again, but it didn't taste too bad. like... it was kinda of salty.... and eggy... and sour? If that makes sense? Wasn't as good as the pig's blood soup, but oh well. the part that got me was the texture. I kind of had a gag reflex while I was eating it. not good. haha. but it was a good end to the Christmas night!

Tomorrow is our ward's Christmas party, so really it's like Christmas is still going. On Friday for New Year's Eve we get to watch Disney movies in our apartments, so that's exciting!

We had a baptism the other week, a man and the rest of his family was baptized just a few weeks before we got there. The Pelingon family is new to the church. Their baby got really sick for a few days, so we headed over to teach them about priesthood blessings and offer to give one. They had me do it, even though it was in English, and I swear RIGHT after the blessing, the baby stopped crying and went to sleep. It was instantaneous. The next day the family told us that beforehand, they had spent alot of money going to doctors and trying other cures, but nothing worked. Only the priesthood did, even though it was in a different language. So they said from now on they are going to call the Elders, until the dad has the priesthood. :) I just thought it was such a testimony builder of the power of the priesthood and so many other things.
Anyways, I'd better go. I'll keep workin hard! :)

-Elder Lee

First week in the Philippines!

Kumusta from the Philippines!! So, yes, I am alive. So. The flights went well, we made it where we needed to go, it was just EXTREMELY long and confusing at times where we needed to go. They ended up charging us more than I had in Manila to check our bags in Bacolod, and no one told us, so that was a hassle. Luckily my travel buddies covered me and we will get reimbersed. I hope that someday I will finally understand how everything works in the Philippines. hahaha. My Mission President is really nice and speaks English. Mostly everyone here does, it's just hard to understand sometimes with heavy heavy accents. But I don't want to use English as a crutch. The language is by far the thing that is killing me right now. My first priority is learning Ilonggo. It is hardly ANYTHING like Tagolog. Only a few words are the same, so for me it's figuring out which ones are and which ones aren't and learning the right words for which ones aren't. Oh yeah, my first area is called Pulupandan, and I'm not totally sure, but I think I'm near La Carlota, maybe south of Bacolod? hahah. I really have no idea. So my trainer is from Boston and AMAZING. I look up to him alot and so do alot of the other missionaries. Everyone says I am lucky to have him. He's our District leader, and the very first thing he said to me was something to the effect of "Let's get to work. We're white-washing an area." (White-washing is when both Elders in the area are replaced by new Elders) hahaha. yeah. wow. So, this weekend has been spent trying to get to know the area and the members in our ward. Mostly him, because I still can't understand or talk to anyone. haha. It's kind of overwhelming, but maybe this week will be less hectic. My very first night we went tracting in a rain storm, so that was fun. I felt like a "real" missionary. hahaha. The heat surprisingly is not killing me. Neither are the mosquitos, probably because we are near a city. Well, sorry if this doesn't make much sense. I have a TON to say, but not much time, so I'm kind of scatter-brained.

ps- Even though it sounds like i'm going crazy, I really do love it here. The people are hilarious and friendly and take good care of each other. The nature amazes me and we have some pretty cool encounters with wildlife, like goats and frogs and wild roosters. hahah.

another ps-We have a baptism already scheduled for Friday! hahaha. It wasn't totally our doing, but it still feels cool to say. lol. maayang pasko! (merry christmas)

LAST DAY IN THE MTC

FROM DECEMBER 6th

phew! I am crazy busy with final preparations today, but luckily we were realeased as zone leaders yesterday so we don't have any more responsibilities there. hahaha. this week was really very nice. We have all been saying our goodbyes and getting things ready. It helps that in our classes our teachers just devoted the last couple of days to stories about the Philippines and what to expect. I am super nervous mostly about the language, seeing as they speak mostly Cebuano and Ilonggo, and very little Tagolog, but I know I'll be ok. It's comforting to know that other people have been and are in my same shoes.

We got the chance to see the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional last night, which was pretty awesome. It got me in the Christmas spirit and got me thinking about what that will be like in the Philippines. Now, if you don't mind putting this message on my blog, I got everyone's letters in time this week, but i might not have time to write them all back. but THANK YOU so much to everyone, and i'm sorry if i don't write back!

Well there's not too much else I will really say! This Christmas I will miss chocolate oranges and cinnamon rolls, but who knows what kind of new traditions I will see in the next few weeks! hahaha. have a good one!