Hey guys. Thanks for the emails. It was really good to hear
from you.
We had a Zone Training Meeting this week. It really got me excited about making some more progress in our ward. Our Ward Mission Leader got a new job a few transfers ago and now works every Sunday. He works at Wilcon which is a new appliance and materials store just a minutes walk from the mission home. It's like a big box store from back home. But now we have had no progress with member support. The ZTM was all about working with the ward council and it was awesome. We realized that even if they aren't able to go to church we should still try to involve them in the work as often as possible. So our new thing is that we bring any reports we have for them to Wilcon and give it to them there, and then we text or call them every second day minimum to keep them in the loop. We visit them at home too once a week. They also have a scheduled time to work with each companionship once a week.
It was cool to see how motivated all four of us missionaries got from this ZTM and how excited our Ward Mission Leader and his assistant got about it too. So we are starting to see a little progress which is really exciting.
We went and taught the A family this week. They are the returning less active members who are preparing to go to the temple. They own a little piggery which is IN their house! Tatay was sick and it was a little late but they still really wanted us to teach them. We talked about repentance and it was a really sweet lesson. We discussed ways to repent - of course you need to stop what you were doing and pray for forgiveness. But there are other things to do as well, such as doing good things for others. After the lesson Tatay ran over and started up his old tricycle to drive us home. We tried to talk him out of it - he was sick and needed to sleep but he argued saying, "No Elders, I need this to repent".
He was so sweet - a big smile on his face, sick but still driving us home. On Sunday we had a lot of people at church that aren't usually there. The one tatay who went to the hospital last week was there. It was good to see that he was humbled and not angered by his health issues.
During sacrament meeting, M was asked to stand and it was proposed that he receive the priesthood. He had been interviewed by the branch president. It is really great to see him progress. After church he was given the priesthood by another young man of about his age who is preparing to go on a mission. It was a sweet day.
We didn't get to visit Tatay P. We dropped by the other day though and he came out and said, "Why did you not come on Sunday?" He was so sad, poor guy. But we were able to tell him that we contacted his daughter in another barangay and had an appointment to teach her and her family (she is a less active member with two kids and a husband) and Tatay P just lit up.
We have a member of the Seventy, Elder Brent Nielsen, who is in our area presidency coming to tour the mission next week. He arrives on Sunday and stays until the following Saturday. Elder Ardern is also coming but just for today and tomorrow for a cluster meeting. Remember him? It's been a year since I had lunch with him here!
We taught M and E about baptisms for the dead and family history (this old nanay who is a family history consultant in the ward came into the youth class on Sunday and pretty much condemned the youth for not doing family history... M had no idea what she was talking about and was a little worried about it). For the next three nights he had a recurring dream. He was with his father and his two great grandparents, they were walking but there was a big gap between each of them and it made him feel bad. He said he was praying to know what it meant and will tell us when he receives an answer. That kid is so blessed with spiritual gifts. He also asked us how to prepare to serve a mission. He started his Duty to God program and E is doing her Personal Progress program which really impressed me.
P's wife is really starting to understand things. She asked us yesterday how and why Joseph Smith died. We asked her first where she read about that and she said she read it in the Teachings of George Albert Smith! It was a good lesson. She is a really sweet woman.
This next transfer there are 16 new missionaries coming and then in November, the same again! 32 new missionaries in two months! So there will be a lot of changes in the mission. I have a feeling that I will be leaving the office soon. I am kind of excited for it but I would really miss the people I teach here.
The past few days I have been reading nothing but the Book of Mormon and talks by President Monson. I searched his name in LDS.org and it lists everything about him chronologically so I started with the most recent and am just reading everything from him. I am pretty sure he is my favourite prophet (probably not supposed to have a
favourite). I remember when I was little; falling asleep during General Conference but the only speaker that would draw my interest was him. He always made me perk up and listen. I love his stories, he has tons of them. And I realized he has all of those because he is always going about doing good. So I have been reading his talks and trying to live like him.
Anyways, that's pretty much my week. I feel like I grew quite a bit this week. I love you guys.
-Elder Dustan
We had a Zone Training Meeting this week. It really got me excited about making some more progress in our ward. Our Ward Mission Leader got a new job a few transfers ago and now works every Sunday. He works at Wilcon which is a new appliance and materials store just a minutes walk from the mission home. It's like a big box store from back home. But now we have had no progress with member support. The ZTM was all about working with the ward council and it was awesome. We realized that even if they aren't able to go to church we should still try to involve them in the work as often as possible. So our new thing is that we bring any reports we have for them to Wilcon and give it to them there, and then we text or call them every second day minimum to keep them in the loop. We visit them at home too once a week. They also have a scheduled time to work with each companionship once a week.
It was cool to see how motivated all four of us missionaries got from this ZTM and how excited our Ward Mission Leader and his assistant got about it too. So we are starting to see a little progress which is really exciting.
We went and taught the A family this week. They are the returning less active members who are preparing to go to the temple. They own a little piggery which is IN their house! Tatay was sick and it was a little late but they still really wanted us to teach them. We talked about repentance and it was a really sweet lesson. We discussed ways to repent - of course you need to stop what you were doing and pray for forgiveness. But there are other things to do as well, such as doing good things for others. After the lesson Tatay ran over and started up his old tricycle to drive us home. We tried to talk him out of it - he was sick and needed to sleep but he argued saying, "No Elders, I need this to repent".
He was so sweet - a big smile on his face, sick but still driving us home. On Sunday we had a lot of people at church that aren't usually there. The one tatay who went to the hospital last week was there. It was good to see that he was humbled and not angered by his health issues.
During sacrament meeting, M was asked to stand and it was proposed that he receive the priesthood. He had been interviewed by the branch president. It is really great to see him progress. After church he was given the priesthood by another young man of about his age who is preparing to go on a mission. It was a sweet day.
We didn't get to visit Tatay P. We dropped by the other day though and he came out and said, "Why did you not come on Sunday?" He was so sad, poor guy. But we were able to tell him that we contacted his daughter in another barangay and had an appointment to teach her and her family (she is a less active member with two kids and a husband) and Tatay P just lit up.
We have a member of the Seventy, Elder Brent Nielsen, who is in our area presidency coming to tour the mission next week. He arrives on Sunday and stays until the following Saturday. Elder Ardern is also coming but just for today and tomorrow for a cluster meeting. Remember him? It's been a year since I had lunch with him here!
We taught M and E about baptisms for the dead and family history (this old nanay who is a family history consultant in the ward came into the youth class on Sunday and pretty much condemned the youth for not doing family history... M had no idea what she was talking about and was a little worried about it). For the next three nights he had a recurring dream. He was with his father and his two great grandparents, they were walking but there was a big gap between each of them and it made him feel bad. He said he was praying to know what it meant and will tell us when he receives an answer. That kid is so blessed with spiritual gifts. He also asked us how to prepare to serve a mission. He started his Duty to God program and E is doing her Personal Progress program which really impressed me.
P's wife is really starting to understand things. She asked us yesterday how and why Joseph Smith died. We asked her first where she read about that and she said she read it in the Teachings of George Albert Smith! It was a good lesson. She is a really sweet woman.
This next transfer there are 16 new missionaries coming and then in November, the same again! 32 new missionaries in two months! So there will be a lot of changes in the mission. I have a feeling that I will be leaving the office soon. I am kind of excited for it but I would really miss the people I teach here.
The past few days I have been reading nothing but the Book of Mormon and talks by President Monson. I searched his name in LDS.org and it lists everything about him chronologically so I started with the most recent and am just reading everything from him. I am pretty sure he is my favourite prophet (probably not supposed to have a
favourite). I remember when I was little; falling asleep during General Conference but the only speaker that would draw my interest was him. He always made me perk up and listen. I love his stories, he has tons of them. And I realized he has all of those because he is always going about doing good. So I have been reading his talks and trying to live like him.
Anyways, that's pretty much my week. I feel like I grew quite a bit this week. I love you guys.
-Elder Dustan
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