Sevilla Round 4

Hello again! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELLY PITT!!! LOVE YA MAMA!!!



This week was awesome!! I got a new companion, and we went straight to work! Elder Diaz got here in San Fernando on Tuesday, and also our new kabahay, Elder Calipes! I knew both of them from when I was new and still in Luna so I am so so excited to be companions with one and roommates with the other! On Tuesday we went around to the houses of our investigators and also members in our area to introduce Elder Diaz! Filipino Missionaries have the oppurtunity to take an English Test here in the mission to help them get better job oppurtunities and also to help a resume or application! So Elder Diaz is wanting to get good at English before he takes the test! What better way than to be companions with a verytalkative American like me right?? Lets hope he doesn’t forget it’s a blessing! Hahah, every day as we walk we have been switching off from English to Tagalog and then throwing in some Ilocano as well which makes the time go by!!

We didn’t have any service projects this week :( but our house was a little dirty so we have a deep cleaning day and now its starting to shine!

On Saturday we welcomed home a member of the Ward who just got home from serving his mission. Elder (Now Brother) Tadina served in the Iloilo Mission and doesn’t want to not be a missionary so he is going to work with us a lot next week! Haha.

On Sunday, there were so many people at Church! It was so cool to see. We had a great time showing people who were new to Church where to go and also introduce them to the members. Everyone here is so welcoming and loving. Nanay Teresita Catacutan was at Church as well! She has been coming since Jauary and doesn’t look like shes gonna stop! We barely saw her on Sunday because she was with the members the whole time! It was a good thing she said hello to us or I might have not noticed haha.



We also had a training with other missionaries from the mission. I was able to talk to some of the other missionaries about their plans in their part of the Lords Vineyard and how I can better help myself and the people that we run into every day. President Bangal shared with us many versus from the Book of Mormon about the missionaries and what they did to keep themselves out of the world and focused on the Gospel. He also talked about Alma, who was influenced by Abinadi to Repent, and follow our Savior Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is so so important. Its simple, its pure, and it’s a sign that Our Savior loves us and knows us more than we might know oursleves! I am thankful for His Atonement, for without it we would not be able to repent, or return to our Father in Heaven.





That’s all for this week everyone! Hopefully I will find another well to clean as we are walking this week! I love you all! Ingat kayo!








--

Elder Pitt

Sevilla pa rin!

Hello Family and Friends! Kumusta kayo!

This week was full of excitement and tears. But don’t worry the tears werent mine! Hahaha.
There were more service projects this week! It was a blast, every single year during the summer time when there is no school. The teachers are the ones to clean the school for the next coming year. So the whole community helps out by signing up for one day to clean the school! Every day there are random members of the community who come, as well as Religious Groups, Charities, Public Administrations and many more! The Sevilla Ward has signed up every year on Tuesday to clean the Elementary School and we were lucky enough to be in the Sevilla Ward for this years cleaning! We painted the students chairs and raked leaves around the school! Raking the leaves made me somewhat miss home… And at the same time it made me not miss home as well! Haha but it was fun. Antonio was with us the whole time which made the hours seem like minutes. There is never a dull time with Antonio!
We also had a service project again this week, but this one was just us 4 Elders at the Church! The Elders had an investigator who was getting baptized, so we went to the Church and cleaned, mopped, broomed and everything else to make the baptisml font and room ready for the service! Being able to have cleaning projects or service projects will always be one of my favorite things to do here in the mission. It gives us time to meet the community and to come closer with those we are serving and also the fellow people giving service. I love being in the Sevilla Ward, I have been here for over 4 months now I think, and I will be staying here for at least another 6 weeks! We found out this week that I will not be transferring areas! The bad news, Elder Tavita is transferring! ☹
It was real, It was fun, It was real fun with Elder Tavita being my companion for the last couple months. We have grown so close to one another and I truly feel like Elder Tavita is my brother. Elder Tavita is being transferred just down the road to a different area here in San Fernando so I will still be seeing him often! My new companion is Elder Diaz! That’s right! A Filipino Companion! My first in almost 1 full year!! I can not wait to just ask ask ask questions about Tagalog to Elder Diaz in order to learn and become more fluent. Elder Diaz is an awesome missionary. He is so hard working and diligent. I am excited for this upcoming transfer! We pick up Elder Diaz from the bus station tomorrow so for now I will clean the house and make it all pretty for him haha.

I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week about Abinadi. If you’ve never heard who Abinadi is, then don’t worry about pronouncing his name correctly.. It gets everyone on the first try! Haha. Abinadi was a righteous man who knew the commandments of God, and didn’t want his fellow beings to be caught up in worldy lusts. But when the unrighteous King found out that he was teaching the Word of God to the people, he threw Abinadi in Prison and wanting to kill him. When Abinadi was brought forth to the King, he told them of the sins they were committing, and the hypocrisy that filled their mouths.

Please read Mosiah 13-17. It will take only about 20 minutes but you will see and feel the power of Abinadis word to a king. Abinadi was a great follower of Christ, he had strong faith and would do anything for our Savior who had not even come to earth yet to establish His Gospel and His Church.
I hope that I will be able to have that power as I speak to the people here in Sevilla. They might not be kings here on earth, but they were born to be Kings and Queens in Heaven after this life. We all have that potential and we all have the ability here on earth to be worthy of that blessing after this life. I love you all! Have a great week!!

--
Elder Pitt

Being in the Service of our God

Hello Hello! Happy Mothers Day to all of you Mothers out there!

I am so grateful for all of the women that have been in my life who have helped me grow into the person that I am today. You all have helped me so much so thank you thank you thank you!!



This week was so fun! There were two days this week where we had service projects! I can honestly say that one of my favorite things to do as a missioanry here in doing service projects. They are always full of smiles and sweat! Two things that make you skinny!!

The first service project was at the Conche Household! They are adding on another room to their house but werent able to get the sand and cement from the road to there house so us 4 Elders here in the Ward and one of the Conches went back and forth with buckets carrying them to their house! It was about a 100 meter walk up the hill to the road and back down the hill to the house! Thank goodness it is the summer right now so the pathway wasn’t slick! We were all super excited to begin, and dead tired at the end. But it was so much fun! We were there from about 9 am until 12. And at 12, the Conche Family cooked us some lunch!



The second service prokect was at Nanay Teresitas house! She has a water well that has gotten pretty dirty from not having water coming into it. (Summer problems) So… what do you do when the bottom of the well needs to be scrubbed clean and you need to bucket out the mud at the bottom??



THATS RIGHT! You send Elder Pitt down to the bottom! Hahah no one else wanted to and because weve been excercising in the morning, I still fit! It was only about a 20-25ft. well so we set up a pullee and went to work! I dropped in first (with a rope of course) and started scrubbing! We pulled up about 8 buckets of mud and then a member of the Ward, Voctor, wanted a try too! So I came up and he went in!

After it was all clean and mud clogging the PVC pipe was gone, we covered the top of the well with a cement ring to stop any debris from getting in. Side Note: I broke one of the rings of cement so earlier this Monday morning we bought a new one, went back to Nanays house, and finished the project! We couldn’t have done it without the help of Brother De Guzman, a member of the Ward who might just be Mr. Man! He knows how to do it all and also showed us how to do it, so if any of you need a water well cleaned, give me a ring in 2018!



Mothers Day was great. The ward is so helpful to missionaries in making sure that we are not home sick and we are always fed, haha there are a lot of mothers here taking care of us but don’t worry..No one matches Mama Shellz! Mom, thank you for everything you’ve done for me my whole life and for being my biggest fan! Love you!



Hopefully the pictures come through! Love you all, have a great week!!



-Elder Pitt

Mothers Day - 1 WEEK NA LONG!

Hello Family and Friends!! How is everyone doing? We are one week away from Mother’s Day! You know what that means, make sure you get those gifts and write those letters some time this week so that youre not too rushed on Sunday morning before they wake up! Thank you to all of the moms around the world! See you on Skype in a week Shellz!



This week was awesome! We had so much go on and it made the week fly by. I love being a missionary here in the Baguio Mission and in the Sevilla Ward! Nanay Teresita had a birthday celebration that we went to on Wednesday! She was kind enough to buy us some Jollibee for lunch and we gave her a picture frame for her to put her family pictures in! I love seeing Sister Teresita’s smile that she always has. Happy Birthday Nay!

Janrhu Aquino, a member who got his mission call a couple weeks ago entered the MTC on Friday! We went over to the church last Thursday where he had a going away celebration and we were able to give him some words of encouragement! He is going to be a great missionary in the Bacolod Mission! I am going to miss working with Janrhu and also always asking him questions about Ilocano and Tagalog!

On Friday, we had lunch! Why is that a big deal? Because the Thurmans, a senior missionary couple from Idaho came to our house and ate with us! Elder Moreland and I tried to plan a lunch with them back in July but we were never able to get it accomplished, but it finally happened! Sorry Quinn, it took me almost a year to get it done, but I got it done! Elder Tavita made some stir fry and I made Chicken Sisig! The best part? Sister Thurman has an oven at her house… Which means she made some mean Gingerbread cookies!! They were so good! (Don’t worry Grandma Pitt, yours still take the cake!) The Thurmans end their mission in just 3 short weeks so we were happy to chow down with them before they return to the real world!

Last but not least, Saturday was the National Day of Service here! The Sevilla Ward and San Fernando Ward combined at the Capital Building here in San Fernando to rake, pick up leaves, pull weeds, and anything else that sounds like those outside chores I never wanted to do when I was home! Hahah, but now I am so happy that we were able to give service. That’s what I loved most about being assigned in Narvacan with Elder Scott, we always had service projects! It felt good to get the hands dirty and get a couple slivers. We also were able to meet more of the members and get to know them outside of church services on Sunday!

This week like I said flew by. I am so grateful for the kindness and joy that the people have here. I am also grateful for all of you who read these long emails! And if you only read the first line and then the last.. then go to the pictures… I totally understand. I am grateful for you too. J



Have a great week everybody! Don’t forget to tell the women in your life that you love them and that they mean the world to you!



“The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. None other can adequately take her place.” – Gordon B. Hinckley



Mahal Ko Kayo!


-Elder Pitt

May Already?

Hello Family and Friends! Happy May! Why is the time going by faster nowadays??

We had another good week here in the Sevilla Ward. The ward is one of the biggest in the mission and is planning on splitting into 2 (again) because there are so many members coming to church and packing in the Sacrament room! The members are so caring for the missionaries and always make sure we have everything we need!


This week was so fast! Im not sure why it felt only like 4 days instead of 7 but here we are again! On Tuesday after our District Meeting we taught Sister Teresita! I love going to her house and talking about the Scriptures with her. Whenever we go by, she is always outside reading either the Bible, the Book of Mormon or the pamphlets that we have given her! She also came with us on Friday to attent a baptismal service at the church! She was curious what baptism was like in the LDS Church and how it was performed! Yesterday was also her birthday so everyone at church welcomed her by singing "Happy Birthday" in our combined class! Nothing like over 50 people singing only to you to make your face red and your eyes look at the ground the whole time but she said she liked it! Hahah


We went on Exchanges with Elders in a different district this week! I was with Elder Hayes, who I went on exchanges with last transfer as well! I spent the day with him in his area and we had a blast! Hes pretty knew in the mission and he had a lot of Tagalog questions! I loved being able to help. Been there and felt that for sure!


During Church on Sunday we talked about Repentance and I really liked what the teacher had to say about Repentance. Its not just something you ask for in your prayers, but is an action word! You have to do your part in order to be forgiven, and because of Christ's love and Atonement, we all can be forgiven.


I thought about it as an injury, seeing how those always seem to pop up in sports and sports was life for me! When we are in the game of life, we get fouled, we turn over the ball sometimes, and we also make fouls! But thats okay, remember, its a game and everyone makes mistakes!
If any of you know my good friend Trevor McLaughlin, you will know that he is one of the hardest working basketball players. And isnt afraid of anything while on the court! Im gonna use him as an example (Love you Trev!)
When trev was playing football, he tore his ACL. And had to have surgery. I remember having team dinner at Trev's house while he was laying in his beg, a huge cast on his leg, watching Lord of the Rings! (doesnt sound too bad i might add) but we all knew that he would rather be running around than be relaxing!


Back to Repentance- When we sin, we make a mistake, or something happens to us and it hurts. Because of The Spirit and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that pain and hurt is able to go away. No matter how big the sin (how bad the injury). The Holy Ghost is called the Comforter. Its like the cast around a leg or an arm when you break a bone.It comforts the injured area and helps to keep more injury from occurring. The surgery and the medicine you take for the pain is like the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He felt our pain and anguish, so He knows what kind of medicine we need! But theres one very important part that happens that we have to do! We can get the surgery and the cast, thats a given and a gift to all of us, but we need to do our part as well.


Back to Trev!- After Trevors surgeries and time in the brace/cast, Trevors leg looked 2x smaller than his other leg! All of the muscles hadn't been used or exercised, and his leg was weaker than the other!


Back to Repentance- We have to do our part! We need to make ourselves strong again! The Devil knows that we have a weak spot. He waites for the cast to be removed and tries to cause another injury to occur! But we can stop that from happening by exercising our agency and making that weak spot strong again. We do that by resistance. How do you get stronger legs? Go running! How do you get a stronger core? Sit ups. If we dont cause resistance to occur, our muscles cant react and we cant grow! Now Satan is going to cause the resistance because thats all he can do, so its up to us to say no to his enticements. By doing so, we grow. Our sins are forgiven and we are stronger than we were before. Our legs become the same size and our health is back to 100. We cant do it alone, and neither can Christ. We have to work together, He will help us as we help ourselves.


"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27





Mahal Ko Kayo! Have a great week!

Elder Pitt