How have all of you been? This week was so fast. I think this has been one of the fastest weeks of my entire mission and it also has been the week with the least hours of sleep haha. I am so happy that I have been assigned in the Baguio Mission and to have President Bangal as my Mission President. Last Monday after emailing, doing laundry, buying groceries and all that other good jazz we went to work! We found out that if you bike from Lingsat to Sevilla it only takes about 15 minutes but if you take a Jeepney it takes over 30. And I haven’t had a biking accident in a very long time meaning I have now learned how to ride a bike! Later in the evening the De Guzman family invited us over to join them in the Family Home Evening. My first time being assigned in Sevilla we were always there at their Family Home Evenings kaya it was super fun to go again, and yes, we cooked smores just like old times. I attached a picture here of their youngest son BJ who was soooo far away from the fire but still had his marshmallow on the end of his stick! It was super cute. We got back to the office and started to finalize everything for the Christmas Devotional.
That was what we did for Tuesday and Wednesday as well, we had District Meeting Tuesday Morning, and then started the decorations and set up! I was lucky enough to catch a break in the middle of it and proselyte with Elder Bautista! He is from Laguna and is super smart. He knows how to speak English, Tagalog, Ilokano, and reads the Book of Mormon in Japanese for fun. I still mess up speaking English…
We met a member of the Church who’s family lives in Tacoma and Seattle! Nothing like a good talk about the PNW and the Mariners! Hopefully I will see them at church again when they visit because their daughter lives in Spokane and I am hoping has gone through the Tri at least once!
Wednesday was such a fun day! Every time new missionaries come into the mission, their first companion here is called their “trainer” who shows them the ropes on how to talk to new people, teach from the scriptures, learn the language if needed and help them get used to a life of being in the world but not of the world x50. After their first month, there is a meeting with the Mission President at the office where President Bangal meets with the new missionaries and gives workshops on the things that they are struggling with. All the new missionaries are loving their time. They are all super hardworking and doing their best which is so awesome to see. We practiced teaching with them and tried to give some advice on how to have the best mission someone could have! After the meeting, Elder Lloyd and Bin Salleh went down to Sevilla to take down supplies and decorations while Elder Kim, Elder Bautista and I drove to Bauang! There is a senior couple from the US who will be here in about a month so we found a house and started getting all of the rent papers worked out so they have a house on arrival!
The manager of the realtor company jumped in the car with us to show us the house so we had a really good talk! He had converted to Islam 9 years ago and told me about his conversion and why he decided to change his religion. It was so fun to learn about his experiences, the things he struggled with adjusting to, and everything else. His office mate is a member of the Church and we discussed why us as “Mormons” don’t drink coffee or alcohol, attend church for 3 hours, have temples and much more. I really loved the conversation! It was relaxed, no contention, and all appreciation of the eleventh article of faith:
“We claim the privilege if worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, and what they may.”
After we got back from Bauang, we made it in time to eat dinner with Bishop Rabe at his house! He made some super good vegetables and adobo! Everything got set up for the devotional and conference and then we got home and into bed around 12!
Woke up at 4am to get dressed and wake up lal of the other missionaries within the mission to get them to a place called “baywalk” (you can google it) for a team sporting activity! Elder Pettit and I drove back and forth from the highway to baywalk how many times picking up and dropping people off!
President and his counselors divided all the missionaries up into 4 teams with different team t-shirts displaying the Churches Christmas Theme “Light the World”! Then each team had different obstacle games, teamwork games and much others! The team with the most points at the end of the game won the activity… But everyone got the same prizes because we are all winners! Haha
We had team games from 6am until 10am then we drove people to apartments of the missionaries here in San Fernando so that they could shower and change! once everyone got back to the Church, we ate a delicious lunch made by Sister Bangal and then watched the Cokeville Miracle! (Shoutout to Mason you did a great job!) Not many missionaries had seen it but they all liked it! After the movie, we had each zone have a presentation! It was super funny and cool, some had made homemade missionary videos,others did plays, our zone used a black light and white gloves, and others! President even played the violin and also sang 12 days of Christmas with us, I wish i could write down all of the things that happened but i cant, all i can say is that Day 1 was awesome. Day 2 was great as well. The mission Presidency all gave talks about the Savior and serving Him. They were all super good. President Andrada is from here in San Fernando and used to be inactive from the Church, but after feeling he needed to come back, he was also able to support his wife who before was against the church, learn about the Gospel and be baptized. Now they are both successful in their callings and love the Gospel. It is so cool to see how much people change because of the Savior Jesus Christ. President gave a talk about a boy who met Santa and Santa explained to him what the true meaning of Christmas was.. I really liked his talk as well. We ate maybe tooo much for lunch and then everyone went back to their assigned areas while we cleaned the church!
Saturday we had a service project at nanay tadifa's house! She was baptized right before I got here last January and her roof has had a bunch of damage creating a bunch of leaks when it rains. We ripped off her whole roof and put a new one on! The ward brought so much supplies and hands for the work. She deserves a new roof as well. She has a tough life but pushes through all struggles.
Church was great. Being able to partake of the sacrament every week gives me the energy I need to resist temptation and grow spiritually. The First Presidency's Devotional was great as well. President Uchtdorf had some very strong spiritual insights that I really liked.
We played rugby and soccer this morning! Elder Kim ruined me in soccer i dont know how many times I got nutmeg'd and then Elder Lloyd and Hennessey taught me some lessons in rugby,,, im hopin to play basketball next week!!
I love the Savior. I was reading in the Gospel of John this week and am so grateful that we had the words of those who walked with the Savior during his ministry, and have living Prophets and Apostles here on earth today in order to continue the word and testify of His Divinity.
i love you all. have a great December!!
Elder Pitt
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