Wen Apo

Another week down, another week of learning, another week of life in the Philippines and boy was it great. 

It started out with a Family Home Evening at the Salvatera's house Monday night! There were two missionaries from a different zone here in San Fernando this week who ended up just being with us for the whole week kaya there were 6 missioanries all at Nanay Salvateras and she absolutely loved it haha. She wanted to invite all the missionaries here in San Fernando if possible! (thats about 18) But we just kept it at 6! It was a super fun time, Sister Rose shared with us her sotry about when she was a brand new member of the Church and there were hardly any members in this city. It was really cool to hear her views and thoughts she had when she was brand new to the Church. I think we all learned a lot that night.

The rest of the week picked up with places to go meetings to hit and people to share the Restored Gospel with! 

We went to a baptism on Saturday in Bangar which was fun to see and then that night, Sister Angelica got baptized! The Sevilla ward is so supportive and has helped her so much in understanding and living the Gospel! I am grateful for all of the things I have learned on the mission. Next week there are meetings every single day. I will promise to make my email bigger as well and send pictures. I love you all! Happy Late Birthday Lyss!!

Mabuhay pa rin ang Sevilla

Hello Hello everyone!! How was your week! HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY ATE MALERIE!

If "y'all" missed her birthday, shoot her a text, and also dont forget Alyssa's is right around the corner!!

 This week was awesome! I dont think I have traveled so much in one week my whole mission but I loved it! We had zone conferences Tuesday through Thursday and they were great! 

Tuesday was in Candon. A new senior couple arrived last week and they will be working in the office so we brought them with us to show them the areas of the mission! They are from southern Utah and are the best. We drove them up and on the way got some pandesal! It was their first time and definitely not their last! Each Zone Conference we watched the broadcast from the Church with President Nelson to begin. I am grateful for a living prophet. President Bangal explained the need for a prophet and what the role of a prophet is. He also talked about the Sacrament in each of the conferences which was super cool. He explained more in depth the bread and the symbolism of everything in the Sacrament. Also the need to partake of it weekly and why it is so frequent. 

I was able to see the missionaries who are assigned in my old areas as well so it was good to catch up with them about the people in Narvacan and Bangued. I got some letters from the members too which was great :) 

Wednesday was in San Fernando so all we had to do was bring the van from the office so it was a piece of cake! Thursday was a blast though! We woke up at about 4 and were on the road right away to go to Baguio City!! It was gorgeous!! The chapel has no Air conditioning because of how cold the weather is! How crazy is that?? 

The Seymours (senior couple) loved it as well. They were super excited to see Baguio. It really does look so different from the other parts of the Philippines that I have seen. Pine trees, malls, overpasses and more! We stopped also to buy some fresh strawberries! I think that was a highlight for sure hahah. 

Friday was great as well! There was a follow up training for all of the new missionaries in which we showed an old video from the Church about Agency. It is my favorite video produced by the Church. Even if its older than I am hahah. It talks about the things that make up Agency and the reason why agency is so important. I have come to learn quite a bit these last 2 years about Christ, but the Atonement is my favorite thing to study. Agency and the Atonement go hand in hand and cant be separated. We need both and have to use both. 

Saturday, Elder Tobias from the Area Presidency came to the office to meet with President Bangal and all of the Stake/District Presidents in the Baguio Mission. They talked about the duties of members in missionary work and the duties of missionaries. He gave us a lot of advice as well with what we can do as missionaries to fulfill our purpose. Elder Tobias was full of knowledge and support. It was a blessing to see a member of the Area Presidency explain each one of our callings in the gathering of Israel and to be approachable during all of it. Missionary work is so invaluable to the world. 

Elder Rasband will be here February 17th, we have been asked to prepare by reading his previous conference talks. I am very excited to listen to an Apostle and learn from the Lords chosen servants. 

I love you all! Have a great week! 

--

Elder Pitt 

HEEEEELLLLLOOOO

Hellllllo Helllooo!!! 

I hope everyone is having a great week and dont forget to wish Mal a Happy Birthday on the 18TH!

This email is going to be quick!

Monday night Elder Bin Salleh got a bus ticket and made his way back to Manila, finishing his mission! Im gonna miss Elder Bin Salleh so much but I am so grateful that I got to really know him before he went home! Now Elder Lloyd goes home in just 1 month so we are going to WORK our last few weeks serving the Lord. 

We had it planned to! There were no meetings at all this week until Thursday so Elder Lloyd and I were rejoicing in the time we had to just work the whooollle day! And then....

Elder Lloyd got some pretty severe food poisoning throwin him into a hospital bed for 4 days!

It was so quiet in the room but we had quite the laughs. Every 30 minutes one of us would mumble "We are supposed to be at the ____ Family right now" hahhahaha. we were really making the cup half empty, but it was just for laughs!

Because we had quite some time in the hospital, we watched a plethora of General Conference videos, including ones from the 70's 80's 90's and on. 

One of my favorites was from Elder Holland titled Safety for the Soul, another being about our confidence in ourselves. 

President Nelsons most recent talk spoke to me as well. We need to follow the words of the Prophets and Apostles. 

As we watched the funeral service of President Thomas S. Monson, I thought about the last things he taught us all at Conference. One being Charity which is so needed in our time. And the other about reading the Book of Mormon. Both are simple choice that we ourselves make. No one can make us have charity. No one can make us feast upon the words of the Book of Mormon. They are simple choice that are up to us to make. A simple commandment, and an enormous blessing to everyone we come into contact with. I love you all. Have a great week. Find time each day to allow the Lord to speak to you through reading His words. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/kindness-charity-and-love?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/the-power-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
How was everyones new year?? Can you believe that the earth is already 2018 years old??


crazy!






:) Earlier this morning we cleaned the entire storage unit and office to break in the new year with the whole San Fernando Zone! It was a blast. There were designated dusters, sweepers, box carriers, and moral support! <--Sister Bangal!   Even a cook (Also Sister Bangal!)
Everything is super clean and looks great! There is a senior couple coming here in a week so we have been getting everything prepared for them :)
This week was awesome! Wednesday night we drove from San Fernando to La Trinidad (Baguio) and stayed the night over at the house of the missionaries. The next morning we filled the truck and the van full of missionaries and caravan-ed to a place called "Bugias" about 3 hours into the mountains from Baguio! The goal was to meet with the members of the Church there and find a possible place for a meeting house! Also look for other members of the Church who had been baptized in different cities when they were younger or in college. Seeing how there is no Church in Bugias, they havent been able to attend church regularly. And seeing how there are members there, they need a place to go! It was such a fun spiritual time meeting with the strong members of the Church in such a remote area. The view was absolutely gorgeous and I wont forget it. I loved being able to drive up and go. President Bangal shared a strong testimony as well as one of the members about the spreading of the Gospel. We left but before we did, we sang the Hymn "The Spirit of God".


The Gospel is so important and the Holy Ghost testifies to us of the truthfulness of this message.


Church was also great. There was a family from Arizona who was in town for the holidays who were pretty amazed by the scenary here in San Fernando! I got to talk to them before Sacrament. Their son served his mission here and he was seeing all those that he had met. It made me so grateful for the internet and the opportunity we have to be able to stay connected with people no matter where we are! The time is getting faster and faster.
I think its so cool that people make New Years Resolutions! No matter how cliche it is, how cool is it that we all have that drive to say "from this day on" and then its up to us to keep with it.


I love being a missionary, I love Our Savior. I love the Philippines.


Catch ya next week!
Elder Pitt