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

HO HO HO

HO HO HO Merry Christmas!!

Pasko na naman

Pasko na naman
O kay tulin ng araw
Paskong nagdaan
Tila ba kung kailan lang

Ngayon ay Pasko
Dapat pasalamatan
Ngayon ay Pasko
Tayo ay mag-awitan.


Pasko! Pasko!
Pasko na naman muli.
Tanging araw na ating pinakamimithi.
Pasko! Pasko!
Pasko na naman muli.
Ang pag-ibig naghahari!

How is everyone doing? I hope you are all full on Ham Turkey Chicken Beef Pork or whatever else you ate this Christmas! Candy canes, chocolate kisses, and the ever so great “Diet starts January 1!” Isnt Christmas just the best? Hahha

This week has been full of action and I will give a quick rundown! Last Monday, a new batch of missionaries from the MTC in Manila came up to start their service here in the Philippines Baguio Mission! We welcomed them at the office, got their bags and luggage and then we had a feast! Its always the best seeing new missionaries here for the first time because all of them are pretty dang nervous meaning they don’t eat as much as usual.. Which means that theres more for us! Woohoo!

One of the missionaries is from Australia, Elder Maurer. Because of the trainers working with other missionaries during the day, he hung with us and then went to work with us as well! We went to the plaza here in San Fernando where it was filled with people taking pictures by the Christmas trees and other attractions. We handed out pamphlets and helped Elder Maurer hand out pamphlets as well! I love working with new missionaries!  It was really cool seeing him use all of the things he had learned to say in a real life situation. I also met a man from Spain and asked "te hablas Espanol?" to which he replied "Claro." in the most disappointed face at my very dumb question hahah, I got about 3 out of his 10 sentences he said to me, spit out about 2 correct sentences to him, and then we just spoke English for the rest of the time hahha,

We had dinner at the Aquino Family! They are such an awesome family who loves missionaries! Their son Janru always worked with Elder Tavita and I before he went on his mission! On Tuesday we had some trainings for the new missionaries and then sent them on their way with their trainers! After all was done, we were able to get out to work for a while and met with the Pugal family! Their son Maurice was baptized over a month ago and his mom loves meeting with us. They are also way involved with their Church so we always talk about the things they are doing to gain a relationship with Christ and what we do as well. Its always a fun time there.




Thursday there was another Polynesian Cultural Activity in a town called Naguilian. I drove one car and Elder De Costa drove the other one down with the missionaries and all the music equipment! While the Branch in Naguilian performed and the Polynesian missionaries, i was handing out pamphlets and making sure all the music and tables etc was set up! It was super fun, super tiring, and very much worth it. There were alot of people curious about the dances (and some were scared from the Haka) hahahha but we met a lot of new people!

Got home around 10, and set up the Chapel for out MLC the next day! MLC was awesome. We reviewed what we had done in 2017 and made plans for 2018! I am going to miss the Baguio Mission so so much. I love all of the missionaries here and have learned so much from them. We watched part of a talk by John Bytheway (who served in the Baguio Mission!)

He talked about the basketball standard and that no matter what gym you're at, the hoop is 10ft high during a game. Meaning that no matter where you are, you have to adjust to that standard. You cant lower the rim. You have to change what you are doing to meet the standard. It was super good and relatable to the Gospel, missionary work, and life!




Saturday was baptism day! There were so many people throughout the mission who had planned their baptismal day for this Saturday, confirmation on the 24th and then Christmas as a member of Christ's Church on the 25th. That is what sister Evaline did as well! During the baptism, Elder Bin Salleh sang an amazing renditon of a primary song and Sister Evaline gave a great testimony. I love the Gospel and the power of the Atonement.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN! Thank you to all who have helped someone else who needed help this time of year. Be safe and whoever is snowboarding this week, shred the gnar.






Elder Pitt

Ang Pasko ay Kay Saya

Pasko na naman! 
How is everyone doing?


Im sorry to make this email short, we have a lot of things going on today and Im not sure how much I have to email but first things first MERRY CHRISTMAS! I might be one week early still but I am also one day ahead meaning that next time I email, it will be Christmas, and I will be skyping the good ol' family! Its the most wonderful time of the year!

Well we are still busy as a bee here and it makes the time fly too fast! (How many times have I said that one!)
I cant believe I have already been here in San Fernando for a transfer now. The clock just wont stop spinning. I have been trying to make the best out of the speedy situation and I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me with great friends, companions and others here in the Baguio Mission.
Last Monday, President and Sister Bangal made dinner for all of the missionaries who were going home, and were kind enough to invite us and the other Elders here to join! It was really fun being able to talk to the missionaries who had served and now packed their bags to go home. I loved hearing their testimonies and their advice. It was a bittersweet moment driving them down to the bus stop late that night to get them to Manila. Im gonna miss the missionaries who are gone, and hopefully we will be able to run into one another down the road!
This week Elder Bin Salleh and I took a drive to the zones up north to drop off everyones supplies and packages from their family and friends! We started off before the sun rose and made it to Bangued just in time to be on the top of the mountain when the sun peaked over the hills. It was such a gorgeous sight, too beautiful not to stop on the side of the road for a solid 5 minutes. God's art is amazing. On the way back from Bangued, I dropped off Elder Bin Salleh in Santa Maria and had exchanges with Elder Hollister! Elder Hollister is from California and was baptized into the Church  just 2 short years ago.. And now he is on a mission! Man it was so cool to hear how he learned about the Church and also how he was able to prepare for a mission so fast. He was trained by Elder Scott so it was great catching up on how Elder Scott is doing and all as well!
We drove through the southern zones on the way back and then got to work! We walked and walked and walked and walked trying to meet new people and talk to familiar faces... But some days are easier than others! It was a blast though, going from house to house, as we walked we discussed the Doctrine of the Church, General Conference Talks, The Book of Mormon and much more. At one point we both stopped and recognized that neither of us 2 years ago would think that we would be walking down barangays in the Philippines discussing the Savior and His Church. Im so grateful that we both caught hold of this amazing message and Gospel. We taught Brother Maurice, who was baptized about 2 months ago and his mother who has become more and more curious about the Church.
We discussed the Doctrine of Christ, or commonly known as "The Gospel of Jesus Christ". She had many questions about what repentance was, the power behind repentance, and being "baptized unto repentance". Through the help of the Spirit and the words of God we all read and discussed all of her questions and were able to come to conclusions about the Gospel. Sister Pugal is so willing to learn and pray about the things we share. She also committed herself to search, ponder, pray and after receiving an answer, be baptized into the Church.
I know I have said it so many times before, but I love being able to share Gods words with His children every day. I am going to miss doing that so much.
This week is going to be very busy, and the next coming weeks dont look like it will slow! We ran into some technical difficulties at the office last week, losing our access to Office making it pretty dang difficult to make a PowerPoint or Word document when you need to! So what did we do? We humbled ourselves and our pride from the "im a man i can do it!" to "Who knows Salt Lakes IT number??" Hahaha
I was able to meet through the phone Matt, Paul and Shin! What that means is Matt first started helping us, and it took long enough that his shift ended so the call was given to Paul.. until his shift also ended leaving Shin from Korea and I to shoot the breeze as Windows circled and circled and circled around! It was fun talking to each one of them! All had served missionaries before, now are husbands and fathers, and are all happy that theres not too much snow in Utah at the moment!
Thanks to their schooling and talents, we have Office back and running fast! Thank you and Merry Christmas Global Services!
We had a Ward Christmas Party Saturday night which was a blast! We used the sound system from the mission for the activity (Thank you President!) and the Sevilla Ward had prepared dance presentations, Christmas songs, games and much more! I was playin DJ for the night and thank goodness the mics didnt cause any trouble and no feedback ruined the day! We Elders of Israel also had a skit and decided to make it a little more spicy haha. We blindfolded Elder Hennessey and Elder Fowler, and they became the hands of Elder Lloyd and Bin Salleh! It was sooo funny watching them shave, eat bread, tie a neck tie and more! It was hilarious. I dont know if anyone got a video but if they did I hope I can get a copy. There were so many members there and almost all had smiles on their face! Some felt bad for the Elders being tormented by theirs "evil hands" but I know they were laughing on the inside hahah.

Church was great, each talk was about service. Brothers and Sisters we all have 7 more days to find 7 people, 7 families, 7 friends, who need our help and who the Savior is going to help through us. Find them! We are here on earth to have joy, and I know that we will find that through service.




One verse that was shared during the week found in John 15




9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 These things that I command you, that ye love one another.



I love you all. Have a great Christmas, and to you Mom, Dad, Mal, Lyss, Dallin, Whit... CATCH YAH NEXT WEEK ON SKYPE!








--

Elder Pitt

ANG SAYA!

Hello once again to all who are still reading this emails! Man alive I cant believe you have endured through the word “awesome” and any other word that I have overused in the last 21 months every week!

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