3-29-2020 Unforseen changes

So as my trainee and I were sitting down to plan our day last Tuesday we got a text. I didn't bother to look at it for a while because I figured it wasn't important. 5 minutes later I took a look at the phone and I felt like a wall of shock and sadness hit me as I read the text, "DUE TO THE GROWTH OF CORONA VIRUS ALL FOREIGN MISSIONARIES WILL BE RETURNING HOME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE." As I am sure many of you have heard, all foreign missionaries in the Philippines were sent home to complete a quarantine for two weeks and then be reassigned stateside. I packed as light as I could and loaded my bags in the bishop's truck the next morning. The whole thing felt surreal as if I would wake up from this bad dream any second. We dropped our luggage at the mission office and then proceeded to spend the next three and a half days in the A.P.'s apartment waiting as our amazing mission president and office missionaries worked nonstop to gain passage for us to leave Tacloban and go to Manila. Three options were worked through, taking a boat out of Leyte and flying from Cebu, taking a bus 30-60 hours to Manila, or last but not least negotiate with the Mayor of Tacloban to raise the travel ban for just the missionaries so we could get to Manila on a flight from Tacloban airport to Manila. After much negotiation the mayor's heart was softened and we were able to fly to Manila. We spent a night there and the next day flew out at 6:15 to Japan, refueled and arrived in Salt Lake Airport at 9 on Sunday evening. I spent a night at a hotel in Salt Lake and on Monday morning I flew to Denver and took a connecting flight to Durango Colorado.

I am now home with my family and it is so amazing to be with them. I will be on quarantine for the next two weeks since I just came from a foreign country. When I returned home I had two options offered to me, option A: follow through with a reassignment or option B: be released honorably due to complications with the Virus and my mission. After counselling with my Stake President, my family and the lord I have made the decision to be released honorably and I am officially released as of earlier today.

On that note I would like to talk about trials and challenges.

 I am very sad because of the current circumstances and the abrupt end to my mission that I did not expect but I know that the Lord has a plan for me, for you and for ever single person here on the earth. That does not mean we will never encounter challenges or trials while in this mortal journey but rather he will use trials and challenges to help us grow into the person he needs us to become. As we continue to do the small and simple things we will be able to hear the guidance of the spirit and follow his plan. With our mortal eyes we see the here and now, a fraction of the big picture, the challenges that oppose us. He can see the entire picture. God's vision is perfect. He gives us challenges and trials so we may better become the person he wants us to become. It may not seem apparent when we are in the actual trial itself but god is walking with us every step of the way, sometimes carrying us through the challenges. Through his atonement and the gospel we can overcome the hard times and continue to press forward steadfast with a steadfastness in Christ. Though these hard times in our life may come and go, Jesus Christ will always be there for us.

A poem written by Carolyn Joyce Carty describes this perfectly,

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me.”

The LORD replied:

“My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

I know that in the hard times, even in our most difficult trials our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be walking next to us and at times carrying us.

In Mosiah 18:9 it has an invitation for us all, "to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death,...that ye may have eternal life"

I invite you to stand as a witness of his name, in all things. I know as we do so we will enable ourselves to receive Eternal Life through the Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Though my mission may be finished my discipleship is just starting. I will strive to invite others to come unto Christ wherever I am, standing as a witness of him at all times, and in all things and in all places. I know that this church is true. I know that your Lord and Savior loves each and every one of us, even you. I know that he atoned for our sins so that through his blood our sins may be washed clean. I know that President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God and holds the keys and Priesthood authority to direct God's kingdom here on earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of god and through this book "a man may draw closer to God". The Book of Mormon was translated by a called prophet of God, Joseph Smith, who held the Priesthood Authority to do so. This Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the Lord's kingdom here on earth today. I know that it is the one and only true church in the last dispensation of the fulness of times.

I love you all

The Elders I had to be quarantined in an apartment with for 4 days.  Glad to have Elder Case with me.  He drew that map of the Phillipines on the wall.

Another artistic rendition by Elder Case.

Final meeting with the Tacloban mission.

The hotel we slept in at Manila.  It was the nicest place we had seen in a while.

Flight into Salt Lake City on Sunday.

3-22-2020

This week has been a party and a half with early transfers (because of Corona and lockdowns). I AM TRAINING! My companion's name is Elder Acdal he is from Mindanao area and I am training him in Palo area. We will split the zone leaders area in half and we will work in one half they will work in the other. The good thing is my area has a CHAPEL... WITH AIRCON. The fat rip is that we can't attend church worldwide right now because of Corona virus. It is turnin' into a real rodeo out here in Philippines Tacloban mission because we might get quarantined for two weeks if it continues to grow here.

As this pandemic spreads and paralyzing fear spreads I think it is important to remember the scripture in doctrine and Covenants 6:36, it says,

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

As we continue to press forward having a perfect brightness of hope, the fear, and anxiety will fade away. That does not mean there won't be trials and challenges. Trials and challenges are inevitable, we cannot stop them, we cannot control when they affect us. What we can control is our attitude. We can have hope and faith on our savior Jesus Christ which will illuminate and drive away our the despair in the corners of our minds. In Ether 12:4 it talks about hope and faith as well. it says,

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which ^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in ^fgood works, being led to ^gglorify God.  

Continue doing good, continue to strengthen you faith and you will be anchored, you will find the calm in the storm.

In doctrine and covenants 121 verse 7 it says 

7 My son, ^apeace be unto thy soul; thine ^badversity and thine afflictions shall be but a ^csmall moment;  

That's all folks, love ya, until next week.

3-15-2020

BAKLA'S AND SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS

To start off my letter today I would like to give some backstory for my letter to make sense. Here in the Philippines gwapo is handsome and mahusay is pretty. When I am walking down the street and see someone I will immediately call them gwapo or mahusay. If there is a group of sisters or brothers I will say Mga gwapo or mga mahusay (plural). It has become my classic way of greeting people because it seems to bring a smile to almost everyone's face. As I have been in this area for a while there are people who will yell out gwapo to me as I pass before I can say it to them. It is pretty entertaining when you walk down the street and you hear people yell gwapo at you as they pass you. It will put a smile on your face even if you are having tough day. My response of course when they yell gwapo is "diri, mas gwapo ka" or "no I am not handsome, you are more handsome". Now that you have that backstory I can dive into the story of the week.

As I was walking in a barangay this week I yelled out my classic meet and greet phrase to an older man probably in his seventies. To give ya a good idea of the surroundings this man was sportin' the batman underwear and that was all. No shirt, no pants this man was walking down the concrete in the barangay in his batman underwear. What is funny is I am not even phased by this because this is an everyday sight here in the Philippines. So I SAID "GWAPO!" to this man. His response was
"HULA, BAKLA KA!" In English that means, "hula, you're gay" I immediately responded and told him, no no no. I am not gay brother it is just a compliment. I explained that it was just a compliment and I was not gay, we talked about the Church of Jesus Christ and introduced ourselves to him, after which he shuffled off with the same ol grumpy face that he had when I greeted him. So even though he thought I was a gay I won't quit calling people gwapo because it seems to bring smiles to most everyone's faces except this old man. Even if it doesn't bring a smile to their face it introduces an opportunity to talk to them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that will put a smile on anyone's face. When they receive this gospel and the joy accompanied with it they will have a smile on their face. A light in their eyes that will hint they have an enduring source of joy. That enduring source of joy is knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That enduring source of joy is Jesus Christ himself.

Though a smile may be a very smile thing it can brighten a day. Reading the scriptures can strengthen your testimony, attending church can anchor your faith, and praying can build your relationship with your father in heaven.

As we do these small and simple things daily we will draw closer to god.

In President Dallin H. Oaks talk "Small and Simple Things" he said, 

"President Brigham Young was reported as saying: “Our lives are made up of little, simple circumstances that amount to a great deal when they are brought together, and sum up the whole life of the man or woman."

Nephi wrote, “And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things” (1 Nephi 16:29)."

In Alma 37:6 it reads, "Now ye may suppose that this is ^afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by ^bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

It may seem easy to do these small and simple things, sometimes so easy that we forget to do them, or take the little things we do daily for granted.

In Alma it discusses what happens when we become lazy and do not do the "small and simple things" everyday to build our testimony.

In Alma 37:41, 43, 46 it reads

41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by ^asmallmeans it did show unto them marvelous works. They were ^bslothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey; 

43 And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a ^ashadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it is with things which are spiritual.

  

46 O my son, do not let us be ^aslothful because of the ^beasinessof the ^cway; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would ^dlook they might ^elive; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

47 And now, my son, see that ye take ^acare of these sacred things, yea, see that ye ^blook to God and live...

  

Love ya all!!

A picture to show you Jordan inherited some weights to work out with!  Yay!

A couple of pictures Jordan sent me to show me he is still problem solving the rat issue.  I guess the rats will come up through the drains in the sewer and before these didn't have grates on them to preven the rats from coming up.  He made and glued these grates in to prevent the rats from entering his apartment.  And yes, that is the shower bucket there in the corner.

 The jungle:

Exchanges with Elder Capinig

Baptisms:

3-8-2020

MAY I SEE YOUR ID and LAMANITE ARMIES

Ladies and gentlemen I am back and better than ever. Sorry I didn't have time to send a weekly last week. This week was a roller coaster for sure. 

So I found out last week I did a baptism wrong, when I asked the sister's middle name she replied with the first letter of her middle name not the full middle name so I got to redo that over again this last Saturday. The baptism is not correct if the full name isn't used. Right as I was about to pat myself on the back for fixing the problem I had created I got hit with another problem. When we explained to our family that we recently baptized why the other sister had to be rebaptized it came out that their daughter had a middle name that was not provided at the time we did the paperwork or at the time when I asked her full name. I was calmly explaining why I had to rebaptize the other sister this last Saturday when the dad said to us, "ohhhhh I get it, it is the same as if you had baptized sister Jannah (their daughter) by the name Jannah Antonette Basibas instead of the correct name Jannah Antonette Asebias Basibas." At this point my heart stopped, I swallowed my tongue and pretty much wanted to keel over and die right there. I let out a long groaning NOOOOOOOO. Than I said well we will have to do that again as well.  So the moral of this story is that I will ask from now on, "MAY I SEE YOUR ID" so that I don't make any more mistakes. The good thing is that I can at least learn from this mistake and not make it in the future. Although missionaries and members alike are not perfect what is important to remember is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect. 

Spiritual thought: WE CAN ONLY DEFEAT OUR PERSONAL LAMANITE ARMIES WITH STRENGTH FROM GOD.

Today I was reading in Alma2 and 3 and I noticed it talked about the nephites defeating ANOTHER lamanite army.

The Nephites defeat another Lamanite army.  

at times in our lives we will have Lamanite armies to defeat, we will have lamanite armies to defeat, at times our lamanites and amlicites or our OBSTACLES and CHALLENGES metaphorically speaking will be  as ^anumerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea, came upon them to destroy them.  - C2, Verse 27. At times we may think that our trials outnumber us 10 to 1. You may feel you do not have enough strength to overcome your trials. That is why we have something that Elder Bednar calls "THE ENABLING POWER OF THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST" 

Elder Bednar's "Strength of the Lord" helps us understand how to overcome our trials that outnumber us with the atonement of Jesus Christ.

As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who “act” rather than objects that are “acted upon."- Elder Bednar

In this talk Elder Bednar talks about praying not that our "circumstances will be magically changed" but that "we will be given strength to change our circumstances"

That is the enabling power of the atonement, that is how we can use it to overcome the obstacles that seem to numerous to defeat.

In the very next verse of Alma 2:28 the nephites do not pray that they will magically defeat the army of lamanites and amlicites but that they may be given strength from the lord to defeat them.

28 Nevertheless, the Nephites being ^astrengthened by the hand of the Lord, having prayed mightily to him that he would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, therefore the Lord did hear their cries, and did strengthen them, and the Lamanites and the Amlicites did fall before them.  

As we pray for the strength from the lord and use this enabling power of the atonement our metaphorical Lamanites and Amlicites will fall before us.

You will receive strength from the Lord that you will be able to overcome your challenges.

Love ya'll!

Tribute to Durango.  A sea rock cairn.

Some souvenirs I get to bring home with me.  A giant sea slug.

A sea horse.

Some local cuisine.  An exotic steak fish (steak because there is no bones).

This sweet side dish actually caused WORLD WAR 3 in my stomach this week, fortunately the only fatality was the three toilets I used.

The Americano squad

Brightly shines our Father's glory.

Some cool local caves.

The work of a missionary.  Teaching the entire police station.

Baptisms and rebaptisms.

3-1-2020

No pictures or generic email from my son this week.  He wrote Brad and I a quick email though so I'll share a few highlights here.

He has had some firsts this week:

Mom dad this week was a party. I held a gigantic sea snail. I ate stingray (it is really good) I ate really exotic fish. The coolest thing that happened was I held in my hands a real sea horse (that fool was deader than a doornail of course) Our investigators gave it to me, (it is all dried out) for a souvenir. 

He is struggling with the grit in the air in the Phillipines:

Also I decided of my eyes keep turning a ripe shade of pinkl I will try glasses and see if that changes anything. I am pretty sure it is jsut the dust and nastiness in the air here. 

He is having normal companion struggles and normal human struggles (he'll probably be back to not being as bugged today when I speak with him):

My companion told me to not listen to classical last week and this week thought he had the right to chastise me for singing songs that aren't hymns sometimes. So that pissed me off a little because it isn't like I am sitting in a lesson and singing "BABYLONIAN" songs. I am sorry but this kid is a huge city slicker sissy. He has depression and some mental problems and I can't wait to have a new companion so my companion doesn't break down once a week. 

He has to deal with his own mistakes:

Other than that I will have to rebaptize the sister who I didn't know the right middle name of from last Saturday this next Saturday (she said V instead of Valdenor when I asked) Also we have to reconfirm the mother of the family next Sunday because this Sunday the first COunsellor forgot to say "RECIEVE THE HOLY GHOST" so that is a ltitle lame. At least we will have 4 baptisms the Saturday after this coming Saturday that I know for sure I need to make sure EVERYTHING is done right. 

2-23-2020

BACK SCRATCHES

To preface this email I would like to say I have never been a fan of Missionaries giving their companions back scratches. I don't care how united missionaries are in their companionship, I have always thought it was a little weird when I saw missionaries

giving their companions back rubs. It is just a personal thing. This week on Friday we were on our way back from DCM. We were sitting in what is called a jeepney and packed in there like sardines. The new Philippino companion of my friend Elder Graham seems to like giving people back rubs and was rubbing Elder Graham's back in the jeepney. To prank Elder Capinig, Elder Graham decided to return the favor. So he started rubbing Elder Capinig's back, it was at this point Elder Capinig said to Elder Graham don't rub my back there because I am ticklish in that spot. So Elder Graham did what any smart missionary would do who is attempting to prank their companion. When Elder Capinig's eyes closed Elder Graham put his arm around Elder Capinig and tickled the ticklish part of Elder Capinig's side. IT WAS AT THIS MOMENT HE REALIZED THAT THE PERSON HE TICKLED WAS FAT. ELDER CAPINIG IS SKINNY. When he looked over he made eye contact with the random philippino lady he had just tickled. He immediately withdrew his hand embarrassed that he just tickled a random Philippino lady on a jeepney.

MORAL OF THE STORY: COMPANIONSHIP BACK SCRATCHES LEAD TO RANDOMLY TICKLING SOME RANDOM PHILIPPINO LADY YOU DON'T KNOW!!

Other than that we are preparing to baptize the Basibas family and sister Jessalina this Saturday. They are amazing people and truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ!

scriptural thought: Helaman 3:35

35 Nevertheless they did ^afast and ^bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their ^chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the ^dpurifying and the ^esanctificationof their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their ^fyielding their hearts unto God. 

If we do not yield our hearts unto god than they cannot be sanctified. If he does not have all of our heart, might, mind and strength he cannot sculpt us into the person that he wants us to be. He cannot produce a finished product if we are not moldable.

A super awesome talk I read this week talked a little bit about this,

 In THE FOURTH MISSIONARY by Lawrence E. Corbridge it reads,  

" Alma also said to Corianton, that we may partake of the waters of life freely and be satisfied, if we choose to, but if we don't want it we will not be compelled to drink. "Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come..." (Alma 42:27) . 

It is up to you. You cannot be changed to become more like God, if within your heart you fight against God; if within your heart you resist, resent and hold fast to what you rather would do."

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!

A cool local waterfall:

Yes, that is supposed to be a swingset but instead it is some sticks wrapped in chains.

A dirtbike chain on a pedal bike with a sidecar.

FHE with the squad: