6-30-2014

hi everyone! Exciting week!

p.s. dear Sister Mayberry, I'm sorry I haven't pouched you back yet, here's a tip, take pictures of the emails with your camera or print them (which is way mahal) and read them later! I'll pouch this week :D

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Elder A. Cook

6-23-2014 "mass email. IT IS SO GREEN HERE! thanks to the rain."

This weeks email were scanned pages he sent. I'm hoping they upload OK.

June 15, 2014

*Note: I once again didn't get to this last week. Monday's are so crazy and then I forget. Sigh. Andrew would love to hear from people. Contact info can be found over in the right hand column. There's also some translator links over there.*

I have a lot to say in no time. Sorry for emailing early, we did so that we could email our fathers, before they go to sleep!

we went to the city everyday this week, so I went broke on busfare and lunch, (which costs more there) but I made it to withdraw day with 100 pisos to spare. cutting it close eh?

we had a birthday party for our Bishop's wife. Boy was that a blast!

I have started wearing my watch on my wrist backward, because I can check the time with less movement and also the face doesn't get scratched.

so we had, District meeting, Zone meeting, Tri-zone conference, and Stake conference (priesthood, and adult session on saturday, and normal on sunday) so I have MANY talks to share, and NO time. SO I will write them up, on paper, scan them and share them next week. 

the only thing I want to share now is President promised if we get 5 new investigators every week for our whole mission, we WILL get 1 baptism per companion.

I have had a LOT of experience with death this week, and I know that is a very sensitive subject, but I hope the talks will help you all next week, because they really helped me. 

I love you all, and I know the Lord is with you. He is my pillar by day, and my Light by night. He plans everything. There is hope in that. I have become intimately acquainted with the wickedness of the world, but I know the Lord is a WHOLE lot stronger that ANYTHING Satan can throw at us. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I love you all, Mahal ko kayo

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Elder A. Cook

6-9-2014

I am writing before I read any emails, to ensure I have time to finish this week :D 

A couple of weeks ago I said I was surprised at how little fruit there is here. It turns out, I just came in in the off season. we have SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many mangoes given to us! they just rot because we eat 4 at a meal each and can't get through them!

It is also rainy season. My area is the hottest in the mission, so I am relieved to finally see green! It is soooo pretty here now! also waterproof shoes rock. I often have an umbrella to protect our electronics, while elder Karch just braves it. his planner, a ton of pamphlets, and one Book of Mormon were destroyed.

The following is a reference to internet memes, so if you don't understand, ask your nearest teenager.

I was studying while enjoying a mango. They are very difficult to eat without getting sticky. I made my concerns known to Elder Karch. "I don't want to get my Book of Mormon sticky!" he just smiled and said "hash-tag, third world problems."

we bought a delicious root of some sort, that tastes like apple. I can't tell you what it is, because yams, sweet potato, and turnips, or any kind of root other than potato, are all called the same thing. well some how, It makes visible growth every day. like maybe 3 quarters of a foot. It started growing through a window, and we decided to keep it to green the place up, (along with elder Alonzo's bonzai tree) It reminds me of jumangi!

It turns out the local post office is RIGHT next to our house! we have been going to the city to mail, when we could have just stepped out side! oh well. maybe I'll be here next transfer too.

Elder Karch finally got his Yugioh cards. I still have not lost.

We did my first service project! We were told we were building a house. Nope. It was DEMOLITION! WHEW! I got to machete a wall. and a couple trees. In fact I learned how to machete properly. If you go with the grain of the wood, it cuts so much deeper, so you cut at an angle when you cut down a tree. not perpendicular.

Also, Thanks for all the letters. I got one unexpected though. It came from Satan... It was addressed to the WHOLE mission. "Thanks to all of you who do... etc. You really help my work move along." It was really interesting to see how people reacted. Most people just got mad. "I DON'T DO ANY OF THIS!"

Remember how I said lessons are picking up? Now, We set the highest number of lessons taught this week. Making those changes really made a difference. According to the District Leader "You two were on the watch list for disobedience because your lessons were so low. I live with you, and I see you guys work your butts off. I can't understand why. It's safe to say you're not on the list." 

We finished all the lessons with the investigator I met my second day, which means she can be baptized in 2 weeks, if she goes to church both weeks. I AM SO EXCITED! She is so ready.

Now that I understand what I read in Tagolog, It is so much fun to talk to her, she is a hoot. And she has a very strong testimony, all of her extended family tells us they can see a difference in her life. Now if only her brother could get Sunday off to come to church, he wants to be baptized too! Also their father is always drunk. (they are both over 20 still living at home. It's normal here until you are married) Prayers are always appreciated.

We discovered buying a large bag of suckers Saturday night makes church so much quieter. I'm not really sure why ;)

We also have my most struggling less active family... We discovered for the younger members, the thing we do that has the most effect is bring them as a member present. And all of their older daughters want to teach with us! we have started bringing them to lessons and they have come to church two weeks in a row! Nanay came one week. Have any ideas?

One piece of advice to you all: binasa ang Aklat ni Mormon! Mangako ako, kung ginawa ito, binasbasan ni Dyos, ang buhay ninyo!

I love you all! Ingat!

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Elder A. Cook

June 3 2014

This week has been an interesting adventure, and I'm not allowed to tell you about half of it! Nothing dangerous, or bad, just spiritual :D all very good.

I can tell you I stopped some bad stuff from happening, before it even start.

Since I have finished my training, We have had SO MANY more lessons! The spirit is so strong in many of them, because I have become much more receptive.

I want to take one excerpt from the email to my grandmother:

"This last week, we had a referral from the Bishop's niece. I plan to talk about that more in the mass email, but her example made all the difference. He said he felt no direction in his life, not even sure if God exists. But she has such a sense of direction. she GLOWS with righteousness, and I felt prompted to say "I know you see that in her. I can see that you wonder where that comes from. That is the Holy Ghost. That is why we are here. Because she cares about you, and wants to give you that gift of the truth."(roughly translated from Tagolog)"

Unfortunately, He won't pray. I am here to tell you God DOES exist. He asked us how we know. If you pray and get an answer, He's real. If you don't, He's not. He told us he can't have enough faith to pray yet. I hope his friend can help him build the faith. I can not stress how important referrals and member work are! We can do NOTHING without it!

It is 104 outside. We literally got hit by a wall of air-con, and then walked back out into an oven. 40 in Celsius, which is what we use here.

I am getting good at Billiards. One of our almost active members owns a bendehan (really a snack bar with a Billards table.)

I have had a lot of great lessons this week. I want to tell you them all, but The computer kicked me off, fortunatly, my whole email saved as a draft, so I recovered, but I only have about 5 minutes. next week I'll tell you more.

I got two new roommates this week, because the first one went to the hospital, and the second was super super obedient, and helped me have the courage to stand up to the other missionaries. the first is now back with us, ayos lang! and the second is now a district leader in another area. he was here half a week.

I would love emails, from Madi, and Kelly :P

Anyway, out of time! love you all! ingat!

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Elder A. Cook

May 25, 2014

so. this week

I was not transferred. Neither was Elder Karch! BUT this transfer is completely different. We actually have been getting lessons! these girls have been playing uno with us. (not in our house, we don't break the rules. don't worry) but I am a missionary twenty four seven. so I gave the oldest one a pamphlet, and explained it. when I asked the next day if she read it, she said "it was SO BEAUTIFUL!" I think that is a good reaction. We got a few good referrals. we went with the Bishop's niece to her best friend. the Guy who came with us (ward mission leader) kept cutting me off mid sentence. The gentleman almost didn't invite us back, but we had his best friend there, so that helped.

The best lesson, was when we taught the Elder's Quorum President's wife.

She is not a member, but it was clear how important family is to her, And that's what our church is all about! The spirit was so strong, and As I think I said last week, It does not matter how well I teach, because they don't learn anything from me. It only matters how well I invite The Spirit. because He's the real teacher!

A cat snuck in in the night, and ate our food, (all our noodles and bread) and shredded one pair of my underwear.

dumb cat.

my last roommates killed the last bat that came in our house. This set caught it, and removed it peacefully. that was awesome!

I am officially done with training! it's been 4 months. and now I work one more hour a day. the Language clicked (again). I started practicing with recordings that talk way faster than people do. that has helped more that anything.

This will make a big difference, because in just one hour, and being schedules to go out earlier in the morning, and study during nap time, We get so many more lessons in! we have been having two problems: one, no lessons, and two: when we do have lessons, we teach lessons not people. I intend to change this.

moroni 10:32 has answered a question of mine. HOW do we follow God's commandments, when we have so many bad infulences. This scripture was given me by the Bishop's niece who is preparing to serve a mission. It is a perfect scripture to back advice given me by the Stake President in my ward before leaving, quoting president Uchtdorf. JUST STOP. any time you have temptation. just deny it. it's easier than you think.

well, thanks for all the love and support! ingat ang mga pamilya ko! mahal ko kayo!

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Elder A. Cook

5-19-2014

So! Adventure week!

It is crazy how fast time flies! I can hardly believe the MTC was only six weeks! It felt like a year! and I can hardly believe this transfer has been six weeks! It felt like 2 or three days!

I will probably get a new companion. In fact I will likely be transferred to a new area this Friday! But if I stay another transfer that is great too! :D

This last monday, my companion got his hair cut.

 He asked for "mas conte" on top, and they started thinning. So he tried "mas maliit" and they started thinning again. "no no! mas maliit sa taas! (shorter ON TOP)" "are you sure?" "yes! like a quarter inch shorter!" "are you SURE?!" "YES!" bzzt! they made it a quarter inch all around. he is pretty much bald. ironically, the zone leaders, ap's, and mission president all came by our house this week, and none of them got mad at him.

Then my watch broke. ugh...

Then my favorite pen broke. *sigh*

then we had an FHE with the less active family I mentioned last week. We finally figured out how to get through to them! It is important to have fun, but they needed to see it is important to us to actually teach. So we started having family home evenings, with lessons FIRST. They started coming to church! It was incredibly fun though! I think we are their favorite Elders now :D we will find out if they talk about us a lot to the next Elders!

Then we got invited to a wedding. wow. we expected to go for the lunch only, but our invite was together with the less active mentioned in the last paragraph. what we didn't know is she is very wealthy. she payed for the wedding ALONG WITH THE GOVERNOR! so, we were made honored guests, and we couldn't leave part way through. It was really nifty to hear a catholic pastor. He said hallelujia, praise the Lord, and hello?! often. it was kind of funny. He was talking about "Facebook friending" the bride and groom. However the food was absolutely fabulous. The weddings are just slightly different from some of our church's traditions, and it was very surprising to me.

as President said: "There is no such thing as free lunch."

The wedding was delicious, but I got RIDICULOUSLY sick! I was up all night being sick, and then sleeping all day. my companion occupied himself learning to throw cards and rubix cube (just so happened it's the 40th anniversary of the cube today) poor guy. He even made me an egg. I could only eat half. 

but I got a new watch!

I learned some really great things in the PMG. first, "People wont care how much you know, until they know how much you care." advice from Elder Holland. We applied this to our less active family, AND IT WORKED!

and the next thing I learned.

a man went fishing, left at 6:30 am and returned at 8 pm

he caught one fish.

another man went fishing at 6:30 am and returned at 8 pm, but he caught 12 fishes!

what's the difference here? The first fisherman left on time, but spent many hours traveling, he stopped for breakfast, and stopped for lunch, snack and dinner. all together, he spent 2 hours with his hook in the water.

the Second fisherman packed a lunch the night before, woke up early for breakfast, and ate after he came home. with traveling he spent 12 HOURS with his hook in the water.

I have really seen the juxtaposition of a very successful transfer, and a very minimally successful transfer. I will hold on to this lesson!

Thanks for all your love and support! I love emails and letters! INGAT!

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Elder A. Cook