02.19.18 Last Day in Siquijor

hello people coming to you from my last day in paradise! yea got the call lsat night and im being traded to cebu and two new elders will be replacing me here in siquijor, i have no idea what my agent was thinking hahah. but yea we are off to cebu later today because Elder Rasband is coming to the temple to talk to all of us so i will meet my new comp there and see what happens. but yea i had a good last week here and yea dealing with my first cold of the mission, been coughin up a storm over the last week but i will survive, oh as long as i dont fall in love i know ill stay alive hahah. but yea leaving my two comps here and my new comp is an americano never met him before but he just got out of his training i think so yea. im going to miss all the people here so much, so hard leaving the people i have grown close to over the past 6 months but im excited for whats to come. yea sorry have some funny pics but they aint tryna load on and im crying while typing this because i reached in to grab something last night and my razor was facing up and i shaved off my finger hahah kinda hurts im gonna be honest. S/O to my little bro cole for his first date and dance last week wow never seen him dress up like that before, he mustve had someone to look up to in the style category hmmm who could it be... but yea sorry ill get back to you guys next week and yea getting through alma right now and the part when alma and amulek go out to preach the word and the stuff they say is amazing! they were some great missionaries! love you all so much and of course press forward in faith, in Christ.

02.06.18 Siquijor

Hello people this is Elder Smith coming to you from a computer lab somewhere hahah but yea we had a super good week here like way good. We had another good week teaching and finding and the best part was that we had 4 investigators to church! Everyone of our IBD made it to church which we were so happy about. Even this couple from Nabutay. which isover 45 min away and they were early to our 9AM start! So yea that was good and we had a lot of fun teaching people and one of the highlights came yesterday when we were teaching of our RC sister Dambo, am 11 yr old girl from Cebu who looks like she is 7 hahah she is tiny. We love teaching her because she always believes what we tell her and does what we tell her to, which in some cases can be a bad thing hahah. We were reviewing the Plan of Salvation and the Pre-mortal life and we asked her who lived there and she answered "Jesus and Heavenly Father... and Elder Smith" as a joke and we told her that was right because everyone lived there before they came here and that just confused her  hahah. She sat there for a ocuple seconds before Elder Briones came in saying, "yea i knew you before in the pre-mortal life" and she was just bewildered she didnt know what to think hahah and then he added a little more,... "and you were chubby" hahahhahahaha we were dying as she sat there just trying to take it all in. Her face was so awesome and she was totally serious like she believed everything Elder Briones said hahah so good. Also, we did a little back to school shopping and got us some companionship shoes from Prince(the only store on Siquijor). FOr only 200 pesos we got some pretty fresh adidas that could also be seen at your local Toys R Us back home hahah. But yea we are going back to school today, and let me just say this has been the most excited i have ever been for school. Later today we are attending a class and SSC, the class of Sister Liezl and we are so pumped hahah. We put on our disguise and we are lookin like your regular old students hahah(thanks for the old navy pants mom). But yea we have a baptism comin up this week and that is exciting and everything is looking up! Loving the work and even more the people, and even more the gospel. Grateful for every day that I get to progress and develop my faith in Christ. Love you all and dont forget to press forward in faith.

The pictures.... Wow from making my baseball glove to our ironing board, Mizuno does it all. Oh yea we took a trip to Dumaguete to the hospital for E Briones and his asthma is super bad so now every morning and night we are stuck watching him nebulize hahah and his fresh look today, wow gwapo. oh and our fresh kicks dont worry ill get some more up next week.

-Elder Smith

 

 

 

1.31.18 Siquijor

Hello people hahah good week here in Siquijor! Lots of stuff going on and we had a short week last week and struggled with only two days of full work but we got back at it this week. But yea highlight of the week was Saturday, the baptism of Sister Liezl! We drove across the island to get to this place before i realized that this was the first beach that i ever went to on Siquijor. This white sand beach and I got to baptize her and it was an amazing morning, and the best part was her testimony after the fact. She stood up and told everyone what she knew, and i am so grateful for the time she gave to us and how much trust she has in us. So then we were back to work and walkin everywhere because we might have been out of money hhahaah but we are okay now. But yea we talked to a lot of cool people and even had a lesson with this Lady that was Tagalog yesterday, so i practiced my three words that i know hahah but yea we are enjoying our time here and having lots of fun. Elder Briones is still telling everyone that we are ugings and im still going along with it so yea same old same old but little cool story from like two hours ago, i planned for us to go to our farthest investigator this morning and we thought if we were done by 12 we would have a ride back to Larena, 50 min away. We sat there for two hours with nothing coming and I was gettinga  little worried but I just said a little prayer and after several attempts to hitch hike in that two hours, this van stopped and they were going to Larena. Not too crazy of an experience but I just want to testify that prayer is a real thing, and the most important thing is that we offer what is in our hearts. We find a lot of people here that have memorized prayers and recite them to us and I feel bad for these people because they dont have the opportunity tthat I do everyday to talk to my Heavenly Father. Sorry there havent been any pictures but ill get some in this one. Love you all so much and am grateful for your examples in my life, each one of you are people i can look up to. Press forward in faith!

Hahah i dont know what order but theres a pic from the baptism. Elder Phippen got a little too excited when we were going out to work;) and a reaction from Elder Briones about his little accident. Also ELder Phippen grinding Peanut Butter with Relief Society. Dont worry i got good 30 min in grinding and ended up with one little cup out of the two gallons we made hahah. THen 0 to 100 real quick the little girls in the branch hahah i dont know what it else love you all!​

Guess it's optional to swim at baptisms.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.23.18 Siquijor

Helllooooo. Sorry peeps that I couldn't get to you last week but yea we had a good week here. This week we are in Dumaguete a lot and we had interviews a couple of days ago. Glad to say gihapon that our two investigators were interviewed last night and they both passed with flying colors. Sister Liezl, and Sister Camela are going to be baptized this week and next week hahah cant wait. But yea we had a really good week last week even on the days when are appointments fell through, we never had less that 6 lessons so that was really cool and then i conducted sacrament on sunday, and taught gospel principles, then the grand slam and taught priesthood also hahahah. but yea our branch is struggling and its sad but i think we have a lot of things to look forward to and our Mission President might have a meeting with us and the stake president tomrrow and im in charge of providing the problems of the branch adn what we can do, soooo hahahh pray for me. But yea President told me that he would love to keep me here next transfer but it isnt possible, so i will be leaving the land of no return which is a little sad but he also told me that there is a chance in the end of my mission i could make my way back here. But yea still doing good sorry now pictures again but im doing good. Sorry not a lot of funny stuff but i really do know that through Christ and faith in him, or hearts can be changed for the better. Love you all and love the suuport i get from you each and every week. press foward in faith. -Elder Smith