2016-12-18 Boodle Fight!

December 18, 2016 – Boodle Fight!

Kamusta ka!

Merry Christmas!!! Sorry in advance this will be short, I'll just describe some pictures a little.

Rice up close! Not going to lie, I thought that there would be more on each plant, consider how any grains it takes to make a kilo, and how many kilos I eat a week. We live closer to a town, but I reckon the rice stretches on for hectares outside of the paved roads. And I have been corrected, they have some tractor like things here, but they still harvest by hand.

We got some banana leaves! You'll see why in a second!

Branch FHE!

Boodle Fight! This is a cultural thing here, where everyone eats with their hands off of one big, huge plate! Sanitary? No. Delicious? Absolutely.

 ...the aftermath

BAAAAA, BLAAAALALAAAAA

Well, I have a lot to share and no time to share it or process it, so I'll make my Christmas gift to you a good email next week! Thanks for reading everyone, don't let the stress or the gifts or the preparation take away from Christmas, and our celebration of the Savior's birth, have an awesome week, love you all!

Elder Fish

2016-12-11 White Christmas Baptism!

December 11, 2016 – White Christmas Baptism!

Maligayang Kaspakuhan!

Christmas is right around the corner! There is very little chance of getting snow when you're neighbors with the equator, but we still had a white christmas! In missionary terms, it means we had baptisms. In our whole mission we had 79 souls be baptized on the same day, which is such a joyous thing. 79 people chose to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after investigating the scriptures, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and their very soul. It's really tough to make changes in your life, especially if your 71 years old, but that's what Christ asks us to do in His teachings. And that's what Sis Lita did!  

When we teach someone, we make it as much as a discussion as possible. The best sort of lesson or message to a person is where both parties are being enlightened by the Spirit in the lesson, and are making small discoveries or huge ones that help us become converted and understand our Heavenly Father more. One thing is, we as missionaries have studied and prayed for countless hours about the doctrine of Christ, so when we teach it we don't buckle. The truth sometimes isn't easy, "the guilty taketh the truth to be hard". I'm so impressed by Nanay L- because every time we taught her, she expressed what she has learned about a topic from the last 71 years, then was open to learning new things. Even though we are just young guys, she humbled herself and learned. It was a privilege to prepare her for baptism.

This is Sister M-, from the Sister missionaries' area, they were both so excited for today, it was a beautiful moment. Truly everyone is called to Christ's church, men and women, the children and the old.

Pictured here are the sister missionaries of Bustos Branch as well as the couple (adult) missionaries, and some fantastic members. 

Brother A-, the priesthood holder who performed the baptism.

Today my spiritual thought will just be some thinking I was doing in the middle of this week. When I first entered the mission field I had a 'greenie' mentality. Everything was so brand new, everything was so cool. And, I thought about what I would share with you guys all the time. Honestly, back then I probably would have though "how cool!" if I got chased by a dog. I was happy to get doors slammed in my face because it's part of the experience of being a missionary. Now, I have more perspective, and I'm constantly getting more perspective. When I first got here and saw and felt the destitution and poverty in the city, I was so torn up over it. I wanted to help, and whenever I could I did, but I have gained a little perspective about poverty. I especially enjoy what one prophet, President Ezra Taft Benson said about poverty and about Jesus Christ:

The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. 

In my last area I wanted to have more service opportunities, and I'm super happy because I've had way more here in this area, but I've also gained an appreciation for the service I'm giving by simply sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because, if one is truly converted they will rely on Christ and work hard and make the very most out of their situations, not to mention the spiritual and physical blessings they will get. That's the best help I can give to the people here. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime right? Changing thinking from the selfish, physical man to the thinking and teachings of Christ will cause a complete change. Instead of tooth for a tooth, it's forgive and love. I can't even imagine the progress the world would make in establishing peace and eliminating poverty if more people have been "born of God" as one Book of Mormon prophet put it. 

 Thanks for reading everyone, I love you all and have a great Christmas holiday, remember Christ, live how He would have you live. How He lived. Until next time!

 Elder Fish

2016-12-5 - Pictures!

December 5, 2016 – Pictures!

Kamusta po kayo!

Another week, but this time we have pictures! Enjoy :) 

We had the opportunity to offer our service this past week, we essentially did yard work for a few hours at a member's home. it was awesome, pulling weeds reminded me of Saturdays at home. After we piled all of the leaves and greenery into a pile, we set it on fire. There's so much vegetation here, there's almost always the smell of smoke because people are burning the yard trimmings.

Got to go on some exchanges with Elder S-! We had a great time talking to everyone we saw, it's remarkably effective to have TWO white people show up deep in the farms in the Philippines. This is especially accented by Elder S-'s height! In my last zone we went on exchanges and it's cool to see how much we have both learned since then.

We had a paint war as a district this preparation day!

This sign says "don't loiter in front of the freezer", what a bunch of rebels.

Here's an idea of how open the area can be sometimes, it's like the Idaho of the Philippines.

 We have 4 missionaries in our branch, and here is our branch mission leader. We are lucky to have a lot of return missionaries who want to participate in spreading the gospel.

 Here is a reunion with my companion from the MTC! Elder H- and I have our fingers crossed that we become companions again in 6 months or so. Meetings stink in our area because we have to wake up before 5 to get there and we don't usually get home in time to work, but it's always a treat to see an old friend.

 My spiritual thought is short, just about being a light this upcoming Christmas. I would encourage a quick tour of the mormon.org page that is all about the Christmas theme of Light the World. Jesus Christ is the perfect example, but we can all emulate Him and reflect Him through our own lives. Something I am very excited for is service, because the Light the World program is all about finding ways to give service, regardless of religion or culture. I'm excited because I know this will develop my personal character and simply help others. I'm excited to develop an eye for service opportunities that will extend past this Christmas season and onwards. Sorry this is short, still kind of settling into the area and trying to figure out which computer shop will send pictures and whatnot, but thanks for reading and following this journey, love you all!

Elder Fish

2016-11-27 Windows XP

Kamusta ka!

Wow, what a fast week! I'm growing to know and love the area here in Bustos. We constantly find members houses, learn the streets and side paths, it's like we are putting together a big puzzle, it's sort of fun actually. Just last night, we tried a house that we thought had a previous investigator, and we barely managed to find it because it was dark by then, and we actually were looking for someone else. Turns out there was someone interested, and their almost completely prepared already! Their testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith is really strong, and even though it's been a while since they were last taught, they were happy to have us. Miracles are happening here! 

We are getting to know our branch better too, we have a lot of members willing to work with us, and a good deal of returned missionaries who miss the thrill of teaching. We gave talks yesterday, and I had a very similar experience to last time I was at the pulpit. I'm not an energetic or captivating speaker, but it was comfortable which is still a strange feeling. 

Sorry about the lack of pictures, this computer is ancient and I believe I'm still using windos xp right now, which is kind of strange. The keyboard is definitely from the 2000's. Blast from the past

This thanksgiving I'm thankful for all of the luxuries I've had in my life. Even while I live here, I live in conditions that are stable and I have so many blessings that the people I teach don't necessarily share. It's been one of the most humbling things to serve a mission, and I am thankful for the life I have had. My spiritual thought today is about my reading in the New Testament. The different epistles or letters from the apostle paul to the members of the church of jesus christ in those times. All the letters are Paul attempting to keep the church unified because they have "one faith, one lord, and one baptism" (ephesians4:5) This passage really strengthened my testimony of the church of jesus christ, because there are thousands of religions on the earth, and the question we have is which one is the one Paul is talking about. I know that the church established by christ was restored through a modern, latter day prophet named Joseph Smith. I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father, and He loves all of us, and we can better understand this relationship and His plan for us through the church of Jesus Christ here on the earth. Thanks for reading, sorry about the lack of color and the brevity, but next week should have plenty more tales to tell. Love you all!

Elder Fish

2016-11-20 – A Whole New World!

November 20, 2016 – A Whole New World!

Kamusta po kayo!

New area, new companion, new everything! My new companion is great, Elder Dela Cruz. He is from the Philippines, about a 4 hour bus away from our area (called Baliwag). Our area is so awesome, it's a completely different world than my last area, which was all city and tons of people and black floodwater. Here it's so rural and open and green, I must be dreaming. There are rice fields everywhere, trees, cows and caribou, you name it.

The Tagalog language here is DEEP. Even my comp, who's first language is Tagalog, said some of the words are hard to pronounce here, but he understands all of it. I, on the other hand, thought I had a pretty handy grasp on Tagalog until I got here. In some ways it's like starting over, they have a different accent sometimes, and the vocabulary usage is different. These next 3 months my comp and I made a deal, he will be fluent in English and I will be fluent in Tagalog. The people here are awesome, they're super nice, really goofy sometimes, and also a lot more conservative than in the city. It's really neat to just adapt to the culture wherever you go.

I'm learning so much from my companion, he is a really humble person, and we are going to get along just fine. I'm inspired by his example, he's pretty young but he's willing to try things, and we are going to push each other a lot. 

 The skies are still so pretty, and there are stars!!! I haven't seen anything but the moon and the north star in so long, but there are plenty out here. It really is like a different country even though I'm only 4 hours from my last area.

 Apparently you can ride these, but this one had a calf so I kept my distance. To a few feet. Caribou are pretty famous here, they have a Caribou festival, in April I believe, where a bunch of trained caribou parade around.

 We have sister missionaries in our branch, which is also new, we can share advice for who we are teaching every Sunday, and they have been a huge help since neither my comp nor I know this area. It will be a big challenge this first weeks, but I'm expecting miracles out here, the members are amazing and the area is white already to harvest. But it's not wheat, it’s rice. Lots and lots of rice.

 We shared in a baptism last weekend, which was a great experience, this family has such a strong testimony, and we get the opportunity to teach them and help them towards the temple now! 

 Here is the youth of Bustos Branch, they're a great group. Our first day in the area we participated in a combined home teaching activity. Jogging is really big here, so I'm looking to get back into a little running with some of the young men! 

 RIIIIIICE!

 don't have a ton of time, so my spiritual thought will just be one of the first things Elder Dela Cruz said to me when we met. He had cleft lip as a baby and went through a lot of speech therapy because of the operation. He still has a really strong lisp, but in no way do I see it as a speech impediment. He said, "I was worried about serving a mission because I didn't think people would be able to understand, but I know the Spirit will say things for me" We haven't been together for very long but I know the spirit does indeed convey the message we have, even though my tagalog isn't perfect, and his speech isn't perfect, it's not what we say that carries our message, it's the spirit. I'm excited for this whole new world, I have a lot to learn and a whole lot of places to explore. Thanks for reading, I love you all! 

Elder Fish