Companion Separation Anxiety

WOW, what a week, and I mean ours. We were busy all week. It was pretty awesome. Teaching and all was pretty normal stuff. Just working hard and getting a ton of lessons. But not just lessons, helping people to come unto Christ.

One thing I just want to say is that I love my companion, Elder Eastin. He is so awesome. We have a great time together. We work hard, we work well together, we joke and have fun, and we also have good discussions the few times we aren't talking to everyone around us. It's usually lying exhausted in bed talking for like five minutes before we fall asleep. We had a good discussion the other day about companion separation anxiety, feeling strange when you aren't with your assigned comp, even on exchanges. It just feels good to be back with your companion. Even when I went with Elder D'Addabbo, who is my best friend here, I was excited to come back to Elder Eastin.

We had our zone activity today. It was simple and way fun. I was really happy that the others all enjoyed it too. All we did was go to the Mansilingan Chapel and play some planned games. We played Human Bingo, Jeopardy, and some others. Everyone had a great time and it was just good to relax and get to know the other missionaries in the zone a bit more.

Yesterday was stake conference here in Bacolod South Stake. It was way fun too. I know so many people in this stake. Been assigned in two of the areas here and been on exchanges in some of the others, as well as conducting baptismal interviews. It was great to see all those. Especially those that I had interviewed. Really proud of them. As I was talking with many of the members from Handumanan they commented that I had lost weight! I guess I have been losing more with how hard we have been working. It was pretty cool to hear that. I heard the same thing today from Sister Baluyot at the zone activity. We were waiting for others to show up and they walked in and that was one of the first things she said, "Elder Phelps, you lost weight." Hopefully I'll lose some more in the next three weeks before I come home!

One really cool thing that happened this week was the investigator that came to stake conference. The husband is a trisikad driver (I don’t have time to explain it), they are poor, but live close enough to the church in Alijis to walk. We were worried about having them come. But we told them to prepare and use their faith that they could make it to Mansilingan. And shortly after conference started they walked in!! We were way happy to see them.

I love you all!!

Elder Phelps

Alijis Branch becomes Alijis Ward!

November 21, 2011
This may sound bad of me, but I don't really remember the "sleepover" Andrew and I had before I left. I don't doubt that we did one, just a lot has happened in the last two years.  Sure do miss that guy though.  If Mom ever lets me go when I get home, I may never let Andrew go.

I remember those scout game sleepovers at the house.... they were... fun. Most of the time. I don't think I know any of your scouts anymore... They were all still in Primary when I left. Something they have been trying to work on here in the Bacolod South Stake is setting up the scouting program. There is a Boy Scouts of the Philippines, but the church doesn't always sponsor it. Where the church is more developed they have it, like in Manila. President Tobias served as a scoutmaster. In one of our interviews a while back we talked about the scout movie Follow Me Boys. He was very happy to find out that I worked at scout camp. Scouting is awesome!

You asked for my thoughts on D&C Section 4 since you guys are speaking on it in church Sunday….

2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand  blameless before God at the last day.

"all your heart, might, mind, and strength..." It can be pretty hard to fully be/ do what that phrase means. But it is also very rewarding when you do. There is also the promise that if you do that you "may stand blameless before God at the last day”. Meaning if you aren't totally committed and focused to the work, you will stand accountable at the judgment day.

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;

This means that D&C 4 is not just limited to the set-apart full-time missionaries, it is for any and all members of the Lord's church. You can also look at the word "work," just what is "the work" that ye are called to? Moses 1:39! That is certainly not limited to the missionaries.

5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.

6 Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.

The qualities and attributes expected of us as the Lord's servants. And you certainly need all of them as you pursue this great work. One is not greater than the other, and from my experience, at least as a missionary, you will use all of them everyday, and sometimes it will be a challenge. Especially the patience with investigators sometimes.

And that's my insight to D&C 4. We recite it every Tuesday at District Meeting.

Elder Eastin and I worked really hard this week and were abundantly blessed. We were able to find a ton of new investigators and most are pretty good. On Sunday we went to pick up and walk to church with some of our investigators. We got to their house just around 8 and helped them get ready. We helped Sister hang up the laundry and then we pumped water for them to shower. It was really fun. What I really hope came from that though is that we showed that church is important and they need to plan better so that they can come to church, and on time.

This week was a special branch conference for the Alijis Branch because we are now Alijis Ward! It's a big step forward. Now the goal is to step it up, pick up the progress, and move faster. Becoming a ward is not the end, next is splitting the ward. Elder Eastin and I have made some great plans on how we can help the ward members catch the vision and the desire to do this. Get the drive, move forward and have the work blossom! They can do it! Everything is going their way!

Love you all!

Elder Phelps

Happy Birthday Mom!

Well, I already sent a specific email to Mom, but here it is again:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, this week was transfer week. It went mostly as expected. I stayed, Elder Johnson transferred. My new companion is Elder Eastin. He is also from Phoenix. He is pretty cool. I like him. We are doing great so far. Working really hard.

The way I described the progress of Alijis to others last transfer was that if it were an airplane, we were flying along smoothly and then a duck got sucked into the engine and we started heading down. Now we are heading back up.

We found a ton of new investigators this week and taught some really good lessons, unfortunately none came to church this week... Due to requirements set by the Area Presidency here in the Philippines, if none come to church next week and for the next four weeks, we won't have any baptisms this transfer. But that's not really the important thing anyway. As long as they do eventually get baptized. Elder Eastin and I are still exercising our faith that some of the people we found this last week have the potential, drive, faith and all that stuff to be prepared for baptism on December 17... my last Saturday.

I've got a feeling that this transfer is going to fly by. It's only been a week, but with the way we are working time just flies. We just got our zone calender emailed to us too, and they (the office) have a lot planned for us: exchanges, zone activity, leadership trainings, zone leader council, and specialized trainings. And let's not forget the special christmas conference!! That should be way fun. Last year it was just some short inspirational messages, food, and games! With a small gift from the Mission. Towels (bath or hand. Depending on which you want/ needed).

While we have been finding this week we have had many interesting experiences. Many that just come with meeting new people and especially people not interested in our message. We have heard pretty much every excuse, and they are all pretty lame if you ask me. None of the reasons to not listen to us was that they simply weren't interested, they would just lie and say they had somewhere to go or something like that. Also as we meet new people we are exposed to what their beliefs are, and you get some pretty strange ones. Especially the baptists here in the Philippines. They don't know anything. Even the catholics take on a somewhat baptist point of view if it meets their situation. Elder Eastin and I were talking about why people join certain religions and it just reminded me of something we discussed in my Theory of Knowledge class in high school. It was just after reading The Life of Pi. And the two different versions of the story. Which one do you believe and why? Many of us chose the story involving the animals because it made us feel better. It's the same way with religion, we choose what makes us feel good. Nowadays you can pick and choose a religion to meet your lifestyle. If you are lazy and don't want to feel obligated to actually do anything, there are a ton of religions out there for you! I just thought it was interesting.

Well, we are going to continue our hard, full of faith work this week!!
Love you all!!

Elder Phelps

We Struggled This Week

Yeah, so this week was a couple of big things. One, Tuesday was All Saints Day. That's a big thing here. Everyone goes to the cemeteries, and spends pretty much the whole day there. Then Wednesday was Zone Conference down in La Carlota. It was nice to walk down those streets again. Zone Conference went really well. My training was probably my least favorite; all the trainings were really good. Elder Hill (my companion Zone Leader) gave a really good one. He goes home tomorrow so his training was about being a successful missionary. Really good.


Not much happened the rest of the week. Despite our best efforts we struggled this week. We talked to a ton of people, just none wanted to listen to us this week. But we made plans to go back to them. We were walking through the only rice field in the entire area and two other guys came down another path and as they were passing asked if they could come to church. We told them they were welcome and we would love to visit them, but they were leaving their house at that moment so we planned to return to them.

Dad said, "If there are scary things about mission life you haven't shared to keep up from freaking out, I hope you've kept a good journal so we can enjoy the stories when you are safe at home with us."  There sure are some, and I have kept them from you so mom wouldn't worry. Had some interesting experiences, none that caused serious injury. Compared to some other elders I have had very little happen to me.

I'll let you know what happens with transfers (of course). I went to pick up the suit I'm having made. The pants turned out really good, final touches still need to be done on the coat. It was really good though. I might get another made... I don't want to come home in the suit I brought with me, it's too big now.

Well, love you all!!
Elder Phelps

Exchanges

October 31, 2011

FlightAware. I love that website. I never really had any flights to track, but I would just watch the activity around the SLC Airport and find out information about different airports. I don't know how it was for international flight though.


This last week was pretty ok. I went on exchanges with Elder Northrup. We were in the same apartment in La Carlota for six months. He is a very interesting person, talks a lot. But I still love the guy. We had a great time together. Taught some lessons and found some new investigators. He also told me about a movie that his family watched that Mom would really like. It's about this guy that has some strange disease and needs to take steroids. So he gets way fat and sick. He decides to go on a all vegetable and fruit diet. Then he tours the country. While he is touring he meets another guy with the same problem. He decides to do the juice thing too. They both end up losing a bunch of weight and their health condition improves. I forgot the title. I'll ask Elder Northrup next time I see him (Wednesday at Zone Conference).

So, our investigators that were married and baptized last week didn't come to church this week. We saw them Saturday night and they were planning on coming to church, so I was puzzled. Later last night we were talking with another member and they mentioned something about them, so I commented that they weren't at church. He made a surprised look then asked, "Elder, you haven't heard the news?" I said I hadn't. He was then very pleased to inform us that the wife had her baby! It's a boy! Hopefully we get to see them sometime this week. Now we have one less pregnant lady in our branch (soon to be ward in a couple of weeks). There are a ton of pregnant members in our branch right now. And they are all due in the next two months. At least two of them are first time mothers too. They are way excited.

Earlier today we held our second choir practice for Zone Conference. It went really good. We were able to recruit another companionship of elders, and that added a lot to it. I am way excited for Zone Conference now. Magnificent choir and I redid my training this last week. I went through it again this week and ended up throwing out a lot and adding in a bunch of new stuff. It is so much better now. There is still room for more though. But that is the beauty of it; my goal is to get the other missionaries talking and contributing. That is the best way for them to get the most out of it. I was talking to Sister Baluyot after choir practice and sharing some of my notes. She is way excited. She was in my District when I was in Ayungon. I told her that my training was going to be a lot like my lessons in District Meeting where I just purpose ideas and encourage the others to freely contribute. I guess the lessons turned out really well. It was always a revelatory experience, for everyone, especially as everyone contributed to the revelatory process.

Next week we will get transfer announcements. I really have no guesses about myself and Elder Johnson. I have some ideas about other people in the zone. I hoping that i'll get an interview with President Tobias and that will answer some questions; or maybe just add to them. Sometimes President is straight forward, but other times he likes to keep you guessing and play with your mind, at least about transfers.

I feel like I'll stay here in Alijis, because my companion Zone Leader, Elder Hill, goes home this transfer and they'll leave me here so there is a Zone Leader that knows the zone. But nothing is sure.

Elder Phelps

A Wedding and a Baptism!

October 24, 2011

Wow, I can't believe you got that letter (mission travel home letter). I haven't yet. Maybe tomorrow or next week. Or maybe forever from now, just so it isn't distracting. We saw another Elder from my batch today, and he asked if I had gotten the letter telling me to get my chest x-rays done. Haven't gotten that yet either. But those two letters are BIG signs that the end is near. It's so close...


Today we went to a tailoring place to get a suit made. Picked out some good fabric from a cheaper store and then went to the nice place for the actual tailoring. It should turn out good.

So, I'll just skip to the most exciting event of the week. We had a wedding and baptism!! It was way awesome. Maninoy na ako! It's kinda the equivalent of godfather, because I was one of the witnesses. It was just such a happy experience. Pretty well attended, great support from the members, the speaker could have been better though. It was some lady from a different ward. The overall idea of her talk was good, but just some of the things she said were way strange.

The baptism followed shortly after the wedding, and it was great. The speakers were good and it was just good. These two will never leave.

The sad news is that we haven't been able to find good progressing investigators fast enough to replace the ones we have baptized. So that is a big focus for us this week. Our current investigators are... alright... Some have potential and use to be progressing, but now have stopped moving forward, and are slowly sliding backward, because they aren't moving forward. Others have never really been progressing, but we have pretty much given up on them, just stopping by sometimes.

I guess it's not too weird that people back in the ward can't believe that it has been two years, I can hardly believe it myself. As for my homecoming talk, I don't really care when it is. If it's on Christmas, people don't need to come and visit. But it can be when ever, I'm flexible.

There was something I learned about myself this week, and now I forgot... Not really just something learned about myself, but some change in my personality, or how I handle some things has changed. There was something more specific, but I don't remember. Oh well...

Next Wednesday is Zone Conference. I'm excited for that. Some of the people left in La Carlota Zone are still there so it will be nice to see them. I admit I'm not looking forward to the trainings as much as I used to, but that's because instead of just receiving and contributing, I am giving one of the trainings.

Mom, don't bother with my room. I can take care of it when I get home. As long as I can get to my bed. I don't know what will fit me either, because my size has changed.


I was looking through my family photo album this week and Elder Johnson said, "Soon you wont have to look at pictures, you'll see the real thing." It was just one of those moments where it hit me that it really was so close. I've just gotten used to thinking of coming home as being far away, as if it never really got closer, but now it's almost here. Weird.
 
Well, until next week! Love you all!!
Elder Phelps

Update on the Romero and Tilanas Families

October 17, 2011

So, our week was same old, same old. Every week just feels the same after you've been doing it for nearly two years. But it was a good week and for your sakes I'll find something significant to share.


Well, it rained, it rained a lot. So the new shoes were greatly needed. They got here on Friday, the package with all the candy came on Wednesday. We also had a baptism this week. Donamae Caparon. It was a great baptism. Her husband was the one to baptize her and their daughter that had been blessed as a baby. It was really sweet to watch. Even though we have had two other baptisms since I transferred to Alijis, this one really felt different because I acctually felt like I did something for this one. The last two, they were already converted, they had even already been interviewed. So, I just planned the program. But we have been teaching Donamae for a while and it was awesome to see her finally get baptized.

I also got some good news just earlier. We saw some other missionaries at SM, one had just transferred out of Cadiz and was happy to update me. If you remember the Romero Family, we baptized the father and one of the daughters, well, the good news was that since I had been gone the mother and the other daughter were baptized! I was way happy to hear that. In fact, I had sent them a letter last week.

I don't know if i mentioned it, but the Tuesday after my birthday I got letters from the Tilanas Family. They were all birthday cards with their own little messages. It was way awesome, so I wrote back to them also. Michael texted me when they got them. He texts me sometimes, but I don't respond. It's not allowed.

This week we have a wedding and a baptism. That is way exciting. also Zone Conference is in the coming weeks. We will be combining with the La Carlota Zone and meet down in La Carlota. It will be nice to go back, even if it is just to the chapel.

Ah, the computers next to us don't have head phones, and the users are playing sensless annoying music. I put on my headphones just to try and block them out, but it has little effect... They have poor taste in music...

This week should be pretty good. We will be putting heavy focus in finding, because we are baptizing.

We stopped at an investigators house this week and we saw a scene from a movie that Mom might like. It's from India so it might be a challenge to get it, and it wasn't in English, but had subtitles. It's called Every Child is Special. It's about this boy who has dyslexia. We only saw a scene, so I want to see the whole thing when I get home.

Elder Phelps

Conference...was AMAZING!

October 10, 2011

Ok, so still no package, but I really need it, so I am praying that it gets here soon. Elder Johnson is from Phoenix, Arizona. We are doing just fine.


This week was pretty interesting. We had Zone Leaders Council on Wednesday, and that was pretty amazing. Good ideas on how to help the zone, and some things we need to do. District Leaders Training was on Friday. I was able to follow up with some of our District leaders about what they learned.

Conference was on Saturday and Sunday of course. And was AMAZING of course. Lots of questions were answered. Some of those questions only came up in the last week, after conference had originally happened, but there were still answers. Amazing.

We are preparing for our up coming Zone Conference. Still not for a couple of weeks, but we (Elder Hill and I) are giving the bulk of the training. So, getting really prepared for that. I'm nervous but excited at the same time. It's pretty much the same as teaching District Meeting, just the whole zone, long time, and people expect more. But it will all be fine. Elder Hill and I have got this down. The only real challenge is that we aren't companions... so coordinating might be a problem. At least we see each other every Tuesday.

We will have a baptism this week, Donamae Caparon. Her husband is a member, and now she will be baptized. It should have been sooner, just little delays have come up. But now it's for sure! And then next week we have a wedding and a baptism! I'm so excited for that. I have worked a lot on my mission to get people married, but this is the first that has actually gone through! Almost, next week still...

So, I've been putting more thought into what I'll do when I get home. Mostly about school. I'm still unsure if I want to go to school right away, or wait until the summer or fall. Yeah, just thinking about it.

Anyway, this week should be a good week.

Elder Phelps

I Am Not A Hugger

October 3, 2011

Ok, transfers went almost exactly as expected. I got the phone call at 11:10 PM Monday night and got the announcements for the whole zone, which as zone leader, that's how it works in our mission. It was then my responsibility to call the district leaders so they could announce it to their districts. I had to wait until the morning cause they were all already asleep like good missionaries. So, Elder Felix transferred and I stayed! I am still zone leader. Elder Johnson is my new companion. He has been in the field for 6 months. So still kinda new. It's interesting...


So, we don't get to watch Conference until this weekend, but I'm cheating and downloading it now!! I can't wait for Saturday though!! And Sunday.

This week was pretty normal, but not really a good week. It was just "off" the whole time. Maybe it's just because it was transfer week.

We had two of our investigators come back after a two week absence. They had to go to their home town to get the needed paperwork for marriage. But now they have it all and will get married and baptized soon! YAY!! It was nice to have them back, and they liked being back at church. Their home is way far away from the actual city so they couldn't go to church.

As far as the storm goes, we have been having a lot of those lately, and there are more coming. Here on Negros we just got a ton of rain, no real damage. In Manila it was really bad. Lots and lots of rain. So much rain! Wading in water a lot this last week.

Yesterday we had a very interesting experience. We were waiting to catch a jeep back to another part of our area. While we were waiting this drunk guy was on the otherside of the street. He starts crossing, because we, as missionaries and white people, seem to attract drunks. So, he comes over and starts "talking" to us. I couldn't understand a word he said. He couldn't speak English or Ilonggo straight. Then he did the unexpected, and I have had many experiences with drunks so I know what to expect. He hugged me... He got really close and just hugged me... And I'm just standing there, any one who knows me well knows that I am not a "hugger." Like, it was a real embrace. He held me close, and rested his head on my chest (I am at least a foot and a half taller than him, and quite possibly twice his overall size). Across the street a group had gathered and was watching the events. Also there was a large business behind us and another group had gathered at the entrance. I just looked around at them, and they just stared back. So, in an effort to get this guy off me, I put my arm around him, and then tried to pull and push him off. But he came back. Then we saw the jeep we wanted and I pushed him off with more force and jumped on the jeep. Escape.

So, with transfers, Elder Hinckley was made the new Assistant to the Mission President. Now I have to take on more. Elder Hill is my companion zone leader, but he just became ZL so I am doing most of it so far, then have him take on more too. He also goes home this transfer, so next transfer I will have to do it all again. Zone leader is hard. You have to think about A LOT. And worry about A LOT. The whole zone to be exact. Their work, and their personal welfare, how you can help them progress and improve, and the such. But it's all good.

Looking forward to a good week.
Elder Phelps

PS. No packages yet, but I asked Elder Hinckley to keep a special eye out for them, because he knows how bad I need the new shoes. We have Zone Leaders Council this week so I can hopefully pick them up if they are here.

All Normal, No Extra Meetings, No Exchanges, Just Work

September 26, 2011

This last week was all normal. No extra meetings, no exchanges, just work. On Tuesday though, we went down to Bago to attend district meeting there. Elder D'Addabbo is the district leader there. It was a great meeting. He used and airplane analogy. It made me happy, would have made Pres. Uchtdorf happy too.


Everything is going great. Some investigators that we were really hoping would come to church didn't come. Two actually had a good reason.

One of our investigators has really changed, even from when I met her. Sis. Donamae Caparon. Her husband was a long time less-active member, but now they come to church every week, he has received the priesthood and she will be baptized, soon.... We keep having to delay it due to scheduling conflicts, like General Conference! As much as I love GC, it can serve as a pain in planning baptisms. In their family much has changed. The kids too. They are much more quiet in lessons and we have even had them pray. They get really shy when we ask, but when we aren't there, they pray. Their oldest daughter was blessed in the church and is now 8, so she and her mom will be baptized on the same day by their husband/ father. It will be a great experience.

We had some interesting experiences in finding new investigators this week. We seemed to get really lucky finding people who were leaving the country or heading back to Manila the next day. As in, the next day. Some of them have family that will be left here that we can hopefully visit. One such person we met through inspiration, inspiration to buy a snack. We stopped at this small store, bought some soda and bread. (Filipinos have all sorts of bread. Great little small ones, sweet and perfect for dipping in orange soda.) While we were sitting the lady we bought from came over and asked what religion we were, not really an uncommon experience. But she was really interested. She said she saw us walking on the other side of the street all the time and wanted to talk to us and ask where the church was. Well, now she did, but we found out that she was only here on vacation for a month and was leaving for Manila the next day. So we shared a bit and told her how to find the church in Manila. She said she would.

This week is transfer week, no idea what is happening. Pretty sure that I am staying, but I don't know about Elder Felix. It is possible that we stay together, but I think it is more likely that he will transfer. He can't decide if he wants to or not.
Anyway, we'll find out on Wednesday!!

Love you all!!
Elder Phelps

Blessings of Food

September 19, 2011

So, yeah, I turn 21 on Wednesday. I can't seem to actually process that in my mind. It feels kinda strange, and yet doesn't feel at all. And for mom, in the Philippines, you don't need to be 21 to drink. It all just depends on your parents. If they don't care, the kids start drinking and smoking really early. It's really sad.


A couple of awesome things happened this week. There is this investigator, Arlyn Arceo. Her two sons were baptized my first week here in Alijis. She had to be interviewed by President Tobias, and he said that she needed to come back in two weeks and be interviewed again. So, on Monday she was interviewed and passed! When we asked who she wanted to baptized her and she (jokingly as we later found out) asked if Elder Hernandez could. He taught her for 6 months. So I asked him if President would let him, and President said yes! It made for a great experience. She was happy that Elder Hernandez baptized her, and he was happy to baptize one of his former investigators.

Well, actually that was pretty much the awesome thing this week. Other than that, we got huge blessings of food this week. We just got fed a lot this week. On Sunday, we went to Handumanan to get Elder Felix a Patriarchal Blessing. He doesn't have one yet, long story. Anyway, in Alijis we had a high council visit, and he is from Handumanan, so we caught a ride with him! And then they learned that we were going to another place to do a baptismal interview without having lunch first, so they offered to feed us! In my transfer asigned in Handumanan I never ate at their house, but now I transferred and they offer to feed us. Strange, but we were happy to have food, otherwise we weren't going to be able to eat until we got home at night. They are a nice family.

Yeah, that's our week. This week will be pretty normal. Even with my birthday. We celebrated earlier by going to Pizza Hut with Elder D'Addabbo and the other Elder Phelps. AH! That was another highlight of this last week. We had exchanges with them. I went with Elder Phelps! It was awesome! The two Elder Phelps got to be companions for 24 hours! Yeah, we told everyone that we were twins, though we look nothing alike. It was fun. He is a good missionary, I'm very proud to have him in our zone. And have the same name! Another interesting thing, Elder D'Addabbo and I have the same first name and Elder Phelps and I have...well...the same last name. Strange.

Yeah, Dad, I pray for you everyday.

Elder Phelps

Zone Leaders Council

September 12, 2011

First off, was going to tell Dad to not forget about LDS ERS. We have a member here in Alijis that works at the one here in Bacolod, so talking to her reminder me that I should tell Dad about that. But now I don't need to, you are already going! Yeah, that's it.


Um, I did remember the birthdays, I never forget a birthday. I wrote it down in my planner three weeks ago when we got the new ones. But I wasn't sure on ages.

Dad, 1,200 people in a sacrament meeting! That's a ton! Here even in a stake conference they don't get near that. Which is kinda sad. Because there are a ton of members in the whole stake, but many are inactive. Others think that stake and district conferences aren't important...

This last week was nothing special. The exchanges back to Handumanan were fun. It was back in the same house, but Ward 2. It was still fun. Got to see some members from Ward 1. The investigators are a lot better this time. And so is the elder that I went with. They are doing so much better than last transfer. Ward 2 is taking off! Ward 1 is continuing in the progression that started last transfer.

Zone Leaders Council was fun too. It got me way excited for the coming months and weeks. If everyone catches the vision that President Tobias has, the mission will progress expodentially. It may even be translated! At least if people didn't still use their agency to reject our message of eternal happiness. But we will still experience great success.

Other than that, one thing I really enjoyed about ZLC is that for the first time since our first transfer day on this beautiful island our batch was all together. It was fun talking with everyone was way fun. We got to catch up and stuff.

So, yesterday we got some bad news. Two of our investigators that were supposed to get married and baptized this Saturday are not going to be able to. Problems came up. But earlier we got some good news. One of our investigators had her interview with Pres. Tobias and passed! So she will be baptized this Saturday! YAY!

And that's pretty much it.
Elder Phelps

PS: Man, I was kinda hoping that you hadn't sent my package yet. I was going to have you send those shoes. Cause my working shoes got this awesome hole, stepped on something and it poke a hole. I tried to find some shoes here, and I found some that kinda fit, but not really. And they are over $100. They aren't that nice of shoes. So right now I am just enduring.

Our Investigators Are Experiencing Great Blessings

September 5, 2011

This last week was just fine. Nothing Really amazing or fantastic. Just normal work.


Though we did have good success in investigators attending church. Not quite as high as we wanted, but we got some that we have been working on for a while. And even though it was testimony meeting, I feel that it was a good experience overall. Still had some weird things though.

Two of our investigators are experiencing great blessings. Ryan and Rica Mabalon need to get married before they can get baptized, and getting married in the Philippines is the most ridiculous process in the world. The worst part is that no one really knows what you need to do. In my experience as a missionary I have now learned all the requirements, but complications still come up. Despite it all, the marriage will go on.. on September 17.

Things that really stood out this week were things from my personal study. We are currently doing a Book of Mormon challenge. So I started re-reading it, again. But as I read 1 Nephi chapters 2 and 3 something new popped out. We all know 1 Nephi 3:7, but if we look at the last half of chapter 2 and 3:1 we can see how Nephi was prepared to say "I will go and do." He was coming from talking to the Lord, he had just obtained the promise that if he and his seed keep the commandments they will prosper in the land. So, I'm thinking that that provided certain motivation/ confidence behind the "go and do" response.

Another thing came to me as we were teaching Ryan and Rica. We were talking about Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life. As we were talking I notice that people were feeling their way to the great and spacious building, so even with the mists of darkness, they could still see the building, but not the tree. It's just like our life here, we can see the worldly things, but the ultimate goal of Eternal Life is sometimes hard to see. We are just going on the word of God from the scriptures and living prophets that the tree is there, and we'll get there too if we just keep going.

That's really all I can think of right now.
Ready to tackle a new week. It's gonna be a long one, I can already tell. We've got exchanges this week, I get to go back to Handumanan!! For one day. And then we have Zone Leaders Council. That should be fun... I'm looking forward to it, but also not...

Love you all!
Elder Phelps

PS The restaurant is kinda just a fun idea to play with. If I was to go with it, it would be because the pilot thing didn't work out for some reason. And I would be more on the business end, with a hand in the cooking too. But mainly hire chefs. Just a fun idea.

We Worked Hard and Feel Satisfied with the Work

August 29, 2011

Sounds like SF was really fun for mom and dad. Nice to "get away" from "it all" every once and a while.


This week was a decent week for us. Even though things weren't quite as good as we wanted, we worked hard and feel satisfied with the work. We know and the Lord knows that we worked hard.

Two of our investigators have been out of town all week trying to get things worked out for their wedding so they can get baptized. It was disappointing that we couldn't teach them, but they were getting very much needed things done. On the other hand we were able to set some good schedules with hard to meet with investigators and they didn't fall through! And two that we were really hoping would come to church came! We texted them and told them that even if they were a bit late it was ok. We were so happy so see them walk through the doors. Another great success is and has been a work in progress. There is a sort of less active member, his wife is a non-member. She was very against anything to do with the church. But apparently since they held a FHE back in December things are thawing out. At first she would not let her husband go to church, then she started letting him. They eventually made the deal that the kids get two Sundays with him, and two Sundays at her church. We visited on Saturday. Just the husband was home, but we had a good talk with him about how we might be able to help. We made a rough long term plan. Half way through our gospel principles class he AND his wife walked it. I was teaching and had a hard time focusing back on the lesson. She seemed to enjoy things at church too.

So yeah. Elder Felix and I are experiencing problems. His stomach is really small, so he can only eat so much. It's 'cause he and his trainer ate so little. I'm trying to encourage him to eat more. With the week menu planned out now it should help a bit. I'm trying to exercise, just jumping-jacks, and maybe a few push-ups. But we are always so tired. It's hard...

Elder Felix is awesome. He's a great comp. Um, today we were looking at stuff in the National Bookstore, Elder was buying some post-it notes, I was looking at cook books. I found this one that is way awesome, but I'll get it at home because it is cheaper at Barnes and Noble. It's called The Professional Chef, put together by the Culinary Institute of America. It is way awesome.

So, recently, meaning the last couple of transfers, I have been thinking about what I want to do with my life. Becoming a pilot is still number one choice, but business with a restaurant is back up. I love cooking and the idea of a restaurant sounds way good. Whenever I talked to Elder Barrott about it he was all for it, encouraging me to do it. Um, I'm also very thankful for mom. Always encouraging me to cook, and teaching me of course! It will be a blessing for the rest of my life.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Love you all,

Elder Phelps

Bad Week for All

August 22, 2011

Wow, sounds like we all had a bad week this last week. Lots of unexpected, and for the most part bad, news. Yeah, last week was transfer week. So, I had a similar experience to Dad. Rode (on a jeepney) to Mansilingan for district meeting. We had a really good lesson. Had a meeting with the zone leaders. Really good talk with Elder Hinckley. Then he got THE call. It was the APs. Transfer announcements were (finally) here. We already had all the names written on the board, he just needed to write the results next to the names. Part of the announcement wasn't a surprise, but the other part was. I was stepping up to Zone Leader, and that was my last day in Handumanan... I was shocked, depressed, and a bit insulted. Shocked because I had only been there one transfer, depressed because I already had many friends. And insulted because bad missionaries transfer after just one transfer, and we had done great things! Found a ton of new investigators and brought the number of our lesson up dramatically. And they are good progressing investigators too! So, we went home, I packed, wasn't hard because I hadn't really unpacked much. Then we went and visited a few members and investigators.


The good news from transfers is that I only transferred to Alijis, just one area over. So I will still have chances to visit Handumanan. This first week has been really difficult. People here really loved the missionary that I replaced. Everyone, myself included, thought he would be staying. This transfer is his last. Every new person I met this week was disappointed. It was very hard to feel welcome. Some even cried... I almost cried, 'cause I didn't want to transfer, and now I wasn't wanted here.

AH!! Nothing is going right right now! I don't know what to think anymore... My mind is so clouded and unorganized right now. Nothing seems to fit. Everything conflicts.

Ok, bright side. Always look on the bright side of life. I'm now a uncle in the mission! I'm follow-up training. Elder Felix is my companion now. He is Filipino, and we are totally awesome together. We just have one small conflict.... He wants to gain weight, and I want to lose weight... Our goal is to change body sizes, except height. So the deal is that I cook (as usual) and he ensures that I do some exercising every morning.

Sorry that the email is so short, I just don't know how to put down what I am feeling. I wish I could find the answers that I need. They'll come...eventually...
Handumanan was perfect. Just what I needed after leaving Ayungon.

Elder Phelps
Oh, PS. Transfer day is now on Wednesdays. Just so you know.

District Training

August 15, 2011

Dave Tate is program director at BLAB! He is the MAN!! Nice to know that there are still some that remember Fish up there.


Yeah, Andrew gave me a pretty good rundown of all that happened at camp. Sounds like it was one of "those weeks." We all know what "those weeks" are and yet you can never really describe it. I was thinking a lot about camp this week too, knowing that that is where Andrew and dad were all this week. Lots of good memories. Sorry some boys made immature and made stupid non-multicultural comments there. You see similar problems in elders in the mission some times. There are those elders that just really don't like the Philippines and the people here. It's really sad to watch them not enjoy all that is around them for the next two years! I personally LOVE the Philippines and the people here!! There is no other people like them in the whole world.


That's also too bad about Andrew's triathlon, but i'm still proud of you Andrew. Good job!!

 
Our week here was pretty interesting. Tuesday was district meeting, same old same old. Then we went to the mission office for cargo, and the stuff I ordered from the LDS online store last week was in! Well, half of it was. The two quads I ordered (for 51 pesos! [about $1]) are out of stock and will get here when they get here. Not really worried.

Wednesday our district had a specialized training. It was way good. Presented by the awesome Elder Hinckley. Though I was disappointed that the APs did not attend, but Elder Hernandez had told me that they wouldn't because this week is transfer week and they needed to start preparing. All understandable. Transfer week is terrible for the office.

The rest of the week was just there. Nothing really awesome happened. It wasn't a bad week, but it wasn't as good as I had been planning/ hoping. Saturday though, we stopped by an inactive member's house to follow up on teaching his wife. He wasn't there, but before we could say anything the wife said that they were planning on attending church on Sunday. We found it surprising because we haven't had the chance to start teaching her yet. And they did attend church, the whole family. It was a great experience because the members were happy to see them, and they showed it! They had people talking to them , sitting with them and inviting them to a cooking workshop this Saturday. Right now were are getting a good amount of help from the ward in our work, but our work is to help them, so they are really helping themselves. Unfortunately is that the help is coming from like three people right now. But it use to be just one, so there is progress. There are others doing other work that we just don't see, so all is good.

All in all the week was good. Right now I have a lot on my mind, and the least of it all is transfer announcements tomorrow. It's not really something to wonder about, I'm pretty dang sure I'm staying (I just got here!), but I'm not sure if Elder Davidson is staying or going. But yeah, that is certainly the smallest thought on my mind right now.

I miss you all very much. AH!! Just remembered. So on Tuesday I picked up that stuff, right? Well, Elder Hinckley walked in and was returning the form for departing missionaries (for someone else in his district), and Elder Hernandez asked the two of us if we got ours too. (The three of us are batch) Elder Hinckley and I both responder no, so Elder Hernandez asked us to wait a minute. He went into the back room and comes back out and hands us copies of the same form. On this form it asks if your name and stake president are correct, what your parents email is, and which airport you want to fly into. It also has your departure date. So it's official now, 19 December 2011 I will be on a plane leaving this island and people I love to head back to other people I love. It was rather shocking to receive it. I was thinking it would come in September or October.

Anyway, Love you all!!

Elder Phelps

Exchanges This Week

August 8, 2011

Sounds like a good week back there in Utah. Our week was alright too. Some good things, and some challenges.


So, we had two exchanges this week. I went with the elders in Handumanan 2, and that was fun-ish. The nice thing was that we live in the same house so I still got to sleep in my own bed. But the next day as soon as that exchange ended another was to begin, with the zone leader. That could have been way fun, because we were exchanging with Elder Hinckley's companionship, but because you can't leave two juniors alone (especially when one is a trainee), I went with Elder Garcia. He is way cool though and we had a great time.

It felt weird working in my own area after the two days of not being there. But the big things this week was the baptism of the two John-Johns. Well, it ended up being only one John-John... The other's family isn't really supportive, so long story short, he will get baptized, just maybe in a week of two.

The baptism was really good, or so I heard. We left and went to the other John-John's house. But we made it back as they were changing. John is a great convert. He is so ready to progress in the gospel. He has been progressing to baptism and now it is time to keep going, new goal: Celestial Kingdom! We are helping get the ward in place to help him, and all converts after him, stay active in the Church.

So, yeah that's it. AH, wait never mind. I think its funny that members ask about me. And as for "camp in the Philippines," it really does feel like you are camping some times. Most roads we walk down are dirt (well, mostly mud actually), wash your clothes by hand, hang dry (it stinks [literally and figuratively] when it rains all day), and many people live in houses that provide less protection from the elements than a tent does. Although, unless you have aircon, keeping warm at night is not a problem, keeping cool is.

I hope you think a lot of me while you are at scout camp, and of course I would love to come with you on outings next year!

Love from the Philippines!!

Elder Phelps!

Mission Standard

August 1, 2011

Wow, you all had a busy week. The only one I didn't hear from was Kat... (HINT HINT)
I feel like I got all possible views of the week, except Kat's...
I get regular-ish emails from everybody, except Kat...

Yeah, that ought to do it.

So, our week was pretty good. I'll explain what I consider to be the highlight of our week. First, some background. The mission has what is called the mission standard. It is the numbers of lesson/ baptisms/ new investigator, etc. that we are supposed to get. The idea is that this is the base level. Something to get to and then pass, rise higher. Back in Ayungon we were doing pretty good. Got here in Handumanan and expected things to be good, because (1) there is like ten time more people here and (2) the ward is fully functioning. But I was mightily disappointed. Things weren't looking so hot. So we set goals to work our way up to mission standard. Which is a general practice. But last week, on Wednesday, Elder Hinckley sent a text that we need to stop goaling below mission standard. We should goal and have faith to "go and do." So I showed the text to Elder Davidson, he was just as non-confident (forgot the proper word to use) as I was in doing such a thing. We had been pretty far from the standard the last two weeks. Never the less, we set the goals... and set out to work.

As the week neared the close, I decided to check on our progress to our goals. I found that we almost doubled our lessons taught and found more than double our new investigators! Ultimately we still fell short but we made leaps and bounds. Elder Hinckley came to do some baptismal interviews for the John-Johns. When he finished and was signing the forms, I told him about the numbers. He was way impressed. He sees our numbers every week so he was very pleased with the great progress we made.

That's really all that stood out this last week.

Oh! We had zone conference on Thursday. (Which makes getting good numbers all the harder. It takes up most of your day) But conference was awesome. Got to see some familiar faces from La Carlota, cause they had been transferred too. President Tobias interviewed everyone. Which he is suppose to do every three months, but this was my first in just over a year... Either way, it was a good interview. We talked about the district, and just things in general. He gave clues about his plans for the future too. He explained that the zone leaders have both been in this zone for a while now and that I should "be ready." We also talked about scouting. He was talking about good leadership and used the "Follow Me Boys" movie as an example. I was happy to tell him that I had seem that movie.

I have plans for the district, that I'm going to put into use tomorrow. It's simple and works very well with primary kids. Candy! They will be rewarded for doing things they are supposed to and contributing to the meeting. I wish I didn't have to do that, but I can't figure how to get half the district to take the meeting seriously and learn things from it. They aren't just there to sit, it is suppose to help their work. So they need to take notes and record the revelation they receive.

So, that's it for this week. I'm gonna go get a haircut...

Elder Phelps

PS. I'm buying some stuff off the LDS Online Store. It will come from Manila. It's cheaper in pesos...

Also, in next package, pleases send ties, but not too nice of ties. I'm going to give these ties out to like recent converts and stuff. I already gave out the ones that I have that I don't really like...

More Success, More Disappointments

July 24, 2011

Wow, that's quite the week. Way busy with some very interesting events. Our week was slightly less exciting...

The week was still good, but there were some major disappointments. We'll start with the open house. The open house was fairly well attended, however it was rather unorganized and I had a hard time. The unorganization was frustrating, it would have driven dad nuts (I think I've picked that up from him). But it fulfilled it's purpose. There were a lot of people that found things interesting and would like to learn more. The ones who decided that they don't want to learn more were there just to get an idea of what we believe, which is still good.

Another success was that a member in a less-active family that we have been visiting came to the open house and to church the next day! The whole family seems ready and willing to return to activity, they just need a little help and encouragement, which we are providing, and will soon get some members on board too.

We have a really good investigator, John-John. He is way good. Always asking good questions cause he really wants to know. And then he understands and uses what he learns. His two best friends are recent converts that are also really strong and all three of them have a desire to serve a mission. They come around with us too, when they have nothing else to do. His baptism will be on the 6th of August.

We also have another John-John investigator. He is good too, but not quite as good. His baptism was supposed to be this Saturday, but he was sick yesterday and couldn't come to church or his baptismal interview. So it will have to be postponed. So maybe the two John-Johns will be baptized on the same day.

The area and ward are alright. The ward is probably the best I have worked in. They are all organized and can do things on their own. The people here are interesting. There are so much more than back in Ayungon, but many are very unwilling to listen to our message... That kinda brings things down. We are still trying hard and doing our best to keep our spirits up.

The house is alright too. It's my first one with aircon in the bedroom, so it gets really cold at night, the other night I had a dream that it was snowing, and I strongly believe that the a/c influenced that. It's a nice house, we are just on the bottom floor, no one upstairs, the owner lives in Germany now. It needs some good cleaning though... and then some cooperation on keeping it clean.

Everything is fine here, Same old same old lang gid. Nothing is ever perfect and you are always trying to fix something.

Elder Phelps

PS Learned/ remembered a Tagalog proverb. Pag-gusto, maraming paraan, pagayaw, maraming dahilan. It means that it you want something, there are many ways, but if you don't want to do something, there are many excusess.

And yes, please send my card. Also, for next package, my only request is beef jerky (peppered palihog! [Please]) and a bunch of snickers. iyun lang...