Baptisms and San Juan

So this week was super exciting because we had the baptisms for Jhonrex, Noel, Jun-Jun Balse, and Kristine Balse.  I was able to baptize all of them which was a really cool experience.  It was weird because during the baptism I wasn't really feeling the Spirit that much and I was kinda confused but for the closing song we sang I am a Child of God and then the Spirit came and I just felt it testifying how important it is to humble ourselves like little children and come unto Christ.

We also had Zone Conference this week which was super good and I learned a bunch.  President Argana gave us a challenge to be more urgent.  He really stressed that we are the ones who are bringing salvation to the lives of God's children.  No one else can do it so we need to never be afraid or lazy to share it to everyone so they have the opportunity to receive this.  That is something I have really been trying to apply, just talking to anyone at anytime.

All of our other investigators are doing really well.  We had the opportunity to do a CSP at the bukid of Brother Jun-Jun Cacananta and he basically just gave us machetes and we cleared this huge forest of bushes.  It was pretty fun.

Also this last sunday it was San Juan in the Philippines which I think means it's the day that they believe John the Baptist was baptized so basically everyone in the whole Calubian went swimming and people were just throwing water on each other in the streets.  It was kinda crazy, luckily we didn't get any water thrown on us.

Oh I did finally get the package from the Jensons.  I think God put an extra special blessing on it because the cookies were still super soft and tasted like they could have been made yesterday even though it was like a month ago.  Also transfer day in on Wednesday so i'll let you know if anything happens.

Love you tons!!

Request from mom and dad:  Please send us a list of all of your investigators:

Alright Updated List of Investigators

Jun-Jun Cacananta

Angel Balce

Adelene Balce

John Paul Balce

Sister Lanie (I don't know her last name)

Jammy Vallente (10 year old referral i think i mentioned last week)

Joel Yare

Those are all of our progressing investigators

Sorry I can't send any pictures because the computer won't read my USB.

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Zone Conference June 20, 2018

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!!

They do actually celebrate that here so it was pretty fun.  Love you dad, I was blessed with the best!!

This week was pretty fun.  We had the baptismal interviews with Jhon Rex, Noel, and some of the Balce family and it is official that we will be having 4 baptisms this week.  Thanks for all the prayers to get Noel and Jhon Rex to church because we definitely needed it.  It was cool because we went to pick them up before church and they told us that they were not going to come this week so we were kinda sad and headed to church, then right before the sacrament starts they come running it and me and Elder Gomboc were super happy.

Speaking of sacrament meeting I got to speak again.  Me and Elder Gomboc spoke and together we filled up a full 35 minutes which I was super surprised about.  I spoke about Fathers and the importance of them in our lives.  We had 10 investigators come to church also so that was super awesome.

Oh we finally got to play some good basketball this week also.  After the interviews the zone leaders and the san isidro elders didn't have rides back to their areas so they stayed in Calubian and we played some basketball.  It was 3 v 3 and we did Filipinos vs Foreigners and the foreigners won of course!!

Question from mom and dad - What kind of ward activities do you have?

Well me and Elder Gomboc basically planned the last ward party.  All we did was play games and then the youth did a presentation of the story of Enos.  Then we ate a bunch of food.  Seriously every time we have an activity it is just an excuse to eat soo much food.That's about it for the week.  We have zone conference on Wednesday which should be pretty fun!

Thanks love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Pictures from our ward activity either last week or 2 weeks ago.  Nakalimot ako haha.​

Slowly but Surely

Lagi a lot happened this week I don't know where to start.

I guess we had our exchanges this week in Carigara so we got to work there for a day and it was a pretty good time.  We taught some investigators that I have never met before and we did it all in Waray H.  I love Waray H but it was super hard to switch back to it after being in Calubian for 4 months.

Our investigators are still doing super good.  We had a few challenges come up this week so it kinda slowed down there progress but they are still moving towards baptism.  There is a rule for the Philippines that investigators have to come to church for 4 out of 6 weeks to get baptized so we had Jhon Rex and Noel's baptism scheduled for this week but they didn't come to church so we will have to push it to next week.  Pray that they will come to church.  

As for the Balse Family they are doing super good.  We practiced a baptismal interview with them and they are remembered what we taught and have really developed testimonies.  But Sister shared that she had an abortion in the past so now we have to have her get interviewed by President Argana which may move her baptism as well.  Sayong but it's ok.  I know that God has a plan for each of his children and that he knows when they will join his church.  

Aside from that the work is still going good.  We got a referral from a member that is actually a 10 year old that is from a part member family and we thought she was already a member so we will get her baptized pretty soon too.  

I know this Gospel is true and I love seeing it change people's lives.  I love seeing the pictures of everyone at the temple.  I am definitely grateful to be part of a family that is strong in the Gospel and that we have been sealed for time and all eternity.  It is such an amazing blessing in my life.

Question from mom and dad: What is the most spiritual experience you have had on your mission?

Ooh that's a good question.  The two experiences that are coming to me are my first baptisms just because the spirit was super powerful and I was able to find and teach them all the lessons so it was just a really powerful spirit.  The second actually happened this week. We were teaching the Balse Family and Sister just started sharing her conversion story to us that she didn't really want to meet with us at the start but she slowly started to listen and started to feel the spirit.  Then she started to see the blessing from testing the commitments that we gave to her.  I just felt the spirit very powerfully during her testimony that the Gospel is true and that it is the way to true happiness in this life.

Love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Salamat sa Buhi nga Dios

​Another week of miracles in Calubian.

There has been a big storm going through Mindanao so we have been getting lots of rain in the last week.  Every day it rains which means it's not hot so that's been nice.

We had another good sacrament attendance in the 90's and 10 investigators came to church which was awesome.  I think we also had like 25 less actives come so me and Elder Gomboc were super stoked.

One of the highlights of the week was FHE with the Balce Family.  We just shared a really simple lesson about faith and floating a needle on water.  Then we just played a bunch of games with their kids.  I love their family so much and they are super amazing.  They had this big shrine when we first met with them and now they have taken it down and have a picture of the Cebu Temple so it is awesome.  We have their baptism scheduled for June 23 so I am super excited.

Jhon Rex and Noel are both scheduled for June 16 but Jhon Rex's dad is a little hesitant for him to be baptized so send some prayers that he will say yes to the baptism.

Sister Wilma is doing great and we shared a message to her husband this week also.  They need to get married in order to be baptized so we are trying to help her get that figured out too so that's fun.

Oh and one funny experience this week.  The San Isidro Elders in our district had a baptismal interview so we headed there for the interview.  We hiked super far into the wilderness to get to her house.  She was ready for baptism every time Elder Gomboc would ask her a question she would say "Salamat sa Buhi nga Dios"(Thanks to the Living God) which was kinda interesting and then at the end she sang us a christian song so it was a pretty entertaining interview.

Amo la for this week.  Love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Pics all of our investigators at church