Zone Conference and Interviews

Here are pictures and highlights from our video chat with Elder Holmstead:

• There was an earthquake this morning so that was pretty exciting.  It lasted about 5 seconds and I wasn't sure if we should run outside or just stay in bed.  So we stayed in bed and luckily all was well.  That was the biggest earthquake I have felt since I've been here.
• Can't wait to watch conference.  I already listened to Elder Holland's talk this morning while I was emailing and doing reports.  My companion is trying to download the rest of the talks so we can listen to them today. Our branch will watch conference together on Saturday and Sunday this week at our church.
• My companion's brother (Ian Buan) is in the hospital so please pray for him and put his name in the temple.
• We met a new family this week that we have been teaching.  They already have a date set for baptism so I'm excited about that.
• We had a couple of our investigators come to church on Sunday so that was a highlight.
• I travelled for 4 hours to the other side of our zone for Zone Conference.  It was a bumpy ride, but the views of the village were amazing. We left at 4am so it was a long day.  After ZC, we went to one of President Argana's favorite restaurants and it was so good.
• Interviews with President Argana went good. I asked him if I was going to get the chance to train.  He said, "Elder Holmstead, how many Elders will you help if you train."  I answered one.  And then he said "How many elders can you help if you are a Zone Leader." So it looks like I'm staying in Borongan as a ZL until the end of my mission which I am more than ok with.  But President did say the he will pray about it and let me know if the Lord feels different.
• One of the couples we are teaching is having a hard time with paying tithing.  I testified of the blessings and promises that will come to them if they will have faith and pay it.  The spirit was so strong and I could feel that what I was promising them was true.  Please pray for them this week that they will accept tithing and continue moving forward.

Home sweet home!

Inside of our apartment.  There are 4 Elders living here so we should have 4 desks, but there is only 2 so we share.  We get 13 containers of water which should last the entire cycle.  Ours are almost out so we will need to buy more.  Good thing water is cheap to purchase here.

This apartment is made for 2 Elders, but there are 4 of us so 2 of us sleep on the floor.  My bed is the blue one on the floor.

I made Adobo chicken last week.  It actually turned out pretty good.  I am trying to perfect some Filipino dishes before I get home.

FHE with one of the families in our district.

Zone Conference

Word of the week: Scandalous

We are having technology issues with Wade in his new area.  He could see and hear us last night but we couldn't see or hear him.  So we talked to him and he typed his answers back to us.  Here are some pictures and highlights from his week:

• He said they spent a good portion of the week putting out fires.  They had some disobedient missionaries that were calling Sisters in their mission at midnight. Thus the subject of this post.  He said they had to some some transferring and re-arranging of companionships but everything is all good now.
• They had 2 investigators come to church so he was excited about that.
• He said the weather is getting very hot and it hasn't rained as much lately.
• He is still sleeping on a mattress on the floor in his apartment.  He said there are big cockroaches everywhere that they have to kill.  He's just grateful there aren't rats and snakes in his apartment.  He has seen rats in people's houses when they have taught investigators.  He hates rats!
• He said they did get rocks thrown at them once during one of the elections there.  But he didn't take it personally because they weren't throwing them "at them", but were just throwing them at anyone and everyone.
• He loves his companion, Elder Buan and gets along so good with him.  They have lots in common.
• He's excited for General Conference, especially because they get to watch it in English.
• He said he's freaking out because he only has a little over 3 months left.  Time is going by fast!

This river is close to his apartment.

This is how the kids get around the village.

He thought this sign was funny.  Especially the one thats says "Drink...Don't Drive."

Wade found a store that sells NBA jersey's for super cheap.   He picked up several but this one is his favorite. 

MLC and Borongan Zone

We got to video chat with Elder Holmstead again this week.  Here are some highlights:

• He was transferred to the Borongan Zone.  He really likes his new companion, Elder Buan, and his new area.  After 7 months he said he was ready for a change.
• They speak Waray-Waray in Borongan so it's taken some time for him to get used to speaking that language again.  He is starting to feel more comfortable with it.  He is still pretty lost in his area but he's starting to figure out where things are at.
• He asked us to pray for his investigators:
• Ricky and Gemmalyn
• May Ann Capones
• Francis Capones
• Lyra, Pauline, Angel
• Dominic is still progressing also so he asked us to keep him in our prayers.
• He and Elder Buan travelled up to the Dolores Branch which is at the top of their zone.  He said he doesn't look very far on a map but it's a 3 hour drive.  They rode in Jeepney's.  He said they are full of people and roads are very bumpy so it's a rough ride.
• He and his companion haven't had time to shop at all since he was transferred so they were planning to hit a grocery store on p-day.
• He said there are 150 members in his branch.
• He had a great birthday and appreciated everyone who sent him an email.  He said the Filipino's try to guess his age and most of them think he is 30 or 40 years old.
• He found a store that has some sweet NBA jersey's so he's planning to pick up a few.
• He said the temperature there all week is supposed to be 80 degrees!

Baptism and Video Chat

Wade didn't get a chance to write a group email this week.  However, we did get to video chat with him for awhile so we loved that.  He was excited about the baptism they had last week of James Carlo.  Transfers are this week and he thought he was going to get sent to a new area.  He has been in Sogod for over 7 months so he is the "oldest" missionary in the zone.  I got an message on FB from a member in Wade's area and she said that he will be transferring this week to Borongan, Samar.  In her words, "Elder Holmstead is going to his next area now  after 7 mos, we will definitely miss him   He's been a good missionary and a friend/brother to us...my children will miss him too.  We are blessed to know your son.  God Bless you and your Family. -Francisco Family

Also, Wade's birthday is on the 13th so send him a birthday message if you get a chance.  He would love to hear from you all!

Baptism

So the highlight of the week was that we had a baptism!  Sister Glaiza was baptized, James Carlo had a fever so he missed his baptism so we will probably just move it to this Saturday.  We also committed the Monte De Ramos Family to baptism in April and they accepted so we were excited.

I had exchanges this week with a new elder in my zone from Georgia.  We had a super good time and we found lots of people.  After the exchange another companionship was having exchanges but they had to sleep at our apartment to be on time the next day so they worked a little bit and we had a pretty good time.  Aside from that we are basically teaching the same people the work is kinda slowing down but we are still working hard.

Also I was introduced to the doctrine of the Community Ministries and the Pentecostal Church this last week with two different investigators who decided that we needed to hear some pretty crazy interpretations of the bible but it was really funny.

One of the pics with me and Elder Tabelisma with lipstick on our faces was because we had an FHE and we played a game and everytime we lost we got more lipstick on our face.  Needless to say we lost a lot haha.  

Anyways I know that this Gospel leads to true happiness and helps us not have to worry about what is true.  I am grateful especially for additional scriptures that help us not be confused with the Bible. 

Love you tons!!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Screenshot of our video chat with Wade.  We got to say Hi to Elder Tabelisma.

Video Chat

The announcement from the church about Missionaries being able to make weekly calls/video chats home happened this week.  We weren't sure how this would affect Wade's mission, but then we saw this post from Sister Argana on FB:

Dear Missionary Families,

How are you all? Hope each of you is doing great.

With the new announcement on missionaries communicating with families weekly, the mission has decided to make it effective today. 
We hope that as you do so, you will keep in mind the guidelines set by the First Presidency so that your conversations are aligned and would be uplifting and encouraging.

Have a great time talking with our faithful and exactly obedient missionaries. We love and trust them.

Best regards,

Pres. & Sis. Argana

To our excitement we were able to have a video chat with Elder Holmstead.  He could see us but we couldn't see him.  He was very excited about the news and said that talking is so much easier than writing emails. Here are some highlights from our chat:

• His companion has been sick this week so he spent a lot of time in their apartment reading scriptures and talks.
• He really wants to drive in the Philippines.  There are no speed limits and everyone drives crazy.  He said it's a miracle that they haven't been in an accident, especially when they ride the bus.
• He weighs exactly the same as when he got there.
• Elder Ababa is their new AP.  
• His batch is known as the "power batch" because all of them are Zone Leaders and AP's.
• He has seen a lot of missionaries go home because of home sickness so he thinks the weekly phone calls home will really help with those that need it.
• We talked about Come Follow Me and are excited to study together as a family when he gets home.

He didn't have time to write an email this week but he sent us the names of investigators with baptismal dates and 3 new investigators:

Baptismal Dates

Glaiza

James Carlo

William Lin

Felicissimo Sala

Other

Monte de Ramos Kids (CJ, Rel Ann, Wheng)

Maayong Semana

Hope you're having fun on the Cruise and the house is looking good.  

This week was pretty awesome.  One of the main highlights was that we got to meet with President Schmutz, a member of the Seventy.  He spent most of the morning encouraging us to Know, Feel, and Do.  All of these related to our understanding and application of the Gospel in our lives and he challenged our whole mission to spent more time finding.  

The whole afternoon we had a big discussion about the Doctrine of Christ and discussed the roles of the Godhead from 2 Nephi 31:5-21.  Elder Schmutz shared some really cool insights and we learned some really cool things that I had never realized before.  We also got to do a special MLC and talk about all the things we learned and what we need to improve on as the leaders of the Mission.

Also we have had some pretty cool miracles with our investigators.  One of them, a referral named William, accepted a baptismal date which was super awesome and then we taught another referral named Felicissimo, great name btw, but he has been coming to church and we are going to give him a baptismal date this week as well so the work has been going a lot better lately.

Also we have been playing basketball every week with the district which has been fun.  We have a Elder from New Zealand in our district who played rugby, he's big and he always bullies me when we play but it is really fun.  

I know the Doctrine of Christ is central to everything we do and it is the way to get back to our Heavenly Father. Another challenge is to study 2 Nephi 3:5-21 and list the roles of each member of the Godhead.  We made a list as a mission in one of the pics.  Anyways it's really cool.

Love you tons!!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

"Enabling Eternal Conversion"

Frequent Travelers

Another great week here in the sunny Philippines :)

This week we had some fun travels.  We started off in Tacloban for MLC.  It was great to be with all the batch and have some good times.  We also had a fun activity running around the Church trying to find a lost sheep and then a super good FHE with all the mission leadership.  The next day we had a super good MLC about updating the area book and finding people to teach.  Also our mission got a new logo and it's pretty cool.  I'll find a pic of it.

Most of the work this week has been pretty normal.  We did some finding and teaching and are hoping to get some baptizing at the end of February.  We also had some members bring a cousin to church and we got an appointment to start teaching him.  His name is Felicisimo, pretty cool.

Also after I get done emailing today we are getting on another van to Tacloban because we have a meeting with the Philippines Area President.  It'll be fun as well because we will be having a zone conference with all of Tacloban, Carigara, Tolosa, and Biliran Zones so I will get to see a lot of missionaries I haven't seen in a while.

One last highlight is President Argana has challenged us missionaries to become masters of Come, Follow Me.  As I have been studying I have seen my testimony of the Savior and all the events surrounding his life strengthened.  I know it was from God and I would challenge everyone to master it as well.

Anyways Love you tons!!!

I promise i'll send pics next week sorry.

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission