Stake Conference and a White Guy

Super Great Week

So i'll start it off that for the last two days we were in Carigara for our stake conference.  There were a lot of people there and it was fun to meet members from all over the stake and see all the missionaries.  It's kinda crazy because most of the stake speaks waray but some speak cebuano so it's all sorts of craziness trying to talk to people.

It was all focused on ministering which was good to get everyone up to date on the whole changes.  We had a guy come from the temple department in Utah and he spoke.  It was super weird having an american speak at church but he gave his whole talk in Cebuano because he served in the Tacloban Misson 20 years ago and actually baptized a family whose son received the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday so that was pretty cool.  We also had the Cebu Temple President speak so that was awesome.  One thing that I really like from I think Brother Sutton (the white dudes) talk was that he said he may look american and be from America but his heart is Pinoy because it was in the Philippines that he really came to know the gospel is true.  That just really stuck with me because I have really grown my testimony as I have been here with the amazing people of the Philippines.

Update on our investigators:

Joel Yare: 19 he is super awesome and we visited his family that lives so far away from society that I wonder how it is possible to survive but they seem happy and have food so that was good.  We just shared about the plan of salvation and taught his whole family so that was really cool

Sister Wilma: I said not really anything has happened with her in my skype but she has had lots of cool experiences since then.  She has already read up to Alma in the book of mormon and she started two weeks ago.  She said we have really been a blessing in her life and we recently started teaching her 9 year old son Reggie also.

Balce Family: Literally my favorite family ever.  I have literally witnessed the Gospel change their lives.  Tatay Balce told us last week that he has really been struggling with the word of wisdom and we committed him to follow it.  Yesterday we visited them and he said he has stopped smoking and drinking and it was amazing to see how fast he responded to our commitment.  Sister also shared that she has seen that her family is so much happier since we have been teaching and even though they live far from the church and it is expensive to go every week they have always had enough money to make it to the church.  I just love them so much.  It is Tatay Jonnifer Nanay Analyn and their kids Angel 16, John Paul 13, Cristine 11, Jun Jun 9, Jerra 6, and Jenesis 3

Those are most of our progressing investigators and we have them scheduled to be baptized by the end of June so pray for them to keep progressing.

Also I got the package that you sent in April it is great but I still haven't got the one from Jensons.  It's all good though it's the thought that counts.

Love you tons!!

Sorry I forgot to take Pictures next week nalang!!

Another Cycle in Calubian!!

So yeah mothers day was great. Loved seeing you!  Seriously the fastest 45 minutes of my life.  

I have another cycle in Calubian with Elder Gomboc.

This was a super busy and fun week.  After skyping we had no transportation back to Calubian so we spent the night in Carigara and then caught ride with a member of the stake presidency in Ormoc which is a stake here to Tacloban and then a ride back to Calubian.  It was a pretty crazy day but we actually got to ride in a car for the first time in like 8 months which was super weird.  I am not used to having space for my legs in a vehicle.

Aside from that I gained a lot of respect for the calling of primary music leader because I filled in this week and I realized how hard it is to teach songs to kids especially when they don't speak english but it was actually really fun.  

We had a ward activity that me and Elder Gomboc basically planned.  We had lots of games with the members it was super fun.  Then we ate a lot of food.  Seriously tons I wish I would have taken a picture, they basically gave away all of the left overs to the members afterwords and I think it would be like when they gathered the 7 baskets of bread after the sermon on the mount.  

Church was a great time also because we got the opportunity to speak again in Sacrament.  We had 8 investigators come and over 100 attendance so we are making progress here.  That is one reason I am super excited to be staying in Calubian for another cycle.  

Thanks for all the love and support.  Love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Mother's Day Skype 2018

Mother’s Day Call 7pm on 5/13/2018

9am in Tacloban on 5/14/2018

·    It took him and his companion 3 hours to get from Calubian to Tacloban.  They had to rent a trike because today is election day so no buses were running.  They left really early in the morning to get there in time to call us.

·    He looked healthy and so happy!  He smiled almost the entire time.  He gains and then loses weight, up 8 pounds, down 3.  He hasn’t been sick at all from the food or water.  And somehow he seems to be immune to the mosquitos.  He said they attacked him one night when he first got there, but haven’t bothered him since.

·    He said it’s so hot during the mornings and afternoons.  Then it rains in the late afternoons and evenings almost every day.

·    Has eaten about every part of the chicken.  He said chicken heart is actually pretty tasty.

·    Likes pancit (pronounced panseat), which is kind of like ramen noodles with vegetables and chicken.

·    Cooks a lot, mostly chicken and rice. Surra is whatever meat goes with your rice (chicken, steak, pork, etc,).  He loves rice and said he will probably eat it twice a day when he gets home.  He does eat much fish because it takes too long to prepare the cook.

·    They usually on get invited to eat with members a couple of times per cycle (6 weeks).  He was pretty jealous of his friends serving in the states that have dinner appointments every night.

·    They have a McDonald’s in Tacloban.  They do serve rice and chicken, but also Big Mac’s.  But he said he hasn’t had a Big Mac yet because they are so expensive - $5.  He said he can buy a full meal anywhere else for $1.50.  We told him we will add some money in his account so he can splurge and buy a Big Mac for him and his companion.

·    Bought shoes there for $8.  He said they are pretty nice and are waterproof.  The shoes he brought with him got destroyed when he rode the bike in Anibong for 6 months.

·    His companion, Elder Gomboc (pronounced Gumbooc) speaks pretty good English, but mostly Tagalog.  Wade said the people in his area will start to speak in Cebuano, but then change to Waray-Waray half way through the conversation.  It keeps him on his toes.  He is more comfortable speaking Waray-Waray, but can understand and speak both languages pretty well.

·    They have 7 baptisms planned for next month: JhonRex, Noel, the Balce family (including nanay/mom, and 3 children), another sister (can’t remember or spell her name)

·    The only air-conditioned rooms in the church are the bishop and clerk’s offices.

·    Filipinos love basketball.  There is a hoop on almost every corner.  They love the NBA.  He gets to play basketball on some pdays.  He thought they would be more into soccer, but they are not.  He is grateful for NBA updates so keep ‘em coming whoever is emailing them to him!

·    He washes his clothes with a scrub brush and a bucket.  He demonstrated it for us and he said he is getting pro at it.

·    We talked for 44 minutes and 50 seconds.  He said his mission president told them they need to be obedient and only talk for less than 45 minutes.  He even gave us a 5 minute warning. J  Our favorite part is when he said, “Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.”  He said every missionary that has been through the MTC should know that quote.  He is working on being exactly obedient and we are so proud of him!

Week of Miracles

Great week for Calubian!!

This week was a new high for my attendance in the Calubian ward with 92 which is a lot better that our usual 55-60 so that was awesome.  We also had 5 investigators at church which was super unexpected and great.

One super cool story this week was the story of the Balce family.  We got shown were their house was by some members and it is super hidden on down this cliff by the beach.  We learned that the tatay is a member but nanay is not but tatay has not been to church in many years.  We started to teach them together and nanay is super interested.  The next time we come back she shares how she and tatay had been talking about the gospel a lot in between our visits and it was bringing their family closer together.  Then we invited them to church and we were unsure if they would come because they live kind of far away but they said they will try.  They came and Tatay shared his testimony and it was super powerful about how he has felt the spirit powerfully coming back to church and accepting the gospel again.  It was a super cool experience to see the Gospel blessing their lives.

We also got to help a brother in our ward give a priesthood blessing to his wife.  He had never done so before so we helped him through it and it made me grateful that I have the priesthood and can bless people's lives and also that I have had leaders and teachers who have helped me use and exercise my priesthood.

Aside from that Noel is still coming to church Jhon Rex has kind of stopped and brother Joel keeps coming so that is good.  

Work is going good here in Calubian and by the way they don't even celebrate Cinco de Mayo or Mother's Day here but they did have Labor Day on May 1st so that was kinda funky.

Love you tons,

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Busy Busy Busy

Yeah so as you can tell by the title of this email we had a bunch of stuff going on this week.

1st off last week we had a FHE with a member super far in the Bukid.  We got to cook some food over a campfire and share a lesson and play some games and it was super fun.  It started pouring rain while we were there so we got to walk back home for like 2 hours in the rain and of course I forgot my payong(umbrella) so I was soaked.

2nd we had exchanges in Carigara.  I was with Elder Lopez who is from Utah and he is super dope.  We taught a bunch of lessons and it was good to be back in a Waray Waray area.  I like Waray-Waray much more than cebuano.  

3rd we had zone conference in Tacloban.  It was super fun to be with a bunch of missionaries and to learn from President Argana.  He gave a training about a talk from President Monson I think about Faces of Failure and Attitudes of Accomplishments.  It was basically that I don't ever need to be discouraged because as long as I give my all the Lord will make up the rest.  The conference was supposed to end at lunch time but it ended up going until 5 so we missed our van back to Calubian so our entire zone of elders stayed in the Carigara apartment.  It was a pretty good time.

4th we had exchanges in Calubian with the other elders in our district.  We found a couple new people so that was good.

Sadly Jhon Rex and Noel didn't come to church last week so we had to push their baptism back a few weeks.  They still want to be baptized they have just been busy so we are just encouraging and praying for them.

Also we had a member invite her friend to church.  Brother Joel and he is super awesome.  We were able to teach him at the Church and it was a super good lesson and the spirit was super strong.  He accepted an IBD so that was super awesome. 

Pretty busy crazy week but it was super fun. 

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Carigara Zone

Zone Conference lunch with Elder Gomboc

Zone Conference haka???

Sitting in the Throne at Robinsons

 Us with the Family of Jhon Rex and Noel

Maayong Semana

This email is entitled in Cebuano because I have been trying to use more of  it but now I like can't really speak Waray-Waray of Cebuano it is just a mish mash or sagul as they would say which is what they speak here so that's all good.

Anyways this was another great week in Calubian.  We have realized that we haven't really had any new investigators for the past few weeks so this week we spent a lot of time just going to a bunch of houses and teaching lesson 1.  We have also taken the challenge of President Argana to use the Book of Mormon in every teaching opportunity and man the Book of Mormon has power.

I don't know what it is but like 3 people just opened up to us and were crying as they told us about trials they were having and we just testified that everyone has trials but if we live the gospel of Jesus Christ and stay faithful all of our trials will become things that make us stronger.  I have seen that soo many times already on the mission.  

One of new investigators Brother Jayce is super cool and he was super receptive when we started teaching him.  He asked us why there are so many churches and using the Book of Mormon we shared about how many churches will come saying I am the Lord's, I am the Lord's but they are just built up to get gain and he was like oh that makes a lot of sense.

We were then teaching his dad Brother Rodrigo and he asked about why infants don't need to be baptized and we shared Moroni 8 about how baptism is for the remission of sins and how children are clean and pure and he also was like wow that makes sense.  They both accepted Baptismal dates so hopefully they can progress.

Jhon Rex and Noel are progressing well.  Hillboy Family has been dropped because they must have moved or something.

Questions from mom and dad: How many miles does your mission cover?  I have no clue how many miles my mission covers but my address is just Calubian, Leyte, Philippines.

What is your favorite scripture or scripture story since you have been on your mission? I have two favorites:

1st: I have really loved the Stripling Warriors while i've been on the mission.  Just because they fought armies and were always outnumbered but they never feared or doubted and were saved.  I have been trying that to never fear or doubt or get discouraged and then I will make it through.

2nd: The end of Alma 31 about Alma praying for success as they go to teach and how the Lord blessed them.  It just always gives me a boost when I need it.

Love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Another week in Calubian!

So this week was pretty normal not much exciting happened.  We did go to Tacloban for zone interviews and I learned that I lost weight :(  All the hills are keeping me thin haha.  I went into my interview with President Argana and he shared with me how President Nelson's talk from Sunday Morning was what the mission needed to hear and I was like hey that was my favorite talk no way.

We have kept teaching Brother Orlando, Sister Layza and Jhonrex and Noel.  Jhonrex and Noel should be getting baptized in two weeks so that is exciting.  Jhonrex and Noel were the only ones at church but we had a pretty good attendance so that was good and we helped our ward to plan a ward activity.  They haven't had any this year so that should be fun.  I'll let you know the specifics of the activity when it gets closer but it sounds like fun.

Our zone conference is on April 26 so hopefully I can get the journals and hear about when we get to skype home then.

Oh for riding the karabaw we were just walking down this path in the bukid and Elder Gomboc just asked a random guy if we could get a picture on the karabaw and the guy was just like sure.

And yeah dad Tatay is right :)

Question from mom and dad: What is the language going?  Language is going really good.  I can understand people which is a major bonus, sometimes it is still hard to speak but I feel like people can understand me so that's good.  Oh by the way I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and a member said that she understood everything and I did the whole thing in the language so that was cool.

Anyways, Love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Me with Noel and Jhonrex

Eating some cheese flavored seaweed

A pretty epic dart throw by Elder Gomboc

Conference and New Companion

So we had transfers on Wednesday and I got a new companion.  Elder Gomboc, he is from Manila.  He goes home in September and is super awesome.  We get along really well so that's good.  His english is okay not great but we speak a lot of Cebuano, which is good because I haven't really used Cebuano since the MTC.

We finally got a little bit of progress going in Calubian.  We found a less active family that is super awesome and we learned that there kids are not members so we have been teaching them which has been super good.  They are 10 and 9 and are super smart.  One of them memorized the first paragraph of the intro to the Book of Mormon in between our visits.  Jhonrex and Noel they are legit.

Also on to Conference I loved it soo much.  I have so many favorite parts that I decided to make a list to make it easier to remember what I liked:

Favorite Talk: President Nelson Sunday Morning 

Favorite Session: Sunday Afternoon

Other Favorite Talks:Elder Holland, Pres. Eyring Sunday Morning, Bishop Causse, Pres. Nelson Priesthood, and Brother Durrant

Best Joke: Elder Holland-Rushes of Revelation, Elder Wakolo-15 brethren behind me, Elder Durrant-Es Posible?

Coolest Moment: Solemn Assembly, seriously gave me the chills and I felt the spirit super powerfully, and also Standing to sing Rise up oh men of God in the priesthood session.

Best Story: President Nelson-Wilbur Cox and Smashing Alcohol bottles, Elder Holland-Home Teaching Story, Bishop Causse-People researching church for temple approval, Elder Wilson-Man receiving revelation on the ship. Elder Christofferson-George Goats

Weirdest Moment: Hearing President Oaks conducting instead of President Uchtdorf.

Biggest Surprise: No More Home Teaching and the New Apostles

Best New Temple: Cagayen De Oro (of course!) and unnamed city in Russia

Funniest Moment: When President Nelson announced Layton UT temple. and Elder Gong's song

Hardest to Understand: Elder Zivic and Sister Aburto

New Word for a talk: Interregnum

Coolest Voices: Elder Robbins and Bishop Causse

Biggest Theme for Me: Receiving Personal Revelation

Best One Line:  "I love you mom" -Elder Durrant, because same

Yeah I really loved conference, it has become one of my favorite parts of the mission.  I know that President Nelson is the Prophet that God has chosen to lead the Church today and that he truly is guided by God.  I know this Church is true.

Oh and if you could send a new journal or two.  I am almost out of room.  They have some here they are just not super good.  Thanks

Oh and mom Pancit is like ramen noodles but it has meat and veggies in it.  It is everywhere here.

Question from mom and dad: What are the bathrooms like in your area? 

The bathroom took a little to get used to but now it is just normal.  There is no toilet paper but there is like a little bucket with water next the the toilet that you use to clean yourself and you dump water down the toilet to flush it.  No sinks.  They have normal bathrooms but only in the big malls in Tacloban.

Anyways I'm loving the work

Love you tons!

Me and Elder Gomboc

Me and Elder Gomboc with Sister Baronda, her house is super nice

Me riding a karabaw, or water buffalo

Easter Weekend and Conference

Maupay nga Semana,

So not too much happened but it was a good week.  We didn't have anything to crazy happen for holy week except for we got to watch a huge firework show from our back porch I will try to send a video.  And they had a huge parade through the town that we didn't get to see but we could hear it.  Easter here was basically a big excuse for tons of people to just party.

Sadly Brother Orlando didn't come to church because his family got offended by the bishop. That is a really common problem in this ward because the bishop has been the bishop for 7 years and everyone thinks that he stole all the relief from Typhoon Yolanda so it's a challenge.  And we haven't been able to contact Hillboy because all the people who are Catholic in town flocked to the huge catholic church.

It was super crazy on Friday because everything closed.  Seriously we were like the only people on the streets the entire day so weren't able to talk to anyone.  

But the beat goes on I heard about the new apostles on Sunday which was super cool because Elder Soares visited my mission for my first zone conference and I got to shake his hand so that was really cool.  It is crazy the home teaching is no longer a thing.  That helps bring our ward here because it was a major struggle.  And Awesome that the PHilippines is getting a new temple!

Answering the Question (What do you do on P-day?):  P-Day in Calubian goes just like this

we wake up then we head to a calendaria and buy some pancit, it's super good then we do our weekly laba.  After that we head to a little computer internet cafe thing for our emails.  After that we kinda clean the apartment and kinda chill.  It's kinda nice to just rest because we are pretty worn out by the end of the week.  Then at 5:30 we head out and work until 8:30.  Pretty chill day I love it.

Also transfers are on wednesday and I think Elder Martin will transfer so I'll let you know what happens.

Love you tons

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Getting ready for Holy Week

Super solid week this week.

We hit our goal for church attendance so we will not be a branch.  Super good.  The other major good thing was that we had a guy who is the son of a really old member tell us that he wants to get baptized which is super awesome because it has been tough lately finding new people to teach.  We already taught him once and he is super awesome.  His name is Orlando if you want to send some prayers his way.

This week I also had two different exchanges which was a pretty good time.  My first was in Carigara which is basically a mini city.  They have a super good ward there and we actually got to teach with members that would work with us.  It was kinda weird.  I also got fed by some other really awesome members so it was a super awesome exchange.  The only bad part was the apartment they live in was an old hospital that was turned into an apartment and everyone swears it is haunted. It was kinda freaky but it was a good time.

The second exchange was in Calubian with the other elders in our district from San Isidro and we had a good day of work.  Me and Elder Bao-as taught a bunch of lessons and we found some new investigators so it was a successful day.

Oh and Calubian is kinda getting crazy right now for holy week.  they are setting up shrines all  over the town and the Catholic Church here always has like 50 people there.  It's gonna be crazy.  The craziest part is that I hear they are doing actually live Crucifixions in Tacloban.

Answer to the question (What is your favorite thing about serving a mission in the Philippines?):  My Favorite part is either the food or honestly just being on a mission and seeing the miracles of the Gospel.  But probably the food because it is super good.  And it is kinda cool to think that I can speak a language that like a very small percentage of the world knows.  

Love you tons,

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

A fish swimming in the gutter in Carigara

Me and Elder Sarmiento

Adventure is out there

Not too much happened this week but it was super good.  We had zone conference in Tacloban and got to meet back up some of my batch that I haven't seen since the MTC so that was super fun.  We had a bunch of good trainings and then President Argana gave a big training about the Book of Mormon.  It was super good I love the Book of Mormon.  I also finished it for the second time on the mission last week so yeah.  It's the best.

Another good experience this week was after church we got invited to the house of Nanay Tigley who lives as far away from anything as I have possibly seen.  We hiked for probably 2 hours up a mountain and through some crazy hills to get to her house.  After we got there we got fed a huge feast so that was great.  I felt that some of the people we passed had never seen white people before.

Well our ward attendance went down this week which kinda stunk.  Our less actives are very stubborn but we are gonna get them eventually.  We keep getting threatened by stake leaders that we are going to become a branch but that is mine and Elder Martin's goal to not let that happen.  

Aside from that pretty normal week.  Lovin life in the mission field.  Even when success isn't very easy to see it is always there.  At least I feel closer to Christ if our less actives don't.  I think that's the secret to the mission.

Love you tons "Don't worry Mom I am doing great :)"

Also thanks so much for the package it was amazing.  For my birthday we decided to celebrate in Tacloban after zone conference and we ate at an american pizza place and got real chocolate shakes it was amazing.  And they had cake at zone conference.  Also I ate Durian which as described by President Argana "smells like hell but tastes like  heaven"  I think it tastes and smells like hell.  Pretty disgusting.

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

Pictures from Zone Conference: