Maupay nga Semana

Good week as usual on the mission.  We stayed pretty busy all week which was good.  Lots of lessons and teaching.  I was pretty tired by the end of most days.  Luckily the bikes are back so we are putting in the work in Anibong.

Main update on investigators.  We taught Solomon this week and shared with us that he is unsure about baptism because his family in Catholic and he will have to change from the rest of his family.  We just bore our testimonies of the power of the Book of Mormon and the importance of finding the truth for ourselves.  We challenged him to pray and see.  I was also able to give him a blessing of counsel so I am excited for the next time we visit to see how he is doing.

We had a super good lesson with the Cobacha family, sadly they didn't come to church this week but we are praying that next week will be the week.  They actually kept their commitments to read and pray and stuff which is kinda rare so that was super awesome.

Other good investigators Sister Mekaela Canete is progressing super well and will be baptized February 17 along with Rochelle-Anne.  I am excited for them and also Geraldine Guasin who is one of their friends is scheduled for Mar. 3.  It's kinda funny that all of our good investigators are teenage girls but we are really trying to get families baptized but we take what we can get haha.

Ernesto and Rolando have kinda lost interest and we haven't been able to visit them in a while so that's kinda a bummer.  We did get to contact the Apejas family and teach them so hopefully they can continue to progress.

This week should be very busy because we have zone conference tomorrow, zone interviews on thursday and exchanges with the Zone Leaders on wednesday so it will be a pretty crazy week.  Next transfers are Feb. 21 so hopefully we can get some baptisms on Feb.17.

Thanks for the love and support. I can feel it everyday!

Love you tons

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission

This picture is this special needs guy we met and he was super funny.  

Kinda reminds me of my friend Brett Berry.  

Next time you see him will you give him a hug for me, thanks.

Walking by Faith and 6 Months!

So the theme of this week was 2 Corinthians 5:7 because we did a lot of walking by faith this week.  

The bike was sadly in the shop in Tacloban all week so we were walking all day.  We stayed pretty close to the main roads because they have the public transportation like trikes and what not and we weren't able to get out to Anibong until Sunday.  We basically did finding all day everyday which was pretty exhausting but now that I look back on it, it was a really good week and I learned a lot.

One bonus of working near the main roads was that not very many missionaries have really done work there so we got to talk to lots of people who had never heard about the gospel before.  We taught so many lesson 1's it was crazy.  One family we found was the Cobacha Family they were a referral from another family we talked to.  They were super awesome and asked good questions and stuff.  We got a return appointment and when we came back they fed us a big meal which was super awesome.  They live far from the church they could use some prayers for the faith to sacrifice and go to church. That would be greatly appreciated.

It's crazy that I hit the 6 month mark last week. Wow it goes by fast in the field.  I didn't burn any ties but we did have a little celebration in our apartment with our kabalay because another elder hit his year mark too so we ate a little feast and had some ice cream so that was pretty fun.

Thats about it for this week.  I got the package with the sweater from amazon haven't got any of the others yet but I will let you know

Love you tons,

Elder Holmstead

this bridge that we found way out in the bukid

our 6 month/year celebration 

another bridge in our area

the beauty of anibong area

some random dude we found on the street listening to some crazy music

what a trike looks like

getting bored on the long walk

some birds going crazy in a rice field

an authentic filipino game​

Rain All Day

Well it has been raining non stop since Saturday and it is still raining now.  When we were coming to Tacloban the roads were flooded and some houses were filled with water so it has been a pretty wet couple of days.

It was transfers this week and......still in Anibong.  Me and Elder Escalona are still companions which is good because we are putting in the work.  Elder Hassan transferred to Borongan which is kinda sad because we have been living in the same house for the whole mission so we got pretty close but it's all good.  Now I am the only american in a house of filipinos.  I have never heard so much tagalog in my entire life.  My language is getting better because I basically have to speak Waray-Waray the whole time.

As for investigators we have been teaching Rochelle-Anne and she is progressing really good towards baptism. Sadly Solomon didn't come to church this week so we were a little bummed. Sorry it's hard to remember all the investigators because we have 25 investigators with baptismal dates so I kinda lose track of where they are all at.  Two return missionaries came back from their missions this week to our branch so they have been helping work a ton.  We found 11 new investigators this week.

Oh one crazy story so the only way to our area is through some pretty rough dirt roads so you basically have to bike or there is no way to get there.  So something happened to my bike so we couldn't ride to church so we basically had to convince a trike driver to take us to Anibong which they usually never do.  We knew we had basically no way home but walking but we trusted somehow we would make it home.  Anyways we started walking back after some work on Sunday in the pouring rain and then a trike came driving through.  It was a huge miracle because trikes are never just driving through anibong so we got a ride home and didn't have to walk for like 3 hours in the rain.  

Other random stuff, I ate cheese flavored ice cream that actually had chunks of cheese in it. really gross.  We had a funeral in our branch and when we went to the cementary a skull was just chilling out next to the hole they dug for the coffin.

Anyways thanks for all the love and support. I have not yet received any of the packages but zone interviews will be in the next week or 2 so hopefully I will get them then.  

Also will you send me some pics of just around St. George because I want to show Elder Escalona what it looks like there.

Love you 

Elder Holmstead

Sorry no new pics, I'll do better next week.

Maupay nga New Year!

Sadly there's not a cool Waray-Waray way to say happy new year so that's all you get:(

Anyways this was a super good week.  Thanks for all the prayers for investigators this week because we had some major miracles happen.  The biggest one was for Brother Solomon.  We have been teaching him since the start of this cycle at the end of November and he is super interested he has just never come to Church.  We have been inviting him every week and he is like oh yeah i'll be there this week but then never comes.  We have been praying tons for him and we felt that we needed to help get him a fellowshipper so we asked our branch president's son to bring him to Church and he finally came.  I was super excited that we could finally see him come.

We had some more rain storms this week, basically every week.  I am actually surprised on the days it doesn't rain here.  

Oh I finally memorized the Waray-Waray first vision this week. Usually we use the Tagalog one to share because it is in the pamphlet we share with people so if you forget a part you can just read it.  I finally decided to learn the Waray-Waray one and I have shared it in 2 lessons now and the Spirit comes very powerfully to be able to share that sacred experience to people in their own language.  

Here it is just for fun to read: 

Nakakita ako hin raya hin lamrag eksakto ha igbaw han akon ulo, labaw pa han kapawa han adlaw, nga naghinay-hinay pagtipaubos hasta nga nagtipahulog ngadi ha akon...Pag-ukoy han lamrag dida ha akon nakakita ko an duha nga mga personahe, nga an kapawa diri akos han ngatanan nga pagpahayag, nga natindog ha hangin igbaw ha akon.  Usa ha ira nagyakan ha akon, nagtawag ha akon ngaran ngan nagsiring, "Amo Ini an akon Higugmaon nga Anak. Pamati ha Iya!"

Transfers are this Wednesday and I have no clue what will happen.  My guess is I will still be in Anibong for another cycle.  

Oh I have given two priesthood blessings, 1 to a girl in Dagami just for comfort about an upcoming test.  2 to a lady in our branch who was really sick.  After that blessing for the sick sister she was able to come to church with her family the next day so that was a really cool experience.

Some background about investigators: 

Solomon Bansale: Age 18

None of his family are members but we are also teaching his mom.  He is super nice and loves to learn.

Rochelle-Anne Morabe: Age 10

Lives literally right next to the church.  None of her family are members but she wants to join the church and her family supports her.

Rolando Abrahan Jr: Age 25-30

His wife is a member and he has 2 kids I think that are super awesome and I love them tons.  He needs to be married in order to be baptized and they are trying hard to get the paperwork needed for marriage so we have been praying for that to all work out.

We have a bunch more i'll send some more next week.  Thanks for all the prayers for investigators I know it helps a bunch.  Thanks for all the love and support.  Love you tons!!

Elder Holmstead

Baptisms of Bianca, Jaybe and Cay-anne

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's

Maupay nga Pasko and Happy New Year's. Can't believe it's 2018

So Christmas in the mission field was a pretty good time.  It was P-Day so we kinda just chilled all day and then we had a curfew at 6:00 pm so we couldn't work so just hanging out in the apartment all day.  But still a good time and members fed us with tons of food so that was great.

New Year's was pretty crazy.  On New Year's everyone in the Philippines basically just get drunk and they have tons of fireworks and karoake machines so we got no sleep.  We had to stay in the apartment after 6 as well because their are tons of people out on the streets going crazy.

We had a baptism for Bianca, Jaybe, and Cay-anne.  It went super well and I got the opportunity to baptize all 3 of them.  They are super awesome and they really want to follow Christ so I was super happy for them.  I have some pictures but the computer won't let me put them into the email so next week I will try sorry.

It was awesome to talk to you last week.  Best Christmas gift for sure.  As far as family goals I'm not sure I'm good with reading the Book of Mormon or praying for something.  Whatever works.  

Oh so for Christmas conference every zone at the conference had to perform a musical number so we sang Silent Night and then had a little nativity scene set up while we sang.

And if you are wondering a good birthday gift a new watch would be great.  Don't really have any preference what kind but if it is waterproof that would be great.  

Some names for investigators that could use some prayers: Solomon Bansale, Ernesto Bejino, Rolando Abrahan Jr., Apejas Family

 

Thanks for all the emails, Love you tons!

Elder Holmstead