Hardest Week Of My Life!!!!!

Well..... this has been the hardest week of my entire life. Everynight ive thought about giving up. But that aint me! So we flew to Japan its so crazy there we were only there for an hour but its just jam packed with Asians haha I wish I could send pics but I lost the card reader I have in Japan along with the case, and other SD card!! I know right! well we landed in Manila where president Tye took us to a hotel in Manila for the night. We met some of the guys who were going home. haha that was wierd. Then the next day we went to the mission chapel and office for orientation. were they gave us our companions. My companion is elder ColCol, I guess its meant to be ColCol- Collins. hahah well he speaks little english and so do my other two roomates all from the Philippines. I am not sure if they like me very much cause we dont talk.Tthey are nice, but I think they just think I am weird and shy! I am not shy I just cant speak the language ! I do love him though, he is way nice and polite! Just cant talk a lot ! I just don't think he knows what its like to come halfway across the world to a land you have never been to and speak a language you have never heard of! He has never been out of the Philippines before. All I hear is Tagalog in our apartment! Well anyway when we finished orientation we jumped right on a jam packed jeepney and headed out! Thats when things got crazy! There are no traffic lights in the Philippines so you pretty much just drive wherever, so you feel like your going to die most of the time.  My area is Bulihan, its a very densely populated place, and its very poor. But its not like the pretty province poor wich is what I imagined, its a very packed in city, and really bad living conditions. Worse than like mexico and stuff, their houses are just cardboard and wood shacks that they put together I wish I could show you. Our apartment is a little tiny one with 4beds and two bathrooms. Yes the shower is a bucket and a ladle and yes you flush the toilet with a bucket of water. But nooo I do not wipe with my hand! I have toilet paper haha. No one understands me. And I cant understand them. Its crazy, all the writings are in English  and they blast American music every where, but no one speaks it! So this week has been tough, my companion says I need to help more in our lessons but I cant speak the language. Everyday I want to go home. The one thing I love are the kids, they are sooo cute haha everyone stares at me when I walk down the street. They all point and say amerikano amerikano!! and they all make fun of my cheeks. the little girls will all come up and go... hahah why do you have make up on your cheeks!!!!..... haha or who hit you in the face? haha Its hot as satan here in Bulihan. Even when it rains!  which it rains everyday! We usually cook our own food, I don't cook cause I don't know how to cook Filipino food?  We eat at the Acostas house a lot! They are this awesome member family that everyone loves! I had rambutan! look it up! Its crazy! They looked up our house on google maps and they were like ahhhhhhh, its funny these people live in the most crappy living conditions. but they have smartphones hahaha  The food is hard to get used to, they use everypart of the animal...EVERYPART.. Its very overwhelming. I feel like I shouldnt be here sometimes.. but hey you know what... give me another mountain to climb. cause thats what makes us stronger. I cant give up no matter how much I want to. Give me another mountain to climb. "fear not only beleive" hahha I love you mom! seeing your guys emails made me cry for the first time in awhile. I wish you guys were awake right now haha! love love love you! I cant speak tagalog!!!!!!!!

 

 P.S. yeah I dont know how conference works here in the Philippines? They dont have real toilets but they all have smart phones so this could go either way!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm Out Of Here!!!!

Yo YO Yo!

Hey momma! ohhh maaaan I dont know if im more excited or more scared outta my mind! I dont know Tagalog at all. Im ready to leave but not ready at the same time! You know what I mean? Well whatever.. lets do this! I got this! So thanks for the lovely plane package! That neck pillow is going to save my life! So this week has been just full of goodbyes! We had to say good bye to our favorite guy in the branch presidency, Bro Waite! He is seriously the coolest guy! It was tough to say good bye to him! Then 3 of our 4 teachers already left so it was tough to say goodbye to them! Me and the Kiribati Elders sang everyone of them a goobye song! Haha they were teaching me to sing better cause they all have that amazing islander voice! So im getting pretty good! hahahaha but it was bitter sweet to sing to them! We said goodbye to all of our fake investigators too and yes they all are getting baptized haha:) Well weve just been trying to get things in order for the flight! Its bout to get cra cra the next two nights!! haha Had our last gym time a few days ago! Bitter sweet but I hear they play a ton of basketball in Cavite! so its chill! Yesterday was In-Field Orientation! It was all day! 8 hours long! haha but it was kinda enjoyable! We had just a bunch of returned missionary speakers and different scenarios on how to be a good missionary! So not bad! I saw Jordan Gooch! He came in this week! Also Chase Debenham. I still see Clayton, Avery, Will and Dallin like errrryday! so instead of calling you im just gonna call my friends is that cool...... hahaha jk Well I cant wait to talk to you on Monday!  I'm stoked got the celly ready! I'm stoked to see Japan! I never dreamed that I would be in places like that! How are things going? You stoked to see Reggie in like 2 weeks? Give him an extra hug and tears for me too! Im sad that its so close, but the only explanation I can think of is the lord wants me out there as soon as possible because he has a little philipino family waiting to hear the broken Tagalog words of a little American 18 year old boy! Ohhhh cant wait! How are the Eagles doing? Tell max to tell me as soon as possible today! haha I gotta know! How are things back at home? Tell max that losing to Box freaking Elder is not acceptable! Put me in coach!;) Tell him just to keep working at it in practice! skill always beats politics in the long run dont worry! work hard! And enjoy high school football, it goes by fast! Give it all you got! I know your better than those other kids ive seen your skill just keep workin you got this!  I love you! And as for sam! you look so dope on that field! I heard your an animal? thats what I like to hear! love you bud! Whats anna doing these days? haha love her too! Well salamat for all you guys do! I miss everyone like crazy! Talk to you lunes! 

sa Magpagmahal,

                      THE  Elder Collins

 

   Found This Sign On Our Temple Walk

                                       

                                          

What Do You Think? 

 

                                             Brother And Sister Waite, Theee Best!!!!!

                                Saying Goodbye To Brother Soderquist, :( Love That Guy!!!!!

 

 

 

Flight Plans!!!!

I got em!!!!! oh man I am sooo stoked!!! I fly to Portland, then to Tokyo!!! then to Manilla! I leave sept 23, at 430 in the morning! Oh man I cant wait! Ill send you a pic of them! Im glad you liked their letters! They are funny guys and its funny to hear them speak English! hah I knew you would shed some tears! Haha that dream sounds funny, I remember having a dream just like that when Reggie was gone where he would get to fly home every other month haha. So it would probably be better if you just send me a pre paid phone or whatever, that sounds like a better idea! So this week was pretty much the same as any other week! Its tough to keep learning when you dont know what else to learn! Theres 20 something types of verb conjugations! Its ridiculous! Then we just have class twice a day and gym. Pretty sweet ehh? Ive seen some new people! like Dallin Ritchie, Will Pham, Brandon Cale, and Jenncia Williams! They are doing way good! Oh and get this?! I see Tyson Hubbard everyday! youll have to tell Kim! He looks like he is having a good time! And he is a big mamma jamma! haha oh yeah thanks for the soccerball! I use that thing 24/7 im getting pretty good! and we play some hardcore hallway soccer! Its so fun! Also Basketball! I figured I would get really good at both just in case they play soccer there too! haha jk but I love basketball here! All these kids that just came from playing high school ball are so fun to play with haha! hmm what else, Not much has happend this week! I am slowly starting to use Tagalog in everyday conversation.! And in dreams! Its so wierd! On somedays when we have free time they let us watch mormon messages and conference talks and stuff which is super fun! Said goodbye to Mason Utley yesterday, gonna miss him! I got to see him all the time! ayy hmmmmmmm hindi ko alam.... Ask me questions cause I cant think of anything else to say haha. but also send me a copy of that poem that I used!  Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Collins! 

 

 

 

 

Classic Temple Walk Picture With Swalbes and Christensen

 

 

Little Willie And Me

 

                                         I Mustache You A Question About The Gospel :)

 

 

                                              
                                               But I'll Shave It For Later Ha Ha Ha!!!!!

Halfway Done!!! (With the MTC)

Halfway!! Almost 4 weeks down! Feels like four years! hahaha but really! Feel like I should be heading home soon!;) We get our flight plans this next friday!!!!!!!!!!!! is that crazy or what!! Im so excited I just cant hide it! Well this week was a pretty normal one! The language is coming along! There are 14 types of different verb conjugations that we need to know! Ive got 4 of them down! which is like 160 words! We taught our first lesson this week without any script or notes! And we killed it! It was so nerve wrecking at first but when you rely on the lord he helps you through things like this! Even if it was just practice! you just start to make little breakthroughs each time. Its cool when you start to think in Tagalog a little bit, its something ive never felt before! Hey Where are the pictures of Sam and Max? and the plaque one! Haha jk take your time! We had a good devotional on Tuesday, the President over Missions of the Quorum of the 70 spoke! He is actually Claytons neighbor! He did an amazing job. Part of his talk was explaining jacob 5! oh man was I grateful for that haha! Im starting to really love all the missionaries from Kiribati! They are hilarious once they open up! They taught us a funny like tribal dance thing that we did for them! haha and I wish I could send it to you but these dumb butt computers wont let me! Its super funny though! I love them it makes you really think about how good you have it! They are so far away from home they are lucky to get one or two letters. All the stuff we do, is like brand new to them. While learning English, they learn Tagalog too so they have it twice as hard! I have so much respect for these guys! They are so funny and so humble! Tell Sam good luck and I am rooting for him! I wish I could be there to coach him or something! My football dreams live through him! And max too! Im currently wearing a lava lava:) haha the guys from Kiribati gave me one to wear! I am sending a picture! Well sorry my e mails aren't to interesting right now. I hope they get better once I am out there! Love you all like crazy! I miss home!

Much mahal,

- ELDER COLLINS

 Just Chilling In My Lava Lava on P-Day (with Jesus) #realmenwearskirts  

What An Interesting Week!

KUMUSTA PO KAYO?! Well... this week was definatly one I will never forget! So we started out the week with the Tuesday devotional! Guess who was there! Neil L. Anderson! Got too shake his had! He had the most powerful testimony of Christ! I got to here it live! Man the devotionals here go so hard! I love them! So then Wednesday and Thursday were very hard for me. I just was struggling so hard. I coudnt focus on anything. Our lessons we taught were just crap! I couldnt say anything and we have to teach with no notes! One of my roomates was just killin it with the language. I know everyone says that you shouldnt compare yourself with other missionaries! But guess what everyone still does! So I was pretty hard on my self and discouraged all day on Thursday. I just felt so bad and those bad thoughts were rolling through my head. We ended our class on Thursday night and the teacher left at like 9:00 and then we had to stay and plan till 9:30. So just when I was down in the dumps Heavenly Father snatched my heart from the devil! Our DL decided we should give Priesthood Blessing to whoever needed it! The Elders from Kiribati had never given one before! So my favorite person ever, his name is Mamoe Petelu, gave Elder Golden a blessing of comfort. And he gave it in his native language! And the second he said amen he was like "woaw!" and he started looking at his hands and said " I felt power and radiation come out of my hands" (He said that in a very strong accent) And it just immediatly brought him to tears. It was one of the coolest most spritual things I have ever seen. And I was able to give that same man his own blessing! My first blessing! Coolest thing I have ever done! Just proof of one of the many hands the lord has in our life! Then friday came along and it was a good day! Then again the night class rolled around. One of Elder Atkinsons best friends had came in that Wednesday and we saw him crying with his companion. So we took him outside me and Elder Atkinson and his companion sat outside and he cried and told us he doesnt want to do this anymore and he doesnt feel like he belongs here. And he had his heart set on going home. and how Heavenly Father was not answering his prayers. The guy had such a strong testimony. And my companion didnt know what to say and his companion didnt know what to say. I just felt an impression to talk to him even though I did not know him at all and I knew nothing about him. I shared my testimony with that man, I told him a story, I shared feelings, I told him that satan wants nothing more than for you to go home. I told him to picture those Filipino families that he would be baptizing and changing there lives. I shared my testimony of prayer, and how no matter how long it takes prayers are answered. I shared with him stories about gods love and how proud he is of him. And it wasnt me, I was speaking through Heavenly Father. He felt better, he told me he would pray that night to see if he would stay. I told him I know he will recieve his answer. I saw him today, he is looking a lot better theres a little more brightness in his face so I know Heavenly Father gave him peace last night. Man crazy things happen here!! Well on a lighter note! Thank you so much for the packages and letters! My roomates blew through the donuts you sent I dont even think I ate one haha:) I dont know how many times ive asked this but there better be a letter from Max and Sam in the mail at some point this week!!!!!! Cause I gots to know how the eagles are doing?!?! Haha well mahal kita to all of you! totoo ang simbahan si jesucristo ng mga banal mga huling araw! 



 

 

                                                        Oh No Big Deal Just Me Floating!

 

 

 

 

                                                 Two Of The Best Zone Leaders Ever!           

 

 

  

 

                                              Saying Goodbye To Shefy And Cole

 

                   Saying Goodbye To Sister Ogden Good Ol Awkward Elder /Sister Picture

                                                           Hello Elder England!

                                                                  Temple Trip!