Manila na naman!/ Email from April 27

Hey sorry its been a pretty busy day! That's why I'm so late, today we took some elders and sisters to Manila for x rays and other going homes stuff. Transfers is already next week! WHAAAT??? Man they keep getting faster and faster. I only have two transfer left! Anyways we woke up at like 4 am this morning and didn't finish till like 1;30pm. So I'm pretty beat. haha both me and elder Bacher are getting kind of tired haha. We are wiped out like everyday. But you just gotta follow what the lord wants. 

Anyways its been a great week. More meetings than work, we taught at a specialized training this week. And also a follow up training meeting for new missionaries. We also had our transfers meeting with President, and will have another one tomorrow. Its pretty cool sometimes to be behind the scenes of transfers. Be able to help out and stuff.

Also this past Tuesday elder Christensen and I went on exchanges! It was super sweet! He's out in the really jungle part of Cavite. Its like paradise out there! But he came and worked with me here and it was awesome, good to be back with him. Also we found out we are both scheduled to go to Newport Beach at the same time! 

 This past Sunday we were able to see our recent convert Raymond bless the sacrament for the first time. It was so cool to see the excitement on his face. A couple weeks ago he copied down the sacrament prayer and practiced it everyday so he could do it right. He has such great potential to be a leader in this church. He still lacks knowledge, but has a lot of faith. I know once he gains more knowledge, he will be a great teacher, and disciple of Christ. 

Our work has been doing okay this week, due to the meetings and things we had this week we lost some time to work. But the time we had it was good. We have still been teaching a few families that have been doing well. We had a great experience while on exchanges while watching the restoration video with a family. After the video the mother was very touched by his experience. She teared up talking about it. It's great that we have those kind of tools to not just explain it, but to show it so people can see, what a blessing. We have been also been working with Brother Silverito, our potential Melchizedek priesthood holder. He's still doing great, we are just working on really getting him to understand the lessons. But he should be baptized this May! 

Love you family! sorry not much today,I'm pretty beat! 

 Love~elder MC

Tatlong Buwan na Lang.....Whaaaat?/ Email from April 19

Hey Family!! Man what a great week. 

This week we had exchanges, I forgot to tell you that Elder Leuapepetele, my old soa. He was called to be a Zone Leader this last transfer, he shotgunned in Rosario area. Well I got to go on exchanges with him this last Thursday! It was so much fun. Man do I miss that guy. He has really became a great missionary, im proud of him. 

I also went back to Imus this Sunday on exchanges with Elder Calaunan, haha it was weird to be back, I saw my recent converts and stuff, and the Soriano family! That awesome family that always fed me and Elder Christensen. (the on that sent that video to Christensen's mom of us on Christmas) haha. It was a good day. 

We have also had a great week of work this week. We found a lot of great people. We have been teaching a potential Melchizedek priesthood holder who is super ready for baptism,Brother Silverito, we are just trying to help him understand all of the lessons before he gets baptized. Well his baptism was suppose to happen this Saturday, but last week he went back to his province because of a death in the family and wasnt able to make it back in time for his interview, so we decided to wait till next week to make sure. But hes a great man, he even found the church in his province and went to General Conference over there. We were really happy to hear that. 
We had a cool experience this past week with finding a prepared soul. We had tried to contact and teach a referral given to us by a member. She lives with the member in their home. Well we went one night to teach them and they werent their, which was odd because they told us too come. Well we didnt want our time to be a sayang (wasted), so we looked for people to OYM. We saw this man with his back faced to us a little ways away down an alley. We both felt the impression that even though his back was turned to go and talk to him. Well of course we did, and he was a very kind man. He told us that he felt most religions right now say they are right but lack things, and that there should only be one church of god, and he was still searching, even though he was a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo church. Well we shared a little bit with him and he told us to come back another time. Well yesterday Elder Rindlisbacher and Elder santillan went back while on exchanges to teach the referral. Come to find out that the referral of the member was dating the man that we talked to who lived down the street. They taught them both and it was a great lesson, they both excepted a date for baptism, and requested a copy of the book of mormon. So we are excited to continue to teach them. 
I recently restarted reading the book of mormon again, and Elder Rindlisbacher and I talked about this in studies, that its great to read the bible, and the D&C and all, But there is just something different when you read the Book of Mormon. A stronger spirit,a greater understanding, I learn so much more everytime. This past week I read in 1 Nephi 16. And I love the story of Nephi breaking his bow. Nephis example has really helped me out these past weeks. His faith and diligence is something we all need to develop in our lives. Through so much trial, opposition and tribulation his attidude and faith in Gods power is amazing. Everybody in his family was complaining and murmuring to God, even his own father! But he stayed faithful, says here.. 20 "And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly, because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness; and also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord."
22 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did speak much unto my brethren, because they had hardened their hearts again, even unto complaining against the Lord their God."
23 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?"
24 "And it came to pass that he did inquire of the Lord, for they had humbled themselves because of my words; for I did say many things unto them in the energy of my soul."
Nephi, instead of sitting around complaning and murmuring because of his bow. He was diligent, and industrious. He mad another bow and got food for his family. Later in the chapter it explains that the liahona only works according to faith and diligence. They are lucky that they had Nephi there. Us as missionaries need to be like Nephi and not his bretheren, when ever problems or disobedience arises, we need to be diligent and faithful, fix the problems, exhort our brethern to humble themselves, and move forward. What a great strory.
I love the Book of Mormon, and the scriptures. I grateful for the opportunity to read them each day.

We also have specialized training this Thursday, well be training all zone leaders and district leaders. 

 Love, Elder Collins

HAPPY BIRF-DAY ANNA!!!!

Hey!! Man Was this a great week! So much stuff is going on lately time just flies! We have had some great experiences this week, I had the opportunity to go to a few different places in the mission for exchanges this week. We went to Carissa, then San Pedro Laguna, and also here in Molino. It get pretty crazy with exchanges because we have to do 10 exchanges in 6 weeks, plus all the other stuff. But its super fun to work with all these  great missionaries, and to see all these cool places! 

      We have recently been teaching another potential priesthood holder, who should be baptized this April the 25th! His name is Brother Silverito, He is a great man. He is the uncle of one of our Recent Converts, he's about 60 years old. His father is actually a member down in Davao, his father is 85 years old and still an active member. He has had a crazy past, he's been homeless at times. But before we had even met him he had been to church a few times and really wanted to learn about the gospel. He has very little knowledge of Christ and his teachings but is so humble and willing to learn. He is truly a great example of Christ's words, " Humble yourselves as a little child", He is such a humble man. All he tells us is he cant wait to tell his father that he is going to be baptized. I am very excited for him. 

   Another cool experience just happened earlier was our newly baptized convert brother Raymond has been doing great, and just been preaching the gospel to everyone. He was so excited to give us referrals. Well he gave us 7 referrals earlier that we taught and we were expecting like a family and stuff, haha the only problem is they were all children!! Like 8 years old to 13. We taught them of course because of all the trouble brother Raymond went through to set it up. Well we just taught them the simple principle of praying to our Heavenly Father. Well as we were teaching I kind of just got the feeling like there was no use cause they are just children. But we decided to invite each child to say their own prayer one by one. Well they did, and I was touched. These humble poor children were praying for things like, " Please help my mom and dad to stop fighting, it makes me cry." And " Please help my father to be healed from his sickness, " please help my dad to stop drinking" it was then that I was touched by their spirits. These children have hard lives, really hard. But they are still so humble a grateful for everything. The gospel helps anybody no matter how big or small. And I know those small prayers will be answered.

This past general conference was just amazing! I was spiritually full my spiritual buttons were popping. I loved every talk given, it really answered all the questions for me about the future, and right now in my mission. It helped me to evaluate, and to make new goals for improvement. A specific talk that I just keep reflecting on again and again is the talk by Elder Nielson of the seventy about the Prodigals son. He told the story of his lost sister, and how we just need to watch and wait, and pray that they come back. That's what the father did, just waited. What he said was something that I never have realized before about that story. He said the whole time he related to the other son who stayed home and his sister was the prodigals son. But at that moment he said "I realized that in some ways I was the prodigal son. All of us fall short of the glory of the Father. (see Romans 3:23). All of us need the Savior’s Atonement to heal us. All of us are lost and need to be found. This revelation that day helped me know that my sister and I both needed the Savior’s love and His Atonement. Susan and I were actually on the same path back home." It blew my mind, we all are the prodigals sons, we all fall short of him, but every day our Father just watches and waits for us to come home. And when he finally sees us approaching him, he will run to us and hug us, just like the father did in luke 15. So amazing and humbling to think about. 
I also liked Elder Hollands and Uchtdorf's talk on the Grace of Christ. To always be humble and grateful for his grace no matter how big or small our sins are. Just like the lord told Simon in the book of Matthew. It was all so amazing. What a great week. That was my last General Conference as a missionary. Man time is going way to fast, we have to slow it down somehow! 

Love,

Elder MC

P.S. Happy Birthday Anna! Girl I hope you have a good one! Your present will have to wait till July! I Love You!!!!

This is our recent convert that got baptized last week, Brother Raymond. He got all these kids rounded up and wanted us to teach them :),   so we taught them this morning after our studies.

Because he lives. /Email from April 6th

Hey family! Well this week has been a great one! Lots of stuff happened and so little time. We had a week of exchanges, and our MLC. It was kind of cool, first time I was on the other half of the Council. I had my first opportunity to teach to all these great missionaries. But it was an awesome experience! We talked a lot about honesty this month. Because there's been a bit of a problem with that here lately.  I have really reflected upon the principle of having an honest heart. That's why I mentioned it in our planning meeting. I really hope it will help out. That's truly what they are missing, they aren't honest with themselves, they aren't honest with their companions, they aren't honest with their work. So through that they aren't honest to the Lord. We just need to start with ourselves, if we continue to just be honest within our hearts, all else will fall into place with the work and obedience . 
The best part of the week though was our Baptism of Brother Raymond. It was one of the more spiritual baptisms i had ever been too. Everything went somewhat smooth and after he was baptized, there was a beautiful musical number given. Which made brother Raymond cry. These were the words to the song. 
"Oh my soul hungered the moment I knelt down to pray,
And felt all my doubts wash away.
Oh my soul hungered, He heard my cry.
The voice of the Lord spoke peace to my mind.
Oh my soul hungered Things that were old became new
When I learned to feel what I already knew.
With all my heart, With all my soul,
I wrestled before the Lord to make my life whole.
He filled my hunger, He fed my soul.
He fed my soul.
The truth that belonged to everyone else
Is now a sacred part of myself.
Oh, I found out what I could not find,
When I heard with my heart
What I knew in my mind.
Oh, my soul hungered."
He said while he was listening to the two speakers and preparing himself to be baptized he could remember all of his many past sins, and the feelings he had. Then after his baptism when he listened to the words, He really felt the lords mercy, and atonement. He felt he had been forgiven, which brought him to tears. The next day he was confirmed a member of the church. And was first to get up there and bear his testimony. He gave a great simple testimony of this true church. And said he felt like he had angels with him. As he spoke all I could think of was the promise in 2 nephi 31: 13-14 
"yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel." "But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels"
He truly could speak with the tongue of angels, all he could say these past couple days, is this is the happiest time of his life. And I hope Pray, and fast that it will continue. I see great leadership in that man. It was great to be the instrument in his hands in this part of the vineyard. What a great Easter present. He is a great example of the Easter spirit. Christ lived again so that we may all live. He overcame all death sin and sickness, because he loves us. We just gotta find him. 

 Love, Elder Collins

Temple Day!

Hello WASUP!

 This week was really a great week for Elder Rindlisbacher and I. Transfer weeks are defiantly the most tiring of all the weeks. Man I think we got like 4 or 5 hours of real sleep in two days! It was actually really cool for me to have the opportunity to be at the going home fireside.(The fireside we do for the missionaries going home) The testimonies were great, and to see the sadness but excitement in all those missionaries eyes really strengthened my desire to work even harder. Because I don't want to even imagine blessings or people that I would miss If I didn't give it my all. 

      Being able to go to the Temple this past tuesday was also amazing. Every time I truly learn something new. My experience in the celestial room was amazing. Blessing of being an Ape:) I was told never go to the temple without a question in your heart. And every time he answers, without a doubt. Its like he's right there, actually he is right there. We also got to visit the American Cemetery in Manila on the way home from the temple! It was soo cool. Its the graves of all the Soldiers that served here during the war. Pictures on the way! 

   We also have a baptism coming up this week! I'm really stoked for it. Even in all the busy times its amazing to still be able to find and teach people like Brother Raymond. His story is really great too. He was a very prideful person back in the day. He had it all, great job, money and all that stuff. He smoked, drank and partied with friends. He wasn't very nice to people. Then one day life really hit him. His brother died due to alcohol. He lost his good job. And many other things. Well he broke down a bit and it really humbled him. That's when Bro. Yaona, his friend and member of Molino 1st,  introduced him to us. He was so excepting about the gospel. He knew that it was time to change, trusted in god that this was the right way. Well just like it always is step by step, Sunday by Sunday you could see his countenance change. He started out with so little knowledge. Wearing a t-shirt and jeans to church. To now wearing a shirt and tie. Shaking every ones hand as they walk in. Really being excited to become a member. People are surprised when they find out he's not a member. haha, It was really cool this last Saturday we taught him about temples and family history. As we started to teach him he asked us, " Hey wait, what about my brother who never got to hear the gospel?" And man, to see his eyes widen when we told him about temple work for the dead. It was so cool. Time and time again I've seen the atonement purify, and change peoples life. Unbelievable, the church is so true, all you have to do is look at the experiences of the members of this perfect church. 

   Elder Rindlisbacher and I actually read in the Preach My Gospel in chapter 9. Is whenever given the chance ask members and recent converts to share their conversion experiences with you because most people here are converts. It will help you get new finding ideas and also strengthen your desire and testimony. So we have made a little goal to do that whenever we find the chance. 

    We had a pretty cool experience this past Friday. We were walking and our plans fell through, so we were trying to think of where to go. We both had the impression to go to this nanay that we had OYMed last week, and every time we usually go there, she has an excuse for us not to teach. But we went anyway, and as we had thought she denied us again, saying "she was leaving." So right as we walked away this man called out to us. He asked us who we were, we introduced ourselves, and he said, "Halikayo! Lets go to my house!" We went with him and taught him the whole first lesson. He is a great man, who teaches his kids about Jesus, and how to follow his example. he reads the bible daily, and believed also that some kind of apostasy happened on the earth. What a cool experience, we are excited to go back and teach. I'm grateful we followed that prompting to go to that lady that day. Who knows if we ever would of met that man. We are truly in the Lords hands.

 Love, Elder Collins