Merry Flippin Christmas! :) Dec. 22 email

Hey Family! Merry Christmas! Man this Christmas is so much different than last year. I dont even want to think that this is my last Filipino Christmas! I love it here, I cant believe the changes that ive had this past year. I never felt better in my life. Ive also never been more tired. My testimony of the savior has never been stronger. During this Christmas season I have really tried to reflect on its true meaning, because last Christmas I think I was just a little hung up on the fact that santa doesnt come to the Philippines. haha

 Well this week has been a good one! Our christmas party as a mission was super fun! And yes we successfully did the dance that you sent mom in a skit we put together as a zone! We also had exchanges with the APs again this week! I got to be companions with Elder Zacarias again! It was way fun to be with him again for the day! We have continued to work with a few part member families. The Vergada Family, and the Seno family. They both have less actives and investigators in the family, and we hope and pray we can get them to church, especially around this Christmas time. I love being in Imus, but im not gonna lie, the work is so different here. Seems like with some people there is no missionary spirit, like in the ward and stuff, but Elder Christensen and I have done all we can to change that. Its been challenging but were trying:) There are some great members though and they invited us to lunch and dinner on Christmas! So I might have to use that money on a different day for food! haha. 

I really liked one video that pretty popular on the lds.org. its called he is the gift. You have probably seen it, but if you havent watch it because its is so great. It really helps you realize the importance of Christmas, realizing that he truly is our only great gift. Our savior and redeemer. Our path to salvation. This mission has helped me to come closer than I ever have to him. I love Christmas, and im glad I love it for the right reason now. 

Merry Christmas.. Ya filthy animals. (What Movie?)

Elder Collins

Maulan Pasko!

Hey family! So we lived! haha no I'm just kidding it wasnt bad at all just a big rain storm! We had to stay inside all Monday and since there is three Americans in our apartment we were all just dreaming of white Christmases:) haha Its just been raining like crazy here so it kinda bums you out for Christmas but its been a great week! Pretty normal work. We have really been looking for families, especially this Christmas season! We had a really great spiritual experience with a family that we found this week. The mother is an less active member from Tagaytay, and shes always wanted her kids to become members and be a happy family because she can see that in her sister who is still active. Her kids are not very interested. Her faith has been pretty shaken and its been ten years since shes been to church. When we re taught the restoration of the gospel and how it helps our families out, she cryed and testified with all her heart to her own children about the truthfulness of the message. It was really great, spirit was very strong, and we think it changed them a little bit more. Now we just gotta work on the husband. 

Man do I love the Christmas season, during this time I have really tryed to strengthen my faith in Christs atonement and that has really helped me be able to bear valiant testimony of Christ to others. Read Christ in the bible dictionary, its great. He is our savior, our advocate and redeemer. He loves each one of us, and he is proof of a loving Heavenly Father, he is our gift, a gift from a father to his children, our only Christmas gift, and what better time to embrace it.

Love You All Merry Christmas:) 

Myles Email from Dec. 5

Hey Family! Ill make this short. We were asked to email today becaue the power will be cut off this next week due to another Typhoon. Apparently its supposed to be pretty strong! Stronger than the last one, but not as strong a yolanda. Crazy how many typhoons you go through in the Philippines. But were not worried! shouldnt be too bad, we are in the lords hands! :) This week has been great! Many spiritual experiences this week. We were encouraged to try to find more families this week. So we made a goal to find one family each week. And as we prayed to the lord to lead us to families, that same day the lord led us. We were looking for a referral given to us a couple days ago, and as we were looking I had an impression to talk to this lady standing on the road and ask her for directions. Well we did, turns out shes a less active member, and her kids and husband are super potential to be taught and baptized! Really cool experience, the spirit just does its thing and im happy to follow it! Love you all! Have a great week! I got my rain boots ready!

Elder Collins

Man I want some turkey...

Hey FAM!!! How was turkey day?! There is absolutely no change here in the Philippines on Thanksgiving. haha We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal though. Me and Elder Christensen decided to break the bank and get ourselves Mcdonalds... haha Don't hate me dad haha. Nothin like a quarter pounder for the holidays:)

Well im grateful for so many things that if I typed them up we would have to make another bible haha, But one thing I am so very grateful for is we had ourselves another baptism! It was great. Sister Carla and Brother Rayhan. We also had some other missionaries that had some so it was a total of 8 for the ward. President Tye came to see too so that was cool! Well I can't describe the feeling I had when they were baptized! You could just see their light in their eyes glowing. Im grateful for the wonderful opporunity I have to be a missionary. Nothin better:) Sister Carla is already thinking about a mission and in 4 years Brother Rayhan wants to do the same. 

Everything is going great, I cant believe its December already!! Last December I was in Bulihan, feels like just yesterday, times going way to fast! We gotta slow it down. I remember last Thanksgiving I was wishing time would go faster, now its the opposite, your right dad... your always right:) 

Well not too much changed I love you and am grateful for Gods Wonderful plan, and his love. 

Elder Collins

Kenny Boy......

Hey Family!!!!! Man What a great week. Another transfer gone by and time is going wayyy to fast. Its almost Christmas!! haha Well this week our work has been great, We have two baptisms scheduled this Saturday! Man I'm stoked we are finally putting this area back together. Sister Carla Sunga, and Brother Hanz Ray. They are both so prepared and ready. Within like 3 lessons you could see the light of the gospel in their eyes, and a desire to be baptized. Sister Carla has been awesome, shes super smart, shes 21 and already a full time pharmacist. And her mother is a member who we reactivated on the way. They are awesome, and hopefully the other members of that family follow:) So thats one thing, and the other awesome thing is brother Ken, the one that I told you had a problem with marijuana, he accepted a date to be baptized! Jan. 3rd (Sam's Bday) :) The changes in him are remarkable, this guy used to have long hair and party and get drunk and was in a gang and all that. Well now hes a family man, whose morals are centered on Jesus Christ. And he cut his hair this week:0 Im excited for him. He's great. 

We had a spiritual experience yesterday. Strengthened my testimony of priesthood power. Yesterday after church I felt so very sick, bad head and stomach ache and things like that, just very weak. But we had a lot of work to do, so theres no way I was going home to rest. But I was feeling awful, well I asked my awesome companion to give me a blessing of comfort before we left the church to work. He gave me a short but powerful blessing. Which within short time gave me great strength. The sickness was there, but my body felt so strong it wasnt bothering me. And we got good work done that day, which included 3 new baptismal candidates for January. I am so grateful for the power of priesthood blessings, god really does love his missionaries. Lifes the best, your right mom I dont know if im coming home hahaha Love you all,

Elder MC

Another round' a transfers.... Email from 11/16

Hey FAM!!! Well its transfers again!! Man that flew by! I really was suprised to find out it was transfer day! haha We just kept working like there was none, so obviously me and Elder Christensen are still companions. I think we might go two more transfers together as ZLs here. Which I have no problem with, we get good work done together, we are thinking about just finishing our last 6 tranfers together hahah. But yeah! Im excited to meet some of the new zone! 

This week has been good for work, we working hard to try to prepare 2 people for baptism this November! Sister Carla Sunga, and Brother Hanz Ray. I am stoked for them! Sister Carla is the daughter of an RM who went less active, but we reactivated her and started teaching her daughter, they are awesome, and shes super excited for her baptism! Brother Hanz is some one we found whose 15 and his aunt is a member, and he is also pretty stoked for baptism! So if all goes well we will have maybe two this month. We have also been working with the guy that had marijuana problems, and hes doing really well. He is seriously going to be a great leader of the church some day! hes awesome. 

The party at the Tyes was pretty sweet too. haha we ate hot dogs played some games, and watched Wreck It Ralph! Great day! Our spiritual experience for the week was this one day we worked and it started out rough, where everyone we went to wasnt home. We call it "punted". Well we were out of ideas but we know that if we ever get punted, there is somewhere the lord wants us to be! So we said a prayer, and a ward missionary showed us a less active we never knew about, well he wasnt home either haha, but as we were walking Elder Christensen oymed this lady and she asks, are you mormons?  So we reply yes, and she just runs back in her house and grabs a Liahona from 2009 and tells us how much she loves to read it! We taught her and her sister and it went really well, and that was a start of a great day!! For the rest of the day there was not one hour that we were not teaching people! Good spiritual experience. This week was the bomb, Happy Thanksgiving, When is that anyways? 

Elder MC

Going to the Tyes...

HEY family!! 

Well this week was great as always. We have done a lot of work, I was able to go on exchanges with  our district leaders and our AP. I learned a lot from him, he is a great guy and he taught me how to be a better leader. 

We have been working with a few people who will hopefully be baptized the end of November or first of December. Which is a breath of fresh air, this area was split and we were literally left with nothing, but its finally coming together:) It always does with the help of the lord. We also had a pretty heart breaking experience with one amazing part member family we were teaching. Well they dropped us for another church, it broke mine and all the other elders hearts, all we could do was leave them with a hearfelt sincere testimony of this truth, and hopefully planted a seed for them in the future. Sometimes I think why? even when things get so spiritual, why is it still denied. But no effort is wasted, dissapointment is just a mindset right? :) 

Well I dont have a lot of time to email because we are going to the Tyes again for lunch because of that contest our zone won, so we have to leave a little early cause its far! But im excited should be great!! 

Another cool thing was I spoke last night at a stakewide devotional with a few other missionaries, all in Tagalog. It was pretty cool experience.:) Its been a great week! Grateful to be a missionary!

Elder MC