Magandang umaga sa lahat, 

This week was fast, again. I think I should just stop saying that but it is crazy how fast things are going right now. Not only fast, but HOT. It's ridiculous how hot it is, and even at night it's still hot. I'm thankful for the fans we have, but I'm wishing for some Aircon right about now. But it's going to be raining season soon daw, we will see if that cools it down at all, or if it will just be wet and hot ha. 

This week was actually one of the toughest weeks teaching wise, because we got punted almost everyday, all day. (punted is what we say when appointments fall through). So we started off the week okay, and decided we needed to plan a little better, so we had these great planning sessions, and then it seemed like everything fell through even more. We were so confused, and I wanted to get so discouraged, and was kind of beating myself up, like what was I doing wrong. I think we can always do better, but I was really trying my best. And I remember one elder that I went on exchanges said, 'you know, sometimes you just got to laugh and keep trying your best, instead of getting sad and discouraged.' Because we were trying, and we had such solid plans, and there were seriously the craziest reasons why people canceled on us. Even for Elder Lang Siu's birthday, as we were walking to the dinner appointment we had lined up, they texted and had to cancel. So we just laughed and chose to put a smile on, and tried our best the next day. 

It was a hard week. And the other night I was so disappointed and was thinking, and thought of the talk by Elder Uchtdorf about being grateful, and decided that in my nightly prayer I was only going to give thanks and not ask for things. It was kind of hard, but I thanked him for the trials and that lead me to thank him for the things that I learned, and I realized even more the things that I learned. It was so awesome. So I'm not just complaining that we had a tough week, but I'm saying that we had a tough week, and because of this tough week, I learned so much. And it is totally based on your attitude. If we just complain that we have problems and we aren't being helped, we will be so focused on what we don't have that we will forget what we do. One thing we need to be is Humble. I read the other day that if we aren't humble, we won't be able to see the many blessings that have been given to us. Another is Faith. Faith that things will work out, as we strive to obey and keep the commandments.

I have seen first hand the difference between not keeping the commandments and keeping the commandments, centering a home around the gospel of Jesus Christ. Members that have so little that center their home around gospel teaching and principles are so much happier and so much more able to endure the storms of life compared to those that don't. There is so much to talk about Faith, but the thing I like to focus on is having faith leads to action. If we have faith we will be inspired to act, and constantly change, which are the first two principles of the gospel. 

Although the week was rough, we were able to have some really good lessons, and we are going to have a couple baptisms coming up soon, and I am so excited for them. One is Perla, who is the one that had a hard time giving up smoking, and she has stopped for almost a month now! We also started teaching a new family that is a referral from a member, and they are so awesome and so excited to learn, so hopefully all goes well with them, Referrals are seriously the best. 

We have been trying really hard to get the ward more excited about missionary work, and two weeks ago we had stake conference, and The topic was missionary work. I loved what the second counselor said, I don't know if he quoted it off someone else or what, but he said "The Lord is hastening His work, are you" And President Revillo brought up the talk by President Uchtdorf, "Are you Sleeping through the Restoration."  I think that missionary work is being brought up so often that the members are getting kind of tired of it, but I think to myself, "What is it going to take?" What is it going to take for members to realize that the Lord will help them. There are so many examples and stories of people being successful doing missionary work. So what is it going to take so in General Conference there are different topics. To me it takes realization on each members part, and for them to have faith and act on it. Pray for opportunities to share, pray to be able to see the opportunities, and then act on them. It's time to really get the work going, and I am sure there are so many people genuinely trying and just don't know what to do. I quote Russel M. Nelson "Ask the Missionaries, they can help" Missionaries are there to help the ward do missionary work, and they would be THRILLED to come over and help you figure out how to share the gospel.

I hope everyone had a great week, And has a great week this week, I sure will, 

-Elder Rock

PS- (just an excerpt in my letter from Nathan)-   Mom, my mission is so awesome! It's so hard sometimes but it's so cool. One thing I noticed the other day in a meeting was how completely perfect the church is. We were all there as District Leader's and president was sharing to us, and it was to help us help missionaries, to help the people. He doesn't get paid for how many baptisms we have or anything, and there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that people just don't see. The missionary organization is so organized, the whole church is organized, and is so amazing to me, because I don't think any other church is even close to being as organized.