Hello Everyone! 

This week was quite long, but really great. My first sunday here we had only 1 investigator at church, and we didn't even focus on him because we kind of knew he was going to come. But this last week we had 6 investigators at church, including a family minus the dad. But this week, the dad is going to come! The ward is starting to see that we only have 2 missionaries here and that they are going to need to step it up, so that is good. Again, members are key!

This week we taught Pipo, the man with all of the cars (he let me ride in the audi r8!!!! he said I could drive it maybe sometime, but I would be wayyyy to scared)

He let us come over and we shared with him and two of his daughters. We came back another day to give them the English copies of The Book of Mormon they requested. But as we talked to him, he is having a hard time understanding the need for one church, one religion, because he truly does believe in God. He even told me that if he was asked, he would give up everything for him, but he feels he is a good person, and helps people, and he is good. Writing this out kind of answers my question, but all week I have been contemplating this. Especially coming from my other area, SOO many people would just say that they only need a belief in God, and that's it. As I have been thinking about it, I remembered two scriptures, one in D&C, about people being kept from the truth because they know not where to find it, and the other was in 2 Nephi 31. I really liked 2nd Nephi, it was way cool, and even though I have read it a ton, I really got a lot from it again. Jesus Christ was baptized even though he was perfect, so how much more need do we need! But it also outlines the whole gospel. We need the Holy Ghost, and then we need to endure to the end, and only after we do that we can enter into the kingdom of Heaven. We really have to follow the plan God has given us, and it is such a bummer that people rejected it and now it is changed! Ugh. Drives me crazy.

We had an awesome experience as well this week with a boy named Joseph. He is 16 and from Nigeria. We have Trinity University in our area and decided we definitely need to use it more, and we were talking to people just outside and saw him. He is super nice, and we had him come to our ward activity and he only speaks english, (way fun for us) but really had a good time. He confided in me that he really missed his family, and gets super home sick at night. I was thinking that what if we were an answer to his prayers. You could just tell he was so happy being able to talk to people really clearly, and having filipinos that were so nice to him, it was awesome. We didn't even bring up going to church, but he asked what time it started and we were stoked, he is planning on coming. It was such a miracle, and I am so thankful to be used by Heavenly Father to answer the prayers of one of his children, and was such a testimony to me that he does hear all of our prayers. 

We have been talking to people like crazy, seriously, we just start talking to anyone that walks by us, It is awesome! We have talked to a lot of people, including a few priests that actually said it would be fine for us to come over! That is actually something I have always wanted to do ha. We also ran into some american-filipinos that are going to school here, and ate lunch with them, that was awesome. It is so cool talking to people that speak english. They had a lot of lds friends in high school, so it was cool how they already had a background of the church! So neat. There were just so many cool people we have been talking to, and Elder Cox and I have been playing a game where we get to make eachother talk to someone, no matter what, once a day, usually it is so awkward looking. Super fun, and usually all of them turn out to be great! We just do stuff like that and make jokes with people, and they love it and open up. I am having such high hopes for the area! 

maybe a little spiritual insight this week is deciding to do stuff now. A super common Filipino Phrase is "Pag may time" or when I have time. Ugh so frustrating, because we aren't supposed to procrastinate the day of our repentance haha! So I have noticed that if we really do love Heavenly Father, we won't put things off, saying I have plans to get better at this or that LATER, but really decide to do it now, and actually do it. Fun Fact I learned, the amount of goals people accomplish is less than one, because they don't even end up trying to do the goal they set! haha, So true. So decide to do it, and stick to it! 

Love you all!

-Elder Rock

Good Morning!! 

This week was one crazy week, but one of the best weeks ever. So, last week I got the call that I would be transferring, but a little typhoon put a hold on that. It wasn't really that big where I was, just some strong wind and rain like none other for an hour, then it just felt like normal, raining all the time. We were confined in an apartment with some other elders, and our electricity went out pretty quickly, so that lead to pure boredom. Sleeping was also rough without any electric fans, but it was all okay in the end. Transfer day was canceled, and moved to the following day, where I met my new companion, Elder Cox, my first American Companion, from Morgan, UT. He is 6'4, which means I am just barely shorter than him, and I think skinnier than me. 

We get along great, and I am learning so much from him, he has been out almost 2 years now, I might be his last companion, but we will see, we don't want to get our hopes up just to be let down. His Tagalog is great, so I am learning so much from that, and I love being with good teachers so I can learn from his teaching skills. I have learned so much, I am just so excited, I know this is going to be one of the best transfers so far!

My area is so legit, I don't know why I didn't start with that. My last area, Baesa, just gave me an awful impression of the city, but it is so sweet! My area is like real city, and so cool. We have so much here, it is ridiculous. I am sure Elder Cox is getting annoyed by all my comments of, Whoa another mcdonald's, or whoa, another starbucks! My last area had none of that. We also have a shakey's pizza, a Chili's, and Johnny Rocket's. The houses here are so Huge, WAY bigger than back home. It's almost as if there is no middle class in the Philippines, when you have money, you have LOTS of it. The middle class is very small. The streets here are pretty clean, much cleaner than the last area, and there are a lot more cars here. 

Speaking of cars, We were walking down this street it wasn't even the nicest street here, the houses weren't that great or anything, but we walk by one and I see this yellow car through the bottom of the partly opened garage, and I saw the bottom of a yellow car in this garage (first garage I have seen too) and we kept walking then decided to walk back and ask to look at it. I was pretty nervous to just go up and ask to look at this guy's car, but, we are trying to find a lot of new investigators. We ask, and he's eating, but is so nice and lets us come in and check out his LAMBORGHINI! And parked to the left of it is his Red Ferarri.... He let us sit in the Lambo, and then he says he has 23 cars, and down the street are more, and he takes us down there. He has an Audi R8, couple Porches, a nice old BMW, and a few others, but probably one of the coolest days of my life. The coolest thing was this guy was one of the nicest people I ever met, oh my gosh he was nice. So humble, and hopefully everything works out that we can teach him. So Cool.

We are working way hard here, and the only thing that is tough here is that our ward is less than excited to get involved in missionary work, but I feel like I learned so much from the last area that we will be able to turn the ward around. I am so excited to get things moving here. I have been kind of sick the past few days, and today, so that is quite annoying, but have been working through it, and will get to rest today, hopefully I can heal up fast today. 

This week I have been thinking about the ward members, and something came to my mind, something that our mission president wrote us a few weeks ago. He talked about how are mission is improving, but even though we have see improvements, we can still do so much better and listed some things that we can do. One was working with the members, and he said if we are not working with the members, he invites us to repent, and to work with them. 

I was like, WHOA! REPENT, but repent really does mean change, and we are to always repent, or change. I think that members should take the same advice, and repent, or CHANGE, and do more to work with the missionaries. I saw on sunday, that this ward has very strong roots, the people have been here a while, and that is the problem, they are too used to missionaries, to used to the church, and they forget to constantly change. The Aposltes have been telling us for some time to work with the missionaries and have really pushed it, and I read in D&C that this is the 11th hour, and the field is white, already to harvest. I really know that is true, I have seen it so much on my mission. I think there are some things that members lack that I think we should think about. 

1. The lack of non member friends. 

-This has been a common problem for me here where some of the members have just gotten so close to their friends at church, they don't really feel they have anyone that they can refer. I know that they, and all of us have acquaintances, that are not members of the church, and it takes a new perspective to notice those people. Just because we are not constantly inviting people over to our house that are not members of the church, we still have people we know that are not members. Neighbors are a great way to share the gospel, And it just takes a little time to get to know our neighbors. The problem that comes up is Fear.

2. Fear.

-Fear is the opposite of FAITH. When we have fear, it is saying that we do not have faith. We need to increase our faith, and trust in the Lord. As I have been reading D&C, the Lord constantly corrects people for caring too much about what other people think, caring too much for things of the world. We need to trust in His promise, and not be afraid to open our mouths, especially because we know this is true, and we know that everyone can know it is true. The fear that we ultimately have is rejection. We all fear failure and rejection, no one likes to feel it. But when we share the gospel and they don't accept our message, it should not mean that our relationship with our neighbor is over, we should continue to be friends with them, and mention church in our everyday life. We cannot fail when we are doing the Lord's work, and when we act in faith, we will not feel disappointed that we were told no, but happy that we tried, and got over our fear to share the gospel. 

3. Deadlines

-We need to get the sense of urgency into our heads. We need to give ourselves a deadline, one that we pray about and agree upon with the Lord, and feel 100% committed to that deadline. If we do, we will always look for opportunities to share, and the Lord will help us, guaranteed. If we are constantly saying, oh next time, oh tomorrow, we will never end up sharing. Set a deadline with the Lord and hold yourself accountable if you do not do what you said. 

4. Get to know the missionaries, they will help!

-Many members just see missionaries, and pass them by. I know, because this happens to me. I love it when people get to know me, ask about my family. What is even better is when they ask about how to share. I have had this happen 2 times on my mission and was so excited, more excited than getting a sweet dinner appointment. You could really please the missionaries by having a sweet meal appointment, and then asking how to share the gospel to your friends, discuss your plans with them, read Preach My Gospel and share things that you are learning, and ask them questions on things that you don't understand, or want to work on. I know they will look at you in disbelief, and become your best friends haha. I know they will help you in everything. 

I know this work is true and it is time for members to get involved. Do not wait anymore. The missionaries are there to help you, so let them help you! 

I love you all and thank you for all of your help and support! Thank you for everything! 

Hello Everyone!

Earlier today I found out that I am going to be getting transferred, but not too far, just to quezon city south zone, not really sure where that is, but not too far I'm guessing haha. Either way I am excited, as I will be finally having my first ever AMERICAN COMPANION! I am so pumped for that, but I sure am going to miss the Australian accent I have been getting so accustomed to. But this week we had some really cool miracles, and really saw the need to follow the spirit, and what it means to really love people, even though sometimes it is really hard.

So we had a really sweet zone training meeting, and I just got really pumped from that, and to be honest I have kind of forgotten what they said... I'll check my notes, but I know I was so excited to go out and work. So we went to this couple that had a bap date that we couldn't get a hold of the past few days, and again no one was there. It was this super big apartment building, and I just felt that we should go up to the top of it, just to check it out. So we did and we tried talking to this one lady, nothing. But Then I remembered something from a talk in the MTC of asking a referral from everyone, even if they aren't members and so I just tried it and they said yeah, go talk to that lady, she loves learning about religions. SWEET! so we went and talked to that one lady, who we had actually talked to before when she was buying something from a tindahan downstairs. We tried to talk to her, but she wasn't interested and busy, and then this guy walked up the stairs, June is his name, and we talked to him, and after a little persistence, he listened to us. 

June is probably one of the favorite people I have ever just talked to, and so interested, kind of haha. He was asking a lot of questions that didn't really matter, and so we started asking him questions, and he started thinking a little more. (My favorite part is that he kept saying sir over and over to me haha) and then we were able to talk about the restoration, and he was very intrigued. When we got to the First Vision, we had him read what happened, and when he read, it was so sincere, so slow, and he stopped and looked up like, 'This really happened?!' and we scheduled a time to come back the next day. Then we came the next day, and we get taken to this other apartment, where he is waiting for us and has a table with 3 chairs and the two pamphlets we gave him and had just a great lesson with him. I don't know if I have ever found someone so sincere. 

Sorry that was so long but I just thought it was the coolest story, like stories I always hear about but never happen to me, well guess what, it does happen! It was awesome, and we found other people that were really cool as well, and I am kind of sad that I won't be able to see them, but I am so glad that I got to be a part of it. 

The one thing that we ran into a lot this week was meeting people that are just so content with being confused. I think that is the best way to sum it all up. We talked to so many people this week, that just said it doesn't matter what religion you belong to, as long as you believe in God. But they don't know why there are so many churches on the earth. They don't understand how to know, and don't understand what they don't know, what they are missing from that belief. It drove me crazy all week, and it was like person after person. I seriously know that there can only be one true church. Other wise there would be no point of the apostles back in the day. This belief that it doesn't matter is not true, and is widespread because it is a comfortable belief, it doesn't require people to change. But the truth is, Jesus Christ expects us to change for what he did, because he did it for us to change. 

I hope everyone has a great week! I will update you on the new area next week! Thank you for all of your support! 

-Elder Rock

Happy fourth of July everybody! 

I hope everyone had a great fourth of July, even though the Philippines doesn't really do anything special, we still had a great day, and even got some pizza so it was worth skipping out on the fireworks and BBQ from the Shiled's... kind of haha. 

And of course, Happy Birthday to Rachel! You're getting so old!! But glad to hear you had a great birthday! 

Our week was really cool this week, we are going to have a baptism next saturday and we are so excited! He is 15 and is so great! His mom is a member as well but less active, so hopefully his activity and example will help her come back as well and have her whole family be able to be stronger as a result. He started going to seminary with his cousin and is coming to all the activities, and is really excited to be baptized, he is going to have his cousin baptize him, which will be so great for the both of them, and a great example to the other youth in the ward, so it's an awesome ripple effect that will happen! 

We also taught another investigator and her husband who are both really cool, and both kind of young, 23 and 27, and have two kids. They are kind of getting started in their careers and the wife is really interested in finding out on her own if everything is true, and read the pamphlet we gave her. We actually contacted them awhile back but we always busy and one day we tried and she let us in right away. So after we gave them a Book of Mormon to read we also gave them a baptismal date, which I am still kind nervous to do, especially to guys, because they seem to be less interested, because they work and such. But both of them accepted the date, and the husband, Francis, seemed really excited. The only thing is going to be getting them to attend church because they work a lot. But I totally know that there will be a way for them.

Our ward mission leader's son returned home from his mission this week, and it was really cool to see a returned missionary, and hear his testimony yesterday. It makes me think what I want to talk about when I get home, but also how I really don't want to go home. I can't believe I said that ha, but it goes by so fast. I seriously did not believe it, but the other day in a lesson they asked me how long I have been here, and usually I say 6 months, but it's not anymore, it's 9, and going on 10 soon. I hated saying that, because then they are like, "Oh malapit na!" (Or close now, to going home) and I feel like I just got here. Especially with being able to teach and understand way better now, I feel jipped or I'm jipping the Lord. So it just reminds me to keep working hard. 

This sunday in Gospel Principals we talked about Sacrifice and I realized that sacrifice really is a huge part in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice shows our faith, and shows how much we love the Lord. When Jesus Christ tells the rich man to give up all he had, he couldn't do it. He didn't have trust in the Lord, and he didn't truly love him. Peter kept going back to fishing, and Jesus asks three times, "do you love me" and Peter is freaking out saying yes. But you can't just say it, you got to show it. Give it up. And sacrifice is never easy, otherwise it isn't really sacrifice. 

Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, which Abraham was wishing and hoping for, for such a long time, and then the Lord asks him to give him up, to kill his own son! But he did it, He showed that he loved the Lord more than anything else. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but the Lord honored his promise to Abraham, and he didn't end up giving up his son. 

Another quick thing, Elder Lang Siu read the story of Joseph in Egypt and shared it in a companion study, and I really am just amazed at that example. He never faltered in his Faith. He was rejected by his own brothers, and then he goes on to be framed and put in jail, but because he never faltered, he was rewarded even greater. We sometimes forget that we will be rewarded, and we can't comprehend how much. I'm sure that he never thought he would become so high up, so trusted by the pharaoh.

I hope everyone has a great week, and shares the gospel with a friend! 

-Elder Rock