Missionary selfies...

Missionary selfies!! You have to love the little photo bombers...

13 weeks ( 3 month mark)... Missionaries hard at work....

Miracles

Howdy Partners, I sure hope all of you woke up and had Green Milk on Monday the 17th because i did! Happy Late St. Patrick's Day! The best day of the year in my opinion. Also I have some bad news... I hit my 3 month Mark this week. As in that I'm not ok with only having 21 more months left here on my mission. I need more time! 

Lots of amazing things happened this week. Getting up on time every morning is a miracle in itself i swear i am always so tired! But all that goes away after a little workout and an egg sandwich.

I want to share an experience that i had this week that was just amazing. We had companion exchanges with the Zone Leaders so that they could come an interview a candidate we have for baptism for this week. Hannah Mallari is her name and she is so ready! So i was paired up with Elder Christensen, he's a great guy. I had to lead the area! ahhh it was so nerve wrecking but of course i shredded! I had to lead all the lessons pretty much i was in charge. I promise i'm not boasting, i just did better than i expected, just because of this one experience. While Hannah was being interviewed I sat with the Mother of Hannah and was conversing with her trying to being teaching her while we were waiting. The husband of her is a drunkard and never participates in any of the lessons but Oddly enough he came into the home and sat right across from me, Sober, and said "Teach Me" Yup I peed my pantz... Never have i been so scared but never have i done anything more by the spirit in my entire life. The first lesson we usually teach in "The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" I can't teach that lesson in English let alone Tagalog! I took the leap of faith and we went right into the lesson. Never have i ever used more tagalog and taugh so clearly in all my 19 years of life. It was absolutely amazing i couldn't believe the actuality of what was actually going on. I was speaking this insane language! i was teaching this beautiful Gospel! And brother Mallari accepted the invitation to be baptized on April 25. Doing that with just me and my companion (the holy ghost) was one of the most powerful moments of my mission so far. Never will i forget that moment.

We had a BAPTISM this week! It was beautiful. Jericho Ramirez Gasilan and Precious Kylah Valdez. They are just awesome. Jericho 16 and Kylah 12. I'm so happy i could be a part of their "entering into the gate which leads

to the straight and narrow path" My companion baptized Kylah and I baptized Jericho haha I've always been so afraid of messing up and having to redo the baptism. And of course my fear comes true except I did everything right just Jericho's feet came flying out of the water clear above his head haha! Truly was an amazing experience. Us, and the ward missionaries sang "Come unto Christ" I so don't dig public singing but it turned out ok. It was impromptu we hadn't practiced or anything but we managed! 

My Beautiful Mother sent me Two CTR rights for Jordan and Katrina the two kids we baptized in February. I gave Katrina's to her at church on Sunday and holy cow. When she opened up that little bag and found that ring she Lit up like fireworks on the 4th of July. Never have i seen a kid with that big of a smile on their face. I told her that it obviously means choose the right but in Tagalog "Piliin Ang Tama" I told her to wear it every day so that she always remembers to choose the right. So far she has! I love that little girl so so much! I just want to put her in a box and send her home! 

I love my mission... yup i said that last week, and i will probably say it next week. Nothing better than being here on the Lords errand. God is our Loving Father in Heaven and he want's all of his children to experience true Joy. And I know more now than ever, that joy is found by abiding by the precepts found in this Gospel.

I love my mission and I love my God

    video at baptism...

hallo hallo

St. Patricks day for the missionary... March 17, 2015

They don't celebrate St. Patricks day in the Philippines but with all the
green I bet Adrian felt like he did.

Birthday celebration of a ward member...

Pictures thanks to Christine and her family.

Week 12 Keep on keeping on!

Yesterday i was reading in Alma chapter 56. The end of Alma is just war and so i've just been reading it like that, not really looking for any spirituality from it but yesterday something hit me that i thought was pretty sweet. 

Helaman was writing and epistle to Moroni Explaining what him and his "Sons" had been going through and their battles with the Lamanites. Helaman is the head honcho over the 2000 Stripling Warriors. Long story short Helaman and his army of young soldiers made the decision to go to battle This is what Helaman said to Moroni "Therefor what say yes, my sons will ye go against them to battle?

And Now i say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had i seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites." Powerful right? Where did this courage come from? Helaman Said this: "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their MOTHERS, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their MOTHERS, saying: We do not doubt our MOTHERS knew it." Mothers who are reading this please stand up and take a bow and have everyone in the room applaud you. You deserve a moment of glory for all the hard work you do. Make your husband cook dinner and wash the laundry tonight. You just sit back and relax.

I am a firm believer of the utter importance of the roll a mother plays in her children's lives. In the family proclomation i believe it says that the mother is in charge of the nuturing of her children. Both physically and spiritually. I want to give a shoutout to my own mother and tell her that she means the world to me. I know without her example of spirituality and cleanliness I wouldn't be on a mission and the house that i am currently living in would be a disaster because nobody cleans except for me! haha. My mother is the strongest person i have ever met. She's battled cancer, Obnoxious children, and many other things. She always tackles any opposition with courage and Faith in our God. 

Thank your mothers for all they have done for you because they have done so much. Fathers you are great too. But it is Mom's turn to shine. 

I love my mission, I love my God. Everything is still great here in Victoria. Nothing too new just keep on keeping on!

With every ounce of love that i am able to give

Love,

Late night waiting up for this email. Normally we start to here from him around 9 or 9:30 so Savy and I both were 

getting a little worried that we weren't hearing anything. Savy dropped off to sleep around 11:30 and I started another movie hoping to hear soon. At one he was on..... This sweet email well worth the wait.  

New member friends from the Philippines....Pictures by Christine Noreen Williams

Love seeing that smile!

This family feeds the missionaries a couple times a week...What a sweet thing now
maybe Adrian's diet will be a little better than egg sandwiches and tuna...

Week 11 Discoveries....

Trike Selfie...

I came in contact with one of the biggest spiders i have ever seen in my life... it was the size of my face. 

That sums up the week..

Jokelang. Hello, hello, hello

This week was good as usual. We Walked alot, Talked alot, Rode alot, Taught alot, and learned alot. That is my mission in a nutshell, and you can't find anything better in any other nutshell. 

I love my mission and I love my God

We came across the cutest little 12 year old girl (go figure) They are always cute little girls! She has the brightest most straight smile i have seen here in the Philippines. She knows that she is a daughter of God. 

As i am reflecting on this weeks activities, prayer is what is weighing heavy on my mind. Prayer what is it? I think we too often forget who we are. We are literal Children of a God who loves us. Now if a Father loves his children, he wants them to be happy right? Our Father has given us the tool that is essential for us to receive his help for our happiness. 

As we were teaching Prayer last night to Sister Ganapin (Less Active) She told us about an experience that she had with prayer this week. 

Her family is extremely poor, the father is a drunk and is lazy. So sister does everything in her power to make sure that she can get food on the table for her 6 children. One day she prayed "Father please show me what i am to do" The next day she starts cooking deserts that she sells throughout the day. She sold what she had. When she was done she received a phone call from somebody that said "I want you to cook me this this and that and i will give you X amount of Pesos" then not too soon after that somebody showed up to her door and payed a debt to her that was from a long time ago. She was able to provide a meal for her and her family. It's one thing to ask our Father for the things we need, but it is another to work for that answer. 

We sang with her, did you think to pray. Do we? When life gets dark and dreary, do we humbly get down on our knees and ask for extra assistance? "ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you" I know that prayer is real, i know that you all know that prayer is real. Use this tool as often as possible and always keep a prayer in your heart. I know that Prayer really does "Change the night to day" and i am so thankful for this gift. 

I love my mission and I love my god.

I rode a bamboo bike yesterday.  I want to get one.  The person that makes them said I could buy a frame for 45,000 pesos.  Do you think we could figure out how to put on bars, wheels and all that jazz? It's so rachet maybe someday!

My mouth is full of food at Bishop's
b-day party...

Walking in all it's glory...

Week 10 Testimony meeting...

That's a monkey...

Dear Family and Friends,

March here we come! Someone is pressing a Fast Forward button X3 because time is going so fast! When P-Day comes my companion and I always say "Really? are we sure it's Monday?" 

Things are going great in Victoria! Everyone we are teaching is progressing right a long. One family i would like to talk about it the Mallari Family. This is a whole family of girls. Well of course there is a father and one brother but there are 6 Girls in the family. The father and the son are usually drunk so they don't participate in the lessons but the 6 girls are fantastic! 

This family have been eternal investigators even from beyond my time My companion Elder Choresca has said on multiple occasions that he has wanted to drop them. After the first weeks of me being here and teaching them I noticed a change in them. Not just because they were keeping commitments but because they were happy! When i testify in Tagalog i always say this. Lahat Tayo are literal Mga Anak ng Diyos, Nais po ang diyos para sa atin is to be sobrang masaya sa buhay na it at sa buhay walang hangang. (We are all literal children of God. He wants us to be happy in this life and the next.) 

Then i go on to say that i know that this happiness is obtained through the gospel of jesus christ and yada yada but i never really realized the truthfullness of my own testimony until i saw it occur within this family. 

Unfortunately this family didn't come to church this Sunday but something awesome happened! We had planned to teach this family after church and right when we were about to leave the church to go to their house we were talking to some older sisters to see if they wanted to come with us to the lesson. It started out with just two that were going to come but then all of the sudden we had 5 sisters walking with us to the Mallari home. Sister Mallari had no idea what to think when we all showed up at her front door. We arranged the living room so we could all fit. I cleared my throat and said, "Since you were not able to attend Testimony meeting, we brought Testimony meeting to you!" The Testimonies of the sisters were wonderful, my companion and i bore ours as well. there were lots of tears.

 Then the Mallari family bore their testimonies. Never have testimonies penetrated my heart so deeply. Even though i couldn't understand a word they said but i could feel it! When all was said a done and everyone wiped their eyes I felt impressed to extend to the mother the invitation to be baptized "sister, Susundin po mo ang halimbawa ni jesucristo sapamamagitang ng papabinyag sa isang taong na atoridad ng priesthood, ng diyos? on April 12 with tears coming down her face she said yes! 

God is our father in heaven, I know that he loves and knows each and everyone of us. He wants us to be happy in this life and the next. He has provided the way and that way is the gospel of our brother and savior Jesus Christ.

With all of my love

This is what we cook...

I draw stick figures in everyone of my journal
entries, which is everyday.  I think it will be sweet
to look back on one day...

Eddie Valdez birthday party...

Rice field emergency....

Hi sister Bearnson! This is Elder Choresca, Elder Naylor's trainer and current companion here in the Philippines Angeles Mission. How are you? I would like to say thank you for the present! That was unexpected. We wore them during Valentine's Day. They're awesome...and your son is awesome! He's a cool guy and I can see that he loves being here. It's an honor to train him and it has been a wonderful learning experience for both of us.

He really misses and loves all of you guys back there. Hopefully, I'd be able to meet you all when I get the chance to come to America one day. Haha.

Keep in touch with Elder Naylor. All of us missionaries need that boost from home. Take care!

Elder Choresca