What A Great Week! (Week 52, Fairview, Philippines, Elder Kauffman)

What a great week! To be honest in the work Elder Kauffman and i are still struggling and it seems to be the time on my mission that the work has been the slowest but i am not discouraged sure sometimes its hard but i honestly feel great and its because i have been working hard, trying to be strictly obedient and i have changed a lot of the way i used to think. I know i have already brought up the Learner and Judger Mindset, but i really have been taking more things as learning and have been a lot happier. I also have really felt hope too. Its been great to be honest. Elder Kauffman and i both need to continue to strengthen efforts and build our hope and faith to help others come unto Christ but in the end, there is only so much we can do because they do have their own free choice. but i have really been trying to be more diligent and obedient so blessings will come. It's honestly been fun! 

after Preparation Day we were able to have a great lesson with Mxxx Dxxxxxx again and he really wanted to read through the pamphlet we got because he seems to learn best when he reads things. We had a really good lesson with him and he wanted us to come back.

Elder Kauffman and i had an interesting meeting with this man Jxxxxx who claims to have a third eye that has been broken. meaning he used to be able to see visions. it was interesting but he wants to learn about the gospel so we are gonna still try and teach him and help him come unto Christ.

On Thursday i was able to work with Elder Faulkner who is my zone leader which was good and fun. we really had a good day and had a good lesson on light and darkness with a former investigator and a less active member. 

we had appointments fall through on Friday but we still had a good day with finding new people that were really nice and i have good hopes for.

We had another lesson about the Plan of Salvation and we didnt get to finish it. it was a little rough because he read through the pamphlet in front of us and i dont think he understood everything he read but we are going to go back and try to explain everything more and make everything connect for him.

We also taught our progressing investigators Jomong and Clark the lesson one and the word of wisdom but they have come to church in two weeks. it almost might be hard because Elder and i need to go back and try to help the parent's testimonies strengthen. so Jomong and Clark can get over to church.

the Noveda family is a family we might want to start focusing on but they arent married yet but we had a good lesson when teaching them about the Restoration and we are going to plan on helping them start to make little committments so they can more easily make bigger committments. 

I also gave a workshop on wednesday that was really good and brought the Spirit. I really wanted to focus on the missionaries. as a District leader i am called to help the district and serve them and give them ideas or inspire them with what to do. Well I realize i am not the best teacher or at finding or at a lot of things hahaha but what i do know is i strive really hard to do the right always. i strive to be obedient and diligent and these things are what convert us and i know that i have been greatly converted on the mission by the spirit through my efforts and obedience so i gave a workshop which focused on them doing everything they can to be converted focusing on D&C 18: 15-16

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

I called it, based on inspiration from a wonderful letter i read from another missionary, "That One Soul is Yours" the Spirit was strong and we really do need to remember to always continually be converted unto Christ and to build that conversion. Although i sometimes feel weak as a leader for not being the best, i really felt magnified by my calling by God. I really love this calling and i love being a missionary no matter how hard it may be! i love you all! and i hope you all strive to do your best to be converted and align your with Christ's life more and more everyday! and i know that will bring blessings and i say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Wright

PINAKA-NAKAKAPAGPABAGABAG (Week 51, Fairview, Philippines, Elder Kauffman)

PINAKA-NAKAKAPAGPABAGABAG- I dare you to try and say that, it means the most caused to be anxious. sorry translations are weird

I want to start this letter off by mentioning some things that i dont usually see. The first one was in our neighborhood since yesterday we have seen this bird that goes and pecks at dogs that pass by on the street. It was crazy to see the bird is just killer! Also the other day when we were at church something really funny happened. i will give some background though. there is this guy who has mental disabilities who will hop on jeeps or trikes and travel FAR, to steal liahonas or church magazines from our churches and he will go at pretty extreme measures to get them. this is someone who i saw in my last area and i saw him again here yesterday. The funny part was that he was going around and he hugged one of our members and he looked really happy and he is going around the hall. Elder Kauffman and i go into the room where we have a meeting and the person comes in and is really happy and as Elder Kauffman is standing there, he is approached by the boy and Elder Kauffman not knowing what to do stands there and thinks that he is about to be hugged but what happens is that the boy lays a big kiss right on Elder Kauffman's cheek! so classic! it had me dead! the best part was that my companion did not know what to do after and kind of just sat there with a pretty blank reaction and it was so funny! it honestly made my day. What didnt make my day, one day but also did becuase it was funny was when i fell when going down the stairs. it was pretty funny. i didnt go to the bottom but it still hurt and i got a good laugh.

Things that i normally see are gross dogs. we saw these puppies that went from cute to now walking around with no fur and are so gross, in our neighborhood.

Back to the normal stuff Elder Kauffman and i are really striving hard to get the members to work with us. But we have had some great things happen this week. I also put together working with the two other elders in my district in their area and it was a good time. they both have really strong desires to work for the Lord and to help others come unto Christ.

Working with Elder Brown (an Elder in my district) we tried to help recent converts get more active in attending church and gave a lesson on conversion, the members in his area worked with us and shared very beautiful testimonies about being converted. it was good and invited the spirit. it always is a pleasure when you have members helping out with the missionary work.

Elder Kauffman and i were able to meet this referral that came from President and Sister Hughes, Mxxxx Dxxxxx. Right off the bat he was talking about going to church and asking where it was and we also shared with him about the Restoration and invited him to pray about Joseph Smith and read the Book of Mormon and go to church. We didn't see him at church but i know if he does the other invitations that he will want to go to church and we are planning on seeing him later.

Yesterday we made plans to hold a missionary fireside to get the members excited to work and share the gospel to their friends. 

We also got plans to work with members for this week and are preparing to have a busy week with members.

On monday we visisted the Sxxxxx family again and tried teaching a members daughter but she didnt seem to interested but after the older one came up who also has not been baptized and explained that she wanted to go to church but she explained that she doesnt know if she would be accepted by God, which was sad by i bore testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that she can and will be accepted by God.

I am so very grateful for the loving Heavenly Father that we have and may we strive to be like Him and His Son always. I know this is the only true church and by obedience to the Gospel we can return back to our Heavenly Father and receive the help we need, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Wright

Another good week! (Week 50, Fairview, Philippines, Elder Kauffman)

Another good week! Honestly how can there be a bad week! The mission is great, my advice...serve one. anyway the days are always pretty crazy but something that my mission President focuses on is having a good mindset. taking everything as a learning experience and dont criticize or judge things. also another thing that he said that stuck to me when things got a little chaotic yesterday was "Be still". when everything else around you is crazy, be still. I have heard that before but it takes on another meaning as i am growing and developing. we can all really learn from that because being still will always keep us in a positive position to be calm and make good choices. I love my mission President. He is a great man and the zone conference that we had was incredible this week. he talked about the different mindsets and we also had a good workshop about challenges in our life and how they are our friends to help us grow. it was a very inspiring week.

On monday we had some time that we spent at the mall and ate a good burger place, if you look at the pictures i sent the burger has bacon, two slice of spam and three big patties. it was SO GOOD. let me tell you, it hit the spot. Then at night we visited the Sxxxxarmiento family and gave them a little overview of lesson one and introduced ourselves. they are another part member family. we then did set appointments with the mxxxxxangrobang family and shared a spiritual thought.

Tuesday we had a service project and it ended up not happening...we got rejected at a service project... i dont know if it was exactly like that but we got there and they gave us stuff and then we waited and waited and nothing was happening so we just left hahaha so we killed some good hours with that but the coolest part was we got to go into this room in the barangay hall which is almost like a miniature city hall and it looked like an agency room with all of the computers and screens, it was super cool. later we visited some members in hope of teaching their friends and then we did finding.

Wednesday was the day we had zone conference and we went out and taught other members in the Sxxxxarmiento family and had a good lesson with Brother Mxxxxangrobang with us who is a bishop before. 

Thursday we got the chance to work with a member brother Gxxxxagarin and it was a good time. there were a lot of people not there but we had a visit with one member and he really helped them out. he wants to work with us next week.

Friday we had some cake and ice cream for Elder Kauffman's birthday so i used candles to make a 19 on the cake and put up a sign and also made chicken fettuccine alfredo for all of us. We then went to work with members and visited the Axxxxy family who is less active but we are helping them come back and are hoping to get their [child] baptized. we also taught the Sxxxxarmiento family again.

Saturday We had the chance to work with other members and actually found some potential investigators by being found from a member in a different ward and having us eat with some nonmember family members of her husband! how convenient! so that was fun!

Sunday i last second was invited to speak but it was on missionary work so it wasnt hard. and we worked on increasing missionary efforts!

It was a great week and even better weeks to come!

I love you all!

Elder Wright

Teaching Again :) (Week 48, Fairview, Philippines, Elder Bromley/Elder Kauffman)

HEY! alright hopefully this time i wont accidentally erase my email!

This week was a good one and a learning experience!

As my companion Elder Bromley left, Elder Kauffman came in. He is actually the first companion that i have had that is younger than me. He is from Lehi Utah and is a runner with a full tuition to Utah State. so you know what that means he wants to run for exercise, which i am totally down for but WOW have i gotten out of shape!  he is really obedient, hardworking and kind. Really the easiest person to get along with! So i have really enjoyed being companions with him.

Before he left i had the opportunity to meet with Jyyyyye with Elder Bromley and we extended a baptismal date to him and committed him to quit smoking and all other parts of the Word of Wisdom. at first he said he would try and then changed his answer and said he will and it was really awesome to see his commitment to change his life in order to come unto Christ! 

As being called a district leader, i have not done too much yet except for recording their numbers and different parts of the work my group of missionaries do and i have done follow up calls with them to check and see how they are doing and what their goals are for the transfer so we talked about their goals and how they want to improve and that is something that i want to help them work on this transfer.

With Elder Kauffman coming in things have been rough because things have taken a bit of a different turn with me not knowing where too many people are because we did the project for mapping for a month and we dont have very many investigators. So it has been rough but we arent going to let it bring us down because we know that we need the struggle to be made stronger and it definitely is helping us to learn and giving opportunity to grow and focus even more on our calling as missionaries.

We were able to meet with this part member family, the exxxxxnogacio family and we had a good visit with them where the mother in the family really wants to learn and wants her family to be strengthened. we have good hopes for her she is 65 years old and is so very nice

We visited with Brother Pxxxxono's and had a good time building trust with her and when we testified of being representatives of Jesus Christ the spirit was strong in the lesson. we came back on Saturday to visit Eyyyyymmy and her daughters and taught them about the Restoration. at the end of the lesson, we invited them to be baptized and Eyyyyymmy is willing and wants her kids to actually grow up an be like us but her husband is abroad and he is not yet okay with that. but we are going to try to build her faith and we have hope that everything can work out through prayer and faith in Jesus Christ.

We also were able to meet with a less active family last night, the Bxxxxxxeck family and they have gone through a lot of struggles and were grateful we came over to visit them. And they have other family members that we are wanting to meet and help. We definitely were led to him because we didnt know him and he had found us and called us over. So we are looking forward to being able to help them more and their family and get them to know how to follow God's plan in order for them to find out how they can be blessed in their times of hardships and trials.

I love this gospel which is a message of hope and i love the continual love God has for us that is incomprehensible. and i am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the power that comes from reading it. i know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that their is a living prophet today and he is President Russel M Nelson and i know that Heavenly Father's son Jesus Christ atoned for us so that we can be saved from worries, trials, sin and death. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.