Sept. 19 - 25, 2011

We had a baptism!!! Jonathon Tamayo got baptized, he quit smoking and drinking coffee and bore an awesome testimony at his baptismal service last Saturday! He knows the church is true and he is way happy. My companion, Elder Cagayanan baptized him on Saturday, and I got to confirm him on Sunday. So that was the highlight of the week, as well as Branch Conference on Sunday. The speakers and choir were great. Also after church, we had a branch evaluation with the District President, Pres. Balute which I really liked. He showed us the stats of the Hundred Islands Branch for the past 3 years, and there was very little change. So we need to really work on it, to get it higher and improve. There should always be progression, there should always be a new face at church. President said, "If you think all is well in Zion, there's a problem." It was really awesome, and I really saw the love and support of President for the church. Thats also probably why God lets trials come into our lives, so we can grow, stretch and learn. Im really enjoyin the mission, learning about the gospel and serving. Last Friday we had exchanges and I got to work in Mabini with Elder Wilde(the canadien). It was so awesome, cuz the church and missionaries are brand new there and everyone is curious and wants to know why there are foreigners walkin around and speaking tagalog. =) We were able to meet and talk to a ton of people and share a little about why we are here. I really enjoyed it cuz in my area, 100 Islands, the church is not new and people are not curious, cuz they think they already know. :) Also this week the Relief Society President was able to work with us. It was great, she was able to fellowship one of our investigators, and the lesson went very well cuz she shared her own story and testimony and explained some things to our investigator to help her understand more. So it was a good week. Hope you like the pics. Thats the 6 of us, we all sleep in the living room on our foam mattresses. :) Miss you guys! Love you all! -Elder Pennock

Sept 12-18, 2011

This week was great, eventhough it continues to rain off and on, and I lost my umbrella. We have a few progressing investigators that we are really working with, a couple of them are coming to church, the others are reading the Book of Mormon, and the other others are not progressing. :) But we move forward and find the people that are ready to recieve the gospel. We are also really tryin to work with our branch. We have one investigator who has been having trouble stop smoking, and he has been an investigator for more than a year now to many missionaries. We really focused and helped him out the past few months that I've been here and last Saturday he passed his baptismal interview! So he is going to be baptized this Saturday!! And we are really excited for him, and to see some good stuff happening. Also its been fun walking around in the rain, because you get to see some cool things. Like kids fishing for frogs in the rice fields to eat, or swimming in the irrigation. Those kids were crazy, they would climb that big tree and jumb off it into the water. They actually reminded of Bryson! haha, it seems like something he would do. (whatup Bryson!) Also we went to new places in our area, and came to the ocean! Where they are planting Mangrove trees. It was so cool. There was this long bamboo bridge that extended out to the ocean and all along it there are mangrove trees. They say they plant them to protect the coastline. The work is also fun cuz we have some of the members work with us when they dont have school. Last friday we had 3 youth work with us, where for two of them it was the first time! In our house we have 4 nationalities, Tongan, American, Canadien, and Filipino. And we are goin to make a zone t-shirt with our countries flags and our names, its gonna be sweet, cuz one of the new elders, Elder Dotillos is good at drawing. Also last tuesday at Zone District Meeting, I was really proud of Elder Palmer's improvement in tagalog. Its only his 4th month in the philippines and he is really speaking up and giving his input and not scared to speak tagalog, eventhough he is not fluent yet. I just really liked that and noticed his improvement in tagalog. And i remember when i was still new, where there are a ton of things to work on and adjustments goin on. But its also a great time in the mission. Time sure goes by fast! Well i guess thats pretty much it for this week. Mahal ko kayong lahat! -Elder Pennock

Sept 5 - 11, 2011

Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat! This week was great. It was first week of a new transfer, that first pic of all of us is before transfers so a few of those guys got transfered. But me and my comp are still here, still doin work. This week we found alot of new in-active members in an area we havent gone to yet. They are all happy we visited them and want ua to continue to visit them, one of them is even a return missionary who served where my comp is from, in Negros Occidental, Bacolod Mission. We are also still continuing to work with our investigators to progress toward baptism, many of them have a baptism goal date now, which is totally sweet. We just need to get them to church. Which is that other pic, they are goin to demolish that building and build a bigger one. So for maybe about a year we are now going to church in Alaminos city, which is a bit farther but hopefully our invesitgators... and members will still be able to attend. Ok so the picture of the frogs, yes those are frogs. haha. one of our invesitgtors was busy cutting them up and taken the skin off so they can eat them, when we came by to teach him. It was crazy they were still movin and kickin and everything, fresh na fresh! actually frog is really good. I think i told you guys i ate it before when i was in Bani. It tastes sweeter than chicken! :) And that other picture with the kids is at on of our member's house. We are teaching one of the kids right now who is a part member. He is really smart, and even answers questions in primary! His baptism date is in November. Well thats pretty much it for this week. We are doin awesome. Love you all. -Elder Pennock

Aug. 29 - Sept. 4, 2011

Well this week was a bit slow. But we still had some fun and good things happen. First at the family home evening last monday night, I gave the lesson and some of the games, I guess that means I am now getting old in the mission cuz im doin alot more stuff, alot of the other missionaries in the zone are still new and people are now saying im close to going home. yikes. its crazy how time flies. Anyway that was a great FHE at one part-member family's house in Alaminos with all the other missionaries. Also tuesday we had a great special training where we talked about working with the members and helping the members feel comfortable and know their role or what they can do to help missionary work. We have a few great progressing investigators that are coming to church and have a baptism goal date for either this month, or Oct and Nov. Including this one grea family that we just found, they really want to listen and know and they accepted a baptismal goal date in Nov. Hopefully in these next few weeks we find more people to teach and fill up the many open spots in our schedule. Also this week was the last week of the transfer, I am pretty sure Elder Cagayanan and I will still be companions. And i am glad if its like that so we can fix and resolve the little quarrels and conflicts that we have been experiencing every once in awhile. We even mad a new resolution to change and fix our weaknesses and mistakes that we both have. And just this week i realized i have alot and it is really affected him. Which i am really sad to say. So i even wrote down a bunch of things that i need to change so we will be awesome and our companionship and transfer will be great and we will see more success and progression in the work. One of our investigators who has a baptism date for later this month, is doin pretty good, he is still workin on his smoking, but this week he told us he stopped drinking coffee, he just takes a nap now instead of drinking coffee. :) Also one thing about him, he goes with his sister and father in law and others who are members and leave right after sacrament and don't attend sunday school. I really wish the members in his family would set a better example for him. But he is still doin good. Also this other brand new investigator that we met became shy and doesn't want to listen anymore, because one time when we were supposed to teach him he got invited by some friend to drink alcohol, so when we came by he, being a little drunk, apologized and said he would go to church the following day. Of course he couldn't make it to church and when we went back to him his wife said he wasn't there. But then the next time on friday night we went back, and his daughter said he is busy, but i didn't take that for an answer and me and my comp went in and talked with him, all he was doing was watching tv. It was good we talked and shared a bit, and it turned out alright. hopefully this next time will be good and be able to teach him and help him. Also they are tearing down our church building and building it bigger, which is pretty cool, but they say it will take a year. so now we will attend church in Alaminos from 2-5pm. cuz there are 4 branches now in the Alaminos chapel. and we will be the last. yay! haha. oh sorry there are now pics. next time. :) thanks. love you all. -Elder Pennock