Well the first thing that happened this week, on Monday, while I was waiting to get some stuff laminated like my ministerial certificate, we were looking at some clothes next door, like a small thrift store. I noticed a pink Brigham Young University t-shirt. It was a nice one too. I just thought that came from a DI or something, from a nice member of the church. And now it was all the way in the Philippines in my area. So thanks to everyone who is donating clothes and things, they really go places. :)
The biggest thing that happened this week was a Baguio came by and we went to Alaminos with the other Elders. There was 8 of us in their apartment. It was a lot of fun. But we didn't get to work. We stayed their from monday night till wednesday morning. There was no electricity the whole time. But it was still fun. Then on wednesday we had Special training. There was workshops, and a testimony meeting and we practiced teaching and stuff.
What was really cool this week was two of our investigators a father and his son passed their baptism interview on Sunday. So they will get baptised next sunday. Also a lot more members and 4 investigators went to church this week. I was suprised that one inactive family went to church. They have been inactive for so long.
It was also fun this week that a lot of members worked with us. Thats pretty much it for this week. The word baguio means storm. A strong wind and rain storm came by. We all stayed in Alaminos, and there was no power, but good thing the weather was pretty cold. A few houses lost their roofs, and some huts got destroyed, and a lot of rice fields got destroyed too. Some places got flooded. But everything is alright here.
Havin alot of fun. Time is goin by fast. I am gonna be 20 after this week. I love you all. My english is getting worse, I tried to say a prayer in english because my companion wants to learn english, it was really hard, I didn't know how to say anything, my grammer was terrible.
Love Elder Pennock
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Oct. 11 -17
This week was pretty cool and pretty crasy. It was the first full week of the new transfer and companionship. We are working on changing the schedule so our appointments aren't so far away from each other. So we dropped a couple investigators and are talking to a lot of new people. But the work is doin good, we still have a lot of members working with us and a few good progressing investigators.
Nanay Onia has been an investigator forever now, since before I got to Bani, but we taught her about prayer and we finally committed her to give the closing prayer. While she was praying, she started to cry.
Also it was the same situation with Bro. Paumba, he has yet to pray for us, but we got his wife, who is a member to help him, and Bro. would repeat what Sis. said. So that was at least a step.
We also have a few who are interested and reading the Book of Mormon.
Depressingly we had no investigators attend church and only 60 total. Maybe they got like a hangover from general conference last week, because there was no church. Hopefully next week it will be better.
Last Monday at Family Home Evening, I learned a lot from a story that a member shared to us. It was about this guy, he was a member and it seemed like he did all he had to do in life to enter the Celestial Kingdom. He served a full time mission, he fulfilled his calling, he has a great family that are married in the temple, he didn't smoke, drink, wasn't prideful or get angry. But come to judgement he couldn't enter into the Celestial Kingdom even though he thought he was worthy to enter. The reason was he wasn't completely honest. Just little things like not returning the cashier money if they paid him too much kept him from being completely honest and entering God's kingdom. So I just really learned a lot from that lesson, and that really really don't know if we are worthy enough, we can always improve something and we can always repent.
Also I learned from the Special Training we had in Santa Cruz about the importance of teaching with the spirit, how it helps us as missionaries and the investigators.
On Tuesday after district meeting, we go to this one area that is farmland, rice fields. And we were there late teaching the family of a recent convert, Emma Jimenez. So we had to walk through the fields in the dark. We did have flashlights but it rained a lot that day so the path was muddy. We (me, my comp, and a branch missionary, Joshua) also had our nice, good shoes on too, especially my comp his shoes were really nice. So there we were trudgin along, we also got a little lost too, cuz the rice grew a ton since the last time I was there. Joshua and I both slipped once. So that was a lot of fun. Well that is it for this week. Elder Pennock
Nanay Onia has been an investigator forever now, since before I got to Bani, but we taught her about prayer and we finally committed her to give the closing prayer. While she was praying, she started to cry.
Also it was the same situation with Bro. Paumba, he has yet to pray for us, but we got his wife, who is a member to help him, and Bro. would repeat what Sis. said. So that was at least a step.
We also have a few who are interested and reading the Book of Mormon.
Depressingly we had no investigators attend church and only 60 total. Maybe they got like a hangover from general conference last week, because there was no church. Hopefully next week it will be better.
Last Monday at Family Home Evening, I learned a lot from a story that a member shared to us. It was about this guy, he was a member and it seemed like he did all he had to do in life to enter the Celestial Kingdom. He served a full time mission, he fulfilled his calling, he has a great family that are married in the temple, he didn't smoke, drink, wasn't prideful or get angry. But come to judgement he couldn't enter into the Celestial Kingdom even though he thought he was worthy to enter. The reason was he wasn't completely honest. Just little things like not returning the cashier money if they paid him too much kept him from being completely honest and entering God's kingdom. So I just really learned a lot from that lesson, and that really really don't know if we are worthy enough, we can always improve something and we can always repent.
Also I learned from the Special Training we had in Santa Cruz about the importance of teaching with the spirit, how it helps us as missionaries and the investigators.
On Tuesday after district meeting, we go to this one area that is farmland, rice fields. And we were there late teaching the family of a recent convert, Emma Jimenez. So we had to walk through the fields in the dark. We did have flashlights but it rained a lot that day so the path was muddy. We (me, my comp, and a branch missionary, Joshua) also had our nice, good shoes on too, especially my comp his shoes were really nice. So there we were trudgin along, we also got a little lost too, cuz the rice grew a ton since the last time I was there. Joshua and I both slipped once. So that was a lot of fun. Well that is it for this week. Elder Pennock
Monday, October 11, 2010
Oct 4 - 10
Wow! What a new and great week this week. First it's October which means I'm goin to turn 20 this month. Crazy! I'm gettin old. The mission is goin by way fast.
Well on Tuesday it was transfer day. 2 Elders and 2 sisters from our zone got transferred. My companion, E. Westwood and the other Elder in my district E. Berueta. So for that day me and Elder Larson were companions, the 2 San Diego elders. It was cool. We hung out around the city and ate breakfast with the couple missionaries and the 2 sisters whose companions got transferred. Then me and Larson went shopping. I finally bought a new camera and some things we need for the apartment. Then we went to my apartment in Bani and we cleaned it up a little before my new comp would arrive. After that we returned to Alaminos and got our new comps.
My new comp is Elder Niar (bachwards is Rain) =) He is from Negros, Bacolod Philippines. He is way cool, pretty quiet like me actually, but a great missionary, he only has 3 months left in the mission (2 transfers). But he is great we have a lot of fun.
The work in Bani is goin great! We have some progressing and golden investigators. Sister Rose Cave went to church the first time last Sunday, I might have already told you about that actually, but she now has a baptism goal date.
Brother Joel Baleros is really searching and wanting to know all about the church, he went to church and attended the Sunday morning session of conference. He really likes the fruits and welfare system of the church and how modern and technologically advanced our church is. He actually said the reason he is not so sure about joining our church is because he doesn't think he can help out. So that was huge. He wants to know more about Joseph Smith and the Holy Ghost.
The Huellas family are really close to baptism as well. I so hope they choose to get baptized, they are such a great family.
Also The Humilde family, a part member family, we are teaching the father and the 10 year old son. They have a baptism date now for the end of October. When they get baptized it will be a whole great family preparing to get sealed in the temple.
The one thing that is great here is the members, that Elder Niar really enjoys. On Friday we went to a birthday party at one of the members' house. It was a lot of fun. Before I even got my food to eat, some of the youth slabbed cake frosting all over my face. They said I looked like Santa Clause. (I will send the pics next week to build the suspense).
To end the week was General Conference. It was awesome. From that I learned to be so grateful for my parents, the gospel, the savior, the church, the prophet and apostles and this opportunity to share these blessings in the Philippines.
Also for the Temples, the new temple in the Philippines is way close to my area in Bani Pangasinan. The new temple is goin to be in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. The next mission over but the same province. It is goin to be so great and a blessing for the members here. It will be way easier for them to attend the temple than to go way down to Manila.
Well I think that is pretty much it for this week. Love you all. Elder Pennock
Well on Tuesday it was transfer day. 2 Elders and 2 sisters from our zone got transferred. My companion, E. Westwood and the other Elder in my district E. Berueta. So for that day me and Elder Larson were companions, the 2 San Diego elders. It was cool. We hung out around the city and ate breakfast with the couple missionaries and the 2 sisters whose companions got transferred. Then me and Larson went shopping. I finally bought a new camera and some things we need for the apartment. Then we went to my apartment in Bani and we cleaned it up a little before my new comp would arrive. After that we returned to Alaminos and got our new comps.
My new comp is Elder Niar (bachwards is Rain) =) He is from Negros, Bacolod Philippines. He is way cool, pretty quiet like me actually, but a great missionary, he only has 3 months left in the mission (2 transfers). But he is great we have a lot of fun.
The work in Bani is goin great! We have some progressing and golden investigators. Sister Rose Cave went to church the first time last Sunday, I might have already told you about that actually, but she now has a baptism goal date.
Brother Joel Baleros is really searching and wanting to know all about the church, he went to church and attended the Sunday morning session of conference. He really likes the fruits and welfare system of the church and how modern and technologically advanced our church is. He actually said the reason he is not so sure about joining our church is because he doesn't think he can help out. So that was huge. He wants to know more about Joseph Smith and the Holy Ghost.
The Huellas family are really close to baptism as well. I so hope they choose to get baptized, they are such a great family.
Also The Humilde family, a part member family, we are teaching the father and the 10 year old son. They have a baptism date now for the end of October. When they get baptized it will be a whole great family preparing to get sealed in the temple.
The one thing that is great here is the members, that Elder Niar really enjoys. On Friday we went to a birthday party at one of the members' house. It was a lot of fun. Before I even got my food to eat, some of the youth slabbed cake frosting all over my face. They said I looked like Santa Clause. (I will send the pics next week to build the suspense).
To end the week was General Conference. It was awesome. From that I learned to be so grateful for my parents, the gospel, the savior, the church, the prophet and apostles and this opportunity to share these blessings in the Philippines.
Also for the Temples, the new temple in the Philippines is way close to my area in Bani Pangasinan. The new temple is goin to be in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. The next mission over but the same province. It is goin to be so great and a blessing for the members here. It will be way easier for them to attend the temple than to go way down to Manila.
Well I think that is pretty much it for this week. Love you all. Elder Pennock
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Sept 17 - Oct 3
It was a good week this week. The biggest news this week is what we just got this morning, my comp, Elder Westwood is getting transfered. So I am getting a new comp and gonna lead the area, after 6 months of being companions with Westwood. So things are goin to get a bit more different and crazy.
Here in the Philippines, even though it is barely October, Christmas is in the air. There is Christmas trees and lights poppin up more and more. I kinda like it. haha. Another cool thing I saw this week was some kids practicing boxing in the street. They were really young and they would take off their shirts and fold them and hold them up like a punching bag. It was cool and funny to see.
This week we actually had more priesthood work with us than young women, which is great. Three future missionaries worked one of them being the branch mission leader. They were good at teaching and they even taught in the local language of Ilocano, so the investigators could more fully understand. It was awesome. Also on Saturday night we cleaned the church. We had a ton of members come, they even started cleaning and had a lot done before we got there.
We had some more investigators come to church, new ones and ones that haven't been for a little while. The family we are really workin with, Family Huellas, are really close to baptism. They haven't committed to a date yet. But they are close the kids want to. We are just waiting on the parents. Another great investigator, Rolly Humilde, a part member, is really progressing. He reads the Book of Mormon almost every morning and really feels the spirit at church. We just extended a baptism date to him and he accepted!
After church we had a baptism, the young girl who was supposed to get baptized last week, but she got sick. So that was really cool. The branch president baptized her. So that is pretty much it for this week. Mahal ko kayong lahat. Elder Pennock
Here in the Philippines, even though it is barely October, Christmas is in the air. There is Christmas trees and lights poppin up more and more. I kinda like it. haha. Another cool thing I saw this week was some kids practicing boxing in the street. They were really young and they would take off their shirts and fold them and hold them up like a punching bag. It was cool and funny to see.
This week we actually had more priesthood work with us than young women, which is great. Three future missionaries worked one of them being the branch mission leader. They were good at teaching and they even taught in the local language of Ilocano, so the investigators could more fully understand. It was awesome. Also on Saturday night we cleaned the church. We had a ton of members come, they even started cleaning and had a lot done before we got there.
We had some more investigators come to church, new ones and ones that haven't been for a little while. The family we are really workin with, Family Huellas, are really close to baptism. They haven't committed to a date yet. But they are close the kids want to. We are just waiting on the parents. Another great investigator, Rolly Humilde, a part member, is really progressing. He reads the Book of Mormon almost every morning and really feels the spirit at church. We just extended a baptism date to him and he accepted!
After church we had a baptism, the young girl who was supposed to get baptized last week, but she got sick. So that was really cool. The branch president baptized her. So that is pretty much it for this week. Mahal ko kayong lahat. Elder Pennock
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sept. 20-26
This week was great. We had a lot of members work with us this week, almost every day. And as a result we had more lessons with a member present than other lessons. The youth and the young adults are the ones who always work with us, it is way fun. Sometimes the Relief Society or the Branch President does as well. And it makes it way better when there is a member there and not just us, so the investigator can have someone to relate to and have a friend.
Things are getting pretty tough now cuz a lot of our investigators are close to be done with the lessons but there are things missing for their conversion. Some of them are not goin to church, reading the Book of Mormon, praying, or drinking and smoking still. It's tough, we got to help them in this change, as well as help them help themselves.
Last Monday it was way fun, we had a Family Home Evening at our house. Quite a few members and investigators came and we cleaned our front and backyards. Then we had FHE, dinner, a lesson and games. For the games after 3 people lost you had to do the chicken dance, me and Westwood lost first and so that was fun for everyone to see us do the chicken dance. Some people liked it so much they made me lose again, to make me dance again. But it was a lot of fun.
This last Sunday was great. We had a record attendance, around 110 in sacrament and 15 investigators. Also we had a baptism after, a grandkid of a member and the mother of 3 members who work with us all the time. Her husband came to church for the first time.
After church and and the baptism we walked so far. We were finding a referral that one of the sister missionaries gave us. They said they live behind this resort. So we followed the signs to the resort forever. Then we got to that and it was a ways away, and we ended up fairly close to a member's house in the next barangay. So it was better and faster to go out a different way. It was a huge circle. But that was it this week. Everything is great. I love you all. Elder Pennock
Things are getting pretty tough now cuz a lot of our investigators are close to be done with the lessons but there are things missing for their conversion. Some of them are not goin to church, reading the Book of Mormon, praying, or drinking and smoking still. It's tough, we got to help them in this change, as well as help them help themselves.
Last Monday it was way fun, we had a Family Home Evening at our house. Quite a few members and investigators came and we cleaned our front and backyards. Then we had FHE, dinner, a lesson and games. For the games after 3 people lost you had to do the chicken dance, me and Westwood lost first and so that was fun for everyone to see us do the chicken dance. Some people liked it so much they made me lose again, to make me dance again. But it was a lot of fun.
This last Sunday was great. We had a record attendance, around 110 in sacrament and 15 investigators. Also we had a baptism after, a grandkid of a member and the mother of 3 members who work with us all the time. Her husband came to church for the first time.
After church and and the baptism we walked so far. We were finding a referral that one of the sister missionaries gave us. They said they live behind this resort. So we followed the signs to the resort forever. Then we got to that and it was a ways away, and we ended up fairly close to a member's house in the next barangay. So it was better and faster to go out a different way. It was a huge circle. But that was it this week. Everything is great. I love you all. Elder Pennock
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sept 13-19
This week was great. A lot of fun good stuff happened this week. I forgot t mention a couple things last week too. Friday morning last week, we had a youth activity at the church, it was actually quite fun. We cleaned the whole church with all the youth. :)
Also we had a service project last Monday, we did yard work at a members house in Alaminos. It was just all the missionaries.
One new investigator this week Jordan Acheta, is was the first lesson, he invited all his family, so there was a lot of people. The cool thing was after we taught him, he said he believes in our message. Also one other investigator, Victoria, who we have been teaching for a long time now, accepted a baptism date for next month along with her friend and her daughter. Also 3 of our investigators had their baptism interview this Sunday, so the 3 of them are getting baptized next Sunday!
On Thursday we had special training, learned a lot and practiced teaching a lot. We had to teach in English to the couple missionaries one time, that was pretty hard to teach in English instead of Tagalog.
On Saturday we had a service project at an elementary school in Alaminos. A ton of people were there, all the missionaries and the branches. We painted, and cleaned the classrooms.
A lot of stuff happened this week. The work is going good. Love you all Elder Pennock
Also we had a service project last Monday, we did yard work at a members house in Alaminos. It was just all the missionaries.
One new investigator this week Jordan Acheta, is was the first lesson, he invited all his family, so there was a lot of people. The cool thing was after we taught him, he said he believes in our message. Also one other investigator, Victoria, who we have been teaching for a long time now, accepted a baptism date for next month along with her friend and her daughter. Also 3 of our investigators had their baptism interview this Sunday, so the 3 of them are getting baptized next Sunday!
On Thursday we had special training, learned a lot and practiced teaching a lot. We had to teach in English to the couple missionaries one time, that was pretty hard to teach in English instead of Tagalog.
On Saturday we had a service project at an elementary school in Alaminos. A ton of people were there, all the missionaries and the branches. We painted, and cleaned the classrooms.
A lot of stuff happened this week. The work is going good. Love you all Elder Pennock
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sept 7 - 12th
This week was good. The work was a little slow cuz we had a lot of meetings and stuff. On Monday, ok this is a good funny story about my beloved companion Elder Westwood. On Monday we went to the doctor, for him to get a checkup and the doc told him he can't eat a few things. So that night he ate fish, the one thing he can have, and he ate a bone, which got stuck in his throat. So we went back to Alaminos after that, but the doc wasn't there. So he slept with it in his throat. Then we went to Alaminos Tuesday morning. But the bone had come up a little, so the people said swallow a banana. So we went to the market and he tried swallowing a banana. And he started chocking in front of everyone. haha. But then it finally worked and he used the banana to get rid of the fishbone.
Our district meetings have been changed to Tuesday afternoons now and it's in Alaminos. So it messes up our proselyting time. So we just stayed in Alaminos, and visited 3 of our recent converts who work in Alaminos. We were able to teach one. That was way cool.
On Wednesday, we had /got to go down to Santa Cruz for a leadership training, cus Westwood is district leader. But the meeting was way good. We a lot from teaching practices and the mission president and other leaders. They are changing how we do district meeting, its gonna be a half hour longer now. Aw well. And I being a comp to a district leader am like his assistant/secretary. But that's not hard, I just gotta work with he stats and stuff.
Thursday through Sunday we worked and focused on our progressing investigators. We have a few investigators with a baptism date. And I"m excited for that. This morning we had a service project in Alaminos. All the missionaries, except for the elders in Bolinao, came and cleaned/pulled weeds at a members house. It was fun there we 10 of us, 4 sisters and 6 elders. Everything is goin great! I love you all. Elder Pennock
Our district meetings have been changed to Tuesday afternoons now and it's in Alaminos. So it messes up our proselyting time. So we just stayed in Alaminos, and visited 3 of our recent converts who work in Alaminos. We were able to teach one. That was way cool.
On Wednesday, we had /got to go down to Santa Cruz for a leadership training, cus Westwood is district leader. But the meeting was way good. We a lot from teaching practices and the mission president and other leaders. They are changing how we do district meeting, its gonna be a half hour longer now. Aw well. And I being a comp to a district leader am like his assistant/secretary. But that's not hard, I just gotta work with he stats and stuff.
Thursday through Sunday we worked and focused on our progressing investigators. We have a few investigators with a baptism date. And I"m excited for that. This morning we had a service project in Alaminos. All the missionaries, except for the elders in Bolinao, came and cleaned/pulled weeds at a members house. It was fun there we 10 of us, 4 sisters and 6 elders. Everything is goin great! I love you all. Elder Pennock
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