Nov. 21-27, 2011

This was the last week of the transfer, and it was awesome! We had the most lessons with a member present than any other week, and we also met a ton more less-active members that we can go back to. Also we had more investigators come to church! Progression, Results!!! The work has been real hard lately but its was way sweet to see some success this week! Sometimes the work is so tough there is noone to turn to or get angry at but each other(your Companion), which happens sometimes but we also learn and grow from that. Just a part of the mission. :) This week we got this new awesome progressing investigator, whose wife is a member. And he already knows alot, maybe from what his wife had shared to him. Way cool. He also was one of the investigators who came to church, as well as that one golden investigator who i told you about, who is... still golden. :) We also did another exchange this week, this time with the distict leader and his comp in Mariveles(the lowest point of the mission). It was once again awesome to meet a bunch of new people, but there were only a few lessons there, there having a little trouble there because they're both new to the area and the previous missionaries didnt leave much for them. Another way to grow. Also this week which was a great help to our missionaries was Zone Conference. We were with the Balanga Zone in Orani and it was about planning. How to improve or have more succesful weekly and daily planning focusing on obtaining our goals. It was great, and we have really seen a difference in the work because of it. Planning takes a quite bit longer now but its worth it. :) Also on sunday we had a few young men work with us, so we were able to split and teach alot more of our investigators. This saturday the branch here has a temple trip to manila, and they are in need of some priesthood. Hopefully we can go with him, but i dont know if the mission president will allow it. :) Well Love you guys. Belated happy thanksgiving! ( theres no thanksgiving here) =) -Elder Pennock

Nov. 14-20, 2011

Well this week was a bit interesting, we expected to have a great week cuz we had alot of members work with us but our investigators ended up not being there, haha, but thats alright we still got a lot of teaching in. And that one golden investigator that we have is still golden, she attended church again this week, attended sunday school and made more friends, and she accepted a baptism date for December 24! Ayos talaga! We are also now eating a little breakfast every morning, some bread and sandwiches and stuff, which is also great, because before we had none. ;) On monday after buying food and a few things for the house and cleaning we were able to play basketball at the church, it was fun even though it was just us and two priest age guys, two on two. We also had exchanges again, i was with another new missionary in our area. He is really good, the only thing that was different in our area that he liked is that we our investigators are close to the church and we have members work with us. Like the young lady in the picture, she is a recent convert, in January she will be a member for 1 year. She is now also serving as a primary teacher. We are also way busy trying to find and visit all the members even though they are spread out all over the city of Limay. haha. But its fun and the members love being visited, and some have friends or less actives close by that we can teach. Also this week, from all the less active that we are visiting, we've really noticed the difference in their lives from people who continue going to church and reading the scriptures and those who don't. Thats also what the new focus is here in the Philippines for 2012, is to keep the members active and bring back the others. Also the kids are fun as well, a bit crazy and hyper and full of energy but it reminds me of all my cool cousins I miss in america. =) Well thats pretty much it, love you all, ingat kayo. -Elder Pennock

Nov. 7-13, 2011

Well this week went by so fast! Maybe because we are doin alot and stayin busy. Quite a few cool things happened this week, one is that we have a golden investigator, she loves reading the Book of Mormon and even writes notes on what she learns. She also asked God if our message and the book of Mormon are true and she got an answer. She said she felt the holy ghost and knows its true, and because of her answer she attended church this last sunday! So totally sweet! The only problem is her husband is less-active, as well as his parents. So we will work with them this following week. But its so cool to have an investigator like this, this is the first one i've had who first known our message is true before teaching a majority of the lessons! Also more of the less actives that we are visiting were able to come to church this sunday, which was also cool to see. We were also able to finish our Branch Mission Plan and present/explain it to each quorum and auxiliary. So now that we have a plan with goals and actions hopefully we can strengthen the branch with the help of the members, by inviting people to be taught, fellowshipping investigators, and visiting recent-converts and less-actives.On wednesday we had exchanges, I went with the brand new missionary in our zone, Elder Defillipis in his area. It was way fun, eventhough he is still new, he is way good at tagalog. I also met some people in their area that I have seen before, haha.Also we are enjoying that a few of the members are being able to work with us. So the work is good and we are keep movin. :) Also we saw a pig that they were gettin ready to cook, that was pretty cool. Well thats pretty much it. Love you guys. -Elder Pennock

Oct 31 - Nov 6, 2011

Another great and really busy week! First of all it was the Filipino Halloween again, or actually their celebration of All Saints Day, where everyone goes to the cemetery and visits their passed away family members. Which is the night of October 31, and the day of November 1. It was pretty sweet as well cuz, for all special occasions here in the Philippines everone cooks a bunch of food and all friends and family is invited to come, eat and chat. So we got to eat 4 meals after our lunch at members houses. Way cool! =) One of them also was a birthday of a recent convert. Also this week I talked with 2 foreigners, one was canadien. He was way cool and nice, speaking english and i was really having a hard time speakin english to him, tagalog kept on comin out. crazy! but the other onewas even more crazy, he was american from Arkansas and he speaks tagalog! We met him in Olongapo goin to the mision home for ZLC. He knew tagalog pretty well but he definetely didn't sound like a filipino with his accent. haha. Also this week was the Zone Leader Council(ZLC), it was awesome, we played basketball again and also enjoyed the food and aircon at the mission home. Each of us also reported about our zones and the President and AP;s taught about how to improve our planning and goal setting. It was really sweet, learned a ton. We also got some more new investigators this week,and also some members worked with us. On Sunday, as you can see by the picture a lot of SA and youth worked with us. There were so many we split up and were able to teach alot of investigators and less-active members. Way fun. Well, siguro hanggang dito na lang ngayon. Salamat! Ingat kayo! Mahal ko kayong lahat! -Elder Pennock

Oct 24-30, 2011

Last week of October! My last Halloween with no trick or treat, candy, and costumes! But there are christmas lights and christmas trees!!! =) Well this week was awesome! We had some members work with us this week to fellowship our investigators and the less-active members that we're teaching. It was a ton of fun. And this sunday we had 4 investigators come to church, as well as a few less-actives and less-active families who we've been visiting. Which was totally sweet! We are also meeting a lot of new people everyday who are really interested, as well as 2 referrals given by a less-active member, so hopefully by the next couple weeks, her referrals and she will come to church, because right now she is a bit shy cuz she has noone to go with because her husband is not interested. The branch president also worked with us again to visit some less actives, and it was so cool to see them come to church. There is also this one awesome part-member investigator who is way cool and way fun.She was taught before, but she couldn't get baptized cuz she is not yet married.They were set up to get married with the church but it fell through, so we are just reviewing everything with her and hopefully we can get someone to marry them. :) Her kids are cool too and love to play, and the candy we buy for them. :) We also did another visit to some of our missionaries in our zone, this time with the mission president, it was sweet. Especially riding in a car again with airconditioning! Last tuesday we did a cool spiritual instruction. thats the picture with 8 of us elders, it was david and goliath. haha. Also Saturday afternoon we had a family day branch activity. Me and my comp were in charge of the games. we had about 6 or 7 games planned but only had time for 2. :( Cuz they had some workshops on emergency preparedness and 72 hr kit, which ate up the time. Lame. :) But it was fun anyways. We also had some investigators and less-actives there. So this week was great. Love you guys!!! Happy Halloween! -Elder Pennock

Oct. 17 -23, 2011

The end and beginning of another transfer. So this is now my 15th transfer(6th week period) in the Philippines!! And it was awesome! Transfers were on wednesday but before that we had a service project with the Orion Elders at one of our members house. We built that sweet bamboo hut so sister could cook even when its raining. Some of the members helped out as well as Elder Caunca and Elder Erickson from Orion. It was way fun and it turned out to be pretty sweet. Also those other pictures are us with some of our investigaotrs and partmember families. The work is doin good, we had some members work with us this week including the Elders Quorum President and the Branch President. Which was way cool. And eventhough it was transfers, we were able to return home by lunch from the bus station in Balanga and work in the afternoon. We got alot of new investigators and also 3 were able to come to church this sunday!! Which is way better than last week cuz noone came last week. haha, Because of transfers we got some new people in our zone, Elder Ciar(from San Pablo, where my comp is also from), and Elder Defilipis (spelling?) who is from Idaho, he is brand new from the MTC. Well i think thats pretty much it for this week. We are just excited for another transfer. Love you guys. -Elder Pennock

Oct. 10-16, 2011

Another great week, and we are so stinkin busy, with the zone, the branch, the leaders, the less active, the former investigators, the new investigators, the partmembers, activities, and now transfers! Geez! But its way fun. =) we have alot of new investigators right now and we are really excited for them, alot of them are also partmember families where if we get them back to church it will be a convert and reactivation! Which we really need in this small branch here. But this last week we had a great service project at a less-active family. We built a kubo/place to cook for Sister, so she can cook outside even when its raining. So it wont be all smokey in their house. It was cool, all out of bamboo. Also for preparation day last monday we got to go up to Mt. Samat!!! Where the big awesome cross is! Its like a tribute or a shrine after the war with th Japanese in WW2. It was pretty sweet. But we couldn't go into the cross and up to the top because there was no electricity, couldn't use the elevator! That was with the whole zone. Alot of our new investigators are way awesome, we just got to know them pretty well, and we are excited to go back to them and teach. Also there are some kids who are way fcool and funny, they say I look like and call me Prince William. What the flip. haha. We also made a surprise visit on some missionaries in our zone to see how there doin and if they are awake and studying as they should. And it turned out... they weren't. Thats one new responsibility that me and my comp have to do is help out the zone! By doin surprise visits and exchanges. We had an exchange with the Orion elders. I was with Elder Erickson in Limay and it was way sweet! He is the district leader here and he is almost done with his mission and goin to go home, prabobly tomorrow. He is way tall, mush taller than me, so it was funny to see everyone stare at us. haha. This is also the last week of the transfer so we will have alot of changes this week, but me and my comp are still here. I am now feeling more and more comfortable in tagalog than i am in english. Its nuts. Here's the tagalog alphabet(abacada) thought you guys might want to know it... A, B, K, D, E, G, H, I, L, M, N, NG, O, P, R, S, T, U, W, Y. Its a little different than the english one. haha. Also i found this cool poem and quote that explains a mission pretty well, "The Best Two Years Of My Life" by Susan Hiatt Biggs, and "The Man and The Rock" by Sharon Miller. Find those on the net, there really good. Well, i think that pretty mush it. Love you guys! - Elder Pennock