Dec. 19-25, 2011

Merry Christmas!! Well this week was fun. The christmas party for Limay Branch was on wednesday, alot of people actually were able to attend, which was awesome. We had a fun time just watching them, dance and play games. We are also keeping busy this week because we have alot of less-actives that we need to find and visit. We met a quite a few, and some were able to come to church. On sunday it was Christmas, so the attendance at sacrament was pretty good. We also were able to have an exchange on Thursday. I worked in Orion with Elder Basco, a brand new missionary, he is also a recent convert of about 1 1/2 years. It was cool, first time to work in Orion. Also the coolest thing this week, this saturday(Christmas Eve) was the baptism of Nicasio. He is awesome, always arrives early to church and activities. His mom is a member, but less-active at the moment. Then another highlight this wek was just earlier today i was able to see and talk to my family on skype! Way awesome! Well thats pretty much it. Merry christmas! -Elder Pennock

Dec 12-18, 2011

Alright so this week was great. haha. eventhough, for some reason, we had no investigators come to church we had alot of less-actives who we have been visiting come!! Which was great. And although our investigators didn't come to church, we still have quite a few progressing and new investigators! We actually have 2 progressing investigators, and if all goes well, they will be baptized this saturday! One of which is the golden investigator i told you about, who is lovin the book of mormon, she is now in Jacob!!! And the other is also a partmember, who is always at sacrament 30 min early! Also we are visiting alot of in-active members, one day, we were trying to find a former investigator who is from Bani, Pangasinan(where i was assigned before), and when we found them an in-active member happened to also be with them! that was so cool, becuase here in the philippines its way hard to find people, this has also happened many other times where we found some in-active members. Also this week was the Christmas party/zone conference for all the missionaries in the south part, 4 zones. It was way fun,played games and did presentations. Also Elder Ragasa and I bore our testimonies cuz we are now the next missionaries who are going home! Cant believe it. Also we have this one awesome investigator the architect at the new church, he really wants to learn, and asks alot of questions and the branch president came with us to teach him and it was awesome, we now gave him a book of mormon to read, and answer his questions. :) Also an active member, who got cancer, passed away last dec 12, so this week we visited the family and went with them to burial site. Alot of members came as well. Hopefully the family will follow her great example and come back to church. Earlier we helped the Sister missionaries move to a new, nicer house. We made it a district activity and it was way fun, carrying everything and then eating lunch. I bought the ice cream. haha. Well i think thats pretty much it, oh we also got new couple missionaries, the Taylors from Idaho, who now live in Pilar (a part of our zone). Yay! next Week Pasko Na!!! Merry Christmas!!! -Elder Pennock

Dec 5-11, 2011

This week we were busy with baptismal interviews, we interviewed 5 people to be baptized next week. Which is way awesome. Also this week was the first district meeting with our new districts. Where I am now again the only american which was cool with me. District meeting was way fun, especially having sisters and Elder Olbes(my companion before) in the
district. We also have 3 investigators who are approaching baptism and hopefully they will ge baptized before i leave! We also had another exchange with the Elders in Pilar, elder Castro(the new district leader) and his trainee Elder Defillipis. This time i was with Elder Castro and it was way fun. The Church christmas party for the district was this week in Orion, it was sweet, alot of members attended and a few investigators as well. Every branch performed and we also watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.On sunday we had a visitor come to church, her classsmate who is a member invited her to church and she came. So sweet! One time this week the ocean(Manila Bay) was so cool, totally flat, so we took a picture. Also at city hall where there was a bunch of cool lights. Christmas is comin up! Love you guys. _Elder Pennock

the 4 of us is our new mariveles district, with 2 new sisters, a companion of mine before elder Olbes as the district leader, and once again im the only american. _ a partmember family who are fishermen i helped them carry the boat, the skinny young one is a member. _we had exchanges with two others in the other district. the filipino, Elder Castro is the district leader, _ then the christmas party presentation. the ones with the santa hats are Limay branch!

Nov 28 - Dec 4, 2011

It was a way busy week this week with transfers and zone leaders council. But we still got a lot of work in and we have a little bit more progressing investigators now, who are comin to church. On wednesday, it was transfers and we got some new missionaries in our zone, 2 new elders, and 2 new sisters. Actually one of the new elders in our zone is Elder Olbes, who was companion up in Hundred Islands. :) It will be awesome to see him again. Then on friday we had Zone Leaders Council, went up to the mission home in Subic thursday afternoon and came back friday afternoon. Talked about the new focus for the Philippines, in bringing back the in-active members. Then on Saturday we went to Pilar for a baptism interview. So we were very busy this week. To catch up on our lessons, we worked with the young men and split up sunday afternoon and worked in two parts of our area. We are also meeting alot of in-active for the first time, and we will hopefully be able to go back to them and remind them of their testimony. Well sorry for the short report, and no pictures. :( next week! Babawi ako! Cg. Ingat kau! -Elder Pennock

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