Dec 14-26, 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!! =) I hope you all had a awesome Christmas. Christmas is totally different in the mission field and in the Philippines. So it has been a fun, busy 2 weeks. Like every night there were groups of kids and teenagers "caroling". But the caroling here is way different, the soul purpose of it is to get money. They bang on cans or play guitars and they all sing the same songs. A lot of times it is just a few little kids goin around late at night. Crazy.
We had meetings these last two weeks, special training the first week, where afterwards the assistants and even the mission president and his wife split up and went proselyting with us. One of the assistants went with me and my comp. It was fun and i learned alot from him. Then we had Zone Conference the next week, where we just asked President some questions and concerns we have as missionaries. It was good.
These last two Saturdays we cleaned the church, one time we had some youth help us out but the other time it was just me and my comp. But we got it done in 1 and 1/2 hours, which is pretty good. We wanted the church cleaned because we had a Baptism. Sister Geraldine, 19, got baptised. I was afraid she wouldn't be fellowshipped in the church because there were no members who went with us to teach her. But with the Christmas parties at the church and at the members houses she made alot of friends.

The Christmas parties were way fun, one with the branch, where we had alot of games and food.

Then a Christmas party with just the missionaries. We had games, food and a gift exchange/swap. It was alot of fun. So I had a pretty fun Christmas even though i was away from my family for the first time. On the actual day of Christmas we worked a little then went to 2 member's houses to eat and have FHE. The work is doin pretty good. We are finding new investigators and they are also priesthood so that is way awesome. Cuz the branch is really short on priesthood.

This was the lst week of the transfer and my companion, Elder Niar, is now done with his mission. So I will get a new companion and i am excited for this coming transfer. I probably will be senior companion. Well everything is going great. Love you all. Elder Pennock

Dec 6-13, 2010

Its actually cooling down!!!! Thank goodness for December! Its still pretty hot but it is getting better. The nights are quite a bit colder now. Alot of cool things happened this week. Last Monday was the last couple days of the Fiesta in Bani. It is similar to a Town Fair in the States, their were rides, like a ferris wheel and all the local schools competed/performed at the Plaza. And there were a bunch of people selling stuff around the plaza in town.

On Thursday and Friday, after working in Bani for a couple months now I got to work in a different area. We did exchanges, and I got to work in the newly opened area, Mabini. They dont have a chapel there yet, and there is only a few members, but missionary work is doin good there. The good thing about this new area is the people there haven't heard or don't know much about the church, so we can easily talk to people and get new investigators. Also since it is newly opened area, people are not used to seeing missionaries, especially an American. There were some girls who asked to take a picture with me. . . crazy. So goin on exchanges was really cool and fun.

The work in Bani is doin pretty good. We have one sister, Sis. Geraldine, who just had her baptism interview. So she is goin to be baptized next Sunday! =)

Other than that we are just working with the new investigators we have and continuing to find new ones. One guy, Br. Ernieng is really interested in the church and is thinking about joining. He is reading the Book of Mormon and is really impressed with the change of one convert a few years ago who was an alcoholic. The only problem with Ernieg is he lives far away and we only got to teach him once, cuz he returns home from work late in the evening. I hope we can teach him.

On Saturday our whole day was takin up doing a service project at an elementary school in Alaminos. One classroom's roof blew away, and we demolished and started replacing a wall around the boundary of the school. So even until now I am sore from that, mixing cement, and carrying cement blocks.

Sunday evening was the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional which was really cool. And it was the first time I saw it or even knew they had one, that is actually what the pics are about, where we are showing number 1, cuz it was my first christmas devotional. :)

The other pictures were earlier up in Bolinao at the Branch President's house close to the beach. That matorcycle is the motor he races with, he has won a few times with that. Then that was our snack, eating sea shells (the animal inside). We cracked them open with a hammer and then put vinegar on it. mmm...delicious. :)

Well that is pretty much it for this week. Can't wait to call home next week!!!!! Elder Pennock

This is in Bolinao. The previous branch president has a house right by the ocean, it reminded me of our house in Mexico. Except i think it is more beautiful in the Philippines. :)

Nov 22 - Dec 5, 2010

Hello again. I have to update on two weeks now. The work is doin pretty good, we have one progressing investigator that has a baptism date for Dec. 10. So we are excited for her, the rest of the work we are just trying to work with the investigators we have and find new investigators, lately we have been goin to new places and finding new people. So hopefully things will start happening.
Last week we had Zone Conference, which was cool. The sister missionaries in our zone who usually get a ride with the couple missionaries, the Ashcrafts, had to ride the bus with us cuz there is not yet any replacement senior missionaries. So that was a little bit different ride for them but is was fun.
At Zone Conference we focused on teaching the Restoration, cuz it answers so many questions and if investigators just would listen and understand the principles of the Restoration, everything would be better. :)
Oh the investigator that we were excited to teach, Agnus, turned out to be a little conspicuous, we think she was a member before, she knows like all the lyrics to the hymns, but she is like in hiding, by moving all over the place.
This past week, there was an inactive member who passed away. So we had a service for her at the church, then because there is very little priesthood in our branch here, I dedicated the grave. My first time dedicating a grave, and probably my last.
What was funny was she was a chain smoker, so they placed a pack of cigarettes and matches on her casket. So I don't know that was just funny, especially since i dedicated the grave.
Also another crazy thing that happened, was we were teaching the Restoration to a few investigators, and right after we finished Sister received a text that her husband, who is working abroad, just passed away because of high blood. She then started crying. She was in such sorrow and pain. Me and my companion were just thinking how grateful we are to know there is life after death and that our families are together forever. And for my companion, his dad died when he was still new in the mission, but he continued his mission and had peace because he knew he will see his dad again. And i thought to myself if that would happen to me, it wouldn't be so painful nothing like what this one sister was feeling. Then i realized the blessing of eternal families, that no one else knows about except members of the true church of Jesus Christ. That experience also was a reality check for me as a missionary, cuz she has been an investigator for along time, and if she only knew or understood our message, or we taught better so she would understand and do her commitments, that pain, sorrow and anguish would never have happened. Her husband was an awesome and nice guy. I even had the privilege to meet him before he went abroad (that shows you how long I have been here in Bani, I'm 10 months now). Her husband said we were the only missionaries that he would listen to and not hide from, cuz we are not like others who say "our church is true, you need to repent and join our church or you will not be saved".
So those are a few big things that have happened, also the town fiesta is goin on, kind of like a town fair, there is rides, and dances and bands, I will send pictures next week. Elder Pennock

This was a funeral. There we are teaching the Plan of Salvation to the family members of the deceased. And there i am at the cemetery, I didn't know they were takin a picture, but you can see how the cemeteries are here. The caskets are in those white cement boxes.

The nativity




Eating "balut"

Helping to build an addition with bamboo.
This was a service project at a members house. We made walls to make a shed to store rice. The pic with me and Tatay, he is a part member family, he is the only one that is not a member.

Nov 15 - 21, 2010

This week was cool. It was the end and the start of transfers. We found out monday who was gonna be transferred and then tuesday was transfer day. Elder Larson was being transferred so Monday night we went up to Bolinao, his area, for Family Home Evening. There was quite a bit of people, a couple families. I was assigned to do the spiritual thought which was alright, better than doin the lesson. Then it was time for games and we, the elders, were called on to do the games. I was the only one who thought of a game we could do so i led the game. The game i did was simple but can be really fun. I got it from my first area in San Marcelino. Its where half of the people thinks of and writes down a question, any kind of question, and then the other half thinks of and writes an answer, any kind of answer. Then we go through doing question and answer. And sometimes its really funny, because it is totally random. I forgot alot of the funny ones but one was, "Where do you live?" then the answer was, "it depends if you love me or not". Another one was "who was your first kiss?" then the answer was "a dog". haha
This first week of transfers we opened up a new area, pretty close to the church so there is no excuses for not goin to church. :) We tracting there and finding new investigators. We found a few good ones that are really interested. One of them is Sis. Agnus, age 51. We almost passed by her little bamboo house, but i felt prompted to go there and say hi. She has moved a lot and has met alot of mormon missionaries. She even has a Book of Mormon. So that was way cool to find her. She has a lot of questions that are perfect for us as missionaries to answer. She is wondering why there is a book of mormon and who is mormon? She has even read a little bit and asked what the liahona is? So we are excited to go back and teach her.
It feel good to start finding and teaching new people cuz a lot of our previous ones are busy with harvesting rice, so we aren't able to teach them and they are not progressing.
On Saturday we had a service project at a member's house. We started making a wall for their porch cover, to turn it into a shed, so they can store their rice in it. We put up bamboo posts all around the outside so it will hold the wall. It was fun and way cool. Bamboo is awesome, and there is a ton of it here. It was only a few of us so we didn't get it all done, me and my comp, the young men pres, the church building representative, and two young men (priests).
On Sunday it was the Primary program. It was great. Eventhough it was only 4 kids. I guess all the other kids didn't want to do it cuz there are actually a lot of kids in Primary. There was 2 boys and 2 girls. They each recited a scripture verse and then bore testimony. Then the 4 of them would sing a song that related to the scripture. It was good and they were loud enough for us to hear surprisingly. Also one of the boys and one of the girls gave the invocation and benediction for sacrament. Really cool.
So that was this week. Mahal ko kayong lahat. Elder Pennock

Nov 8-14, 2010

Kamusta kamu tanan! This is the native language of my companion, Ilongo, for "how are all of you". Pretty cool!
This week was the last week of the transfer, but we found out today that I am not gonna be transfered. I thought for sure i was goin to be transfered, because I have been here for 7 1/2 months now. And now this is my companion's last transfer before he goes home. So i will most likely be here for another transfer after this one. So I am goin to have Christmas and New Years here. Also whats cool there is the Bani yearly festival the first week of December so that is gonna be cool.

This week was pretty cool, one thing really cool was that we harvested in the rice fields. As a service project we harvested some rice of the newly baptized converts, the Humilde Family. It wasn't too bad, but it was way hot and the warts on my hands were really hurting. I put gloves on, the doctor type ones, that helped a little.

Then on Sunday it was cool to be here when Manny Pacquio fought. He is so big here, like a legend. In the plaza/towncenter, they put up a white screen and they displayed the fight as it was goin on. They do this in every town. And it was so cool to here everyone cheering and stuff. The work was a little slow this week, but we are excited to start a new transfer period. Elder Pennock

Nov 1-7, 21010

So the first week of November. It was way cool, and a lot of new things happened. On Monday we went up to Bolinao and spent some time with the 2 elders up there. We went to the beach, and to a zoo called Rock Garden. It was awesome, all the animals, and we got in free, cuz there was no one at the entrance, the cost is really cheap anyways, 10 pesos. And the beach was so beautiful.

Then after that the 4 of us Elders went to my area, Bani, to have a FHE with our recent converts the Humilde Family. It was way fun. I had to do the lesson, but it was more like a spiritual thought. Then we just played games. On Tuesday and Wednesday we did missionary work, thats a surprise. Then on Thursday we had special training in Santa Cruz. It was good. More practicing teaching and listening to the mission President's workshops.

Then after the training, I went to Olongapo City. The Mission president and his wife took me down to the mission home. There I stayed with the Office Elders and the Assistants. Then the day on Friday I went to the doctor and he lasered all my warts. The main pro doctor did the big one on my left palm, then the younger less experienced doc did the rest. I watched the whole procedure, it was crazy. They killed and burned the warts and then just took it off. Sometimes it would really hurt cuz the anesthetic wore off so they had to inject more in. It took a long time 1 1/2 hrs, and the couple missionaries, the Moberlys, were waiting the whole time. But it was alright, my hands looked like a mummy at the end. Then after the surgery I worked with the assistants. It was cool to work with them. In a totaly new area and environment. Then we went back to the mission home. Which is really nice by the way. Complete with airconditioning. In fact it was really cold. I am not used to that.

Then on Saturday morning the Assistants took me back to Santa Cruz. On the way there it was way cool to see my first area, San Marcelino. I miss that area, it was so cool to see it again. Then at Santa Cruz I took a bus to Alaminos all by myself. Then at Alaminos, the other couple missionaries, the Ashcrafts took me to Bani. So it was a way crazy, long trip. But way fun.

Then back to missionary work on saturday and sunday. On sunday Rolly and Reden got confirmed, and that was so cool. Then after church we had a ton of youth work with us. We had so many we had to split up. So that was really fun.

Oh! and on saturday, I rode a Kalibaw/water buffalo. So that was my fun crazy week. Love you all. Elder Pennock

Oct 25-31

The last week of October. On Monday, we went to Alaminos City and Hundred Islands. We shopped with all the other elders in the mall and at the souvenir shops in Hundred Islands. I bought some nice shoes for meetings and a pair of white flip flops for baptisms. On Thursday we had special training in Santa Cruz again. It was fun to be with all of the other missionaries and to learn, but took up a whole day of work.
One crazy thing happened this week. I met a Filipino from California. He didn't know how to speak tagalog so I had to speak english to him. I couldn't do it for my life. I just tried to get to know him and share about the restoration. But is was so hard to do it in english. He was filipino and seemed like he should know how to speak tagalog.
Also on sunday we had a surprise visit by the mission president. He stopped by our house before church, and then attended our sacrament meeting. Us and the branch were so shocked and nervous. He spoke in church and then interviewed me and my companion. Then after church we had a baptism!!! A father and a son got baptized. I had the privilege of baptising them, and now they are a complete member family. So that was the highlight of the week.
Also just a little thing that happened this week was my birthday, on saturday. We went to a member's house, and she made a cake. There was only a few of us. We had a family home evening and then dinner and ate cake. On sunday all the members were mad at me because I didn't tell them it was my birthday. :)
That's pretty much it for this week. I love you all. Happy halloween. There is no Halloween here. This week families clean the grave of their family members that passed away and they visit them and sleep over on November 1. Interesting I know. I miss the costumes and the candy. =)
Yes nandito ako!! The mission president and his wife came by our house. Sister said one of my warts is too big to ignore any longer. After special training on Thursday I am goin to Olongapo to get it removed, like operation in a hospital. Its on my palm under my thumb. It's probably the mother. So when that dies the rest will.