I Will Go and Do What the Lord Commands: May 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

Another Week in the Philippines - May 18, 2015 - Week 29

Kamusta kamo! Well this week has been another solid week here in San Miguel. So right now we have 10 investigators on track to be baptized on June 20th. We are super excited. Except transfers are on June 4th, so I don't think I will be able to see their baptisms. Pero okay na. Also or attendance at church continues to grow every week. This week we had an all time high of 24 people! :) Five of which are investigators. Elder Lazo and I went and picked them up for church. They live about an hour and a half away from the church in the bukid. They were so excited to go to church. They are all teenagers ages ranging from 10-18. It was totally worth the time and money to go pick them up! :)

This week on Tuesday we had our District meeting and much to my surprise President Aquino showed up...I'm not going to lie I was super nervous. But after it ended he told me it was really good. This spirit is always super strong and training meetings whether it be district or zone. Its so important that we all know that during those meetings the most important thing is that we have the spirit there. Through the spirit we will know the truthfulness of all things just like it says in Doctrine and Covenants.

I love this work. I love this gospel. And most of all I love my Heavenly Father. I am so grateful that I am a part of Gods Army at this day and time! Anyone out there that may be thinking about going on a mission and is of age. Do It! I have already seen so many blessings that have come from serving and I have only just been out a little while my mission. I know that this church is true. And that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. All you have to do is read it from cover to cover and pray to know if its true. If you do that I know you will receive an answer from our Father in Heaven.

I love you all and hope you are all doing great. :)

Elder Jake Frandsen

Philippines Iloilo Mission

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

And the rainy season starts...! - Week 27 May 4, 2014

Hello Family!

This week I have repeated in my mind over 100 times the saying "Nothing can Stop the Work from Progressing". This week everyday for all day there has been a huge down pour of rain. But for me I can't stand staying cooped up in the apartment all day. So we go out and WORK. Even when it means we will be 100% soaked by the time we walk out the front door. As you can see in the pictures we roll up our pants put our crocs or flip flops on and just embrace the fact we are missionaries in the Philippines. :) We don't use our umbrellas because it is point less haha.

I am really loving my companion! He is great. He may not like me so much when its pouring outside and I say "lets go" but he gets over it. :) He is teaching me a lot of things even though I am his follow up trainer. My biggest weakness is his biggest strength...PLANNING! He is teaching me how to better plan and manage my time.

For an update on Manuel. He has returned to the hospital. We aren't sure if he is going to make it. All we can do is just pray for him and his family and know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for him. I know that no matter what he will have the opportunity to be baptized either in this life or the next.

He have an investigator with a Baptismal date! Sister Joy Belez is preparing to be baptized on May 30th! He are super excited. She is progressing very quickly. She reads her Book of Mormon everyday and always has a lot of questions and comments. It has actually been kind of cool teaching her because she is a teacher and prefers that we teach in ENGLISH! So it has kind of tested me because I have never taught all the lessons in English before. It is actually a little harder for me to teach in full English. But I am learning a lot from the experience. :)

Today for p-day Elder Lazo And I took some of the young men from Mandurriao Ward and a less active young man from our area to a place called Little Baguio. The purpose was to help fellowship this young man. His name is Archi. The trip was definitely a success and a ton of fun! We did tons of hiking and climbing. We even went to some water falls. When we got to the place to my surprise there were Pine trees. It smelled so much like Utah and Scofield. All in all it was a great time. I sent some pictures.