Gilbert Gets Baptized January 25, 2015

The baptism was awesome! My companion baptized Gilbert and I confirmed him on Sunday. It was a very spiritual experience. He is going to do great things here in San Miguel. I wore my tie but it is super expensive to send it home so i'll just send a picture. Our mission goal for this year is a baptism a week per companionship. So me and my competitiveness is bound and determined to do just that. 

This week I have figured out the most relaxing thing in the world! Riding on the top of a jeepney. Just kick back read the Book of Mormon and feel the wind in your face. It is the best! Don't worry mom its completely safe :D Your just have to make sure you don't forget the Book of Mormon part. :)

This week we have just been really focused on getting a lot of investigators so we will have people to teach and baptize. Also this week I got another calling. My comp and I are home teachers for all of San Miguel members. So we are suppose to visit them all monthly. Haha They really like keeping us busy here. Its good for us.

Oh and by the way i'm now half way through my training! :) Well that's it. Everyone have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Staples, Gilbert, Elder Frandsen
Gilbert's Baptism Day January 24, 2015

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Saying good-bye to  Zone Leaders

Elder Jake Frandsen

Philippines Iloilo Mission

Zone Activity and Adventures in the Jungle January 18, 2015

Last P-day I had my first zone activity. The Zone Leaders put together an amazing activity for us! We did Survivor! And we actually did some of the things they really did on survivor here in the Philippines! It was crazy fun!!

On Tuesday we had district meeting, Elder Staples taught us about Christlike Attributes. Then we all went to Mang Inasal for lunch. After lunch we went to work. We went and finished teaching Sister Geraldine the lessons. Because you're suppose to teach all the lessons the recent converts after they are baptized. While we were there, her son Haans (he is 3 years old) was very sick and had a really bad fever so I gave him a blessing. I love giving blessings because you feel the spirit so strongly. Then we went to teach Manuel. He is one of our investigators. Surprisingly, I understood his Tagalog pretty well.We started talking about Priesthood and being baptized by the proper authority. So I was prompted to ask his to be baptized. And almost before I could finish my sentence he said "yes!" for the rest of the lesson he had a huge smile on his face! He is so excited. We set his date as Feb 21. I'm super excited for him. After that lesson we were on our way home and the Zone leaders invited us to a dinner appointment for Elder Kimball's birthday at the Baldons home.It was super good!! Elder Kimball got everyone Krispy Kream! After dinner we ended up staying the night at the zone leaders home.

On Thursday we went to go meet a referral we received his name is Charles. He is super smart and nice! His dad used to be the Mayor of San Miguel but both of his parents died in 2013. He is very well known here is San Miguel. We hope to continue teaching him. Then we went and taught Gilbert. He is so ready to be baptized. He is still on track to be baptized this Saturday! We are super excited for him! Later on that night we went to go teach the Camrel Aragona Family. It was kind of weird. When we walked into there home they were watching the Pope give a speech and pray. When we walked in we could tell the spirit wasn't really there so I ended up just teaching a little message from a verse in the Book of Mormon and then we left. Because the Pope is here in Manila this week it has made our work a little bit difficult. But its okay because the holy ghost is way stronger if we just allow it to be there.  

Friday was kind of weird. Haha so at night we went to go teach someone pretty far away in the bukid (jungle/mountains) on our way home it was really dark. As we were walking we saw a guy that was super drunk! He could not walk straight to save his life. I went up and asked him "where are you going" "where did you come from" and he said he was going home. So I offered to help him. He said "no" But we still walked with him till we got to a rice field. His home was in the middle of the field. He said he could get home from there. So I stood there and watched him for a few seconds. In that few seconds he fell into this huge ditch and was just laying there. So I ran over and helped him stand up and get out of the ditch. After that I helped him walk through the rice fields all the way home. I grabbed him by his arm and put my hand on his back to support him and walked side by side with him through the muddy rice fields. As I was doing this I couldn't help but think about Jesus Christ and how when we are in trouble and we fall that he is always there to pick us up and help us get where we need to go.Even when the path is super small and super muddy. He went through the same things we are going through. He walked through that muddy path with us so we could get home. I'm so grateful for everything our savior did for us so that we could return and live with our Father in Heaven again. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to serve that day.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve here in San Miguel. There are so many great people here waiting to hear about the gospel.

Everyone have a great week and love you all!!

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Elder Jake Frandsen

Philippines Iloilo Mission

January 11, 2015 San Miguel

Ahhh! Haha This week has been so crazy busy! I only have a little while to email this week so it'll be brief. 

This week we have been teaching Brother Gilbert! He is awesome! His wife is a member but she has been a little less active. But they have been coming to sacrament meeting the past two Sundays. Sister Letty (his wife) spoke this week in sacrament meeting. She gave a fantastic talk about faith. His date for baptism is on January 24! We are so excited for him. His family will be a great addition to San Miguel Group. 

Also, on Sunday President Aquino visited us and brought his whole family (15 people) they were great. It was kind of funny because this Sunday I conducted the meeting, blessed the sacrament, passed the sacrament, said the closing prayer, then taught primary. Haha I love it! :) 

Earlier this week I had my first Zone Meeting. I learned so much! President Aquino's goal here is to teach us all how to be leaders. So that was what our zone meeting was about. Leading by Example, Being a caring Leader, and Leading like the Savior did. I learned that if you want to be the best leader you can be you have to love the people, serve the people, and lead them like Christ lead Peter and the other Apostles. 

This week I have learned how important members are to missionary work. So I have a challenge for all of you. If you can do your best to invite and take one of your friends to church this Sunday and introduce them to the missionaries and bishop. But most importantly introduce them to your friends and make them comfortable there, answer their questions. But before you invite them make sure you are comfortable at church because if you aren't comfortable with your church your friend won't be either. :)

Well sorry it's short but that's all for this week. I love you guys so much. And have a great week!! 

 

Elder Jake Frandsen

Philippines Iloilo Mission

Happy New Year! January 4, 2015

This week was pretty eventful! Starting with New Years Eve. We had a bunch of appointments set us but we got punted (rejected) all day. So at 4:00 we went back to our apartment. Luckily the zone leaders invited us over again to go to dinner and then to stay the night at their home. At 5:00 we went to dinner with the zone leaders at a members home. It was so good! While we were there we had a brown out (power outage) so we played a few games. Then the zone leaders got another call from another member that wanted to feed us. So we kindly excepted even though we were super full! So we got to the other members home and they had so much food! So we were all stuffed that night! Then we went back to the zone leaders home and Elder Cabatuando and I stayed up till midnight. We went out on the balcony and watched the fireworks. The fireworks here are unreal! Like I can't explain. The whole sky is lit up! There are fireworks all around you. And they went on for a solid hour of just non stop Booming!! It was deafening loud! Then At 1:00 we went to sleep it was a great New Years. 

The rest of the week was pretty normal after that. We found two new investigators. There names are Joy and Manuel. Joy is a referral from another one of our investigators. They are both pretty solid investigators. They are very curious about the church. Then yesterday we had some random guy come visit our ward he got up and said his testimony and right there he said he wanted to be baptized! So we are going to teach him the lessons and see how it goes. He is an answer to our prayers! 

Oh yeah and I can't forget. This we was the first time I tried Balut!! Haha it actually wasn't that bad. I will definitely be having it again soon! :)  

Well that's all for this week so I hope you all had a great New years! Love and miss you all. Have a great week! :)

Local public "restroom"...Wow, look at that rain! :)

For anyone concerned....Jake said that "Yes! that pig is definitely alive!" I guess that is why he's keeping his distance.

This is the gate to someone's home..."It had Jake written all over it" :)

Elder Frandsen's current home and church in San Miguel

Elder Staples...at a jeepney stop

Balut...a delicacy in the Philippines....mmmmmmm.

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Elder Jake Frandsen

Philippines Iloilo Mission

Christmas Skype!

Although Jacob has only been gone a couple of months we were still waiting on pins and needles to be able to visit with him through Skype on Christmas Day.  Being new to this program and coordinating with different days and time zones across the world did have it's challenges.  We waited patiently on Christmas Eve thinking that would be the magic day but unfortunately went to bed that night a little disappointed.  Christmas Day came and we celebrated as a family going about our regular traditions which included going to a movie that afternoon.  As the movie ended I turned my phone back on and panicked when I noticed 11 missed Skype calls.  Within seconds the magic 12th call came in and I thoroughly embarrassed myself by practically yelling at my phone, "Jake, we're here...hang on!"...We unceremoniously worked our way out of the theater, (gratefully the movie had ended) and stood out in front of the theater trying to crowd around my phone.  We must have truly been a sight! Next step was to head to the car and "plug him into" the car speakers for about an hour and then finally we drove home and transfered to the computer for a final few minutes.  What an adventure!  It was so good to talk to him and to see him.  I have attached some pictures and a couple videos.  Enjoy!

Things Jacob shared about where he lives and what he's doing...

  1.  No running water means...a walk into the village with his companion and their buckets to bring water back to the apartment...they ride a "Jeepney" home to shower and wash clothes in said bucket.
 
2.    McDonald's menu is not quite the same....rice, noodles, chicken (no chicken nuggets) and no Big Mac.

3.    Umbrellas aren't much good in the rain...the locals only bring them out for shade when it's sunny.

4.    He's invested in cheap rubber shoes that look just like dress shoes.

LOTS AND LOTS OF RAIN!

5.    When trying to approach someone's door to share a message the missionaries holler out a hello to the door through the gates and a classic response is, "My mom says she's not here."

6.    The very best mangoes in the whole world.

7.    He loves the people!!!!

Merry Christmas from the Philippines December 28, 2014

First Christmas in the Philippines and first Christmas away from home. It was hard but we stayed very busy. On the 23 we went to a ward Christmas party in Mandurriao. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a few members and eat a ton of food! The Philippines really know how to throw a party! Christmas Eve we went to Sister Teresa's house and she fed us a lot of food! And wouldn't let us leave till all the food was gone. She made us each drink a whole liter of 7up. I was so full! After that then we went to the Sorilla's home for a big Christmas Eve dinner. They are super rich! They also fed us a ton of food! They were super nice. After that dinner Elder Staples and I went to The Zone Leaders home (Elder Cabatuando and Elder Kimall). This is both of there last area. They are great Elders and leaders. We slept over at there home that night because it is to dangerous to be out at night on Christmas Eve. We woke up on Christmas day. The zone leaders had to go to a White Christmas (Huge Baptism) that morning so Elder Staples and I just went home. We went and visited Sister Geraldean. She is a recent convert to the church. We talked to her for awhile about things she is struggling with then gave her a blessing. She is a super strong person! She is awesome! For lunch Elder and Sister Robinson (Senior Missionaries) invited us over for and American Christmas meal. It was sooo good! We had cheesy potatoes, ham, rolls, and cake! Then we played farkle with them for a little while. They made us feel right at home. When we got home from there house Sister Teresa wanted us to come over again. Of course she had more food. Haha We had a great visit with her and ate more food. So I think i'm going to name this Christmas The Christmas of Damo Food! (damo=a lot) I also had the best Christmas present ever! I got to skype the family back home! I miss all of you back home a ton. Hope everyone had a great Chritmas!

Ps If you can't tell by the pics there are damo Rice Fields here!

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Elder Jake Frandsen

Philippines Iloilo Mission

View from Jacob's first apartment in San Miguel

A few pictures from Jacob's current home is San Miguel.  Sounds very rustic but looks beautiful.  Also including some pictures of the local flora and fauna.