Philippines Cauayan Mission

Monday, June 24, 2013

24 June 2013


Magandang Hapon po!

Kamusta na kayo!?
Last week was super crazy with transfer day and having to say goodbye to Pres. and Sis. Carlos. The transfer day was the biggest in the history of Cauayan mission with 23 new missionaries coming in to replace the 8 that left. Except that record will be beat soon the transfer after I leave, when they have 30 coming to replace 14 of us. It is crazy to see how many sisters are now coming in. 12 of the 23 were sisters, and next time around it will be 21 of the 30 Sisters-all American. In my zone right now in Solano, there are 8 Elders and 8 Sisters. I never realized how hard it would be having to say goodbye to Pres and Sis Carlos after them leaving such a big impact on my life. I couldn't help but wonder if I cried saying goodbye to them, how much more will it be saying goodbye to the entire Philippines? They are seriously some of the nicest and loving people in the whole world, and it will be weird not seeing them here. But, like they always say, change is always a good thing. 
I am now with my last companion, Elder Sison. He is from Manila. After doing some reflecting on my mission, I realized that I have not had even 1 American companion. This has allowed me to be exposed to many different cultures, traditions, and behaviors. Because all of my companions in the field except for 2 have been Filipino, in a way I feel like I have turned into a Filipino as well. I consider this to be a blessing because it is part of a Filipino to be more relaxed, unselfish, loving, and more social. Not necessarily realizing it before I left for my mission, these are all things I needed to work on when I first arrived in my mission.
The Worldwide Leadership meeting/sacrament sounds pretty crazy having 5 sacrament tables. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if we are going to get the chance to watch it or not. I haven't heard anything about if it is going to be rebroadcast for us or not. Something tells me though it will be a while though before they start giving iPads to us in the Philippines. Haha.
Last week we weren't able to do too much work because of traveling to and from Cauayan for meetings, but we were able to share with the Pragata family a couple times. They were sealed in the temple as a family about 2 years ago, but Brother has fallen inactive over the last several months, so we decided to start focusing on him. It worked out perfectly that the theme of June Liahona is about Family and what to do to strengthen it. We picked out an article for them to focus on about 9 ways to strengthen them and shared with them the importance of repentance, and they agreed to study it as a family. When we went back for our return appointment, before we even approached their house, we could hear them screaming and laughing at each other. They later said they were busy playing games and having a good time with each other, and had read the Liahona like we asked them to. Just from them reading the Liahona, their family was strengthened and on the way to being fully active in the church again, with Brother on his 2nd week in a row at church.
Salamat po for everything you do and all your prayers. 
Mahal ko kayo,
Elder Nay


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