Week 24, Sapung Palay, Philippines

Hey Family,

So firstly I may have lost some photo's :( So I lost about a week worth of photo's but don't worry most of them were selfies that the members took hahaha So I lost around 1.5gb worth of photo's which is nothing compared to the photo's that I already have!! So I still have like 98% of my photo's still hahaha What happened was last week when I gave my sd card to my companion during emails and when he opened it up the files where all gone and yeah :/ but I'm not worring to much as they weren't really great anyway hahaha.

So This week I backed up my SD card to another SD card ready to send home!!! Except before I sent it I'll need to make a backup incase anything get's lost :)

Anyway this week was slightly nerve racking with the transfer's coming up, but I'm staying here with Balili in Sapang Palay for another 6 weeks!! Infact only 3 elder's transfered from our zone which is super low hahaha

This week it was super crazy with one of our lesson's, so we found a unkown LA in one of our area's, that day we had Bro. Elmer working with us (37yrs old). So we ran into this la and we went into her home and began to teach her lesson 1. So Elmer, Balli and I are seated on one couch and the La and her friend on the other one.  And on our counch Elmer is sitting between me and Balili. AS we're teaching out of nowhere this giant rat comes out from outside and runs inside, now this rat was huge and super fat. I thought I saw it run and crawl up onto our couch between balili and elmer. So I stood up and asked "Nasaan ang Daga?" Or where's the Rat? and then I kid you not Elmer, who is still sitting down, points to behind his bottom and says, dito elder... or here elder hahaha I look and there is this giant lump at the back of his pants... The rat had actually crawled up and inside his trousers into his pants.... It was so funnyyyyyy, Elmer then tried to push this rat out of his pants and when the rat was out it ran off. Oh my, it was hilarious... I swear that that stuff only happens in cartoons hahaha.

So yeah and the photo's I attached are of me and balili at church and one of Me and Elder Baylosis in a tricicle carriage. hahah hope you enjoy.

P.S Next week after I back up I'll seed the SD card, but before I'm going to send it I'll probable make a couple of vids to you guys but is there anything you'd like me to talk about specifically? To do with life in the mission? or maybe something for mission prep? Just ask and I'll film something :)

Anyway have an awesome week!!!

Love, Elder Holzworth

Week 23 - Sapung Palay, Philippines

Hey Family,

Just a quick email this week as there is poor internet access in our area. This week was slightly nerve racking with the transfer's coming up, but I'm staying here with Balili in Sapang Palay for another 6 weeks!! Infact only 3 elder's transfered from our zone which is super low hahaha

This week it was super crazy with one of our lesson's, so we found a unknown Less Active (LA)in one of our area's, that day we had Bro. Elmer working with us (37yrs old). So we ran into this LA and we went into her home and began to teach her lesson 1. So Elmer, Balli and I are seated on one couch and the LA and her friend on the other one.  And on our counch Elmer is sitting between me and Balili. As we're teaching out of nowhere this giant rat comes out from outside and runs inside, now this rat was huge and super fat. I thought I saw it run and crawl up onto our couch between balili and elmer. So I stood up and asked "Nasaan ang Daga?" Or where's the Rat? and then I kid you not Elmer, who is still sitting down, points to behind his bottom and says, dito elder... or here elder hahaha I look and there is this giant lump at the back of his pants... The rat had actually crawled up and inside his trousers into his pants.... It was so funnyyyyyy, Elmer then tried to push this rat out of his pants and when the rat was out it ran off. Oh my, it was hilarious... I swear that that stuff only happens in cartoons hahaha.

So yeah and the photo's I attached are of me and balili at church and one of Me and Elder Baylosis in a tricicle carriage. hahah hope you enjoy.

Anyway have an awesome week!!!

Love, Elder Holzworth

Week 22 - Sapung Palay, Philippines

So this week was quite interesting!

So this week I went on companion exchanges with Elder Adra for a day. We went out to a member's house and they run a stall were they sell some typical filipino foods, like chicken intestines and liver and ect..

So naturally they tried to pressure me to eat it as I'm a foreigner hahaha I ate both hahaha and to be honest it actually wasn't too bad, the taste was pretty good actually, they barbecue  the meat with some random sauce hahah :) they also cook chicken heads and feet but I didn't try that, well not yet :)

This week is the last full week of this transfer, so July 1st is transfer day! and on next Monday we'll find out about transfers (tuesday will be p-day). So there is a good chance that this will be my last transfer here but it is possible that I stay too, so who knows hahaha

I've attached some photo's too :) and I'll probs send another email with more photo's :)

Also in tagalog there are some crazy senteces that can me made by using two syllables haha

kakaba-kaba ka ba? 

Which translates to "Are a little bit nervous?"

so yeah it's a tad confusing if someone asks you that hahaha 

Anyway have a great week all :)

Week 21- Sapung Palay, Philippines

Hey everyone :) 

So tagalog is going great! I find it a lot harder now to teach in english hahaha The other day I couldn't remember the word "restoration" when talking to other elder's in english hahaha except I knew it in tagalog and could even explain it in tagalog too hahaha

Then we also got mail run! So I think 1 week ago I received all the letters from you guys as our zone leaders received the letters early and passed them onto us early too xD But this week I recieved the package with the Pink Ties! Thanks so much :D They're really nice ties, I love them. one is the Pink stripped one and the other is the pink checked one :)

Then the package had a "block" of Pods hahaha they all melted together hahaha plus a ton of sherbet hahaha

So for this week Email time is really low, so we've had an issue with internet places so right now I have 4min left to type hahaha so I'm going to be quick.

That and I'm using a pc that you can't plug in  devices to so mayble later we'll try and stop by a pc shop and upload some photo's

Today we also had a simple Zone activity were we played a bunch of games, In Capture the Flag i was my usual best (lol) and won our team the game :P hahaha 

Not too much time left so I'll finish up :)

Have a great week guys!

<3

Elder Holzworth

Week 20- Sapung Palay, Philippines

Hey Family

So this week was crazy for both me and you guys!

So obviously with Emma receiving her call to Manila mission!!!! and the crazy stuff for me I'll explain in a sec haha

So with the call (yes I got to watch the vid!!) it was awesome to hear that emma is serving so close to me! And like Mum, I called it too that she'd serve near me and speak tagalog :) To prove it I actually took photo's of my tagalog book for emma before I actually knew she was serving here and then sent them to her today hahaha :) I anticipated  it :D

So because Emma is serving in manila it means one, that we might have the same temple P-Day once every while but when I was in the MTC as Zone Leader, president said to us (elder perkins too) that If I was every near by on a p-day or whatever that we were always welcomed back to visit missionaries, teachers and him. So I'll try to visit Emma when she's in the MTC :D

Also Emma will learn Tagalog which is insane cause that means we'll have our own secret language!! Astig diba??

First off, We need to come on a mission with the DESIRE to serve and the TESTIMONY to back it up. With both of those things we can become useful to the Lord and become efficient Missionaries.

Secondly, to not waste our time. A mission is the Lord's time, not his. It's a time when we give up our will to do the Father's Will. When we waste time we waste our years of service that we cannot get back.We waste the Lord's time and that means

that people won't come unto Chirst.

I wrote down in my PMG while i was in the MTC something that I said to my

district one day that is evidence of this.

I said  (concerning missionary work) " The Work is really hard, but it doesn't feel like hard work."

Anyway this week was insane last night we had 2 dinner appointments which was insane. Thing was that I was told we had one so if I had known there was a 2nd I would have eaten much less at the first appointment hahaha

The other thing is that for the past month there have been mice in our apartment except we can never catch them hahaha but on saturday he found one and managed to kill it and then out of no where a second one appeared! so we killed that one 2. There was a lot of cheering too hahaha there were so annoying!!

Other than that, out of our 4 investigators, only one came to church, so that means that the 3 that didn't come have to have a new bap date as they need to attend 4/5. So yeah :/ but we're doing fine :D

Anyway, hope you all have a great week!!

Love, Elder Holzworth!

Week 19- Sapang Palay, Philippines

Hey Family!

So to start off I opened Emma's email first, and I got slightly excited cause her subject line (which is all i see at first on my front page) had some !'s and a :) yet no call hahaha

Anyway the Camera Deal. So the cable is needed for charging the camera. so firstly, good news, the cable is in my hands now. The bad news I spent nearly all day today trying to buy a new one :(

So firstly in my Zone, there is a mall about the size of capalaba park which is about 30min away (it';s around 4km away but things here travel really slowly) anyway I went there and there are none, they don't sell them there. So today (p-day) we traveled about 1hr 15min to a Supermall (SM for short), it's literally a bigger Carindale shops (no joke everything they sell there is real and expensive). Anyway we traveled there and we go to the top floor of the place where there are about 35+ computer and electronic stores. I went to nearly all of them and, nothing, no cables like the one in my hand. I couldn't find a charger either for the camera battery and I couldn't even buy a replaceable battery. So yeah :(

In the end we're back here now, at the internet shop where I think I lost it.

Yeah the cable was at the front desk so now It's in my hands now..... hahaha

So yeah I did a lot of running around today for something that was within my ward boundaries :) Although at the markets today I did find a flashlight with a tazer on it :) hahaha I wish I could buy it

Anyway so we gave out 4 baptismal dates to 4 very good investigators :) Except none of them came to church :( So that kinda sucked a little :( but's all good cause they all really understand the doctrine that we teach :)

Other than that I went on splits this week for a little bit. So that means Elder Balili goes of with some workers and then I go off with other workers so that way we can get double to lessons in the same amount of time :) The hard part is that I'm stuck with people who speak tagalog..... So yeah good thing i work hard on my tagalog otherwise splits would get real hard. That and during lessons if you don't understand what the investigator says, you have no one to really translate for you haha But it's all goods cause as long as you have the spirit with you your good :) One of my favorite scriptures for missionary work is DC 50 which is the title of PMG (or really the full title), Preach My Gospel by the Spirit. So as a missionary you're called to teach it one way, by the spirit, not any other way. And that leads to another cool experience I had this week :)

So this is with our investigator, Kevin (15 and also the brother of Kempee). So this lesson we were teaching Lesson 1, The Restoration. So in this part of the lesson you want to carry on from the last lesson, which was the apostasy (btw one of our first lessons with Kevin we did an overview of the entire lesson 1, just briefly so he's read the BoM).

Anyway in this lesson we taught as usual (by the Spirit) and we gave two commitments, the first was to be baptised and the second was to pray to know if the BoM was true and if Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. Anyway he accepted the bap date :D and then for the second commitment we asked if he'd do so in the closing pray, he accepted also. 

So firstly I'm sitting about half a meter from him and he begins the closing prayer, and I can't heat squat.... like he spoke so quietly that I could barely hear his words, he was speaking just so soft. But here's the cool/awesome part. I knew everything he said. The Spirit whispered to me the words that he spoke, and thus I understood his prayer fully. His prayer was heartfelt, he expressed his love of the Saviour and his desire to know whether the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God. He paused and at that moment I knew he received his answer, tears began to stream from his eyes as he thanked Heavenly Father for this conformation. At that exact moment, he knew that this was the true Church of Christ, the same one that Christ established on the earth millenia ago. 

So yeah :) cool huh :) A lot of times during my time out here on the mission I won't understand what someone will say to me but the the spirit will tell me what to say next, and it's never failed me :) The scripture in DC 50:17-18 is true when it says, 

"17. Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? 18. And if it be by some other way it is not of God.

If you preach by another way it is not of God, as God works through the Holy Spirit.

For my misison I do not intend to convert anyone, infact at the end of my mission I will come home with no conversions because I do not convert souls, the Spirit does. I have been called to preach His Gospel by the Spirit, and that is what I will do :)

A lot of people do not realise the power that they gain when they have the spirit with them, it is truely a force to be reckoned with.

Anyway, hope you all have a lovely week :) I heard today that the Maroons won :D hope that continues haha

Also I'm curious to see who'll be the next Apostle as on Sunday I heard  the saddening news that Elder L Tom Perry passed away.

Have a great time guys :)

Love Elder Holzworth

Week 18- Sapang Palay, Philippines

Hello family

Anyway, on Wednesday Elder Aue left and Elder Balili arrived :D So all the missionaries who were transferring met at Marcela chapel which is our stake centre. So i waited for a while before Balili arrived. Once he did we headed back to our flat, ate lunch, did shopping and then off to work :)

So first off Elder Balili is an amazing teacher...... Like he's insane at it, he's very good at connecting with people and teaching things simply, which is awesome!! Elder Balili is from down south of the Philippines, his native language is not tagalog, it's cebuano. So he's had to learn Tagalog through out his mission. This is his 6th area, and may be his last as he goes home November this year.

So things with him are really good, his english is pretty decent but it's not really awesome so most of what he'll speak to me will be in tagalog., which is good for my tagalog :D

Showing  balili around wasn't too hard, it's just that one of our areas is a maze so it was hard haha we got lost a little :) but other than that my tagalog has been improving a lot this past 2ish weeks :D Although I lost my packet dictionary which kinda sucks :(

So last week I forgot to tell you that I received the Packages, so I got the redskin one, the one from grandma and with  letters I got the .study tips one, the pmg scriptures one, the missionary quote one, and the anzac one too :D

Thanks so much, it's really good to receive packages and letters from home.  we receive them on a tuesday and then have to wait all the week till monday to email so sometimes i forget haha

Btw I forgot to mention Kimpee went away for work and hasn't come back yet so he has to go to church 4/5 sundays when he comes back to be baptised so he'll be baptised next transfer if we're lucky as we don't know when he comes back.

             

Dad's 3 questions:

1. What scriptures have you been learning/memorising? I am memorising the First Vision ("I saw a pillar of light....")

So I havn't really memorised many scriptures in Tagalog , hahaha I've only learnt like the first half of the 1st vision and some other ones that i've kinda forgotten over time but I still remember luke 24:5-6 (why seek ye the living....) so it's --> Bakit hinahanap ninyo ang buhay sa gitna ng mga patay? Wala siya rito, datapuwa't nagbangon.

Only problem with it it that it uses some deepish Tagalog. other than that it's a cool scripture :D

2. Tell us about your new companion - his name, how long he has been out, where is he from, and what you love about him?

So i kinda already said this above but here goes again hahah. Elder Balili, he leaves november, from davao mission area, and he is such a good teacher, that's the best part about him missionary wise, that and he's really funny too :D

Also he plays the recorder and harmonica hahaha it's pretty cool :D

3. How can a person find out they are loved by the Lord?

I'd say there are lot's of ways to know but I think one way is through prayer. We are very blessed, the only problem is that we don't see the blessings sometimes. Yes, we should ask Heavenly Father for blessings but what is also important is to ask that we can recognise them. Everyday we receive blessings and we have no clue how we received them, even though they affect us. So one way to find out if we are loved by the lord is to Count our blessings by looking out for them and asking Heavenly Father to help us to see them.

So I attached 2 photo's, One is Sapang Palay Elder's before transfer's (with Aue) and the other is after transfer's (with Balili)

Hope you Have an awesome week