Batac Week 62

Maligayang Pasko or Naimbag a Pascua Francis Family,

Merry Christmas Francis family from the Philippines.  I am doing great and enjoying the life of a missionary and enjoying the happiness I see the gospel make for others and how God's plan for us is to be happy and to come back to him. 

Yesterday I gave a talk in church about the light of Christ and how he is the light of the world, without him the world would be dark, when we make wrong choices it doesn't mean we can't step towards the light and partake of the happiness and joy he has for us.  He is our light and savior and we can come unto him through reading the scriptures, attending church, partaking of the sacrament, and praying. So that's what I talked about, some people in this world need a good example or a smile, that can make them happy.  We as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, we need to do our job and share the gospel or be a good example to others and they will see how much this gospel can help them and their family. 

This week has been pretty good, we found a brother named Jorge Paul and he really seemed interested in our lesson and asked a lot of good questions.  We shared with him Mosiah 16:9, about the light of Jesus Christ and how he is our light that can't be overcome by darkness, and he said that was true and how he sees the light of Christ in his life and how he can see the trials and afflictions that come to his life, when he has faith or we have faith in him, we are able to overcome our weaknesses and he will help us through our trials.

Also this week we had a lot of exchanges with Elder Miller and Elder Jison three days in a row just for fun, so I  took Elder Jison on Thursday night and we went out to Buga Monte and it is just bukids and very putik (Muddy).  We were walking through the bukids and our shoes got so muddy and it was hard to pull our shoes out of the mud and my shoe got stuck and I started to laugh because I looked back at Elder Jison and he was struggling too.  He couldn't get his shoes out of the mud and we were just laughing and saying how much we love the mission and I really do, I love the blessings that I see and how much the gospel changes the lives of others. This week will be really fun because we will be having a Halloween party on Thursday and I am really excited to see the costumes and see the games they have. But everything is going great and I am really enjoying every moment of my mission, even though it's really hot and I am tired and sometimes it's raining like crazy. I just keep pushing through and tell myself I can do it, and endure the life of a missionary. 

I love you all so much and I love hearing how much fun you guys are having and staying safe. It's true about charity that we need to love the people and see them how God sees them as our brothers and sisters and just be excited to share the gospel with them. Take care Francis Family and stay safe. 

Elder Francis 

Batac Week 61

Naimbag nga malem Francis Family (  Naimbag a paskuayo) Merry Christmas Francis Family, 

Buhay pa (still alive) from the typhoon, it really didn't do any damage to us here in Ilocos Norte, we just had strong wind and a little rain, but i don't know if we will be getting rain soon or what will happen. They will keep us updated on what is happening around our mission.  I  heard about some other parts of the Philippines where a lot of houses were destroyed, some people killed, and a lot of flooding. Like I saw it on t.v. or in the newspapers.  It's sad to see, but I am praying for the best. 

Well today was one of the best P-days I have had in my mission.  We went to the Sand dunes and Beach in Paoay and took some sweet pictures, did some rock climbing, and played some Frisbee, and the background was really beautiful. So that's what I did today and it was super fun and full of memories. 

Well guess what?  I am with Elder Tago for another transfer - really surprised and we were all too, we all thought he was going to get transferred but I guess not. So he will be my longest Companion in the mission and we are both excited to be companions again, but Paoay really is super hard to find people to teach because they don't want to listen to us at all.   Paoay is a huge Catholic community and they don't want anything to do with us, so we are both not too happy about that, but it's ok we just need to endure and love the things the Lord gives to us. 

I had to buy me a new pair of pants, shoes, and a white shirt, but thank you very much for the money and I am really excited for the boxes you will be sending. But that is it, I am still loving the mission life and striving to do the best I can and enjoying every moment of it. I love you all so much and I miss you all too.  Take care and I can't wait to e-mail you guys next week. Sorry for the short e-mail, I think pictures can tell more of what I did. 

Ay-Ayaten ka at Mahal Kita

Elder Francis 

Batac Week 60

Naimbag nga Malem Francis Family, 

Sobrang na inspire ako talaga sa mga mensahe ng ating mga propeta. Naramdaman ko talaga ang pagmamahal ng ating ama sa langit para sa ating lahat elder ganun din sa mga propeta natin ngayon..Alam ko talaga sa puso ko na lahat ng kanilang mensahe ay galing sa diyos at totoo talaga. 

I know that the work in which we are engaged right now in our lives is the greatest work we are and will ever do in our lives and in the lives of others. That is my testimony to you from listening to general conference.  I learned so much and loved listening to every single talk given. Here are some of the quotes I loved from General Conference:  1. "It will all work out"- Neil F. Marriot, 2. "Be better today than you were yesterday, be better tomorrow than you were today:"- Larry R. Lawrence, 3. "Focus not on what I can't do but on what i can do."- Gary E. Stevenson.  Those are the quotes that I loved that it will all work out at the end, never lose hope, and always stay faithful and the Lord will guide us and make us stronger when we have weaknesses.  We can overcome them through Christ's help and Atonement. 

This week was so much fun.  On Tuesday we had MLC so we got our trainings from President and Sister Andrada then the AP's too. Then after we had a party to go to.  Their son's birthday was this day so we got to celebrate his birthday at the mission home with all the Zone leaders and STL'S too.   We ate so much food on Tuesday and I am still full and getting fatter and fatter every day. 

Not too much happened this week, but I will tell you Sunday night we were walking back home and I stepped on something I thought to be a stick but it was a baby snake, or (Python) hahaha, like we were all so scared and jumped like little girls, but then we took pictures of it and then some guys came and smashed it with a rock and that was really it. This week we only had 21 lessons and we are really trying and pushing to do the best we can and I know the lord will help us while we do his work. 

That's it.  Nothing really happened this week, but all I can say is I am loving the work and enduring to the end and through trials and challenges just remember we are never alone in this work and we can always turn towards him. I like what Elder Durrant said to Ponderize the scriptures, choose a scripture read it and ponder it and memorize what it says. That is something I  am going to start to do, and reading the Book of Mormon from beginning to end and reading it again. I miss you all so much and love you all too, have fun in Disneyland and maybe see if you can find me a tie there and send it to me. 

Ay-Ayaten ka

Elder Francis 

P.S. Did you guys get my e-mail about what I want?  If not I would like Dr.Pepper and cream soda, candy, beef jerky, gummy bears and worms or frogs. Please put some money on my card too because my shoes are tearing apart again, and I need to buy a new pair of pants, and I would like to get a new tie or a white shirt. Thank you very much. 

Batac Week 59

Naimbag nga Malem o Magandang Hapon Po Francis Family,

Maligayang kaarawan o naimbag nga panagkasangay (Happy Birthday), 

Happy birthday Emily from the Philippines! I wish you a happy happy 15th birthday like WHAT!!!, you are getting too old for me.  You are my little sister that I love and you will always be my little sister forever and the best #1 sister in the world. I am proud to say that because it is true and I am grateful to say that you are my sister.  Thank you for everything and the support and being a good example to me.  My great companion Elder Tago says happy birthday too, sooooo HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!. 

This week was really fun because we did a lot of fun things and took a lot of pictures and we had really spiritual moments in our teaching with two of our investigators.  We taught them Christ's earthly ministry and the apostasy and the Restoration. These lessons we taught to them were so spiritual and we could tell the spirit was really teaching and testifying the truth to them, even though they don't know it at least I know that the spirit touches the hearts of people and I can see the spirit in this work. I could see them thinking about what we were saying to them and they were really thinking of the things we testified to them.

So that was really great and another thing that happened to us was we were walking home one night and a girl called out to us and she knows Elder Tago.  She was excited to see us and we started to talk to her and the people she is staying with were from the Iglesia Ni Cristo and they don't like us at all.  They started to yell at us and tell us to get our bible to bible bash with them and they started to fight with us and then |Elder Tago said to them Ano gusto mo talaga brother kase parang gusto mo na magfight talaga at yung attitude sa amin, hindi mabait sila sa amin.   Elder Tago showed charity to them and we could see the spirit was guiding us what to say so we don't fight and in the end everything turned out alright and we got a return appointment with him.

Then also this week on Friday I went to the hospital because I had a sore back and sore groins.  We went to Batac hospital to see why and they told me it's just muscle pain.  I really do have bad muscle pain a lot and it hurts bad. Then also I got a cold and I lost my voice on Saturday and Sunday so it was hard to speak and say things I wanted to say.  In church they wanted me to say the prayer and I couldn't speak and it was hard to breathe for a while. But my cold is getting a little bit better now. Then also this last week on Emily's birthday we have a family that are recent converts and less actives and the two baby twins are turning one on her birthday so that was fun to celebrate with them and think of Emily's birthday.

The next morning we had a meeting for zone leaders with the stake president and after we went and got lunch and dessert and ate more food at the party, so I was really full and wanted to throw up. Then because I was sick,  me and Elder Tago went to Buga St. Rita, our area, and we taught our recent converts nanay and tatay Dela Cruz.  Tatay read something in the bible about consecrating oil and said he gave a blessing to nanay but did it wrong and had no clue what to do so we helped and showed him what to do.  He did the consecration and poured the drop on my head and it was his first time but he did really good and I could feel the spirit after and nanay was crying and for me hard to speak I bore my testimony about the foundation of this church 1. Prophets, 2. Apostles 3. Priesthood Authority from god, and with out these three things our church would fall and we would not be here. 

So that was my week and today for P-day we had all the zone leaders and STL'S from the Laoag mission come do a team building course at Fort Ilocandia and we did some fun things like archery, eating eggs (drinking it) I almost threw up, an obstacle course on the beach, a tug of war, and we also did golfing and went to a mini zoo and had a lot of fun, but I got really really sun burned and look like a tomato and it hurts (I am really sorry Mom).

At the mini zoo lets just say I almost got pecked on the head by an ostrich and it was really funny.  All the sisters were laughing and said it likes you and then we saw some monkeys and they were really funny and they made me laugh watching them dance and the way they move around and protect the baby and growl at me when I want to take a picture like hahaha.

But that was it.  What a great week full of memories and more to come.  I love the mission life and love the Filipino people and especially I love being able to serve the lord. One more thing a girl on the mission named Sister Arancis she is super friendly,  gave me a picture before she went home and on the back she gave me a scripture that I really love and really caught my attention and it says in D&C 58:16- "Behold his mission is given unto him, and it shall not be given again."  That really caught my attention how fast the mission life goes and how I only get to do this once and I need to not waste my time and make sure to be obedient always and ready to serve the Lord.  I won't get another opportunity like this. So that's what she said and said some more and gave me her e-mail too. But that's it, I really am enjoying everything and I love the work. Mahal ko kayong lahat at ingat kayo palagi. 

Ay-Ayaten ka

Elder Francis 

P.S. Did you get the things I want sent to me, please send all of it. Agyaman ti adu.