Called to Serve: From Kiribati to Legazpi

Kumusta,      My families need to create their email accounts because my mission president will help me out with texting him and he will paste my message to their email.  I will not be able to communicate with them because it is so risky here.  The virus is everywhere and many people have it.  I love you all and the quarantine is extended until May 15th but as I know it will be still extended.  I don't know when the quarantine will end.  Many cases of Coronavirus are discovered here in Albay.  I'm still praying for you all that you may be safe from this pandemic virus.      We still contact members and investigators through cell phone calls and texting.  They said that soon we may get smart phones after this long quarantine.  The government is so strict.  We are not even allowed to buy anything because of the safety of the people.      I'm doing okay.  Still helping our mission president ...

Hello Everyone!      The news here is that we are still in the lock down but we borrowed a computer because we want to talk to our families.  We are doing good because we have so much more time to study all the scriptures and reading.  We still continue on with our normal schedule but the difference is that we do not go outside for the work.       Yeah, we are doing good even though there are some cases of COVID-19 nearby where we live. Some people are getting infected but not really many more than before because the good thing is everyone is not allowed to get outside.  So I am the only foreign Elder missionary left here in the Philippines.  There are also two sisters missionaries - one from Kiribati and the other from Australia.  We were not able to get a flight home due to restrictions.       We are still praying for any miracle for all the people to be helped and relieve this lock down.  With our...

     This blog post is based on the conversation with Heidi Gutierrez.  On March 19th, I received a message from Elder Bateiti stating that he was at the mission home with 70 other foreign missionaries waiting to get on the bus to Manila.  The church had chartered 6 jumbo jets to return missionaries to their home countries.      On Saturday, there was a post from a parent stating that the missionaries had indeed made it to Manila and that the Legazpi missionaries were staying in a hotel next to the airport.  Most of the information was about missionaries heading to the United States and Canada.  I inquired about missionaries from the Pacific Islands.  One of the sister missionaries mother sent me a private message about Elder Bateiti and 2 sister missionaries from the Legazpi Mission.     On Sunday night, Elder Bateiti contacted me on Messenger and here is what he said.  Three of us were taken off from the bus....

Mauri Everyone,      The work is kind of hard now but that is what has been prophesied for all of us.  If any of you have heard of it and yes you all have heard of it.  Last Monday, we received strict guidance about the Covid-19.  The family that we have been teaching for four visits now don't want us to come again because of this sickness.  We understand their situation.  Even the people we have been talking to while walking are so panicked and that makes them afraid to talk with us.  They don't even want to look into our eyes.      There are some rumors about people who are infected.  Just as they say in the report that last month there were 40+ people but right now there are 98 people who got it and even die from it.  That is the whole Philippines total number.  We are worried and we have been preparing for it.  Last Friday, we run to the market to get some alcohol hand spray for killing germs.  W...

Kumusta,      Here we go . . . this week was so cool and I could tell that it tamaroa and awesome or in my 2 dialog so brang maganda or magayaon!!!  The cool thing is that we were given a referral from one of the members we were teaching a couple months ago.  The Fernandez family - last Friday we were able to talk with her and she is super nice.  She has been a Roman Catholic member and now if a born again religion.  Here's the coolest thing - after our lesson with her, she allowed us to introduce ourselves to her grand children and her older daughter that was just coming back from work.  As we close with our word of prayer, we ask her if she has anything we could say to our Heavenly Father for her in our prayer.  As she talked to us, she started crying but we take it slowly and we could feel the spirit so strong.  We are so looking forward to our next visit.      The last cool thing this week was we were able to find ...

Kumusta,      This week is another awesome week and it's kind of challenging.  Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday but that is not important.  It's a little hard but time flies!  Haha!!  Adjusting to the trials I am still facing each and every day really makes me strong.  I can tell you that as I am 25% completed in my mission.      The best moment was Friday, Zone Conference with half the Legazpi missionaries.  Everyone came except the islanders.  The workshop was led by President Abraham and the zone leaders.  Guess what . . .we had a workshop on Preach My Gospel Chapter 6:  Christlike Attributes.  He pointed out two pondered questions one day before the workshop.  1)  How has the Book of Mormon helped us in the mission field? 2)  How can we help others have the same experience?  He shared D&C 29:7, "And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect he...

Kumusta po sa indong gabos/Mauri ni kabane ngkamii,      This week was so brang mabilis which means fast.  Hindo ko naniniwala.  I can't believe that February is almost over.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, it was so brang mahinit which means hot just like my home but I guess that is was worser than my island.  Maybe because we are so close to Mount Mayon the volcano.  On Thursday we led the district council meeting and the Holy Spirit was so strong.  We could see that we are way closer to our goals and the work in our district is on fire.  We make sure that each and every one of us are still in line with the goals we set each weekly planning and according to the revelation that President Abraham received for our mission.  Beside that we do the workshop in ways to find peoples to teach and what can we do to increase new peoples.  It is so important to us as God's servants to help each other in order to improve and make the work go ...