Fresh Milk!

I am so exhausted.. like dead.

So our area is huge like multiple kilometers huge.It's like hiking through the forest and mountains and such haha so it's way tiring and also because I am training I have to do most of the work. so yeah it's just really tiring but it feels great to be working really hard! So the work is hard but that's pretty normal! So ever since our mission president went home the numbers for our mission have dropped a ton, baptisms and number of lessons when I got to this area we basically had to start over because everyone that was an investigator had gotten baptized so we really didn't have anyone to teach, we have spent so much time trying to get new investigators and we ended up finding some new ones as well as some old ones the ones that are close to baptism didn't come to church and they can't get baptized unless they come to church so we have to keep pushing their dates back. But it is all part of missionary work!

So my area has one of the only two dairy farms on the whole island so me and Elder Baldwin decided to take advantage of that and we bought 6 liters of fresh milk.. we drank so much and it was so good but I realized my body wasn't really used to it so I felt pretty sick also the milk doesn't last as long here even if it IS in the fridge ;) only about 3-4 days before it starts stinking so yeah that's  the milk experience.

We had follow up training this week which was a super weird experience for me because it felt like I had just barely been there and now I was on the other side of things being the trainer! But it was extremely humbling and I got some good insights on how we can better improve our work! The bus ride was super long and it was weird to go past my former areas.

We are really just trying to live the vision here and the miracles should follow! The sad thing with some of our investigators is that they are from Manila so first they are Tagalog and Second they aren't going to stay here for ever they most likely are going back. But we still teach them regardless and they are some of our most progressing!

It may be another couple weeks before we start having weekly baptism but I feel like it is definitely worth it because we have put a lot of work into everything we are doing and even though I am so exhausted every night when we get home my mission has never felt so fulfilling as it is right now!

The language is good and the doctrine/teaching is getting better and better! Something we were trained on this week besides getting the missions numbers up was #BecauseHeLives the church in December took over YouTube the whole day and was showing "He is the Gift" so now they are doing another one for Easter! Go check it out on Lds.org I am super excited for Easter and for Conference! YAY! You just enjoy things a little more on the mission! :)

So something really weird I realized this week is that a year ago I received my mission call and now I am here! It goes by so fast!

My card reader is like dead.. it stopped working and of course I still don't have a cord to my camera so I don't know how I can load some pictures... SORRY! I will try my best!

Miracles are happening here! Thanks for all the support and love!

-Elder Warnick

Actually the card reader just magically worked! Yes! #blessed so the pics are me putting on a smile even though it's so hot ;) and just a little more of the wilderness I get to work in! :)

.

Thought it was a cool pic there is two puppies and it's hard to tell whose head is whose haha

Ambot sa Imo!

So it is getting super hot here. I mean I already thought it was so hot in the Philippines but it is officially summer here which means no rain at all... It's fun though!

So I saved Elder Baldwin this week and took over the area and started leading all the lessons and the area. This area is probably my hardest so far though. It is really influenced by Cebuano because it is so close to the border of the Cebu mission. So I'm still learning Ilanggo and having to pick up Cebuano words as well PLUS we have one investigator who is Tagalog so I guess you could say I am trying to learn that as well.

There was a huge festival in Sagay this week and so it was really hard to meet with investigators and to even get out of the city! We made a really bad decision one day trying to get to our area and we went over to the terminal to get out of the city but it just so happened to be right in the middle of the festival so here we were two white guys standing in the middle of a huge crowd of Filipinos while a crazy parade was going down the street. haha

We picked up a could new investigators this week and because of Elder Baldwin's last companion this area was left dry. Meaning no teaching pool or anything so we are changing our direction this week and going to a new area and contacting a bunch of Less Actives and former investigators. Because of this whole situation there isn't going to be any baptisms the rest of this month.

It took me 7 months to realize that this really is where I am supposed to be. Really it took me that long. And I think it was just a mixture of everything that has happened this week. I realized it is easier for me to talk to people that aren't really my own kind. Or own race for that matter. And then we ran into this big drunk Swedish guy this week and he was making fun of us the whole time but Elder Baldwin wanted to talk to him so we did. He was making fun of what we were wearing and saying that back in Sweden if you are gay you wear a tie. And then he told us the only Ilanggo he knew "Ambot sa imo: which is basically "I don't know about you" or "I don't get you" He got up right in our faces and really smelled like liquor. I guess he was a boxer and we left before he did anything stupid... Before my mission I always wanted to go to Europe but I realized after talking to him that I don't think I could have done it and that I really am supposed to be here. It just feels right.

The language is always a struggle but it is a huge blessing to be able to understand people and to be able to teach and communicate just fine.

I really am learning a lot and it is pretty nice to be a trainer, besides the stress it really pushes you to learn and grow.

I always run out of stuff to say even though I feel like there is still a lot more I need to say. But that was my week this week and hopefully things here will really start to pick up.

Palanga taka

-Elder Warnick

Elder Baldwin and Elder Warnick

Intestines of a Girl

I am pretty sure this has been the longest week of my mission so far and I have no idea why? My last two transfers flew by! So I am now in the Sagay Zone, Sagay 2nd ward. I am follow up training an American named Elder Baldwin! I thought that was so weird that my first American companion has the same name as one of my best friends.

Sagay is so big and so beautiful I somehow already got the area memorized though. This first week with E. Baldwin I told him he was going to lead the area and the lessons too. I could tell he was struggling pretty bad and I don't think he expected me to help him, so that's when I told him it was only the first week and then I would take over haha I think he feels pretty relieved now and because I am the one leading everything now I realized that I am a lot better than I thought it was!

The week was hard though, we were crossing some rice fields to get to an investigator and we had to jump across a muddy canal but right when I jumped across the ground my feet sunk in and I ended up tripping and our cell phone, fell in the water but those nice little Nokia's can't die!

So something new that I have never had is we have an english class every Saturday and me and my comp teach English to ward members and investigators. Teaching English is so hard!
I still have to study like crazy, but the nice thing about training is that everyone else thinks you are way good at the language haha.

Sunday I had to teach Gospel Essentials all by myself for a whole hour and it was so hard! But I think by pushing myself the way I am, I am learning a lot. I also had to give a talk on Sunday about service I don't think it was too bad but some times it's hard to express myself how I want to in a different language.

Things are good. The mission is fast. The church is true.

That's about it this week. I still don't have a charger for my camera... So I'm getting by with the last charge from my last area..

People were "karaoke-ing" all night last night so that was fun. But ear plugs are a missionaries best friend.

I ate chicken intestines this week and saw a rat the size of a cat.
IT'S THE PHILIPPINES! :)

*Quick funny story about the intestines.. so the ilanggo word for pig is baboy and the ilanggo word for girl is babaye and long story short my comp switched the two while we were eating and said "I wonder what intestines of a girl would taste like" hahaha

Take care!
-Elder Warnick

Just Like John the Baptist

Crazy week come and gone as well as the transfer! It really is going by super fast and I don't really know what to say.. we had district meeting on Tuesday like always but it was the last district meeting this transfer and some of the sisters were going home so we took a big group picture. It really is weird how fast the mission goes by when I first got in the field these sisters had just got to their year mark but now they are going home this Wednesday!

We were working super hard this week making sure our baptism candidate would be ready for baptism on Saturday so we were visiting her everyday as well as just trying to find people! We didn't have any new investigators because we baptized them all! haha Not really we just had a hard time getting new investigators and finding potential Priesthood leaders!

Our baptism this week was at the AIDSISAW river. The lady we were baptizing lives really close to the river and wanted to be baptized there! I was all for it because I had never got to experience anything like that! But It was so cool and there were some people on the shore watching us and I don't know what they were thinking but they respected us as we performed the ordinance.

Sunday we got to confirm 4 of our investigators and it was my first time confirming in Hiligaynon.. But I did it and afterwards she said she felt the spirit so strong and felt like she was "lapit gid sa ginuo" or really close to the lord. We went home to eat lunch and we were all expecting transfer calls because every transfer week they do all the calls on Sunday. As expected they called and we found out that they were pulling us out. So another transfer for me and I found out I will be having my first American companion and I will have to be follow up training him. So that means he has been in the field for 6 weeks.. EXTREMELY HUMBLING! But I am excited to get started! I'm going to Sagay! (suh-guy)

Sorry I didn't write much I wasn't expecting to get transferred! I'm planning on taking a bunch of pics in my next area because I heard Sagay is Beautiful! \

-Elder Warnick

More Baptism pics

House

Austin's District

I don't Have a Catchy Title :)

Another week down.. It goes by faster and faster every time.

So this week we tried to get out to work early everyday and I think it really helped with our numbers and success. Me and Elder Pedroso got to our area around 1:00 so that we could use all the time we had because  our area is so far away we have to leave it around 6:30 or we can't get a ride back to the city.

This week the member that feeds us every week was having a farewell party for her son. All of us were there with there family and friends. It's kind of weird to think about how often people invite us over for parties and stuff because I don't think back home it would be a normal thing to invite the missionaries over to my birthday or something like that. But seeing him get ready to leave reminded me  of when I left and how life changing and emotional it is!

We had Zone Conference this week and it was probably one of the best conferences I have had my whole entire mission! It started at 10 am and we were about 15 minutes away by a jeep ride but nothing was stopping for us. Once we finally got a bus to stop and pick us up it was already 10 so wee felt pretty bad that we were going to be late. And apparently back in the day when our last mission president was here he wouldn't let anyone in if they weren't there on time! But the training's were amazing and our temporary mission president is the bomb! President Ferrin kind of looks like Pacho from Emperors New Groove and sounds exactly like him too (haha). He showed us the talk by Elder Holland "The greatest commandment" Basically telling us that we will always be missionaries even if our tags are gone.

On Saturday we had 3 baptisms! Which was super sweet! We combined our baptism with the other two elders in our apartment so there was 5 people getting baptized! We have another one next week and then two the week after that. So yeah we are super busy and transfers are coming up and I'm feeling like my comp is gonna be out of here, he has been here since November!

So Sunday our newly baptized never showed up to church so they couldn't get confirmed.. We have to wait until this next Sunday or we will have to baptize them all over again! Patience it's all just patience...

Elder Warnick and Elder Pedroso

Sorry if this letter is a little boring it just was a lot of work this week!

Halong!
-Elder Warnick