Monday 29 June 2015

Floods, parades and santos!

Things are pretty awesome here in the Phillies! Hard and hot but still awesome!

We have always had problems with members working with us in this area even ward missionaries and leaders always say that they are busy!  But our ward mission leader worked with us everyday this week and it was super FUN! I had a lot of fun this week I kind of dug myself out of whatever rut I was in and we got a lot of work done!

We kept working in our crazy area where we had to cross the river and this week because it rained so much it was completely flooded! We couldn't even see the rocks needed to cross so long story short I ended up falling in! haha the water was way muddy but it still felt good to cool off!

It's still raining so crazy everyday just pouring and pouring but we still will be out in the middle of it! People give us the weirdest looks as they see us trudging through the puddles and downpours but a long time ago I realized that no matter what people are going to stare at me because I am tall, skinny and white! haha

The members (most of them) have been really awesome lately and I don't know if it is because I have been here a while or what but a lot of them have had us over for dinner and snacks and stuff while working!

I finally got to see Meet the Mormons! I know it has been out for a while but we never got to see it until Saturday night our ward was having an activity and we all went to the church and got to watch it! It was awesome! But I am sure you all know that!

I bought a airsoft gun this week! :) hahaha let's just say the neighborhood is a lot more quite lately because the dogs are definitely scared of me now! haha

So one last experience to show just how weird the philippines is and the catholic church here as well.. so we came back from working one day and we were with our WML Jankit and we were going to go to Angels (it's like a popular burger place here) anyway as we tried to cross the street we saw all these people holding torches and dancing and stuff I though they were like some mob but then I realized they were holding those weird catholic statues they are called santos here anyway they were all chanting and stuff and it was just one of the weirdest things I have experienced here.. Weird Catholic parades.

That was my week! Love you all!
-Elder Warnick

Crossing the River


Monday 22 June 2015

Happy Father's Day!

Yay this week was fast! Which means I am back into a routine! It's always hard to readjust when you transfer or get a new companion or just have to deal with anything new!

It was a good week though! On Monday most of the Elders in my zone went to the beach in Old Sagay and we were going to take a boat out to an Island but none of us had money so we all kind of just walked around and took some pictures! Our mission is pretty strict if you don't already know, usually in other missions I think it's allowed to wear regular clothes on P-day when you are out doing stuff but here no matter what we still have to wear missionary attire.. haha oh well

So Fiestas ruin a missionary's work day.. And the Philippines love fiestas! If one town has a fiesta as soon as it is over the neighboring town will have one too. This week there was a huge Fiesta in one of our areas so nobody was home! It actually was so bad that we had 0 investigators at church this week! But it's okay the Pelarios parents got confirmed and Roldan (the dad) was wearing a nice new shirt and slacks! They were way excited and it just felt good to know that we had helped a family!

It's definitely rainy season again and I realized I didn't have an umbrella.. (I gave it away to a member a couple months ago) so we had to find umbrellas this week and it actually was really hard to find a decent umbrella in the middle of a country that is always raining!

Also speaking of the rain it made it super hard to walk this week! BECAUSE I realized that I had a hole at the bottom of my rubber shoes.. haha and of course everything was super muddy! We had some new investigators that live behind the Pelarios family but by behind I mean way far behind them across a river haha and the path down to the river is just steep enough and just muddy enough that we basically slipped down the whole way.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I didn't think they celebrated it here but yesterday at church everyone kept telling me happy father's day. haha so I still don't think they get it! But just wanted to thank my father for everything he has done for me and my family! He was probably the first person who helped instil in me a desire to serve a mission and he's a great example of how a father should be! LOVE YOU DAD!

Palanga ko kamo!
-Elder Warnick

Beach


River we had to cross


Thursday 18 June 2015

Don't hate me cause this email so short..

This isn't going to be too long of an email because nothing really is too new!

The weather has been super hot and it rained a lot too! The whole deal resulting in a big fever.. for me.. yeah it was awesome! But it's all good I am over it now!

We had our baptism on Saturday for the Pelarios parents they were way excited and I got to baptize both of them so now their whole family are members! It was a pretty cool moment.

It poured this week so much rain. One night we got caught in the middle of it and got completely soaked! I think it was the most wet I have ever been!

We had a Zone Training and right now both my MTC companions are in my zone so we had kind of weird reunion and it's weird to see how people change!

But I am doing great and still learning a ton! Even though there are a lot of struggles with the new comp it's been helping me a ton with perfecting my language!

Thanks for everything!
-Elder Warnick


Monday 8 June 2015

Changes

So this week.. I'm not gonna lie it has been a hard one for the mission. BUT a different kind of hard. I'll try and explain: So I remember when I first got out in the field and everyday was a struggle I was so emotionally wrecked and I was losing my desire to be on a mission. But over time like everyone said I started to love the mission and even more missionary work. There was always hard things but I got better and better at overcoming them. Everything from the beginning of them mission was all kind of focused on myself and all my problems were because I was worrying about myself. But now the week was hard because my new comp is struggling, he's super emotional and I am not really sure how to help him but I am trying and /I think that's all I can do!

Okay sorry about that well here we go with the week. So after me and E. Baldwin found out that he was going to transfer we got all the things we needed to get done and partied big time at the house! Not really we just ate some Ice Cream and listened to some hyms, It was relaxing for me though because I wasn't the one that had to pack this time! So it was nice. But Tuesday morning we went to the mission office and picked up our new comps and then came all the way back.. super tiring. So my new companion is Elder Castro he just barely hit 6 months in the field.

The work was really good this week I was trying super hard to help E. Castro get to know everyone so we were all over the place! He says he still doesn't know the area but it's okay little by little.

So the Pelarios family is awesome! It's the family that we baptized all the kids and we were just waiting on the parents so this week they totally were ready for their baptism and passed their interview! SOOOOO this means this Saturday the whole family will be members! AND they were way pumped when we shared to them about temples! This is my first family!

Even thought things haven been pretty hard lately I have learned so much and I have never felt closer to Heavenly Father. And everyday I learn more and hopefully am becoming the missionary I am supposed to be.

Thanks for everything! Love you all!
-Elder Warnick

I didn't take any pictures this week but here's one from right before E. Baldwin left!


Monday 1 June 2015

Psych! You got transferred!

This week was way long but I think it was just because so much happened! So let me tell you all how it went down.

Monday we had a family home evening and it wasn't just any FHE like half of our ward showed up! I'm not even kidding! There were so many people there and it was so good! Filipinos, crazy games and mangoes is all you need for a good time!

We also had exchanges this week I was with our District Leader and we got a lot of work done! It's always weird to work with someone that you aren't used to but I learned a lot and it was still fun.

So we broke our streak this week and didn't have a baptism.. but some good things still happened! We have really been focused on families and are currently teaching about 3 and the huge Pelarios family who have 6 kids came to church this week! And it wasn't even regular church, we had Stake Conference this week and Elder Bowen of the 70 was there so I got to talk to him for a little bit he's a super real guy just to the point.

Yesterday after Stake Conference we went home and ate but we were really expecting a transfer call because Elder Baldwin has been here forever but when it didn't come we went and worked, but everyone was sleeping because it was a hot sunday afternoon so we taught who we could, made some brownies (thanks mom) and went to bed BUT>>>this morning on our way to do all of our P-day stuff we got a call from the AP's and they said that Elder Baldwin is transferring tomorrow.. so that was a spin but anyway we are going to go to Bacolod tomorrow and I will pick up my new companion! CRAZY STUFF!

This mission is good I am learning and growing and losing weight! ;)

The language isn't even a burden anymore which I am super grateful for! And if I get a filipino companion tomorrow I am going to try to do a whole transfer 100% Ilanggo!

So the pics are from our crazy FHE playing games and then Me, Elder Baldwin and Sister Generalo and Sister Lozada they all got transferred except for me so that was me saying goodbye to them! :(

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING THE MISSION IS GREAT I AM LEARNING A TON AND IT'S GOING BY SO CRAZY FAST!

-Elder Warnick