Hospital... Again

So last year  I remember staying a night in the hospital for someone in my district that was sick. But this time it wasn't someone in my district... it was my companion. Yeah it wasn't me again! Don't worry. So what happened was last week Elder Cagampang was feeling a pain around his bellybutton but we really didn't think too much of it and by Monday it was gone, but Tuesday morning he couldn't even get out of bed to get ready and study. But he eventually did and then we went to district meeting. But you could tell he was in a lot of pain. We texted the nurse and she asked for all the symptoms and before we knew it she told us to come to Bacolod for a check up.

We made the trip and met the nurse at the bus terminal and she took us to the hospital we went in for his check up and the doctor was pretty sure that he had a appendicitis so we went to the ER and they did a bunch of tests on him and he got a ultrasound but they couldn't see his appendix because he's too fat! haha We laughed about that but of course it hurts for him to laugh. We spent one night in the hospital and the next morning the doctor came in, checked up and told him that he needed to have the surgery. So before I knew it I was alone! They drugged him up and took him away! I was able to come down and see him when the surgery was over and they showed us his appendix-he was so out of it he sad "kaonon naton" which means lets eat it! hahaha yeah for the next two days he was recovering in the hospital and I did exchanges with one of the District Leaders so that we could get everything ready for our baptism. Because even though E. Cagampang was bed ridden, President still wanted our baptism to happen. And it did! E. Cagampang came home on Friday and we had the baptism on Saturday!

The Baptism actually was one of the best ones I have ever had.Sister Mesobre was reallly excited for her baptism and her son was the one to baptize her! It was his first time baptizing someone so he actually had to do it 4 times. But it was really good and we read a letter from her son on a mission, so it was a really great service.

We haven't really been able to work this week obviously so it hurt our area but it's expected when one of us had surgery! E. Cagampang is doing good now, we are just taking it easy! We actually are going to Bacolod again today for MLC and we have to go back for his check up on Friday so it's going to be another rough week for the work.

But all in all we still are seeing a ton of miracles and the zone is still improving.

-Elder Warnick

Sister Mesobre Baptism

Elder Cagampang at Hospital for Appendix Surgery

Food - When you are in the hospital

I was hugged..

I shook hands with an Apostle of the Lord! :)

I guess I could end my email right there?

Nah I'll share a little bit. Where do I start? So Monday we were supposed to get our support. The money that we get every two weeks to use for groceries and transportation but it was late which wasn't that big of a deal except for the fact that the next day was presidents day and our cards are from America... long story short we our support was delayed 3 days and most of the missionaries in my zone weren't able to travel! They couldn't work because they had no money! But the day before we were all supposed to go to Bacolod, the money arrived! We were saved. The office told us it was a good lesson to have an emergency fund. haha thanks?

The mission conference was awesome! We went to Bacolod early in the morning to practice our seating arrangement and the picture. Pre. Barredo wanted it to be perfect, we were able to eat lunch afterwards and then the whole mission had to be back at the chapel at 12 for the real picture with Pres. Nelson. The moment he walked in was amazing! It was so quiet and you could feel the respect and of course the spirit! Elder Haynie of the 70 was with him as well. When the picture was done we were to sit down but on the way to our seats we got to shake their hands! I didn't realize how old he was! 91! But he was glowing! haha He still had a lot of life in him. The talks were great! Pres. Nelson focused on who the savior is and who we are. It was so good! Most of my take away from the conference was how much more I need to make the most of every moment here on the mission. It's extremely fast!

We had exchanges again because we are going to be having another baptism! Sister Mesobre! We actually emailed her son who is on his mission right now and we are hoping that he replies because we asked him to send us a short paragraph of what he would want to tell his mom on the day of her baptism. And we are going to read it at her baptism! :) It's going to be one of the best baptisms!
But something weird about the exchanges was that I GOT HUGGED!? It was so weird. The other elders have an investigator that is kind of enthusiastic I guess? She is really all over the place in the lessons and everytime I said something she would place her hand on my knee.. and then after the lesson we got up to leave and she said "tani makabalik ka di kon mangranan ka" which translates to "hopefully you can come back if you're rich" haha oh and she hugged me when she said that... she's like a mom! It was weird!!!

But all weird things aside, It was a good week and pretty productive. The Zone is getting better and I think it has to do a whole lo with the fact that we have been raising expectations! Everyone is great!

Valentines Package from Home

It is oil ... or is it?

Happy Lub Day

That was a fast week! Yeah V's are pronounced as B's here so go figure.

So happy valentines day I guess? They didn't really celebrate it here but I saw some people sporting pink and red. I actually forgot it was Valentines day! Oh well there's always next year! ;)

Anyway we did work this week! And we had miracles.

So we have been really focusing on two areas in our area one is called Yubo and the other is San Miguel. Yubo is the progressing area and that's where basically all of the recent converts are. But San Miguel has a lot of Part-member families so there is a ton of potential. That's where Sister Mesobre lives and we had a miracle with her this week! We weren't able to teach her, she was always busy and so we were nervous that maybe something would happen and she would lose her desire. But we were able to teach her saturday night before sunday morning and we needed to teach her about the word of wisdom so that we could find out if she had any problems with that, she was agreeing with everything we were teaching and then we decided to extend a baptismal invitation and before we even said baptism she said Huo ah! which means YES with a capital ! And her other son who lives in Bacolod is going to baptize her! BUT that's not all! Her next door neighbors are also her family and the mother has two RM sons and she came to church with Sister Mesobre and she wants to be baptized too! So I guess that's what we are going to do in this area-baptize all the parents of RMs? haha BLESSINGS!

So Nanay Loyda got baptized! And it was awesome! The whole situation could have gone either way! Because leading up to her interview she was still smoking! She had got rid of her coffee problem but she was still smoking. But the interview went great she passed everything but Elder Rivera told her if she were to stop smoking in that moment for the rest of her life she could get baptized. And that's when you could tell she really wanted to be baptized. We fasted too just to be sure! The day of her baptism was great, everyone was super happy and we totally thought that Tatay Jose was going to baptize her but he didn't bring any extra clothes and he said he didn't think he could do it because he's old so Elder Cagampang jumped into one of those baptizing suits and performed the baptism.

Everyone is getting ready for the arrival of President Nelson and we are all excited. President Barredo told all of us that we need to practice our sitting and standing? haha Yeah he wants it to be super professional. It's going to be so awesome! I saw the seating arrangement thought and my zone is in the back.. hmmmm it's okay we still get to see an apostle of the lord!

Sorry this computer shop isn't letting me send pictures.. I'll try again next week because I got some sick ones!

-Elder Warnick

Happy Chinese New Years

I don't know if today is going to get crazy or anything but it's Chinese new years! This week was good. We kind of got cut short a couple days with MLC and all but we still had an effective week.

Last Monday we went up to Bacolod and did all the normal stuff we do there. I met up with Elder Slater and we went to this Burger place called KAU-KAU which I have been searching for, for a long time because my MTC teacher told me it was awesome. I got the Broke da mouth burger.

The MLC was another good one as well. We got to watch the Missionary Broadcast and that's what they wanted our trainings to be centered on. The weirdest part of the MLC was at the end they had the testimonies of the missionaries that will be departing this week and the Sister Missionaries from my batch when we were in the MTC are now going home... They are already done!? It was so fast.. It was a reality check for sure on how fast it really is. But both me and E. Cagampang felt super inspired after the trainings so we really wanted to help our zone feel what we felt.

The Zone Training was great as well. A lot of the missionaries were participating even more than usual so we are really trying to build the trust of the zone so that it's more like a family! Because it's hard when they just don't care.

We have been doing a lot of finding because... we just really need to find people that will do something. Our other investigators love having us stop by but they don't really have a desire to do anything. But Sister Mesobre is really progressing! She went to church again and Tatay Jose's wife really wants to be baptized. We gave her a blessing to help her overcome her addictions to coffee and she hasn't been drinking since. Tatay got the priesthood on Sunday so the plan is for him to baptize her this Saturday!

We went to some sweet waterfalls this morning so that's why I am kind of late to email! But it was super fun! Our whole district went and we took a jeepney up the mountain for about half an hour and then we hiked to the waterfalls-it's always nice to have a waterproof camera! It was a lot of fun! It felt weird to walk around in regular clothes but it was one of the only times where I have done something on p-day. Usually it's just buying groceries, emailing and basketball.

So on the 18th this month President Nelson is going to be coming to our mission! I'm super pumped! I don't really know what to expect but I know it's going to be good!

I love this area. I love this zone. And of course the mission is sick!
Kaluoy sa inyo kay wala kamo di!

Thanks for the love!
-Elder Warnick

[Insert Title Here]

It was a great week!

So this week was different because everything was on me. I was leading and planning and doing everything because I was teaching E. Cagampang the area. But it was a lot of fun and we had some miracles this week!

So when I first got here nothing was really happening in the area or the zone, and I was trying to figure out how I could get things going. But this week was awesome. Because I got Elder Cagampang! It is his first time being a Zone Leader so he is super eager to work and it's kind of bumpy at first because we are basically starting over with the area but it's going to be great!

E. Cagampang is from Quezon City and he just barely hit his year mark. He plays the ukulele and he has a really nice one at the house so yes. I am playing the ukulele again! It is awesome.

So we have a 'Nanay' in our area and she has a son serving a mission all her kids are members but she isn't and the missionaries have been teaching her forever. Me and Elder Ballesteros would stop by and share scriptures verses with her but we weren't challenging her to go to church, read or pray and so when E. Cagampang got here I really wanted to teach her, like real teaching and so we did! She kind of got defensive when we taught about Christ's Church because she is Catholic but she was still really nice. We tried to go back and teach her a couple days later and she wasn't there so on the way back we actually saw her. We said hi and then she said "We will be at church, Elder" We weren't able to go back the rest of the week and we were planning on picking them up on Sunday but we didn't. I just felt like we didn't need to, and when we got to church they weren't there... So then I started feeling dumb, like we should have picked them up and guess who walked in the door right then? Nanay! and her kids! If she keeps progressing she can be baptized this February and I couldn't help but imagine how much it will mean for her son on a mission.

We also had Jose's baptism! It was perfect! We were eating lunch and got a text that they were already at the church.. 2 hours early! So we rushed over there, took some pictures and had his baptism and he had a super strong testimony! We were hoping that we would be able to get his wife and daughter baptized as well but his daughter is going back to Manila this week.. So Tatay Jose will still be able to baptize his wife! And hopefully the missionaries in Manila contact the daughter.

We had exchanges with the APs this week and I was with Elder Martinez. He was assigned in my area and it was cool for him to come back he has 2 weeks left so it puts things in perspective. He was good though, he is excited to go home but he is still working hard. That's how it should be.

So we are going back to Bacolod today for MLC again! Haha it should be fun! I need to buy some new shoes bad! one of them basically has no bottom! It just got worn through! That's what happens when you are in the mountains I guess!

Elder Warnick, Tatay Jose, and Elder Cagampang