Plug Your Nose!

Well it seems like the weeks are starting to fly by in my new area, but sadly everyday is basically the same thing..

Our investigator Teresa who we visit every day-she's the one who has been possessed since she was 14 and it randomly happens. Every time we would go to her house this week we were expecting to have to cast out the devil but she was always is fine when we teach her. She told us more about some of her experiences and she told us that the day that she left mid lesson she couldn't look at us because "grabe ang kasanag" or our light was so great. I guess we were just glowing to her! I think that's kind of cool being missionaries people can see our light!

Sadly two of our investigators drank coffee this week and they were begging for us to let them get baptized but they needed to understand that it wasn't our decision they needed to wait two weeks until they could be baptized. They were pretty sad but on Saturday when we baptized the other girl I think they realized more of the importance of baptism and that it's not just a little thing and that we need to be prepared and worthy for it!

We did exchanges again this wee and me and Elder McCleary found this sweet family next to our progressing area-they live right next to the river that we baptize people in! But I haven't got to experience that yet! Maybe this week! Because we have one scheduled for this Saturday and two for the Saturday after that!

Saturday we had our baptism and it was kind of rough.. We had to wait an hour for our candidate to get there because she lives so far away from the chapel. I think we usually baptize in the river by our area but we combined our baptism with the sisters in our ward so we did it at the chapel. I baptized both of them but I didn't know how to say "plug your nose" in Ilanggo but I thought it would be common sense to plug your nose while you're going under water... I kind of forced her hand into her face hoping she would plug her nose and then I dipped her under. She came up fine so it all worked out, but it was pretty embarrassing.

Sunday was the craziest day, we went to our area in the morning for our special sacrament. NOBODY WAS THERE. So we walked around the town, stopping by our investigators houses and inviting them to come to church. Once we had made our way around and got to church there was 20 people there. I blessed the sacrament and was a last minute speaker. Teresa (our possessed inv.) came in the middle of sacrament but she refused to take the sacrament and me and Elder Pedroso could tell that she was different. She was possessed. She was hunched over and wouldn't look up. When I got up to speak after we had confirmed Liziel I started my talk about the holy ghost and then Teresa got up and sprinted out of the meeting house! She was possessed I guess she didn't like hearing about the spirit.

Later in the day we visited the Cordero family. They were a family that went to church for the first time this sunday. They own a store and they always refused to come to church because they needed to keep it open. But I guess they hadn't sold anything all morning and then we came and invited them to come to church so they decided to give it a try because they weren't selling anything. They told us on the way to church they felt as if they were being "guided the whole way" and then while they were at church they said they felt super comfortable and calm which I was super surprised because there was a lot of distractions and children being noisy. And the best part is when they went home after church they found out they won the lottery! They took that as an immediate blessing for going to church and

I guess now they are convinced this is the true church. We are going to give them baptism dates this week!

Well alright lots of words and stories but that was my week!

Palanga Taka!
-Elder Warnick

I got three packages this week and me and McCleary made smores like every night! 

Smores - Yumm!!!!!

Do you know Robert Downey?

Well 6 months down and at first I was kind of feeling sorry for myself, I kept thinking to myself why the heck am I not fluent in this language, why can't I teach and perfectly discern needs of investigators.. but then I realized that I really have only been out for 6 months and that 6 months ago I didn't know a single word in HILIGAYNON.. haha so I actually feel pretty good about where I am and realized even if I can't speak perfectly I still can understand and get my point across.

We had the chance to meet the new mission president this week and his wife. President and Sister Ferrin, they had our zone over to the mission home and we just got to know them and introduce ourselves.

We also had exchanges a couple times and I was with Elder McCleary he has been out a month longer than me so we are both pretty new but it was super fun to work with him and we steet contacted some people and our way of approaching them was walking up to them and asking them if they knew
 "Robert Downey"haha they thought it was a real person and they were asking eachother where the "Downeys"lived haha once they said they didn't know we introduced ourselves and gave them a pamphlet.

This week was kind of crazy! I almost got to cast the devil out of some lady! She left mid lesson and we asked her daughter in law where she went and she told us she was getting possessed. Me and my comp looked at eachother and smiled and offered to help. The daughter in law said no thanks because apparently "she hurts people" when she is possessed like she gets super strength and stuff. The language is really coming and I can understand all these crazy people now! :)

Things are hard but I learn a lot when things are difficult. Only 18 months left to give it my all. It's still a lot of time and I hope I can become a better missionary!
I feel like I am leaving stuff out but that was the highlights of the week!

Love,
Elder Warnick

We crossed a river yesterday and this kid was pulling us across so that's one of the pictures. All courtesy of Elder McCleary's great photo taking skills.

Crossing River - Kid Pulling Us Across

Bring Your Own Rice

Such a long week.. I don't know what it was but it felt like 2 weeks! I guess a lot of that had to do with being in my new area and having the responsibility of being the senior companion.

Here in Silay I expected it to be a lot like my last area because they are right next to each other and it is still city! BUT what I didn't know is that I am assigned to a group way up in the Bukid (mountains) it's different than anything I have had so far on my mission and I have been taking a lot of stress from everything! You can tell from the picture below..

Also we go there everyday it's about 30 minutes away kind of makes days seem really long when you are doing the exact same thing everyday! But the area is nice. Fresh air. Cool temps. And some pretty strong Recent Converts! I have noticed that the language is a little different every where you go throughout the mission. It takes a little bit to adjust to the new area-kind of feels like starting the mission over everytime I transfer.

At church there was this guy who looked like the sandpeople from star wars! He was covered head to toe in clothes. and had a beanie and sunglasses on. He had like three backpacks and was only talking to us american missionaries! I guess he is literally crazy but comes to church every week. He had a bunch of "US NAVY" stuff that he handmade. I think he thinks he is a soldier. He kept saying stuff to me like "The righteous always protect the innocent" He had a paper that said somethime about World War 3 so I don't know what he is planning but he was one Buang gid lalaki (weird guy)

In Priesthood they were planning for some activity and something that I thought was funny was they said "make sure you bring your own rice" haha I'm pretty sure that is something you will only hear, here in the phillies.

My comp is SAGAD which means skilled! He is the "batch" behind me but filipinos are only in the mtc for 12 days so he has been on his mission since October. He is good in teaching in the language. I am always apologizing to him that I can't do more because I feel like I am always lacking it definitely feels like he is the senior comp! He told me not to worry we are both missionaries and we can do it together. I think I have the area memorized now but not all of the peoples names.

I love being in a house with 4 again! It's always fun! And we are a hosting apartment so that means that if anyone comes to Bacolod for meetings and needs a place to stay, missionaries stay at our house. Haven't experienced that yet but maybe someday!

The ward is good. I can understand everyone now besides a few words here and there. But speaking is still coming.

It rained a bunch this week too! Like poured! It was one of the only times on my whole mission that I was cold!

Besides all the stress I am still doing good. Thanks for the support.

-Elder Warnick

The pictures represent my week perfectly: the pic of me just shows how wrecked I was and the other one is one of the burning fields. So yeah take that how you want. They burn the fields before they plant again. And this week was so hard I just thought it represented it perfectly. This week was heck.

Sweet Tooth

This week was really weird, but I am pretty sure that every week here is weird. It went by fast too. 

Our mission president went home this week because he got sick so we were without a mission president and still are without a mission president! There are rumors he is coming back but from the way they made his condition sound originally I don't think he will be coming back.

It was so hot this week and I really didn't think it could get any hotter but somehow it seemed like every day was getting hotter and hotter. Luckily at the end of the week it started raining and all the temperatures cooled down! 

On saturday we were working with a ward missionary just like always and were walking through the sugarcane fields. He asked me if I had ever ate sugarcane before, I said no so of course he cut some down for me and I tried it. It was super sweet but it was like chewing on a bunch of tooth picks! I don't think I am going to be doing it again any time soon. 

We had MPT this week which is Mission President's Training but of course our mission president was not there.. So basically we received training from the APs and Zone leaders. It was actually pretty good, it was about faith and how we can accomplish so many miracles through faith. They gave us all mustard seeds like in the scripture! 

Transfers were this week and everyone was wondering what was going to happen with our mission president being gone and even one of our APs is going home this week so President would be calling a new one. I think for the most part president had this transfer worked out already so he knew what he wanted to do because today there were so many transfers and everything got switched up. 

I replaced an elder in my district who is going home so now I am in the town over and am the senior companion... I am feeling super humbled by this responsibility but I am still excited to see what happens! Also most of the elders from my district in the MTC got transferred too so I saw them this morning which is always super fun! 

My new area is called SILAY. My new companion is Elder Pedroso from Baguio which is the coldest place in the Philippines. He is way chill and I think we will be a good team! I have already worked in this area on exchanges. It is like half city half bukid (mountain) I am excited to learn  and grow here!

Thanks again for the prayers and support! 

Love,

-Elder Warnick

We also made District t-shirts this week! Somehow my hair turned out red though! haha

The pictures are of me eating sugarcane, my house (the rainbow house) in Talisay, and Elder Rakuro he is leaving this week but is one of my favorite missionaries.

A night in the hospital

So this week I stayed overnight in the hospital! 

We started out this week with exchanges! Because I am companions with the District Leader, the Zone Leaders do exchanges with us at least once a transfer. I worked in Bacolod 5th ward which is basically the heart of the city. I was with Elder Busselberg from Spanish Fork! We met at the bus terminal Tuesday night and switched companions, I spent the night in their house and in the morning we worked in their area we had 11 lessons and our last one was with a Pastor from Chicago! I was really nervous because I was expecting him to try and bible bash with us the whole time but he was way open to all the doctrine and actually agreed with it! The only hard part was teaching in ENGLISH! :)

I felt so worn out from the exchanges because my ZL really worked me hard and I learned so much! But once we met up our companions and ended the exchange I had the chance to shower and shave but then Elder Alfeche told me that we needed to go to the hospital because an Elder in our district was there. I stayed the night with him so that my comp and his comp could work in their area, they hadn't worked there for 5 days! I guess he got two parasites! And he goes home this transfer, so we are glad that he didn't get early released! I slept on this small metal bench that was like five and a half feet long so I was hanging off of it! It was the "Best Hospital" in Bacolod but it was super sketchy! So yeah I stayed a night in the hospital but I wasn't the one who was sick! haha Sorry if I worried anyone! :)

We had a "One Day Mission" this Saturday in our ward, they give everyone a chance to go and visit less actives and members. It was way nice to have all the help! It was basically a day where everyone goes and does their home teaching and visiting teaching-because that isn't really a big thing here.

It feels like a really weird week and I think that is because I only worked in my area for 4 of the days.. and now it is P-day again! It all goes by so fast! 

I have been reading JESUS THE CHRIST lately and just have been developing more and more of a love for our savior! It goes into so much detail of our selfless and loving he was and is!

*3 Nephi 5:13

"Papa Santa" (The Pope) made it to the phillies this week...

 This is the time where all the catholics come out from under their rocks and bamboo huts to proclaim to the world that they are catholic! It's kind of frustrating that even if they have no religion they claim to be catholic... When I was with Elder Busselberg we were about to start teaching a investigator and he was talking about the pope and Elder B was just like "That's good that's good, you know that's a false prophet though right? Alright lets start" it was so funny because it was so bold.

I think that is all I got from this super weird crazy week! 

Everything is getting better though, everyday is a little easier and the language as well! Thank you for your prayers and support!

-Elder Warnick

I can't imagine my life without rice

Such a fast week this past week and it seems like things here are finally getting into a rhythm which means something crazy or weird is going to happen! 

This week started off by me going over to Silay our neighboring city. There are 4 elders who live and work there and they are part of our district so we did exchanges. I worked with Elder Reyes and we both got here at the same time! He was speaking Tagalog to them which you could tell they didn't understand too much. It was cool to work in another area, I have always liked doing exchanges. We even got to cross a river on a little bamboo boat. It was pretty legit.

We also ate at a place called Manginasal and it's unlimited rice which is like the equivalent of unlimited steak fries at Red Robbin. So yeah it is a big deal. You also eat with your hands there. I guess there is a technique to it! Seemed easy enough to me!

Zone training was this week and I was stressing big time because our Sister Training Leaders had asked me and Alfeche to demonstrate how to teach the importance of the Sabbath Day with relation to faith. It was supposed to be 15 minutes and 100% Ilonggo. Somehow we got through it and afterwards some Elders and Sisters were telling me that my Ilonggo was good and that I was going to be Zone Leader right away! I just laughed and was happy that the role play went so well.

We still were getting rejected this week because a lot of people weren't home and our next baptism candidate who is so strong and so ready to be baptized is starting to slip away because her mom doesn't want her to be baptized and she is 17 so there isn't really anything we can do about it.

We worked with members this week and after a long day of work Elder Alfeche wanted to take the four of us to a restaurant called "Ceeby's" we ate pork sisig which I learned after the fact is the face and ears of a pig! :) #sicknasty The funniest part was what came after we were done eating! I was talking to one of the members and she was asking me if we eat rice back home. I told her sometimes but definitely not as much as they eat here, and then she said the funniest thing and it sitll makes me laugh "Are you serious? I can't imagine my life without rice" I started busting up. It has become kind of an inside joke between me and my companion! 

We had an area broadcast yesterday and it was the area presidency talking to the Philippines about the area goals and missioinary work! 

That seems to be everything from this week!

SHOUT OUT TO MY GRANDMA NICOL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

-Elder Warnick

Happy New Year

5 month mark and a new year to start fresh! Crazy how fast time flys by and to think that this time last year I was getting my papers ready to go on this mission! Not knowing where I was going to go but just excited and a little nervous to serve The Lord.

So this week was a really slow and painful week. Okay not actually painful besides the heat and rain but because of new years everyone was gone and our appointments dropped. Also my comp got sick which resulted in a whole day of STUDYING but not working.. 

We still had a BAPTISM this week and I am pretty sure that this baptism has been my favorite so far! The brother that we baptized name is super long haha like 6 names? That is a thing here they have their first name, their middle name and their last name plus either a first or middle name from both of their parents! So we just call him Brother Bong. I am not sure why but it is his nickname and it is a lot easier than his full name! He was a referral from the Buslay family because he is their Uncle. Sister Buslay's brother from Manila came all the way here to Bacolod to baptize him. It was a really cool moment to see him get baptized and bare his testimony and he has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. I had the opportunity to confirm him yesterday at church and it was my first time ever doing that. Haha once again his name was super hard to pronounce and I was shaking so badly because it was my first confirmation! But he later told me how grateful he was for us and that I confirmed him a member of the church!

New years eve and day we had to be back in our apartment by 6:00pm because there is so many people partying and drinking and such. But we ordered Pizza hut so it was all good! 

The day that my comp was sick and I had so much time to study I studied the talk by President Eyring "Continuing Revelation" It was from this past October's General Conference so I just wanted to share my favorite parts:

Nephi was blessed with confirming revelation that his father's dream was a true communication with God. 

The Revelation of a parent has it's lasting effect in the person revelation that continues in a child.
We all know that human judgement and logical thinking will not be enough to get answers to questions that matter most in life. We need revelation from God. And we will need not just one revelation  in a time of stress, but we need a constantly renewed stream. We need not just one flash of light and comfort, but we need the continuing blessing of communication with God.

It is a really powerful talk and I suggest listening to it in President Eyring's voice because he has so much power and emotion!

I think that is it for this week! 

-Elder Warnick