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LAST E-MAIL!

Well........Its hard to describe what I am feeling right now.  But i will start with this week.

This week was a great week! As i said we were able to have 7 investigtors at church! (The pan fam, richie, and the fransisco family) it was so awesome! Richie is so cool he is 18 and is so quick to get the lessons. This week we had such a great lesson with him, he said he felt that what he read in 2ne 31 was true and he accpeted a date for aug 17!! Im so happy for him, too bad i will miss his baptism! He lives in bongbongan where we cross the river. The pan fam is still doing really well,we have a date for them in august. And the fransisco family came to church for the first time in a long time!! Our area is doing soo good, its going to be sad to leave!!!

2 years ago i couldn't have imagined all the things i would have experienced on a mission. I am so grateful i had this opportunity to serve the wonderful people of the philippines! This has been the best experience..more than i could have ever hoped for. Its going to be soo hard to leave, like leaving home all over again, but of course i know i need to go home?  I can't wait to come home and explain in even more detail everything about my mission! 

I love you guys so much! See you guys in a few days!!!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 7/16/19

Kamusta Kamo??!!

Well first off, sorry I was not able to call you guys, we went on an awesome hike for a district activity today. It was so cool, i will send pictures later. But wow this week has been such a good one!! it has been a lot of fun!

So on wednesday of this week we had a service project at the pan family, we replaced one of their wood walls with a cinderblock wall and it took forever, but our service was much appreciated and it was kinda fun, but mostly tiring. We taught the pan family multiple times this week and they are doing good! We also were able to have so other great lessons this week! One of them with this 18 year old kid named richie who we have been teaching for a couple of weeks. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized and he accepted. He is such a cool kid. He is not like most of the teenagers or college kids here, he is so humble and will for sure be baptized...im so sad im going to miss it though. I love Sibalom I wish i could have more time here though...i really like it here. This week we were able to have 8 people we are teaching come to church!!! Including the pan fam and richie, and the aldemita (part member) family!!! It was a great week! And richie and the aldemita family are both from bongbongan which you have to cross a river to get to and the were still early to church...so cool!!!

Well honestly just barely started hitting me that my mission is almost over.....and I am so unsure how to feel! Don't get me wrong I am so excited to see you all....but i don't know if i am ready to leave all of this...its like who i am....I don't know I guess everything is coming full circle now because this is almost exactly how i felt as my date to enter the mtc was approaching...haha weird how that works...I just love my mission and the Philippines soo much. The best decision I have ever made was to serve a mission and stick with it until the end...couldn't have done anything better for the past 2 years! I still got about 2 weeks left so i am just going to make the most of it!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 7/8/19

Kamusta kamo??!

Well this has been a good week! We were able to find some new investigators and have been having some good lessons! We were blessed a lot this week with just the little things(free rides,new investigators) it has been a fun week!

The pan family is still going good, they kinda sorta came to church again this week...they were like over an hour late, but hey its the effort and thought that counts. We plan on giving them a baptismal date this week and with the dad come back it should help even more. We are excited! Even though i probably won't witness their baptism i am just happy that they will eventually be baptized. 

On sunday we had ton of members work with us and we had some great lessons waayy out in this far part of an area like in a mountain! it was fun tho.. i will send pics!

It is soo weird as the weeks keep getting smaller....i don't know how to feel, but i am just going to enjoy the last 3 weeks that i have left and work hard! But of course i am beyond excited to see you all in 3 weeks! Love you guys!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 7/1/19

Kamusta Kamo??!

July...wow its july...I am not really sure how I feel that this is the start of the last month of my mission...its crazy to think about...so i just try not to think about it too much! But anyways this has been a great week, it really has! A lot of miracles happened and this area is so cool! It is just full of mountains and rivers and rice fields! 

I feel pretty familiar with the area now and it is going great! We are teaching this one family, the Pan family! They live pretty far away from the church, but they are awesome! Everytime we go there, a ton of people listen to us and this sunday 3 of them came to church! Sis beth, fev, and fevs friend! It was such a cool blessing! They really enjoyed church and know and made some friends. Everytime we teach them they take notes as we teach, they are super interested and we hope to give them a baptismal date this week!

We were also able to contact a lot of former investigators in this awesome part of our area which we have to cross a river to get to! It was soo cool, i will send pictures! 

Overally a really good week! This area is really fun, its too bad i only get one transfer here, but at least i was able to be assigned here. I remember when i left buenavista i wasn't too excited about just going somewhere for just a transfer, but i remember a member telling me that there was a purpose for me being transfered here for my last 6 weeks, and i think they were very right. Heavenly Father definitely had a good purpose for me coming here! 

Well talk to you guys next week! 

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 6/24/19

Kamusta Kamo??!

Well I have arrived in my new and last area! Sibalom, Antique! It is soo cool here, it is beautiful it is basically just rice fields and mountains but it is chill. Riding here is horrible, a 3 hour bus ride through the twists and turns of the mountain, its crazy. First time I have thrown up in soo long because of that stupid bus!! 

But my first week in my new area has been a good one! We have been working with a lot of members and the members are so nice and fun. We were also able to get 6 new investigators yesterday so that was great! Its weird that i will only be here for one transfer, but i just want to do all i can in the time that i have left!

Thats cool that mike conley is coming to the jazz, I like and even better that i get to watch it! Sounds like it will be a good season!

Well that should probably do it for the week! I love you guys! Talk to you next week!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 6/17/19

Hey Everyone!

Kamusta kamo??

Just thought I would send off a quick one for the last time here in Buenavista, Guimaras! So tomorrow I will be transfering to sibalom antique. Its on the west part of panay island, a place I have never been before so it should be fun! There language is a little different so I guess we will just see how that goes. I am excited though. It will be hard to leave Buenavista, this has  been my longest area, I have been here for 7 months, so I am really close with a lot of people. It will be hard to say goodbye. I love the people so much.  This area will always be so memorable, from opening it up again and training twice, it has been challenging, but fun! 

Elder Degen