Once again it has been so fantastic to hear from all of you!! I really do love hearing from you, no matter how short or long it is! Thank you all for the Birthday wishes!! It is so weird that I turn 19 tomorrow! I don't feel like I'm 19 at all, its weird, I'm old!
It has again been a very busy, but good week!! And it sounds like it has been a great week for everyone back home, especially Gavin (wink wink)! I loved the pictures that you sent, Ethan and Sophie are such cute little kids! And Kalli starting high school?!!! What?! Isn't she like 12? Haha also kidding ( or in hiligaynon/ ilonggo they say joke lang, which means just joking, its funny, i use it a lot).
The language is coming along pretty good I guess. Its hard not to get frustrated sometimes because I can't always express what I want to say, but then I look back and realize how much I have learned it just 2 weeks, and I realize how blessed I have been. My Heavenly Father has blessed me so much and answered so many of my prayers to help me. Our Heavenly Father always answers our prayers, I know that for sure. NO way I could do this without the help of my Heavenly Father, and I know that through him I can do this. (Philipians 4:13) I had an awesome experience this week, we all got a new "investigator"(its really just one of our teachers Bro. Mariano) to start teaching and I was really nervous to start teaching him because we started learning grammar and it is very difficult to formulate sentences off the top of my head. So before the lesson me and Elder Moore said a prayer, as we always do, but this one felt different as soon as I finished saying it, I didn't feel nervous. The lesson was the best lesson that we had taught up to that point. I'm sure that I said almost everything gramatically incorrect, but I testified the best that I could and I felt the spirit during the lesson. It was an awesome experience and I am so grateful for prayer!! Another awesome experience that I had was a couple of days ago, was we were having a class and Bro Adamson (one of our teachers and also our first investigator) wrote many scriptures on the board and most of them referenced "the isles of the sea" or "the islands of the sea" . Our teacher related that to us serving our mission in the Philippines and how those people need to hear our message of happiness! It was an amazing experience!! I suggest everyone look up 2 Nephi 29:7 it is amazing and it gets me so excited to go serve those people. Oh and just so you know, our exact departure date from the Provo MTC is Sept. 20th, then we spend a week in the Manila MTC and then leave there on the 27th. I am so excited! Our teachers have been showing us pictures and I can't wait to send you guys pictures!!
So almost everybody who emailed me made a reference to Taco Bell, haha. Yes, they served it to everyone, and yes I had 2 burritos and 3 Tacos, it was awesome. So about our district, me, Elder Moore, and Elder Wallace are serving in Iloilo and Elder Stohl, Elder Stanger, and Elder Wasden are serving in Bacolod ( which is kind of unfortunate because I have grown super close to those 3) We all have the same gym time and have had a blast playing 4 square!! Oh and after 9pm we have an hour and a half to do what we want and wow have we made the most of that. We have made up so many games and we have a blast playing them. One game is called G ball, which is volleyball, but we are not allowed to use our hands, it so fun. Another game is called jam ball, which is 2 on 2 basketball, but you are only allowed to score if you alley oop it or dunk it. We use this hole between the 2 closets as the baskets and a tennis ball as the ball. I love our district!! There is one other district that is learning ilonggo, so about a total of like 14 people are learning ilonggo in the entire MTC. Thats crazy!!
OH for everyone's reference my unit number is 17 for the dear elder thing, so don't hesitate to use it. If there is any breaking news like the kyrie Irving trade you could use the dear elder to get that news to me. Also through dear elder you can send krispy kreme donuts, just in case you were wondering. ( yes i was dropping a hint, a big hint)
It is so great this last saturday, we all got to help with the tours. It was so nice to be able to talk to people other than missionaries or teachers. Its crazy how we can be in the middle of Utah, but have absolutely no idea whats going on outside of the MTC. That's why I am so happy to hear from you all!!
Well it was so great to hear from all of you!! I love you all so much!! I am so blessed to be able to be here and be able to serve a mission. I hope to continue hearing from all of You!
Halong
Love Elder Degen
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| All the missionaries at the MTC learning Ilongo |
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