E-mail dated 12/25/17

Maayong Pasko! Merry Christmas!!!

As hard as it is to be far away from you guys, I know that I am being watched over everyday! I have seen the Gospel, specifically the Book of Mormon and The Plan of Salvation literally change peoples lives. And seeing that change and their incredible joy makes everything worth it! The reason that the Plan of Salvation is possible is because thousands of years ago in A manger, Christ was born. He is the reason we can return to our Heavenly Fathers presence, he is thereason we celebrate CHristmas!

I love you all and hope you had a great Christmas!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 12/17/17

Kamusta Kamo!!?? Reeelaaaxxx everyone I am doing great! 

I was surprised when I opened my email and had a lot of emails regarding this storm. I can assure you that everything is just fine. It sounds like you guys are worried, don't be. So I have probably heard more about this storm from you guys than I have from people here. We got a call on saturday from our zone leaders that there is going to be a storm, and that is about all the news we got. And now it is monday and still no storm, or at least not yet. So sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have any crazy stories about a storm. Thank you all for your concern and prayers, hopefully everything will stay calm over the next few days. 

I am glad that you are all enjoying the Christmas season and you all are probably at the annual Smith family nativity party right now! Christmas is such an amazing time of year, there truly is a different feeling, the Spirit of Christ(mas). It is great to hear from all of you and all the little activities you are doing to celebrate Christmas. This Christmas season has been for sure the most unique of all the Christmas' I have experienced. No snow, just hot and rainy, no usual christmas traditions, it has just been unique. But the feeling, the TRUE meaning of Christmas is still the same and I feel and know that now more than ever before. This week as we have taught so many lessons about Light the World and about the meaning and reason why we celebrate Christmas, it caused me to reflect. I thought about my past Christmases and usual it was about gifts, but then I realized an ipod i recieved one Christmas is now somehwere in Africa (thanks Gavin) and the clothes I got for Christmas in past years probably don't use or don't fit anymore. But, there is one gift, the very first gift of Christmas, that is an eternal gift, the gift of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. John 3:16 - God so loved the world and so loved every single person, that he gave his only begotten son. And that is why we celebrate Christmas and that is why it is such a special time of year. 

So this week had many lessons about Christmas and a lot of Christmas events. We had our branch Christmas party on Saturday and it was so awesome, so many people came, members, investigators, less actives, it was awesome. But, the highlight of my week was yesterday. After church us and a lot of members from the branch went to a barangay called Lacktawan to the beach for the Baptism of our awesome investigators Nigielle and Nicole Segovia. I had the opportunity to baptize them. It was really windy so the waves were kind of big, but that just made it easier to baptize, I barely had to move them haha. The Baptism was so amazing. I felt such joy seeing them smile after they were baptized. I  really can't put into words the feeling, but wow what a great opportunity it is to be a part of this work. 

Well that is all I have! 

Palangga Ko Kamo! 

Maayong Pasko

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 12/11/17

Kamusta Kamo??!

Malapit na ang pasko! (Christmas is close) 

It has been another great week. This week was very unique, a lot of travel, but a lot of fun!! You all sound so great and I love hearing about your week and all the experiences. You all always strengthen me and I hope that I do the same for you when I email. That 20 degree weather sounds so great right now. Mainit gid diri (Its very hot here) Hopefully you can get some snow for Christmas, nothing like a good white Christmas. Speaking of a white Christmas, the baptism of 2 of our awesome investigators is less then one week away. They are awesome. One of them, Nicole (11) made her wish for Christmas in primary and she wished for scriptures, haha how cool! We are working on getting her a quad for Christmas! 

This week we did a lot of service for members and investigators as a part of light the world! And once again I was reminded how much happier I am when I don't think about myself and I just think about and serve others. This week I felt this overwhelming joy come over me while I was just doing a simple service of cleaning someones yard. She really appreciated it. So even small things can make a big difference, always remember that!

Now for the Christmas conference update. So thursday afternoon we headed to Arevalo, Iloilo (the mission home) for our conference. Thursday night we had a nice devotional, we watched Mr krugers Christmas, which was really cool, that is a good show, you guys should watch it. We also did a little thing for light the world, we all took a little light the world card, wrote a note on it, tied it to a balloon, then all let them go. A little cheesy I know, but it looked pretty cool. Then we slept at some city elders apartment, 11 elders (our whole zone)  in one tiny apartment, it was crowded, but it was a good time. Then on friday, all the Zones got to do a performance. Our Zone did a funny skit and haka dance, we should have won, but we got 2nd. It was awesome to catch up with all of my friends from the mtc. They are all doing great. Also at the end of the conference all missionaries received a stocking with a white shirt, some candy, and some missionary teaching aids. It was great, all the things were donated by Moms and others in the US, so thank you america!!  

1. Someone asked me today at Church if you eat a lot of fresh fish.  I assume you do because you are right on the coast but wasn’t sure. Yes, a lot of very fresh fish and all types of seafood. I have fish quite often and I have had fresh crab, shrimp, and other seafood that I don't even know what it is called.
2. Are there a lot of Christmas decorations around the city?  Any idea of any traditions? There are some. A lot of people have christmas trees and some even have lights. Christmas is a big deal here, people have had their decorations up since September. 

Well thanks again for all the love and support. I am so blessed! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Talk to you in 2 weeks!!! Wahoo! 

Elder Degen 

E-mail dated 12/4/17

Kamusta kamo!!?? 

December. Grabe kadasig ang tion! (Basically translates to time flies) 

Well it has been a good and somewhat challenging week. 

It was once again great to hear from all of you! It sounds like you are all doing good and it also sounds like it was a good week for sports, Go utes, go jazz!! 

So this week has been great, but had its challenges as well. So this week we have started our light the world campaign, I know there is a calendar for what service you can do each day, but we are doing it a little different. We are going to all the members houses and serving them in any way they need, gaining their trust, and asking for referrals. This has been a very effective method so far, we got some new investigators this past week, which is so awesome. The members of our branch are so awesome, they are always willing to help us and more importantly feed us. I would like to encourage you all to continue watching the videos and just light the world. Even if it is small, it doesn't matter, just make somebody else's day! 

Also this week a challenge was that our investigators and even our members church attendance is very inconsistent, one week we have close to 100 at church and the next like 50, but we are working hard to help in any way we can. So because of this we had to move some baptismal dates around and we will have 2 baptisms on dec 17. Which is great. I am trusting in the Lord's timing and I know that they will be able to be baptized later on. I am so grateful for the 2 that we will baptize on dec 17, the Segovia sisters, Nigelle (9) Nicole(11). They are from a part member family. They are so awesome, even if they are just kids, they read the Book of Mormon and always come to chruch. 

On Sunday it was fast and testimony meeting and one of our recent converts that we baptized in October, Sister Jeny Toledo got up and bore such a powerful testimony and it brought me so much joy to see how happy she is because she is a member of this chruch. Even though she does not have a lot, she is happy because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ako man, I am happy despite the challenges and the trials, I am grateful to be a part of this great work. 

1. I know you get a certain amount of money to live on each month.  Does it seem to be enough? Yes, 8000 pesos is plenty. 
2. Do you have electricity all the time or is it sporadic? We have electricity almost always, there is the occasional brown out (power outage), but usually its all good.
3.   What is the biggest challenge some of your investigators face? Well it is obviously different for every person, but the biggest is cohabitation before marriage, we have a lot of those situations right now, but we know that if they have a true desire and faith, it can be worked out for them to be baptized. 
4. What has the weather been like lately?  Is it still raining a lot? It has actually not rained in a while. It has been "nice" weather for a couple weeks now. And by nice weather I mean hot and humid, but thats better than being soaking wet, oh wait either way I am soaking wet, haha just kidding, its not that bad.
5. How is the language?  Getting any easier? So without me even realizing it, I can understand a lot more than i could before, I am close to understanding most of what people say. But as far as speaking and responding, I am trying my best, its still hard, but I realized that, lessons that go the best are the ones when I am not worried about my language being perfect and I just try my best and speak. 
6. What event(s) strengthened your testimony last week. Well there was a lot, but I just pick one. So last week I talked about an investigator who was struggling with the word of wisdom and this week we taught her again, and she hasn't drank coffee since our lesson. wow. The power of prayer is so real. 

That should do it for this week! I hope that you all have a great week! Thanks for the prayers. I am praying for you all as well! 

Palangga ko kamo! 

Elder Degen