E-mail dated 1/29/18

Kamusta Kamo Liwat??!

Tani tanan maayo lang sa inyo! (Hopefully everything is good with all of you) 

Well this week was very busy, eventful, and full of surprises! I bet some of you stop reading my emails at this point, but after that intro I bet you all want to read. 

Well I will start by saying we had a great week and to start the week we had a great Zone conference on Wednesday. We received some great council and training from our Zone Leaders and from Pres. and Sis. Cruz. And then the moment you have all been waiting for..............(for suspense).................... I GOT MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE. And thank you all soooo much, I can tell that a lot of thought and effort went into it, it meant a lot to me. You guys are the best! Thanks so much again! Although the package looked like it had been to war and back, everything inside was completely fine! I loved everything that was inside.   

This week was pretty typical week, just working and serving others. It was pretty normal week, until on saturday when we were working we got a call that Elder Salamatin was transferring and becoming a zone leader. That really surprised him, but he is excited and I am excited for him. At the time I figured that was all the transfer news, so we continued to work. That night we had an awesome event. We showed Meet the Mormons in a plaza and invited everyone and anyone to come and watch. We then gave away a whole box (32) copies of the Book of Mormon, it was an awesome experience to show that, to show that we are just normal people and how the gospel can bless their lives. So many people came to watch over 100, it was so cool. 

And then later on at night came the surprise...All 4 of the Nueva Valencia Elders, including me, are transferring tomorrow. I was shocked at that news, I thought I was staying in Nueva Valencia. All of us were a little surprised and kind of sad. These past 4 months here in Nueva Valencia have been some of the greatest and hardest times of my life. I have loved everyday I was able to serve here in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras. I love all the members and investigators in this area and that is why I am kind of sad and it is going to make it very hard to say goodbye later on tonight at an FHE. When you spend everyday for 4 months serving these people, it is impossible not to develop a love for them. I am praying so hard that the next Elders will take care of our area, these people here deserve the best. It is kind of hard to describe what I am feeling right now, this being my first area, I will always remember the times I have had here, Nueva Valencia and all the people here will always have a special place in my heart. So my new area is in Iloilo city, in the city B area. That is going to be quite the change from here in the Bukid to going to a very busy city, but as hard as it will be to leave this area, I am excited for what this next part of my mission has in store. 

Sorry to kind of ramble, but, our investigators here are so awesome, especially nanay Nita and her Grandchildren. They have came to church every sunday since our first lesson, even if they leave very far away. They are a prepared people, and even if I won't be there to see it, I will be so happy for them when they are baptized. 

Sorry to ramble lets answer the questions:

1.      How are your investigators progressing?  We have had the amazing opportunity to teach so many amazing people, we have a lot with a baptismal date, and 5 for sure for Feb. 18. The next missionaries will be blessed for our efforts. 

3.    What was your sweetest success this week?  The sweetest success was teaching Nanay Nita about the Plan of Salvation and about temples. Her husband died some years ago and she was so comforted and happy to know that she can see him again and be with him forever. Wow this gospel is amazing.

Well its been a pretty interesting week. Next week will probably be even more interesting with all these changes, new companion, new area. But, I know that most importantly the work is the same and that is why I am here. 

Thanks again for the package, emails and Love! You guys are the best! 

For one last time Halong from nueva valencia

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 1/22/18

Kamusta Kamo??! 

This week just absolutely flew by and it was full of hard work and some miracles! It sounds like you all had a very eventful week with the huge snow storm, thanks for all of the pictures. All the filipinos have never seen snow and some of the members are always asking me what it is like haha. So maybe I will print these pictures and show them. 

So last week I talked about how some of our investigators, Recent Converts and members are going through some trials in their lives and this week I prayerfully studied very hard. One thing that really stood out to me was a talk from this last general conference entitled Have Miracles Ceased. This talk had such a huge impact and I know that the spirit guided me to read it at this specific time. The biggest take away that I got was that our Faith should be In Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and their perfect plan for all of us. Because sometimes when we pray (me included) I pray that Heavenly Father will help them with their trials or that someone will be healed, but one thing mentioned in the talk was do we have sufficient faith to NOT be healed or our trials taken away. That really stood out to me and brought peace to my soul. I have seen it countless times on my mission that Heavenly Father's plan is so perfect. So even when things are hard or we might not understand why something is happening we can still find peace and comfort by trusting in Heavenly Father's perfect plan. I testify that miracles have not ceased and that Heavenly Father's plan is so  perfect. 

One miracle that happened this week was one of our investigators who is not yet married and we have been teaching for about a month and a half, filed her papers and now is getting married at the end of the month so she can be baptized. Wow. I have seen the gospel change her life. The first time we taught her (her name is Cristie) she was so shy and kind of sad, but now she has this incredible light about her, she has found hope and peace in this gospel. 

So we were unable to have our scheduled baptism this last week, but that is okay it was necessary to move the date and we now have 10 investigators with a baptismal date of Feb. 17, which is amazing. Our investigators are so amazing and the inspire me to be better. 

1.    What will you be doing at your Zone Conference on the 24^th? So a zone conference is basically just training from our zone leaders and president Cruz. It sounds boring, but it is nice to shake things up and see other Elders from different areas. 

2.    Do you anticipate that you will be transferred her in a week or so when transfers come around again?  I know you probably don’t know anything yet, but what is your gut feeling?  What about your companion?  How long has he been serving in Nueva Valencia? I don't know of course, but my feeling is and I hope that I will be staying here. My companion has been here for 7 months now and we have been together for 3 transfers so its almost certain that one of us is transferring and there is a high chance that it is him, but you never know. 

3.    What was the best thing you got to eat this week? Oh today, our first counselor of our branch (bro Rhen poll) took us to this amazing resort for lunch and it was the coolest place, the view was amazing and so was the food. (i will send pictures)

4.    Do the kids over there have a traditional school schedule like we do here?  Do most graduate from high school? The school schedule here is all wacked up, one day the have school the next day they don't. I don't know how they keep track of it all. But as far as I know they graduate in the spring. And as far as I know most of them do graduate. 

Another great week here in the Philippines, I am blessed to be here. A mission is hard work, but it is worth it. I love you guys a lot and I am so grateful for your prayers and constant support. I pray for you guys as well. Have a great week. Enjoy the snow, its still hot here...incase you were wondering. 

Dios mangin sa inyo hasta sa makakita anay liwat (God be with you until we meet again)

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 1/15/18

Kamusta Kamo?! 

I am glad to here from all of you this week! It sounds like it was a good week back home. It was good to hear about how everyone's week went. 

Wow another week has just flown by, I can't believe I have already been on my mission for now over 5 months, time flies! This week has been full of hard work and some challenges, but there were so many blessings this week! There are always blessing even amid trials and hard times, I know that for sure. Always focus on the blessings and we will all be so much happier! Right now we have a lot of investigators and recent converts going through some very hard trials in their lives and it is hard to see them go through these things and I wish that I could just take away their trials, but I can't. We are doing what ever we can to help them. As hard as some things are in our lives, I know that things happen for a reason and sometimes we may not know why certain things happen, but Heavenly Father does. I have studied and prayed so hard this week about how we can help them. I studied a lot about humility and Heavenly Fathers gives us trials and weaknesses so we can overcome them and be made strong through him. (Ether 12:27) I don't know a lot so I just have to trust in Heavenly Father that he will help them, I know he will. 

One of our investigators who is having some trials in her life is Lola (Grandma) Nita. But, despite her trials she believes that Heavenly Father can help her. Her faith is so strong, She is so awesome. She reminds me of Gram, she has such a sweet heart and is so excited everytime we come over. This past week we taught her about how Jesus Christ is our perfect example and we invited her to be baptized. She said that she has been going to many different churches all of her life and none of them felt right, the spirit was so strong and she accepted a baptismal date. I am so happy for her and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father leads us to prepared people. 

Questions:

1.   How was your trip to the mission home this past week? It was great. We got up early in the morning then traveled to Arevalo, Iloilo for our zone interviews. We first were all together as a zone, then we were interviewed as companionships. Most of our interview as a zone was about how we are getting fewer missionaries and there is a possibility that some areas in Guimaras might be closed, but I am not worried Nueva Valencia is progressing and it won't be closed. Our companion interviews were good as well, a lot of encouragement and some new ideas about how to work more effectively. 

2.   It was so exciting to hear how many investigators you had at Church this past week.  Did you have as many today (or I guess your yesterday)? We didn't have quite as many, but we still had a good amount and the most progressing ones came, so that is good! 

3.    Is there something you studied this week that impressed you that you would like to share with us? . I mentioned this earlier that I studied a lot about Humility and it made a big difference. As I have been here on my mission I have had to learn to be soo Humble that is probably one reason I was sent here to learn this language to become Humble. Humility isn't weakness, it is a sign of spiritual strength and I know that it honestly would be impossible to be a missionary here without the help of my Heavenly Father every day. I know I am nothing more than just an instrument in the Lord's hands.

This coming week we have a baptism for one of our awesome investigators, Jinelle Toledo. I was able to baptize his mom and his siblings in october and I am so happy that he is going to follow their example. He is so awesome, he always comes to church. This last week he was in a motorcycle accident on saturday, but still came to chrurch on sunday. 

Thank you all so much for your constant prayers, encouragement and support, it really means a lot. I hope you all have a great week! 

Palangga ko kamo

Halong

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 1/8/18

Maayong bag-o nga tuig! Happy new year! 2018 (wait it was 2018 last week when i emailed)

Well kamusta kamo?

I hope you all had a great week and I loved getting emails from you! I am glad you all had a happy new year.

So this week was full of hard work and we were blessed with success. But of course there are always challenges as well, but I will focus on the good because we were so blessed this week. This past weeks I have made a lot of goals for this coming year and so has our mission. One goal of our mission is to have a weekly baptism or 4 baptisms per month per companionship. This goal has come by revelation by our mission president and the area presidency. They have said that there are prepared people, we just have to find them. I am excited because I truly believe that this is possible and we are working hard to achieve it. As of right now it looks like we will have 1 baptism in january but February is looking very bright. It is an exciting time. 

So the reason we were so blessed this week, we worked hard all week and on sunday we had the highest church attendance we have ever had, it was so awesome. We had people sitting outside of our little meeting house, it was literally overflowing. We had 9 investigators at church and I am so thankfully that Heavenly Father blessed us for our hard work. 

Questions:

·   Are you still teaching the Grandma you mentioned in last week’s e-mail? Yes. We are only able to teach her once a week because her house is far away and expensive to travel to, But we teach her and her grandchildren everry wed. And the great blessing was that she and her grandchildren came to church this week, even if their house is very far away.  She really opened up to us in the last lesson and she has some incredibly hard trials in her life right now, but she sincerely believes that this gospel can help her. I am excited every wed. to teach her.  

·   Any district, zone or mission activities coming up?  Isn’t it about time you go the main island? We have the interview on the 11th and zone conference on the 24th

I was informed during the week of the passing of our prophet Thomas s Monson, I was sadden to hear that, He was such an amazing man that gave almost his entire life in the service of the Lord. I am trying to be even a little like him right now and give all I have to service of Heavenly Father's children.    Well Have another great week! Love you all!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 1/1/18

kamusta kamo?

Happy new year to all of you!! Its crazy to think 2017 is over. I am excited for 2018. 

I will start out by saying that it was so great to skype you guys last week. You all sound great and it was the highlight of my Christmas! I felt so much joy as i talked to you guys and now I am ready to share that joy with others and before you know it, it will be mothers day. It was great to hear that all the christmas traditions are still the same, it was very different for me, being the first christmas away from home, but it was great and I feel that this is where I am suppose to be. 

This weeks has been a little crazy so I will just tell you the best thing that happened to me. This week we recieved a referral and it turned out to be a great new investigator. She is a super nice grandma that has 3 of her grandchildern living with her. We taught her only one time this week, but wow the spirit was so strong and she has a lot of potential. During the lesson wejust got to know her so we could better teach her. She opened up to us and said that she is catholic, but she said that it doesn't feel like it helps her, she is still searching for the truth. We testified that this gospel can be a huge help in her life and we gave her a book of mormon. The spirit was so strong and some tears were shed, I can't wait to teach her again. This is a great work and I am blessed to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

1. Did you do anything to celebrate the new year?  Do people stay up until Midnight and bang pots and pans out on their front steps like we do hear?  for our new years eve pres cruz said we had to be in our apartment by 5pm for our safety. so we relaxed at the apartment and luckily our branch president delivered a lot of food to us. so the four of us had a nice feast and even had sparkling cider, it was a great meal. I feel like such an old man for this next part, we went to bed at the usual 10 and at 12 when everyone was outside blowin horns and yelling I wanted to yell hey im tryin to sleep, but i didn't. 
2. Are transfers coming soon?  Are your 12 weeks of training about done? So my training was done on the 17th of dec but i am still with Elder salamatin, so my trainer and follow up trainer are the same person. The next transfer day is jan 30. 
3. Did you witness any new Christmas traditions? Not really, Christmas is basically the same idea here, except there are a lot of neighborhood parties, instead of family stuff. 
4. How are your new converts doing?  Do you teach them at all after they are baptized? yes we have been teaching them a lot to help them remain active and help them resolve any concerns that they might have. Right now we are teaching jinelle toledo, who was not interested at firsr when we taught and baptized his mom and his siblings, but now he has been coming to church a lot and has a baptismal date for jan. 13.

Thank you all for the constant love and support you give me! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Degen