E-mail dated 3/26/18

Kamusta kamo??!

As for me this week it has been good, we worked hard this week and found a ton of new investigators! Almost all of them are referrals and they are people who have gone through the church's 12 step program so they already have an idea about the church and are so willing to listen, it is so awesome! It is a blessing to see how humble people are, it is really helping me to become more and more humble everyday! The people here, some of them don't have much at all, but whenever you greet them they are still happy anyways! It has helped me change my perspective. Happiness is not about what we have, it is a state of mind, only you can decide if you are happy or not, not your circumstances! And I have seen it so many times on my mission how the gospel makes people sooo happy! It doesn't take away their trials, it doesn't give them worldly things, BUT it gives them an eternal perspective about how important they are to Heavenly Father. I would like to share an experience about that very thing:

So this week one night we were traveling home on a jeepney and normal they are super crowded, loud, and full of people. But this night it just happened to be my companion and I and one other person. We began to talk to this guy and we gave him a pamplet. He said to us in english "do you have something to offer me" then we explained the pamplet and then he gave us his number and told us "just tell me when, what and where and I am there." haha it was great! So we texted and met with him a feww days later at our chapel. This guy loves to talk and he only talks in enlgish. and he talked a lot, at first I was like oh no we are never going to be able to get a word in to teach him. But as we listened he really opened up to us about how he has had some incredibly hard trials in his life and he once thought about suicide. As we listed we were guided by the spirit to have a great lesson. At the end of the lesson, he said one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard. I have such a strong testimony that Heavenly Father's plan is perfect and that we were placed in his path to help him at this specefic time in his life. I just want everyone to remember that Heavenly Father is aware of every single person's problems and challenges and He is always there for us!

·  Will you be able to watch General Conference next weekend? I will be able to be watch it, but we will watch it a week later than you guys because of the large time difference. 

·  Do you have any idea how they celebrate Easter there? Well I know that there are a lot of Catholic churches here and this coming week is holy week, but I don't know what they do to celebrate it. 

·  Do the children in your ward learn and speak English? Yes all of them learn, but most of them are too shy to try and speak it with me.

After being gone 7.5 months, would you say you are fluent in the language now? I would say I am good enough, haha! I understand good, just a few words here and there. Speaking has gotten a lot easier too. I just love talking to the kids, because they love it and they help me!

Well, I think that is it this week! Thanks for the love, support and Prayers every week! Love you all!

Halong

palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 3/19/18

Kamusta Kamo!!!!?

Man, it has been kind of a crazy week and I don't even know where to start! It has been very busy, but I have loved it, we got a lot done this week, despite it being a little crazy! I would like to start by saying that I am so grateful for all the emails that I received and especially for all the updates about sports going on right now! It makes me smile reading about the jazz and march madness, sounds like its a great time to be a basketball fan right now! It really is my favorite time of the year, better than Christmas, but right now this is the only time I have thought about it, when you emailed me, so just enjoy it for me this year and I think my bracket is going to win it this year.

Well On tuesday I waited forever at a terminal for my new companion. He came from Nueva Valencia Guimaras (my first area) and his name is Elder Dass from tarlack (in the northern part of the Philippines near Manila). He is awesome he speaks perfect english and he has been out for 19 months. After we got settled in and everything, we got some great work in this week, we were blessed to get a ton of new investigators that have so much potential and are really willing to listen. Its a great time to be serving in this area (Iloilo city ward), we have so many people at church I think that in the near future this ward will split into 2. 

On Saturday we had the very awesome and unique baptism of Ian Clark Macasarte or yanyan. So when we went to the chapel on saturday, we found out that there was no running water at the church, the tank ran out! Water is a very important aspect of a baptism in case you didn't know that, so that was a big problem. We discussed for a while and then got permission from the bishop to just baptize him in the ocean! It was a kind of crazy situation, a little unorganized, but once I saw the smile on yan yan's face after he was baptized I was filled was such great joy, because I know he made the right decision, it was really cool! 

Also this past saturday was stake conference here! We had Elder Bowen of the 70 and he is the area president of the Philippines come and speak to us. It was really cool, almost everything he talked about had to do with missionary work. He did a really cool question and answer, the spirit was really strong. He talked about how in reality sharing the gospel is not that hard, just through simple conversations or inviting a family over can have a huge effect, and the members really like it too, so I know that the work will progress even more here! He also talked about how the Lord has prepared the Philippines to be a huge strength in latter day zion, it is one of 5 countries to have 100 stakes and now has 101 and its only going to grow more, I am so incredibly blessed to be able to be a part of it and serve in the Philippines!

1. How often to you shop for groceries and about how much to you spend each week for them? Every monday and it only costs about 400-500 pesos depends on the week. That is equivalent to like 9 or 10 us dollars haha.
2.  Are the members good about giving you referrals? YES and the 7 referrals we received a few weeks ago are turning out to be some great investigators and we are teaching their friends as well, it is awesome!

Well that is probably all I have for you guys this week! I look forward to hearing from you guys every week and I love you all so much! I am so blessed to have you all always supporting me! 

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 3/12/18

Kamusta Kamo!!!???

It is great to hear from all of you again! Sounds like everything is going well and I am glad! All is well here in the Philippines, it has been another great week and I love it here! I really enjoy hearing about your guys week, your support and messages always help me during the week, so I appreciate it a lot! It is cool to hear about the Temple, stake conference and everything that is going on! Especially about the Jazz and March Madness, right now is the best time of the year!! I hope you guys are enjoying it for me! 

Well as for my week here in Iloilo city it has been great! Our investigators are doing great and we have seen the fruits of our efforts as we will have a baptism this coming saturday and we also have a few others with a date in the coming weeks, I am so excited for all of our investigators! So the investigator we will be baptizing on saturday will be Brother Ian Macasarte or his nickname yan yan. I think I have told you about him, he is so awesome! Even though he is just 10 he loves reading the Book of Mormon and even marks his favorite verses and he is so excited when we teach him! This past week I gave him one of my ties and taught him how to tie it, he was so excited and he is already a master at tying ties, I can see him as a future missionary! I wish I was as cool as him when I was 10 haha! Also this past weeks our awesome investigator(April) who we have been teaching for the past 6 weeks has a set baptismal date! She has always said that she wants to be baptized but now she has a set date for the second week of April ( how fitting). I am so excited as I have seen the joy of these people I am teaching, this is a great work.

I would like to share an awesome experience I had this week. There are people everywhere we go and some are super nice and others, lets just say they aren't the nicest people in the world and this week someone asked us basically why are we doing this everyday if we don't get paid. We testified to them that we know that what we are teaching is true and we know that we are serving God, even though they still didn't really care, the next day in my personal study I read a scripture that fit perfectly to the situation. In Alma 30 it reads, 34 And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church, what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the ajoy of our brethren? This scripture really helped me truly remember why I am here. I am declaring the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these people and the joy that I feel when I see someone accept the Gospel and see it change their lives, is so much more valuable than any salary or anything else! I have such a strong testimony of this work and of the small things like reading our scriptures and praying everyday. I wish I could explain everything to you guys, but that would be impossible. 

1. Are the members there good about feeding the missionaries?  Do you eat many meals in your apartment? The members are pretty good at feeding us, we usually get a few dinner appointments a week, not like my last area where we had one almost everyday, but its still good. We eat at the apartment kind of often, I learned to love filipino food especially rice!
2. Are there any places there that you can buy ice cream?  I know you said that diary is limited. 7 eleven sells ice cream and it is so good, We get it pretty often haha!
3.  How often do you see the Mission President?  I know you are close to the mission home.Even though we are close to the mission home we don't see president cruz any more than usual.
4. Are transfers coming up soon?  It seems like it has been close to 6 weeks since you were transferred to Ioilo City. You are correct, transfers are tomorrow. My companion Elder Silvano is transferring tomorrow. I am so grateful for him, he has helped me so much in everything, especially the language. My new companion will be Elder Dass from Manila, I will tell more next week!

Well I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve the Lord here in the Philippines, I miss you guys, but this is where I need to be at this time in my life! Heavenly Fathers plan is so perfect and I am so grateful for that! 

I love you all so much, send some pictures, THanks! YOu guys are the best! HAve a great Week!! 

Halong pirmi

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 3/5/18

Kamusta Kamo??!

Its been another great and very hot week here in Iloilo city! And it sounds like it has been the opposite for you guys, what is up with it snowing in March, I don't know if I believe you guys, you'll have to send pictures this next week! Its been a long time since I have been cold, like even a little, but thats okay! Sounds like everyone had a good week and was kept very busy!  But as for me this week it has been so exhausting, but we were able to get some good work done!

These past few weeks we have been focusing on our 6 or so really progressing investigators and we are really trying our best to help them be prepared for baptism this March, so hopefully they will can continue to progress, I have faith and pray everyday that they will! Our investigators are so awesome, all of them want to learn so much about the gospel and I have seen the changes in their lives, some big, some small, but it is amazing. For one of our investigators she has changed a lot and has given up so much to embrace the gospel and she has been blessed for it. It is promised so many times in the scriptures, If we seek first the kingdom of God or we keep the commandments we will prosper and that promise is so true. I have seen it so many times on my mission, no they did not become rich, but all their needs were taken care of and they were happier so they just stopped focusing on the negatives. It is amazing to see! 

1. Do they have large grocery stores where you are?  How about a mall? Yes they have a very large grocery store and a mall in our area. And the mall is so huge, its crazy, 3 floors and everything. But for me it so hard to go grocery shopping because they have no real dairy here,but this last week I found some fake Milk and cereal and to be honest it was soo good, I miss cereal. 
2. What do most people do for work in your area? It really depends, a lot of people sell fish and clams and stuff since we are right by the ocean and others work at the mall and others don't work at all, it just depends. 
3. Any fun P-day activities coming up?Actually today we just barely had an awesome district activity. We went BOWLING, haha I had no idea that was a thing here. But it was the most ghetto bowling ever. The balls were like a little bigger than ski-ball balls and the lanes were nothing like in america, they arent automatic, they just have a person back there that picks up the pins and rolls back the balls to you, it was funny! But it was so fun, we also played pool! I will send picture later
4. What is the greatest miracle you witnessed this past week?  I think you will agree that miracles occur around us every day. To be honest, I can't just pick out a specific one there are so many everyday. A big one that I have noticed just recently is that I am not nervous when I go into a lesson. At first I was always nervous because I was worried about the language and if they would understand me, but over the last few months gradually I have started relying more on the Lord than I ever have in my life and he leads me and guides me all the time of what I should say, so that is a huge miracle. Its not because I am so good at the language or anything like that, it is because My Heavenly Father helps me everyday. 
5. Are any of your investigators right now children or teens? Yes we have a few! I will tell you about this one awesome investigator who is only 10 years old, his nickname is yanyan and even though he is so young, he is so smart. To be honest he remembers more of the lessons then some of our adult investigators. He reads the book of mormon all the time and even highlights it, and he prays more sincerely than any kid I have ever met. His uncle is a member and they live right next door to each other, his parents are always busy, but his Dad said that he wants him to be baptized, we working on hopefully being able to teach his dad too! 

Well thats probably all I have for you guys this week, I will try to take some more pictures, but Its hard in the city there are so many people every where. I am so incredibly grateful for the love and support that you guys give me each week, I have the best family and friends!

Elder Joshua Degen 

1st picture: I basically had taco bell this week!!! I found some doritos taco flavored chips and I also bought a mtn dew. (With my companion Elder Silvano)

2nd picture: ghetto bowling, I thought I had a better picture, but I guess not!