E-mail dated 6/25/18

Kamusta Kamo??!!!

Wow another week! This week was very busy, but seemed to go by very  fast! We got a lot done this week and had some awesome experiences and some miracles this week! I am starting to realize just how busy it can get, but it is still great!

So like I said earlier we were pretty busy this week. On Wednesday this past week we had zone interviews, which was such a cool experience. We were interviewed by the AP's and President Cruz and we had the great opportunity to interview every companionship in our zone. It was a cool experience to get to know them, because a lot of them I am not too familar with, all accept one has been in the mission longer than me, but now I feel like I know them all so much more and know more how we can help them. THis is a great opportuinity to serve other missionaries! Then on Thursday we had zone conference and it was also great! We had some great trainings and also some great food! 

We also experienced a couple of miracles this week. THe miracles are directly related to the new revelation that this mission has received of how to have members and missionaries work together to further the work. We have a whole new way of asking for referrals and helping the members share the gospel as well. It is called the Footsteps towards baptism and the 6-12  month plan. This really helps the members know what to do to help their friends know and accept the gospel in their lives. I think the problem before was a lot of members wanted to help, but they didn't really know how, now they do and its awesome, seen so many miracles. Like this week, we had to Part member families and the individuals of the family that are not members came to church this week because of the efforts of the members of the family to help them and pray for them. It was a miracle, people that had no interest before now came to church, it was awesome.!

Questions…

1. Have you taught the sister again that you told us about last week that is deaf?  What an incredible experience!Yes we have taught her a couple of times this week. The lessons continue to be great. Today we bought a whiteboard to make things even easier. This week we had an awesome experience and were blessed with the gift of tongues once again, she accepted a baptismal date for the first week of august! Heavenly Father truly provides a way for his work and it is so cool to be a part of it!
2. Have you eaten anything weird lately? Not that I can remember, maybe I am just used to it now!
3. What’s one of the challenges your investigators have to overcome if they want to be baptized?  Is it word of wisdom, tithing, etc. IN this area the problem is getting people to chruch consistently, that is the main. 
4. Would you say you were fluent in the language?  Someone asked me the other day if you were mastering the language. I don't know if anyone is ever "fluent" or a "master", but I love the language and since I have been here a while the members have told me how much I have improved and most people say that I don't speak slang or with an american accent. It took a lot of work, but Heavenly Father blessed me and now I love speaking it all day. 

WEll that should be enough for this week! I am so grateful for all of you!  Have a great week!

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen 

E-mail dated 6/18/18

Kamusta Kamo!!!?? 

Another very fast and awesome week! This week was full of a lot of meetings and awesome experiences! I am starting to get use to all of the changes and I am learning and growing a lot! 

So anyways this week was pretty good! ON tuesday we worked very hard and were able to teach 7 lessons in one day, so that was awesome. Then on Wednesday and Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council (MLC) and it was my first MLC and it was such an amazing experience. It was so cool to be together with so many people that love the work and just want the absolute best for this mission. It was a very spiritually uplifting experience and there were so many awesome trainings, I couldn' even count all of them! Also at MLC for dinner one night we had pizza and fried chicken and it was sooooo good. I had like 4 pieces of costco sized pizza and like 2 pieces of fried chicken, what a great meal! And after MLC I had a much better idea of what my responsibilities are as a Zone Leader and I am working to apply it. 

This week I had one of the coolest experiences I have had on my mission. This past week we have taught a deaf investigator. My companion knows how to do basic sign language and I know nothing, but wow we were so blessed to just have an awesome experience with teaching her. We can only teach one principle at a time because of our limited communications, but this week we were teaching about how the gospel blesses families and I felt prompted to show a picture of our family to her. Then I just wrote on a paper a super simple testimony and she signed to us that she felt something and we felt it too, it was no doubt the spirit, it was so strong and such a cool experience. We were blessed with gift of tongues to be able to teach her, it just shows that the spirit is the true teacher and not us, we are just instruments and no matter how inadequate He still uses us, which is great!  

Questions:

1. What additional duties do you have as a Zone Leader? Well, I said I have a better idea, but I don't have it fully figured out, a lot of Phone calls, meetings. I know that we get to go on exchanges with the district leaders in our zone and basically just try to lead by example and help the zone increase faith, diligence, and obedience. 
2. Do the people there celebrate Father’s Day? At church they did. The primary performed a hilarious program, the kids are so funny, it was great! 

I would just like to tell you all that scripture study is so powerful, the scriptures really do have the answers to our questions and the things we need when we need it. We are so blessed to live in this day and I firmly believe that everyone was saved to be on earth at this specific time and I have no doubt that I am suppose to be in this mission at this specific time. Heavenly Fathers plan is perfect! 

Anyways thats all! Love you all so much! Have a great week!

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen 

E-mail dated 6/11/18

Kamusta Kamo???! 

Well I bet I have had a crazier week than you guys, haha. This week was full of a lot of surprises and a lot of changes. It seems like I am starting a whole new phase of my mission and I still am kind of surprised, but it should some exciting times here in the coming weeks and months. 

So this week everyone was still confused and were wondering why the transfer news had not come out. But finally on tuesday we got a text that we should all go check our emails and find out what is going on with transfers. When we went to the computer shop we were surprised to find out that my companion (Elder Dass) would be transferred and I would be staying in Iloilo City ward for my 4th transfer. So that was the first surprise. Then a few minutes later I received an email containing the transfer sheet of where everyone was transferring and I was like "why are the sending this to me?" Then I scrolled down and saw my name as a new Zone Leader of a newly created zone (city zone) and I was very surprised. So then on Thursday was transfer day. I spent like the whole day waiting for my new companion until he finally got here. My new companion is Elder Weber from Idaho Falls, this is his 6th area and probably his last as he only has 2 transfers left. He is a really hard worker and we have been doing great. It has kind of been a crazy week here in the mission, so many people transferred and everything changed, but I have no doubt that President Cruz is called of God and he is doing what is best for this mission. I had a really good talk with him on the phone as he told me that the Lord has called my companion and I to help other missionaries and to help this mission. We also just had a great interview with the APs, so even though I was surprised and I still and trying to understand how to do this, I know that I am never alone, should be a good experience. 

Well after that crazy start to the week it was pretty normal Friday until the end of the week. We had a lot of great lessons and received so many referrals through this awesome new revelation by President Cruz of completely involving the members in our work and so far it has been awesome we have received so many referrals and it is so much better than before. It is just a great time to be in this mission. 

Also this week we had a great lesson with this family of 5 we have been teaching for a couple of weeks now and I am so excited for them, they had so many questions and the spirit was so strong as My companion and I shared experiences of having our prayers answered and then promised them that if they would read the Book of Mormon and pray, they will also receive an answer. It was awesome, before they were hesitant to do the things we were asking them to do, but now they are excited, the spirit is so powerful. 

Well Thats enough for this week! Love you guys a lot! Thanks for everything!

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 6/4/18

Kamusta Kamo??? 

Wow its already June! I remember all of the fun things that we did last June, that doesn't seem that long ago, it has been fast. Just looking back Its crazy how much I have grown in since that time. Sometimes it takes moving to a new country, new language, new everything to really grow. I have seen that all of my experiences have helped strengthen and grow my testimony of this Church and gospel so much. 

Anyways thanks for all of the updates about whats going on back home. Its kind of funny that everyone there just got out of school and everyone here is just starting school. But it sounds like you have some good summer plans. 

As for me this week it has been a pretty good week. There has been a lot of new things announced in our mission and this week has been full of some good work. So this week Wednesday I  had the opportunity to go on exchanges with my MTC companion Elder Moore. I worked in his area and we had a blast working together, we both talked about how much we have grown since the MTC and it was cool to see the difference. We were actually able to speak the language compared to the MTC haha. 

Also this week we were able to find a ton of new investigators and a lot of them are teenagers. Normally a lot of teenagers aren't very humble and don't really care or want to listen to us, but these kids are awesome, they have so many questions and are willing to learn more. It has been a cool experience teaching them. 

I thought I would tell you a couple of funny things that I witnessed this week. So this week we talked to one of our investigators the older guy that I have mentioned before and he told us that he just had an argument with his brother, so of course we asked him why and his response was unexpected but, funny he said "tungod sa iya baho!" which means because of his bad smell. Then he proceeded to go on a little rant, it was funny. Sorry if that doesn't seem very funny, but maybe you just had to be there. 

So like I said before a lot of things have been announced this week and the biggest is that we are realigning the mission, it will go from 6 zones to 12. Basically all the zones split it was surprising, but it must be revelation. 

     

1. What is the greatest miracle you witnesses this past week? Hmm I think just one of the little things we experience everyday is just finding people who want to learn more about the gospel, so that was a good miracle this week. 
2. Any fun P-day activities coming up? Actually today we had a district activity, we played basketball, watched a few mormon messages and played some games, it was a lot of fun!
3. Are transfers coming up soon? Transfer day is suppose to be tomorrow, but there has been no announcement yet of what is happening, probably because of the realignment of zones. People have been kind of freaking out because usually they give at least a couple of days notice. So this next week could be very interesting, we don't know when transfer day is or who is transferring. So I don't know if I am going to be here next week, should be interesting.  
4. How are your recent converts doing? They are doing great. It is great to see how they  have a strong desire to share the gospel. 

 Love you guys, thanks for all the support every week!

Palangga ko kamo

Elder Joshua Degen