E-mail dated 7/30/18

Kamusta kamo!!??

Te, sini nge semena okay just kiding it would be way to hard to write the whole email like that! But this week has been a pretty good one! It is so crazy to think that it has almost been a year now out here on the mission. I emailed my batch mates from the MTC and we were just reminiscing about our good times and how fast the time has already flown! I know that this next year is going to go by even faster so I am excited and ready to make the most of it! So this week was a full week, full of experiences, little miracles, and just a full week ups and downs. 

So This week on tuesday we had zone interviews with President Cruz. So on tuesday morning after we ate a great breakfast at McDonalds (yes just as good as in America) we were walking to find a jeepney to ride to go to the mission home to interviews and a very unexpected and awesome thing happened! I ran into Sister Jeny Toledo from nueva valencia, Guimaras my first area. She and her kids were the very first people I was blessed enough to teach and baptize. She was the very first lesson in my whole mission, like day 1 in the field we taught her. She was with 2 other people that I was blessed enough to teach, she was with Nanay Nita and Amanda, 2 amazing people that my trainer and I taught most of the lessons and they were awesome, but we both got transferred, but those 2 got baptized right after we left. It was so so cool to see them again, it had been so long since I had seen them, seeing them again brought me so much joy and happiness. Especially seeing Sister Jeny even tear up a little. I know for sure that Heavenly Father's plan is so perfect, more than we can comprehend. There were so many things that we planned or didn't plan to do that morning and somehow we ran into 3 people that I know so well from a different island, that is no accident. That short encounter with them was just an awesome spiritual boost, it gave me an amazing reminder that, that is why I am here. The gospel has made them so happy and I was blessed enough to be the instrument to bring it to them. I just thought of how there are so many just like them that I could help. so though quick and unexpected, it had a big impact on me. 

Another awesome miracles that we saw in our area this week was, we were able to get 7 new investigators in one day. We have seen the blessing of people just joining lessons or them walking up to us and basically asking us what we are doing here and our response is we would love to tell you why. It has been a pretty good week. As of right now we will be having a baptism in August. Our most progressing investigator right now is Sister Riza. Riza just recently moved from a bad situation into a great one. She now lives with the 2nd counselor in our stake presidency. She is 15 and already is going to seminary and has a ton of friends in the ward. She is really cool and loves to learn about the gospel! 

Also this week we had zone conference and since we are the zone leaders we got to (not had to, but basically had to) give a presentation to the zones. Our presentation was a training that we received at MLC, it is a really great training for me to listen to, but I have never like presenting, but the presentation actually went okay, so that was good! It was my first time, so hopefully It will just become easier if I get the opportunity to do it again! 

Questions…

1. Where were you in the picture you sent home where your companion was on a small bridge over a lot of water?  It looks like the jungle and reminded me of the pictures the boys sent home from Africa. So in that picture we were in the most jungle part of our area, our area is mostly city, but that was a cool picture so i sent it to you. 
2. Is your apartment in the city or is it in a more remote area? City
3. Are you still close to shopping and food places?  Is there a McDonalds in your area? Yup still close, its great! Although no McDonalds in the area, but if there is zonce conference or any meeting we can go.
4. How does being a District Leader compare where you are now to when you were in Iloilo?  Is it the same? Being a Zone Leader is about the same, the difference is the missionaries I am serving with, so I am still getting used to what their concerns are and how I can help them. 
5. How big is the ward?  About how many attend on Sundays? It is a decent sized ward. I have only been there 2 sundays, this sunday we had about 140 ish.

Well It was great to hear from all of you this week! Thanks for everything you guys do for me! You all are the best!!! That should do it for this week! 

Have a great week!

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen 

E-mail dated 7/23/18

Kamusta Kamo!!?  

Well! Its been another week and it has been a busy and eventful one as I am sure you can guess from the news I gave you all last week!

As for me this week it has been pretty good! So on tuesday morning I packed up all of my stuff to transfer from city to La Paz. It was of course mixed emotions, but it felt like it was probably time to transfer. So I packed up all my stuff and went to this terminal to meet my new companion. My new companion is Elder Schley from Boise Idaho. He is a really funny guy and we have had a good first week. This is Elder schley's last transfer as he will go home in august, so in mission terms, I am going to kill him. Thats what they call it if you are a missionary's last companion. It should be a good transfer. So my new area in La Paz or Lapaz I see it both ways so I really don't know what is the right way, but the area is cool. It is still technically apart of Iloilo city, but there is some parts where it looks like we are wondering through a jungle, so thats pretty cool! 

Once transfers finally got worked out, which is kind of stressful, because that is something that the zone leaders have to cooridinate and some people never travel on time so some didn't get into their new areas until wed, but lets just say I am glad that is over. Elder Schley and I have a joke everytime it is pouring rain, we always say "well this is almost as fun as transfer day" haha. But once that all got taken care of we had a pretty good week! The area is good, the members and especially the Bishop is great. There is a lot of room for improvement and it will be a good experience to try and help this ward, I am excited. 

So as far as our zone, it is kind of weird or unique lets say. There are only 10 of us. There are 4 elders (us and the DL and his trainee) and 6 sisters. But as far as our responsibilities as zone leaders it is a lot easier, because it is mostly sisters. It is unique, but so far it is awesome. We are one district and one zone at the same time haha! It will be fun! As far as experiences and cool stories, don't have a ton. but in the coming weeks there should be a lot more, I am still getting used to the area! 

Well sorry the email is kind of short, should have much more to tell this coming week. I just found out that we have to give the training in zone conference, it will be my first time so that should be interesting! Anyways I love you guys a lot and you all have no idea how much I truly appreciate your love, emails and support! Have a great week!

Palangga ko kamo! 

Elder Joshua Degen

E-mail dated 7/16/18

Abaw! This week and even today has been kind of crazy! It has been a good week, and I am excited to tell you all about it, but I am typing as fast as I can, but It is still hard. Man, I wish I would have taken that keyboarding class in junior high more seriously! haha! But I will try my best to tell you everything! 

I will start off with the news that I just received early today, that after nearly 6 months here in Iloilo city ward I am transferring! I was not to surprised I kind of felt it coming, but that doesn't make transferring any easier. Iloilo city ward or city B area had taught me a lot, I have grown, learned and been stretched more than ever before in this area and after all this time here I have grown to love this area and these people so much. It is impossible to express, serving these people all day everyday I developed a love for them, I will never forget the amazing experiences I have had in this area. I was so blessed to be able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in this area to have an effect on people's lives here. It will be hard to leave, but it is probably time, whatever Heavenly Father's will is. So I am transferring to La paz B area, which is still in city and is actually not too far away from this area. It is in a different zone and I will still be a zone leader. I am looking forward to this new adventure of my mission, it should be just more great experiences ahead! I look forward to telling you all about it next week!

This week we had  some great lessons and found some awesome new people. Just one day we were walking to an appointment and this guy approached us and we talked to him about the gospel and the very next day we taught him an awesome lesson and he came to church this week! It was soo cool, I wish they were all like that haha! But this guy is so awesome, he just moved here to iloilo and he is very interested and I know my companion will take care of him when I leave. 

So today, we had an awesome last district activity! It was so fun! We just went to our church played different games to represent our cultures (american, Filipino, and Samoan) and then we ate some awesome food! I will send pictures. I will miss my district! 

Now I am about to give you the biggest surprise news..........my birthday package came! haha its like the opposite of last time, 1 month early! Of course I couldn't just let it sit there so I opened it and wow you guys are awesome! You really know what I like and what makes me happy, so thanks a lot! I haven't opened all the wrapped gifts yet if that makes you feel better mom! But you guys are the best! We even used the chick fil a suace at our district activity and it was soooo good! Thanks kalli! 

·  Do you still get to play some basketball?  Any other sports? Yes, I still get to play basketball, not really any other sports! Which is totally fine by me! 

·  I know you have been in Iloilo know for about 6 months.  Is it unusual for a missionary to be in one area for that amount of time? It is not that unusual, one of my batch mates from the mtc stayed in his first area for 9months so strager things have happened. 

·  Since your companion is American, when it is just the two of you, do you speak English or Ilango We just speak english, we both sometimes speak Ilonggo to each other just for fun so we can get weird looks from people haha

Well That should do it for this week! It will be fun to talk to you all next week! I am not sure if I will be able to email any one else individually so I apologize in advance and I still love and appreciate all the emails and pictures! Thank you all who contributed to the package I love it, YOu guys are the best! 

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 7/9/18

Kamusta Kamo?!?

So this week on Wednesday and Thursday and we had MLC (mission leaders council) and it was so awesome. And it wasn't just because of the food and being with other missionaries, it was because it was such a spiritual experience and great presentations/ trainings. Before MLC I prepared myself by looking up the words Scripture and revelation in the bible dictionary. I really liked the definition of scripture; "anything spoken under the influence of the Holy Ghost" . That was a great insight for me, because the scriptures lead us and guide us through hardships and through life. But scripture is not just the 4 standard works, anytime somebody is speaking under the influence of the Holy Ghost, that is scripture! It really helped me to pay more attention and truly take to heart what was said. I would encourage you to do the same, listen more closely at sacrament, sunday school, and especially general conference, we can receive new scripture. So that was just a cool little insight I had from my studies this week. But the coolest thing that I got from MLC and from other talks and studies this week was the amazing realization that everyone has been placed on this earth at this specific time for a reason. We are not here at this time on accident. Heavenly Father planned it. We are lucky enough to live in a time where the restored church and gospel of Jesus Christ are on the earth. This week I loved listening to the talk called "why 1820" which explains in depth that 1820 was the only time that the church could have been restored and it ends by explaining that we are here at this time on earth with the restored church and gospel because we were somebody before we came to the earth, which is cool to think about. I would highly reccommend that everyone listen to that talk!

A little cool miracle that has happened this week and i guess over these past few weeks is the change of heart of one of our investigators. So we have a recent convert April who was baptized back in April  and for all the lessons with sister April her mom would sit in  but not really participate (even as hard as we tried to get her to participate). Aprils mom would always say that she wouldn't come to our church because she had already been a part of 2 other religions and then stopped so basically she told us she was done with organized religion. THis was way back in February, one of my very first days in this area she told us that. But now, because others had been praying and fasting for her, she had a huge change of heart and has now come to church 3 weeks in a row and this week we gave her a baptismal date for Aug 25. I don't know if I will be here, but I know that Heavenly Father has prepared her, 5 months ago she wasn't ready, but now she is excited for her baptism!  

Something freaking cool that I got today was... a Donovan Mitchell Utah Jazz jersey..for like only 10$!!!! man I love fake Filipino stuff. I will send a picture! Well it is crazy how time is flying, today marks the 11 month mark into my mission, which is pretty crazy! I love it, I am looking forward to these next 13 months!

Thats all I have for you guys this week! I love you guys, thanks for everything!

Elder Degen​ 

E-mail dated 7/2/18

Kamusta Kamo!!!!???

Helloooo Everyone! Its so great to talk to you again, this week has flown by, but a lot of good work has been done! I am now to the point in this area (a little over 5 months) that almost every kid in the barangay (neighborhood) that we work in everyday knows my name, so thats a fun. I would say I give out an average of 50 high fives a day and use a bottle of alcohol for my hands everyday haha. This area is great, it is a great place to serve with a lot of support from the members. 

It is kind of crazy that it is already July, wow time is flying. I remember a year ago the only thing i worried about was Gordon Hayward leaving the jazz, a lot has changed in a year. My perspective and even desires have changed, I realized not to long in my mission that this mission is not about me, and the days that I always remember that are the best days. We become so much happier when we focus on others instead of always on ourselves. 

This week was a pretty good one. We had the opportunity to go on exchanges with some elders in our zone this week and that was such an awesome experience I have learned a lot from working and serving more closely with the missonaries in our zone, it is awesome! I love learning new things, new ideas, new ways to teach things, it keeps the teaching fun and interesting. At the beginning of my mission I was mostly focused on the language during the lessons, but for a while now, it has just been not even worrying about that and just focusing on the people and the spirit and that is when the miracle lessons happen. This week we have been teaching this new young family, they are super interested and want to know all they can. WE taught them a couple of times and left them with a little cliffhanger as we taught up until the apostasy then waited until the next day to share the restoration. when we came back the next day they were so excited for the lesson and it was such an awesome lesson. They were prepared, we were prepared and the spirit was so strong as I recited the first vision. They have had so many questions, we saw their doubts fly away. The message of the restoration especially the first vision is such an amazing blessing, and I was just so happy that lesson, because they had so many questions,doubts, fears, confusion, and we or I was lucky and blessed enough to tell them the greatest truth this world has! It was so cool. I was so excited before that lesson, walking in to their house I got the butterflies and excitement I got before playing basketball. It is a blessing to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

Another cool experience we had this week was, early in the week we got a text from a less active member who I have taught many times and he told us that he was going to move to manila. So I asked if we could visit him one more time before he left for manila. This guy is and RM and i met him my first day in this area and have had many spiritual experiences while teaching and talking with him. I know from all the experiences he told me that he still knows the chruch is true, but maybe he just needed a little help or motivation. So the night came of our last lesson with him before he left, up until we went to his house I was not exactly sure what we were going to share with him, but when we got there we asked him to grab his book of mormon and when he went inside to get it, I just said I silent prayer asking for guidance. When he came back and we began the lesson, we were led and guided by the spirit to share with him exactly what he needed to hear. I felt prompted to share with him Alma 37:44-46 about how the Book of Mormon is our modern day liahona. Bro Arnold opened up to us that he was going to leave his Book of Mormon here when he left for Manila, but after the lesson he said to us with tears in his eyes that there is no way he is leaving his Book of Mormon behind, it was such an amazing experience and I love bro Arnold I will never forget him, I was blessed to be able to serve him and help him in anyway. 

Well I love emailing you all and telling you my experiences! I love this opportunity that I have to serve here! A mission isn't easy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Palangga ko kamo! 

Elder Degen