E-mail dated 8/27/18

Kamusta kamo??! 

Well it was great to hear from all of you this week! It sounds like mom and dad had a great time at lake powell, that looks fun! Also how about the Utes being national champs, well deserved!! I am excited to hear all about the upcoming utes football season!

So this week was a pretty quick one, a lot of things came up and my companion had to pack and all that to prepare to go home, so it wasn't really a normal week, but it was still a great one. Even we were really busy with a lot of little stuff we still had some great experiences! One great thing that happened to us this week was,   a member in the farthest part of our area has been talking about this family referral that he is going to give us and he said they are so awesome, but we haven't been able to teach them yet, but because of the help of this member, they came to church and they loved it and they are very willing to be taught. I am excited to teach them!

Also this week, I had a great birthday! So on Thursday my awesome zone mates, they prepared a great lunch of TACOS. yes, I am not sure where they got the stuff, but wow it tasted soo good! It was also e schley's last district meeting so they made a cake for both of us. Our zone is the best! So I had a great early birthday celebration on Thursday. Favorite food and everything!

But then on saturday, I opened my presents ( the ones that were left) and I will send pictures later or next week, because I am low on time for emailing!

That is all for this week because it is 1 million degrees in this computer shop! sorry! 

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 8/20/18

Kamusta Kamo!!? 

Well its about 10000 degrees in this computer shop that we are in right now, so lets see how long this email is, or how long i can make it.  This week has been a pretty busy week with MLC and other meetings, but it was a good week nonetheless. At least it didn't rain too much this week, it was just hot. So either way we are always wet, wet from the rain or sweat. My companion makes the joke that he is never dry, at night when he works out, he is dripping sweat before the workout even starts, haha. I don't know why I tell you these things, but there you go. 

As for me this past week, Tuesday and Wednesday we had MLC, it was good. MLC is always good to discuss and bring up concerns in our zones and also receive trainings. And of course its great to see all of the mission friends from other parts of the island, who we don't see very often. Then on thursday we worked with another elder in jaro ( an area in our zone) because his companion had DLC, so that was a really great experience to work with him. And the rest of the week was pretty normal. 

We have been working hard to help prepare sister Riza for her baptism, but her school schedule is really hard, we know she will be baptized (she always reads, prays and comes to church) but we are still not 100 percent sure if it will happen this saturday. We found a few new investigators this week. Sometimes it can be hard as a zone leader to give complete focus to our area, we have meetings and other areas also to help and serve. But, we are still receiving blessings.

Something fun that we did was, today we had a district/zone activity. It was really fun! All 10 of us met at our chapel, we played basketball, other games, did culture stuff (in our zone we have americans, somoans, austrailians, and of course filipinos) and ate some good food. It so fun, especially if i get to play basketball, it gives me energy for the next week. 

Sorry the email is kind of short and I don't have anything super exciting to report. It is so crazy to me that I am turning 20 this week....I don't want to turn 20, 20 sounds soooo much older than 19. And yet the other day someone said I looked like I am 12 soo..... and I still get called short even though I am taller than most people here haha. Its just because they think that ALL americans are tall.  It will be weird to be 20, but oh well. 

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 8/13/18

Kamusta Kamo!!??

1 year na ako sa mission! Well this past week I hit my 1 year mark in my mission and it was crazy to just look back and think what I have done in this past year. Its weird, I remember so vividly the day I entered into the MTC, eating at cafe rio before and everything. In a way that didn't seem so long ago, but a lot has happened since that day, probably a lot more than I thought would and it has been such an awesome year. Pres. Cruz relates coming into the mission to making a sword ( he has showed us a video), it starts out as just raw materials, but by the end it is a sharp and shiney sword. It is very true, coming in one year ago, I was like those raw materials, in the language especially and in everything else. But looking back on this past year, I have seen how Heavenly Father has helped me grow and learn so much, and I am blessed to be able to be an instrument in his hands. This past week I have studied a lot about the Holy Ghost, and looking back I can see countless times, where the Holy Ghost has led and guided me what to say, what to do, or where to go, that is such an amazing blessing in our lives. 

So anyways this week has been a pretty good, got a lot of work done and I am pretty tired as usual after a good ol week of work. I have seen a lot of blessings this week again. One really great blessing we got was, Bro Jason, the one I told you all about last week, who kind of just called us out on the street to talk to him, He came to church yesterday!! Wahooo! Jason is an awesome guy, super humble and just wants to know the truth. He has already told us that he will come again next week, I am excited to continue to teach him. We were blessed to be able to find him or I guess he found us. 

Also this week we have been continuing to teach Riza, but due to the difficult of her schedule, we will probably move her baptism to the 25th, my birthday, which is fine by me, I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday! As we taught sister Riza we have seen her feel the joy of the gospel, when we first began she would talk so quitely that we could barley even here her, but now she is always smiling and asking good questions. 

On Thursday to celebrate my 1 year mark, Elder Schley and I Order 2 pizzas, one for each of us! It was soo good! Good way to celebrate. That is the good thing about being in the city we have all the good food and the pizza was delivered to us!

Questions…

1. Is it still raining a ton?  Do you have a rain coat you can use and rain boots? haha nope. just my good ol umbrella. It is rainy season right now so basically at any moment it could rainy, no matter how hot or sunny it is. 
2. Do the members in your Ward feed you dinners?  If so, what do you get fed the most? We get fed sometimes, it is mostly just unexpected dinner appointments, filipinos are so nice, even if they have no idea who you are they invite you to eat. and sometimes members just refuse to let us leave until we eat. 
3. About how many lessons do you teach in a week?  Do you have a weekly goal? We always have goals, but it usually varies week to week because of if we have meetings or something. BUt the most lessons I have gotten in one week on my mission was over 30, I don;t remember the exact number. 
4. Have most of the members there been to the temple?  I think the closet temple is in Cebu, right?  Is that a long distance and is it finally hard for some? I don't know about most, but a good amount have been. Cebu is the closest and it is hard, but usually there is a ward or branch temple trip once or twice a year to help people get there. 

Anyways that should do it for this week! Next week should be a busy one with MLC and other stuff! Thanks for everything! I love you all!

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Degen

E-mail dated 8/6/18

Kamusta Kamo??!

Well another week has just flown by. My emails usually start off with the same kind of dumb sayings, but thats because I am just typing and thinking what I should tell you all about this week at the same time. This week was another good week, lots of rain, lots and lots of rain, but also lots of new investigators and little miracles. On saturday I think it was pouring rain all day, literally all day just dumping buckets, its really fun because I think the Philippines forgot to invent something called a drain. 

So a little miracle experience that I would like to share with you all happened last monday night. So last monday night after our pday we went out to work and all the people we planned to go to were busy or were not home. So there we were walking in the dark in the rain not really knowing what we were going to do. As we were walking I guy under a waiting shed thing called out to us and asked us where we were going and what we were doing, we then sat down and talked with him, a super nice young probably 20 something year old guy. As we talked to him just had a nice simple conversation and then it moved to the topic of church and he had so many questions and he just really wanted to know what is the truth. We talked to him for a while and didn't answer all of his questions, but I felt prompted by the spirit to tell him that this is what he is looking for. I remember just feeling the spirit so strong it was almost as if it wasn't me saying the words. It was so cool, we also felt prompted to say a prayer right then and there before we left, which we normally don't do, but after the prayer we set a return appointment and later in the week we had an awesome first lesson with him, brother jason. I am super excited to continue to teach him. I know that I was and am so grateful for being led by the spirit. I have such a strong testimony that everything happens for a reason, Heavenly Father's plan is so perfect. I am grateful that we all have the opportunity to be led and guided by the spirit if we are seeking for it. 

So that was probably the coolest experience of the week. We are still finding a lot more new investigators and still have a consistent investigator, Sister Riza living with the 1st counselor in the stake presidency. She is still doing great and progressing towards baptism, she is reading the book of mormon diligently and will be prepared for he baptism on August 18. I have seen a lot of little miracles in this area since I got here and it is great. ALso this week we had the chance to eat at McDonald's twice to that is always a great blessing. Tasted like america! 

Questions…

1. Is it different being a Zone Leader over sisters rather than Elders?  I would assume that the Sisters follow all the rules and don’t cause any trouble, right? (wink, wink) Well being a zone leader here is a little different than in my last area. So here we have STL's (sister training leaders) that get all the stuff and report to us from all the sisters , then we just have the other elders. So its a little different, but basically the same, don't get to go on many exchanges or stuff like that, but it is still good. 
2. Have you had the chance to bear your testimony in your new Ward yet? Yes I did my first week in the ward. I haven't given a talk in sacrament meeting since my first area, haha. I hope you guys aren't expecting me to come back and be good at public speaking, because it looks like thats not going to happen. 
3. Any fun activities coming up soon? Hopefully we will be having a last distrcit/zone activity before elder schley goes home, but other than that we have MLC coming up soon next week, thats not really an activity, but there is always great food so that should be great. 
4. Are you going to do anything on Thursday to acknowledge your one year mark? As of right now I don't have anything planned, but I will find something to do in commemoration!  

Well that should do it for this week! I can't believe that this coming week I will have been out for one whole year. Man, it has been an amazing year, learned more than I could have ever imagined. There is nothing else more important than this, that I could have done in the last year and there is nothing more important than this, that I could do in this coming year. I am so grateful that I made the decision to serve a mission and I am looking forward to all of the great and awesome experiences that await in this next year.  Love you all!

Palangga ko kamo!

Elder Joshua Degen