December 28, 2010

Mom,
Happy New Year!
I was so excited to get to talk with you on Christmas! I hope you write me and tell me how everything went, preferably a dearelder so it doesn’t take forever for me to read. Thanks for the Skiing Santa ornament. It reminds me of home. I miss skiing, but there is no snow here, so not much of a chance. I’m glad to see that you got to go as a family! That is awesome! I wish I could have been there. That is my favorite Christmas tradition.
I have only received two of your packages, but I did receive one from Grandma Schenk. Tell her thank you for me. I got it in district meeting from the Zone Leaders, and the candy didn’t make home. But it was really good! The sweet hot mustard is amazing! l love it! So thank you Grandma! Also tell her I am praying for her.
I have been to the hospital 3 times in the last 3 days. The hospital is about 45 min away. My companion has an infection in his toe and needed surgery. We tried the ER Monday, but they couldn’t do it. So yesterday we went to the clinic and set an appointment for today. And then this morning he got half his toenail chopped off. Success! We get to go back Saturday and Tuesday for a check up and to get the bandage changed.
I was thinking about President Monson's call for more missionaries in General Conference and decided that I have the ability to help that call and to do more. Would you please donate the money I have in savings to the missionary fund for me? I don’t know how much is in there, so just leave enough that I can buy a few things here and there on my mission. I’ll try not to spend over my limit that they give me and only spend it on personal items. The money isn’t doing me any good here and if I could help just one more missionary, I would be satisfied. I was talking to the mission president’s wife today while Elder Felipe was in surgery and she talked about the importance of one missionary. If one missionary gets sent home, it has a huge impact. The area they are in gets closed and the work there stops. They want to open up some new areas here in our mission, but don’t have the missionaries until mid next year, and if anyone gets sent home then that will be bumped back and the Lords work stops moving forward there. One missionary is SO important. Try to get everyone on a mission you can. The Lord needs us right now. Christ cannot come until we prepare the people. So let’s get to work!
We have one investigator right now who is doing great! His original baptismal date was for Christmas day, but we were not able to teach him everything before then. So he got bumped back to the 8th of January. He was disappointed. He came to church this last week alone even though his member sister did not. That was a huge success as well. He always is prepared to learn. So many people here finish what they are doing before we can teach them. The missionaries really aren’t that special to them. But Restley drops whatever he is doing, grabs his Book of Mormon and is ready to learn. It is AWESOME! He is going to be a great member! I am excited!
Other than that our investigators are:
Kokoy (Restley’s brother)
Johnley
Leah
Noey
Macmac
They could use all the prayers we can give them.
Thanks for all you are doing. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Schenk

December 21, 2010

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I’m glad you got my package. Go ahead and open it. There is some food on the outside, some little things popular here. They use a lot of drink mix. All of them you can just buy at little stores people have at their houses where they resell food. There are usually a few in every neighborhood.

I have gotten two packages so far. Thanks! The only thing I can think to have you send that you wouldn't think of is dental floss. They have 2 kinds here and they are hard to find. They cost over $3 for a small roll! The one I bought was cheaper, but it doesn't work well. It won’t slide between your teeth. It is kind of sticky. Not good. Thanks for the umbrella. It is sweet!
So Carcar is much bigger than Carmen. It has some big stores, restaurants and some good stuff. A lot more Americans too. We have an American and a French man in our ward, the American is an inactive bishop and the French man is in the bishopric. We have a ward of about 100 active members. The spirit is so much stronger here than in Carmen. I like it. Brother Fransue, the French guy has a big sweet house and worked for some space company in France. He went to a shuttle lift off once in California for work. I discovered last night that he is a genius! He has a music studio with tons of guitars that he built himself with speakers he made. He writes music all the time and plays all the parts and sings and they sound like professional recordings. It’s amazing!
We have 3 investigators committed with a baptismal date. They are all for January. Hopefully they will all pull though. They are Johnly, Kokoy and Krisnel.

I am sorry to hear about Grandma Schenk. I hope she gets better. Tell her I love her for me.

And tell Katie and Josh Merry Christmas for me! I was going to send them a card, but 3 weeks ago I forgot. I could send one now but it wouldn’t get there till the end of January.
I am excited to talk to you all face to face in 3 days! Have lots of questions for me!
Love you all!
Elder Schenk

This is a breakfast food, it's good.  It tastes like tapioca.

The first page of the scrapbook.

A coin purse made by the mother of the YW president, and some pesos.

Dried, salted fish.  You freshen it in water, deep fry it and dip it in vinegar and chiles.  

Devin says it's delicious!

A "Where's Waldo" look a like tie Devin found bought from a street vendor.  It's awesome!

December 14, 2010

Mom,

Merry Christmas!

So I transferred this last week. I am now in Carcar. It is bigger than Carmen was. It has a few good sized stores. My companion Elder Felipe goes home at the end of this transfer, so I am in Cebu right now. He just got x-rays. We have to come back tomorrow for zone conference. I think I will get to see some of my batch from the mtc there. That is exciting. I also love getting to learn from President Hansen. He is an amazing man.

I sent you an email about calling home from Sister Hansen. I will either call or skype around 11 am our time on the 25th, Christmas. I think that is about 5pm your time Christmas Eve. Next week in your email could you tell me if you are able to do skype. If not a phone call will definitely do just fine.

For our zone conference we were assigned to read John from the Bible. I finished last night. That was an amazing experience for me. There were a few parts where the spirit was really strong and I could really feel the Saviors love for the people. But I think the biggest impact was when I was done and thinking back. I have gained such a love for the Savior by spending just that little bit of time studying his life. He really did love everyone, and He is such a good example of following the will of the Father. I have gained such a love for him and everything that has done for me.

I also read Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s talk last night on being grateful. He is such a humble man. I feel I have need as well to be more grateful. So thank you all for all you have done for me. Thank you Mom and Dad for being the greatest parents. I don't know any better than you two. I have also heard Diane, Katie, and Eric say the same thing. In the mouth of two witnesses right? Well we have four. You are the very best. The only ones who could possibly be better are Katie and Josh, your offspring, but they aren’t parents yet. So you are still in the number one spot. Thank you to you Katie and Josh, and you Diane and Dennis for your great examples. For being married in the temple and living righteously, for serving missions and being worthy. I love you all. Thank you Eric for being such a great younger brother, a great example, and one of the best friends I could ever have. Thanks to my leaders of youth. To Kevin Allen, Jeff Komar, Ben MacKay, Kathy Thurmond. Each of you have played a part in shaping me into the person I have become. Each of you showed me the way to Christ by your example and teachings. Thank you so much. Thank you Grandma Schenk and Grandma Hart for being strong in the church and raising my parents in righteousness.

I am so grateful for this Christmas season and the opportunity we have to look towards the Savior. I love Him so much. He has done so much for each of us. I love learning about Him in the scriptures, and someday look forward to being able to learn from Him in person, to have that pure knowledge poured into me. I love Him so much.
I got both of your Christmas packages this week! Thanks so much! I now have a 2 foot tall paper Christmas tree on my table. It is great! So thank you for that.
We have 4 investigators with a baptismal date, one just had some hard issues to work out though, so that might be postponed. They are:
Johnley
Felix - Is having some problems
Resly
Popoy
They could use as many prayers as we can give them. Satan is always working double time on those who are trying to change their lives for the better. So let’s give them all the help we can from Heaven.

Thanks for all your love and support and prayers for me. I am really grateful for all you have done for me.

Sending Christmas love and joy from the Philippines,
Elder Schenk

December 7, 2010

Family,
I have news this week! I am transferring on Friday to Carcar. It is in Talisay zone. My new companion is going to be Elder Falipe. So I will be spending Christmas down south. I don’t know exactly where it is. I haven’t been home since we found out in out zone activity this morning. Good news there too! We played Book of Mormon Jeopardy and my companion and I won! Sweet! Our prize was that we got to be the first to find out where we are transferring. We are both transferring actually. Sisters are going to be in this area. They were here once before, up until the beginning of this year.

Thanks for telling me about following the Prophet Dad. That is the same advice the mission President just sent me actually. I was talking about the new fundamentals of Preach My Gospel, the new teaching program for missionaries, and he told me that it is directly from the Prophet and that we need to make sure we follow it. It is amazing, but is hard to follow. There are so many parts that take time to adapt you to and make a habit, like asking inspired questions, and better following up on commitments. One of the new parts is to commit people to baptism on the first lesson. President Hansen says to commit them whether the spirit is there or not, simply because that is what the Prophet has told us to do. It works great. If people are just interested in listening and aren’t willing to change their life for the gospel, then we know in the first lesson and spend our time more effectively in other places. I hope soon I can fully apply all of the aspects. Some take so long to get good at. It is great to be learning all of these things. I love it!

We have one investigator with a baptismal date, his name is Rico Usabel. We have been teaching Leonardo, 16 years old, and his family, but haven’t been able to teach them lately because of scheduling conflicts.
We are also teaching Winda and her daughter.
We have many inactive members. These ones could also use your prayers.
Banzone Family
Brother Taoy
Sios-e Family
Ibanes Family
Juny Bentoy
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and mail missionary work or fulfilling your church callings or any kind of service you are doing. The Lord needs all He can to help bring in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ right now. Let’s all work hard for Him this Christmas season. Spread the greatest blessing we have and the richest gift we can give, the Love of Christ, His gospel, and the Book of Mormon which testifies of Him. If we do that, each of our Christmases will be filled with joy, peace and love. Dad, you said that the home is filled with a peaceful spirit right now. Imagine how much greater it could be if the gospel was being taught to your friends and family in your home. The Lord wants to bless us. We just have to do our part. Never under estimate the power of prayer. I had 12 different things I had been praying for answered on Sunday. The Lord really does hear our prayers and always answers our sincere ones, just sometimes in His time, not ours. Be patient. Blessings always come.

Love you all! Maayong Pasco! (Merry Christmas!),
Elder Schenk

November 30, 2010

Mom, Thanks for the email. There are a lot of questions so I’ll try to answer them all. Sorry if I end up missing one.
So I have some good news and some bad news this week. Good news is that Sister Erlinda Alcala is now saved in the kingdom. She was baptized and confirmed this last weekend. We spent 2 hours on Saturday morning cleaning the font. There is sand in the water so we had to clean up the sand box from last time, and then turn on the water really slow so no sand would come out. It ended up being really clean. Yay! We wanted to make it special, and since they literally have no money, we decided to make spaghetti for everyone. Elder Nicoleta wanted to buy 2 kilos of noodles, so we did, with three bags of sauce. We also bought ground pork and hotdogs to put in it. I’ve never had hot dogs in spaghetti, but it wasn’t too bad. Elder Nicoleta cooked the noodles, a huge pot full. We didn’t have a way to strain it so he just left them in the water. When I realized they were done I tried to pour the water out, but there was none. The noodles had soaked in ALL of the water! we ended up serving it in balls with a spoon, So the next time you make spaghetti, don’t forget to strain the noodles, or you will get pudding.
The bad news is that we were supposed to have our district activity today and go back to the awesome waterfall in Carmen, but we have no money. Today the support was supposed to come and there is no money in our account. Out of the 8 of us in the district, only 2 had money saved, the two Americans. Weird how that works out. And then it started to rain. So we didn’t go.
Brother Taoy didn’t come to church and smoked 3 cigarettes a day. But we recommitted him. Hopefully he will have faith. I have plenty of space left on my sd cards. Elder Nicoleta is from Manila, the big city filled with tons of people.
Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! I had fried chicken with plain mashed potatoes and a little salt with some fake gravy. We found some sabau, any kind of saucy soupy broth, and bought that without the main dish for our gravy. I went on splits with Elder Frecker and he wanted a legit thanksgiving. That was the best we could do.
Thanks, love you all,
Elder Schenk

A letter that came in the mail from Devin today!

November 18, 2010


Family,
I promised to write about Quinton L. Cook’s talk when he visited and I haven’t yet, and I have some time now. Today is p-day. We cannot write letters any other day. This morning we got up at 5:30 to go play basketball in Danao, 20 min. away. Usually our district and some ward members from Danao play. It was fun. It gets so hot that by the second game your shirt is completely soaked. The members here are really good and so is my companion. Somewhere along the line I lost my basketball skills, but they are slowly coming back.
This really is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I love it here. The word beautiful in Visaya is nindot. Nindot is also used for awesome, sweet, amazing, great, super, so it is hard to really show that you are excited about something. You can add a few emphasizers so it is nindot hayod kayo! But that’s as exciting as it gets.
When Elder Cook came he talked a lot about our serious responsibilities as missionaries here on Cebu because we have a temple so close. We are obligated to teach that message. He also prophesied that the Philippines would open the doors of missionary work to the rest of Asia, that this country would play a key role. We have a big responsibility here as missionaries. We need to prepare the people here for the second coming of Jesus Christ, because it is indeed coming. He also gave a fireside to the members. In that fireside he talked about the importance of families. He prophesied that disasters would be coming. Not only hurricanes and earthquakes, but disasters with our own families. We need to strengthen our brothers and sisters, both in our families and in the church. I feel like Satan is working overtime right now. New temples are being built all over the earth. The church is growing and expanding. We need to each do our part.
President and Sister Hansen had the opportunity to feed Elder and Sister Cook dinner. President told me later that he expected Elder Cook to tell some funny stories or something like that, but the entire time he was serious. Elder Cook said that we don’t have time to lose our focus now. There is too much work to do. In the missionary fireside he talked about how we need to be serious about our work as missionaries. After he closed and we had a closing hymn and prayer he got up again. And again he talked about the serious nature of our work. The second coming is indeed coming, we need to help in any way we can and be prepared.
Please do all you can. Work hard in your callings. Reach down and pick up those who have fallen from the church and reach out to your friends and family. Bring them to the gospel. Like you said mom, we need all the people on our side as we can get. Someone not against the church is better than an enemy. Someday maybe they will accept.
We also had the opportunity to shake Elder Cook’s hand and tell him our name and home stake. I told him my name and said I was from the Mt. Vernon Stake. He responded, “Mt. Vernon Washington?” Yes!
Either he knows the church very well, or he is very close to inspiration. Probably both. It was an amazing experience to be able to meet and listen to the counsel from a special witness of Jesus Christ. I loved it. My area was the furthest away! How cool! I am glad I was able to go. I learned so much.
I love you all and pray for you often. May the Lord bless you.
Love,
Elder Schenk

Devin also sent these photos, and some requests for things to send to him, including pictures from home, he would love to see what we are doing, and he said "If you could send Eric, I would love that!  I miss him!  That would make for a good Christmas!"

November 23, 2010

Family. (sorry there is no comma on this keyboard... yay!)
This week is a half way mark for this transfer. I can't believe its almost over! I like my companion Elder Nicoleta. He is a really good missionary. He teaches really well and is a good listener. I have learned so much from him. I am learning the language faster with him as well because he helps me to speak it well. Also in 9 days I will have been on a mission for 6 months! That means my mission is almost 1/4 over! That is crazy! I still feel like the new one.

My story this week is about Brother Taoy. He is 70 years old and is inactive. His wife is active and works in the primary. Last Sunday I visited him with a 19 year old member. Kenneth. who is preparing for a mission. He doesn't talk much so it gives me a great opportunity to work on my Visaya. I have to initiate the conversation and if I don't talk nobody does. Then I have to understand their questions and concerns. That is the hardest part for me. I can teach almost any lesson and can teach a lesson straight from the scriptures. I have learned how to express myself with my vocabulary. The problem is other people”s vocabulary. Much larger than mine. We asked him why he wasn't coming to church. He simply said he just didn't want to. But we committed him to come the next week. This last Sunday he didn't come to church. We visited him again to follow up. He said that his knee had been hurting him as after effects of a stroke he had had a long time ago. He also has a smoking problem but wants to quit. He had been smoking less this past week. We are focusing on commitments in the mission right now. So I went for it. I committed him to read his scriptures and pray every day and to go to church the next Sunday and to not smoke this week. Then I promised him (that is a big part of committing. You should always promise blessings.) that if he would do these 4 things that his knee would not hurt him this week and he would be able to come to church. And he willingly accepted! "Buhaton buhaton" he kept saying which means Ill do it. Great! So now we just pray he will follow through. After the lesson Kenneth said that I taught really well and clearly in Visaya. Yay! Thanks to the gift of tongues I can teach people all the way on the other side of the world. That was a good experience. I am so grateful for the blessings I am receiving from being a missionary. I love the work. I love the people. It is so rewarding.

We have a baptism this Saturday! Sister Erlinda Alkala. We are excited for her. We are also teaching a family of boys. Leonardo. Hector. Josue. Renante. Their mom and dad also join in some times as well as friends and relatives. It is great. We just started teaching Fransis and his wife Jessyl. Fransis is from Manila and is Tagolog speaking so I don’t do a whole lot of teaching. He understands some but not all. And their daughters are so cute! Only 8 and 5 though. Not much potential there. But they are fun to talk to. They are always so happy and laughing. I love the kids here.

Thanks for all of your support and love and prayers. I really appreciate it all. And a special thanks to Bill Sparks who sends mail all the time. Thank you so much.
Love gikan sa Philippines.
Elder Schenk

November 17, 2010

Hello everyone!
Thank you all for your birthday cards and packages and letters. I really appreciate it. We just had transfers and the 2 weeks the zone leaders have been in almost all of the mail was for me. I thought it was awesome, they just wish they could get more. So thank you all for that.

This last Sunday about 5 min before the meeting the Branch President asked us missionaries if one of us wanted to speak. My loving companion turned to me and asked if I wanted to. Sure! I replied. I had never given a talk in Visaya (Cebuano) and with 5 min to go before sacrament meeting, eh why not! "How long do you want me to speak for?" I asked. Just a short talk. 20 min, 15 min, Whatever you can do. 20 min! That is not a short talk. That is a full length High Councilman time period. So I decided to go with the "Whatever you can do" option. I liked that better. I asked him what the topic was. He replied that I should talk about whatever I think the members need. Oh thanks for your outstanding advice. But it was effective. I should learn to sustain my leaders. About the time the meeting started (it started about 5 min late so it gave me an extra 5 min to prepare) I had picked my topic. The members here get baptized, but then many go inactive and do nothing to support the branch or the church. So enduring to the end was my topic. I though the tree of life and the iron rod would work well for that. I quickly found the scripture. But I wanted one more scripture. The words "Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" popped into my mind. Great! I'll take it. But where was that scripture? I didn't have a clue. Then I thought of the hymn "Press Forward Saints." That I could find. I grabbed the hymn book next to me and found the scripture linked to it in 2 Nephi. Great! So I had my topic, and a story from the scriptures and an additional scripture to go along with it. Now I just had to make it all work together, invite the spirit, keep the congregation from sleeping, help the people change their lives, and do it all in Visaya. Walay problema! So that is when you rely on the Lord.

When it was my turn to speak, for the first time ever teaching in visaya, I could worry about what to say and not how to say it. My companion said later that my Visaya was good, only a few errors. It was very understandable. When I went to share my scripture about pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ, I accidently read the scripture before it, which happens to talk about the strait and narrow path, the topic I had been speaking on. It was an accident for me, but not for the Lord. He picked that scripture, helped me remember it, gave me a way to find it, had me read the one the congregation really needed, and then helped me to teach it clearly in Visaya. I know there is no way that I did all that. I am not that capable.

I know that when we rely on the Lord, ask Him for His help, and then do something, that He will gladly help us. I have seen that with my Visaya. I prayed for help with the language for a long time, but didn’t work that hard on it. I spent my time studying doctrine and the lessons and the Book of Mormon. But the day that I decided I needed to learn the language and that I was going to do what it takes, and then did something about it, I had 2 conversations with people on tricycles, which usually doesn't happen. Usually peopled don’t talk back. Both of them commented on how good my Visaya was. That doesn't happen very often, and I know it was because I put my faith in the Lord, and then did something. President Uchtdorf quoted President Monson who said, It is not enough to say we are going to make the effort, it is in the doing that the Lord can bless us. I know that is true.

Nasayud ko nga tinuod kining simbahan. Nasayud ko nga tinuod propeta si Joseph Smith ug tinuod ang Basahon ni Mormon. Nasayud ko nga tinuod propeta si Thomas S. Monson karon panahon. Kon buhaton nato mga butang diri sa kalibutan, makabalik ta sa atong Amahan sa Langit ug makapuyo ta sa atong mga pamilia sa wala kataputsan.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. I really enjoy my companion that I have now. We have a lot of fun together. This last week we taught 25 new investigators. Hopefully some of them will progress. We have a baptism scheduled for next Saturday the 27, Sister Erlinda Alcala. We are also teaching 4 brothers, Oswe, Renante, Leonardo, and Hector. We need their priesthood in our branch. We just split the branch and now have 3 active Melchizedek Priesthood holders, and one only comes about half the time. The people of the Philippines need all the prayers they can get. Their lives are such a struggle. Many men make enough money a day to pay for between 4 and 8 meals. Many of them have that many kids. We are teaching a family who have 13 people living in their house about the size of our dining room. There are 2 rooms and one is divided by a sheet. They sleep on the bamboo floor. They cook over a fire, many people do, out back. I worry every step I take that I am going to fall through the floor. I am the biggest person that goes there. I have to aim for the floor joists so I don’t fall through. I have never seen the husband. He is always working. Their 12 year old son drives a secad all day long, a bike with a little sidecar attached. You pay 5 pesos for a ride. That is about 10 cents. They need all the help they can get.

Thank you all for all you do. I know the Lord loves us and watches over us all. In the hard times, it is Him who can make the difference. Christ is the difference between sorrow and happiness. He is on our side, we just have to accept His help. He really does love you.

Love,
Elder Schenk

November 10, 2010

Dad,
Thanks for your email. Things are going well this week. I am still loving it! It is great to hear that you have snow in the foothills. I could go for some of that right now. It is stinking hot here and it’s not even the hot season yet. My Philippino companion from Manila, which I hear is even hotter than here, is dying from the heat. We played basketball today. We are going earlier next week. 6:30 is too hot. Better before the sun is really up. I love what you said about teaching a full family. I have only had that opportunity once, and it was back in Cebu. I don’t know if they got baptized or not. Usually you just teach mothers. The fathers are always working.

It is a pretty poor area I am in. There isn’t a nice restaurant here because nobody could afford it. Instead they have calendarias. They just cook up a bunch of food, and put it out on a table on the side of the road and you buy whatever you want right out of the pan. Usually it’s not too bad. They also have barbeque. They have lots of different kinds of meats, mostly chicken and pork, on shishkabobs and you just throw it on the grill and cook it. Then you buy some puso, rice wrapped in some type of leaf that they weave into a diamond shape, and dip it in soy sauce and vinegar with chilies. The chilies here will kill you! One the length of your pinkie nail is strong enough to make your entire meal hot! But here in the Philippines they like it hot. So you put 3 or 4. I am getting used to it.

Thanks for your letters dad! I am so grateful for the example you have set for me. I have become who I am because of my parents and leaders. You have been a huge influence in my life. When Elder Cook came, the 70 over the Philippines spoke and talked about our legacy. What will be left behind when we leave. Your legacy lives in me Dad. I am trying to become the example you have always been to me. Thanks for everything. I love you all with all my heart. I am excited for the day when I can hug you all again!

Love you Dad,
Elder Schenk

November 2, 2010

Mom,

Thanks for your letter. First tell Dad that he cannot wait for me to get home to start shooting birds again. It is a lot more fun to hunt when you shoot things. I haven’t gotten the second package yet.  Maybe next week. But I am excited to open my birthday cake this Saturday. I haven’t even unwrapped it yet. And I bought ice cream! For 120 pesos! Cheap in dollars, and worth over two meals in pesos. Tell Grandma Schenk thanks for the birthday money. It helped with the ice cream. And it tastes so good!

This last week has been an interesting one. I got a new companion. Also my area got split in half and the other two elders are living with us. For the first two nights they slept on our wood bed frames while we slept on or mattresses on the floor. We only have one stove burner, and the only food we had was what I had bought for myself for the next week. But all is well. Elder Francisco, one of the elders up in the new area, Catmon, has been doing most of the cooking. That has been nice. I am starting to get fat again. It feels good to be full! We don’t have a baptism this weekend. We have Sister Erlinda Alcala being baptized on November 27. The one we had planned for my birthday hasn’t come to church yet and was still struggling to talk to her father about baptism. We taught her father twice now and he is really receptive, not ready to change yet, but making progress. She is now in the new area, so we won’t teach her anymore. My new companion is super good at remembering things. He can hear someone’s name once and then refer to them, and their entire family by name for the entire lesson. He remembers all of their names when we come back. He is learning the area super fast. He has this ability to have people open up to him. Within a few minutes he can have them laughing and gain their trust. He is a really good teacher. He is a great example of that for me. I am stretching myself to keep up.

Oh tell Diane and Dad Happy Birthday for me. I kept forgetting to send them emails. Everyone says they have Halloween here, but it came and went in silence. So I’m not sure.

I am loving my area. I really do love the people here. They really are our brothers and sisters even though they look different, speak a different language, and live half way around the world. We are all
God's children. It is an honor to serve them for the Savior. I love you all! Keep working hard. The Lord likes hard workers. No matter how hard our situation is, Dieter F. Uchtdorf says that work will always help it change. Mom, it is exciting that you got a new calling! Good for you for volunteering! My branch could use some good activities. Maybe you will have to come and visit.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Missionaries really do walk closely with the Lord. We just have to remember to turn to Him. I wish I had more time to write. I really had the scriptures come to
life this week. I am reading them for me and for my investigators, and the stories amaze me how well they really do apply to us. I love the Book of Mormon! Read it every day. Study it. Ponder its doctrines. It is in the pondering that the personal revelation comes. Thanks for everything! I love you all. Thanks for the mail. I think I get more mail from the US than anyone I know.

Love,
Elder Schenk

October 26, 2010

Thanks for the pictures mom! That was neat to see. You need to make sure dad brings his camera next time. I miss those days. This week is transfers. Elder Agbayani is transferring to Bohol and is going to be a district leader. My new companion is going to be Elder Nicoleta. He was in my last district, so that will help our relationship start off faster. I had a baptism this week as well! Jerom Benzone. He is 11 and his family are members. We got there 2 hours early on Saturday, and found out that all the water the church had came to about an inch in the font. Water here is different. It comes on every other day and you have a tank that fills up. The church has a huge tank, but it was empty. But by Sunday they had fixed it and we had plenty of water for Elder Agbayani to baptize him. His friend wants to take the lessons now. But he lives in the next town over, not our area, but visits on the weekend.
Erlinda Alcala is another one of our investigators. She just married a semi active member and wanted to take the lessons. She is progressing, but has not come to church in a month. She just got a job and probably will be working 6 days a week, including Sunday. So that could be hard.

Our other investigators are:
Maria Reyes, Glen Feloso, Rochelle, Nitchie, the Lumin family, Nicolasial Singson, and our newest investigator that we found yesterday, Jesus Constan.  They need all the prayers they can get.

So to answer your questions, the monsoon didn’t get us here. It has just been raining a lot. I actually got cold yesterday. It had to be in the upper 80s but was rainy and windy. I am going to freeze when I get home!

People don’t ask hard questions. They are all catholic and have been for generations. The younger ones are willing to change but their parents won’t let them, and the older ones don’t want to find out that what they have believed their whole life is wrong. So they don’t want to find out our church is true, because then theirs is wrong. But everyone believes in Christ and is very accepting of the gospel. Finding people to teach is definitely not a problem. It is just finding the ones that are willing to change that is hard.

I have got a little thinner, but I have only lost 5 pounds, and since I gained 10 in the mtc, I figure I’ll be all right. I found out this week that if you make more food, you actually get full! So I have been making more.

The language is coming well. I focused too much on doctrine my first transfer and a half, so I am probably a little behind, but if you have faith, and actually work at it, you learn super fast. Elder Agbayani volunteers me to teach from the scriptures all the time when I am unprepared, and I can usually get the point across. Most people speak a lot of English, especially the college students. That is nice so I can substitute words when I don’t know them.
As far as I know the mail is still coming regularly. I usually get a letter every week from someone. Thanks for that.Thank everyone for their prayers for me. I really appreciate it. I feel so much help from the Lord. That is the only way to be successful in this work.

I love you all! Thanks for all you do! Tell people sorry I don’t mail more often, there is just no time.
Love you!
Elder Schenk

October 20, 2010

October 20, 2010

To answer moms questions, visa would be nice, and yes I did get to
baptize Ritchie and Irene both. Thanks for everything. The jerky and
peanut butter were a life saver. Love you all. Sorry I spent all my
time trying to send some pictures and a movie, I don't think the
computer liked the movie. Sorry. Love you all. Keep safe. I'll try
to write a letter today if I have time. Elder Cooks fireside was
super good. I want to tell you about it. If I forget, remind me. I
journaled about it.
Love you all!
Elder Schenk

Hey mom, I wanted to try sending some pictures, Let me know how it
turns out. I tried to load a bunch and it broke the webpage. So I'll
do a little at a time, maybe multiple emails. Thanks
Love you!
Elder Schenk

Katie,
That is so exciting, you're growing at the right rate. Good for you.  Life here in the Philippines is good. I just realized that the building I am in was built around a tiny tree, It comes in one of the walls and goes out the roof. Weird. Well I love you! Take care. Tell Josh I said hi!
Elder Schenk





Elder Schenk and Elder Agbayani

  




Devin's First Baptisms, Irene & Ritchie







 

October 12, 2010

October 12, 2010

Family,
Maayong buntag. Kamusta mo tanan? ok ra diri. Naa ko duha mga investigators nga magpabunyag diri sa Carmen. Usa ka kining transfer sa Oct. 23 ug usa ka next transfer sa nov 6, akong birthday. Excited kaayo ko.

Good morning. How are your all? Good here. I have 2 investigators that will be baptized here in Carmen. One this transfer on Oct 23 and one next transfer on Nov. 6, my birthday. I am really excited.

Our email time is now only 30 min to read, write the president, and then write our families, so my emails will be getting shorter. The ocean here in Carmen is really beautiful. There aren’t really any nice beaches, just rocky ones. The other night the moon was full and there was no cloud cover. It was so beautiful with the moon reflecting off the water. So an update on the weather. I asked for specifics on the temperatures. Elder Powel said that he has had a watch that has a thermometer his whole mission. He said that he has never seen the temperature below 88, and this is his last transfer here in the mission. I was blown away! I thought that on a cool rainy night it was about 70, but I was wrong.

I am eating more meat for you dad. And I am exercising more. It feels good. The work is going well. We don’t have time to contact as many people as we should because we are always teaching lessons. We found some more good investigators. Hopefully they will continue to apply faith and strengthen their testimonies. That is a big problem here. People are so willing to hear, but don’t apply it to themselves and really make the change in their lives. I hope I can really convert my investigators.

Well I have to go. Everything is good here.
Love you all!
Elder Schenk

October 6, 2010

October 6, 2010

Dad, and Family,

Thanks for your letter. It is so good to hear from you. For some reason your email made me cry today. I know the Lord is blessing you so much. I just wish you could know how much he is blessing me. My new area is hard. My companion is a lot different than I am. My last area was amazing and my companion became one of the best friends I have ever had. I never had to worry about teaching because no matter what I said or how well I did, I knew that the lesson would be really good. My new area is a lot more work. My companion is a lot less motivated, so I can’t just follow all the time. I have to be the one leading. But I am growing so much more here. Don’t take it that hard is bad. I love it so much! The Lord has opened my mind so many times to things in the scriptures that I had never known before. I think of the counsel that the Lord gave to Joseph Smith in carthage jail, that even if the very jaws of hell should gape open after him, that all would be for his good. I feel the same way. When things get hard I learn the most. There are a lot of church leaders who had hard times in their lives. I have Dieter F. Uchtdorf on my iPod. He tells about how hard his childhood was as a refugee. But I can’t help but feeling that our challenges and struggles are really a blessing from the Lord. They are the refining fire, preparing us for the rest of our time here in this life, and also preparing us for our work into the eternities. Don’t worry about me, the Lord is on my side, and it is him who I serve. He is watching over me.

You don’t see a lot of animals in the bukid. But it is beautiful. I just asked an elder how hot it is here, to my surprise, I thought it was cooler, but it is in the upper 80's today. It is in the upper 90's a lot. I didn’t think that. I must be turning Filipino. My laundry skills are improving, but are way too slow. I don’t have time to do everything.

Eric, you know that song by inside out "I hope they call me on a mission"? Remember when the little girl said that her uncle didn’t like the Brazil mission because he had to eat fish including their skin, eyeballs and bones? Been there done that! It’s not actually that bad. I have really come to like fish. And sardines, not that bad either! I learned today the Filipino way to eat with your hands. That one is going to take some practice.

I got your package today! Exactly 1 month early! Nice work! I am going on exchanges with the district leader today. I will be with his companion in Danao. He doesn’t speak English. That will be fun... I am excited. I get to learn again!

Eric, I am proud of you! Keep working hard. Learn all you can now. Education is really important. Keep up the good work.

I haven’t seen conference yet. Saturday morning session would be Saturday night here. So we get to see it this weekend. We also get to hear from Elder Cook in person on the 14th! I get to shake his hand! I am really excited!

I love you all so much! Take care! Tell Jeff Komar thanks for writing me. I don’t have time to send him a letter so you will have to do it for me.
Love you!
Elder Schenk

Pictures Received in the mail from Devin Today!



Elder Clark
First Companion

Busay
(Elder Schenk, notice he's still wearing his nametag)

A little closer up.

Busay
This is the waterfall/river I am in and took pictures of.  One of the most beautiful places on earth!



Busay
The river on the way to Irene's Father's house to ask for permission for baptism.  He said yes :)








Tabonan
To the right is the second highest point in Cebu.
We went to go visit an excommuncated member who invited us to his house.  It took an hour on a hubbal hubbal.  Forever!  But one of the most beautiful drives.  On the way you can see both sides of the island.  You can see Negros, Bohol and Camotes.  So beautiful.  There is a cave and a rainforest in the bottom.  Brother and Sister Reid (the last office couple) went there.  They said it was awesome.  We planned to go there, but I am transferring tomorrow.  Our currenarea is HUGE!  It goes from downtown with 2 churches and a temple to this 38 km from town.  Crazy.  I love it.  I am transferring to Carmen.  I hear it is so beautiful.  Lots of Bukids.  Love you, Elder Schenk



My Batch
Cebu Temple
The Filipinos came from the Manilla MTC.




A better view of the Elders and Sisters. 
Brother Bailey is on the left and Sister Hansen is on the right.

Rambotan
You pull hard and the outer skin peels in two.  Inside is a white fruit with a big seed that looks like an almond.  They are good, but eat too many and your throat starts to itch.

September 29, 2010

Hello Family!
I didn't mean to scare you off that time that I said not to email me
so much. I just got a lot of longgg emails that time not giving much
time for a reply. Diane and Katie, I would still like to hear from
you too.

Carmon is a small town. It has one main street. It is full of buses
going from Cebu to the Northern part of the island and back. All of
the stores and everything are within about 2 blocks. But it has a gas
station! I haven't found a place to buy meat here yet. I have to go
to Danao, about 20 min, to get anything but fruits and vegetables to
eat. We have district meeting there on monday. I bought some meat
there last week and it had gone bad by the time we got home. But
vegetables are cheap here! I got two bags full for about a dollar!
Fruit is much more expensive though. I wish they had more variety. I
eat a lot of mangos and bananas. They have good grapes here though.

We now have 5 people in this area with baptismal dates! one of them
isn't that dedicated, and some of the others, unless they really
become converted, I don't see them staying active. They live with a
bunch of inactive members and this branch of 40 or so people isn't
exciting enough to go for the social life. We will keep working on
them. Well I am sure glad we have a washing machine back home. It is
so time consuming washing your own clothes. I literally don't have
enough time to eat and clean and do laundry and study and sleep for
the full time. Yesterday I got up half an hour early and went to bed
half an hour late and almost missed an hour of study time. I just
wish I could work and study and not have to worry about the little
tedious things.

I spent all of my pday cleaning the apartment. It was a mess when I
got there. But it is clean now! the fridge still stinks though. I
cleaned the entire thing with bleach this morning and as soon as I
plugged it back in the stink came back. any ideas?

I am right on the ocean here. It is beautiful at night! The other
day the moon was full, the sky was clear, and it reflected of the
water so beautifully! There aren't any nice beaches though. they are
all cliffs or rocky.

We haven't gotten a fan yet. hopefully in about 20 min. Ill unload
my 1200 pesos on it and hope the Zone Leaders pay me back tomorrow at
zone conference. that will be exciting! For conference we have to
drive an hour I think to the chapel somewhere else. Probably the
stake center. thanks for doing the debit card for me. Master Card
doesnt work very many places here. Ill find out today if it works in
danao. If not I may be asking for a Visa.

Thanks for all your prayers for me! I feel so blessed here. I wish I
could study all day long. the scriptures have so much doctrine in
them! I have grown so much in the last 3 weeks! I love being a
missionary. Things I have never thought about are making so much
sense to me now. It is hard sometimes, but it is so worth it.
Everything will be for our profit and learning right? It is hard now,
but I am learning so much. I will be so much prepared for life after
my mission than I ever could have been. The Gospel is such a
blessing to us. Knowledge has become so important to me. I love
learning! I bought an english dictionary so I could better understand
the scriptures. I am learning so much! Eric, you will never know how
much of a blessing a mission will be for you until you look back on
what you have learned. Dont miss it for anything. Learn to love the
trials. It is the Lords way for preparing you to serve Him better. I
heard so much that people said they thought they had a testimony
before their missions and realized how small it was once they got in
the mission field. The same is happening to me. I knew it was true,
but there was so much I didnt know. there was so much I didnt do. It
is amazing how much we can learn from the Lord and from the
scriptures.

I love you and hope you are all doing well!

Elder Schenk

September 21, 2010

September 21, 2010

Mom,
I am doing great. I have lots of news too!
I transferred last week. I am now in Carmen, about an hour and a half north right on the coast. The two cities directly to the north and south of it are in my area too. I got your dear elder. There were 11 areas in my zone, only one in my ward. My new companion is Elder Agbayani. He is a Filipino. We eat out a lot at the little places on the side of the road. I plan to get a whole lot of food soon so I can put a few more inches back on. This last week has left my already too big pants dangling. I went to McDonalds today to make up for it. It costs about the price of 3 other meals, but still cheaper than the US. I am in a small branch now. My area has been struggling. It just needs a little tlc. Faith and obedience brings blessings from the Lord. Carmon hasn't had a convert baptism since February, but the President promised that if we keep the mission standards we will have an average of 3 per month. Why deny the blessings. So to start off with a bang, the day after I got there we committed someone to baptism on Oct 9. Two days later we committed two more for the 26th. So I think things will start looking up here. I am in Cebu again today. Because of where I transferred I got to go to the temple two weeks in a row. Today was one of them. We also need to get a new fan for the apartment. We are down to just one, and that isn’t going to do. It'll take a few weeks, but soon the apartment will be clean and looking nice. I get to wash my clothes by hand now! Yippie! Now I will have absolutely no free time, not that I had any before. I am excited for this Saturday though! I get to come back to Cebu again and baptize Ritchie! I am so excited! Irene is being baptized as well.

I sent you an envelope with some pictures in it. Hopefully you get it in about a week. That is a different waterfall. Yours looks better, but mine is taller. I don’t know where I am going to do email anymore. It costs 10-15 pesos an hour. You can probably print off the emails, but I never had. Just more money. We do have an oven! Just right for two slices of bread. About half the size of the toaster oven I brought to college. None of the apartments have an oven but the first one I lived in for a week next to the AP's. That one had hot water too. That’s living the life! We have zone conference next week so I get to meet with the president then. We have one once every two transfers. The Church came out with more preach my gospel material for missionaries. We are being much more efficient now. We commit to baptism in almost every lesson. It is super helpful in finding people who the Lord has already prepared, and not just people willing to listen. We were doing that in Cebu and every one of our progressing investigators was willing to be baptized if it was true. Amazing! Missionary work has come so far! I teach a lot of the first lesson now. I don’t do a whole lot of the others, but I still try. There is still a lot of vocab I don’t know. It’s hard to teach because when I ask questions usually I miss the main point of the answer. That makes it hard to fit the lesson to the investigator. But for the time being, that is what my companion is for. And no, no machetes yet. I’ll try to keep it that way.

Tell everyone I love them. Thank them for their prayers. I can really feel the Lord blessing me in my work. Tell Katie I am excited to be an uncle. Tell Diane the same. :)
Sure love you!
Elder Schenk

September 14, 2010

Dad,
Thank you for your prayers for me and for my investigators. I can feel the Lords help and guidance. The weather here is awesome... if you were on vacation. But it is a little hot for a collared shirt and tie with black pants. It rains every few days. Sometimes it rains really hard, like yesterday. It goes from sunny to sprinkling to huge drops dumping down like nothing in Washington. Within a half hour or so it stops, but that is enough to cause the back roads to flood. The road we live on is at the bottom of a little valley and everyone’s garbage goes floating by in the river.

I am healthy. I sleep well at night. No problems there. I am so tired that falling asleep is no problem. We just moved yesterday again. We moved next door to a smaller place owned by the same person. We have an AC now, so I sleep really well now. It was super dirty though. We spent all Monday cleaning. We washed all of the walls and floors. It’s all tile and concrete so you can just hose the whole thing down, but we don’t have a hose. So lots of buckets and sponges. It is nice now.

For pday we go hiking in the bukid. It is so beautiful! We took our district up to the waterfall we hiked last week and then walked all the way down the the river to town. It took around 4 hours. This week we are going to the temple! Only once a month. I love living next to it so much. We have lots of cool stuff in our area.
Investigators.
Ritchie, Irene, Archie all have baptismal dates.
The Luza family is super golden. They are a definite possibility for baptism. They are praying hard for the answer. Erwin is the uncle of one of the members we work with. He has some complications with his wife about joining. Hopefully she will let him. He is a possibility.
Others:
Dino Barsal
Jerico
Kelly and Esmey
Joan Chan
Abbeth
Rangie
I love you! Take care,
Elder Schenk

Mom
I don’t have any time to respond. We have to get to the temple. I love you though. I emailed dad for everyone. Thanks so much for your prayers. I feel so blessed! We have so many good investigators!
Love you so much! Thanks for making me who I am. It is so nice to have been raised the way I was.
Love,
Elder Schenk

Tell Eric I said hi and give Andre a high five. I love you too Eric!

One Month in Cebu!

Family,


Thanks for the dear elders. I did get them. Mom, you almost didn’t email me in time. When I was reading dads yours showed up. Thanks for the pictures. They work out great this way. That is exciting that Eric is on varsity tennis! My bigger than me little brother is a stud! And varsity soccer! Elder Clark is super good at soccer. He was planning on playing after high school but got taken out pretty bad in one of his last games and hasn’t been able to play since. I guess his ankle got messed up bad.

In the Cebu City zone we have 11 different areas. We only have one ward. Cebu city has so many people. They cram so many people into a small house, like the size of our dining room. On the other side of the wall is the neighbor’s living room. They are packed in so tight. It gets really dirty. But out in the bukid it is a lot better. They often times have nicer, larger houses with a yard. But they build everything on the steep hillsides. It’s crazy. I’ll send you a picture some time. I’ll try to get them developed today. Yes there is air conditioning in the chapel. They call it air con. It gets freezing during sacrament meeting! Back home when I would hear that it was going to be 20 degrees Celsius on the Canadian station I was excited it would be a nice day. Now 20 degrees is freezing! I have a hard time. I feel bad for the Filipinos. Often times they speak English, Cebuano, and Tagalog at church. They are supposed to speak all in English, but it doesn’t always work out that way. They speak English really well in the city. Not so well out of the City. We are teaching one investigator in English, he is originally tagalog, and Elder Clark talks to him in Cebuano. It is interesting. Here in the city they mix all three languages in common talking. I don’t notice so much. I just keep smiling, praying that someday I will understand. It is getting a lot easier. I am finding that some things I can say without thinking about them. It just feels natural. Other times I say things all wrong. Oh well. It is fun. We have a gospel principles class that usually has 8 to 10 people. Two are recently baptized. And usually someone will show up that we don’t know. That is always nice.

The work is picking up. President promised us that if we get our key indicators that the mission has set, we will average 3 baptisms a month. We are working hard and have a lot of prime investigators,

Ritchie and Irene both are being baptized on the 25. We got permission from her father last Saturday. That is a cool story. Apparently he is crazy and a drunkard and chases people out with machetes, but he ended up being really receptive after we talked to him. We are going to go back and talk to him and hopefully teach him how to read and write. He lives in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is down from the waterfall about 1.5 miles. It’s a good hike. It took us 1.5 hours to get there the first time because we took the long trail around. We took the district back there today for p-day because it is so beautiful. I love it!

We have 2 sisters who are committed to baptism, but they still need their father’s permission. Their mother referred them, and she is inactive, and now they are more active than she is. Doesn’t really make sense to me. But I think they will be baptized. Their names are Kelly and Esmey.

We also have another couple who are very receptive and are willing to be 100% if they find out it is true. Melinda and Luey Uzah. They would do so well with the gospel.

We also have one more who says he will be baptized if he finds out the book of Mormon is true. He is all about the bible though and doesn’t think we need anything more. We will see. Brother Jerico.

Also Archie, Maria, and Erwin have a good chance at being baptized. They all are possible investigators, just hard to catch up with. It is hard when their phones don’t work and they don’t have answering machines.

Did you get the TV from Wal-Mart? If so I know the exact one it is. It will look nicer with HD cables, but we don’t have anything that is HD, so don’t worry about it.

I love you all, Take care!
Love,
Elder Schenk

Hello!

September 1, 2010
Dear Family
That was a short one! But thats ok. Sorry I havent sent any pictures yet, I dont want to send them by email because I might get a virus on my sd card. Elder Clark has gotten 2. Ill mail them when I get them developed. You can still dear elder me. but it is mailed from salt lake, and probably doesnt get here any faster.

So good news! I got my first sunburn today! we went on a hike to a waterfall up in busay. It is small, but the area is so beautiful. It is all hills covered in trees and plants, and off in the distance between hills you can see Cebu. So beautiful! And I get to see it every day! I love it here.

We have one investigator with a baptisimal date, Richie. He is 13 and lives with his uncle who is in the bishopric. Irene is 16. She really wants to be baptized but her father hasnt allowed her yet. She ran away from home because her father is crazy. He lives 2 hours down the trail from where she lives in the mountains. hopefully we will here back soon. Our other investigators are Eric, Archie, Erwin, Chilito, and Kelly and Esmay, sisters. We have more that we are working on, but those are the progressing investigators.

You should send me pictures in your emails! I love you all! take care! The Lord is watching over me here.
Love you all!
Elder Schenk

Hello!
I tried a new fruit the other day. It is a little red ball that has long tenticle things coming off it. you pull really hard and the skin splits open exposing a clearish white fruit with a seed that look like an almond, but definitely doesnt taste like one. It is good! we bought squid today. that will be fun to eat. I ate dugot dugot at a members house last week. Dugot means blood. They boil pig blood till it gets hard and chewey and then put it over rice. verry tastey. It smells like poo.

Love you,
Elder Schenk

I found out about the "Rainy Season"

August 25, 2010
Family,

I love it here in Cebu! First of all let me clear up what the Baileys said about the traffic. I don’t know what they said but they have to drive in it. That is probably nuts because it is so different than the US. But honestly it is fine here. I haven’t seen anyone crash yet, and I walk the streets downtown every day. It is crazy because there are not any rules... that anyone follows. Lanes don’t matter. Motorcycles go zooming past no matter when. The jeepnys stop all the time and people are always crossing the street. But they are used to it here. They are not like prideful Americans who hit someone if that person was at fault. They pull out into full traffic and everyone stops. It seems crazy that you can just drive across the road and the other cars yield to you, but in the Philippines that’s how it works. It is, most of the time, very efficient.

I have attended the temple once. We get to go once a month, even though it is in my area and only about a 15 min walk from my apartment.

Thank you so much for emailing, but we are only going to have 30 min from now on and if I spend the entire time reading, I cannot write much. And I have so much to say. So maybe just cut out the flab and tell me the same stuff, just faster?

No Mom I haven’t been to the waterfall yet. My last 3 p-days haven’t really been p-days. The move, the big leadership meeting today (for elder Clark) and something else the other day. We called a lot of temple referrals yesterday, and had made appointments for this morning. I have been working with Frankie for the last 3 days till 5 and tomorrow too.

I finally found out what they mean by the "rainy season". It was a lot like Washington rain for the first few weeks.... but hot and not a whole lot of it. Then last night, it went from nothing to huge drops of water coming down to within 30 seconds it felt like I was in a waterfall! Luckily I was at the temple grounds, unluckily I was planning on walking home then. So we grabbed umbrellas from the rack and ran across the parking lot to the chapel. By the time I got there (maybe 30 seconds) my left arm was soaked so that I could see my arm through my shirt, and my pants were soaked from my calves down. All of the stairs were waterfalls and the road turned into a river.
Finally it let up a little so we took a jeepny to our road, then a hubal hubal (motorcycle) to our apartment. It had pretty much stopped raining, and the road was fairly dry. Then we hit traffic at a little intersection that never has traffic. Our road, the same one the marcado is on, was a river of brown water at least a foot deep rushing down! I ended up having to walk part of the way to my apartment where I saw Elder Clark stranded with his leadership training comp who is staying with us for the week, in the guard booth at the gate. We walked home (they had to wait for me because I had the key) in the deep water. It turns out waterproof shoes hold in water really well! That was fun. :)

We still had appointments, and I did something I never anticipated doing on my mission. I went out teaching with my pants rolled up and in green 45 peso flip flops! Kind of fun!

We also went to an appointment almost at the end of our area in the mountains. I had no idea how big my area was! We rode a hubal hubal for an hour up and down mountains to get there! It was like 38 km out of the city! Super pretty though. I could see both sides of the island and both Bohol and Negros.

Our new apartment is good now. We figured out the water and spent a whole day cleaning it. The tile and wood floors are now shiny and we have all of the furniture we need. It’s nice. We still have a shower! But it’s cold... especially this morning. It was cold yesterday after the rain, and last night did a number on the water. But it feels so good to be clean after sweating your guts out every day. I sweat all day long unless there is a fan or air conditioning. I use my handkerchiefs a lot! They are usually soaked by the end of the day. And my shirt, and my pants. But good news! I just go my second pair of custom made pants today! These ones are super nice. The new ones are so much better than the tight American style. Definitely not made for the Philippines.

We have 3 progressing investigators, one has a baptismal date for the 18 of September, one has wanted to be baptized for a long time but her dad (not the best guy in the world... unlike mine) hasn’t let her yet. And the third has read 20 pages of first Nephi, but doesn’t have that assurity that it is true yet. We work hard. About 60% of the time our planned for lessons don’t happen because they aren’t home. But we still talk to a lot of people. I am getting a little better at Cebuano. I still do a lot of patient sitting with little clue what is going on, but I find myself understanding more and more, and being able to carry on longer conversations with people. It’s good.

I love you all!

Elder Schenk

From the Baileys

Our Dearly Beloved Family and Friends,


Since a mission actually starts the day you report to the MTC, we have now completed our first month. One down, 22 more to go. It’s amazing how fast time fly’s.

For those who believe in the old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, don’t believe it. Sister Bailey and I have had to learn very quickly how to text. That is the method of communication here in the Philippines. No one talks on the phone.

Driving here is a real treat for those who have never been to foreign country where they really don’t have any traffic laws to speak of. We got our Philippines drivers’ license this last week, so we are legal to go play bumper cars. They also made us get our Motorcycle endorsement, (as if I’m going to get out on these roads without a lot of metal around me). There are four basic rules to driving over here. “Flow”, “Pick”, “Pick-Flash” and “The No-See-Chicken”.

Flow – It doesn’t matter where the lines are painted or how many official lanes of traffic there are – flow with the traffic. If there are only two lanes painted on the road and there are four lanes of traffic, don’t worry – just flow.

Pick – This principle is as simple as the first. Whichever driver can pick (place) any portion of his vehicle in front of the other vehicle, the successful (first) picker has the right of way. The slow learner who waits for a break in the traffic is bound to spend much of his traffic life waiting for that break. All it takes is a little courage coupled with a small portion of bumper or fender picked in front of another vehicle and you have the right of way. Of course this works both ways. If another driver picks his vehicle in front of yours, you have to give the right of way.

Pick Flash – While the pick principle applies to traffic in the flow or at intersections, there is an important special application of picking when you face another vehicle head-on with room only for one lane of traffic. This occurs when you’re on a 2 lane road and one lane is blocked by road work, a stalled vehicle, a landslide or whatever. As two vehicles approach each other and the one lane section it is not always obvious who can win the race to get through, the “pick” is won by the vehicle that flashes its headlights first. Playing this game correctly requires good eyesight, distance judgment and a quick hand on the light switch.

Along with the Flash Pick is the “Vis-à-vis pick”. This applies when passing moving traffic on a 2 lane road. You pass, and while passing the slower vehicles, an oncoming vehicle appears. If you flash first, the on comer must slow down and let you get around; if he flashes first, prepare to fall back, escape or abandon ship.

The No-See-Chicken – This is a version of the old American game of Chicken. It is important in the no-see-chicken situation not to let on (no-see) that you see the other vehicle(s). For example, when entering an intersection, if there are vehicles coming from your left or right, you have to act like you don’t see them. The best procedures are to maintain your speed and look straight ahead. If speed is slowed or you turn your head to look in the direction of the other vehicle, the driver will know you have spotted him and the old American variety of chicken goes into play. Be prepared to give the right of way.

All the above is done while you are watching out for motorcycles that go wherever they want to and pedestrians who walk into your traffic lane or stand on the line in the middle of the road. Enough about driving here in the Philippines.

We were able to find a nice furnished, 2 bedroom townhouse apartment on the third day. Mostly out of desperation. As temporary housing they had us staying at the Temple Patron house for two nights. That was about all we could stand. It had a bathroom (very nice) and a sleeping room that had 6 bunk beds. Nice for a night if you and your family were there to go to the Temple, but not for long term living. Our apartment is in a complex of 4 apartments. The owner (landlord) is in apartment #2 and he is the 1st Councilor in the Stake Presidency. Apartment #1 is occupied by the Family History Senior Missionary couple. Apartment #3 is occupied by the City Zone Leader Missionaries and we are in apartment #4. Gee, a 100% LDS community in the Philippines, how wonderful is that.

Things have been very busy for us since we arrived. Yesterday, Sister Bailey and I were able to relax just enough to finally get to the Temple. It was so wonderful to be there. I know it hadn’t been all that long since we had gone but when you were used to going twice a week every week it seemed like it had been a lifetime. The Temple here in Cebu is new, clean and very beautiful. The session we attended was full to overflowing. They had to bring in some extra chairs to fit everyone in. Most of the sessions here are that way. It is wonderful to see a people so dedicated to serving the Lord.

We definitely see the need to learn the language here. As we attend church each Sunday we have a very difficult time understanding what is going on. In one sentence the speaker will use English, Cebuano and Tagolog.

We want all of you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. We love you and miss you and will stay in touch. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Love

Elder & Sister Bailey

Philippines, Cebu Mission

Elder Schenk with President and Sister Hansen

We recieve a letter from President Hansen today saying that Elder Schenk had arrived and was in good hands!  He enclosed a "welcome snapshot".  I think Devin looks great!

August 18, 2010

August 18, 2010

Family!
The mission is great! I still don't speak cebuano but I am learning. Sorry if this is short and choppy. Most of the keys you have to hit to make them work, and I have no time today.
The mangos are good. We eat about 4 kilos a week. We have rice and usually chicken or pork stir fry for dinner. Sometimes we eat at the patron house. It is good and cheap. You can get a meal for about $1.40. Not bad.
We went to the temple today. It is beautiful. We got asked to be witnesses for sealings. That was a nice break after we moved last night. It is a nice place, but it hadn’t been lived in for a bit and was dirty. We spent all last night trying to get water, and all day this morning cleaning. I got some pants made. They are big, but I really like them. They are a nice dark green with a bit of a black stripe.
We have 2 progressing investigators, and many that haven’t had the second lesson yet. If we push ourselves I think we will have a lot of success.
The address on my sheet I handed out works. I got a letter from Brittany last week.
Thanks for all of your prayers. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Schenk

ps. We found a sweet waterfall in our area. We are going to hike it soon I hope! :)

First Week in the Mission Field

Family!


I love it here in Cebu! It is hot and humid, but not unbearable. When I first stepped off the plane in Hong Kong it was like I hit a wall of water! When you walk out of an air conditioned room at church it feels the same way. It is crazy how much you sweat!

I am assigned in City zone in Cebu City. The temple is in my area! The only area with it! I feel lucky. My companion is Elder Clark. He is an American from California. He has been out 21 months and is a really good missionary. He takes good care of me. Everybody is his friend and they tell me how lucky I am to have him as a trainer. He is one of the best Visayan speakers in the mission. He understands everything and is always joking around with the Filipinos trying to make them laugh. We were both transferred into this area, and the boundaries are about to change and all of the previous progressing investigators are moving to another area, so we had nobody to teach. We have been doing a lot of tracting. We have met a lot of members. One of them, Frankie, doesn't have work so he has been going with us every day for the last 3 days. He knows were a lot of members are. My area is huge! It covers a lot of down town, which is tiny houses all smashed together. So many people can live in one block! Also we have a LOT of bukid (hills) in our area. We take a jeepny up there almost every day. I’ll send you a picture next week. It is amazing how many homes are built on such steep hills!

I love it here. There are so many good people who live in such humble circumstance. They have little houses made of concrete the size of half our carport with 6 or so people living there. And on the other side of the wall is their neighbor’s main room. They are literally right next to each other. It is so beautiful! Everyting is so green. The bukid is so beautiful. They have a place called tops. It is the very top of the bukid. It costs about 100 pesos to get up there, 100 pesos to enter, and probably 50 more to get home. That is about 5 dollars, but it is really expensive here. A normal jeepny ride is 6.5 pesos. We took 3 of us on a motorcycle (motor) 15 minutes up a steep windy road into the bukid and it cost 80 pesos up and 45 down.

The temple is so beautiful! The grounds are so beautiful. They keep it really nice. My apartment is the nicest one in the entire mission! We have AC, a shower with hot water and no bugs. We live at the old church next to the assistants. One area over, Sister Robbison, who I was in the mtc with, has a bucket of cold water to shower with, dies every night because it is too hot, and bugs everywhere. We are so lucky. We are moving next week so that another senior couple can move in. Hopefully that place will be nice too.

Mail takes forever to get here, so email works just fine. Thanks for everything! I love you all!

Elder Schenk

Cebu City!

I made it! It is nice here. It is humid and a little smelly, but it is a great place. The temple is so beautiful! A beacon of light shining out of the dirty city. The driving here is nuts! It felt like a roller coaster getting over here. But it was fun. There are people on motorcycles everywhere, and people riding in the back of trucks and hanging onto the jeepnys. It is cool. I love it! The missionaries are nice, the president is nice. It’s all good. We will see how optimistic I am next week, but as of now I cannot wait to see how it is all going to go! I love it. Tomorrow I meet my kauban (companion) and go to my first area. We just had pizza and bananas for dinner. They are good here. I am excited to eat a mango! Sometime soon I hope. I love you. Take care. I can’t wait for bed, and it is just past lunch time! It is past my bedtime in Utah. I’ll manage. The humidity is actually kind of nice. I like it. It is a nice change from the Utah dry.

I love you all! Take care. I am in good hands. The Baileys are taking good care of me!
Love always,

Elder Schenk

On My Way to the Airport

Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Mom, The cinnamon rolls were great! I took them up to the temple on Sunday and put them on the sidewalk. In about an hour they were all hot and gooey! They were so good! Thanks so much for them.


We take off in 45 min! Nuts. Here is the deal. I can call you at the airport! I don’t know if I will have time here in Salt Lake, if so it will be at about 9:00 pm tonight. But if not I’ll call in San Francisco about 11:30pm tonight. If not then, I have a 3 hour layover in Hong Kong tomorrow. I can call from 2-3:30 tomorrow afternoon. It will be 6:30 in the morning in Hong Kong! I am so excited to talk to you! Thanks for everything!
I sent you a package today with my suit and some unneeded clothing. Look for that one.

I love you! Take care. I’ll write you when I get to Cebu. It may not be till next Wednesday when i have my p-day, but I'll write.

I love you all!

Elder Schenk

Only 6 Days Left!!!

Hello family,


How are you all doing? Thank you for your letters this week. After Tuesday it will probably take 2 - 4 weeks for me to get mail, and then another 2 weeks or so to get it back to you. But don't let that discourage you! :) Thank you Grandma Schenk for your letter. I’m sorry it didn’t send right the first time. I really appreciate your love and care.

This week has been fun. We are getting so excited to go. Here is a story with many meanings, personal revelation, stupidity, competitiveness, and fun. As a district we decided to have a competition a day for our last week here. Yesterday, being our first day, we decided to start out with a good one, who can drink the most cups of juice at dinner, followed by who can hold it in the longest and not use the C.R. (Comfort Room) or in English, the bathroom. After I had drank 8 cups I started feeling quite full. I looked over at the rest of my district. Elder Johnson, Stirland and Sister Robison were all at 10 cups. I didn't feel too bad, but they looked like they were in a lot of pain, something I didn't want to experience. I stopped at 8 cups. Sister Robison won the drinking competition with 12 cups, Elder Johnson drank 11, and Elder Stirland drank 10. Elder Seupule and I were behind with 8, but I didn't care much, there was still the second part of the competition, and I had the advantage. They were hurting bad afterwards. Elder Johnson immediately hit the bathroom, along with Elder Seupule. Aparently too much apple juice makes bad things happen to you. Latter when we tried to get Elder Seupule to move, I found out he drank 8 cups of thick chocolate milk! He couldnt move for about 45 min. He slept helplessly on the floor, not wanting to move. Soon after Sister Robison had used the CR. It was just down to Elder Stirland and I. Through a painful personal study I lasted out! He broke down and I won! 1 point for Elder Schenk! That was the stupidity, competitiveness and fun part. Now for the personal revelation. During Leadership Training latter that evening that Elder Johnson, Elder Stirland and I attended (3 out of the 6 Elders there) Brother Jensen was teaching about not yealding to the enticings of the body. He then said, I have never thought of it this way, but imagin you are at a members house and the dinner is really good. You stuff yourself so full (an appetite of the body) and then after cannot focus as well as you should, thus not allowing the spirit to dwell with you as well as it should. Then he challenged us to really ponder on that example, one he had never before thought of. The three of us got a bit of correction. It was really funny. We learned well that the Lord works through others to correct us.

I love you all. Mom and Dad, if possible could you send my electric razor so that I can shave my neck, also if I could get some pictures of what Washington looks like (I have some nice ones on my computer), and some more pictures of the family. I would also like some more razor blades for my regular razor. It is a Gillete with 5 blades and one on the back. I think it is the same one dad has. It is not the power version though.

Thank you! Love you!
Elder Schenk