February 21, 2012

Pamilia,
Maayong gabii sa inyo tanan. We are doing well here in Capitol. We have two baptisms coming up on March 3, Flor and Delia. They are such great investigators, probably the best I have had my entire mission. Flor came to priesthood session of Stake Conference on Saturday and they both came with Their young son for the Sunday session. They have read every assignment and kept every commitment we have given them. They understand everything we teach the first time we teach it and directly apply it in their lives. Delia is in her 40s and Flor is in his 50s and they keep thanking us young missionaries for teaching them. They feel so ignorant even though they are well learned as to things of the world. Flor is an engineer and is really smart. It is such a miracle that we can be the ones teaching them, and not the other way around. I feel so blessed to have the knowledge of this gospel in my life and to have been raised with it in my family. What an incredible blessing. And even more, I am a 6th generation member of the only true and living church upon the earth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from multiple ancestral lines. How many people can say that?
You asked last week about the candy here. They do eat cough drops all the time, especially the little kids. They love anything that is menthol flavored, even shampoo and soap. The classic snack here is a roll with Coco-Cola. Even the babies drink it here. They have bakeries everywhere with tons of styles of bread. We stop for a bread snack about 3 times a day. You can get a roll for P5. They also like shrimp flavored puff things and chicharon, pig fat that is fried until it gets hard and crunchy, its pretty good, just expect an early heart attack! They even have fake chicharon that is just a flavored cracker. They also eat a lot of hot dogs for breakfast, but they are sweet and they die them red. You eat them with rice and put soy sauce or sweet ketchup on them.
Amping lang mo. Kita lang ta sa sunod.
Love you,
Elder Schenk

February 14, 2012

Family,
We had a great week and saw many miracles here in the Capitol Ward. Our investigators, Delia and Floro, are doing great. They came to church again this week and are rapidly progressing. Floro comes home at night and just reads anything he can get his hands on, Ang Aklat ni Mormon (The Book of Mormon in Tagalog), pamphlets, the gospel principles book, he loves it all. Sister Delia is just a ball of faith. I love them both. Floro stopped drinking and smoking the first time we met with him. We didn't commit him or even talk to him about it, he just decided it was the right thing to do. Last night we taught them about the Word of Wisdom. They were surprised to hear that tea and coffee are bad for the body. They drink coffee every morning, but said starting the next morning they wouldn't drink it anymore! They are like one of those great investigators you would hear about in the Liahona. They are the best investigators I have had in my entire mission!
Valentines day is also big in the Philippines, but nobody has the money to really celebrate. There was a lot of red yesterday though.
We got to go to the temple today. That was a long overdue pleasure! I haven't been able to go the last few months due to temple cleanings and such. But today was so nice and peaceful. I learned a lot.
I love you all. Work hard. Focus on the important things in life and put the most important things first on your schedule. Don't shirk in your church callings but do all you can to magnify them. One person makes a HUGE difference and when they don't do their part everything seems to fall apart. Keep working hard and enduring to the end. You're not done until you die, and your not dead yet. If you will, great blessings await you. (see 2 Nephi 31:19-21, Mosiah 2:41)
Love you all! Amping!
Elder Schenk

February 8, 2012

I am online now if you want to chat a little. Ill be on for the next hour or so.

Elder Schenk

We are fine. We got the earthquake and everyone freaked out that their would be a tsunami and ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, but we had no damage here. They were just concerned after what happened in Japan. Dumagete in Negros got a decent dose. They have some broken roads and fallen homes. We had just gotten home from district meeting so we just waited it out in our nice strong house. Ill write you a longer email in a minute.

E. Schenk

Nope our pday didnt change, we have just been priveleged with general authorities visiting the last two weeks. We had Elder Ardern yesterday. I'll tell you about it in a bit. We should be back to emailing on wednesdays next week.

ES

Family,

We have had a great week here. Yesterday we had the opportunity to have another member of the area presidency, Elder Ardern, visit us for our zone interviews yesterday and he interviewed us all. That was a great experience. It was great to feel of his spirit and to be able to learn from him one on one. I have now been able to meet all three members of the area presidency multiple times. There are some great perks to being a missionary.

We have had some great success in our area this week as we had seven investigators come to church and also seven less active members there as well. The attendance was the highest I have seen it in the last two months. It made for a great fast Sunday. And then we had a member, Brother Samson, feed us mashed potatoes and pork chop for dinner. That was delicious as well.

We are grateful for the progress we are having with Delia and Floro. They are both new investigators and have almost been taught for two weeks now. The wife, Delia, came to church the day after we visited her for the first time. The husband then started joining in the lessons and came last week. President Byram, 2nd councelor of the Cebu Philippines Temple, sat next to Floro in priesthood meeting and told me yesterday when I saw him that he thinks that Floro will be baptized. He jut felt good about him. I feel good about him too. Last night as we taught them about faith and repentance and explained what they need to do to get baptized, I felt such a peace come over me assuring me of their sincerity in receiving the gospel. They have a baptismal date for March 3. Pray for them.

Sister Ruiz and her four kids also came to church for the first time on Sunday. Brother Ruiz had work, but he should be there next Sunday. They need to get baptized too.

Ill try to get the picture dvd made this week. I found a place to get it done. I would also love general conference on SD. Just make sure that it is in mp3 format or my player wont read it.

Love you all,

Elder Schenk

Here are some pictures. Amping! Elder Schenk

Brother Enriquez and I and the Coltura family after an FHE.

 Me in my new area!

 My district here. Back row from L to R: Elder Del Norte, Elder Tingabngab (I really struggle to say that one), Elder Schenk, Elder Galdonez (my comp), Elder Parkinson. Front Row L to R: Sister Surisetty (From India), Elder Villegas, and Sister Welling.

Amping!

Elder Schenk

February 2, 2012

Family,
I am doing great this week. We have been extremely blessed here and are seeing miracles almost daily. I love being a missionary. The blessings come so freely. In 3 Nephi 24 Jesus Christ promises us that if we will pay out tithing and offerings that he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon us that is so great that "Walay lawak sa pagdawat niini." or sa English pa, that there will not be enough room to receive it. That is how I feel as a missionary, like I am at the bottom of a waterfall holding out my cup for a drink and am just getting way more blessings than I bargained for. I like that. So all you priest aged young men, and others preparing, and even you older folks who are now empty nesters with no kids at home, or will be in 7 months, serve a mission! The prophet has called for it. Now it is your time to come forth and hasten the second coming of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The blessings are greater than you can imagine!
Right now we are working with quite a few people to try to get them to progress in the gospel. This week our focus is on:
Baptismal Dates

KC Mata age 16
HoneyBabes Mata (Nice name!) 14
Earl Arda 24
Teresita and Ruben Ruiz 29 and 33

Less Active Members

Fe Toquero 30
Pablo and Gina Vercede 30's
Nephi Bontuyan 18
Ashley Celis 17 (boy)
Ricafort Family
Bienvenid Estrada 45
Burnadet Pokong 35
Getutua Family
Villarine Family
Sara Family
Brian Bakus 24
Nocos Family
Gimena Family
Dagpin Family
Samson Family
Coltura Family
Francis Ingals 38

Each person on this list is special to us. We are striving to help them all come unto Christ. We love them, we pray for them, we earnestly seek the Lords will in teaching them so that each one of them and their families will make it back to the presence of God and receive eternal life.
On Tuesday Elder Nielson of the Area Presidency and first quorum of the seventy spoke to us as missionaries. He taught us a lot about obedience. What a powerful man of God! I was able to meet him once while he was touring the Cebu temple and just happened to be in the same session as him and even got to meet him in the Celestial room. At the time I didn't know who he was, but now I consider it a privilege. And even more, when I got to shake his hand on Tuesday he recognized me. That was also special.

Elder Galdonez is doing great! He is motivated, soaks up constructive criticism and applies it, teaches well, loves the people just makes being a missionary fun. He has become one of my best friends in the entire mission. We are striving for 100% obedience as a companionship. I love Elder Galdonez. He is a great missionary.

There was a miracle that happened yesterday in our area. Due to the hand of the Lord I found a convert of mine that I had baptized in Consolation last May. She was so good, but ended up having to move to live with one of her children due to persecutions from joining the church. She had moved to Cebu City and had never known where the church was. We found her last night and she is still strong and wants to come back to church with all her heart. She has just returned from Mindanao and said that she has a niece there who she taught the gospel and who wants to be baptized but they don't know how to contact the missionaries. I am so grateful that I was able to find her. She lives here in the capitol ward.

Another miracle happened this week when on Friday night we were texted by the bishop to assist in giving a blessing at the hospital to a member. His name is Rex. He is 7 years old and had slipped and hit the back of his head on the tile floor. At first he was screaming in pain, but then the screaming stopped and he got really quiet and he wasn't acting normal. Then he started throwing up. Consequently they took him to the hospital for x rays. After the x rays we were able to give him a blessing. After the blessing we left. We visited the family again on Monday and he was fine. We then heard the rest of the story. He had been lying down and not responding for some time when we arrived. Anthony, his uncle who he lives with, said that the moment we walked in the door of the ER that he started responding some and moving more. They were really afraid for him. Anthony gave the blessing. He told us on Monday that the blessing had been the turning point. After we left he sat up and started talking again. Two doctors came over to tell them that they would need to do further tests and scans, but they seemed surprised at how well Rex was doing. The further scans and tests no longer seemed necessary and they were able to take Rex right home where he recovered just fine. I am grateful to have seen the hand of the Lord and to have been able to assist Him in His work. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true and the priesthood is real. We are a part of this latter-day work. What a blessing that is.

I love you all, take care.

Elder Schenk