This week was a faith building week, a miracle week with an especially awesome Miracle Day yesterday.  I now have a stronger testimony about when our faith is being tried, when the work isn't quite as successful as I would like, to work even harder, to strive to be more obedient, and the miracle is there waiting.  Me and Elder Guia totally experienced that this past week. 

D' Day of Miracles-This day started off with me and Elder Guia having a goal of 14 ISM's.  We were praying for it a bunch saturday and sunday for that to happen.  Because the past couple weeks, we thought we would have a high ISM, and our investigators to come to church but we only got a few.  So that is the trial, but yesterday we felt good about the goal, and about the investigators that said they would go to church.  So we got up and got ready faster than usual, and went walking around visiting all our investigators.  It started out with lots of No's... About 5 investigators that couldn't come to church, or weren't at their house.  But then we took a trike to our other investigators and picked up 3 of them.  Then we went to the church.  Sacrament meeting started and a couple members brought a few more investigators, until we had 6, but we were still hoping/praying for more to be able to come.  Then I saw the Sawasi family pull in on their trike, oh i was SO HAPPY!!! So we were up to 9... We thought well we didn't get the goal, but it is still a SUPER SOLID day, with lots of investigators at church.  Then while singing the sacrament hymn, in walks an inactive sister with 5 family members with her.  We didn't know them so we asked who they were and those 5 with the sister were not members pala.  So we taught them after church and they are really awesome, the lesson was super spiritual!! 9+5=14!!! We had hit our goal, I know it was because of prayer, prayer is so powerful, and I am so thankful for all of our investigators and their faith to come to church.  It was also the VERY MOST church attendance yesterday in my whole time here in Palayan City at 124.  Sacrament meeting was so exciting and happy, because basically all the chairs were filled, and i especially felt the spirit when we sand Love at Home for the closing hymn, it was powerful & miracle filled church meeting!!! 

D' Day of Miracles yesterday was not over just there. So last week I told you about Bernard, and how he was struggling so much because of his wife leaving with his kids.  Then we blessed him, and he felt very at peace, him having HUGE faith in the blessing and the power of the Priesthood, which he has come to know through prayer that the Priesthood is real and true.  So I believe because of his faith, and everything he is doing right now to follow Christ, a Miracle happened.  His wife finally contacted him for the first time in over a month, she wants to come back to him, the plan was February 10 at first, then it moved up to February 6, and now she is coming back tomorrow:) He is SOOO excited to see his wife and kids again.  He also told us yesterday "Magpapabinyag ako!!"  Or i will be baptized!! Then he said and "I will bring my wife to church too!!"  Miracles are real, I know that for a fact, this is God's work, and his hands are all over it.  Bernard is changing, and yes he may not be ready yet to be baptized, but he is getting there, and he is happy now because he is following Christ.  The miracles of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ are incomparable talaga... 

I feel like this whole week was all about Families, kinda like a Family Week.  We have been teaching lots of families lately and it is seriously the best ever, its so much more spiritual when you can teach an entire family, and tell them about how they can be an eternal family.  So we had another miracle about families.  So on Saturday morning while planning for the day, i wrote in my planner on the ToDo List: #FINDFAMILYTOGOTOTEMPLEIN2019  because for some reason me and my companion like to write lots of stuff in the ToDo List that are funny and push us to work harder.  So we walked basically the whole morning and then i remembered a place i had seen close to our focus area that i have never been to.  So i told Elder Guia that is where the family is that is going to the temple in 2019.  So we OYM'd a couple people with really no interest in what we said.  Then we saw a couple making rugs in front of their house, so we talked to them, taught them about God's plan for them to be an eternal family, we are teaching them again later at 6:00.  So idk if it is just a coincidence that they were the famliy we found on the day we made that goal or not, but I believe it is part of God's plan as well, cuz its all part of the plan:)

So as you can tell its been an awesome week!!! I was just super excited to tell you about it all this week;)  so there you go another long email... hahaha

Palayan is an awesome place, and we are really happy here!

Hopefully i don't leave this place this week with Transfers...:(

Oh and also don't forget, "A verse a day keeps Satan away" its from my companion Elder Guia:)

Love ya'll!!!

Elder Alldredge

Our dinner - Empenadas and french toast

Gospel Principles class - I think there were more investigators than members :)

Day of Miracles KI's

This week was Legendary because I met the VERY FIRST Missionary to serve in the Philippines.  Well 1 of the first 4 missionaries.  His name was President Goodson.  He is 80 years old about 6 foot 4.  He served for 3 years in China as a missionary, then one day he got a call from Elder Hinckley(he wasn't President back then) and he had another assignment, to open the country of the Philippines to missionary work... He told us many stories of the amazing things that happened to him.  Like one was "it was 3 days before we got rejected" that just shows ya how cool the Filipinos are:)  

He also shared the very first thing that they taught in the history of the missionaries in the Philippines. 

1. Jesus Christ is our Savior and that through Him and His Redeeming power we can be cleaned from sin.

2. The Heavens have been once again opened.

3. Families can be together Forever

I thought this was an amazing thing, maybe its because i am serving here in the Philippines, so i am a little more tender about it, but man i felt the Spirit when he shared the very first things they shared in the history of the church in this country.

Then after his mission about 10ish years later when he was 36 he was called to be the Mission President for the Manila mission, which covered basically the whole Philippines.  His wife was 32 at that time, and they brought over 5 kids with them, and had 2 more kids while here in the Philippines.  His wife talked about how crazy it was to raise kids in the Philippines back then.  Like in the first couple of weeks she said she found in their house giant softball sized cockroaches that fly, she found countless rats, and even when visiting an Elders home, found a pig staying in their house as well:)  She said she was blown away and almost couldn't take it, but she toughed it out, and helped out all the missionaries to be clean as well;)   Don't worry mom, our house isn't quite that dirty:):):):):)

He has been back and forth to the Philippines many times since then.  Just to give you an idea of some things/projects he is doing now.  They have built hundreds of communal Restrooms for the public.  They have dug many many wells to have fresh water for people to drink.  They are currently feeding over 5,000 malnourished children every single day.  He also shared about how when he was home way back in the day, he got a call from Elder Hinckley, and he said i have an assignment for you Brother Goodson, to find a spot for the temple in the Philippines.  So he found the area where the temple was built.  

And a couple of quote that he said that i loved were:

"Whether the work is easy or hard, it is to be done."

"The Philippines is a Land of Miracles"

"Love seems to conquer a Lot"

I gained such a great respect for this man and his wife, it is amazing what they started here in the Philippines.  Now there are over 750,000 members here, and it is one of the fastest growing countries in the world as regards to membership.  I now appreciate the opportunity i have to serve here more than ever, so i am so grateful for that Legenday Experience this week.

Also our investigator Bernard, was really struggling because his wife took his kids away and they have no idea where they are.  So we shared about the Priesthood and offered a blessing.  He told us afterwards that he really felt good in the blessing, like a super light feeling.  He then told us yesterday at church, that his bad feelings are basically gone, and he knows it will all be alright.  I know the Priesthood is real, it has power to do miracles, because of our faith and God's love for us, i'm thankful i was able to see that first hand this week.

Thats it for Elder Alldredge this week...

LOVE YA'LL!!!

Me and Elder Roberts on exchanges

This is President and Sister Goodson - He was one of the first four missionaries in the Philippines!

Me and Elder Guia with President Johnson

Eating dinner on exchanges

Lets just say we were quite busy this week.  Heres a little run-down of everything that happened.  

On Tuesday morning we went to tarlac, we had exchanges with the AP's and I was with my MTC companion again, Elder Zacchilli!!!!! It was such a party and I learned so much from him and the other AP.  It was so fun to work with him again.  We seriously had a TON of lessons, we were basically teaching the whole afternoon and into the night.  We taught this one new family, and in their little house I felt like the Spirit was so thick in between those walls.  It was amazing to see the Dad of the family so thick.  It was especially cool when we asked about if he had plans for his children in life.  He said yes like most people do, and then he said "and I hope and pray they they are fulfilled."  Then i asked him if he thought Heavenly Father felt that way too...  Then he teared up and basically bore a testimony about why that was true.  I love the Spirit, and I love this man and all the people here!! So after an awesome day of work in Tarlac we came back to their house and Elder Zachilli got out his notebook from the MTC, about all of our Tagalog sentences we made and taught with back then.  Me and him were DYING laughing for like 30 minutes at how bad our Tagalog was back then:)  It was such a fun exchange!!

So when we came back we had District Meeting where I gave a surprise workshop, but it turned out alright...  THen we had exchanges with the Kalikid Elders.  This was another super cool day as me and Elder Galia, my old kabahay(house mate i think...:)  We had another cool experience, where the Dad asked us why is this world so full of bad things, and crazy all the time.  Elder Galia shared with him 2nd Nephi 2:11 about opposition in all things, and they felt the spirit very strong as well, i know that!  So amazing to testify of truth and let people know all the blessings that can come from living the true doctrine.  

Then on Friday we had a SUPER AWESOME Zone COnference, and i learned a TON about being bold, using scriptures, and lots more of course.  So that has also helped a lot in teaching.  I am not afraid at all anymore to tell our beliefs and prove it through the scriptures, it really changes lessons, it has changed peoples attitudes towards the doctrine as well, pretty cool stuff!

Then on Saturday we had interviews with President Johnson.  But he was like 30 minutes late, so me and Elder Guia went on a mini 30 minute split with the Bongabon Elders, and we had the 30 minute New Investigator Challenge.  We both came back 30 minutes later having each taught 1 lesson to a New investigator.  This just proves how awesome Filipinos are:) Super Fun Week!!!

Well i love ya'll!!!

Thanks for prayers and emails!!!

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

 

On splits with a member off into the darkness.

It has been a week... thats for sure...:) :) :)

This week was full of spiritual experiences, but also some sad stuff happened.  Well to get the sad stuff over with for ya'll;););)  The 2 baptisms that should be happening this weekend told us that they don't want to investigate the church anymore, there are some other reasons and things why, but it was just sad to hear someone turn down the blessings that would be theirs so soon.  But it is not all over thats for sure!!! I KNOW that someday when they are older and can choose for themselves, and don't have pressure of parents and siblings they will choose Christ in their lives.  I can honestly say that this week has been one of the most important weeks of my entire mission.  Because I know more that ever before that God loves me, that God loves these investigators, and that God loves every single person that we talk to.  I knew that before, but this week, i could especially feel it.  And I believe that knowing that simple thing, can change a life, can lift someone up no matter what happens.  Thats why in basically every lesson I let the people we teach know that God loves them, He is there for them to help whenever they need.  I also know I only came to know this through prayer, lots of it this past week... So even though it was a medyo hard thing, I learned and I am thankful for this past week!!!!

We also had an MLC/DLC with all the ZL's DL's and STL's in the whole mission.  It was awesome!!!  We learned how to help struggling missionaries, investigators, and how to teach other people in our District/Zone and everything.  It was mostly so cool to see basically everyone in my batch from the MTC, all the older people in the mission, haha thats so weird to say:) 

We had someone clap for a testimony in Fast and Testimony meeting... That was super interesting:)  They weren't members so they didn't know that wasn't a thing.  But ya it was funny and weird to see... haha

But anyways, love ya'll, thanks you for being you, cuz you the best!!!

Elder Alldredge

So lets just say these past two weeks have been a CRAZY/FUN/PARTY/EXHAUSTING weeks!!!!  

So for the past two weeks we have done some really awesome stuff.

-We had a Christmas Party for the Palayan Branch.  So fun and we got a TON of referrals and New Investigators because of it!!!  Which was a HUGE help to our work.

-We had a Zone Conference Christmas Party and it was super spiritual and fun to see half the mission and just chill, play some games, watch the Grinch:) BOO YAA, it was a good time!!!

-We have had Lockdowns on Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and tonight for New Years.  We heard a TON of fireworks especially last night, it was crazy!! Then the nice members brought food to our house:) Its the best, i love it.................

- Oh and I talked to the FAM!!! Doesn't get much better than that:)

So this past week we had some really cool experiences in the work.  One of which was with Sister Rose again.  We had taught her about the Word of Wisdom one day, then committed her to keep it, she said she would try her best, and pray really hard to be able to do it.  And we came back a couple days later and she was super excited about it, that she was keeping the Word of Wisdom!! MIRACLE!!!

Another Miracle is still in the process of happening, but the Sawasi family came to church again!!! Also Tatay is really struggling with a Word of Wisdom problem, but we are visiting him lots, and trying to help him get rid of it, he is all on board, but his work friends are just the biggest temptation for him... But we know that anything is possible, and we know that Tatay Abelino can do it!!  It is the only thing in the way of that whole family being baptized, we pray for him all the time, it might take a while, but IT WILL HAPPEN!!! Because Christ is on our side, and Tatay's side, And with Christ Tatay Abelino can overcome this thing, and do all things just like all of us!!! Philippians 4:13...

So because its 2018 lets share the gospel more:) because why not!?!?

pray for it, look for it, follow the prompting, share it... it'll change your life and theirs!!!

Love ya'll!!!

Elder Alldredge

Here are some pictures from our Skype with Kyle!