Week 23

so here is like some things that I came up with to make my mission better

JUST OWN IT!

be a missionary! act like you have been speaking whatever language you are learning for years, and act like you have been a missionary all your life, if you do that the blessings just flow! all the other missionaries thought I was much older than I am and the investigators took me much more seriously too.  DONT BE SHY!

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND!

just know how long you will be serving, it helps with whatever your facing. all the crap you deal with is only for 15 more months. and you only have 15 more months to serve our lord so you cant waste anytime. so get going! 

"don't let thoughtlessness and ignorance put us into the error of assuming that the fathers foreknowledge as to what can be, determines that such must be." this is a quote from James E Talmage that explains our choices matter in everyday life and we must choose carefully and have the spirit with us. As a missionary I have to make choices to make sure I will help anybody who wants to come closer to Christ! That's why missionaries callings are so important. I know that this will continue after my mission and I will kick butt AMEN!

Monday! so we stayed inside cause we were still sick heheh...

Tuesday. we went out to work and came home around 6ish cause we were stilll sick heheh.

Wednesday. we had Zone tour, that is when like a third of the missions missionaries gather and have a small congregation to talk about the work. I met missionaries from mindoro and other places it was really cool! 

Thursday. we tried to work but got super sick again..... haha lol so annoying satan is a bobo

Friday. we were studying and the power went out and it was suuuuper hot all day.

Saturday. we worked all day! I"m finally getting over this sickness I can feel it. We had a bunch of good lessons and helped a lot of people. 

Sunday. We had church, and a good lesson with Jacob (the one kid who I took the selfie with) 

all in all boring week

the hobbit made my week though, that book is fantastic, I read the whole thing and Im reading it again. It defs wrecked my soul when Thorin Oakenshield died even though I knew it was gonna happen.

Did I mention that we live on top of a dental care facility. I hear screams every now and then

Week 22

Oh boy. what a week. hahah

Monday. we had a zone p-day at a zoo nearby! It was pretty cool but there were only like 4 animals.  They were exotic so the foreigners really liked it but not so much the locals.

 Tuesday. We went out and taught some lessons and my companion got a head ache so he called the mission pres and we got to sleep early. WOO!

Wednesday. so we planned on doing exchanges with the cuenca elders on Monday night to Tuesday night. but they cancelled (didn't know they could do that) so it switched and surprised us on Wednesday night.

Thursday. we had exchanges on Thursday, the office elders would supposed to come and bring our supplies but they didn't show up until 3 hours later so we just hung out at the house. when they did they didn't bring any supplies....just my package. so I guess that was a plus. when we finally went out we went proselyting and found this grave yard. it was creepy cause graveyards are different here. not all bury in the ground just in like cement coffins. some were broken open and you could see the corpses.....lol hahahah

Friday. Me and my companion went to Matala and just did a lot of talking to people and taught one lesson to an investigator who has been investigating for 8 years. It was a good lesson.

Saturday was a normal day until around 6 pm, I felt my stomach churn and burn so I told my comp we are going home and I had an LBM (loose bowel movement) and vomited until the morning after when it was time for church. I didn't know I had so many fluids in me. and I wonder if I lost any weight. 

Sunday. I had 3 more LBMs within like 2 hours. I haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday. and I put trust in the lord and went to church.  I sat next to the bathroom the whole time then nothing. but after I just felt achy and had a fever and had more LBMS the rest of the day. and now I'm here with it still hahah! 

Goodbye I love you guys, make sure to pray for me.

Week 21

Monday! We had a district PDay and went to play at a park! Ut was super fun and I was with my whole district! I and one other sister were the only Americans so obviously we talk the most cause we have the most in common but they all think we like eachother lol.

Tuesday. Was a normal proselyting day and we went out at 1 and walked and preached until 9 we found a lot of new investigators so that's good. 

Wednesday. we had our zone training meeting and our mission president was there so it was especially good. He is fantastic! We went to meet one of our recent converts cause her mom is sick so we could give her a blessing. she was trally freaking out so I told her to call the ambulance she had no idea what that was. 

Thursday. We went to this place in the "squatters" Its suuuper ghetto. During one lesson the father left to beat up this random guy who knocked over their chicken coop or something, there is a lot of drugs and stuff but good investigators. hahaha pray for me! haha of course the spirit wont let anything happen to me I'm too valuable to him, but if I am disobedient then I will probably get screwed haha after that we watched a local volleyball game and talked to some people and then I did laundry. I hate doing laundry here.

Friday. We opened this new area, we have never been there before so we talked to over 40 people and got a bunch of return appointments. 

Saturday. We had a fantastic lesson. the gift of tongues is real I poured my heart out to this investigator and he cried, it was so cool.

Sunday. We had a good day at church. then after we taught a lot of good lessons and I ate dinner at someones house, it was Ramen on Rice.......lol Im gonna get so fat here.

I miss Jimmy Fallon and music, music by far is the thing I miss the most here after family and friends of course.  Frick I miss Isabelle and her posse, they are all the best.  I miss the mountains and looking at them. We are decorating our apartment since there is no Halloween here or thanksgiving. Christmas here starts in September

Love Elder Yarro

Week 20

Monday. I had finally memorized the ASL alphabet cause I got super bored hahah. other than that just a normal tracting day.

Tuesday. Finished our long day at work and finally received our support so we celebrated by eating at this nice restaurant.

Wednesday. We had our district meeting and my district is awesome! I love these people! and did laundry.. out of a bucket again hahahaha woo!

Thursday. we spent all day cleaning and getting organized then we met our new neighbors they are 4 lesbians and they are super nice! We ended the day by going on exchanges with the cuenca elders.

Friday. I had an exchange in cuenca all day. that was really fun, I got to meet new members!

Saturday. Was a another day to just go and work, it was also market day. that's when the palegke is suuuuuper busy and has all kinds of stuff so I got to buy peanut butter! woo!  There are 150 baptized members here and only are 30 active the missionaries that were here before us were terrible and did some pretty bad things so no one in the branch trusts missionaries and pasaway so Ive been slowly being my friendly self and building it again.  After the long day we were just beginning to sleep and the power went out which means the fans died, I moved my bed by the front door and slept with no blanket or shirt, it was like that pretty much all night.

 Sunday. we had a normal church day. It was fast and testimony meeting which was fun and hard because we got no sleep or food hahah we were dying but we stayed strong!

Week 19

Not too much happened just got transferred to a new area. this is Ibaan area. Lipa about an hour from my first area.

Monday. Had my last family home evening in Tayabas and I was kind of sad, I will miss all of my friends I've made and helped there.

Tuesday. Had my last District meeting in Lucban, I will miss having Elder Naylor as our DM and all of our district they were boss. I also finished the BOM my first time in, and got a super dope blanket as a present from this family.

Wednesday. My last day in Tayabas, we went around and taught lessons and I said goodbye to everyone I got lots of letters.

Thursday. Transfer Day I left to Ibaan met my new companion Elder Mumuad (ironic right) 

Our current house really sucks, no gas to cook. no water filter. and its dirty as balls. I was told that  the apartment reflects the area. they were right.....

hes fun he likes to play dota and is a convert to the church, he wants to get into coding after his mission,  he's Filipino. and Ilicano, which means he's from way up north by the ocean, he is the district leader which means we will be traveling a lot and he goes home in January. He is an amazing cook so I'm getting him to teach me to cook some good dishes. I'm excited to use my Filipino skills to cook food like a poor person to save a lot of money.  Right now its just ramen cause we are super broke until payday because of transfers. thats okay though I will need as much food as I can get. I could get rice and a chicken and get it to last me about a week then I just mix veggies in.

 Friday. we spent all day planning and cleaning and getting organized to get this area up and running again.

Im stoked cause it flushes...but there is no seat, its really teaching me how to poop in the woods

We happen to live next to a computer shop so I can still email regularly, sad to see my old game room getting torn down, I miss that old place, lots of games and jokes and kisses shared in that room

Tell Dad I am praying everyday chance I get for him. I fast for him too. Gene does too. He told me he has dreams about dad all the time hahahahaha

Saturday. we had a visitor his name is Rico he just got baptized and he had a concern he told us about so we really got to help him out. 

Sunday. This is a branch not a ward so its much smaller and no building just a meeting house, but the people here are rad. This is more of a rural area than the last so we walk like 5 miles a day.

There is definitely potential here and I'm stoked to make it work. I know the Lord put me here for a reason and I'm excited to help people come unto Christ.

Week 18

Monday. We had family home evening and played a game where you write on a piece of paper and everyone tries to guess who wrote it. I lost because I'm so different from all the Philippines

Tuesday. We had district meeting in Lucban, then after found this Italiano restaurant that had some pretty good calzones.  I started getting a sore throat as we started working, Satan is a BOBO

Wednesday. Started getting sicker and sicker, we met this RCLA who went to the hospital because he had heart problems and no one in the church visited him so he got super hurt about it and left the church. We told him that the people didn't know because he didn't text them. but he wouldn't have it.  We also had another good lesson with our new member JUN he was struggling a bit so we gave him a blessing and he said he wanted to bless the sacrament this weekend so that was awesome. 

Thursday. One of our investigators kind of went missing, last thing we heard was that she was taking care of her boyfriends mother at this house, that was like 3 weeks ago so we went out to find her. After a few questions and really good revelation filled guesses we found the house and we found the place she was staying at. She was surprised to see us and we told her that God cares about her and she needs to come to church and prepare to be baptized, it was a good lesson. That night we had an exchange, this time I was with elder Jalova who is my batch. We were in the manilla mtc together. and I'm going to Lucban for the day. When I showed up they were in the middle of fiesta! Imagine a rave but more Spanish. so fun.

Friday. Had exchanges I helped and taught a lot of lessons to people and it was just a good day. a nice change of pace from normal things. 

Saturday. we baptized 5 people. 4 kids and one nanay. I did my first baptism ordinance it was really fun but I was nervous and ended up doing it really good so that's dope. Then right after I changed my clothes I received a call from the AP That I will be transferred this Thursday to IBAAN LIPA. I was sad at first cause I feel like the work here isn't done, but that's okay, the lord knows whats best. 

Sunday. the ward had me give a small testimony cause I was leaving so that was fun. I just said thank you for everything and they all felt the spirit. then we taught kisha and she is back to progressing. she said she wanted a temple marriage and her boyfriend isn't best for her.

Wish I could have been at Grandmas funeral, it was so pretty. I hope it wasn't too sad, shes in a happier place and in a years time she will experience joy that she could never imagine! (but maybe that;s just the missionary in me) it is sad and change sucks sometimes, but look at it this way, after we are all sealed. its just like a small break, you will see her again. Glad my cutout made it though

Keeping it real out here in west phillies. love you all see you next week!

Elder Yarro

 this is my exchange and pday with elder naylor who is soooo funny 

Week 17

Monday.  zone pday. had a lot of fun games and played mafia. 

Tuesday. had zone training meeting we talked to this lady about her fasting and she had a vision from god so that was weird.

Wednesday. we had just a long day of work.

Thursday. was a normal day and had weekly planning

Friday. we had to talk to a investigator and talked him into not stabbing his family with a knife. yea....that kid was weird.

Saturday. we cleaned the baptism font and had interviews at the church. I played volleyball with all the kids while they went down. That night was junes batpism, my first baptism!  We had lots of fun I gave a spiritual workshop about testimonies and it was really good.

Sunday. we had church and I saw a cat carcass. 

This is Jun, our first baptism, hes great! It's funny because for the last 5 years there were only sisters in this area, and the last baptism was 8 months ago. They were all averaging about one a year. We are here now and we had 1 last sat and 5 this coming sat. lol elders rule!

Next time Tanner asks you where I am, tell him that I'm out saving lives in a country further than he was in his mission. I calculated and its 10,000 kilometers away! SCIENCE!!!  hahahah lol

I will most likely be transferred soon,  I could go anywhere in the mission. my trainer says I'll probably go to another zone and be partnered with a leader of some kind, then after be like a zl or dl on a island which would be cool. I would love to be on an island,  I feel I could help there the most, president says he sends missionaries there who he trusts can handle the situation, cause he can't go there often.

There are spiders everywhere, I hate it cause my companion always chases me with them. screw that noise!

Love Elder Yarro

Week 16

no letter from Nick, the internet was down

Week 15

Tuesday: we went to a district meeting, and we got a new frying pan! AWESOME!!!! lol we also taught the law of chastity to this family with  12 and 10 year old daughters, when we got to the pornography part, her mom all of a sudden interrupted us and said "yea Ive seen your browser history." and they just got soooooooooooo mad and embarrassed and they walked out of the room so it was just us sitting there. Elder Munn are I trying not to die. sooooo funny. Later we managed to get them back and finish the lesson so, so that was good!

Wednesday: Long day, really hot and hard. 

 

 

Thursday: we got bored in our apartment and just randomly moved our furniture around so now the beds are in the kitchen and the desks are in our bedroom. lol.

Friday: we visited a member who was an american that married a Filipino and came here to live. They were fighting over a tree in their front yard, she said it has a dwarf in it. and he said its just a tree......mission life. She also told us if we ever pee on a tree we have to say "tacky tacky poo." so we don't get kicked in the crotch or something. 

 Saturday: Baby Simon (the most adorable baby) jumped in my arms and started smiling at me, he is my favorite youth here. Then we had a Family home evening at another members house. It has been a pretty dope week so far! 

 

 

Love Elder Yarro

Week 14

Monday. This was a crazy day! Our most progressing investigator had told his cousin that he didn't like our church anymore and didn't want us to come visit him anymore. Which was completely out of the blue. So that night at around 9:15 we waited for him. He finally let us in and told us his family doesn't approve of him being a Mormon so he wants to stop seeing us even though he was super sad because he knows this church is true. So I bore my testimony. I did it in English because I wanted to be 100% sincere and honest. I said that I know this church is true and I am personally thankful now that because of temple work and this gospel I will see my grandpa after this life because my family did his ordinances. After hearing that this man cried, and he picked up the book of Mormon and opened to a random page and started reading. I was on the edge of my seat! I didn't plan on him reading anything specific or uplifting to help. He just started reading so I was worried about what he was reading. What he read was alma 42:31 "And now, O my son, ye are called of God to ^apreach the word unto this people. And now, my son, go thy way, declare the word with truth and soberness, that thou mayest ^bbring souls unto repentance, that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them. And may God grant unto you even according to my words. Amen."

After that I could just see the spirit affect him, his face went from uncontrollable crying to a calm serenity, then he said we will continue our lessons and he will continue to be baptized. It was one of the most fantastic moments of my life. This is why I am a missionary. 

Tuesday. I had a dinner appointment and ate snail again. you have to suck them right out of the shell and I'm sure one of them had some dirt or something stuck in it. Yay Philippines! (Also we shaved our heads)

 shaved head!

Wednsday. Had a good day and hunted for coconut. It's super fun! You literally pull it off the tree and cut it open and drink right out of it. soooooo good.

We returned to Jun (the guy from monday) he said he is more motivated than ever to be baptized because of my testimony which made me feel good.

Thursday. had our interview and not much else. 

Friday. we caught a chicken and made it fall asleep lol

Saturday: I caught a baby duck and held it in my arms. That night I ate balut which is a developing bird embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell. And this one neighbor  played Numb by skizzy mars and clint eastwood by gorillaz which was a good day.

 balut

 me eating balut

Sunday: after church we took all the kids and played ninja destruction in front of the church it was like over 20 kids. sooo much fun. I love it here. 

One more thing. Just had to say, that night after last Sunday, we went to visit this lady who was less active but preparing for the temple. She has 5 kids and 4 are gay. She always has no joke like 8-10 gay people at her house constantly. We gave a lesson and she invited us to teach the restoration to ALL the people there.......so we taught it to literally 10 baklas (boy dressed like girls or likewise) I said "brother could you please read this scripture." they all looked confused at me because they weren't boys.....they were "girls." but they all said they would go to church next week....so yea that happened.

Week 13

 sorry its long, its two weeks in one.

Okay so the fourth of July we had a zone p-day and hiked to this absolutely fantastic water fall deep in the jungle, it was so beautiful. The mall is out of our area, but whenever we have zone meetings we get to go to the mall after as a zone.  I saw the trailer for Tarzan, it was playing as an ad outside of a movie theater, that happens because everything here is suuuuuuuuuuper pirated.

Tuesday. we had a zone training meeting again lol so many meetings!!  I just wanna work is that too much to ask for as a missionary? and it was also suuuuuuuuuuper rainy that day, like water was pooling in the streets. Then I got to play with Olaf! that is one of the investigators pet dog. 

Wednesday. really hot and boring day. except we had a fantastic dinner with an investigators who is a chef for a job, the food was so good. 

Thursday. we weekly planned all day, and then we filmed a bunch of stuff with our cameras.

Friday. had a lot of good lessons and I could really feel the spirit that day. I feel like I helped a lot of people. 

Saturday. We got chooks to go. (imagine a fast food place but they just give you an entire chicken.) I miss cold cereal. While working like no joke 30 kids followed us around and called me spider man because apparently I look like the new Peter Parker or something. haha which is dope since hes my favorite super hero. It was fun!

Sunday. Good day at church, we had 7 investigators come so that was dope! Then I ate an avocado shake......literally the grossest thing I have had here. I was trying to not vomit. 

Monday. we went on another hike with the ward this time! This one was longer and a lot more dangerous. I got wrecked and one of the elders had a leech on him. Then we had FHE and that was fantastic! We played different games and everyone here is sooooooooooo funny. If you mess up in each game everyone gets to draw on your face with lipstick. It was so awesome.

Tuesday. Had a district meeting out of our zone which meant we could go and eat at a rice cafe which was fancier than most of the food here. We bought all the American candy and stowed it at our house. Then I did my laundry. I really appreciate washing machines back home.

Wednesday. we had a long day and no one followed through with their appointment so we walked around all day. 

Thursday. We taught three lessons and tracted. Then at the bishops house he fed us chicken head.....literally the head. I ate and tasted the tongue eyes and brain..........well that was new. 

Friday. our landlord broke into our house to fix this door, which is so bawal, so we ripped him a new one when he came back.  He just lied the whole time, and we started this thing to make sure that when we leave we hide all our stuff really well and put a peso on top of the door so when we come back and open the door it falls, if its not there or in a different spot then that means someone came in. But its no big deal, the worst he will do is take money from us and if that happens we will report him to the law. 

Saturday. at our house we fought another huge spider....2nd one this transfer. Other than that just a normal day. 

Sunday.  My oatmeal was really dry. and later that night we went to an investigators house and almost all of her kids are gay and they all hit on us, I was in tears laughing at them. 

Dang chandler looks literally the exact same haha Did he get my munchkin present I left for him? I gave it to Tyren.

Are the nelsons in their new house? I think I asked that before, but I want pics of it next time. How is Jr? Dang I miss that kid. Malcom just went through the temple last week! He is preppin for his mission!

My comp and I are pretty good friends! He's a super cool guy. He said when he gets home he will visit you guys and stuff. and he will ask for sydney or chloes number hahahah, also I have made a lot of friends already, a sister in march wants to visit you guys, and another one in October hahah....soooo yea

Its not really hard to stay on budget, we have as much as a family of 5 would have and there isn't much to really buy here other than just the basic supplies so...

I'm doing fine with the heat and humidity actually. Once you get used to the sweat its not bad.

That's dope that you guys baptized grandpa! I'm so excited~ I wish I could have been there. How are the cousins! I miss them all!

How are all of Isabelle's friends, I miss all those nutty girls. Did Isabelle tell you about the time we all played fugitive? 

I was wondering if Ladonna went on her mission during the 80's? I think they didn't have to learn Tagalog back then, so did she or not? just curious.

How is my room? is it the same or have you changed it yet.

I'm glad you are all having a good summer and helping grandma.

So that's how I've been! I love it here! I thank god everyday for me being here! The people are great and the gospel is greater!   

Love Elder Yarro