Short and Sweet!

Week 48

26th October 2015

We have got a baptism this Friday, we had to move it because of a stake activity on the Saturday. We all excited, and my companion gets to baptize our candidate, which he's excited about of course.

We had stake conference this Sunday, and we had 3 investigators at church, not as many as hoped but it's okay because our stake center is in Lopez, which is 30 minute bus ride away - not many of our investigators would be able to make that trip.

We had a pretty rough time on Friday and Saturday, punted so much, and rejected so much while tracting, I've never been rejected so much while tracting my whole mission, it was insane! But, it's alright, because we still had 3 lessons each day, and were able to teach some solid lessons.

This week we're busy preparing for the baptism, as well as keeping up with the work. We have a lot of people to teach, and I'm not sure if we'll be able to get to them all as much as I want to, because we haven't been  able to go on splits lately with the YSA in our ward.

P-day was pretty cool today, we played some basketball out in Lopez this morning with the whole zone and some members, and it was great to break a sweat and have some fun with the zone. We have 2 missionaries who are training in our zone, and we spent some time getting to know the greenies. Man, I can't believe I'm almost 1 year! I still feel like a greenie myself hahaha.

Elder Akroyd just finished his mission last Thursday. He's not home yet, him and his family are going around to some of his areas. 

Safe and well

Week 47

19th October 2015

Email to his dad last week : I have neglected to do this for 11 months now, but I just want to say how much I love you, and thank you for everything that you have done for me as your only son. You and mum have helped me so much in becoming the man I am today, and I'm grateful that I've had my dad around for 19 years now. I realize that not everyone gets to have their dad for 19 years, and sometimes I take it lightly. Thanks for your example over 25 years ago of serving, because it made it a little bit easier to serve the Lord, seeing as my dad is an RM.

We're fine, just a bit of strong wind and lots of rain, but that didn't stop us from our missionary work. We were out every day, working hard, looking for people to teach, and we had a lot of success this week. Probably the key indicator I'm most happy about was us finding 26 new investigators this week! We spent so much time tracting, and had we worked a little bit more diligently, we would have gotten close to 50 lessons this week, which isn't bad considering we never have been able to have splits with members.

Another thing that had me super happy was having 9 investigators at church! Even though other missionaries invite a lot more people to church, I'm super happy with that, because I feel like the area is actually progressing. We get little help, but the work that my companion and I are doing, I feel like we're doing a lot. We still need the members to do their part though.

So, last week I expressed my love to you and dad. Well, the reason I wanted to do this was because Elder Faka'i's dad passed away in his sleep last Saturday night, and our zone found out on Sunday after conference videos. It shocked our whole zone, but Elder Faka'i is a strong missionary, and decided he was going to stay out in the mission. We ended up staying with him for the night on Sunday night, and spent P-day with them. It shocked me to the core, because it easily could have been me in his shoes, so I felt the need to express how much I love my parents.

This week, our big thing is transfer day, except neither of us are transferred, so my companion gets to stay for a couple more baptisms. We have one of our investigators baptismal interview this coming Saturday, he gets baptised on the 31st October, he's very excited for it.

We've got a couple more lessons booked in for this afternoon so we're pretty busy.

Elder Crichton and Elder Faka'i

Elder Crichton and his companion Elder Snyder

Baptism

Week 46

12th October 2015

This week was a good week. We had our baptism on Friday and it was a great success! I conducted the baptismal service, and also gave a workshop about the Restoration, and my companion, Elder Snyder, gave a talk on what baptism is. 

It's a great knowledge knowing that through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, we enter into the gate that leads towards eternal life! One important thing though to remember, is that it's only the gate, and we all still have a long way before we get there.

Conference was straight long. We rocked up to the Priesthood session about 8AM on Saturday, and when it started only the missionaries were in attendance. We split off into 2 groups, with some preferring to listen in Tagalog and others in English. Even though I can understand what they say in Tagalog, some of it is really deep, and I'd rather listen to it in English. Unlike last conference I was awake for every thing but 1 talk on Sunday afternoon. Took tonnes of notes, and learned so much from the speakers.

Thanks for the parcel. Got the clippers as well - not sure how I'm gonna cut my own hair though. I did it last time, but stuffed up a little bit, but more I practice I'll get better.

One thing that I neglect to say mum, is how much I appreciate and love you. Thanks for always being there for me, and how much you have cared for me in the last 19 years. Because of your help and encouragement, I stand here in the Philippines sharing the gospel to the people here. I feel like I don't express that enough how much I owe to you for my journey this far.

Busy with the work!

Week 45

05th October 2015

We're doing pretty well, we had a fairly solid week in terms of work. This week I did get sick for a couple of days, but still went out to work because we had a lot of set appointments for those days. We even had 5 different investigators at church this week, which was cool. I think it's the most I've ever had come to church in one Sunday too.

This week, we have a pretty busy week. The first thing is on Wednesday, we have our Zone Training Meeting for October. Friday morning/ afternoon, we have got our zone interviews, and thank goodness they're being held at our chapel, only 9 pesos pamasahe (travel fee, sort of... I don't know how to translate into direct English). Then that night, we have got our baptism! Heaps excited for it, and it happens to be our investigators birthday on Friday too, so perfect timing. Saturday, General Conference videos, and the same for Sunday. 

I got the packages this morning. The Zone Leaders were given 2 packages for me from the Office Elders, one from home and the other from the Otenes. Please tell them I said thanks.

My companion and I get along really well. He loves the new way of working, because we have doubled the total lessons taught per week. We had a "bad" week of sorts, and we still managed to get 25 lessons. He tells me all the time he feels a lot more relaxed, but at the same time we're getting much more work done.

The ward is small, we only have like 50 people come to church, and it's still a ward.  But, it's a bit more established than my last area - just need to invite back a lot more people to church, or invite more to be baptised into the fold, or both.

For the rest of the day we are just going to hang out here in Lopez, then head home this afternoon for more missionary work tonight.

Elder Crichton and Elder Snyder

A lot of people have nicknames in the Phillipines. These are Hazel AKA Jugie, Harry AKA Pie AKA Abs, and Henry (no nickname).

Turning 19!

Week 44

28th September 2015

Yeah it's my birthday today, but no big deal. We just played some ball and smashed some Macca's, but not too much done. Some of the Elders in other Zones called me up and wished me a happy birthday too. A member is cooking us dinner tonight too.  A tradition here in the Philippines Mission - the birthday missionary buys lunch for the other missionaries.. so I bought lunch for everyone.

This last week was a solid week. We had Zone Training Meeting, and we were given our challenge by our Zone Leaders, Elder Aisa and Elder De Sosa, to get 4 lessons every day. Surprisingly, it's no way near as hard as it sounded. We managed to work 30 lessons, which is the most I've ever hit in the mission.

We actually got a baptism coming up on October 9, and another solid scheduled for October 31, and a last solid baptism scheduled for November 21, which happens to be my 1 year mark. Still trying to invite all these other investigators to church, as those 3 that are scheduled for baptism are the only ones coming at the moment. I'm trying to invite at least 10 investigators to church.

Lately I've tried a different style of teaching. Open up the Book of Mormon, read a couple of verses in different chapters, and ask questions. It's worked a lot better, because instead of me telling the answer to a question, they figure it out themselves, and sometimes they resolve their own concerns.

We didn't do much for my companion's birthday on Friday, just missionary work, but some members had prepared a little food for him, so we hit there for dinner.

Haven't got the box either, still in the office. Should be getting it on October 9, on the day of interviews with President. Apparently I have 2 packages in the office, so I'm not sure if it's from the Otene's or from Popo and Granddad. I'll find out either way. Or maybe by then I'll have 3 packages!

This week we have got a baptismal interview on Friday, and a Zone service on Saturday, but I'm not sure if we're going to go. Other than that, tonnes more work, and hopefully more people to church!