11/5/12

So for this week I'm kind of out of time to write everything... I'll just tell you the highlights. We have 7 investigators with a baptism date. Two amazing families that have more faith than a lot of the members I've met. We have a baptism this Saturday with an eight year old named Michael Angelo. Fiesta and All Saints Day were interesting, but I totally miss all the kids running around in Halloween costumes. My companion and I bought some candy and gave some to the kids we visited that day. There is this kid in one of our areas that has a mom who was off on some other island and his dad is a jeepney driver. So he is basically home alone all day everyday.. He has to find food in the dumpsters, and he's had a fever for the past couple of weeks, but there's just no one to take care of him. Anyways this week his mom came home, so my companion and I were really happy about that. We're trying to get her to start listening to the lessons. We had a trainers meeting this week, and I got to see all my buddies from my batch from the MTC. That was fun! A ton of them lost weight, and my old Companion Elder Rau had some massive stomach issues from drinking water out of the sink. HAHA I thought it was pretty funny. This week has been great though and the work in our area is progressing a ton. I'm stoked to see what this week has to offer.

 

It was one of the member’s birthday so he took us to smallville for dinner. Smallville is like the night life of Iloilo, so that was way awesome and fun. We ate a hotel probably the nicest place I’ve seen since I’ve been in the Philippines. The food was the best! It was awesome to have this huge feast at this fancy restaurant. It felt like we were high rollerz or something ha. We also did some service this week. One of our investigators has this awesome bamboo house with a Christmas tree in front of it, but with no decorations. So we decided to decorate Filipino style. With spray paint, trash, and a bamboo star! That was a fun experience.

Mahal kita!!
Elder Sparks

 11/12/2012

 

This week was sweet! Monday we had FHE with the A. family and with a member family. It was way fun. We had planned on watching a movie, but their dvd player was broken so we managed to make up a short lesson and played games. If you mess up during the game you get someone gets to wipe charcoal on your face, so that's why we have black stuff on our faces in the pictures. Tuesday was my 1st zone meeting. It was sweet to all get together and talk about how our zone could be more effective. At night we had another FHE with Sister Aileen. She was awesome and cooked us a ton of food. Her little girls were way funny, and we made some way good fruit salad. Wednesday we went out to Sooc (the poorer side of our area) and had lessons there. We went to this kid named John Rey. He's this awesome 12 year old kid. He invited us in and offered us snacks. He was like an adult hosting us. The kids here are the best. Then we taught a new investigator family. At first the mom was way against us teaching her. When we went back and she got to know us she had a huge turn around. They are an awesome family! We gave the daughter a pamphlet last time, and when we saw here this time she had finished the pamphlet and answered all the questions on the back. They were definitely prepared to be taught. :) Thursday was my one month anniversary being in the Philippines. Kind of a lame day though. We got punted everywhere. It was really hard to find someone to teach this day. Everyone was out doing something else. Friday I ate some quail eggs for lunch, and then we went out to Sooc again. An old member sister insisted on giving us snacks, and she wouldn't let us leave. So me, another member that was working with us, and my companion ended up having snacks with her anyways. This lady is old... and buang (Crazy) She gave us some noodles and eggs that were probably sitting outside for a while because they were covered in ants. My companion just took the ants off, and the member just ate the eggs. I ended up telling her that I just don't like eggs. I really didn't want to offend her, and hopefully I didn't ha. There was a brown out (power out) for a couple of hours this night so a lot of the people we wanted to teach ended up sleeping instead. Sunday night we went to some boys birthday party in the other Elders area. It was way fun. They had a ton of food pancit, rice, chicken, and cake. It felt like I haven't had cake forever!

 

Salamat!!!

Palangga taka!

Mahal Kita!

Elder Sparks

 

 

 

11/5/12

So for this week I'm kind of out of time to write everything... I'll just tell you the highlights. We have 7 investigators with a baptism date. Two amazing families that have more faith than a lot of the members I've met. We have a baptism this Saturday with an eight year old named Michael Angelo. Fiesta and All Saints Day were interesting, but I totally miss all the kids running around in Halloween costumes. My companion and I bought some candy and gave some to the kids we visited that day. There is this kid in one of our areas that has a mom who was off on some other island and his dad is a jeepney driver. So he is basically home alone all day everyday.. He has to find food in the dumpsters, and he's had a fever for the past couple of weeks, but there's just no one to take care of him. Anyways this week his mom came home, so my companion and I were really happy about that. We're trying to get her to start listening to the lessons. We had a trainers meeting this week, and I got to see all my buddies from my batch from the MTC. That was fun! A ton of them lost weight, and my old Companion Elder Rau had some massive stomach issues from drinking water out of the sink. HAHA I thought it was pretty funny. This week has been great though and the work in our area is progressing a ton. I'm stoked to see what this week has to offer.

It was one of the member’s birthday so he took us to smallville for dinner. Smallville is like the night life of Iloilo, so that was way awesome and fun. We ate a hotel probably the nicest place I’ve seen since I’ve been in the Philippines. The food was the best! It was awesome to have this huge feast at this fancy restaurant. It felt like we were high rollerz or something ha. We also did some service this week. One of our investigators has this awesome bamboo house with a Christmas tree in front of it, but with no decorations. So we decided to decorate Filipino style. With spray paint, trash, and a bamboo star! That was a fun experience.

Mahal kita!!
Elder Sparks

Alright this week was pretty sweet!

On Monday we had Family home evening with the A. Family. They are the best we played games, ate candy, and had a lesson on tithing. Way fun!!

Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning and then had lunch at 12 steps of Rome. All you can eat pizza and pasta. Except the pizza's weren't like american pizza's hah they were like a cracker with cheese on it. It was still way good and only 99 pesos (like 2 bucks). Our first lesson that day was with a woman and her daughter at the church. It went way well! She was way receptive and had a huge desire to learn about the Book of Mormon. This lady has a ton of faith, she used to be rich, but then she realized that something was missing in her life, so she prayed to be poor. She got what she wished for hah, but we can tell she is way ready for the gospel in her life. Last week we went to the hospital because one of the member's little girl was sick. We went to the hospital and gave her a blessing, and when we visited her this day she was all better. The mom told us that right after we left the hospital the other day she started to feel better. She said that the doctors thought she took some magical medical herb or something hah. When we went back to the apartment that day a member brought some dunkin doughnuts and Balut. First time eating Balut! Wasn't as weird tasting as I thought it was going to be, but the texture was gross. I could taste the cartilage, the beak, and the feathers of the baby duck. It tasted like a normal egg tho.

Wednesday we were way busy. We taught 7 lessons all around our area.

Thursday we taught some recent converts who are struggling with a lot of trials in their lives. Sometimes it's way sad to see such great people have such big trials, but I know that it'll be for their good in the end, and they're going to come out stronger if they endure it right.

Friday we did service at a members house. We took out weeds in the front of their house. When doing that it felt like I was taking a shower with the amount of sweat dripping down my body. Well worth it though. It was another way busy day, but it's nice that everyday is completely different than the one before.

Saturday we were getting punted everywhere. A lot of our lessons got canceled so we went around tracting. It was cool though cause we found a really sweet family with potential. We also ran into a crazy lady that had the most random questions. I got to eat chicken intestines for the first time. Not too bad if they are drenched in barbecue sauce.

Yesterday was stake conference and we went with the A. Family. It was a blast. I feel like they enjoyed it. We had a couple of appointments that night, but we had to give a paper to one of the leaders in the ward and spent most of the night trying to find his house. Addresses here suck.. They don't help at all haha. We found the house eventually, but they weren't even home. We just left the paper on the gate and then went to a members house.

Today did laba (laundry) By hand... (still trying to get used to this) and played football!! Way fun! One of the Elder's got a package from home with a football, so we got all the missionaries in our area and played. Finally something American :) It was a good way to get stress out after a long week!

Everythings great! Can't wait till Halloween!!

When we arrived in Manila we got our luggage and stuff and then went out to the terminal. I felt like I just took a shower! The humidity and the heat hit me like a brick wall. I have never sweat as much in my entire life. Outside of the airport all of us were super confused. There was no one there to pick us up and everyone was speaking Tagalog. We stood around for like an hour till finally someone came picked up our bags and loaded us in a car. It felt like a James Bond movie or something. When we got to the hotel that's where I met Lola, auntie rowena, Jimbo, and Kim. That was a crazy experience. I didn't really know what to say haha we just took a ton of pictures and then they left. After that we just spent the night at the hotel and got dropped off at the Manila airport to fly to Iloilo.

When we got to Iloilo we met our President and his wife and went to the mission home. President and Sister Pagaduan are amazing people. They are both so nice and treat each one of us like their own kids. Sister Pagaduan cooked us lunch the first day there. She cooked us lumpia, adobo, chicken curry, and some fruit smoothie. It felt like I was home again with all the awesome filipino food! I was way excited. After lunch we just hung around and caught up on rest. That night was our first night out teaching people. I went to lessons with Elder Opoc and Elder Advincula (both filipino elders) they took me to a couple of houses outside the city. First experience riding Jeepney hah. I was pretty stoked about that. We taught an 20 year old the first lesson and then a family on the next one. It was way fun, but everyone kept talking to me in Tagalog or Illongo or whatever it was I couldn't understand anything they were saying. I just kept saying Oh Oh. That night we ate at a Chow King, not really my favorite place to eat here hah.

The next day we had orientation the whole day. Nothing to special happened.

On Friday we met our trainers and found out our areas. I was almost positive I was going to get sent out to the bukid, but I didn't!

My trainers name is Elder Thayne, and guess where he's from?? Rexburg, Idaho. Haha it was awesome that we got put together. I actually didn't know him growing up, but were pretty darn close now. Our area is Mandurrio its a little outside Iloilo city. We cover the rich part of the city and then some of the poor parts. Our apartment is one of the nicest in the whole mission, so I lucked out on that. It has a working shower and a toilet that flushes.. Thank heavens for that haha. But not using toilet paper has been taking some adjustment. The first day teaching people in our area was way fun. The thing is that most of the people we teach have so little.... basically nothing. They live in a cement hut, if you could even call it that. It was definitely a humbling experience.

Saturday was conference day. We watch General Conference a week after because the Philippines has to wait till it gets on dvd. That was fun meeting all the members in our ward. During the break in conference one our investigators came and we taught her a lesson at the church. (I forgot to say this, but during my first lesson I was kind of freaking out.. We're really teaching real people now. It was eye opening for sure) Anyways, I'm doing a lot better now. We taught her the lesson and it felt like she was really receptive. She stayed for the rest of conference and we teach her again next Sunday. After conference we taught some more families. Each family we teach have the most awesome kids!! I love the kids because those are the only ones that can understand my broken Illongo haha. They are so much fun, they are more outgoing and independent than the kids back in the states, and like anything you do impresses them. It's a blast mom you're going to have to adopt some filipino kids!!

Sunday was the end of conference. After conference we studied and then went out teaching some more. Our schedule was crazy because we had a lesson on one end of our area, one in the middle, and then another one at the other end of the area. It was a lot of jeepney and tricycle rides haha. The first lesson with the A. family was my favorite lesson since I've been here. This is our Golden family its the mom dad their two sons and their little daughter that are taking the lessons. They already love the church so much, and are willing and ready to be baptized. When I taught they're little daughter, Shine, kept making fun of me because I was saying some words wrong haha, but then she helped me out. Like I said the kids are awesome. During the lesson I invited them to get baptized, and they said YES :) They're getting baptized on November 17. The next lesson we went to in the middle of our area the two sons weren't home.. So we had to post pone it till Tuesday. After that we visited a family that we visited the day before. The S.S. family are awesome. The nanay reminds me of my nanay haha. Everytime we go there she cooks us food and is just way happy to see us. She has two daughters and a 12 year old boy. My companion and his old companion have been teaching this boy for a while now, and on saturday he passed the baptismal interview. So on sunday we just checked up and prepared his baptismal service. He get's baptized this Saturday :) it's going to be my first baptism! And guess what his name is? Jeremy. Pretty awesome diba? Today was our P-day. Mom your going to be so proud of me. I washed all my clothes by HAND haha. It was a blast let me tell you :/ after washing clothes we went to the biggest mall on the island call SM (super mall) it was nuts!! It's like a mall in the U.S just bigger haha. I had to get some shower sandals, and we were looking for rubber shoes. We couldn't find any tho. Anyways that was cool to see that huge mall oh and we also ate at mcdonalds there! First mcdonalds in months!! Felt like heaven. I think it's funny that you can by chicken, rice, and spagetti and a mcdonalds, and all of there sizes are a lot smaller than americans. Guess it's just filipino size haha ;) Now we are at an internet cafe and I really don't want to leave because the aircon here rocks!! 

Well I think that is most of the highlights. Tonight were going to have family home evening with one of the members, can't wait to see what crazy filipino games were going to play. Everything is great!! I'am so stoked to be here and I just love it here. Definitely where i'm supposed to be :) I love the people and I've been humbled and have gained so much more respect for everyone and everything

9/18/12
Elder Rau and I almost had to move out today. I guess they wanted to take out the extra bed in our residence and move it somewhere else. It was kinda sad cause we didn't want to leave our Tagalog speaking roommates. Our lesson didn't go so hot today either. The devotional was good though it focused on the importance of temples and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

9/19/12
I can't believe it's only been three months since my birthday. It feels like that was forever ago. Today was an interesting day. We got a new teacher because our old one is going to teach the new Hilyguynon speaking district coming on Wednesday. Sister Burton is really nice, and her investigator is a lot nicer than our old one Robert. Our first lesson with her went okay.. I feel like it could've gone better if we asked more questions. Today we actually did have to move out. Elder Rau, Elder Reynolds, Elder Garner, and I all had to move up a floor. The cool part was we were all put in the same room and the room is a ton more roomier ha. We inherited a mini nerf basketball hoop which was a nice touch to our humble abode. I'm going to miss our old roommates, but we've been with Elder Reynolds and Garner since our first day here. So were all basically family now. One of our old roomies asked me to give him a blessing because he wasn't feeling too hot. That was a good experience for both of us. He's doing a lot better now.

9/20/12
Waking up was wala kasadyahan (NO FUN) today. Hardly got any sleep because we stayed up too late moving, playing with our mini hoop, and talking. It ended up being a good day though. Elder Rau and I bore our testimonies to some random elders and I got a package from my mama! It's funny how Letters and packages make or break a day here. I love my family and friends.

9/21/12
IPhone 5? What?? Elder Garner said his dad just ordered one. Pretty crazy.. I bet the IPhone 9 is going to be out by the time I'm off my mish. Today we taught Sister Burton's investigator again. This lesson was tons better than the last one. I memorized the First Vision in Illongo and used it during the lesson. I learned something cool about the word humility in Illongo today. The word for humility is "pagkamisinulundon" Directly translated it means without pride, or to lose pride. I thought that was pretty cool.

9/22/12
Nothing too special happened today. Joel's lesson went great. Overall great day with my district. I feel a lot more confident with the language and doctrine now that there are new Hilyguynon learners that we help teach. Just shows me how much we've grown in such little time.

9/23/12
We got to watch the Brigham City temple dedication today. That was pretty cool! There are 138 running temples in the world today! Pretty sweet! I finished my little tabbed out Book of Mormon project too. It has taken me a whole six weeks, but it looks great and is going to be a huge help to someone someday. It was a great Sunday spent listening to conference talks and firesides. We also got to watch the Joseph Smith video tonight. Most action I've seen in a LONG Time.

Kamusta ang mga pamiliya kag mga abyan ko!!

9/11/12

I didn't even know it was September 11th until the devotional at 7:00pm when the speaker talked about the day. Nothing too exciting happened during the day. Had a good study sesh.. and a good workshop. We had to teach investigators how to pray. One of the role plays I had to do was with a lady who was addicted to meth. I used Alma 7:11-12 to teach her about the atonement and Christ's love for us. During class we learned some shortcuts with the language that I wish I knew earlier! They would've helped out the last 6 weeks! I had to conduct my last district review meeting today. My three weeks were up and I was released as district leader. NO MORE MEETINGS. Halellujah!

9/12/12

Pinaka-dabest day! We got to go to the outside world!! Elder Rau and I used our get out of jail free card this day. I had to get my permanent retainer glued back on, and we decided this was the day to do it. This was our first time out in the Real World for 5 weeks. Excited Gid Kami. Getting in a car felt wierd.. We were in it for a whole 6 minutes and Elder Rau and I both felt car sick. When we got to the orthodontist we were able to hear REAL music playing out of the office! It was great!! Heard some Andy Grammar, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Carrie Underwood, I was even stoked to her Call me maybe! Made me realize how much I've missed music and my Iphone. We also got to talk to REAL people! Not all the MTC robots we see everyday. We were actual missionaries walking around the city.. It was kind of wierd. We could've proselyted and handed out Book of Mormons if we wanted to. The procedure cost $72 for them to glue something to my teeth.. 5 Weeks ago I would've complained, but on that day it was soo worth it! The only sister in our district left for the field this day too. She helped our district a lot and will do great. It was such a nice break from the normal routine to see what outside of the MTC looks like.

9/13/12

Thursday was a good day. Started the day off with gym then study then class. I started the book "Our Heritage". It's an interesting book about the pioneers and all the past prophets. If you haven't read it. Do it! I've read more than I've ever read in my entire life here.. It's kind of the only thing you can do tho hah. I got a wedding invite from the Harts. Congrats Scott! Hope you have an awesome wedding. Sucks i can't go even though it's only twenty minutes away. TRC was tight. I learned a new slang word from a BYU student who served in Iloilo. Ooso... or something like that. It means "new style". "May ara ka sang ooso?" Do you have style? He told me thats the phrase all the teenage filipino's would tell him. The lesson we taught him about church went really well! Maayo Adlaw!

9/14/12

We taught Robert about tithing today. The word for envelope is amot.. and the word for monkey and boss is amo... During the lesson I kept leaving the "T" off the word, so I'm pretty sure he thinks that every month he has to give a monkey to his bishop. He was super confused... (good thing he's not a real investigator). I'm going to try my best to not make that mistake in the field.

9/15/12

Saturday's are long because we have six hours of class. Most of the day was spent studying and teaching. I learned some awesome phrases and words tho that I used during volleyball and basketball. "ano gusto mo" what you want! " ano ka himo " what you going to do. and the word takalan-Cocky. Haha

9/16/12

Sunday was so nice because I didn't have to go to any district leader meetings. The whole day was spent listening to talks, studying, and watching mormon messages. The CES talk that Elder Holland spoke in last week was really good. I learned that in this dispensation as Latter-day Saints were done running. Were ready to fight Babylon. Really inspiring. The speaker at the Fireside told us about the Mormon Play that made misisonaries look like idiots... He showed us a clip and you could tell the entire MTC wanted to turn it off. It was pretty bad... But then he told us how the church was using it to its advantage. Just another testament to me that the church is true. Why else would satan try soo hard to atttack it??

Kumusta ang mga pamiliya kag mga abyan mo!?

I've been at the MTC for over a month now! Five weeks this Wednesday. Just a few more weeks left and I'll finally be shipped off into the field. I have grown a lot spiritually during this time at the empty sea (MTC). I love my district!! I have met so many great Elders from all over the world. We all have different stories and backgrounds, but we all have the same purpose: to invite other's to come unto Christ. I've grown really close to these Elders and Sisters. Especially with my Companion Elder Rau. He's from Calgary Canada and enjoys skateboarding and snowboarding. Together we are basically the pinaka-dabest teachers! It's been a crazy month, with a lot of adjusments and setbacks, but it's been a blast and there isn't anywhere I would rather be.

 

9/3/12

Monday = P-day! This was a much needed day. It was so great to just relax, spend time writing letters, exercising, getting laundry done, and catching up on sleep. I wrote Grandma, Elder Thork, and Elder Clay. Elder Clay has been doing great! I can already see the impact his mission has made in his life! I can't wait to get to the point where I'm fluent in the language, in the field, already a year in, and reaping with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. During class today we learned more about sentence structure and how we can use it to teach about the three kingdoms. I learned one of my favorite phrases today. "amo lang na siya" (It's just the way it is bro).  Maayo Gid Adlaw.

 

9/4/12

Tuesday = early morning gym day. Tuesday's aren't really my favorite in the morning. Gym isn't fun when everyone is all tired and cranky. I just spent the hour shooting around with Elder Choi. I was on fire though. I don't think I've drilled so many three's in my entire life. I got a package from my parents and Kailey. It was awesome to get pictures from home. It made my day! We had workshop today where we learned about how to effictively teach about the Book of Mormon. I learned sometimes you need to just pause and wait for revelation to come. During class we taught our investigator Robert. The guy is kind of a hard-head. We focused on repentance, and I think the lesson went really well. Teaching is getting a lot more easier in Hilygaynon. It was Budlay Gid at first. (REALLY FREAKING DIFFICULT).

 

9/5/12

Wednesday = Service day! Service day is a bitter sweet day for our district. It's a downer because we have to wake up before 6:00 and clean the huge MTC gym. My companion and I were the first ones there, but we still got stuck with the crappy job. Literally.. We had to clean all the bathrooms in the building. I didn't even like cleaning the bathrooms at my house. Oh well I still served with a smile ;)  It wasn't that bad... It wasn't too fun either tho. During class, Elder Rau and I taught our investigator Joel. This guy is my favorite. He is 18, and loves to have fun. We taught him about the Atonement. Elder Rau shared a story and I shared some scriptures and bore my testimony. We got him to commit to baptism on the 22nd of Sept. One of our best lessons by far! Today the highlight was seeing my buddy Elder Sweeten and Elder Barnes. Elder Barnes is in the room right next to me, so that is pretty sweet. Elder Sweeten and I have a lot of the same schedule. It's was way awesome to see him and to share all our new experiences over the past month.

 

9/6/12

Nothing too exciting. We had TRC today, which is like hometeaching on steriods. That was fun. I also started taking sleeping pills because my Australian roommate snores like an elephant. So earplugs and sleeping pills = a good nights rest for me.

 

The weekend

The weekend was great a lot of great lessons and talks. Robert committed to baptism on the 29th, so Elder Rau and I feel accomplished. I'm running out of email time. We took pics with all the Rexburg missionaries, that was pretty tight. Anyways I'll write back next week. Pallanga taka!! (I love you) Salamat Gid para sa mga pagpangamuyo. (Thank you for all your prayers!)

 

-Elder Sparks

Pre-Mish

Hi, Everyone! As I embark on my two year Journey to serve our Heavenly Father my family will update this blog with photos and letters that I send them.

If you want to write me on my mission here is my contact information:

Email: nicholas.sparks@myldsmail.net

MTC Address:

Elder Nicholas Echon Sparks

MTC Mailbox # 170

PHI-ILOL 1009

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Mission Address: 

Elder Nicholas Echon Sparks

Philippines Iloilo Mission

Osmena St

Arevalo,

5000 Iloilo

Philippines

Before I leave I won't to share some of my favorite quotes with all of you

• Live without pretending, love without depending, listen without defending, speak without offending.

• People will hate you, rate you, shake you, and break you. But how strong you stand is what makes you.

• Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.

• God makes three requests of his children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have, now.

• Sometimes you have to sit back and remember where you've been, to see how far you've come, so that you can figure out where your going.

• Not all scars show, not all wounds heal. Sometimes you can't always see the pain someone feels.

• Sometimes we need to forget some people from our past. Because of one simple reason. they just don't belong in our future.

• All scars heal eventually. You must let them heal to move on. Scars are not there to remind you of your suffering; scars are there to remind you of the fact that you have won - your scars are healed. 

• If we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. If the adversary can influence us to pick on each other, to find fault, bash, and undermine, to judge or humiliate, to taunt, half his battle is won.

• Life begins at the end of your comfort zone

• Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anybody else.

• All that we are is a result of what we have thought.

• Stop waiting for things to happen. Go out and make them happen. 

• Sometimes we expect more from others because we are willing to do that much for them. 

• You don't always get what you wish for, you get what you work for. 

• It's never a question of can you, but will you?

• What defines us is how well we rise after falling.

• If life gets too hard to stand... kneel. 

• Don't quit, you're already in pain. You're already hurt. Get a reward for it. 

• The minute you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on so long.

• Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

• Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment till it's a memory.

• Being male is a matter of birth. Being a man is a matter of age. But being a gentleman is a matter of choice. 

• Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. 

• Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

• He saved us not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. 

• Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay it's not the end. 

• Never regret anything because at one time it was exactly what you wanted. 

• Don't just endure his will for your life, but rejoice in it with unspeakable joy. 

• Be who you are, and say what you feel. 'Cuz those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. 

• Judging a person does not define who they are. It defines who you are. 

• In the end, what we regret the most are the chances we never took. 

I have a testimony of this gospel. I love our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. I know that they love me and that they have a plan for me. I know that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet and President Monson is the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator for our day. I know that the Book of Mormon is the truest book on this Earth. I have witnessed the blessings it has given me and I can't wait to share them with the people of the Philippines. The field is white already to harvest, and I'm ready to reap with all my might. I'm grateful for all your support and would love your letters.