Baptism!

Hello Friends and family!

Yeah I'm officially 11 months out.  Wow the time goes by fast.  So this week was kind of an interesting week!!  So for transfers, literally our whole entire zone stayed.  Except I had to go and get a new companion so that was cool!  So I'm still up here in Dipaculao, up in the paradise area.  It's been about 6 months almost.  So this is my 5th transfer up here.  I'll be here until November I guess.  But wow that was kind of a shocker!  So my new companions name is Elder Purca (from Negros Occidental in the middle of the Philippines) and he is a way cool guy!  We are having a blast!  It's super fun and we are getting great work done!!

 

So this last week we did have our baptism go through.  It was so awesome.  I was so excited for that!!  It was kinda nerve racking.  It was supposed to start at 4 o'clock so we got there early to set everything up.  By 5 o'clock no one had showed up yet!  But right after that, they all showed up which was awesome.  So we got the baptism started.  It all just went great!  He got baptized and gave such a strong testimony after of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  How the atonement can really help you change!  This has been one of my favorite weeks in the mission because of that baptism.  It was such a neat experience!   Also this week I've continued my study of the atonement.  It's been so incredible.  Iv'e truly come to learn so much about the atonement.  Wow, it's the most important thing ever I can for surely say!  Other then that not to much happened because of just crazy traveling to Cabanatuan and back for transfers!  Then also later today I have to go down and travel again because tomorrow we have our MLC/ DLC  or mission leader and district leader conference.  So that should be pretty fun!  I'll get to see a lot of my batch (his group from the MTC last October) because a lot of them just became district leaders which is so cool!

 

Congrats of the baptism of Lydia (his cousin).  That's so cool that she got baptized!!  I can't believe she is 8 years old already.  That has gone by so fast.  I feel like she is still a 3 year old little girl!

Just to close off, I encourage you all to read the Book of Mormon because of how important it is!!  If you are already reading it, keep doing it because its the most incredible book in the world.  You can learn so much if you just study it and really work hard!  I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!!

 

Mahal Ko Kayo! (I love you!)

Elder Hedman

Babala!

Dear Family and friends!

Sorry the packers lost... that's okay, BYU is still winning.  That's totally awesome!  That's so crazy Valesca is home now.  That's cool she got to go see Josh (her brother) in the MTC (Missionary Training Center). That's pretty lucky I'd say. haha  That's cool you guys got to see that re-dedication of the temple!!  That's awesome.  I miss the temple so much.  I want to go so bad.  That's definitely one thing that's changing when I get back.  More time spent at the temple for sure! 

So here nothing really new! We got hit by that other typhoon.  It was worse than that first one.  But mostly just a lot of wind.  So we got text-ed saying to go back to the house.  So that was fun.  Nothing too bad happened here but I heard other areas of the mission got flooded a bit.  So that sucks.  

But as the work here, it's going great!!  Obedience brings blessings so always be obedient to the commandments because it brings blessings!!  We had 5 investigators at church.  One should be getting baptized this Saturday.  That's brother Cristobal!  He's doing great and has the most amazing testimony ever about changing his life around.  It's so amazing.  So I'm so excited for that!!  Then we have some others who are getting ready for October.  We have a part member who is 9 years old.  She's a little girl named Jasmine.  She is so smart for how young she is and just so nice!  She keeps telling her older sister about her baptism and how excited she is and it's so funny!  So that is going awesome as well!!  We even have people come to church we taught before that we didn't think would come.  We had one who really wants to get baptized but the mom is so against it all.  So that stinks.  But she is coming to church and attending seminary even though we aren't allowed to teach her.  So keep her in your prayers for the moms heart to soften up!   Her name is Anjelica.  

Warning! Don't stay in this area!

Also this week is transfers and I'm 99% sure I'm not getting transferred since that would pull out the missionaries here and the area would start again with new elders.  So I'm pretty sure I will still be up here in paradise, even though its been like 6 months now.  But that's okay.  I'll be getting a new companion.  A real full time missionary.  So that will be cool!!  Other then than just studying the atonement of Jesus Christ, is the most amazing thing in the world.  I'm never gonna stop studying that because there is so much to learn!! Remember that the Lord blesses us for working hard and doing what is right!!  Love you all!  Mahal ko kayo (I love you)!  Huwag kayong maging pasaway (don't be disobedient)!   Ingat ka lagi (be careful)!!

Elder Hedman

Fashion statement?

Loves Dr. Pepper!

Typhoon Kalemaegi

Hello family and friends!

So sounds like you guys had a good week!!  I can't believe that Nicole got her mission call.  That is so awesome.  She will be a great missionary!!  And that's so awesome, Josh heads out this week!!  I'm so stoked for him!!! Hahaha  I think that's the same mission as Jeff Newbold... so that would be pretty cool!!!  I can't believe Valesca comes back this week.  I'm pretty sure it hasn't been 18 months.  But then again I've been out for 11 and I feel like I just left like last week.  Wow time sure does go fast!!! 

So here in the Philippines, not to much going on!  I guess... haha   So me and brother Rey have been doing great!  He cooked some food for us and it was delicious.  So that was awesome.  But it was just like some simple soup.  I usually just buy fried chicken cause its like 50 cents a piece or like 20 pesos.  So I'm like okay, that's awesome.  But then I  buy too much so I run out of money fast.  But that's okay.   hahaha. 

So as for church attendance this week, it was interesting.  I was kinda nervous because of the typhoon that was coming, but I'll talk more about that later.  So we had 4 investigators come to church and it was awesome!!!  Val Cristobal did come to church which was awesome.  I was so happy because he just totally wants to do this so badly and truly is doing everything we ask.  He's pretty much the golden investigator!!  It's so awesome.  The Lord truly does prepare people if you go out and search and work hard!!!  So that was awesome.  Then we had another guy come who's name is Marlon Calob.  It was the first time he came.  I was, to be honest, kinda shocked.  We only taught him on Wednesday and didn't see him after that.  It was a short lesson cause weird stuff happened.  But he came to church!  So the Lord truly does answers prayers so that was awesome!! 

So the work this week was just a pretty good week!!  This upcoming week we have no meetings so that will be awesome.  A full week to work!!  Also before I talk about the typhoon, we had zone conference this last week.  It was so different from anything we have done before but it was awesome!! It was more interactive.  We focused a lot on coming back to basics.  Which was great because I think sometimes missionaries, including myself for sure, get way to caught up in going deep into doctrine and stuff.  Just cause it's so fun!! But we talked about working in Preach My Gospel (A Book on Basic Principles and Missionary Work) so much more and the Book of Mormon.   It was amazing after we started applying that to our work.  It was awesome and we had some great stuff going on!!  I know it's because of the basics.  'Cause that preach my gospel is incredible.  It just has so much great stuff in it!!

So about the storm.  It was hyped up to be a lot more then it really was. haha  Yesterday we weren't allowed to go out to work after 5 pm because of the storm.  So we just sat inside the house.  Literally, I was like what on earth?!  It was just a little windy and got some good rain.  But I think we could have gone out and worked but oh well.  So it wasn't really that bad at all.  The electricity didn't go out so it was basically like any other day in the Philippines.  So don't worry about me here.  Nothing bad happened in my area.  But I'm not sure about the more northern part.  I think it got worse up there.  But those are different missions, so I'm not sure what happened there.  But here we are all fine.  I was looking forward to a flood in the house and walking through water but it didn't happen.  I guess that's okay though because the safety of the people here is more important then me walking around through water!!!  So that was basically this week!!  Take care!! Mahal ko kayo!!! (:

 
Elder Hedman

Service Project

So this last week has been a interesting week!!!  First off your pictures look awesome (we went on a cruise) and that's so cool that the people from the cruise ship were from the Philippines.  That just means we have to go on another cruise when I get back!

So this last week I worked in another elders area for 2 days and that was pretty fun.  We got some work done!  But then I got a new companion and his name is Brother Ellorin.  He is just a short term missionary.  He is from the branch that I'm working in so he always would work with us anyways but knows he's actually a missionary.  He's a cool guy and he's a RM (Returned Missionary) so we get some really good work done.  On Saturday we taught like 11 lessons and it was awesome!!  We just get some great hard work done here!!  On Sunday we had a great sabbath and had 88 as our attendance which was so awesome!!  At the beginning I was so worried cause not a single investigator showed up!  But right as it was starting, we had 4 investigators show up which was awesome.  Then the others one that didn't are pretty sure they're going to be able to next week! So we are having some great work going on here!

On the 27th of September we should be having a baptism.  But we really gotta work hard to get him to understand all the lessons.  His name is brother Val Cristobul.  So if you could keep him in your prayers, that would be awesome!!  Then we also have 8 people that have a baptism date in October.  So if everything goes well, then we could be getting a lot of great great work here done!!!  So keep the people in your prayers that would be so amazing!!

Service Project!  They handed out flyers about immunizations in the area.  A great way to remind people to get their immunizations!

Not really much else happened this week.  Later today, I'm going down to Cabanatuan again so 4 hour ride through the mountains.  We have a mission conference with the mission president.  So that will be fun!!  To be honest I'm just really excited i get to eat McDonald's again in Cabanatuan!  I'm sure I'll learn a lot of great stuff also!!   Haha  So that was basically this week.  Nothing to weird happened and nothing out of the ordinary.  Just constantly no electricity because of brown outs, which just means there's no electricity.  There is actually no electricity right now but we found some place that has a generator so I'm lucky I get to email right now! Haha  So make sure you guys work hard!! Love you all!!

Elder Hedman

(As we emailed each other back and forth, he said sometimes this place just stinks.  Worried Mom in me gave him some encouragement, told him how much we loved and missed him, etc....He emailed me back with the following:  Hahaha I don't think the being here stinks or the people!  This place is literally awesome... but some 70 or 80 year old guy just walked into the internet cafe and he is literally not wearing like anything but a little flap thing that covers his front and back... and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna throw up.... so its kinda disgusting... hahahahahahahaha)

Comings and goings

Alright, so this letter won't be too long because not really much has happened this past week.  But this was an interesting last week.  My companion, Elder Emilio, leaves me later today to go to Tarlac because he's going home.  So basically I'm joining 2 other elders in another area in our zone just for a couple days.  Which will be super fun because one is a brand new American.  So that's gonna be awesome.  Because I'll be with like a brand new American.  So I'll get to have some fun!!  haha 

 

But after that, I think on this coming Friday or Thursday, our BML (Branch Mission Leader) from our area is going to be a short time missionary.  So that is going to be pretty funny!!  He is a way cool guy and a returned missionary.  But him and I get along great because I've been in this area forever! He is an awesome cook.  So I'm so excited to eat something that's not just eggs and noodles.  But that's basically the news with what is going on here!! 

 

Also this last week we had 4 investigators come to church and one is doing so amazing!!!  His name is Val Cristubol and his wife is a member.  He never ever wanted to go to church.  But 2 weeks ago he was just thinking and he wants to change his life around.  So we are working with him.  Now he just wants to get baptized and start progressing to grow a family in the gospel!  He has come to church 2 times in a week now.  Just is doing everything that he needs to do to change his life around!!  So if you could keep him in your prayers, that would be awesome!! 

 

A Philippine Picnic

But that is basically this week cause we didn't get to go out to work cause my companion was sick and can't walk to well.  So basically I studied and tried to go out to work whenever we had some priesthood.  Something I've been studying a ton is the atonement and about grace.  Wow,  I have learned so much.  Basically my whole perspective of the gospel and ordinances have changed.  I have learned so much!!  So always make sure you study the gospel everyday!!  It's worth it and the Lord will bless you in countless ways you couldn't even imagine!! Love you all remember the church is true!! Work hard!!

 

Elder Hedman