Hump Day!

Dear Family and Friends!!

First to start off that's awesome Quinn is going to the playoffs.  What a stud... hahaha  I'm glad he actually does some good stuff in football.  I can't wait to get back and watch him play!  Also that's cool that Sydney is a dance captain.  That's awesome!! Shes doing a great job!!! Also cool thing that Jessie got a job at Pet Smart! Congrats to her tell her for me!! (:

So this week was a good week!! Kinda a stressful week to start!! Tuesday was just normal missionary work we got some great lessons in and that was awesome! We actually went on splits with some members in the ward.  One is a 22 year old guy who is so cool!  He wanted to serve a mission back in the day but then made some bad choices and didn't go.  But he has completely turned his life around again and took out piercings in his ears and is bugging all his friends to come to church with him.  He just got the melchezideck priesthood which was awesome.  So its been cool getting to know him and work with him!!  Then the drama happened on Wednesday!!  I had an interview I had to do for the zone leaders.  So we went over there and it was good!!  But right before we were about to go out to work, we got a call from Elder Christensen and he ended having dengue fever.  So he was in the hospital and the mission presidents wife wanted them to go to Tarlac.  So that was interesting.  We were just kinda stressing out for the day if he was gonna be okay.  But he's all okay now so you guys don't need to worry.  He's all good so that was just kinda crazy!!!

Mac and his companion.

Jasmine is still doing good.  We're getting ready for some other people to get baptized.  One is a referral from a friend.  He's got great possibility.   He's come to church a lot.  His name is Mark so we are helping him to get ready for his baptism.  Then another who's name is KC.  She's a part member family.  So they should be going through for this November!!  We found a new investigator whos name is Pilipina. Ya kinda weird in the Philippines tapos her name is Pilipina.  But she has great potential so that's awesome!!  So the work here is going pretty good!!!  Gotta keep working hard!!!

 

Also I got your package this week thank you for that!!  I love Kevin's friend... hahaha  It's awesome.  I've almost finished the book you sent me!!  Also loved the star bursts!!  Can't believe I've been gone over a year! So weird it doesn't feel like I've been gone for over a year!  We had spaghetti on my year mark because thats like a tradition here in the Philippines is you eat spaghetti at celebrations.  So that was good.  The spaghetti here is different though.  It's like a sweet spaghetti.  It's like sugary so its kinda weird but its also good!!  Remember to keep strenghening your testimony of the church its so important love you guys!! Mahal ko kayo!! Ingat kayo lagi!!

 

Mac and his "friends."  A bear which has no name and the pigeon, Kevin.

Elder Hedman

 

Lesson of the day

*all pictures included in this post are from weeks past that I haven't used.  His camera still broke.  It better be fixed soon or I may go crazy!

So this week was good!! Sounds like the family had a good time! That's awesome that Jessie went to temple square! Sounds like you guys watch a lot of TV with another Tivo service... crazy people.... Well, keep up the great work!!

So as for the work here, it's going pretty good!!  So Jasmine got baptized this week and it was the most amazing thing ever!!  It was just great.  It was cool being able to baptize her.  Really neat!  She loved it.  She is like the most quiet little girl ever.  It was awesome because after she got up to bare her testimony, she didn't really know what to do but just wanted to share a little bit.  And after she said thank you to the elders, she said she knows its true.  Then just burst out in tears.  We were shocked because she is just so quiet.  You would never expect it from her!  It was so neat seeing the spirit work with her!  It was just amazing.  She felt so happy and then the next day at church she was just doing great!

Also this week, we had interviews with the mission president, President Clark.  That was great.  He told me he has some great expectations for our companionship here.  And it's awesome because my companion is the bomb.  He's just so awesome so that was cool!!  The only bad thing that came from the interview is that I have a small feeling that I might be here another transfer.  Which would basically mean 9 months in one area.  So that's forever..... but ya know the Lord has a plan.  So I'll do whatever he needs from me!  It's great.  The work is going great here!  We had 6 investigators to church and 4 that weren't able to make it that usually do come.  So we just have a lot of progression coming on in this area.  So it's really awesome!! Sometimes we go on splits with our leaders, so we can try and cover the whole area which is neat!!  The Lord truly does bless you if you are obedient, so always be obedient!!  Lesson of the day!!  Haha

Also, this last Tuesday, I held exchanges with a companionship in the district.  His name is elder Jacobson.  He's so cool!!  He kinda reminds me a bit of me when I was new in the mission, 'cause he's only been out here for like 2 or 3 months.  So he's still a little nervous.  But, wow, it was awesome.  He's a hilarious guy and just a great missionary!  His spirit is so strong so that was so awesome to work with him!!  We got some work done which was awesome!!  The work here is going great!!  Nothing to different here.  It's just been pouring rain here for the past couple days.  So that's fun!!  Just getting super wet from the rain and the streets get a little flooded.  So good choice in getting water proof shoes because they get soaking wet!!!  Continuing the studying of the book of Mormon and pmg (Preach My Gospel).  And then Jesus the Christ.  I'm loving it.  Great stuff I'm learning.  I gave a talk with the interview's with the mission president about the Book of Mormon.  It's just incredible.  So if your not reading it, I would suggest you start because it's awesome.... Remember that the church is true and continue to be true to the faith love you all!! Mahal ko kayo!!

Elder Hedman

Ingat kayong lahat!!

*all pictures included in this post are from weeks past that I haven't used.  His camera broke.  Hopefully it will be fixed for next week!

So this week was a great week! Kinda crazy but it was so fun.  Sounds like the family is doing good.  Can't believe how busy Sydney and Quinn are.  That's a lot of dancing and football but thats so cool!!  Can't believe how fast it's going by.  I feel like I just emailed yesterday so it's crazy.... but this last week has gone by so crazy!!!

To start, we are having some great work out here.  We have so many people progressing and accepting dates for baptism.  We have 15 people with a date for baptism.  So lets keep those prayers up.  It's going great!!  Some haven't come to church yet, so the dates are late in November.  But it's going great!!  Jasmine passed her baptism interview this week.  So this upcoming Saturday, we will have another baptism here. That's pretty exciting!  She's really excited and now her family is getting more excited also!  They are doing so great.  It's so awesome seeing how their family is coming to church!  We also have another investigator who is doing really.  His name is Marc.  He is a 15 year old guy and a referral from a member.  He even attends seminary and comes to church.  So it's pretty cool!!  We got some investigators attending seminary here!  It's going really good!  He has a date for November 15 and if he keeps it up, it might be even earlier. So that's going really well!!!!

This last week was awesome with the conference!!  We got to see it.  They showed it only in English though.  So I was kinda upset because some of the people don't understand it at all.  So they just showed up and sat because they couldn't understand it.  But it was such an awesome experience for me!!  I loved basically every talk.  It was all so amazing!!  I felt like there was such a great focus on our personal testimony and staying true to the things we know.  I loved Elder Uchtdorfs talks so much.  He is still my favorite for sure!!  It was so awesome!!  His talks are just so incredible!!  I also thought Elder Bednars was really interesting about being missionaries.  How it was more directed to people who aren't members of the church.  I loved the story he shared that was really funny!!  Also I loved Elder D Todd Christofferson's that was so good.  I was laughing the way he started after the Chinese talk.  It was funny starting with the Spanish, but he gave such a great talk.  I took the most notes on his I would say and on Elder Uchtdorfs. My favorite was priesthood session I would say!  I saw a friend I know in the choir there.  That was like woah... hahaha  But I loved conference so much.  I'm so excited to apply it all into my life.  Remember to do the small things because they make the biggest difference!  Reading, prayer and temple attendance!!  I know it makes it all the difference because I have seen it a ton here out in the mission!! 

 

Me and my companion are still doing really well.  He is way cool.  He's a great guy and just loves serving.  It's way fun!! So that's going good.  Also later today we are going to the beach, so that should be fun!!  I'm excited to go again... hahaha.  I've been in this area forever.  It's so crazy.  I feel like I've done everything I  wanted cause Ive been here.  So fun!!  But it's great.  Gotta love the blessings of the gospel!!  Just thought I'd say remember to be grateful for everything no matter what happens.  Look on the bright side.  There is always a bright side because the lord just has a plan and everything happens to bring you the most happiness.  So look for that happiness in everything you do!  Love you all remember that the church is true!! Mahal ko kayo!! Ingat kayong lahat!!

Elder Hedman

Service Work

Dear Friends And Family!

So ya I haven't seen conference yet (Twice a year the church holds a worldwide meeting.  Everyone watches via satellite, online or TV).   I'm excited for this upcoming weekend.  We get to watch it this weekend!!  I've heard from reading everyone's thoughts that it was awesome! (:  That is cool that Megan and Trent were on that video! (: (There was a video between 2 conference sessions about Missionary work and our neighbors were on it.)  So sounds like you guys have had a crazy week.  Here it has been a little weird of a week.  We have been keeping up the teaching here basically and doing some cool service stuff!!  Earlier today we cleaned out an old abandoned hospital so that way they can use it to store stuff so that was cool!

I don't speak Tagalog, but I'm fairly certain I know what this part of the hospital was.

Bringing "tebowing" to the Philippines.

My companion and I are getting along great.  He just has a great desire to serve and he helps me a lot.  We're are having some great work together!!!  This week in our branch, we had the most attendance that we have ever had my whole time here!  We reached 104 in our attendance.  It's incredible.  We keep having our less actives come to church.  And we had 6 investigators come to church also.  So we are definitely seeing some miracles here in this area!  It's so incredible to see the blessings that the Lord has in store for all of us!  Jasmine is doing great!!  It's so funny! She is the cutest little girl ever!!  She's like 10 years old and is getting baptized on the 18th.  It's so exciting.  Her whole family is members but she needed the missionaries to teach her, and ever since we started that, their whole family has been coming to church.  When I first got here, the mom was kinda upset always and just always sad.  But now she comes to church and is so happy when she see's us coming over to share with them!!  It's so amazing!!  The Lord truly answers prayers.  It's so incredible!  And Jasmine is just so awesome.  She calls me best friend and I almost cry it's so funny!! 

 

Jasmine

We will leave and then when were about to get out of site, she yells out "bye bye best friend!!!"  It's so cute!!!

So as for study, I got your package that you guys sent.  Thank you so much!!  So I've been reading that Jesus the Christ a lot!!  The English is so deep, I almost don't understand it because I haven't seen English in forever so it's kinda funny!   But it's incredible and full of knowledge!  So I will keep on reading that!!! Always remember to read and study the scriptures because it is so important.  We can learn so much!!  Then applying it is the most important thing!  Tell the family I love them!! Miss you guys!! Oh also tomorrow is my 1 year mark left! (As far as we know, he will be released October 6, 2015.  This date can change though.  It's not set in stone!)  So I can't believe the time has flown by so fast!!  Just means gotta work even harder because the work isn't done yet!!  Remember the gospel is the most important thing!  And just to have priorities right!! Love you all!! Miss you!!

 

MDL conference.  These are all the same group he went to the Philippines with last year.  They are all district leaders now!

Climbing coconut trees.

Mahal Ko kayo!!