I'm Freezing at 80 Degrees!

Hello Po!

It's More Fun In The Philippines (Highlights):

-It is super cold here right now. The high is 85 degrees and the low is 72 degrees. I don't have sweat pants or a sweat shirt, so at nights I just wear my slacks and shirts to bed because of how cold it is! But the daytime is really nice, because I haven't been sweating since its so cold!

-I've gained 10 pounds from when I first entered the mission. This rice is doing a number to my body. I guess I just love the food too much!

How can my guilt from past regrets and sins be swept away and washed clean? This was a question I asked myself this week and began to explore in my studies, and I came across two conditions by which forgiveness is brought to pass (How Do I Know When I Am Forgiven by Tad R. Callister). The first condition by which forgiveness comes, as mentioned in Enos 1:8, is by faith on Christ. Jesus Christ's Atonement is ultimately what allows us to be forgiven for mistakes. He suffered all of our pains and took upon himself our sins, and through him we can be made clean. We must have faith on him to receive that forgiving power, and be relieved from guilt. Just like a phone must be charged regularly, we must always charge our faith by reading the holy scriptures, praying often, and participating in church. The second condition that frees us from guilt is that we have "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." Obviously, this does not mean we must be perfect; rather, we must STRIVE for perfection. We must work to become BETTER than before. the beautiful thing about repentance is that God will judge us by what we have become and not by what we were. I know that our pains, sorrows and guilt can eventually be swept away if we will increase our faith in the Atonement of Christ and desire to choose the right. I know that Jesus Christ, the son of God, is our Savior and Redeemer, and he is the way to eternal happiness.

Elder Hemmert

Plumbing in the Philippines

Elder Hemmert sent this to his dad this week: 

Check out these photos of plumbing here. I feel like you would appreciate this hahah!!! Its awesome!! ANd when people dont pay, rather than simply shutting the line off they go in and cut the line. Then if the people start paying again they just go fix the cut and turn the water back on haha!!!

I'll Hold the Soap

Hello Po,

It's More Fun In The Philippines (Highlights):

-SOOOO, remember how I asked two ladies if they needed help showering because I thought they were doing dishes, well... I did it again.... It was an old nanay and she said she was going to shower, but I thought she said wash clothing (Tagalog shower is pagliligo and wash clothes is paglalaba, so obviously very similar haha). I offered to help her, but she said she was capable of doing it herself. Then after saying goodbye my companion told me that I had heard her wrong. I DONT KNOW WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING TO ME HAHA!

-We found a really crazy part of our area that is all squatter homes (wood shacks) that people have built. Right next to their home is a lake and some kids built a rope swing there, so we swung over the water with the kids. The kids LOVED that two Americans were using their rope swing! It put such a big smile on both their faces and my face. YouTube link to view this story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkCWa4Lb7KU 

-Lastly, we tried to get into a private sub-divison to go talk with a family in there, but the guard wouldn't let us in for some reason. It was quite frustrating, but then a lady in that compound came up to us and asked what the issue was. We told her we couldn't be let in and she was disgusted at the guard fro not letting us in. She was like, "WHAT! HE better let you two in! How rude!" It was so funny! The lady then invited us to join her for her friend's birthday party, and we happily accepted. We got to the party and everyone loved us! Filipino party's are awesome cause literally everyone is invited! Everyone was so amazed that there were two white dudes that spoke Tagalog. We got many of their numbers and addresses, and many of them asked us to return and teach them about our beliefs. We also got invited to another one of their birthday's next week haha! They were so kind to us, we are excited to teach them!

Elder Hemmert

TUMAE KA BA? (Did you defecate?)

Kumusta,

It's More Fun in the Philippines - Highlights:

- First off, to explain the subject. We were teaching one of our investigators. She has been having a hard time recently, and we were helping her through her trials as we shared with her about Faith in Christ. The lesson was very good and extremely spiritual. As we were approaching the end of the lesson a little boy that lives with them ran to the middle of the room where we were all sitting. He all of a sudden stopped running, squatted just a little, and a big turd fell out of his shorts onto the tile floor. He then stood back up and ran past without thinking anything of it! We all began laughing and could not stop laughing. It was hilarious!

-I got sick... again. It only lasted a day, but regular bathroom breaks were needed. It was probably due to the chicken intestines I ate the other day.

-While teaching a blind lady on tuesday the funniest things happened involving cats. First, one cat was caged and a different cat was scratching it and hitting it through the holes in the cage. Second, we witnessed a MASSIVE RAT chase a cat right across the Nanay's feet. It was crazy and SOOOO backward! The cat should've been chasing the rat. Third, two cats got into some sort of crazy MMA fight. Literally they were wrestling, clawing, and screeching at each other. They were smashing into everything, knocking over glass bottles and even broke a few glass cups. It was literally insane!! HOWEVER, the best part is since the Nanay is blind and her hearing is bad, she had no idea that any of it was happening. She just kept talking through all of it, and we were just trying our best not to laugh too loud haha!!

Lastly, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to the Philippines and we got to listen to his broadcast. He spoke on many things, but one thing really stuck out in my mind. We need to strive to be more righteous and more perfect. We have 168 hours in a week yet only 2 hours a week at church. That is such a small amount of time at church. God has given us everything, so we can't just think two hours for God is enough. Every hour needs to be dedicated to God. We can do this by simply making good decisions throughout the week. If we will pray to God throughout the week, obey His will and commandments, learn of him in scripture study, and strive to become like Christ throughout the week then we will become more righteous. And whatever we need will be given us according to our righteousness.

INVITATION: Find one way to dedicate a little more time this week to God. Study the scripture 30 extra minutes this week. Find a quite place to offer a sincere prayer. Or maybe share a scripture or message about Christ with someone else.

Elder Hemmert

BACOOR - TABING DAGAT (Sea)

Hello Po,

Well, I'm officially working in a new area and it is crazy different then my last area. Most of the area is super dense city; however, as you go north you reach the dagat (sea). Over the water are a bunch of homes made completely out of bamboo. They are super cool!! It's kind of crazy that people live in these homes!!

My new companion (Elder Egli) and I are working super well together. We get along SUPER well. He is from Tri-Cities, Washington and has been out for about 17 months now. His Tagalog is phenomenal and he is super funny. People love him immediately because he has a gift with talking to people. I am learning so much from him already. He is teaching me to be brave enough to talk to everyone, and how to make my Tagalog more natural. I want to be as comfortable with the language and people as he is.

Highlights:

-We witnessed a fist fight. It was actually really scary. We were gonna stop them, but it escalated very quickly. Luckily before it got too out of hand a massive Filipino ran out of his house and pulled the men off of each other. It was crazy!

-Yesterday I led the area even though everything here is still very new. I took a brand new Elder on splits, and for being new his Tagalog is decent. We had a pretty successful day.

Ultimately, I'm getting used to all the recent changes, and I'm really excited to be even better this year than I was last year.

MY INVITATION TO YOU: Read Luke 1:37. How can this knowledge bless your life?

Elder Hemmert

Garcia Family (moving)

This is the Garcia Family. They are the family (see post: https://elderbrittonhemmert.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-miracle-of-cold-turkey-for.html) we baptized in November. They are amazing. We helped them move to their new home. It was a 3 km walk, and we carried heavy crates and bags of stuff. They upgraded from a wood shack to a small concrete home that is in a dense compound. It was so hard to say goodbye.

The World is Ending! (or so I thought)

Maligayang Bagong Taon! (Happy New Year)

Francisco. An amazing investigator we were referred to by a
member. He will be baptized in Feb once he is married.
It was so hard to say goodbye.

Well the world felt like it was ending in two different ways this week: (Sorry, it's a little long. If you Don't Have Much Time, then scroll down and read the invitation)

1. First off, NEW YEAR'S IS CRAZY HERE! The belief here is that at the beginning of they year they must make as much noise as possible in order to scare off evil spirits. Well, let me tell you, they were successful. At 11:55 PM on December 31st I woke up to extremely loud explosions coming from outside. Most of my roommates ran to our backyard and climbed the 20 foot water tower behind our home in order to see over all of the homes. We were above all the nearest houses and could see for miles. The explosions came from all sides and were some of the biggest fireworks I've seen. As we sat watching, the explosions became progressively more numerous. It came to a point around 12:10 AM that the fireworks were above our heads and all around us. people were on the streets revving engines and banging pots together. Smoke from each explosion began to fill the air, until it was so thick that every firework looked more like bursts of light rather than their normal distinct appearance. It was by far the coolest New Year's i have ever experienced. If I didn't know it was New Year I would have that

Sister Gina Reyes. Super amazing lady. Her home is a
tiny shack. The roof is only 5 feet tall. She has 3 kids and a
husband. She will be baptized with one of her boys in
Feb once she is married. I hope the rest of her family
will follow her example. It was so hard to say goodbye.

the world was ending (It felt a little like the Ikalawang pagparito ni Jesucristo).

View from Sister Reyes roof.

2. The Second thing that made me feel like the world was ending was because I was transferred today. My new area is Bacoor 1. My original area was in Molino 1C, and I love that area so much! For the past 3 months I have been walking those streets and helping people come closer to Jesus Christ. I loved everyone we were teaching and everyone in our ward. My only hope as I leave them is that they will continue to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have come to love these people so much, and it is so hard to say goodbye to them. All I desire is their Eternal Happiness. I know the only way to Eternal Happiness is in and through the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. I'm so sad to leave these people, but mostly I'm just so grateful I was able to meet them in the first place. I have seen people find happiness as they followed our invitations to read from the Holy scriptures, pray to their Heavenly Father, and attend Church. I only hope that they will continue, because I know if they will, then they will feel the love of God in their life.

MY INVITATION TO YOU: Forget about yourself every once in a while, and desire the happiness of someone else. Serve those you love, and those you have a harder time loving. Desire their happiness before your own, and then you will find happiness also.

Elder Hemmert

Elder Hemmert keeps finding larger spiders.