SUMMITS AND SUPER HEROES!

Magandang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines:

• Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Seventy and his Wife came to speak to us this last friday. It was a very uplifting event, and I'm so grateful for the words which they shared.
• We hiked a Batulao Mountain in Nasugbu with a few members. Check out my photos for some good stuff.

When I was younger, I remember always looking up to missionaries as if to think they were in some way super heroes. I thought they were without faults and always knew what they were doing. However, now as a missionary myself, I realize that this is very rarely the case. In fact, I rarely know what it is that I must say or do; rather, I go into situations feeling like Nephi as he said, "I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth...." I do my best to stay confident and trust in the Lord, but it isn't always easy. In unison to the difficulty of staying confident and faithful, I wish to share one experience that proved to me this week that the Lord blesses His children as they trust in Him and follow Him. Saturday night I received a text that there were no assigned speakers for the following day at church and I was expected to speak the following day. As night had already rolled around by this point I decided I was better off getting some rest than I would be staying up preparing. Sunday morning I woke up and offered a prayer for the Lord's guidance as I would be speaking at church, and with that I grabbed a few notes from my studies on "How to find opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those around us?" Ultimately, I was unsure what entirely I would be saying, but when the time came for me to speak I stood at the pulpit confidently and began what would end up being the best Sacrament talk I have ever given. When the meeting concluded, many of the people in attendance approached me and thanked me for the words I said and the clarity in which I expressed eternal truths. One even went as far as to say that my Tagalog was even easier to understand than many of the Filipinos that give talks (HA! I doubt it!). The Lord has blessed me greatly as I constantly strive for righteousness and improvement. At the end of the day, I share this with you to show that just as the Lord has blessed me he can also bless you. All it takes is a desire to improve and a willingness to act on the promptings of the Spirit.

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Grow a desire for improvement and begin working toward those desires by setting goals and praying for guidance. However, don't feel bad if you feel inadequate or lacking confidence as you first start out. Simply put your trust in the Lord and remember to allow yourself to be a beginner, because no one starts as an expert.

Elder Hemmert

Lemery, Batangas

I RODE A CARIBOU!

Magandang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines (Highlights):

• P-DAY in Mindoro. We got to spend our rest day sightseeing in the BEAUTIFUL MINDORO!! We traveled to Tamaraw Falls, enjoyed the view from a super large suspension bridge, and I RODE A CARIBOU!!! Ultimately just loving life over here!!
• BAPTISMS: Francia Caputol, Audrey Aliling, and Ela Dela Cruz were all baptized this last week, and they were so happy to participate in that saving ordinance as well as covenant with God to follow him. It wasn't an easy process for them to prepare for baptism, but I know that God is smiling because of their obedience to his commandments.

Last Sunday, after coming home from a beautiful service at church we ate some lunch and prepared to go out to all of our appointments. However, with the heat and lack of water we felt a bit low energy. In order to guarantee a successful day I made sure to say a meaningful prayer in which I asked for ONE spiritual experience that would be worth writing in my journal that night. With that we left the house seeking spiritual experiences. We went to our appointments, and went to a few people we didn't originally intend going to, but the spiritual experience didn't occur until we neared the end of the day. It had gotten dark and we entered a neighborhood in which we would teach our last appointment. Before reaching the home of our final destination I had a strong urge to turn around and go to the home of a member of the church. Spiritual experiences were in fact what we were seeking, so we found ourselves turned around and entering the home of this member. After speaking to the member for a few minutes a boy walked in (the grandson of the member) and he decided to listen in on our conversation. After speaking with him we came to realize that his dad had left him at an early age, and his mom was working abroad. This little boy asked if it was okay to attend church and we quickly responded, "OFCOURSE YOU ARE WELCOME!" We hope to continue to teach him in the following weeks. This truly was a spiritual experience, as we were able to make conscious choices that led us to finding someone that wants to come closer to christ.

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Pray for ONE spiritual experience this day, and then spend all day seeking that experience. Make sure to act on any promptings you receive.

Elder Hemmert

Lemery, Batangas

BAMBOO MAKES GOD HAPPY

Mapagpalang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines:

• I know I have said it before, but I LOVE MY MISSION! I honestly feel like I am living in paradise while sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We work CRAZY hard every day, and we enjoy every moment of it!

One family we are teaching is trying to build a new house, but they ran out of bamboo. When they expressed this concern I immediately realized I could help them, so I stood up and called a member to see if he could assist us. No later than 30 minutes we were changed into work clothes and the member picked us up. We headed up the mountains and parked the tricycle that we were driving. From there we hiked into a gorge and cut down, collected and loaded up bamboo. We drove that bamboo back to the home of the family we were teaching. All in all, it only took about 4 hours, from the moment that the family expressed their concern of not having enough bamboo all the way to the moment that we stacked the new bamboo at their house. Rather than talking about what we wanted to do in order to find bamboo for them, I jumped up and acted immediately. We had to drop everything we were doing in order to make this work, but ultimately we accomplished what God had planned for us that day. I feel like God was happy for the quickness in which I acted, and he is even happier because we served His children.

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: What is one thing you did today that most likely made God happy? Think about it a bit, and then go out and do one more thing to make God happy. Strive this week to do 1 special thing everyday to make God happy.

Elder Hemmert

Lemery, Batangas

Video: Elder Hemmert hiking in the Philippineshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzUcdom2srg

$3 MILLION ISLAND & SPIRITUAL PARADISE

Magandang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines:

• Spent our rest day doing everything under the sun, and it was heavenly!! We hiked to the top of a  ountain called "kamay ni jesus" (hand of jesus), visited a tiny island that has only a single house on it (it's on sale if you have 3 million dollars sitting around), and we even got a free boat ride (commercial company so not bawal) from the resort company because some foreigners had paid for it and they were SOOO nice to us. I live in paradise. Just look at the pictures. Video of Island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheHJEItUo Video of Christ the Redeemer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds-QN2xFxs4

The Lord has said, "Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; and speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be be confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say." (Doctrine and Covenants 100:5-6)
Well, let me explain how true this scripture verse is. We had begun a lesson with a family, and my companion, Elder Eldredge, and I had already decided on a lesson that we would teach. I started in on this lesson, but felt a strong pull toward teaching a different lesson (The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). I shoved off this impression and continued in on my teaching, but only a minute or two later I ran into a wall when all of a sudden I could no longer speak. I blanked and shut down. I could not get a word out of my mouth. I paused and after a long silence I simply told my companion to jump in. I did not "Speak the thoughts that [the Spirit] put into my heart." Thus I was "confounded before men." Elder Eldredge went in speaking and after a few minutes I began sharing once more. As I started sharing I was quickly pulled once more to share a different lesson (the Restoration), only this time I OBEYED that prompting. As I shared my companion testified of my words and he added to it. We ultimately changed the lesson, but saw huge blessings from doing so as those people we taught got more and more intrigued. The lesson ended well, and on our way out I apologized to my companion for pausing in my speech and changing the lesson. He then excitedly admitted that he had also felt a great need for sharing the Restoration, and he was glad that we were on the same page. As we heeded the promptings of the Spirit our mouths were filled and the promise came to pass that "it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say."  

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Seek the promptings and guidance of the Spirit in your decisions this week, and then HEED and FOLLOW those promptings.

Elder Hemmert

MY BROTHER IS MY COMPANION!!!

Magandang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines:

• TRANSFERS!!! My new companion is Elder Eldredge from Highland, Utah. He is AWESOME! I promise that we are working super hard and are very productive, but honestly it doesn't feel like we are working because we have so much fun. Ultimately, every day feels like some long party in which we go around sharing the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and helping people come unto our Savior. He reminds me of Colby, so I basically feel like I am serving a mission with my own brother which is by far the greatest dream in the world!!!

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: With the chaos of transfers I don't have much to say, but I invite each one of you to get on your knees later tonight and offer a prayer of thanksgiving. Say nothing but everything you are grateful for.

ELDER HEMMERT
Lemery, Batangas

VIDEO--ELDER HEMMERT BEING ELDER HEMMERT: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBek106h0O8

Video of Filipino Robots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIlmX6OytJQ

THE GREAT BASKETBALL MIX-UP

Magandang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines (Highlights):

• Catherine Enriquez was baptized on October 18. This was also her Birthday, so she turned 19 on the same day that she was baptized! Catherine or CatCat or Kath (a lot of nicknames) has been attending church for quite some time, but she just never felt ready for her baptism. As I explained in my email a few weeks ago we simply invited her to pray to know if she was ready for her baptism. She ended up receiving an answer, and she quickly prepared for the great day of her Birthday/Baptism.
• FUN FACT: One cultural belief is that people in the Philippines are darker skinned because of the heat while people in the US are white because it is "always cold" in the US. The funny thing is that they use soaps to make their skin whiter while Americans use lotions that make our skin darker. BALIKTAD!!! (reversed!)

We have a family that we are working to get back to church after what has now been years of them not attending. They are very nice to us, but still hesitant to come back. Last week we invited (slightly forced) the 16 year old son of that family to join us for a few of our appointments on one of the upcoming days. When the day finally arrived for him to come with us we stopped by his house to pick him up. On our arrival he was dressed in basketball clothing and he had also invited one of his friends to join. As we began walking we quickly got to know the friend and we shared a few laughs. However, the laughs stopped when one of the boys asked, "Marami ba ang ibang maglalaro?" (Are there a lot of other people playing basketball?). Confused by their question we asked what they were talking about which they responded by inquiring who would be playing against the four of us. We quickly came to realize that somehow they got the idea that we invited them to play basketball, they had no idea we were actually headed to a few people to share short messages about Jesus Christ. With this new realization we busted out laughing and explained to them that we wouldn't be playing basketball. Of course they were shocked, but we convinced them to stay with us for the next few appointments. Ultimately, we got very close to the two boys and we are now regularly teaching the new friend. It was quite the way for the boy to be introduced to our message, but as we know, the Lord works in mysterious ways! Maybe one of our rest days we will actually go play basketball with them HAHA!!

ELDER HEMMERT

Lemery Batangas

Fun Video of "TACO TUESDAY FILIPINO STYLE": 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrkIFWkTMwk

FUN SIZE CANDY? NO, FILIPINO SIZE

Mapagpalang Araw Po,

It's More Fun in the Philippines:

• I went on exchanges with a VERY TALL AMERICAN, Elder Seibert. It was a nice wake up call for me, because it reminded me of how short I am.... I was feeling pretty normal here in the Philippines where the typical height of men is 5 feet and 4 inches. Maybe I just won't go back to the US, that way I feel tall the rest of my life. 
• I had the opportunity to hear from our living prophet, Russel M. Nelson, along with the twelve of apostles and other individuals in the Church. This occurs each 6 months and is filled with inspirational messages about faith and following Jesus Christ. Check out this website to see it for yourself: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/?lang=eng

General Conference was full of beautiful messages and was extremely enjoyable. Even though our district center is about 1.5 hours away we still had 5 of the people we are teaching show up to hear the prophets voice. Of all that was said one message stuck out most in my mind, we must CENTER OUR LIVES ON JESUS CHRIST. This is done in a number of ways including praying with greater intent and acting on promptings we receive, Repenting for mistakes and striving for improvement, and also accepting the timing of the Lord especially when blessings are not immediate. Remembering the Lord is not a Sunday activity, but a daily goal that requires carefulness and cannot be achieved by casualness. As we go about our day to day activities that must be accomplished including work, school, eating, playing and many more, how do we choose and follow God. Maybe these questions can allow a bit of evaluation:  Do we seek the guidance of our Loving Heavenly Father or do we simply turn to the voices of the world? Do we trust God and his perfect plan or do we look for faults and reasons to loose faith? Do we walk in hope and faith patiently awaiting promised blessings or do we complain at the lack of blessings in which we seem to receive? Are trials opportunities to grow or one more reason to feel self pity?  The fact is, God does not expect perfection from us, but rather our constant purification. We are to seek his guidance and trust his timing. Love Him and Love our neighbor. And CONSTANTLY KEEP TRYING. If we will do this, even when we fail and make mistakes, we may feel JOY and HAPPINESS. In the words of Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Discipleship is not about doing things perfectly; it's about doing things intentionally." 

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: The Lord will bless us for our intentions and actions, so as you go about your day, center your intentions and actions on Jesus Christ.

Elder Hemmert

Lemery, Batangas