WEEK 21 - January 9, 2017 (Bangui, Philippines)

Woah, we went to work this week. It was a gooood week all around. Lots and Lots of teaching and finding this week. We found 17 new people to teach. And if the reason is because I’m white and they want to be friends with me, that’s fine, because we can change the reason after a few lessons haha... But wow, it is hot here. I’ve been sweating all day every day. 

So my first week leading the area was kinda nice. I like being able to choose where we are going and when. And being able to make sure we aren’t wasting any time. We didn’t get lost, so I’m proud of myself for that haha. 

(Elder Costales leaving Bangui)

But yeah, we have been teaching a lot of people and we have tons of investigators. The problem is getting them to church. A lot of them work on Sunday, some can’t afford the transportation. So that is one of the more difficult things. 

(in front of the church building)

Honestly, I’m starting to find a few foods that I like. I’ve had the empanadas before and I never really liked them. But then I figured out that there is a special kind of empanada. So I asked for the special and they put eggs and meat in it and it was incredible!!! All I had to do was ask for the special and pay a few extra pesos…what a find!

The language is getting a little better. I’m starting to understand a little better, and I’m okay at teaching, but conversational stuff is really tough for me right now. So it is really hard for me to build trust and friendship with people, when I struggle to even talk to them. That is one of the more frustrating things for me right now. 

I don’t have much more time to write because we have to head to Laoag for Zone Conference tomorrow, but I want to share a few good experiences I had this week.

First I want to share about a really cool dream I had the other night. In this dream, I don’t know where I was, but I looked to my right and I saw Jesus descending to the Earth. I began to run toward Him, and some others did too. But there were some people who were hiding themselves, and some running away. I got closer to him, and all of the sudden He came to me and gave me a big hug. Then we just started walking and talking like we were best friends. He knew my interests, my weaknesses, my life. He knew everything about me.  When I woke up, I knew for a fact that Jesus knows me! I began to write all of this down in my journal while it was fresh in my mind. And while I was writing I was feeling the spirit strong. That confirmed to me that this wasn’t just a random dream, but that it was to remind me that God knows us. Christ knows us. 

Just yesterday while partaking of the sacrament, I was pondering in my mind what I should bear my testimony about. I was listening to the spirit as close as I could, and I felt prompted to testify of the Atonement. So I did, and I said what I knew how to say in Tagalog. Well later, we were at an investigator’s house (one of the missionary sister’s investigators) and I could not understand everything that this man was saying, but he was talking about the atonement in his life. And while he was talking, I really felt like my testimony impacted him a little. 

So, I’m not kidding, I woke up this morning and Christmas music was still playing in Centro Bangui. I don’t think it will ever stop honestly. 

(editor: we got these this week from a member of his branch - so they are a little old...

but I couldn't help myself. Ah, Christmas.)

Love you all, have a great week. I will try to send pictures but I don’t know if they will work. This computer is really, really bad.

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 20 - January 2, 2017 (Bangui, Philippines)

Hello everyone... 

Another great week with a lot of changes. First of all, the Christmas celebration is still going strong here in Bangui. Seriously, everybody is still playing the Christmas music. There were like 3 Christmas parties the other day, even though Christmas is over. And the new year celebration was ridiculous. All missionaries had to be inside by 6 pm because the fireworks are so crazy hahah.. and it’s not even like the fireworks look cool. They are just so loud. Sounded like WW2 outside. And the firework party continued until about 2 am. Somebody literally right outside my window was blasting them off all night haha. He had a big cannon that he kept on launching.  Sooo loud and annoying. 

So this last week I was in a trisome with Elder Costales and my new comp, Elder Cervantes. He is a true Ilicano, so people love him here. He’s really great. He only has 3 transfers left in his mission, so this will be his last area. And he wants to go out with a bang, so I’m very excited for this next transfer. We both are super motivated to work hard. I’m happy. We have a lot in common, including getting up every morning and going to the beach to work out/ play basketball. 

with Elder Cervantes

where we work out/play ball in the morning

So the frustrating thing most recently for me is realizing that in this area, we are having to focus on reactivation. Obviously as a new missionary, you just want to baptize as much as you can. But we sat down and just talked about how we are really going to focus on reactivating this cycle because there are sooo many less actives and inactives in this branch. 

Funny thing, we ate with a family the other day and they made ham. It looked soooo good, and then I took a bite, and it tasted sooo weird ... almost tasted like a cupcake. Another thing, the other day we woke up to the sound of a screaming dog. And we go outside and someone was slaughtering it right by our front porch. SO that was pretty sad. Pretty sure I’ve eaten dog a few times though, and it isn’t too bad. 

Well I don’t have too much else to say, but I would like to share something that I learned that helped me this week, and can help all of us. I was reading Devn Cornish's General Conference talk the other day. A really, really good talk. And one of my favorite parts of it is when he talks about how we need to stop comparing ourselves to other people. We need to  stop caring what other people think of us. God is the only one who we should care what he thinks of us. That helped me a lot because being a young missionary, and a competitive one, I am always comparing myself to other missionaries - on their progression in the language and stuff. I’m always wanting to be better than them. Yeah, it sounds selfish, but it’s true, and it was the same back home. But this past week I’ve really tried not to compare myself at all to the others. And it is sooo much less stressful when we stop comparing ourselves to them, and just try to better ourselves humbly. So you should all go read his talk, it was really great. (link to copy & paste:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/am-i-good-enough-will-i-make-it?lang=eng)

Alright, that’s all for this week. Love you all talk to you soon, Happy New Year!!!

-Elder Jenkins

(we asked for pics of his house...

looks like a place that should have toilet paper and hot water, right?!)

WEEK 19 - December 26, 2016 (Bangui, Philippines)

Skyping with the family

Merry Christmas everybody!! 

I had a really great Christmas. I got to skype my family, which was amazing and then we had a big feast at one of the member’s house. It was his birthday, so there was a ton of food. I’ll send a picture. 

Christmas Eve Feast

So the big news this week is that Elder Costales is being transferred, and my new companion will be the new branch president (leader of the local congregation). So that leaves me to be leading the area after just 6 weeks here haha. That scares me a bit but also excites me. I’m a bit nervous because I still struggle to speak the language, and I’m still not totally familiar with the whole area, but I also am very excited because this will help me a ton to learn the language and now I have to speak to everybody.  I don’t really have a choice haha. So I am excited. I love challenges. 

So funny story… remember the story about me thinking the food was a potato and it kept on being a piece of lard? Well, we were eating with a member the other day, and we were having some kind of soup. I saw a golden piece of a potato in my bowl, but I was not going to let myself be fooled again. So I poked it with my spoon a few times and even touched it and felt it. I was sure that it was a potato. I was so excited and I took a nice big bite. It turned out to be a big piece of ginger :(   I couldn’t believe it. I was soooo disappointed. I just want a potato soooo badly haha. 

So we didn’t have any investigators show up to church on Sunday, but we weren’t too surprised since it was on Christmas. I’m very excited for this next transfer though. There are a lot of people that we have set to be baptized this month. And one thing that does help on my mission is that I am competitive and I get annoyed if I don’t hit the goal that I have set. So my new comp and I are about to go to work this cycle (next six weeks or so) and saddle this area. 

The little hut where one of our investigator families lives

One thing I’ve noticed over the 5 weeks I’ve been here is how weird the time has felt. In the beginning it was sooooo slow... but the more I know the language the faster it seems to go. I’m actually a little afraid that when I fully know the language, my mission is just going to fly by and before I know it I will be heading home. And although time is starting to speed up a little, this is the harder part of the mission for me, I think. But I realized that if you just take it one little thing at a time, one day at a time, it isn’t too hard. And I think that is the same in life away from the mission. That’s one thing I have already learned so early out here that will help me throughout my life. And that’s what I absolutely love while I’m out here. I’m learning things that are preparing me for the rest of my life, and molding me into the person I need to be. 

I absolutely love my mission and everything I’m doing out here. Right now I am obsessed with the Book of Mormon. I just finished it again, and I’ve set a goal to read it all again by the end of the cycle (transfer – usually six weeks). I learn so much from it every time I read it. It is so true and holds the things that we need to know to improve in our lives. 

Love you all, and Happy new year:)

-Elder Jenkins

pink sky selfie

Mission Christmas Conference

WEEK 18 - December 19, 2016 (Bangui, Philippines)

Hello everyone!! 

This has been a great week.  Unfortunately I have like no time to write :(

So on Saturday CJ got baptized!!! It was awesome, she was so happy and so were we. We also baptized another girl who the sister missionaries were teaching. After the baptism, we had a big Christmas party for our branch. It was soooo fun and everybody had such a good time.

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Lewis. It was a lot of fun to work with an American. So much easier to understand what he is saying in Tagalog haha. That’s kind of the problem for me. The accent that these people have is just so hard to understand. Especially when they are talking 100 mph.

This family was awesome... 

they also thought I looked identical to Charlie Puth and wanted a picture haha.

Funny story... the other day we were in an investigator’s house teaching and “Bug’s Life” was playing in the background. I began to testify and all of the sudden I hear "HEY, who ordered the PuPu Platter?" hahaha.  I stopped and started chuckling a little. So funny. 

So I finally partook of the delicacy Balut. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad. The juice of the egg tastes really, really good. But the duck just isn’t very desirable. When the feathers are just barley growing in, it adds some good flavor. One of them that I ate though was a little too old. Feathers were very much grown in. It’s a very weird food. I ate two of them though because I was absolutely starving. Not too bad, but not something I would look forward to eating.

Dinner of Champions.. a few Balut, and an Empanada 

My testimony is always progressing. It seems like every day I learn something new that helps my testimony grow or I go through some mini trial, and once I get through that, I can look back at it and realize how it has helped me. Right now I’m finishing up the Book of Mormon again. I absolutely loved reading through 3 Nephi through Mormon. I was so into it and couldn't put it down.

Sorry that I really don’t have much time to write. We are doing our mission Christmas conference here in Laoag the next two days and the schedule of things to do is just jam packed. It was awesome to be able to see some of my friends from the MTC again. I’m sooo excited for Christmas!! Mostly because I get to skype my family. The whole Christmas season here in Laoag has been so fun. Love all of you. Oh, and congrats Chancey and Jayne (getting married on the 21st). Sooo exciting!! 

Have a great week :) Merry Christmas from the Philippines!!! 

-Elder Jenkins

one more pic... Crossing a river in the rainforest haha

WEEK 17 - December 12, 2016 (Bangui, Philippines)

Was another good week! First of all, happy birthday davo!! big 21, that’s big. Also happy bday Dallan T. I think it’s soon, right? big 18, get those mission papers going haha. Welcome home Dallin Havens!! (Cousin who just returned from his two years in Uganda.) Oh and how exciting for Uncle Ken and Aunt Robin!! So excited to hear about that experience. (Recently called to serve as mission president – location not determined yet.) 

Was pretty stormy all week and didn’t really get hot at all. It doesn’t really flood, just gets really muddy. So I got some rubber shoes, but they look like church shoes. Probably won’t wear them very much because they aren’t very comfortable... but they are good for rainy days.

Honestly, I don’t have too much to tell you about the week. Nothing too exciting. So I’ll update you on a few of our progressing investigators. 

One of them is a 12 year old girl named CJ. She’s on date to be baptized on the 24th, but it might end of happening this Saturday. She is so ready and excited. She’s a great learner. Listens closely to everything we teach her, she’s great. Very excited for her. 

So we have a family that is progressing well. The mother is named Deserie. She has 4 kids, 2 of them who are 8+. Her husband isn’t quite interested, unfortunately. They live in a little hut on a hill. When I say they live in a hut, I’m not kidding haha. It’s literally a little hut made out of bamboo. I don’t understand how it makes it through some of these storms. But they have been coming to church for the past 2 weeks now. I believe they will be baptized sometime next month. Very, very excited for them.

So on Wednesday, I met my mission president and his wife. They are just great. Such loving people, and very fun to be around. I look forward to being able to work with them for the next 20 months. Wow I’ve been on my mission for 4 months haha that’s wild. 

I’m excited for tomorrow. I will be on exchanges with the other white elder in our district, Elder Lewis from Lehi, Utah. I think a lot of people will be very willing to let 2 white people teach to them, so that will be a fun experience. 

So I’ll just tell a quick story of an experience I had this week. My testimony has grown on how the Spirit guides. We were on our way to an appointment, and decided to go stop by somebody else’s house real quick. Well, we were standing at the doorstep, and the door to our right opened, and the people invited us in to teach. Turns out this woman had been being taught by missionaries before, but stopped listening to them because her husband had been put in prison for life for possession of drugs. She told us she wanted to listen again. And we taught her about the restoration of Christ’s church. The spirit was very strong in that room. I know that Heavenly Father guides his missionaries. 

Love you all, have a good week!! 

WEEK 16 - December 5, 2016 (Bangui, Philippines)

Hello everyone:)

This week was really good. Went by really, really fast. I needed a quick week because it felt like everything was going by really slow. The best part about it is that I felt like I really improved in the languages. It’s really difficult, because my struggle right now is understanding people. A lot of the reason is because sometimes they are speaking Tagalog, sometimes Ilicano, sometimes both. So it’s tough to understand what they are saying. But I’m becoming a better speaker. At least with bearing testimony. I struggle a bit with street talk though haha. Right now I’m mostly just studying and learning Tagalog and picking up some Ilicano throughout the day. I’ll tell a good story about the language later.

So it seems like every morning I wake up feeling sick. I talked to an American missionary who has been here for a while and he said that’s how it was for him for the first month or so. But one morning I woke up feeling pretty gross. Elder Costales, out of the kindness of his heart, decided to make breakfast for us. Well I’m sitting there in my bed, trying to overcome the gas pain, and he walks in with a plate for me. It consisted of Spam, hot dog (nothing like American hot dog) and some rice. I kind of just looked at him with a blank face, knowing I could not eat a single bite. He simply turned around, chuckling and walked back to the kitchen. The food here is rough… haven’t found anything here that I look forward to eating yet. It’s always kind of a chore to feed here. One more food story. There have been multiple times now where we are at a member’s house eating dinner, and they are passing around a tray of food. The plate sometimes consists of meat, and something that looks like a nice sliced up potato. And somehow I ALWAYS convince myself that it is a potato, and I gamble and grab some. Well It always turns out to be a big slab of fat, with little pieces of bone it haha. It is sooo hard to eat. I don’t know why I keep telling myself it’s a potato, but I will probably continue to do so. So yes. the food is not very desirable here. 

Oh, so Sunday morning, I was awoken at about 2:45 to an earthquake!!! I’ve never experienced one before so that was pretty cool. No damage done though. Right now, Bangui is pretty lit up with Christmas stuff. They LOVE Christmas here. They started playing Christmas music in September and on the morning of December 1st they began wishing everybody Merry Christmas. It’s really fun.  

I still haven’t gotten used to all the people staring at me like I am some alien. I am getting so irritated haha. We were having lunch the other day and a bunch of high school kids were just staring and laughing at me for like 20 minutes straight. But then when I approached them to speak to them, they all look down and wouldn’t say a word. And people refuse to sit next to me on the bus!! haha  Sometimes they will stand instead of sit next to me. Honestly, I don’t mind that part though. An hour bus ride can be looong when you are squished in between two people. So yeah, the people here are a little different, but I love them. The little kids like me, so that’s good. They will come jump on my lap and climb on me while I’m teaching. They are really, really cute.

This family was Hilarious!! They say I look like Charlie Puth, and made me sing for them.

(On exchanges with ZL)

So I had a really good experience the other night when we were teaching somebody. He was speaking and I decided, instead of thinking about what I was going to say next, I would just listen to him and try to understand him the best I could. Well he finished speaking, and I didn’t really understand anything, but I just began to bear testimony. And I began to speak better than I had before. Words were flowing out of my mouth, smooth as can be. I felt the spirit strong as I testified of the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of it. And as I testified of the happiness and blessings it brings to people’s lives. I looked him deep in his eyes as I spoke, and spoke with confidence. He nodded his head and smiled as I spoke to him, which really boosted my confidence with the language, knowing that he was understanding me. I absolutely love testifying of the Book of Mormon. I want all the people we teach to read it and see how their lives change. And I love how a lot of the people here are willing, and they give it a chance. And then they realize the blessings and the happiness that come from it.

I looooove the Gospel and the guidance it gives me. I love sharing it with these people here and blessing their lives. Hope you all have a good week!! Love Ya!

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 15 - November 27, 2016 (Bangui, Philippines)

Ryan is serving in the top, left corner - Bangui

Happy late Thanksgiving every one. I hope you all enjoyed a nice turkey dinner and some football while I picked away at a chicken thigh and some rice. But yeah I definitely missed a big Thanksgiving feast at Grandma’s house. One Thanksgiving down, one more to go.

But wow, has it really only been a week? Haha This week went by a bit slow. I’m guessing that’s how it will be for a few months though until I am able to speak with people a little bit. As of now, pretty much all I can do is bear testimony to them still. I can’t understand a word of what they say, so I can’t really ask them questions. It’s pretty frustrating. I have all these things I want to say to them but I can’t. But it will all be worth it when I’m able to speak fluently with them.

The one thing I love about being a missionary here is how many discussions we get to teach. We taught like 40 or so this last week. It’s so nice having a full day of work, traveling from house to house teaching people and sharing the Book of Mormon. People are so nice here, they will rarely reject you. If you ask them if you can share a message, they will almost always happily let you in. And they will feed you what they have, even though they pretty much have nothing. And then they will try to speak to me and I have to say “Pasensya, konte lang ang alam ko na tagalog” which means, “Sorry I only know a little Tagalog.” I have that phrase so memorized haha. But the people here are soooo nice.

The weather here is pretty crazy right now. A big storm started Saturday night and hasn’t stopped. We had a 1 hour bus ride this morning that ended up taking 4 hours because there were 3 landslides ahead of us. It’s still pouring rain, and like everything is becoming flooded.

So I have been downing the food and water like its nothing, and began to wonder why I haven’t gotten sick yet. Well on Saturday night I became pretty ill. We were hiking up a mountain in the pouring rain to go teach a less active when I began to lose all strength.  By the time I made it back to the house, I could barely crawl in bed. I was in such man down mode. I had like a 38.5 degree fever - not sure what that is Fahrenheit (editor: 101.3). I woke up Sunday morning and still wasn’t well. So we had to stay home from church, which isn’t good, because Elder Costales is the Branch President haha. But it all worked out. I slept for 8 hours yesterday and the 1st counselor had everything under control at church.

I don’t have much to talk about investigator wise. We have like 43 people we are teaching, so we stay busy. And it seems like we get 2 or 3 new investigators every day. We have a lot on date for baptism, but they just need to come to church.

About me though, I’m doing good. Learning a little bit every day: about Tagalog, about Ilocano, and about the gospel. I think I will be heading into Laoag sometime this week to finally meet my mission president. (editor: President & Sister Andrada’s son was killed in an accident the same day that Ryan arrived to the mission. We don’t know any details. But for obvious reasons, they were not at the mission home when Ryan arrived.) That’s the only place to buy peanut butter out here, so I’m very excited for that. PB is my favorite right now. When I’m in need of a late night snack and can’t eat another bite of rice, a little peanut butter sandwich is incredible. Oh, and the eggs here are good too. AND I managed to find a hidden treasure in the church – a roll of TP!! (editor: google “tabo” if interested in knowing why this was such a great find for him.)

Alright sorry my letter isn’t as good as usual. I don’t have much time to write. Love you all. Have a good week.

-Elder Jenkins

(editor: Something went wrong with the sd card reader for his camera – he promised good pics, but we will have to wait. I’ve included a couple that we had from last week.)