WEEK 91 - May 14, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Hello Everybody!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!! Love you so much, you are my hero :)

This week was straight success. Full of happy moments and lots of good opportunities here in Santa Ana. 

The not so cool part, first of all, is the fact that the power has gone out here like three times in the past week. Which leaves us without electricity all day. Which means no electric fans, and some of our food going bad. It also results in our American housemate shouting, "Only 6 weeks then I won't have to deal with a power outage longer than 5 mintues again!! haha"

So the other day, we decided to have lunch at a kind of higher end restaurant/hotel here in Santa Ana. Didn't turn out being as expensive as we thought it would, and we very much enjoyed. When we started heading out, a big white van pulled up to us and opened the side door. To our surprise, a  huge American Marine sat there, and asked if he could sit down and interview us about the Mormon religion. We happily accepted and headed back to the nice restaurant with him to have a talk. He said it was a miracle that he found us, because just earlier that day, his boss was giving him an earful for not talking to people about their non-government organizations. So he was stoked to see a couple of American guys on the street that he could talk to. He was trying to gather info because he was putting together a big production that would be shown to hundreds of people, so we were way excited. We had a real good talk with him about what we do to help the people here in the Philippines. Got to talk a lot about Mormon Helping Hands, and he said he was pretty surprised by how much good we do without getting paid. Said when he gets home he's gonna look for the Elders and learn more. Really cool opportunity for us to open our mouths.

A not so cool experience was on Tuesday. Elder Ivie and I went on exchanges in his area, and if you could see our planners, there was nothing but Less Actives planned for the day. I don't get the opportunity to work in their area very much, so I wanted to visit as many members as I could. So we ended up going to an area that is about 15 kilometers away out in the middle of nowhere. We worked there and visited some less actives until about 12pm, then waited for a tricy. Well, a tricy didn't show up, so we decided to start walking, expecting that a tricy would show up. We had been walking for about 1 hour in the blazing heat, and couldn't believe there wasn't a tricy yet. We were pretty thirsty and saw a little store in the middle of nowhere, so we stopped off to get a drink... and of course, right when we turn our backs, a tricy drives by -_-  Turns out that was the last tricy of the day, and we ended up walking the next 12 kilometers back to the main road. We couldn't believe it... what a day.

the long walk home

exchanges with Elder Ivie

Yesterday at church was another big step for the Branch. We got the attendance up to 100!! The members were so happy to see the room pretty full again. Was a great Sacrament Meeting with the speaker's topics about mothers day. There were lots of tears shed, which is always expected here in the Phils. These people love their mothers:)  All the Nanays were also pretty happy when we handed out candy bars to them with a "Happy Mother's Day" note on it. Was a good day. Our strength right now in the Branch is the youth. They just got back from their youth conference, we set up another big activity for them this week, so they are real excited. Things are going good here in Santa Ana.

Zone Conference

One of the best parts of this week was on Friday. We had our zone conference in Aparri so I was able to see a lot of friends. But the best part was after the conference when I walked out the doors of the chapel to see the DEL ROSARIO FAMILY WAITING FOR ME!! (see pics & video below) Oh man, that was a happy reunion. They ran up to me screaming and grabbed my hands, the two little boys, CJ and Jerico gave me a big hug. Was so much fun to see how good the family was doing. Chris had a brand new tricy and said they haven't missed a day of church ever since I transferred. They also talked about how excited they are to be sealed in the temple. They all just looked so good and happy. I think I was the happiest one there though :) Shyrine and her younger sister have changed sooo much. They used to be so shy around people, but now they are so outgoing. Shyrine is working with the missionaries all the time and preparing to serve a mission. That was such a great moment to be able to meet and talk with them again. Oh, how glad I am that Elder Reyes and I worked like horses back in the day. The Lord used us to change a family's lives forever! 

Love you all. Happy Mother's Day!

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 90 - May 7, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Hello Everybody,

I'll start this letter off by just telling you about the heat here. I'll try to give a good explanation about how hot it has been this week.

On Saturday we had a big work load to do. So we were out by 9am, in our furthest area working. Not 10 minutes later, the shirt was damp from sweat and didn't dry out until 8pm that night. It was a hot, long, stinky day. Makes it a little worse that here in the Phils, when it's a really hot, humid day, people love to just put a pillow on the ground and just lay down and snooze while the TV plays some old western filipino movie in the background. So, most of the appointments fell through. 

The best part about the week was on Friday Lea Costales got baptized! It was a real hot sunny day on the oceanside, and to our suprise, the waves were big. That made the baptism a bit difficult, but it all worked out great. Was a little jealous of Abarabar as he was dodging and jumping over the big waves, taking water up to the neck haha. And then on Sunday, to our suprise, Lea got up and bore her testimony. Was such a sweet testimony about her conversion. 

Speaking of Sacrament meeting, it was a successful day. It was the first Sunday of switching Sacrament Meeting to the first hour instead of the last hour. So honestly I was expecting there to be a little amount of people. To my surprise, we had the room pretty full. Our attendance was at 95! We also had a lot of progressing investigators show up, including the old Ilokano tatay that I was telling you about last week. It was a very happy Sabbath. 

This week was filled with more spiritual promptings that led to helping people. We were walking to an appointment and when we are walking we always wave and say hi to everybody we see. There was one guy who we waved to, and after passing him by and walking another 15 yards or so, I felt like we should go back. So we did, and it turns out this guy is an old investigator who was hoping to be baptized about 3 years ago, but got sick and had to leave town. We were able to teach him, and he was so happy to meet with the missionaries again. 

Another experience has to do with the Nanay who had a stroke last week at church. Actually, last Saturday night (the night before she had a stroke at church) it was pretty late and we were heading to our last appointment. We were walking by the road that leads to nanay's house, and a thought popped into my head to go and give nanay some money so she could come to church on Sunday. So we went and gave her enough coins to be able to get a tricy for church the next day. The next day, she had a stroke at the church and we were able to get her to the hospital real quick. Well the update from the doctor in Tuguegerao is that Nanay suffered an extreme stroke, and if she had not come to the hospital and been treated to quickly, she would have died. Nanay was talking to her daughter the other day, and said "It's a good thing that the Elders came and gave me some money, because I if I didn't come to church this morning, nobody would have been home to help me and take me to the hospital. I would've died."

I have learned a lot on my mission, but one thing that will surely stick with me is to never ignore a prompting from the Spirit. He leads and guides us to the straight path, and will use us as tools to help others, as long as we are willing to listen.

Love you all,

Elder Jenkins

eating shark

WEEK 89 - April 30, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Family Home Evening... I lost.

Hello Everybody! 

Well, lots happened this week here in Santa Ana. Like usual, a huge rain storm came through, but it didn't cool down the weather at all. Just made it humid as ever. The work is hard when you are soaked in sweat, and just can't dry off. 

I'll start with what happened on Sunday. We were hoping to have a large Sacrament Meeting attendance today, but because of 2 things, that didn't end up happening. The first thing was: It rained sooo hard in the morning. Most people travel on motorcycles to church and don't want to get wet, so they just didn't come. (Terrible excuse, I know.) The second reason was a little different. So on Saturday here in Santa Ana, the hospital had what was called "Operation Tuli". It is a day where all kids can go to the hospital and get circumcised for free! Yes, people usually don't get circumcised here when they are a few days old. They wait until they are about 10 years old, and then do it. So, a lot of people didn't come to church because they were watching over their kids at home who had gotten tulied. haha. It was funny on Saturday evening seeing a lot of 10-12 year old boys walking around in skirts. 

It was an eventful Sunday, however. One of the speakers didn't show up again, so I was able to give yet another talk haha. The shocking thing that happened was before Sacrament Meeting, one of the older ladies started to feel weak, and suddenly had a stroke. We rushed her to the hospital though, and now she is doing better. The good news about our Sacrament Meeting is that we had 10 investigators come to church. Five of them were the Gonzales family. They are progressing really well, and one of their kids is really active in Young Women already. Also, Lea came to church. She will be baptized on Friday!

The sad news about this week is that Franklin, the man who we went and visited in the hospital, passed away. He was suffering from kidney failure and cancer, and said he couldn't take it any longer. We held a nice funeral service for him on Saturday afternoon. The other 3 elders and I brought a guitar with us and put together a nice little musical presentation for them. I was the concluding speaker, and actually hadn't fully planned what was to be said when I got up there. But when I started speaking, I felt the strong guidance of the Spirit. The Spirit was strong as I taught about the Resurrection and about how the words "Kamatayan" (death) and "Kaligayahan"  (happiness) go together. It ended up being a really great service. Then after the service, everybody went back to playing cards and eating food under their tents. (Filipino tradition)

I wanna share a quick experience. So when I was back in Laoag, and was still companions with Elder Basa (last fall), I felt the strong prompting to begin learning Ilokano. Not just learn the little basic stuff, but actually learn how to speak it smoothly. I wasn't sure why, and hesitated at first because you can get by fine here just by speaking Tagalog. But I decided to try my best at it. And I am sure glad I did. We were out finding the other day and saw an old tatay, kind of hiding from us. We approached him, and at first approach I started speaking Ilokano to him. He was shocked, and wasn't afraid of us anymore. He started laughing and said he thought he would have to speak Tagalog with us, so he hesitated to talk to us. We were able to get to know him and his family and turns out he is really interested in the message of the Gospel. We have been able to teach him a few times now, and he is great. Every time we teach him, he just laughs and says "I can't believe you can speak Ilokano." I'm so glad I followed that prompting about 6 months ago to learn the mother tongue of these people. 

Love you all, have a nice week!

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 88 - April 23, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Family Home Evening :)

Hello Everybody!

Well, this week was just another one of those hot, humid, sweaty weeks.

Turned into a bit of a stressful week really quick when I went to open the computer at the church and found out that the MLS (Church record system) wasn't working. It turned into me sitting in an office, sweating, wanting to punch the computer as I call the GSC (Church Office) over and over and try to get assistance. After 3 days, we finally got it figured out and everything is good to go. 

Sunday was a good but really busy day. When I woke up in the morning, I had a sore throat and a bit of a cough. Was struggling to talk regular and it seemed like every time I tried to talk, my voice would squeak over and over. Haha this made things a bit difficult as I had a lot of interviews to do (Branch President work). And then when it was time for Sacrament Meeting, all 3 of the people that were assigned to give talks didn't show up. So I looked over at the 2 elders and gave them the nod and I was able to give a long concluding talk. However, it was still a good meeting. The Gonzales family showed up to church along with Lea, who will be baptized next week. I made the announcement that starting in May, Sacrament Meeting will be first instead of last. People were a little surprised, but all are on board.  

We were able to do a lot of finding this week in our area. We decided to get a little more creative in our finding approaches and decided to only speak English to people. When we do this, the people we talk to really struggle to speak, but they try their best. Then all the sudden I will start speaking Ilokano to them, and they just start cracking up. They feel so relieved. The people are so nice here though, so easy to get along with them and love them. Lately Elder Abarabar and I have been praying for a new family to teach. Had a little miracle the other day when one of the members took us over to the house of a family that said they want to be taught about the gospel. 

Had yet another great spiritual experience this week. We were working at one of our further away areas and were in a lesson when all the sudden I started sneezing uncontrollably. My nose was plugged up and I was struggling to speak without coughing. This happened for about an hour, then I decided we needed to go home. So we hopped into a center car (bigger version of a tricy) and started heading home. All the sudden I got the impression that we shouldn't go home quite yet. So I said a quick prayer and decided we would get off at the next barangay (neighborhood) and go finding. When we got off, I started to feel a little better and my sinuses cleared up a bit. At this point, we knew something great was going to happen. Of course, like we were expecting, we were guided to a great family, hidden back behind a field and in between some trees. We were able to teach them and give them a Book of Mormon. They told us to come back and continue to teach them. The greatest thing about this experience for me wasn't just the fact that we were lead to a great family. I have seen this over and over in my mission. It was the fact that when the Spirit prompted me to stay out longer, I knew that this was a true prompting and would result in good. A great thing that I have gotten out of my time here is the trust that I now have in the Spirit. When He prompts me, there is no doubt I will follow this prompting. It is a great two way trust that always results in happiness. 

Love you all, have a great week!

-Elder Jenkins

WEEK 87 - April 16, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Hey everybody!

Wow, time is flying fast, my time's running short. I've got less than 4 months left here in the Philippines. I'm for sure enjoying my time here right now. Some days however, are harder to enjoy than others because of the brutal heat. This week was the hottest I have experienced here in Santa Ana. It's officially summer here. 

Despite the heat, we have been having full, hard working days out on the dusty dirt roads and the hot pavement. Usually what a full day of work consists of is, taking a van out to our furthest area, about 25 minutes away, and working with all the Less Actives out there. We go hour after hour of teaching these members and trying to help them get back to church. After this we head back to the main road and wait for a tricy or a van so we can head to the next area. Sometimes while waiting, we will go to a tindahan (family owned market) and buy a nice cool Coke, or find somebody selling some halo-halo and try to cool off a bit. If there is no vehicle for a bit, we end up just putting our heads down and hitting the road, walking for a few kilometers until we get to the next area. We will get to the next appointment and by that time we are pretty tired, covered in sweat. The member or investigator will let us into their house, and we feel relieved to take a seat, just to find out that their electric fan isn't working haha. We will do this, walking from area to area teaching until we get back to centro at about 6, and go teach all our progressing investigators until the end of the day. The heat makes the day a bit longer, but the sleep at night seems twice as nice. Full days of work are the best.

So on Saturday we had the Baptism of Jay Ar and Rachel. Was a really good service and they had good support from the members. We got to do it in the ocean again, and my desire to come back after my mission and go swimming here keeps going up haha. The testimony of these two is real strong. Jay Ar has been an investigator for a while now and was so happy to finally be baptized. 

So right now we have a really good family progressing. They came to church for the first time on Sunday. When they got there, we sat them down in our combined 2nd hour class. I was running in and out at the time because of other things I had to do, but I was hoping it would be a good lesson for them. Well apparently the discussion some how turned into a big lesson about money, and how we should be making more money than we are. Wasn't too happy about that, especially with this being the first time our investigator came to church. So we went to their house later that night to teach them, and followed up how church went. We asked them if they learned anything. The mom said, in kind of a chuckling voice, "Well I learned how I should budget my money."....  "nooooooooo", we were thinking... "Great, now she thinks the church is all about money and getting rich." But then we asked her how the Sacrament Meeting went, and she said that she enjoyed it, and felt The Spirit. That relieved us a little bit, the family is progressing real well. 

Had a really great moment in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. I was conducting, so I got up to start the meeting, and right when I look up, I see a less active family walk in. It is a family that we have been working so hard with. They have been sealed in the temple and were so active about 10 years ago, then they fell away. But part of the family, not all of them, made it to church yesterday and made a big step in getting back on the right path. After the meeting, I called the dad of the family in and had a 1 on 1 talk with him for 15 minutes. He expressed to me how bad he wants him and his family to return to church. My heart broke for him as he described how he feels it's his fault that his family doesn't want to come back to church and doesn't care. But he has a strong desire to change and come back. 

Had another great, spiritual moment while teaching one of our investigators. Her name is Lea, 31 years old. She works at a police station and is busy from Monday to Friday, so we are only able to teach her on Saturdays. We haven't been able to teach her for a while, so when we went to go and teach her on Saturday we were expecting to just teach her and invite her to come to church. We asked how she was, and to our surprise, she started sharing about how she has been reading the Book of Mormon. And how even though she hasn't read much of the Book, every time she reads it she feels peace and joy, and she feels like great truths are being brought to her remembrance. It was perfect! We shared a couple scriptures in the Bible that described exactly what she was feeling, and she, not us, recognized it as the Holy Ghost. She said she wants to feel this more often and then asked us, "Do I need to read this whole book before I get baptized?" We told her "Of course not" and she decided she wants to be baptized on the first week of May. This really goes to show the effect that The Spirit can have on somebody. And also how powerful the Book of Mormon is our conversion. That it really does have a "more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them" (see Alma 31:5). Even though we hadn't been able to teach her multiple times a week or meet with her very often, she had kept the book with her and experimented on it (see Alma 32:27). And she will be blessed for it.

Love you all, have a great week!

-Elder Jenkins

Getting to Baptism Beach

WEEK 86 - April 9, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Hello Everybody!

Wow this was a busy week. First I'll talk about my new companion a little. You'll see a picture and think that my trainer, Costales, is back with me. His name is Elder Abarabar, from Manila. Really smart guy, a graduated engineer. He is a bit older than me...26 years old haha. He's been in the mission for about a year and is just a really nice guy. A joy to be around. 

Was a great start to the week when we were walking through one of our areas, on the way to an appointment, when I heard a familiar "Elder Jenkins!" I recognized the voice and turned around to see President Arreola, the Branch President for Aparri, waving at us and invited us to come in. Was great to see that family again and eat and talk to them. He had some great news for me and told me that Chris Del Rosario was ordained an Elder and given the Melchizedek Priesthood. Said that he and his family are super active in their callings. Brought joy to my soul. 

The Del Rosario family on their baptism day (July 22, 2017)

We've been working real closely with a few less active families lately. One of them just had a new baby born in the family. We were over at their house, talking with them one evening. I was sitting next to the person holding the 4 day old baby, when all the sudden the baby made an interesting noise. The result of that noise was a minor explosion and poop splattering over my hand haha. Gave everybody a good laugh, but being close to babies just hasn't been the best luck for me lately. 

The family that I wrote about last week is great. We are still teaching them and they are progressing well. The kids are excited and have a desire to be baptized. We will be working hard on getting all them to church this week. We also have 2 baptisms on Saturday. One of them, Jay Ar, a 21 year old man, and Rachel, a 20 year old who we found and taught just last month. They are both ready and we are excited.

This week I decided to try and improve and do a better job at seeking the poor and the needy. Our EQ president came up to me the other day and said that he had visited one of the members, and had found out that her husband was very very sick. He gave him a blessing, and bought him some fruit, and told me that we should go visit him. We did go visit him and right when we saw him, our hearts just broke. This was the skinniest man I have ever seen. When I say "skin and bones" I really mean just skin and bones. His name is Franklin, 62 years old. It was very saddening to see him in such bad shape. He was in dire need of medical care. There concern however, was that they didn't have any money. We made sure to get him to the hospital the next day and have visited him everyday since. Yesterday, a few sisters from the RS and one of their husbands came with us to visit Franklin and his wife in the hospital. We walked in and just saw this poor, brittle man laying on the bed just staring at the ceiling. I sat down next to him and wanted to cheer him up a little. Get a smile on his face. I started talking to him in Ilokano, and started up a conversation with him. He seemed to like it that I could speak his language, and he cracked a smile. I felt such love for this man that I had only met a few days before. Unfortunately, his kidneys are failing him and he will need further treatment. We are praying for a miracle for Franklin.

Had a really good experience at General Conference. Actually the first session for us was the Priesthood session and started at 8am. So we had to wake up early and get to Gonzaga before the start. For some reason that morning I was just feeling so tired and worn out. I sat down in the chapel and struggled to keep my eyes fully open. After not too long, I found myself in a snooze. But after about 10 minutes, for some reason I awoke abruptly. I felt a small, easy prompting that I needed to listen to this part. It was President Nelson, speaking about the Priesthood and its power. Speaking about how much the Priesthood can bless your family and others around you. His talk, and what I felt during his talk, stuck with me pretty good. I firmly believe The Spirit simply woke me up in order to hear what was being said*. What was being said is something that I think I needed to hear in order to prepare myself for a lifelong duty of Priesthood service.  

Love you all, have a nice week!

-Elder Jenkins

* President Nelson's words:

I am very grateful for each man who bears the holy priesthood. You are the hope of our Redeemer, who desires “that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world.” He wants all of His ordained sons to represent Him, to speak for Him, to act for Him, and to bless the lives of God’s children throughout the world, to the end “that faith also might increase in [all] the earth.”

WEEK 85 - April 2, 2018 (Santa Ana, Cagayan Valley, Philippines)

Hello Everybody!

This week seemed to fly by with exchanges, Zone Conference, and interviews. Yesterday the APs sent out the transfer texts, and turns out that Elder Young is transferring. So I will be getting a new companion tomorrow and the Branch will be getting a new Branch Clerk haha. 

Zone Conference

Santa Ana missionaries

So this last week here was Holy Week. I don't know if you remember Holy week, but it is pretty much just a week long celebration of Easter. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday there were just tons of people here in Santa Ana. Santa Ana is a huge vacation spot for all the people that live within like 4 hours from here, so the town was just packed. On Friday and Saturday, tons of people went to the beach, set up little tents and just hung out there all day and all night. The hotels and resorts were just packed with tons of people. It is a great little vacation spot, so beautiful. Proselyting on Saturday was a little difficult because almost everybody seemed to be at the beach. However, it is a great time of the year to testify about the Savior. Actually while proselyting on Saturday, we noticed tons of people gathered at one certain road. We went over there and turns out there was a huge motorcycle race going on. We stopped by and watched for a few minutes and I couldn't help noticing their motorcycles and the way they are built. It was really interesting, just a skinny little bike frame, with a motor stuck on it and an aluminum water bottle as the gas tank. And they went sooo fast. Really fun to watch.  

So the Branch seems to be progressing every week. Even though we were missing a few people at church because they headed somewhere else for vacation, we had a smooth 90 attend church. Was so happy to see some of the families that we committed to be on time, actually be on time. Only 5 of our investigators were able to make it, but 4 of them will be baptized in the near future. It was just all around a good church service. Also had the chance to perform a naming and blessing of a child for the first time. While we were holding the baby and giving him a blessing, I happened to be holding him on his rear when all of the sudden I felt a warm bit of movement coming from under the diaper haha. The stink made it a little hard to concentrate, but everything went well. 

The Branch has been doing great with committing to do their visiting and home teaching 100%. After church yesterday, we got as many members as possible gathered together and went out and did visits. Although everybody was hungry, they did it with a smile, and then when they got back, some of them who did visits for the first time said, " Ai, masaya pala yun!" (Wow, that was actually really great!). Later that day I was having a meeting with the Relief Society President and her Counselor. They were going over a list of all the RS in the Branch, then they noticed a name. They stopped everything they were doing and said, "We need to go visit her right now." So we all hopped in her husband's tricycle and drove to this woman's home, which is pretty far away. We got there and were able to visit and talk with her. She expressed to us that she feels so busy and overwhelmed all the time. We expressed that we want to help her and take some of the load off of her shoulders. When we said this, she slowly started tearing up and began to cry. She realized what's missing in her life and that she needs to come back to church. It was a great visit, definitely guided by the Spirit. 

We had another good experience this week that was guided by the Spirit. We were out doing some finding, looking for somebody new to teach. We took a wrong turn and thought we were going the right way, but soon realized we weren't. But we decided to keep going anyway. We saw somebody and went up to talk to them, when all the sudden, a woman pushing her handicapped son in a wheelchair walked right in front of us and stopped. We started talking to her and talked about who we were and what we are doing and she said, "Well, maybe you could teach my stubborn teenage daughter who never listens to anything I say." Haha. We told her we absolutely could, and were able to actually teach their whole family. It was just what we were looking for, a new family that we could teach. A family who needs the help of the Lord. The Spirit guided us directly to that family. What a blessing it is to have these experiences over and over in my mission where the Spirit has lead and guided us. Strengthens my testimony and helps me more understand the love that our Heavenly Father as for all of his children.

Very excited for this weekend to hear the words of the Prophet and The Lord's chosen servants. Love you all, have a nice week :)

-Elder Jenkins