Random awesomeness

•Hapit na pasko!‏ 12/19/2012

Merry early Christmas everyone!

Well, the work seems to be progressing very well in Naga!  The ward attendance is now higher than it's ever been, 145!  We still have people that didn't come that are planning to next time so things are really looking good here!  The chairs are mostly all full and the part at the back to open up seems to be only for storing chairs - you can barely fit 6 chairs back there! so we had people sitting in the hall with the doors open - But we still have to wait for April on the new chapel. I just think it's a great problem to have too many people at the church, and we didn't have to pay for or bring a single one, so that means they're coming on their own which makes it more likely they'll be able to endure to the end!

We're doing our best to find the elect, even among the groups we're already teaching right now. I'm trying to do better about this because I would rather refuse baptism than let them be baptized into inactivity. That would be treating lightly this sacred covenant and if we look at 20:37, it says "by way of commandment" in italics and then describes, among other baptismal requirements, how they must have a determination to endure to the end. so if we don't ensure that there is that determination and conversion and everything else before we baptize someone, we are therefore sinning.

So everything's going good here in Naga, I'm looking forward to the Christmas ward party and talent show where I can get to learn the people in the area and find out about more people who are interested and in the area!! It should be a real eye-opener in that respect, with seeing all the members (active and inactive) and people interested in learning all in one place!

Hope all's going well with you and yours! Encourage everyone to remember the real reason for the season this CHRISTmas!

Og kakukihang misyonaryo sa Ginoo,

Elder Dallin Carlson

•Hapit na 12:12:12 12/12/12!‏

kamusta tanan!
The Lord's work is going great here in Naga!  I love working with Elder Seumanutafa - it's very different serving with a Polynesian companion, but that just means I have the chance to learn that much more and work/teach with a different person with a different way of doing things.
Our investigators are doing pretty well, we've got two that we went to give them a baptismal date of January fifth, but they couldn't wait that longs so they insisted on Dec. 22 - they're progressing super well, and the only obstacle we may have is getting their parent's permission. This should go a lot better than last time they asked permission because now they have a much greater desire to be baptized and enter into a covenant with their Heavenly Father, so I think they will be successful in obtaining permission this time.
The other main group of investigators is over in Oceanside - they're referrals from our recent converts there who have been unofficially dubbed "seaside boys". My only worry is that they might just be joining because it's the fad or the cool thing to do right now - we'll do all we can to get them converted sufficiently to endure to the end. That's one of the things I have learned from working on trying to reactivate so many inactives- they were entertained and did what was needed to get through the gate of baptism and on that path towards salvation, but in order to endure to the end, they need to experience constant conversion - not just before baptism, but throughout their life. (to more fully understand "conversion", look it up in a dictionary as well as the bible dictionary)There are many people who develop enough to be baptized, but then later they are not converted enough to endure the spiritual storms and floods of life- for that, they need to not only build their lives upon the rock of our salvation, but also to continue to strengthen that foundation throughout their life through constant sincere prayer coupled with regular study of the word and humble pondering. If these things are lost and the focus on the gospel, God's plan for us here on Earth, is lost, then they are lost to the gospel, and as a result it along with the church become a burden instead of the blessing it can be if we are constantly becoming more converted to the Lord.
We all need to follow the warning of King Benjamin and "watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish.  And now, O man, remember, and perish not." (Mosiah 4:30) We need to keep the natural man in check by always being anxiously engaged in a good cause; always striving to listen and follow the spirit, which will tell us what God wants us to do; we all know through the spirit what we should do - the only thing left is to have the commitment left to do it. Sometimes, there are people that served full missions or even as stake presidents that have still gone inactive and thus faltered off the path and need to be brought back in order to endure to the end. I just hope that I can magnify my calling as a missionary sufficiently and fulfill my responsibility and do my part in lifting where I stand. I will do all I can so that when judgment day comes, I will have done everything required and have no sins of commission or omission on my conscience, or in other words that no one will have suffered (spiritually) because I have insufficiently fulfilled my calling.
I am so thankful for this chance to consecrate these two years of myself to the Lord and his work.
a missionary of the Lord,
Elder Dallin Carlson

•Deciembre na! magabut ang Pasko!‏ 12/05/2012

Kamusta tanan
We survived the Typhoon! just joking, it went around us. Here in Naga, it was just raining for a bit, nothing super huge, just enough to keep us in the apartment in case the huge storm arrived. but the next area over, Carcar, it sounds like they got hit pretty bad. I even heard that one zone had to be evacuated. At any rate, we were prepared and even though we didn't need to be, I'm glad we were allowed to get some other stuff to make a 72 hour kit.

As for the work, it's going great! the five new converts brought two of their barkada (circle of friends) who wanted to listen so even though they've only been recent converts for a very short time, they've given us two referrals!! It's so cool to see their desire to learn and share the joy from the gospel with their friends. what's even cooler is how close they are - that will help them stay strong spiritually and help them in enduring to the end together. Lately I've been learning a lot about "lift where you stand". I've found that even when someone gets a position, it's just that - a position where they need to lift from. No missionary, no member is important than another. we are all part of the body of Christ;however, it's only by working together and lifting from where the Lord has placed us. So for me, I am the companion of a district leader so I try to help him in every way I can from preparing small additions to make to his lesson at district meetings, to try to help us get home on time so he can take care of the statistics at the end of the week. The Lord gives each member a specific assignment because there's something they're meant to learn or do in that assignment.
As for some of the things I'm learning, is how important the Holy Ghost is in our lives. If we really want eternal salvation, there should be a roadmap, right? It's in the words of Christ. we get guidance from others during church; instructions from the scriptures; and the equivalent of a GPS on low volume with the Holy Ghost. However, if there's too much noise in the car that's distracting, we can go off-course because we can't hear the talking GPS. But if we keep striving to come closer unto Christ, and holding tight to that Iron Rod, the Word of God, we will get to our destination: Salvation and Eternal Life.
Hope all's good with everyone there! Hold tight to the word of God and strive to always apply it in your lives!
Og kakugihang misyonaryo sa Ginoo,  Elder Dallin Carlson

More pictures!

Baptisms!

•Naga District na!‏ 11/28/2012

Kamusta, tanan!  {Hello all}
it's almost December! I totally forgot about Thanksgiving with them not having it here, but then again we should always have a season of thanksgiving in our hearts as we thank the  Savior- all throughout the year, and especially as we try to remember the real reason for the upcoming international holiday of CHRISTmas.
Things are going well here in Naga with my new companion, Elder Seumanutafa; his parents are both from Samoa, but he was born in New Zealand and grew up in Australia. It's different having a Polynesian for a companion, but it's also awesome at the same time. Most of the time they assume he's Philippino because of his skin - I guess with how he's gotten skinnier here, he has become Filipino! :) He's doing his best to adjust to his first time being a district leader in a new area, but he's actually doing a great job with that. I'm learning a lot from him with different views and ways to teach and so much more.
So this last weekend, we had 7 baptisms!! I got to be the one to baptize all of them :) We were going to have one of the young men in our ward baptize some of his friends but there wasn't enough baptismal clothes for him to do that. I got a lot of compliments on mine with the white pants, shirt and tie. One of the coolest thing about the baptisms is that for all except the 8 year old girl and one of the guys from Seaside, for the other 5 I was there from the finding them all the way to their baptism! All the rest of them I was only there at the end or beginning. However, It was so cool to find, teach and prepare them for baptism, and then be the one to baptize them. We had one nanay  {mother} that wasn't able to be baptized because she got sick that day, but she's going to be baptized this coming Saturday so that's okay. Her name is Rosita Ornacion and she's just a really nice old lady. She was friends with a less-active we were teaching, and joined the lesson at their insistence. She felt the spirit and continued to take the lessons, and when she came to church, she said afterwards that she had tried a lot of different churches, but this one just felt right to her. There was a different feeling there, and she really felt that our church was the one. Despite her memory gap which sort of keeps her from remembering all the specifics of what she's taught, she has a true and strong desire to be baptized and I feel like she has the faith and diligence to endure to the end as long as she keeps praying all the time and going to church every week and having people read to her from the Book of Mormon (she can't read because her eyes are "daot" {defected}). At any rate, she's super solid and I look forward to helping her be "born of water and of the spirit" John 3:5 [baptism on Saturday, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Sunday]
The weather here, on the other hand is a lot more unpredictable. Most of the time it's hot, but sometimes it gets super hot, and sometimes it goes from a hot morning to a rainy afternoon - I just make sure to keep my umbrella with me just in case.
So yeah, that's what's going on here! Hope's all well over there!  ayo-ayo!
og misyonaryo sa Ginoo,  {missionaries of the Lord}
Elder Dallin Carlson

•Transfer day sa Biyernes! katapusan na!‏ 11/21/2012

Hey Everyone!
The reason my letters have changed and gotten a little longer is because I found a better way to manage my hour I have for emailing my mission president and my family: type one message about the area and people we're working with and send it to President and family! That way everyone can hear about how I'm doing and how the area is progressing.
So.. I may have forgotten to mention this, but I got hit by a car a couple weeks ago. .... okay, so I was barely nicked by a side mirror that could fold so it did right away and got all smashed in but I wasn't even bruised. It just goes to show how the Lord protects those on his errand. If I weren't a missionary I would have been seriously injured but as it happened, after awhile it barely even hurt.
Anyways, with the teaching, a few of the things that's tricky to teach is Sabbath Day and Tithing because with the economy, they often barely have enough money for food and so it's hard for them to set aside money for tithing and plete to get to church Sunday, much less not working on Sunday and not getting that pay.
lucky for me, I already have a story that's perfect for both keeping the Sabbath Day holy and tithing! for Sabbath day, I tell them about how it was hard for my dad to decide not to fish on Sunday, but he focused on the fact that it's a commandment and so we never go fishing on Sunday - then I tell them about that one time that we returned from fishing and another member who had gone fishing Sunday asked us how many fish we had caught, and we told him, and he said "I knew it! I knew you'd catch more fish today than we did Sunday and Monday combined!" That story is perfect not only because of the fishermen who are poor and go out in their little boats whenever it's not windy, but it shows how the blessings don't come until after our "obedience to the law upon which it is predicated" (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21)
The story that I always use for tithing also shows that principle - I tell them how my dad's family when he was still young bought a piece of land and started building a house and were trying to build a house before winter arrived but the money slowly ran out (from the building and feeding the large family) until only the tithing remained. It was really hard to make the decision, but they paid the tithing anyways because they had strong faith that the Lord would provide and bless them for their obedience to the law of tithing. The next day, a notice arrived in the mail that the price of the land had gone down and they received all the extra money from buying the land! It was much more than what they had given for tithing, and was exactly what they needed to get to the next paycheck. they knew it was a blessing from God, and they were very blessed for their faith and obedience.
I am so thankful for the examples my parents and grandparents have set for me - their examples of enduring to the end are enduring sources of inspiration for me and now for many investigators and less-actives and members in the Philippines.
So we have 7 people ready to be baptized on Saturday! I'm super excited, we have some super converted people and it's cool to see their desire to enter in this covenant with God by being baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God! Speaking of that, on the tenth we had three baptism and I got to baptize one of them! It was my first baptism and a super cool experience. I'm even more excited for these people we will baptize because there's a group of five of them and four of those, I was there from finding to teaching, and now to baptizing them!! All the other baptisms have been taught by the missionary mostly before I arrived, but this is totally different! It's too bad that my companion can't be there for it, he's being transferred Friday, but I know that the Lord has great things in mind for him as a zone leader in lilo-an. My next companion is Elder Seumanutafa and he's batch with Elder Deschepper, and he's going to be district leader here!
So there's a lot of changes here but they're all from the Lord so I'm super excited to see what he has in mind for us to learn and do in these new circumstances.    

og misyonaryo sa Ginoo,
Elder Dallin Carlson

Pictures from Naga

•Hapit na human sa transfer - usa ka semana!‏ 11/14/2012

Kamusta!
another week in Naga Ward with Elder Deschepper! I've been learning a ton about the language and how to say stuff without an accent and say stuff right from my companion and the people here. The work has been going really well, three of our baptisms came through this last week! The rest of them were mostly some groups where some close friends or some siblings joined and wanted to be baptized - the ones that joined needed more preparation and teaching so they needed to wait for Nov. 24th. However, they wanted to be baptized on the same day so we're going to have seven baptisms on that day!
I just asked Elder Deschepper how much the attendance was before and he said it used to be in the 50s before even though there's over 500 in the area including all the inactives. Right now, from missionary work alone in visiting and fellowshipping and bringing back less actives, the church attendance is reaching 130.
My companion said we have ten minutes left before we need to leave for the district activity, so I guess I'll just have to keep this a little short.
This morning we tried something we heard from Elder Herbst (former zone leader here in Talisay Zone, current AP!) after the last Zone Training meeting - put three packets of Ariel brand laundry soap in the bucket and soak the whites overnight in that and almost everything's clean already - it worked! Which is really good because washing all the clothes from the week takes a while otherwise. We heard that right in time, because tonight after our district activity we have two investigators we need to teach before 6:00 when P-day ends so we needed all the time we could get today in order to get anything done to prepare for the rest of our week.
looks like it's time to go! Hope all's well with you and yours!

Og kakugihang misyonaryo sa Ginoo,  missionaries of the Lord 
Elder Dallin Carlson

•Tapos uban ang splits/exchanges!‏ 11/07/2012

Another week done in the work of the Lord! I just finished doing temporary splits with Elder Rayos for two days - he's basically a stud, working hard and loving the people. I was with him in Lilowaan (not sure if I spelled that right) - it's way bukid and has some huge hills, but when you get on top of those hills it's a pretty awesome view! It reminded me of how so many prophets had to climb mountains, but when they climbed the mountain as the Lord directed, at the end of the climb they were humbled and teachable. In some ways, that reflects the scripture Ether 12:6 - The witness does not come until after the trial of our faith. In other words, we sometimes need to have or obtain faith, hope, and patience to get through some things.

So the plan for the combined baptism never got beyond the idea stage; that's okay because some of our baptisms had to be delayed because we couldn't get to them often enough (kuyog og lalaki nga may edad) but with Lloydgess/Sonnyboy/Mcsylvis/Anthony/Graham, or as we have unofficially dubbed them, seaside boys, a couple of them are ready while the others haven't been attending church or lessons enough - When they found that out, the ones who were ready wanted to wait a couple of weeks until the others were ready, so we have five or six planned for November 24! I think it's really good for them because this means that possibly throughout their lives, they'll have a tightly knit support system with each other. so combine that with having to postpone others so we can finish teaching everything, we have 3 baptisms set for this Saturday - Their last name is Jorolan. Their mom used to be a less active but now she came back and her kids are taking the lessons so they can be baptized - they're Reymart (10), Jey(12), and Romar(14). I think we finally got Reymart to remember the name of Prophet Thomas S. Monson! They have been progressing really well and Elder Magtanum interviewed them yesterday while we were on splits, so it looks like they'll be ready for their baptism Saturday! We have a YSA in our ward who is super good about going with us whenever we need him and has a really strong testimony, so we're trying to get him to baptize at least one of them. I may get to baptize for the first time in my mission! I have the baptismal prayer in Cebuano in my Cebuano handbook so I'm going to see about memorizing that so I can do my first baptism in Cebuano, because that'd make my first baptizing that much cooler! 

well, I need to go to the apartment and start washing stuff by hand! Love you all!
og kakugihang misyonaryo sa Ginoo,
si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Kalihokan sa Zone Karong adlaw!‏ 10/31/2012

Kamusta tanan!  (Hello all)

I guess everyone has questions about the weather here, but there's been no change whatsoever, still awesome and beautiful outside!
Our investigators overall are doing well, but some of them are there physically for the lessons, but aren't coming to church. On the other hand, there are others where you look into their eyes and you can tell the spirit is working in them and they're definitely responding to it - it's amazing to see; yesterday, we found out that a super solid group of investigators stopped smoking a week or two before we even taught the Word of Wisdom! It's just so cool to see them following the Holy Ghost, and they haven't even recieved the Gift of the Holy Ghost where it can be with them always!!
I have continued to learn a lot from my companion - right now we're focusing on following the spirit because as it says in 2 Nephi 32:3 "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." This basically says that by reading the scriptures, praying, and going to Church every week, (and listening to the spirit,) then you will know what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want you to do.
The other day I was talking to a member about how every member has a missionary responsibility, and he took the initiative then and there and thought of a person who was in his class in high school who needed the gospel and proceeded to make plans to visit them the next day to ask if they will let us in their home to teach them. We'll see how soon we can visit them; it's going to be hard with all the investigators we need to prepare for baptism right now.
One really cool thing that happened was when we did splits with our bishop for a little while after pagsimba sa dominggo (worship on Sunday) and while I went with some young single adults from the ward to visit some recent converts, my companion went with the bishop and visited a less-active member. He hasn't been coming to church, but making a lot of progress. He had a super spiritual experience as they taught him repentance and he said he would come to church for sure this week. Our bishop is such a stud! He understands his responsibility and is trying to do everything; I wish all the members magnified their calling like he does.
well, that's what's going on here! I'm at the end of my hour on the internet!
hope all's well with you!
og misyonaryo sa Ginoo,
si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Dakong tulumanon sa bunyag sa sunod buwan!‏10/24/2012

Hey everyone!
Since winter is starting and you might have some questions about the weather here, I'll start with that; here in the Philippines, as far as I know, the weather's the same almost year round except the hotter months around April to June - I guess you could call this the wet season, but for them season and weather is the same word here because there's not much of a difference for them - you ask what season it is and they look outside and tell you the weather because it's the same here :P I don't think I'll ever get used to how hot the weather is, though :P
I'm learning so much here in Naga! Being with an American companion, I get a lot of good advice because he went through the exact same things learning this language!  Right now we're working on accent - in America, it's cool and people even act like they have one, but here it just means you haven't learned the language yet, and people even laugh a bit and tell me that I have an accent and ask if it's my first area.  It's okay though - it just reminds me that I need to work on it. However, here I've been able to make a lot more progress with my vocabulary by using my pocket notebook all the time - I made my writing half as big, but the pages are still filling up!  At least I have enough heavenly assistance to learn it about that fast as well - it's so amazing to see the help of the Espiritu Santo diri anaa sa Pilipinas. Another thing me and my companion have been focusing on is praying always, mainly just in my heart and mind; we can ask our Heavenly Father for help with anything, anywhere, anytime - we just need to remember. Our Father in Heaven wants to help us all, and he is ready to, but it is conditional upon our asking for it.  We have only to ask for help in order to receive it. During one of our lessons yesterday, I realized that my learning the language is like others learning the gospel - in everything they're confused with, they can ask us or Heavenly Father for help, because if they don't pray or ask, they will stay confused and not really know.  But on the other hand, if they do pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ if it's true, as it says in the Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:5, "by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things".
Anyways, on another note, we have 12 baptisms in our area planned for November 10th!  We're trying to combine it with all the other baptisms that week in one place, to make it more powerful and more memorable for the converts - with 25 or more baptisms at once, we may have to go to the ocean to do it!  We're hoping we can make it happen and maybe get a picture of it in the Liahona. But in order to make that happen with 12 baptisms in our ward, we need to make sure all of them progress in the next two weeks and progress in the conversion in order to get baptized. But some of them we don't have to worry about at all, like two of our investigators named McSylvis and Sonnyboy (yes, those are their given names as far as I know:) they have both progressed a ton since meeting them last week; they prayed about it, know it's true, and have a great desire to be baptized (on November 10th). So we do have a number of investigators that are very firm in the path of conversion and will be ready on November 10th.
Speaking of conversion, I would like to echo the leaders of the church in encouraging all the members of the church to continue in their conversion - never become complacent in your prayers, scripture studies, or in missionary work. remember that one of the main ways to help your testimony grow is bearing it. You can bear it to anyone, anywhere, whether they believe you or not. I would especially extend this invitation to those preparing for a mission; one of the best ways to prepare for a mission is following the pagawhag Si propeta Gordon B. Hinkley when he said, "Every Member a missionary". One of the most important reasons for doing missionary work is that when you were baptized, as well as every single week when you take the sacrament, you renew your baptismal covenant as described in Mosiah 18:8-10 which says in verse 9, "and to stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places that ye may be in," .

It's so busy here - so much that needs to be done! I just finished washing and rinsing most of my clothes by hand this morning, I'll see about hanging them up later - second time washing all my clothes by hand! Eventually I'll get the hang of it :P

hope all's well with eveyone! (if not, "did you think to pray?")
Og misyonaro sa Ginoo,
si Elder Dallin Carlson

Ikaduhang erya!‏ 10/17/2012

·        Kamusta, kada kinsa

I don't even know where to start with the new area! My new companion Elder Deschepper is awesome! He's from California and has been out for about a year. It is a bit different with two Americans in the companionship, we get a lot of people yelling "hey Joe" at us. however, if they're within talking distance, we turn it into a finding moment by jokingly saying that we aren't Joe, and explain that we're mga misyonaryo gikan ang simbahan ne Jesukristo... and then teach a principle of the Gospel and invite them to come to church or offer to come by and teach them later.

As for the area here in Naga Ward (Talisay stake), it's pretty big - a lot more bukid than my last area, but that was in Cebu City. We sometimes take a "tricycle" or jeepney, but other than that it's a LOT of walking! It's ok though, it'd be super expensive if we did anything else.

General Conference was awesome!! It was super inspiring, and they (along with the promptings of the Holy Ghost) answered all the questions I had. As it happened, I made myself remember a fireside video from Elder Bednar, one of the twelve, to not make a copy of the talks (like the large plates of Nephi) but make a record of notes similar to the small plates with only the spiritual promptings, etc. that I would actually read later - I'm still super excited to read their talks in later versions of the Liahona!
We're going to have a baptism this Saturday! His name is Ezra - he was baptized when he turned eight, but he wasn't confirmed so since he isn't eight anymore, he had to be taught everything in order to be baptized again - at least we'll be sure to have him confirmed! He's super bright, and can answer any questions about our lessons.

I have yet to meet the ward because of general conference - it was a ways away at Talisay (twice the fare on the jeepney) but church services will be at our simbahan (church) here in Naga! I'm super excited to meet everyone there, we've been getting a good amount of lessons (through a lot of walking) and I've been meeting a lot of investigators and less actives! We've been getting at least one dinner every night, I guess that helps with getting really skinny from all the walking and sweating! At least the weather's been super nice, the ocean breeze reminds me a bit of home :)

Looks like I'm at the end of my hour of internet - got to go! hope all's well with you!
og misyonaryo sa Ginoo,

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

•General Conference Sunod Domingo!‏ 10/10/2012

Hello everyone!

We're going to see the rebroadcast of General Conference next week - the only part we heard about was the change in age - it's cool for them, but I'm glad I got to have that time away from home at college so I was prepared to be away from home and do everything for myself and not be homesick.

Speaking of being sick, I caught the bug which has been going around our apartment in Apas - so far, 3 of us have caught it for sure. I've been under the weather for a few days, but my fever was gone this morning, but I can't afford to rest today because there's so much to do - you'll see that part in the next paragraph.

Earlier today, we received the transfer call and found out I'm going to transfer! I'm going to be transferred to Naga area, Talisay Zone somewhere on Cebu Island. I'm really going to miss the area here and the people (the temple and temple tours as well), but I know I'm leaving the people in good hands - Elder Villegas is a great missionary, and in one visit he finds out more about them than I did in two months. While I'm going to miss it here, I'm looking forward to finding out what the Lord wants me to learn and do over in Naga area (wherever that is) ... it's going to be so different even with just the apartment, from 5 Filipinos to only one other American, and no washer (not even one that's broken like ours is now :P ) ....speaking of washing, I wonder how I'm going to wash clothes today with no washer - I guess I'll have to find somewhere to give it to wash (no Laundromats here - just places where you can drop off your clothes and they wash it and you get it back later cleaned and dried). I was hoping to rest today but that's not possible if I need to wash everything and pack and see everyone before I leave.

As for investigators, there was one that said she wouldn't continue because of her parents, but this Sunday she showed up at church!!! It was super awesome to see her continuing with attending church and taking lessons.  In our lesson after church we asked about it and she said that even though her parents may not like it she would continue and pray that they will eventually accept her decision. This is super cool because she is showing such strength so early in her learning about the church! It really helps that she's staying with members in the ward - when they found out about her decision they encouraged her to pray about it and it was super cool to see the results of that! The members of the ward she's staying with is a guy from Argentina and his wife, a Filipino with pretty good English but no Spanish.

So that's what's going on here!

Hope all's well with you!

Gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Bagong mga referral!‏ 10/03/2012

Hello everyone!

The weather is bright and amazing outside! It's a great day in Cebu - we just had an activity where we went to a Chinese place - I think it was called taoist - anyways, that was a pretty good zone activity (there's one in each zone/area every couple of months)

funny thing - the missionaries are Tagolog here, and "why" in tagolog is "bucket" :) It's always super funny to hear them say it - my favorite thing to do with it is say, "pero...bucket?!"  (but...why).  Another thing about them is that whenever it's time to do something or start something, they say "Sigge - game na!" (ok - game now!)

We received a referral from our ZLs that's super good - they came to church on their own! They seem to be doing really well, they moved into the area because of work. The wife was inactive, but she's coming to church now! She referred the missionaries to her husband, and so we taught her husband and her two sisters! That was Sunday, before church - a couple hours later, they came to church!!

Another cool thing is how the sister missionaries in Talamban ward told me about an investigator of theirs - a lady who said she received a Book of Mormon from me.  The only Book of Mormon that I remember giving to a lady is the one I gave on the plane from Hong Kong- she's on vacation right now, but if that's in Finland, that's one out of the three Invitations To Learn (I2Ls) I got on the way here!!

daghan trabaho diri sa Cebu! kinahanglan ko magadto aron sa pagsulat bisan mga sulat! ayo-ayo!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

My companion has  been meeting everyone and our investigator who was pretty much golden and super receptive, talked to her parents about getting baptized (she was scheduled for October 27) and we just received a text today that she follows her parents and that's why she won't continue.

 New missionary or investigator?

•Emergency transfer!‏ 9/26/2012

Kamusta, kada kinsa!  (Hello, to each!)
So the craziest thing happened - emergency transfer!  There was a
missionary in Negros that had super bad asthma and needed to be nearer
to places with good doctors and stuff so they swapped him with my
companion.  So we only had about 3 or 4 days to prepare.  Basta, Ang
akong tatay, si Elder Lim, sa Negros na, ug karon akong bag-ong kauban
mao si Elder Villegas.  He comes about to my shoulder, and he's a
Philippino from Mendanao (it's so hard to spell the names of these
Philippine places!)  His last area, where Elder Lim is now, is
Dumaguete (duuma-get-ee).   (....I wonder how the water is over there
with it being so far from Cebu) I guess they have a city somewhere
near them in his area, I don't think that area is too bukid, just a
lot of hills that were hard for my new companion when he was over
there.  It's weird to not have Elder Lim around anymore, but it's
super cool to have new insights and ideas from a new companion.
The weather's kinda windy today, but that just makes it perfect :)
I've been having to lead the area, it's not that easy but my new
companion / follow-up trainer is doing what he can to help me.
At least I remember where most of them live!  There's one investigator
that we have yet to visit at her house, we've only taught her after
church (she's gone to church 5 times now, and with the activities,
she's a lot more active than some of the active members!).  We
suggested the sixth for her baptismal date, but she said that was too
soon and picked October 27 (luckily I didn't have the mini calendar
for November).  So we have plenty of time to teach her all the lessons
and we'll see how she does with the reading assignments.

I'm sorry this email is short, but I had a bit of trouble with the
computer and now I'm almost done with my hour of internet.

Hope all is going well with everyone!
og misyonaryo sa Ginoo,  (missionary of the Lord,)
gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

P.S. my mission president told me that we missionaries can receive emails from anyone on our missionary email account as long as we don't reply. I can't post the address here, so in order to get that you can email my mom at hellofriendcc@hotmail.com.

•Kaulanon!‏ 9/19/2012

Kamusta!!
Kamusta diha? It's good here - just super hot and ready to rain!  both
Monday and Tuesday we had Service projects!  All of us forgot to use
sunscreen because it's been cloudy so far, so all 6 of us missionaries
that did both got sun burnt -  3 of them are Filipino, too!  We joked
about them being Indians since their skin is reddish brown now.  The
first csp was digging into a hillside next to someone's house in the
Talamban ward - we formed a sort of fire line (pedxing, I think)  to
pass the dirt up and to the side to dump the buckets of dirt.  Then at
the second one, we widened a trail - there were plants starting to
crowd it.  You almost never see weed whackers anywhere here, so we used
machetes (mga sundang).
I'll see about giving a synopsis of our teaching - we've had a couple
of dinners at member's houses and gave a message afterwards.  Other
than that, we're preparing Brother Galano for the melchizedek
priesthood (he's a returning member), and Sister Jandog (returning
member) for the temple.  We're trying to show to the Solon family (2-3
members) how important it is to go to church, and how important it is
for the (eternal salvation of) children  to be baptized by the
returned proper priesthood authority of God.  With all our lessons,
we're trying to use The Book of Mormon because it holds (along with
The Bible) the fullness of the Gospel, and it's one of the main things
that sets our religion apart from every other church.  The other
reason we focus on The Book of Mormon is that it is the way to know
the church is true and that we have a living prophet on the Earth
today - in order to find out if our church is true or not true, a
person would need to follow the promise of the ancient prophet Moroni
when he wrote Moroni 10:3-5 and "remember how merciful the Lord hath
been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down
until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in
your hearts.  And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort
you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ,
if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere
heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest
the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the
power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

Hope all's going well with everyone!
Gugma si, Elder Dallin Carlson

Cebu, Philippines

 Rainy day at the Cebu Philippines Temple

 Community Service Project

Eating with members after choir practice

•Nindot nga adlaw‏. 8/29/2012

Kamusta, kada kinsa!

the weather outside right now is sunny and katahum kaayo (beauty goodness). there's a clock at the apartment - I don't know how dependable it is, but it says it's 88 all the time- I think some things broken because it only will change a couple degrees. anyways, I think how hot it is here depends almost completely on the humidity.

I just got a couple of letters through the postal service!  Apparently through regular post it takes a full month. It might be better to send it through dearelder.com or pouch service - you can find out more about that by emailing my mom at hellofriendcc@hotmail.com .

It's been hard to set up an appointment with the guy we found last week through singing because we plan our appointments each week, but we have plans to meet with him this week. Everyone seems really open and teachable, even with Inviting To Learn (I2L-ing) ... we've even found some less active members through I2Ling!  Usually for the I2Ls we explain who we are, and tell them about the temple tour we have each Thursday anaa sa templo atbang sudlon, and then we give them the Cebuano 13 articles of faith so they can learn a bit about the church.

I've been trying to be super careful with the water - there's been times where I've considered going to refilling stations (for the 5gallon jugs ) and seeing about filling up my water :P it should be safe at those places since they probably have to meet standards of some kind.

I got the side bag I ordered through the assistants! it's super good because it has waist straps that distribute the weight - when we're walking, I can put it behind me so it doesn't get in the way of my arms. then for getting stuff out I can slide it to my side and for riding the jeepneys/dyip-nis I can slide it to my front - it's just wide/tall enough to fit my PMG for district meetings!

Today was transfer day, but my companion is staying here! I'm glad, because i want to finish the training with him - especially before getting a missionary who doesn't know the area :P

.... so there have been missionaries telling me that I'm going to be an Assistant to the President or even the next one (apparently one of the ones we have now is leaving in November). I assumed they tell that to a lot of the new missionaries, but no one else in my district has been told that, and most of them have said that to me! Oh well - that doesn't matter right now, ug Nagmatikud ko nga akong gusto maoy bisan-unsa mag-assign ang Ginoo. Whatever the Lord assigns me to do, he will help me with it "For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepareth a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he hath comanded them" (1 Nephi 3:7) o, sa Visayan/Cebuano, "kay Ako nasayudd nga ang Ginoo dili mohatag sa mga sugo ngadto sa mga katawhan gawas kon siya moandam og paagi alang kailla nga silla unta makatuman sa mga butang nga siya nagsugo"

I use the scripture above many times with less actives that for one reason or another say they can't go to church because of work, disabilities, etc. for instance, there was a less active who couldn't use his legs very much at all (I'm guessing he's in his 80's), but we offered to go there and help so he said yes. - sadly, we couldn't get there to help him into the taxi because some investigators we had contacted took awhile to get ready to come with us - the kids were excited to go because we mentioned that we'd be riding a dyip-ni there! anyways, when we got to church, we found out that he had made it to church and had gotten lots of help with getting in and out of the taxi, and even going in between classes! I was super excited because he made it there on his own, and he won't have to depend on us at all in the future to get to church - we won't be here always, but those members will!

miss you all!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Hapit na walay panahon sa pagsulat!‏8/22/2012

Weather's been pretty amazing here( except for the extra humidity from the rain making it even hotter) it's been raining a bit today but it should turn to sunny - it always does!

I'm never sure with the water - the main way I can tell if the water at member's houses is safe is if they have children :P then they're always really careful with their water - it works with families here, but it'll be hard to tell in other areas.

The other day, I was walking along with my companion and we were singing called to serve - we heard someone join in, went back to check, and it was an inactive member! we've got a return appointment to teach him! It was a super cool experience.

Another cool thing that happened was finding out that there was another Elder Carlson in this mission in 1972 - apparently he was from Sweden. crazy coincidence, right?

Labor is super cheap here - at the temple, most days you can see someone going around the edges with a hedge clipper.

There is soo many angry birds products here! I'm pretty sure if you looked hard enough at any store with sandals/clothes/toys/etc/etc.. you'd be able to find a lot of angry birds stuff! it's super popular here. also, apparently there's going to be a live musical based on the game plants vs zombies - there was a big banner advertising it.

Have to go! talk to you next week!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

Thank you so much for the pictures!

Yeah, we have bunkbeds - for breakfast, we sometimes have eggs and rice and other times it's whatever you make - milo and a sandwich, etc, ... yes I'm doing great with the food :D we're actually getting along pretty well - we don't see each other as much as we'd like but it's pretty good.

•Maayong semana (dako/gamay? ambut)‏ 8/14/2012

Where to start?

There seems to have been so many things that've happened!

The weathers been amazing here(mainly because of the breeze;) but yeah it's been nearly perfect, except for the times it's rained super hard and stopped - but for the most part its hot enough to make you sweat.

it's so hard to find houses sometimes - there's no addresses for the most part, just large areas with names - it's hard to find the houses sometimes even when we've been there! if you receive a name with only an address (basic area) then you have to wander around asking - those areas are so hard, it's so nice to get phone numbers!!!

But I am starting to get the hang of finding the ones that we've been visiting - I've been having to lead, and my companion has been having to correct me a bunch of times at the many intersections of skinny cement paths among the houses :P

There's so many trees here! banana trees, coconut trees, mango trees, and I have no idea what the other ones are!

I'm never sure about the water so I usually put it through my water purifier. my companion said that someone tried putting coke in one and they got pure water out of it!

One interesting thing - whenever people check pant sizes, they leave them buttoned up and put them around the neck and if the 2 sides touch together comfortably, it fits! I didn't believe it until I tried with my own pants, and it totally works! your waist is twice the size of your neck no matter who you are! it makes it so much easier for them at stores, instead of having to try them on they just leave them fastened and put them around their neck!

So the other day I went to a kanederya where they have a main dish along with rice, and so they said one was beef so I went for that. as I went to eat it, it looked like star fish! Then I ate it, and I don't know what star fish taste like but that's the taste/texture I'd imagine!  Then I found out it's the intestine (probably the small intestine)!  Apparently all parts of a cow are considered beef - all the same to them :P even my companion counts it as beef! lol I guess I don't have to call it cow intestine anymore.

sa panahon sa paglakaw!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Maayong adlaw!‏8/7/2012

Kamusta, tanan!  (Hello, all!)

I finally got the first batch of dear elders and pouch letters! all of the dates on the letters through the pouch system seem to have later dates, so I'll assume that that's faster.

I asked my companion how hot it is outside, and then remembered that'd be in Celsius when he answered 32 :P (89.6 F). The weather's been pretty amazing here, and very beautiful.

- there's the sun, and a breeze to cool it off a little - katahum [ug] init (hot) pa, apan mas maayo kaisa unya. apparently it gets super hot march until June (missed it! but then again, that's how it'll end :P )

the area seems to be going pretty well - it's hard to get the less actives to come back to church and continue with it - it really helps to show them blessings through obedience when I tell them about keeping the Sabbath day holy with (no)fishing and catching more Monday than others did Sunday and Monday combined! it really helps them because for many of them, the money they make each day is what they live off of that day.  Most of the investigators we have are brand new - with a lot of them it seems like after we had gotten booted by less actives for our appointments (people weren't there) and so we happened to find some non-members (usually with a less active) and taught them - although it may have been more set up than that (in Cebuano without me knowing what's going on)

yesterday we went on splits and I had to lead the other missionary through the area - taking the correct turns at the correct times, etc. - it was crazy! but luckily I was able to find each appointment even though some of them weren't there. we have been having ward missionaries with us a lot, and it's awesome! I love having members there because the less actives can develop bonds with the members, and the members can bear their testimonies and bring up stuff that we would never have thought of. They truly are following the guidance of the previous prophet, Gordon B,. Hinckley: "every member a missionary" (kada miembro og misyonaryo) also. I love to see and hear about the missionary work that goes on without us having to be there - it's so amazing! the people here are so strong, and trying so hard to follow the gospel despite all the opposition they receive when they aren't' there. there's family members, parents, friends, etc that don't like our church and willing to disown any that join so it's hard for them but there's so many that continue on and I'm so proud of them!

so this next week, I'm supposed to lead the area. that means planning lessons (according to the needs), finding the houses (which seems to only be possible when you have their number or already know the way) - this is going to be crazy! But it'll be good. because after these twelve weeks, it'll be me and a missionary who's never been here before and so I'll be the one who knows the members and investigators and where they live.

so everything seems to be maayo diri!

gugma si Elder Carlson