Thursday, March 20, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
3/18/2014 •Opening the area
Hey
everyone!
I seem to have bad luck with computers here - last three weeks in a
row my computers have been crashing..
Anyways, It's been quite an adventure opening the area here, we've
been talking to a lot of people and getting a lot of contacts and
really sore feet - we had one area down and met everyone, but then we
re-split the area and the sisters got that part! We even had a new
investigator, Nida Maningkil - we had been looking for a part member
family and we ended up searching all over for them but while we were
searching we found the Maningkil family, they said that we could teach
them but not then because they were about to go somewhere so we
continued on our search, found the house of the part-member family,
but they weren't there so we returned and the Maningkil's trip got
cancelled just in time, and so they were open for us to teach them -it
was interesting because Nida was tagolog, and her friend had major
hearing loss so it was unusual and very difficult, but they were very
receptive nonetheless and so I'll be sure and refer them to the
sisters!
Then there's our other new investigator, he's the brother of one of
our recent converts, and was taught by the missionaries before, but
had only been to church once a few months back. the good news is, we
taught him once and he came to church the very next Sunday!!
On another note, I was thinking of what I wanted to do for the next
district meeting... but I finally got to talk with the Sister Training
Leaders (STLs) here (just about what they need as far as workshops -
that's all I need to know) and they mentioned how they need to see the
bigger picture with the work, beyond just getting investigators to
church and getting them baptized, but seeing beyond that to other
things we can do with the branch, etc. that will help them on their
way to celestial. and therefore, I have decided that I should teach on
vision (Proverbs 29:18) and goals.
-a servant of the Lord,
~Elder Dallin Carlson
I seem to have bad luck with computers here - last three weeks in a
row my computers have been crashing..
Anyways, It's been quite an adventure opening the area here, we've
been talking to a lot of people and getting a lot of contacts and
really sore feet - we had one area down and met everyone, but then we
re-split the area and the sisters got that part! We even had a new
investigator, Nida Maningkil - we had been looking for a part member
family and we ended up searching all over for them but while we were
searching we found the Maningkil family, they said that we could teach
them but not then because they were about to go somewhere so we
continued on our search, found the house of the part-member family,
but they weren't there so we returned and the Maningkil's trip got
cancelled just in time, and so they were open for us to teach them -it
was interesting because Nida was tagolog, and her friend had major
hearing loss so it was unusual and very difficult, but they were very
receptive nonetheless and so I'll be sure and refer them to the
sisters!
Then there's our other new investigator, he's the brother of one of
our recent converts, and was taught by the missionaries before, but
had only been to church once a few months back. the good news is, we
taught him once and he came to church the very next Sunday!!
On another note, I was thinking of what I wanted to do for the next
district meeting... but I finally got to talk with the Sister Training
Leaders (STLs) here (just about what they need as far as workshops -
that's all I need to know) and they mentioned how they need to see the
bigger picture with the work, beyond just getting investigators to
church and getting them baptized, but seeing beyond that to other
things we can do with the branch, etc. that will help them on their
way to celestial. and therefore, I have decided that I should teach on
vision (Proverbs 29:18) and goals.
-a servant of the Lord,
~Elder Dallin Carlson
3/11/2014 ~ Second week in Tanjay
Having computer problems
again...
But it was a good week! It was good to finally get everything taken
care of with getting a new passport, and to go to Manila, even if it
was a super short visit. The coolest part about it is me being able
to say that I've been to Manila! (and my companion too) The senior
missionary to help me with it all was Elder (David) Olsen, and it was
great to be with him for a little while. Apparently he was very
impressed with how many people I talked with about the church while we
were waiting at the embassy - there were some inactives and many
potential investigators (including the security guard there at that
part of the embassy)! It helped that Elder Olsen had articles of
faith cards for me to give out, I hope it helped inspired Elder Olsen
to talk with more people.
I thought you might like to know something - we've been keeping a
tally of how many people we've contacted (investigators and
less-actives) this last week in the process of whitewashing the area
(last week it was 42 individuals in 24 families)- I feel like we're
opening the area with how much was put in the area book - one time my
companion mentioned to someone that they hadn't put jack in the area
book - what I said then is they put jack in there, but they left out a
last name or address of any kind so it's basically not all that useful
.. but it's taught me a very very valuable lesson on how to keep the
area book.
speaking of area books, I had a great idea on how to keep track of
those in my district - I have everyone come after personal study with
their area books and while I'm quietly reviewing it with them, i try
and encourage everyone to study quietly so that they can invite the
spirit and prepare their minds to receive revelation during the
workshop
(computer problems....)
I had a realization as I was teaching the A.P.s workshop - if we teach
a lesson the same time every time with the same words and questions, it
makes a metaphorical rut in our teaching methods and then if there's a
reason we need to take a different path (comparable to a dog in the
road) .... if we're stuck in the rut, we'll run right over the dog!
Anyways, that's about it for now, no more time left because of all the
computer problems...
hope all's well with you and yours!
-a servant of the Lord,
~Elder Dallin Carlson
But it was a good week! It was good to finally get everything taken
care of with getting a new passport, and to go to Manila, even if it
was a super short visit. The coolest part about it is me being able
to say that I've been to Manila! (and my companion too) The senior
missionary to help me with it all was Elder (David) Olsen, and it was
great to be with him for a little while. Apparently he was very
impressed with how many people I talked with about the church while we
were waiting at the embassy - there were some inactives and many
potential investigators (including the security guard there at that
part of the embassy)! It helped that Elder Olsen had articles of
faith cards for me to give out, I hope it helped inspired Elder Olsen
to talk with more people.
I thought you might like to know something - we've been keeping a
tally of how many people we've contacted (investigators and
less-actives) this last week in the process of whitewashing the area
(last week it was 42 individuals in 24 families)- I feel like we're
opening the area with how much was put in the area book - one time my
companion mentioned to someone that they hadn't put jack in the area
book - what I said then is they put jack in there, but they left out a
last name or address of any kind so it's basically not all that useful
.. but it's taught me a very very valuable lesson on how to keep the
area book.
speaking of area books, I had a great idea on how to keep track of
those in my district - I have everyone come after personal study with
their area books and while I'm quietly reviewing it with them, i try
and encourage everyone to study quietly so that they can invite the
spirit and prepare their minds to receive revelation during the
workshop
(computer problems....)
I had a realization as I was teaching the A.P.s workshop - if we teach
a lesson the same time every time with the same words and questions, it
makes a metaphorical rut in our teaching methods and then if there's a
reason we need to take a different path (comparable to a dog in the
road) .... if we're stuck in the rut, we'll run right over the dog!
Anyways, that's about it for now, no more time left because of all the
computer problems...
hope all's well with you and yours!
-a servant of the Lord,
~Elder Dallin Carlson
3/4/2014 ~•Passport issues
Hey everyone!
There's been a LOT of hassles here on the computer today with the internet cutting out as I'm trying to take care of passport papers, etc..this message might be relatively shorter than usual with trying to keep everything within 2 hours. It's sorta a headache..
Anyways, it's been pretty crazy here with both of us being new to the area and both of us having no idea where anyone is or who they were teaching. we can't find hardly any progress records and extremely few updated teaching records and nothing to tell us where they live except for the name of the Barangay(district) so we have almost no current information, so we have to ask members to come with us and show us where people live in this or that area - the members have been awesome, most every day we have someone to kuyog with us, and they help us as much as they can and as far as they know the area.
Another crazy thing is trying to figure out how to take care of my passport and renew it, that'll probably happen next week, there was a lot to do with that on the computer today so this is about it for now.
Hope all is well with you and yours and that everything works out here in Tanjay D with figuring out about our area and flying to Manilla to take care of my passport... talk to you next week!
~Elder Dallin Carlson
There's been a LOT of hassles here on the computer today with the internet cutting out as I'm trying to take care of passport papers, etc..this message might be relatively shorter than usual with trying to keep everything within 2 hours. It's sorta a headache..
Anyways, it's been pretty crazy here with both of us being new to the area and both of us having no idea where anyone is or who they were teaching. we can't find hardly any progress records and extremely few updated teaching records and nothing to tell us where they live except for the name of the Barangay(district) so we have almost no current information, so we have to ask members to come with us and show us where people live in this or that area - the members have been awesome, most every day we have someone to kuyog with us, and they help us as much as they can and as far as they know the area.
Another crazy thing is trying to figure out how to take care of my passport and renew it, that'll probably happen next week, there was a lot to do with that on the computer today so this is about it for now.
Hope all is well with you and yours and that everything works out here in Tanjay D with figuring out about our area and flying to Manilla to take care of my passport... talk to you next week!
~Elder Dallin Carlson
2/25/2014 ~ Leaving Pinamungajan tomorrow
Hello everyone!
it's been a crazy week - I totally wasn't expecting the
call yesterday that'd tell me I'd be part of an emergency transfer this Thursday!
but I feel that the new area is where the Lord wants me, I'm glad I could
be worthy enough to be trusted with leading/opening an area completely new to
me and being District Leader. Looks like I'm gonna need some speed
packing skillz, because I'm going to be going to a different island tomorrow!
It's hard to focus and my stomach feels kind of weird - maybe cause of
the stress, I think it'll pass.
District Leadership Counsel went great last week! I
learned a lot, including the importance of always continuing to study PMG.
In our District Meeting when I relayed it to my district, before the
meeting i set an example by starting to study early, and without me having to
say a word the rest of them caught on and they started studying too. This
set the perfect atmosphere for a spiritual learning experience, and we all were
able to feel the spirit very strongly. We all were edified and instructed
by the spirit and I honestly think that it couldn't have gone much better than
that. It also made me feel really good to hear the Halls mention about
the importance of asking inspired questions and listening, and then say that they
learned that from my workshop when I was a District Leader in Toledo. And
then I tied that back to the subject by telling them that I learned that from
my studies of preach my gospel and they could learn that too and more if they
studied right. The whole experience made me feel successful as a District
Leader and that is more satisfying than anything else. to be knowing that
I'm fulfilling my purpose to the best of my ability as a child of god, as a
missionary, and as a district leader.
As far as an update with our investigators, we haven't
been able to visit Segundo Hubahib but we've been continuing to try, I wonder
if I might be able to contact him when he goes to anchorage or naknek....
and Johanna Ondong has moved to Cebu city for work and so
we referred her to those missionaries...
but we had one investigator who because of the help of
kuyogs, and we have 4 new investigators who they are planning on encouraging
and bringing to church who we just taught a few days ago! yay for member
missionary work!!!
hope all's well with you and yours,
love,
a servant of the Lord,
Elder Dallin Carlson
2/18/2014 1 Nephi 1:7
| From: | Elder Dallin Carlson |
| Sent: | Tue 2/18/14 7:17 PM |
Kamusta tanan (hey everyone!)
It's been another great week here in Pinamungajan, it's unusual to not have anything happen this transfer, that hasn't happened outside of training Elder Benjamin! But I'm glad I could figure out why I'm with Elder Mozar for another transfer - we have more progress and improvement to make together. I still have things left to teach him and help him learn and understand.
We've been making good progress, getting a lot of work done, 11 lessons in 2 days (a good portion of those were lessons where we had multiple focuses, like trying to teach/adapt a lesson for investigators AND less-actives or recent converts and less-actives, etc so here in our mission those count for each type of tudloan you focus on) - but we need to work on stopping as we're going between places to talk to people. I guess I need to strengthen my testimony that there are people out there being prepared to recieve us.
I get so tired sometimes - last night after planning I sort of had an experience like Lehi...
"And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen."
....I was still in my shirt and tie, and fell asleep... and then I woke up this morning, surprised at what had happened. but the Lord continues to strengthen me so I continue with faith and diligence.
Now for the people we're teaching... we're still trying to figure out if one of them needs to be baptized or not, she has mental disabilities and so we're trying to figure out if she can learn enough and follow the commandments....but it needs more work because she's really shy and if she doesn't answer questions, how can we tell if she's understanding if she doesn't answer questions? We'll try and help her feel comfortable with answering questions and I'll update you on that next week.
With Johanna Ondong, it turns out that she moved to Capitol area for her work, so we'll continue teaching her husband here and refer her to the missionaries in that area. Her husband would be working but his diabetes is keeping him from doing much, but maybe this happened so we could teach him - there's only One person who knows why....and He knows all.
With the Jarana family, they finally came to church!! ....well, everyone that could fit on their motorcycle..... we'll have to work on how they'll transport the whole family to the church. It seems that every sunday the branch president is sending his son everywhere on the motorcycle to bring people to chruch from all over Pinamungajan!
have a good week!
love,
Elder Dallin Carlson
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