The Final Weeks

It is crazy how time seems to be going faster and faster as the weeks go on. this week was particularly fast because we has so much going on. We had exchanges with our District Leader, and also with the Ap's which was insane, and I will explain that in a second.

First off I our week was so good! you could say numbers wise we did 4x better this week, and Elder Pepa and I both have changed for the good especially after the exchanges with the Ap's. So we dug deep, set some real deep goals, and worked hard, and we were blessed for it. We found two families to teach last week, that seem pretty promising, just from tracting, and talking with people, we also had a few solid referrals that are really interested! It was a fantastic week, and I felt like that Hard working missionary again that I always longed for! Elder Pepa is doing a lot better he is starting to work a lot more, and take more  of the lead on our work which is fantastic! It is such a relief hahaha. Also our one investigator who came to church last week came again! yay! She has such strong faith, coming to church even though they don't have any money, and dealing with two kids under the age of 2! with one being only 3 months old! That was pretty exciting, we set a goal to have a lot more a church next week if we work really hard, which is what we are planning to do. 

Okay so one reason why the week was so good was because of our exchanges with the Ap. First off I thought the exchanges was mostly for Elder Pepa, but I was totally wrong hahah I was the one who got chastized! I worked with Elder Bryson who i know pretty well, and I thought it was going to be a chill day just working really hard, nah I was wrong, We had a 3 hour companionship study (its usually 1 hour) and he just chastized me the whole time!! hahaha what the heck!!! But it was really good, and it really helped me. He told me after our exchanges that he was so bold with me because he knew I could take it. So basically he just walked in, punched me in the face and left haha. It was really good though and it really did help me a lot. Before the exchanges I had an attitude of just working until the end and not really trying really hard, just as long I was still working but know i am back in the attitude where I was back in the day where I want to try my best to do the best that I can until the last day, even though I won't get a baptism before I leave or really seen anything else happen, but the desire is now there and It makes me feel a lot better about myself, and I will be more able to help Elder Pepa. I was afraid I wasn't going to enjoy these last couple weeks, but now I am really going to enjoy them and its going to be great! 

Well thats it for this week, and just FYI I only have two more times to e-mail before I come home, I don't think we get to e-mail home that monday before I go home, so I only have two more! what!!!!??? so insane!!!!  I lo0ve you all and I will see you in 3!!!

--

Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission

what do I even say anymore!

Hey everyone! i just don't even know what to say anymore in these e-mails! haha we had a few good things happen this last week it was great!

first of we actually had an investigator come to church! it was awesome and such a blessing, it was an investigator we have been teaching since we have been here! Her faith and testimony are so strong, she just has so many obstacles to get over, she pretty much says that what ever it takes or how long it takes she will be baptized eventually haha. Even before the sacrament meeting started and as she was sitting down listening to the prelude music she told me that she felt really good, and she was feeling the spirit really strongly! and this one sister in our Branch just did the best job fellowshipping her!!! it was perfect! I was very happy at that moment, just seeing a smile on her face made everything worth it!  it was great!

We had a couple more referrals this week which seem really promising, and we plan on visiting them this week, we also have exchanges with the AP's this week, which I am really excited for, I have never worked with the Ap's yet in my mission. For those who don't know, Ap means Assistant to the President, so they pretty much run the mission with the President, so they are really good missionaries, and I look forward to learning from them. 

Members keep asking me if I am trunky! ai hate that questions! NO!! hahaha I am still thinking about the work, members, people, and investigators, and my companion, and praying for all of them. I may not be doing the best work, but I still think about them all the time, so i don't think you could consider that trunky. i still don't really think to much about home during the day, and It will be like this till the very last day! I mean cmon its only 4 weeks! i can still work for 4 weeks longer, its not a big deal! hahaha

but yeah thats about it, i think next week is going to be a great week for us and I am excited because its going to go by fast!

Well I love you all and I can't wait to see you all, its going to be insane!!!

--
Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission

Skype!

Hey everyone!  This will be short but I thought I wanted to write an e-mail home just to say hello! hahaha

So first off, I just got done skyping my family, and friends which was awesome! I can't believe I am going to see you all in 5 weeks! it is so quick, and so insane! I all ready have my flight plans and things are rolling down hill. 5 weeks for you guys is long, but 5 weeks in the mission goes by so quick, we all know I have been struggling lately but, this last week was great! We got double the lessons we usually have been getting and have been improving more in our work, and our weaknesses. I am excited for this week, because after last week, I became more motivated to work harder this next week, and to keep that ball rollin! So things are getting a lot better, and I am getting more excited to come home, but I am also feeling a greater responsibility to do as much good as I can before I return home! So lets pray and exercise some faith!! That statement was mostly for me haha

Well but thats about it I hope all of you are doing good! and Just hang in there and good ol' kikel is comin home!

--
Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission

Shepards pie and Strawberry Cheese Cake!

Hey everyone! Today we find out we we are transferred, and I am not transferred!!! hahah it was almost obvious because I have only been in this area for 6 weeks. Things are going all right, its about the same as when we arrived hahaha so its kind of a bummer but I am not losing hope in this area or in this work, and I plan on doing my very best these last 6 weeks of my mission, no matter how hard it gets. As long as the Lord knows I am trying to do my best, I will feel good about what we have done here no matter what! 

Something epic happened to us this last week which totally made up for the trials we have recently been dealing with, you may think its some awesome spiritual experience, but its not... its pretty close tho, and it has to deal with the title of this letter! 

Believe it or not Ladies and Gentlemen I had something I never thought I could get in the Philippines! Strawberry Cheese Cake!!!! the kind my mother only makes once a year! It was INSANE!! then I had Shepards Pie for the first time in my life which just blew me away, and also baked maccaroni and brownies! it was amazing and greatly appreciated. There is Member in our branch who is American, and he works for a month and is off for a month, so every time he says he is home they only cook american food, and his wife is really good at cooking american food, and she is Filipino by the way. hahaha so I kind of scored on that part, he invites us over for dinner all the time so he can continue to watch me freak out when I eat the food, he thinks its crazy how I forgotten how good American food tastes, and is suprised at my reactions when I eat it.  

That about it, nothing else exciting happen last week, hopefully this next week will change something around. Please pray for us and this area because we are really struggling, and we could use all the help we can get! Thanks everyone for your love and support, and I can't believe I will see you again in almost 6 weeks! 

--

Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission

Gettin down with the sickness!!

Name that band!! lets see who catches on to that... haha

Hey!! Its so good to be able to e-mail you guys again, it seems that it comes and goes so fast! Well I just get straight to things because there really isn't much to tell...

I was SICK this whole last week!!!! I got slammed with dual Ear Infections! at the same time! ahh man it was a pain in the butt! so long story short, I got two ear infections, I couldn't leave the apartment for entire week! ahh it was terrible, the pain was so consistent haha I couldn't eat, sleep, or read! and most return missionaries especially from the Philippines can testify that when you that getting sick in the mission is the WORST because it is so boring! I mean you can only study effectively for so long before you get bored, and you have no tv or anything like that, so you literally end up just staring at a wall for hours everyday! so it was a interesting few days, Elder Pepa and I did a lot of talking, lot of laughing, and a lot of sleeping (when I could). 

The good news is that on Sunday I was good enough to get back to work, so we taught a few investigators, and we FINALLY got to visit with the Branch President and his family, we had a Family Home Evening because they were to busy on Monday. It was really fun, we had a good time, and I think we really built the trust with him so I think things are really progressing there and hopefully we can meet with him personally to know his visions for his branch.

so because we were not able to get out and work this last week, I will just share about the things I have studied. well, I really just want to share one thing, and I actually gave a talk on this last Sunday and it turned out to be a very spiritual talk. 

I was reading in 1 Nephi 16 and most of us are familiar with this scripture where nephi's family and others are complaining because of the loss of Nephi's bow. I read in verse 22, and the word Complaining caught my attention pretty strongly. I probably talked about this before, but I am going to talk about it again! because its so true! I started to think how often I complain and why I complain, turns out I tend to complain a lot! I think its only natural for all of us to complain because of challenges, and things not happening according to our desires or wants. Then I thought why didn't Nephi complain? The Spirit taught me that it was because for one Nephi trusted in the lord, and two that Nephi understand the will of god, or was submitted to the will of God. He knew if he was to keep doing what God has told him (keep the commandments) God will provide for all things, and fulfill his promise that he gave to his Father.  

I started to think about myself, and the reasons why I complain and how I can submit myself more to the will of God that I may be humble and follow his commandments, and then I started thinking about the members, and the Less actives we visit all the time and how they complain all the time about so many different things, and all the excuses the give us for not being able to do different things, and thats when I started to think that this should be my topic for my talk last Sunday. I came to know that if we can really understand the will of God, or submit ourselves to His will, we will never lose hope, we will never complain, we will always have a purpose, and we will always know where to go, and what to do. Because we know the Promise in D&C is true, which says "... I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say..." When God makes a promise he plans to keep the promise, all we have to do is our part. Thats it, sometimes its a hard thing to do, but if we will just start to exercise more faith we will see the miracles of God, but we have to act now, and not tomorrow and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that, we have to act now, and we will see God's hand in our lives and recognize that he does now our problems, or challenges, and our weaknesses, because sometimes He is the one who actually gave us those, to help us, to strengthen us, and to prepare us for greater things. 

This really helped me to be stronger, especially these last weeks of my mission come to a close to keep working, and to keep a smile on my face no matter how hard it gets. Sounds like the Kikel style to me;) 

Well hope the encourage someone to start complaining less, and start trusting more and act on that faith that you have! I ready to get back to work this next week, and hopefully we will have something good to report!

love you all!

--

Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission

The Last Sprint

I just want to say that I can not believe it has all ready been 3 weeks since I have been in my new area, and that the transfer is all ready half way over! each transfer is 6 weeks by the way.

This last week was another rough week! phew! We spent most of the week just tracting because we still don't have any progressing investigators! We are still trying to find new investigators, especially through the members, but we are really struggling, we are still not able to work with the members. Because of recent events between missionaries, and members. The trust between the members and the missionary is gone... so yeah, now Elder Pepa and I are here to fix that, and hopefully we can do some good in these last few weeks of the transfer! 

I will give one example: every Monday since we have been here we have fun punted from every single Family Home Evening appointment we have set with the members, every single one! ahhhhH! why!!! hahah its so frustrating, we are trying to teach, and help these members, and build a trust with them and they keep punting us. sigh... and we still haven't had a meeting with our Branch President, he is just so busy! so at times things get really frustrating, and after tracting all day everyday for a couple weeks, its starts to really test your Faith, and thats when the testimonies come into play. 

This has really been effecting me this last week because I only have 2 months until I get home, and with this difficulty and magnitude of work, satan just likes to keep throwing the thoughts in my mind " its okay, relax.. work here a little bit, work there a little bit, and just enjoy the last little bit of your mission stop trying to so hard!" NO! its not going to happen, this is my time to shine, and use all the skills that I have acquired before I go home! I could go on and on with this subject, and my thoughts and feelings about it, but it would take to long, lets just say Im still striving to sprint till the end! 

So nothing super interesting has happened work wise, we are trying to follow up with those we have talked too, and trying to get member cooperation in our work, help, love, and support them in everyway. 

So fun little fact, last night while Elder Pepa and I were walking, some guys drove by on a motorcycle and threw a flippin softball sized rock at me! It hit me square in the chest and almost knocked me over! I didn't really feel anything at first because my adrenaline was going, and frankly i was quite angry, and Elder Pepa and I both almost sprinting after them to get them back, but then I thought that we are missionaries and we can't be like that so we didn't. hahah I got over it pretty quick because I am not really one to fight anways, but Elder Pepa on the other hand could not just get over it, its in his polynesian culture haha he kept wanting to hunt them down and beat them up, he had the same rock in his hand too hahah I had to keep forcing him not too. He was so angry. It feels kind of nice that when you have a huge poly that has your back haha Those guys really got some nerve considering the fact the just threw the rock at the two biggest guys in Siniloan haha but we aren't looking for any trouble we tried finding that guys house today to talk to him, or who ever knows him, and why he did what he did, but he hid, and we were told he was drunk and under the influence of other drugs. My companion says if he sees him again at night he is going to scare him hahah so hopefully we don't see them again! 

well thats it for this week, we are just keeping on and endure to the end like bosses! Don't give up anyone, because Christ has never given up on you! 

--
Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission

General Conference

It is sad know that this last General Conference was my last General Conference in my mission! it is such a weird feeling! its coming way to fast!

I absolutely loved General Conference this April, probably because It was the Conference I was the most excited for! I tried really hard to prepare for it, and seek for revelation! I said this last time about General Conference but it just seems to go by so fast now, and its almost just not enough! I can't believe i wouldn't watch Conference on Saturdays back at home, what a wasted opportunity.  For all you youngins or those who just don't really enjoy conference i got a little advice for you, I was the exactly the same way back before my mission, conference for me was a waiting game, and because of that I never got any of the messages shared, and I was only counting down the hours until I could play xbox again! but take my words when I say you can make conference an enjoyable experience, and a blessing in your life, you need to do what King Benjamin asked us to do in Mosiah 2:9. We need not trifle with the words that the prophet and apostles speak as well as with all his servents, and we need to open our ears to hear, our hearts to understand, and our minds to be enlighten, and as we do these things he promises us the we will come to know the mysteries of God. As i have done these things I have received so many blesses, and as we taught members this principle these also came up to me and told me that they were bless as well! so try it! its not to late, watch them online, in a private quite place, and just listen to what they are saying and something they say will apply to you i promise! 

I don't know if Conference has always been like this but I love that fact there is some humor involved, especially when President Uchdorf "accidently" spoke german that killed me hahahaha  for one it keeps the listeners more attentive and entertained, and also it makes me feel more like these people are actual people and not these perfect robots that have no personality or lives. Of course General Conference a sacred ordeal in its self but its nice to see this sometimes. 

I could go on and on about how good each of the Talks were, and as always Jeffrey R. Holland never lets us down with his powerful teaching skills. but one thing I want to share the really pressed upon me as I was listen was something I was taught at the beginning of my mission that I didn't really understand at first but now understand a little bit.

Sometimes as missionaries we refer to the life that all you life as the "real life' and our life as the "missionary life" and I remember a leader in our mission told me, maybe it was the President, or AP, but he told me that the missionary life is the "real life" and your life is the "Babylonian life" and after this recent Conference the Spirit just testified of the truthfulness of that statement to my heart. This really is what the real life is about; serving others in the Name of Jesus Christ. Think of the Prophet and Apostles, that is what real life is, and thats where I would like to be after my mission. and not do what one of the general authorities talked about by "swan diving into Babylon!" when I get home, I want to strive to maintain the spirituality that i have obtained in my mission after I return, home its going to be really difficult, and might take some time, and maturity but i konw the Lord will help me with those things.  

I am grateful for everyone who commits to life the "real life" and devote themselves to god always, those are the real men and women on earth. haha Also i just love how many talks were given about families, fatherhood, and eternal marriage! hahah 2 months left!!! and thats meeeee!!! hopefully... haha anyways thanks everyone one for you support, and keep on keepin on! 

--
Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission