WOW!!!

Wow first off thank you so much for everybody that wrote me this week. means a lot. im sorry i cant reply to your emails because we are not aloud to kind of annoying but just trying to be obedient. well let me just start off by saying what a week! i have truly felt all your prayers this week becasue the lord has truly blessed me. this week was a lot better and im getting into the swing off things. the more i listen to other elders talk they say im pretty lucky getting sent to baguio. its not really hot here its perfect. we have a warm shower and so the living conditions arent too bad compared to other places. haha the language is still kicking my butt, i cant understand a thing about whats going on during the lesson but this week was a pretty good week i would say. one of the coolest things is we were teaching a family from korea and they dont speak tagalog and just a little bit of english. so i got to teach the lesson and it felt great haha. i guess my companion and his companion before had been teaching them but they both speak pretty broken englsh. anyways at the end of the lesson i invited them to be baptized and they said Yes! wow i couldnt believe it! it was truly a miracle from the lord. what a blessing. some of the kids went back to korea so we couldnt set a date but still its a work in progress. haha my comp says the people in baguio are a little meaner then the ones in the low lands because we had trouble having people want to listen to us haha kind of frusturating. but we extended i think 3 or 4 other baptizmal invitations and they all said yes. haha i usually invite them but thats just because i can say it and elder katigbak is trying to get me involved as much as possible haha but its a neat expercience to teach a lesson and feel the spirit so strongly. but yeah this week has been pretty good and cant complain ive realized this is where im supposed to be and i just need to do it! haha the lord has truly blessed me this week. haha baguio city is crazy i have no idea how in the world they built this place because its just tons of houses stacked on each other on hills that are straight up and down its crazy! haha i told my comp that they literally built a concrete jungle on top of a real jungle haha it blows my mind. but the living conditions are super poor and its really sad to see. it really makes me realize how blessed we are to live where we do and with a nice house. i wish i could show you the all the things. im sure brandon miller knows exactly what im talking about. the food is good we usually just eat at mcdonalds or macdo haha and kfc. so nothing to weird. i refuse to eat balut. the fertilized duck. haha everyday they try and get me to eat it but theres no way. haha tons of rice. everywhere you go has rice haha. but the food is good and i havent gotten sick at all yet. im trying to eat as little porations as i can so i dont get sick. ive learned that in america we live to eat and here people eat to live. haha ive learned you can go along time without a meal. haha let me tell you though im going to be able to jump out of the gym when i get home becasue the stairs and hills we climb everyday are no kidding straight up and down haha. im working out everyday and that helps out a lot. man i dont know what else to say. its been a lot better week. hope everything at home is going well. oh yeah the things here are a lot different haha i dont know how to really say it without being inapporiate but its happened a couple times where we are teaching a lesson and all of the sudden the women will just start breast feeding right in front of us. i was like are you freaking kidding me!!!! so thats usually when we just end quick and get out of there. its crazy! thats just what people do here i guess. its funny when we walk through these poor areas and all the little kids are little shy but they always stare at me then say to there friends.. "look americono!" haha i just turn and smile and usually give them a high five or something then they laugh and run away cause the people are really shy here. haha its funny though. the people here are really nice. when we walk through the big mall here i get some real dirty looks haha it just cracks me up because i know they dont think there doing it. theres just not any americans around here. im trying to take pictures but i never really have time to and i dont want to look like a tourist haha. ill try and take some today during p day. cause its pretty cool this city is. thats awesome chandler got home!! haha he wrote me and says hes hating life at home haha thats funny. payton goes in soon to doesnt he? i think like november 17 right? awesome! he'll do awesome! well im just trying to keep going and get the language down so i can start contributing but its been a lot better this week. i love you guys so much and you are so awesome! thanks for all the help and support and uplifting advice. it really helps espically all the emails i got from friends and family that are RMs. it really helps. anyways thanks for everthing ill try and take more pictures and sorry i didnt address all your questions. we dont have a lot of time. MAHAL KITA Elder Machen

A Simple Testimony

Pamilya! holy crap this place is nuts! the philippines is so crazy, if you guys could look for 60 secs what i see everyday it would probably break your heart. These people have nothing here. its pretty sad. i think im still in shock about the whole thing cause its pretty rough. the culture is nothing like america. not one bit. haha i have no idea whats going on most of the time i just follow my comp and bare a simple testimony. we teach and talk to alot of people. idk its only been a few days so nothing too exciting has happened. my companion invited this one lady to be baptized and she said yes haha but i didnt know that until the planning session that night because i cant understand anything. the plane ride was really long but ok. im in baguio right now in the university branch. one nice thing about baguio is that its nice and cool so its never too hot. oh and we have a heated shower! i guess thats pretty rare here. its been rough trying to get adjusted to everything. most people live with families of like 6 in something that looks like those little shops on the side of bruces house. there that big to. unreal. my bedroom at home is bigger than some peoples houses. its crazy and most don't even have more than 1 light bulb. we taught this older couple and they had to unscrew the light bulb in the kitchen and then move it into the living room. haha i had to do it because everybody was too short. haha i think im the only american here besides the other elders in the zone cause i have yet to see one. just be very grateful for all the things you have at home like somthing as simple as a fresh glass of water! and all the nice conviences of the US. its crazy how people live down here. but yeah its been a hard few days trying to adjust. everybody just stares at me because im a tall white guy and sometimes ill pick up AMERICONO! haha here in baguio i dont get called joe i guess thats just in the low lands. man i dont know what else to really say. the traffic here is ridiculous because there are no traffic rules whatsoever and riding in jeepnies are kinda fun haha. hope everything is going well back home and hope you guys are doing good. pray for me out here cause its 100000 harder than anything i've ever done and i could use the prayers. im trying. the language is completly different. people can barely understand the tagalog i do know so they tell me i can speak in english but i just say no im trying to learn tagalog and they respect that. the old couple we taught who commited to baptizim. the old guys name was fred and he asked if i spoke tagalog and i just said a little. he wasnt very intersted in the lesson and went back into the kitchen to cook again and he can't hear very well. so when it was my turn to bare testimony he looked down at me and came back into the living room to listen. i almost started to cry and he just looked at me and listened. it was neat. then after i was done he went back into the kitchen and started cooking again. so that was a neat experiance. my companion is a stud, he is a really hard worker and is setting a good example. his name is Elder Katigbak. but yeah its been rough but just trying to get through this first couple months then hopefully things will start to get better. love you guys and stay strong. my mission presidents are amazing! they're really nice people. well family i dont know what else to say haha. love you guys more than youll ever know. being half way around the world in the craziest country in the world is a lot harder than i could ever imagine. love you guys very much. Mahal kita.

Check it Out!

I wish this was a post of a letter from Elder Machen, but we haven't gotten his first letter from the Philippines yet, but Sister Jensen, his Mission Pres. wife has a blog.  She has posted pictures of the new missionaries who just arrived!  So exciting to see him there!  We are hoping for his  e-mail  tomorrow!!  So check out the Baguio blog.... BaguioJensen.blogspot.com

Holy Cow!

Kumusta pamilya! holy cow can you believe its already been two months! its gone by so fast i dont even know what to think! i leave monday! so dang exctied though and super nervous haha. our last week in the mtc was good just like any other week just our schedule got a little messed up with getting ready to leave but no worries. man i dont even really know what to say! just a flood of different emotions! its crazy im really excited to go though! this is what ive been called to do so im exctied. haha its going to be one heck of a ride haha and i have to say im just ready to go

do work. the language is going to be tough but i know i ll be alright! hope everything is going great for you guys! haha i dont really know what to say today just cause its such a crazy feeling! haha im excited for the flight and airport! maybe an opportunity to spread the word! haha the flight i think is like 14-15 hours so thats not to fun. i leave the mtc at 6:30 monday night and fly out of salt lake to san fran at 9:50 so we get to san fran at like 11:30 or something like that, then we leave san fran at 1:20 in the morning and fly straight to hong kong! we get to hong kong on wednesday because of the time thing haha crazy, then we fly to manilla and im not really sure about the times of that haha. but ill probably be able to call at salt lake so make sure you can talk from like 6:30 to 9 or something. haha once i get to manilla i have no idea what happens next, i dont know if we bus to urdenta or they pick us up! haha i have no idea. so that should be exciting. but it will be quite the travel time and im sure ill be spent. cant tell you though how grateful i am to be serving a mission and really understand how much of a privelage it is. its going to pretty neat! dont worry about me the lord will be watching over us espicially. no worries. tell everybody i say hi and i love them.

We're Really Doing It Harry!

Kamusta pamilya! this week was another great week in the mtc! oh man how did you guys like conference! it flew by I don't think ive ever taken so many notes in my life! it was a great conference though it always is when we can hear from the prophet and apostles! i really got a lot out of it! hope you guys did too. this week was really amazing and i was so blessed. the lord blesses us so much its insane! i was so grateful for the blessings i received it was a good week. things are getting close though! we got our travels plans yesterday and the butterflies are coming! man its insane its already been about two months! where did the time go! its so crazy! im way excited though its getting really close. We're Really Doing It Harry! haha dumb and dumber quote for ya. after conference though the desire to preach the gosepl to the philippines is even more on fire haha. the tagalog has been good this week the lord is truly blessing us with the language. its amazing how much we've learned and what we can do. last night we have this thing called TRC its where RM's or members that speak tagalog and we have to teach them for 40 min, so we planned our lesson about revelation through prayer and we kinda planned it around two RM college kid, well when we got in there it was a native right out of the philippines! oh man i was nervous! but we just prayed that the spirit would help us. oh man it sure did! teaching straight tagalog for 40 min is kinda tough haha but the spirit really led and guided us! we taught her and the spirit was there for sure! oh and to tell you she is a recent convert!! that made me really nervous to but the spirit was there and it was amazing! and at the end of the lesson she said are tagalog was really good for only being here 8 weeks. the lord truly blesses us! so that was really cool! some really amazing things happened this week it just makes me so excited to get to the philippines! i know its going to chew me up and spit me out hahaha but ive gained a lot of faith in the mtc and especially reading the book of mormon about all the missionary stories in there have really brought me great comfort! its great here and i cant wait for all the adventures im going to have! well have a great weekend and i love you guys so much take care and always remember the lord in all things. Love you guys! Mahal Kita! Elder Machen