Maligayang Pasko!!

Wow what a week! well first off we had our christmas conference with 2 other zones and it was really good! we even got to watch a "Babilonian" movie "the ultimate gift" watch it! it's way good but it was good to have that! haha i don't really know what to talk about cause i just talked to you guys on the phone and it was way good to hear you guys! the was the best gift i could ever get! and i was proud there were no tears! oh yeah haha. well this week was better the work was good and we were able to find some more less actives and help them it was really neat. a lot of them came to church and i was way pumped and im hoping it wasn't just cause it was christmas. but that's the culture here is most people only go to church on christmas so we'll see what happens! gotta have faith! haha our christmas day here was nuts! haha we had a eating appointment every hour from like 2 to 6 and i don't think i have ever eating so much food in my entire life haha but the people are really nice and just want to help us out! we have a busy schedule this week and im excited for that and hopefully we will see some real progression from that. haha waking up on christmas morning and seeing the sun shining and it being warm outside was a little different then i am used to and it was a little lonely for sure. Church was absolutely amazing and the spirit was so strong and i was really grateful for that service. i started feeling kinda sad and lonely but i was quickly reminded by the spirit what christmas was all about and it made things a ton better and it will be a christmas i never forget! sounds like you guys had a great christmas as well! that's really good to hear and im glad the family got together and had a good time! i'm reminded all the time of the many blessings we have out here and all that we have to be grateful for. just like the hymn. count your blessings! it really makes a difference and helps! i really appreciated everyones letters i got in the christmas package! oh man that was the greatest! reading everyones testimonies really helped strengthen mine and i thank you for taking the time and writing them! the language is still tough and i have my days but i feel its slowly getting better. just have to have patience, perserverence!! and hard work. haha sorry i'm at a loss of words cause i just talked to you earlier haha. well i love you guys and thanks for everyones support in all this! hope everyone had a merry christmas! and a happy new year! love you guys. mahal kita Elder Machen

First Baptism!

wow what a week! this week was definitely a trying one! it tested my patience and everything i had haha. but it ended up being really rewarding! so the work has been kind of tough lately and i was getting frusturated with my tagalog but i felt the lords blessings and things worked out. i realize how much the lord really provides for us out here and it really blows me away. just when we are discoureged cause we cant find someone or have nobody to teach the Lord blesses us and something comes through, it truly is great! well the most exciting part of my week or most spiritual was definitely saturday!!!!! My 1st baptism! wow let me tell you we were stressing cause friday night was the ward christmas party and so we talked to our ward mission leader to see if he had gotten everything ready for the baptism, the speakers, clean font, clean clothes all that stuff and he hadn't done a single thing!!! and we tried getting him to ask people at the party but for some reason i couldn't really undestand, he wouldn't really. so we were stressing to find speakers and all that stuff to make it a good baptism! well saturday morning came and we were at the church by 8 so we could fill up the font and try and get things ready cause the baptism started at 10. so we were working and cleaning calling and trying everthing. so 9:30 rolls around and no one is there! finally a sister shows up to type up the program thank goodness! 9:45 still no one! im stressing cause i'm hoping people show up! espically our investigator! 10 comes and still no one! then the bishop and our assistant ward mission leader comes he's a stud he's an Rm and helps us a ton so anyway our investigator still isn't here! i'm thinking man i really hope she shows up! haha but at about 10:10 she finally shows up at the church and everything ended up working out great! we had speakers clean baptismal clothes everything worked! what a tender mercy from the lord! oh man it was the most amazing experience seeing that baptism it was truly neat! it made everything worth it! i'll send some pictures from it! but that was a great experience. then we interviewed two of the koreans for baptism and i really dont know what's going to happen there cause the girl is super ready but her brother still wants some time and says he wants to be baptized with his sister so we have to work on him and help him get prepared! so saturday was a really cool day. but sunday was when it got really real! so were sitting in sacrament before it starts and Elder turns to me and says your going to confirm her. i was like are you serious! he's like you'll do fine and so i was gettting way nervous! for some reason sacrament and church is all in english so i could do it in english but still i was way nervous cause i was put on the spot big time! so we go up there and i thought bishop was just going to have a counselor or elder katigbak do it but when he asked who, elder said elder machen will do it! so i confirmed her a member and gave her the gift of the holy ghost and a blessing. it was a amazing experience i was way nervous but the spirit helped me big time. i truly felt the saviors love for this person and us as missionaries. i never thought i would be doing anything like this and it is amazing work we are doing! seeing someone take those steps and put their faith in christ is awesome! our investigator also bore a powerful testimony and it really blew me away! she's a very neat person and has a desire to learn more about the church! so that was the really exciting part of the week! just a fun fact for you haha i've lost 15 pounds already hahahah. a member had a scale and so i weighed myself and couldnt believe it! haha it's good though cause i was kinda chubby before so i'm good with it! haha. My zone leader Elder Frandsen has been helping me with the language so much! we went on exchanges and had like a two hour language study and it helped a ton! every philipino here says he's the best foriegner tagalog speaker in the mission so i'm in good hands. he's a stud and we get along really well. I can't skype but i'm thinking about calling home next p day or on sunday just depends on when we can get members phone so just be expecting either sunday or monday haha cause i'm really not sure yet! and it will probably be in the night time there so morning here. haha sorry i don't have more details. i'm doing good though just keep plugging along. we have our christmas zone conference tomorrow so i'm really excited about that! well family i love ya and wish you a merry christmas! i'll talk to you next week!!!!! Mahal Kita Elder Machen

The True Meaning of CHRISTmas!

Kamusta family! wow this week was a tough one but really good! before i tell you about that i want to share something i was thinking about yesturday at the 1st presidencies christmas devotional. So here in the philippines it doesnt really feel like christmas at all haha. and i have to admit i was feeling kind of lonely and sad about being away from home this christmas. When we would go teach and talk to people in there houses i would look around for the lights and the christmas trees...where's all the christmas stuff? and house after house there was nothing...i thought to myself these people don't even know what christmas is all about! and then it hit me...maybe its me that doesn't know what christmas is all about...maybe i'm to caught up in the presents the lights the material things of Christmas! Last nights devotional really hit me. what is the true meaning of Christmas? i've been pondering that alot and like the 1st presidency said its all about Christ. its a time for us to remember him and his great atoning sacriface. thats what christmas is really all about. we don't need the fancy presents and things to make us have a good and memoriable christmas. Its all about our lord and savior Jesus Christ. i've come to learn a very valulable lesson this week. These people here may not have money to buy presents and even room in there house for a tree but one thing they do know is the true meaning of christmas! i'm thankful for this great lesson i've learned, i know when i was back home i got rapped up in the presents and the neat things and hardly thought of what christmas is really all about. so if i could give you a gift from the philippines it would be just to focus on the real meaning of christmas and remember our savior Jesus Christ!
so this week was a tough but good one! our investigator is still going strong and is still going to be baptized this weekend! i'm way excited for her! its great. one cool thing that happened this week was i was with elder frandsen our american zone leader and we were in a taxi going to this house that was kind of far away and the taxi driver was asking a ton of questions about the church and was way interested haha the spirit was so strong and it was inside a taxi! way cool then we taught this way nice family and on our way home the taxi driver was asking a bunch of questions. i was thinking no way two in a row!!! it was so sweet he said he really liked what he heard and wanted to find the church and take his family there! what a neat experiance. haha i was way pumped when we got home cause two taxi drivers were way interested it was pretty cool. haha but finding the less active is a lot harder then we ever thought! the records we have of the people aren't complete meaning we don't have complete addresses and so we can't find the houses. we walked around for like 3 hours just trying to find one house! haha we dont have to much support from the ward but we're just pushing forward and doing the best we can. i'm learning to love this place and the people here more and more each day which has been a great blessing in my life. i just want to be able to help them more and more and they truly are really nice and great. i'm good though don't worry about me the lord is watching over us missionaries more then i ever thought! im glad you guys are doing well! thats awesome to hear your going to the temple! i never knew how much i loved the temple until i couldn't go to one! so keep going and recieve the great blessings that come from it! i love you family more than you would ever know! i'm thinking i might call home the 26th here so that will be christmas day for you there! i'll keep you updated. anyways i love you guys and hope your having a great christmas season! keep the faith and it will snow! love you family talk to you next week! mahal kita elder machen

Needle in a Haystack

kamusta family! holy cow where do i even begin haha. it was another good week kinda tough and slow. well first off i didnt get transfered and neither did my comp so thats good he only has like 5 weeks left so i'll be here in baguio for at least another two transfers which i am very grateful about cause i love it here. but one of my good buddies from the mtc got transfered into our district elder mansfield. he's a stud and we have the most legit zone! so it should be a good next couple transfers here. but the work was tough, trying to find people's houses here is like trying to find a needle in a haystack haha its way hard cause the numbering system is all messed up and we don't have complete addresses of all the people. so alot of our time is spent walking around for hours looking for these houses and talking to members trying to figure out where they live! but its good we've found some and its going to be tough to get these people to come back because they've got every excuse in the book. haha some people see us and hide cause they know exactly why were there haha. but its good im seeing a little improvement with the language and its good i've been studying it hard and have been truly blessed by the lord with it. im really excited for this new task in getting these people to come back to church haha i just need to understand what their saying and how to respond but with patience perserverence i know i can do it!. oh yeah i got a package from the schamps haha i can't spell im trying to hurry but it was way nice of them! they sent me a little christmas tree that you can decorate and they kept the tradition alive and sent me a ornament it was way nice of them and i really appreciated it. i also got a letter from kathy! haha i was way pumped when i saw that. its always good to get mail! and i got a letter from the stosichs! it was way good to hear from them it really made it a good week! oh yeah some exciting news! i'll be having my first baptism this dec 17th! we've been teaching this girl shes 26 and dating a RM so that helps a lot to. shes really progressing and has been coming to church and everything! its been really cool! the spirit is so strong everytime we teach her and she shows great faith! the koreans are planning on being baptized the 25th. but they have a hard time at church cause they cant really understand anything so they sometimes don't come which is beginning to be a problem! so i dont know there but ill keep you updated. oh man we had stake conference yesturday and Elder Maisulcha from the 70 came and spoke to us and holy cow it was amazing. it was about support from the leaders in helping reactivate and he told what was up and what was needed to hear. the spirit was way strong. haha he was way bold. i couldnt believe the stuff he was saying! he really reemed into the priesthood leaders and how we need to step it up. he's a way good speaker and i think it really fired up the people here. the philippines are great and im glad im here. i just feel so blessed its crazy! im going to try and send some pics home. but i love you guys and i thank you so much for your support! this is truly the lords work and we are all enlisted! remember that! love you family oh yeah i can call home anytime this month so when do you think? im thinking christmas or christmas eve let me know! Mahal kita Elder Machen