"Sayang!"

Well family thanks for all the birthday wishes! haha the big 20! wow crazy haha. sounds like you had a great week and things are still going good for you! that's great amanda and zach had a good wedding, i'm happy for them! the pics were cool and looks like it was a good time! well this week was a real doozy haha. but one that tested me in every way and i have to say i love those weeks. this week was good and tough at the same time, i was praying for a opportunity to help me know my weaknesses and things i need to improve on. i think i sometimes get blinded and i knew if i was going to leave this area better then i found it i needed to improve myself. so this week was a humbling one, haha the Lord answers our prayers and he really helped me know what i need to work on! i'll put it simply, it was humbling. just like joseph smith says, "the lord sometimes brings us low, before he can raise us higher." well that's what my weak was like, the 1st couple days i was just like wow, what just happened. haha He made it very simple and clear and i did my best to improve my weaknesses to become a better missionary. by the end of the weak i noticed the difference and know i still have a long way to go but am grateful for the opportunity that our heavenly father gave me,. well you asked about bro willy, that was the real doozy of this week, we usually go over to his house wednesday and saturday. well he was gone on wednesday which was weird and on saturday we caught him just when he got home. he said come in i have something to tell you guys, my heart immediatly sank because i knew it wasn't good. we get in there and he says, this week has been really hard for me elders, my daughter got sick and my disease seems to be getting worse and i've been thinking alot about my baptizm and so much i can't even sleep at night,.i'm sorry but i would like to take a break from our meetings, it just seems ever since you've been coming over my life has gotten worse, i was shocked! i was just like no, no, no i don't want to loose him. we just sat there and he talked for about 30 min and i just waited for the spririt to give me what to say. i said to him brother willy i'm sorry you had such a bad week, sometimes that's just life and we don't know all the reasons behind it, but i promise you that it is not because of this, we are not giving up on you brother willy, because we love you and know if you do these things you will be blessed and this gospel is what's going to help you through these rough times. he just starred at the ground and looked at me and said well if you guys would research my disease i think you would understand better! that's how you can help me research it. i looked at him, i couldn't believe i actually said this but i said well brother willy if you will actually do what we've been saying i think you'll understand this and you'll find this out for yourselve and experience more joy then ever before. it was a sad experience and really tested my faith, we've got to help him through this, i still have faith he can do it! i learned a lot this week and really that Heavenly Father works in many ways and it's always for our good. Despite some of the let downs this is a week i will be grateful for because i know i learned and went through things i needed to, to help me become better, i love you guys so much and since it is my birthday tomorrow i want to ask for one thing, its not a temporal thing but a spiritual thing, i want you all Dad. MOM, and karter to bear your testimonies on this upcoming fast sunday. what a great opportunity to strenghten your own as well as others. mom i want you to know you are in my prayers and i know with all my heart heavenly father will give you the strength to get up in front and bear your powerful testimony. this is the only thing i want for my birthday this year, is to get on email next pday and hear that you all did it! i know you can do it and remember the promise. thanks again for all your support and i love you so much, Elder Machen haha funny story real fast. so we were walking to our appointment and there was this american guy about 28 and he was nice guy. so i was like cool i get to speak english to him, well haha my english failed me i asked him in pure filipino english, so can i ask where from you? he looked at me funny and said washington state, haha i didnt even realize i said it, we walk inside this house and i heard him say, how long has that kid been here? he has a filipino accent. haha i was like what? so after the lesson he askes me so how long you been here i was like just about 10 months. he was like haha you have a filipino accent, i didn't believe him at first and we were laughing about it and he was like no seriously. haha we talked a little more. it was funny. yeah my english isn't too good anymore which is weird cause theres 2 other americans in our house. haha crazy

"Go The Extra Mile"

Well family it's great to hear things are going well for you over there and i love reading your emails and seeing the growth! Oh man this week was absolutley amazing! where do i even begin! well lets just say i really think Heavenly father was testing our diligence this week because nothing came easy! oh let me tell ya the rain has stopped, temperature rising, and the blazing philippines sun did not let up this week. Everyday we were just out there and i remember thinking holy cow i've never felt anything like this is my life! but it's also amazing to see the lord helping us along the way and you end up not even really noticing how hot it really is. but this week was the definition of "have fun and get the work done" because we were blessed and got work done! i've never had a week like it! usually the days are good, we get a good amount of lessons in and nothing is to difficult, but this week we had to work extra hard for our lessons. we got punted, people weren't home or either super busy and had no time, somedays i just looked around and thought what should we do know. WORK! and that's exactly what we did, but it's just like the success aaron and ammon have in the book of mormon, it is all because of the blessings of heavenly father, i realized it's really him doing most the work, we our just the instruments that bring the spirit. so we show up to church yesterday and i was shocked! we had 19 Less actives at church and 2 investigators! WOW, truly tender mercies of the lord. my heart beemed with joy when i saw some LA's show up for the 1st time in my 5 month stay here. this week i learned lots of life lessons and just goes to show hard work pays off, i couldn't do this mission without the help and love of our Heavenly Father, because this week i gained the testimony of when your tired, sweat dripping from you face, legs hurt way bad cause you've walked about 5 miles and you just want to sit down and give up, and if you "Go the Extra Mile, you will get the Extra Blessings" it's the greatest feeling ever knowing everyday we get to wake up and do missionary work, it's truly life changing and something i love! this week was truly one to remember and just one that i am so grateful for! i love you guys and hope you are all doing well, it's amazing 11 months already down, wow. i've still got a lot of work to do and truly looking forward to it! I love you guys and just remember "Pray Hard, Study Hard, Work Hard" and reap the blessings. Mahal Kita Elder Machen

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Kamusta kayo! sounded like you guys had a great week! wow that's awesome you got to go to elder frandsens farewell sounds like it was good! he had a huge impact on me out here so that's neat. karter i hope you enjoy the belt! i thought you would like it! it's kinda cool because this is the only place in the world you can get them so wear it proudly! haha your guys emails inspired me this week and i couldn't help but just smile and think of how much i love you guys. well this week was crazy! i felt like we were traveling all over the place and it just cruised right on by! so tuesday we went down to zone gathering in agoo which is about 45-1 hour away and were down there for a while and then on friday we got to go to baguio and met the new president. wow is all i have to say! the guy is truly called of God and he got a fire in him that is contageous. he is probably one of the smartest people i've ever met! it was a really neat experience and i think he will be great for the mission! well besides all the busyness in traveling this week was a trying one, i really felt the lord wanted me to learn something this week cause it was rough haha. still not enough to get the spirits down, no way haha. but still there were times it just felt we were doing the best we could and nothing was happening, the traveling kind of threw off our regular schedule but still it was a trying one. But despite it all it just amazes me how much the spirit is with us in the work. sometimes this week i would come home just kind of down and just thinking what i need to do better and trying not to get down on myself, but that's exactly when the spirit comes in and comforts me and just lets me know that when we are doing the best we can everything is ok. so it was a good week with a lot of learning experiences. i just think everyday of how blessed i am to be out here and meet and teach the people that i do, what a blessing! well for bro. willy i didn't get to see him this week because we had exchanges the day we go to him and then his wife came home from hong kong so he wasn't able to come to church. he's kinda stressed about his baptism and asked to extend it so that's a little hick up we have to help him with and i just i hope we can before i get transferred. but we are doing all we can to help him and i know the Lord will bless him accordingly so all is well. so yeah this week was one that i will be thankful for, for the trials i had to go through to learn and become stronger. Heavenly Father knows us and his plan is perfect! i love you guys and hope you continue to trust in the lord in all things! sending much love from the Philippines. Elder Machen

"When We Stand In God's Promise"

Well howdy there family! yes i still have my country lingoo! haha anyways sounds like you guys are busy and having fun! i'm glad dads getting better and hope everything works out there! hope karter had a good birthday! crazy it's already getting to the 4th! man i'm not going to lie though sounds like since i left the family outtings just havn't been the same haha. oh well hope you guys still have a good time! well honestly this week was amazing! everyday just going out and getting work done, as well (of course) having fun! the lord blessed us this week tremendously! everyday we just laughed and taught spirit inspired lessons! my comp is doing great and it's been really fun the last few days! he started cracking jokes and it's made a big difference in our work! oh yeah before i forget, i'm not getting transfered so that means 6 months in this area haha, it's all good though cause i absoultely love this area! it's just crazy to think i'm coming up on a year and am only in my 2nd area but im excited cause i get to see these people keep progressing and i have come to love them so much! so yesterday was fast sunday and i've never seen so many people at church! we were asked to bless the sacrament so we were up on the stand and i just couldn't believe it! our less actives were walking in and some that i haven't seen there since i got here so it was incredible! then back to bro.willy, so we went to his house and he was super stressed about his baptismal date on the 14th cause he has a ton going on that week and so asked if he could move it back, and he really asked us to look up parkinsons disease because i guess it's a lot worse then we ever thought, he can only be out of the house for a few hours, maybe 1 or 2. so my heart was just breaking when i heard him saying this stuff because he's really struggling so we shared 1 nephi 3:7 and just tried to comfort him and i honestly thought he wasn't going to come to church or anything cause of how bad he made it sound but.....right before sacrament started guess who walks in? Bro Willy! oh my goodness i can't describe the amazing feeling that came over me, it just goes to show that God answers prayers and prepares a way for us to accomplish his commandments! this week was just amazing and i just love it here! and one thing i wanted to share was yesterday our branch mission leader bro. jeff was called to be branch president. he's 24 haha. he his such a stud and he said something really cool yesterday that i liked, "when we stand in God's promise, He will always remain Faithful." remember that and live by it. sometimes we may think that we are forgotten or alone but when we are always doing what he askes of us, he will always be faithful to us. Family i love ya to death and hope you have a great week! things couldn't be better here! love you! Elder Machen