"Here Comes The Flood"

Well family i love getting your letters and it just puts a smile on my face to know that you guys are walking steadfast in Christs footsteps, thanks you for all the support and the love! So to start off this week, well we got hit with a single 1 bagyo (storm). holy cow i have never seen rain like that in my entire life! it didn't matter if you had a umbrella or not you got soaked either way! haha we were walking through flood almost to the knee and it was like a river in some places. so that night tuesday night if i remember correctly we get a knock on our window about 3 am. it was our land lord telling us to move our stuff to the upstairs cause we might be getting flooded, so we woke up and moved some of the furniture upstairs, i walked outside to see and i was like What?! where's the flood hahaha, it was flooding in the street but not even close to our apartment, it was kind of funny but a lot of members got evcuated from their homes cause the river was really rising, but after a while it stopped and the water dropped super fast, i guess some of our neighbors got flooded bad but it never reached us so that was a blessing, we went to the church and visited the members that got hit and they were doing alright, we gave a blessing to a little girl and it was a really neat experience, lucky it really didn't effect our work and so that was good, and then after the big storm it's been sunny almost everyday and we get a little rain at night so it's all good nothing to worry about there, the lord is protecting us and i know he won't let anything happen to us that we can't handle. haha my comp is doing good, we do a lot of walking in our area and he complains i walk to fast and so he's usually 10 meters behind me and i have to tell him come on elder we got the Lords work to do! haha he's a trooper, behind the little complaints here and there we are getting along great and some great things are happening in our area, we have this tagalaba (the lady who washes our clothes) she's is the nicest person ever, nanay marissa, anyways she's acitve but her daughters aren't so much so we've been working with one and she's been coming alot but the one daughter usually would hide from us before and didn't like coming around at all, well we finally got to teach her and she came to church yesterday!! it's been the 1st time in years! wow it was really neat how the Lord is softening her heart and she's starting to feel the spirit again in her life! as for investigators we have this one lady who has come to church like 6 times and doing good but we can only teach her on sunday after church, we've been teaching the whole family but so far just the mom has been coming, we also have one brother cesar who is doing well, he read our reading assignments in the book of mormon so we are excited there, haha im just loving life and it's just a opportunity of a life time, as i look back at this year that has flown by i think, this isn't a sacrafice, this is a privledge i have been given, words cannot describe my gratitude for the things i have experienced and learned over this time, if i could say one thing i am most grateful for, it would be the testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He lives! He is our Advocate and Mediator, when we serve Him, we come to know Him, we know His will, His way, the only way. I love teaching about the atonement because it is the most wonderful thing and it does change lives. wow i only have 12 months to go. haha dad i remember you asking me if i have worn holes in the bottom of my shoes, well i can confirm that one haha there thrased, but i told my self i walked into the mtc with these shoes and i'm walking off the plane in these shoes haha, i love you family and am so grateful for your love and support, i see the changes in your letters and it just puts a smile on! Mahal Kita Elder Machen

"Welcome To Work"

well howdy fam! man thats so good to see those pics of you guys! i can't believe taylor is home that's crazy fast! you guys all look like your doing good! well this transfer period was really weird with the new mission pres, hardly anybody got transferred. in my zone theres 18 missionaries. only 2 got transferred my comp and the other trainee. it was crazy, we were all super shocked and so people are going super long in some of their areas but i think i still hold the record for the mission right now haha. well it was crazy on transfer day, i didn't get to see anybody cause hardly anybody was there but it's all good, i got my new comp, elder penaranda. he's a filipino from laguna or something like that haha. i'm not good with places. but yeah it's good, haha i'll have to break him in cause we have to walk a lot in our area and he's really not used to it haha, i was getting some complaints about feet hurting and getting wet because the rain haha i just laughed and said welcome to missionary work elder. i'm gonna work those shoes right off his feet haha. some great things are happening in our area and i'm just having the time of my life, Heavenly father is really testing me right now with being here so long and with training again, but i'm up for the challenge, just gotta go to work, that's the secret! so that's really what happened this week, it was kind of slow because of all the traveling and stuff but we still were able to get some good work in and had a great attendence at church yesterday so we were excited about that! well i love you fam and hope everything is going great for you this week! Mahal kita! Elder Machen

"Can You Say 8 Months!"

well family i can't help but just smile while reading your emails! they're great! you guys are a inspiration to me! Well usually when you train a new missionary the program lasts 12 weeks and then the trainer gets transferred. well i got a unusually call from the AP's. and my training period just went from 12 weeks to 24. yep i'm training again and staying here. i was shocked i honestly couldn't believe it! so the 1st thing that pops in my head was no way am i going 8 months in bauang. i'll probably get transferred and open an area. well i went down to urdenata to the mission home this week for the train the trainers meeting and president made it pretty clear that i wasn't going anywhere till october. so at 1st i was like sayang! i was pumped to get transferred and i'm not going anywhere. but then heavenly father made things pretty clear that i was still supposed to be in this area. we had a neat experience this last week that just got me really exciting. so it was late about 8pm and pouring rain but i thought we would try and get in another lesson, so as we were walking past this car wash place this guy yelled at me and said something in really broken english that i couldn't understand and so i walk over to him and told him i know how to speak tagalog and he just started going off. he started telling us that he really wanted to change his life around and come closer to christ. he was drunk at this time so i was like this is just another drunk guy and wasn't about to really listen but the spirit told me to just hear him out so he's just doing off and saying sorry i'm drunk right now. and then he started asking us questions and his big question which was perfect was he wants to know why he's here and what's his purpose. i was like YES! plan of salvation and we gave him a book of mormon and scheduled an appointment with him when he's not drunk and will answer all his questions. it was just a experience that heavenly father has been preparing this kid (he's 21) for His message and it was just so awesome! this week was good. we had a good turn out for LA's at church and i was excited, we just need to work more with investigators and that's been the hard part in our area but we just keep working hard! i love you guys and next week i'll send pics home of my new comp and all that jazz haha. thanks so much for bearing your testimonies to me, i love hearing others because it strengthens mine so much. Until next week i love you and remember, "stay pogi" haha have fun and get the work done! Mahal kita Elder Machen