"Count Your Blessings"

Wow, i was really happy to get you letters this week! i am so excited for con man i'm just smiling right now haha, Well as you can see the title for this weeks letter is count your blessings. This week was a testimony builder to me of Heavenly Fathers hand in our work and helping us out! So we started off right on monday and it just sailed with us the whole week, it was a great blessing, i was blown away by the response of some of our investigators! We are teaching two investigators and their parents our members but la. they are kind of skeptical and have a lot of questions which is really great i love having investigators with lots of questions! anyways this week we asked her if she had prayed to know if what we were teaching was true, if Joseph smith was a true prophet and if the book of mormon was true, she said yeah i prayed about it, then she paused, i was on the edge of my seat!! she looked up and said "i believe it!" i appreciate the book of mormon, wow that moment was so powerful and i was speechless. i was just smiling and said yes it is, they even came to church this week! we had 7 investigators and 10 less actives at church it was a miracle, getting them to church is the hardest part but like i said Heavenly fathers hand was in our work and he really helped us out this week. Everyday things were just falling into place and it was a great experience to be a part of it! we also had great turn out with less actives and had some come to church for the 1st time in years! it was really amazing. this week i felt like i really learned to appreciate the time i have here in bauang and for my mission, there's nothing better than this in the whole world, knowing your helping people recieve the necessary ordinances and keep their commitments is a great feeling. This week was a great week and im just feeling good, me and my comp elder penaranda are getting along great and we have a good time everyday! i really appreciate your support and love, take care this week and always remember him in all you do! Mahal kita Elder Machen

"Priceless!"

Well family it warms me up here in the freezing cold philippines to know everything is going well there! hahaha. well what can i honestly say about this week, to put it simply and clearly it was the toughest week of my mission, maybe the toughest week of my life. so to start out we had exchanges with the zone leaders so i was finially able to get out of my area, the 1st time in 4 1/2 months haha, i was pumped well it ended up being a rough day, man we walked and walked and walked and got punted from every appointment, haha i guess that doesn't just happen in my area, anyways it was a long day, well the next day was transfer awareness were the AP's call the zone leaders to tell them whose getting transfered, i was so anxious to find out, i really really wanted to get transfered, i've been really struggling in the area and ready for a change, well the ap called and of course the zl's want to keep it a surprise so they didn't tell me but he hinted on i wasn't going anywhere, i was shocked. then later in the meeting we found out and i really wasn't getting transfered. i couldn't help but be annoyed and wondering why? well lets just say it went downhill fast from there, everyday we went to work people hiding from us, making up the most ridiculous excuses i've ever heard, walking away from us when we are trying to talk to them about the message, just everything, it was my worst week in bauang. i didn't understand, i was really struggling haha oh boy, but dad you said something to me last week about "how it is better to have holes in the knee of your pants then in the bottom of your shoes." well i'm a little slow and didn't catch onto that until about wednesday haha i was thinking about what you meant and it hit me, why am i trying to do this all by myself, why don't i call upon my Heavenly Father for help? well 1st off thanks pops, you have no idea how that simple phrase helped me get through this week. saturday and sunday ended up being better days and it was a week in my life that i think if i could describe it with one word it would be Priceless, Why? well here's a few things i learned from HIM this week. i learned i need to trust in the Lord more and learn to handle trials better, i learned 1st hand of God's love, quoting the Prophet Joseph Smith, "sometimes the Lord brings us lower before he can raise us higher." i learned to never give up, and He'll never give up on us. i learned that this work is more important than my selfish desires of wanting to be transfered, i learned a little bit of how to have my will swallowed up in the Lords will. i learned i am nothing without my Heavenly Father but with Him we make a great Team, He's the ultimate Coach and we are apart of His great team. i learned how powerful the Atonement is in helping us overcome ourselves, i learned I and my natural man am my own worst enemy but with the atonement can be controlled and overcome, i learned and gained a stronger testimony of how much we need the gospel in our lifes. it's almost helpless with out it. i can't express how grateful i am for this Challenging but Growing week. I love you family with all my heart and love hearing your are standing steadfast in Christ! Mahal Kita, Elder Machen

"Another Week in Bauang"

Well family im happy and im glad i hear everything is ok and i hope it continues to go well for you! this week was a fast one that just shot right on by, we were busy with traveling and the time just slipped right on by haha, well this week was another doozy, haha i'm really getting worn out haha i feel we are working our tails off and the work is just not moving, this week espicially, i swear we got punted at almost every appointment, people were either not home, busy and just not wanting to hear the gospel, i think i have heard every excuse in the book up to this point. something exciting this week was we got to go to baguio for zone conference and Elder Ardern came and spoke to us, he's part of the area presidency and so it was really neat to have him here and we learned a lot of new things and the spirit was just edifing, it was something i really needed and we left the meeting inspired to be better missionaries. this week we had a great lesson with brother willy and i thought we were going to get him to come to church but he didn't show, we're struggling with investigators in this area, have been since i got here, haha we talk to lots of people everyday and teach new people i think the elect are just really hiding from us haha, i really feel the lords hand in my life this week, He helped me hurdle those stumbling blocks and just keep pushing forward, this week on wednesday we find out whose getting transfered, well i'm not getting my hopes up cause president monahan does things differently than we are used to, so i don't think i'm leaving. oh shucks haha. well family i love you and thank you for all your support i'm feeling good and healthy so no worries there. just remember the lord in everything you do. mahal kita elder machen

"May Sakit Ako"

Well family thanks for your wonderful emails this week! it was truly a refreshener to read them and know that everything is going well there for you guys. well i'm sorry i don't have to much to say about this week, tuesday night i came down with a fever and wow it took me out, wednesday i was feeling terrible but i got a blessing and was feeling a lot better, went out in the afternoon for a lunch appointment and after that i had the good ole mimis and my fever shot back up to 101, i decided to still go out and work cause i hate sitting inside and ya i only lasted about 3 hours before having to come back cause i had a fever of 103, haha but a funny experience is i was in exchanges in another area and we were teaching this lesson and this old drunk guy comes in and completly ruins the lesson, it was ridiculous i was sitting in a bamboo chair and he come and sits next to me on the arm rest and ended up sliding down onto my lap, i was not a happy elder at this point, i think if i wasn't feeling so crappy it would have ended up different but i just sat there and answered his questions, it was a real doozy, anyways after that we ended up going home and then on thursday i was still feeling like crap and i broke out in this really bad rash, mom remember that time in rexburg when i had that one about 2 years ago, it was kinda like that so i took some benedryl and everybody here in the philippines thought i had the messels haha and then they all think they are doctors so i'm getting all this advice on what to do and trying to keep my eyes open from the benedryl, so lets just say we didn't get alot done this week, i absolutly hate staying in the apartment but i had no choice this week, i feeling a little better right now, just on some meds to get rid of the rash and it's pretty much gone, so sorry this week wasn't too exciting, things will be looking better this week, transfers are next week so hopefully i'm getting a new area. well family i love you and hope all goes well there. mahal kita Elder Machen

"The Book Is True"

Well family sounds like life is sure keeping you on your toes these days! glad to hear everything is fine and going well, sounds like everything is going pretty well and that helps me alot! well what can i say about this week...it was pretty good, mom don't worry i haven't said anything to you guys for the past couple weeks but i ended up getting staph infection on my foot haha, i had some gnarly sores that were spreading and not healing haha, well we got it taken care of and i've been on some antibiotics so things are looking good, haha so this week we have been lacking with investigators in this area and president monahan made it a new goal to get more new investigators and to add NI to our teaching pool. well that's what we did, along with teaching our less actives we got to work finding NI. it was a great experience, we worked our tails off this week and heavenly father really helped us out, this week went by so fast it was incredible! we had some ups and downs but thats apart of it, we went back to bro willy and found out his concern, he's worried about some of the lessons we taught him and of the commandments, we taught about how families can be together forever and he really liked that and the picture of the temple, so i'm excited to see if we can get him back, he didn't come to church but i'm not giving up on him, haha this week was a tough one on me for the fact that i have been here so long, don't get me wrong i absolutly love it but man it's taking a tole. prayer really helped me alot this week to lengthen my patience and endure well, my comp is doing well, we get along good and were just having fun and getting work done. yesterday we woke up early cause we were going to pick up some investigators to go to church and so we walk like probably a mile to get to there house and when we got there, the wife went to the market and brother wasnt feeling well. man to be honest i was ticked haha we committed them on friday and they were excited to go and they bailed, oh well what can you do, we had a good turn out of La's come to church so that was a good sign. oh and one cool experience we had this week is we were teaching these investigators about the BOM and i was testifing at the end of how the book had changed my life, one of the girls pipes up and says "how has it changed your life?" haha i just smiled and had the opportunity to bearing a neat testimony of how the book of mormon changed my life, and how when we read it we can find every question we have, it solves every problem and more importantly we come to know who our savior really is, family i have such a strong testimony about that book that i know it is true, the truth and divinity is shown on every page and we need to feast daily upon those pages, its a life changer. im so happy with the opportunity to teach, learn and grow everyday, thank you a ton for everything! have a great week and know that i love you. Elder Machen

"What Did You Learn From HIM ?"

Well family it's great to get your emails this week and i espicially needed them this week! thanks for sharing your testimonies and your love and concern for us over here. i was pumped to here about the football but sounds like it didn't end like expected haha. no worries you got a whole season to show them whats up! well for us over here in the pilipinas it was a...well what's the right word for this one, haha it was a real doozy, man i'll tell ya we worked hard this week, talked to tons of people, contacted LA's and taught some really good lessons, it was just one of those weeks that no matter what you did it always seemed to come up short haha. i can't say i'm sad about it or down in the dumps because that's just Life! just got push forward and work through the hard times and laugh through the good ones! if anything i should be super grateful for this week, Dad your question to me really impressed me, "what did you learn from Him this week?" it hit me, this morning as well as i was thinking of what to say today and what i learned, your question hit perfectly, i learned a lot of lessons i know i need to apply, he made it really clear to me this week of what i really need to improve on and how to be a better trainer and missionary. it was at sometimes hard to swallow and i think in this life i am blinded sometimes and am my own worst enemy but through his love and grace for us, he shows us our weaknesses to be better. this week tested my every whit but i feel i came away with a smile when it's all said and done. So yesterday, the floods and rain came and on sunday morning. well it was a little frusterating cause we had 5 la and no investigators. man a week spent and nothing came of it on sunday. man sometimes i get a little peeved when i hear people say they couldn't make it to church cause it was raining, holy cow you've lived here for 30+ years. it's just a little rain! haha they are a superstitious people that feel if they get wet they immediatly get sick. well we just have to build their faith so they can make it to church! i love the people with all my heart and love serving amongst them and that's why we are here. to invite them to come closer to Christ and build faith in him and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. it's a marvolous work and a wonder serving in such a wonder country and amongst such great people who teach me so much everyday! I love you guys and hope you have a great week, i couldnt be prouder and happier to have a family such as you giving me encourgement and support. thanks for all that you do, and please Remember Him. nagmamahal, Elder Machen