"Where Did The Week Go"

Haha sounds like things are doing great back home with you guys, i hope karter gets feeling better! thanks again for the emails and pics! well this week was a good one and i can't complain, we saw some good things happen and the lord really helped us this week, it went by so fast i couldn't believe it. I spoke yesterday in sacrament meeting yesterday and it was a good experience, i like speaking, it's a lot harder in another language but the Lord is right there to help me along the way. the past few weeks i have really been cracking down on my language study, i just really want to learn it. my comp is probably getting annoyed with all my questions haha. so the work this week was good, our investigators just dont seem to want to take the step, they start to progress so much and we are so close and then something comes up and...boom, there gone. it's been a struggle for me in this area but im extremely grateful for the help we have had in the less active work! some weeks are really good and we get some great work done and others not so much, this week was right in the middle! haha we got some good work done but things were slow to progress, it's all in the process but some people are really starting to make the steps they need to. that's the best is when we see people that haven't read, prayed, or gone to church in a while and slowly they start doing all of it! it's a really great experience, i love being a part of this work and really realize how important it is! i read a lot out of alma this week and was really inspired especially with the stories about ammon and aaron, there are some great doctrine in that chapter that helped me alot this week. i'm pulling a blank right now, this week went by so fast and i can't remember anything that happened, haha i'm sorry for this letter i'm trying to remember what happened, it's a good thing i've been writing in my journal or i probably wouldn't remember lots of stuff. family i just want to bear you my testimony that i know with all my heart this church is true! Christ lives, he is our mediator and advocate with the father he can heal any of our problems. the book of mormon is the word of God and is one book that can tell us all things we need to know. continue onward with faith, have fun and get the work done, know that i am doing great and i'm having the time of my life! mahal kita Elder Machen

"The Bauang Missionary"

Wow thanks for all those great pics and the great news from all of you! it truly helps my week with all your support. Well this was a good week, for conference i felt like a little kid waiting on christmas to open his presents, haha i loved it! it was absolutly amazing! it's so hard to narrow it down to what my favorite was but i really like the talks from President Uchtdorf those ones hit home for me! What great messages we can learn from the apostles and our beloved prophet, i think me and elder taught so many lessons these last two weeks about follow the prophet we had it down haha. it was great. well this week for us was a pretty good one, i get jokes from other missionaries from around the mission that i am the official "Bauang Missionary"haha so this week again struggles with investigators haha man i love it when people hide from us haha i've just learned to laugh it off. People made up some good excuses not to listen to us this week but all is well, i realized i had been putting a ton of presure on myself for not having too much success with investigators when i was missing all the blessings we were recieving with the less active work, me being here so long has given me the opportunity to see people slowly, 8 months slowly changes their life, become closer to our Heavenly Father, one thing from conference this week that stuck out to me is how much they talked about being a disciple of Christ and how to become converted, well it's a life long process and these people are making the changes they need! wow i was struck back this week about all the great things that have happened over the last 8 months, truly blessings from the lord that i'm so grateful for! one scary but turned out ok story was this less active we have the Ladaga family have not been progressing for the past 8 months and i was getting tired of teaching them, we almost dropped them but we felt we shouldn't, well it's probably a good thing we didn't cause these week we went over there on tuesday and she opened up to us after the lesson and told us she almost committed suicide cause she can't take all the problems they have, i was shocked i couldn't believe it! luckly her husband got home just in time to stop her, she thanked us for the lessons and this family has been slowly coming back to church and reading the scriptures, this is a family of 7 that lives in a house smaller than my bedroom at home and barely has enough money to but a small amount of rice for their kids. well we told them if they are faithful in following the commandments they would be blessed, I testify God loves us and we are blessed through obedience, her kid won two huge bags of rice in a raffle at school!!! it was a miracle. they reconginzed the blessing and that helped sister out a lot, they still have a long way to go but are making the steps! This work we are doing is amazing and how grateful i am to be a part of it! i would encourage everybody to follow the prophets council and GO! it will be the best thing they ever do! well family you keep "staying Golden" know that i love you and am so proud to have a family as wonderful as you thank you! Mahal kita Elder Machen

"Don't You Ever Get Tired?"

Well we still have to wait another week before conference but it sounds like it was great and i'm way excited for that! Well this week was acually a pretty good one, still faced the same challenges and struggles of the area, maybe even more than past weeks but this week was different. This week me and my companion made a goal to have a better attitude about the work despite the challenges we have been facing, we have been having more sincere prayers and really relying on Christ for all things. President monahan gave a great message about being a disicple of Christ. he said to us, "Do you want to know the most important thing anyone will ever say to you?" Be a Disicple of Christ." that has great meaning behind it, research and study the scriptures behind it, it will help you a lot. so the title of my email is 'Don't you ever get tired?" that was the question elder asked me this week as we were walking down this road with the sun scorching, i kinda walk fast for his little legs and he gets worn out haha. one day this week we were chasing the time so i made us run to one appointment, not far but it was funny. yesterday was fast sunday so that was tough too. but these past few weeks i have really been thinking of why i'm here. what is my purpose and why it's important. the more i learn about the gospel the deeper the desire grows, think about it, we are teaching people how to have eternal life!!! i could expound but that's really it! it's great if you think about it, so i think that has been what's driving me to work hard, also i thought about my companions statement as a spiritual sense, we know life throws at us burdens of every kind and we get worn out physically and spiritually, well i think it's a lot worse if we get worn out spiritual, that's why we have to do the things that build us up to withstand the temptations. haha this week was brutle but we Chose to have a good one, we had a great turn out with la's and investigators at church, the lords tender mercies. it was just a good week and i love to be out here, thanks so much for your support and love from good ole idaho! Mahal kita Elder machen