"Church Outside?"

it was great to get your letters this week! i was so excited to read them! haha this week went by way to fast and man it's good being in a new area! its re-freashing! haha ok so this week was goo, i've walked more than i ever have in my entire life and we did some good work this week! the area im in is small but big at the same time because it's so spread across! so we do a lot of walking cause sometimes transportation isn't around haha i think we calculated one day we walked around 10 miles haha. good thing we are both tall americans so we can pick up the pace haha. so this week i met some of the hardest headed people of my life haha. working with the less actives is something else sometimes cause they know the truth they just do as the scriptures say, "openly rebel against god" we did are best to help them realize the importance and we had spiritual powerful lessons this week, it was an eye opener to me of how much the spirit is there and i know they felt it as well. i learned alot this week from the book of mormon, something that really made me think, so of course i have a challenge for you! you need to read helaman. the whole book, and count how many times they use or reference the word HEART. it will be amazing to you and the things you'll learn! so next week let me know what you guys think of it and what you learn!, while you read think of these 3 questions, "who has my heart?" "where is my heart?" "what do i allow INTO my heart?" ok so some stuff that happened this week oh where to begin, well yesterday was a first for me, like i said earlier our area is so spread out that some people can't make it to church in the town so what they do is they have a thing called the "group" the 2nd counsler has this house that he built in a tree, it's the most impressive tree house i have ever seen! it's a 4 story tree house! well we go out there on sunday and about 20-30 people come to this group and we hold church service outside! haha it was way cool me and elder taught the primary, turns out i'm not so good with kids haha but we did our best and then we were the speakers in sacrament, there was this little poduim thing haha oh man it was way cool! it was amazing how strong the spirit dwelt there! it was a testimony builder to me that even though we didn't have a church inside a church building the spirit was there because these people know the importance of sacrament and want to worship there god. i've rarely felt the spirit so strong as i did there yesterday. the filipino people amaze me with their faith! we also were able to teach some new people this week that seem interested and i know the lord directed us to them, so i'm excited to see what's going to happen the next few days! well thats a short summary of a great week that we had, i wish i could say everything, everystory haha theres so much that goes on that i don't have time to mention. just know i am loving it and love you! nagmamahal elder machen

"Welcome to Rosales"

Well just like every week it was great to hear from you guys and its something that keep me going, well here on the other side of the world some exciting things happened! i finally got transfered! haha i never thought the day would come but here i am! im in a little area called santa maria, haha it's like the arm pit of the mission, they say it's one of the hottest zones and yeah im feeling it haha! I have to admit it was sad leaving bauang, that place felt like home, the night before transfers we had a curfew because it's a holiday here and some people from the branch came by and visited and brought us food, the bauang branch will always be a place i will never forget, i guess you could say that's one of the hardest parts of the mission is transferring but it's good at the same time cause i got a new responsibilitly here and a lot of work to do! so im in a ward now but its a lot smaller than the branch i just came from and we had a meeting with the stake president yesterday and we have to get the attendence up an average of 10 people by the new year so we have a lot of work to do here. i'm so excited to start going and i know we are going to be able to do great things here with the help of the lord, the leaders here are strong and have a great vision so...it's time to get to work! this week was good the past few days have flown past, just trying to get used to the area and things, its weird not being in an area where i know it inside and out but its a relief. i felt i grew this week and the lord was right there on long the way to help me. i'm excited to have gotten my 1st american companion! haha elder terry is a stud and just wants to work hard, so i know we are going to get work done here! he is dang good at the language considering how long he has been out, 3 months maybe. we have been getting along great and things are looking great! well that's a wrap up on my week over here! it flew by just as usual and i'm enjoying everyday! thanks for your love and support and know you are in my prayers! take care over there and remember Him in everything you do! mahal kita Elder Machen

"Small and Simple Things"

haha just as usual it was great to see how everybody is doing and im way pumped for all the great things that are happening there and here! well this week was a better one, we had some great things happen, nothing huge and extraordinary but man "by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass." so i was thinking earlier of what i was going to tell you, if i had any cool stories or experiences and....i drew a blank but then i decided to look a little deeper, well this week was great, i've learned out here that things just don't happen all at once, well as i was thinking about this week i thought about everybody we our teaching and the things that have been happening with them, so this week we have been seeing improvement, small improvement but it's still great! for example of course with the less actives they dont read, so when we followed up on their reading some had read and even consistently throughout the week! haha we had people bring out concerns where we can create a base off that and find out ways to help them more. we had LA's come to church i wasn't expecting and was exstactic about that(haha i can't spell). i think throughout my mission i've been looking more for the big exciting things to happen when all this little great things have been happening all the time! don't get me wrong we always expect the "big change of heart to happen" but it takes time. it looks like im getting out of Bauang, unless president pulls a fast one hahaha. but it's an area that i am so grateful to serve in and i know i have grown to what i needed to grow here. the branch is great, they treated me like family and it's been a good 8 months, i won't ever forget the things i learned here, because it was such a big part of my mission, haha it's a big stepping stone i'm taking, haha going to my 3rd area! well family i love ya and want you to know how much i love ya and you are in my prayers every night! this work is great! Mahal kita Elder Machen