"Here Comes The Rain!"

haha i laughed when i got on email today i forgot it was memorial weekend, i was like "What?!" it was memorial this week? hmm forgot about that, at least ill be there for next year! looks like you guys are having fun! well this week was a good one! cant complain, Elder T got kind of sick this week so it was a little slower paced but we still got some good work done none the less. Things are really going great here! our investigator passed her interview this week! so june 1 is her big day, her story is a good one! things with the zone are going good, we will be apart of urdaneta mission thankfully! im still healthy and doing well. the weather is getting cooler with the rain coming, i like the rainy season, its nice to cool off, but its twice as hot when the sun comes back out! we saw some great progresssion with some of our LA's. its amazing how the spirit works on someone, we had one lesson where the guy wouldnt come out and talk to us, finally his wife convinced him to come out, he came and by the end of the lesson he was tearing up and telling us how he needs to change, i was amazing, we will keep up on him, i felt my testimony grow this week! i love this gospel with all my heart! its amazing, i hope you guys have a good week! mahal ko po kayo! Elder Machen

"Get Out Of Our Way!"

sounds like you had a great week and im sure glad to hear that brey did good on his talk, hes always been good at that! tell him hi for me! things here in the pilipinas are really taking off and elder tapusoa and i are having the best time! work everyday is a blast because we have established a good teaching pattern and its just to fun to teach with someone that you can trust and know that he'll have your back, we saw great things happen this week with people really progressing, from the time we got to their home and by the time we left we saw the change in there countance and it payed off on sunday when they came to church! i think this week we really Got Out of the Way of the spirit and let him got to work! it was exciting to see the things that happened, we have people that are getting ready for baptism and its all because of the spirit! this was probably one of the most spiritual weeks of my mission cause everyday we just felt him preparing us for things we needed to do. Thanks for all your great emails! have a great week and remember to GET OUT OF THE WAY! haha love ya Elder Machen

"Oh Yeah!"

Well first off you guys sound great and sounds like you had a good week! it already feels like forever since i talked to you guys ahaha but i needed that so thank you, well youll never believe who my new companion is!!!! ELDER TAPUSOA! haha oh man i was kind of nervous on friday but when the aps called us to be companions we were so pumped and president kind of laughed cause we were still trying to be dignified but could barely keep in our excitment haha. oh man its been a great couple days! we have been busy and getting everything we can done, saturday we had a baptism and that was super spiritual and sister gave a powerful testimony how after 27 years she has finally found the truth and we showed up right in her darkest hour. i testify Heavenly Father knows and loves everyone of us and is aware of our situation, cause he blessed that investigator of ours and wow, what a powerful conversion process for her. it was a miracle! we had a good day at church yesterday and we have some prgressing investigators, we are very excited about that! We got some good new elders and one sister into the zone and just finished with zone study, it was good and we are excited for this transfer! haha its kind of funny im the only white kid in the zone. This week was hectic but alot of answered prayers and blessings happened this week so it was great. im really loving time right now and its crazy how fast its going by, espically now being with elder tapusoa we cant believe that after how many months we are companions! We are seeing a lot of good things happening in our area and it really gets us excited about the work! Happy Mothers Day mama bear! i sure do love ya! and of course pops and karter i love you guys to haha. you have a great week! mahal ko po kayo! Elder Machen

"Go Go Go" 5/5/13

well it was good to see all the pics and things haha i cant believe kody got married! hahaah im super happy for him! everybody looks like they are doing good and i hardly regonized dad with glasses what a stud! mom thats awesome you finished school! way to go ok so this week was nuts haha it was super fun though, so tuesday we had a meeting with the district leaders and then district meeting, wednesday we had a zone conference and a member from the 70 came, we had a meeting with him and the zone leaders and that was really neat and we learned a lot, zone conference was amazing and i wish you could have been there, the talks and workshops were inspiring and really made the day, thursday was a normal day but we did a lot of planning to get ready for this week cause its transfer week, friday is when it got really crazy! so we had zone leader conference in urdaneta with elder neilson of the 70 and president monahan, that afternoon we were out working before we had to travel and president calls my companion to be the new AP, haha he was pretty nervous but super deserving of it, president also told him he had to pack all his bags and be in urdaneta before 4 haha we were booking it home! we packed his bags and headed down there, the meeting was super good and we learned some good leadership skills, that night because the meeting got over late we slept in the APs house with all the zone leaders, haha it was way fun, so until next friday i have no companion, im in a 3 some right now with 2 other elders, one of which goes home tomorrow morning, so this week i have to get some much stuff done and plan workshops and what not, should be interesting haha, saturday night our investigator passed the baptismal interview so she will be be baptized next week, things are really going good in our area and im enjoying it! i guess ill call ya whenever haha im still not sure cause i was hoping you would give me a day when your all there, i guess ill call probably this week, lets go for...tomorrow morning for me so for you tomorrow night, ill probably call for like 5 min at first to make sure your all there if not re-schedule, haha i was thinking maybe next week after transfer day but i dont know if i can wait hahah, love you guys and talk to you soon! Elder Machen

"Get Back Up" 4/29/13

well thats awesome you guys had a good week but i bet mine was better haha joke lang. this week was great. man ill tell ya it was a big learning experience and im grateful for that, things went well and the days just click right on by, my comp and i really learned a lot this week and grew as missionaries. as far as zone stuff went it wasnt to busy, we finished exchanges for the transfer on tuesday so we just focused on our area. it was good cause things are just falling together, everyweek just blows me away the people heavenly father is preparing here is exciting! We have some investigators that are super dedicated to becoming closer to our Heavenly Father! Sis.Ester will be baptized this coming May 11, it has been such a blessing to be the missionary to teach her because she was truly prepared! she progressed so fast and keeps all the commitments, we also have had success with the LA's, The branch is really getting behind us and stepping up to the plate to push the work forward! I've learned some priceless lessons from working so much with the la's, if anything always remember "the lord does not count how many times we fall or fail, he only counts how many times we get back up and face our trials with hope and faith in Him." that quote came from my comp as we were teaching a lesson and it was what i needed to hear also just at that time. This week i really tried to focus on building up my testimony and coming to each lesson with the power and authority to bear testimony of our Savior and his plan. The Spirit really helped me out there and elder and i saw the affect of our teaching in the lives of others. Teaching with unity or just being united in general is something that we all need and makes all the difference! Family im having the time of my life and am very excited to call you this month, we can call or skype any day in between may 6- may20. you guys tell me next week when you would like me to call, i think ill just call cause skype might be a hastly and probably pretty choopy. love you guys so much! Elder Machen

"Gracious Blessings" 4/21/13

MOM! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! haha the big 34 eh? haha i hope you have a great birthday and things go great for you! I dont even know where to start with this week, it was full of gracious blesssings from our Heavenly Father and i am almost speechless as i look back and realized how blest we are here in calasiao! The Lord was with us this week and we saw great things happen. this week we met a lot of less actives and ill tell ya they were pretty less active! we were grateful for the help of the members to show us where they live to we could teach them and this week we taught this one family just one time and im pretty sure when we 1st got there the dad had just woken up from a nice hangover, cause he was still pretty out of it, the spirit taught a great lesson and he was touched along with his wife and 20yr old son that wanted nothing to do with us, on sunday my companion said "elder look whos here" i was shocked when i saw them sitting on the back bench and couldnt help but smile! another less active family came along with the father that hasnt been in a very long time, not only did success happen with less actives, it happened as well with investigators! we are getting close with one of our investigators, she is continue to do great and progress! i am so grateful for this week and everything that has happened, this truly is the work of the lord and i am so blessed to be a part of it! thanks for all your support and love. Ingat po kayo palagi! Elder Machen

"Always Put HIM First!" 4/14/13

Well it was great to read your emails and i really appreciate the advice and support, you guys are great! well this week was busy as ever and we did a lot of traveling and had some nice exchanges with other elders! thats always a good experience cause you learn a ton from the other missionaries and get to see different areas and people. even though we were running with our heads cut off haha we got a lot of good solid work in and that was nice, thats deffiently the best part of the mission! the work! haha we have been so blessed to see the hand of the lord in this area and zone, oh i wish i could give it the description it deserves, we have been blown away with all that has been happening! people coming out of the wood works, the branch really backing us and helping find and teach, and truly prepared people that are searching for the truth! oh its excited and keeps us on our toes, nightly planning really has a new meaning haha. we do a lot of planning for all the meeting with the zone and our new area and for the branch, its exciting and exhausting! we never have a problem sleeping at night, i think about 3 times this week i fell asleep on my knees and woke up in the middle of the night super confused why i wasnt in bed, my companion was laughing at me one morning cause i had fallen asleep in companionship prayer and didnt say amen, and i was down there awhile, haha i love every part of the mission, its a ride of a life time! i was like a little kid in a candy shop on conference day, oh we it was better then christmas morning haha. lots of answered prayers from our living prophet and apostles. it was a great week and im just happy, i love you all and really appreciate the support! keep doing whats right and always put him first! mahal ko po kayo! Elder Machen

"Go Lang nang Go! 4/7/13

Oh i cant tell you how grateful i am for such a great and supportive family! you guys are great! This week was nuts! we were running around crazy trying to get everything done! haha dad you called it, i havent been this busy my whole mission, tuesday we had to move 4 of the sisters in their new apartment and that took the whole day haha we didnt get home tell about 10, and we had meetings to plan and workshops to do, we had zone interviews on thursday and so we had to get everything ready for that and that turned out to be really good, i sure do love president monahan and had a great interview with him, he's made such a big impact on my life and my mission. also since we are opening a zone and area we are still trying to get our area down and friday we went with one of the district leaders to find out where everybody lives haha lots of traveling! with all that we found little time to get some good work in our area but we are really focusing on getting to know the leaders of the branch so that turned out to be good, the branch is great and really supportive. its a pretty big adjustment then what i am used to but its a good challenge and we deffeintly have one of the best zones in the whole mission! we just got done with zone study earlier today and it was spiritual powerful and full of good times and laughs, like my title go lang nang go! thats my companion and i's motto which translated into english is "just go!" haha we have a good time. your emails where really uplifting and i sure appreciate that! just know i am doing great and just trying to do my best! love you! Elder Machen

"Welcome to the Calasiao Zone" 3/31/13

Well family as always is was so great to hear from you and get those great emails, it was inspiring! thank you for your testimonies, it sure does strengthen mine! well this was a exciting week and humbling week, i got transfered, its kinda funny you guys alread found that out haha, so my companion is elder Millevo and we are opening are area and opening the newly created calasiao zone. meaning we are both new to our area and we are the first zone leaders to open the new zone, because of all the new missionaries that came in 31 i think, they created a new zone. oh man we have been so busy with everything is been crazy! neither of us know the area or the area of the other missionaries! so we work close with the district leaders to find are way around. its pretty exciting! getting lost happens frequently haha nothing talking and asking cant fix, we usually just laugh it off and keep working. we had a great welcome to the ward, by being called to speak on the spot haha not a bad way to start off in a new area, the branch is on the ball and we are excited to work with them! we are over about 14 missionaries and they are great! its a humbling and great learning experience and i really appreciate the support from you! i love you and should have more to say next week! mahal ko po kayo! Elder Machen