"Gotta Make It Happen!" 08/05/13

Thanks for such great emails! that really brightens my week! and it was a busy one let me tell ya haha. Well this was transfer week and it went super well. our prayers were answered and things went smooth. Dad you said it, sisters are flocking to the field, thats one thing we are working on with president is where to put them all! haha its quite the challenge cause theres only so many areas and to accommodate sisters makes it a little harder. its great to see the influx of missionaries though! each tranfer they get better and better. this last group was really impressive! they come more spiritual prepared! our work this week was tough but rewarding. Our family that was supposed to be getting baptized next week kinda took a 180. it was a heart breaker cause you come to love these people so much and to see them backpeddle is hard. They still want to be baptized so we extended another date for the end of the month and they are commited to do what it takes. Gotta make it happen! The Lord is really testing them and us with this trial and knowing that it will all work out to his plan is exciting! ive been working more on seeing things on what they can be and who people can become rather than what it or who they look like right in front of me. its a challenge but such a blessing. its true that the spirit puts in your heart what to say and how to say it! Keep the Missionary spirit alive pops! that goes for you too mama bear and karter! Theres nothing better! i love you so much and appreciated the package! and your letter mom! what a blessing you all are to me! i use our family quite a bit in our teaching, gives me a chance to share to others of what a family can be like when built on the gospel, thanks for letting me be able to say that! mahal ko kayo! i speak to all of you when i say you are the greatest blessing! its hard through email but i really want you to know how much i appreciate you and all you do for me! a lot of my companions dont have family support at all so thank you for keeping me going! lets make this last month the best and go out running! the desire to do this works burns deep in me! when ever im down or discourged ive learned to give myself this rallying cry. "Remember Him" ill share a quick experience we had earlier today. president called and a missionary had texted him saying he wanted to go home. we met with this elder and did our best to help him stay on the mission, had probably the most spiritual meeting with him. it was the hardest thing for me to have this elder say right to us, "i want to go home." his reason, he was tired and wanted to rest. you can imagine my feelings when he said that. i share that because i read a scripture today in my personal study D&C 88: 91. well that sure is true and thats been the hardest part about being where i am. seeing elders go home early. its never to hard to quit! the lord doesnt call quitters! keep the faith family! love, Elder Machen

"Where Does It Go!" 7/28/13

hey family! it was great to hear from you and to see that things are going great and you are growing your testimonies as well! i really appreciate the spiritual uplifting! Well this week was a super busy one and is just leading on to a even more busy one, a lot of good things happened though, we had missionary leadership council where all the zone leaders and sister leaders came here and we had a really good meeting, elder and i had the opportunity to give some training and it went really well! the spirit led and guided us to say what was needed! President gave a great training and is truly amazing how well he knows the scriptures and how he delivers. i wish you could see it. we had to do a lot of traveling this week so not a lot of time was spent in our own area. As far as our work went it was rough, our family that is getting close to their baptism kinda hit a bump in the road. they didnt make it to church and then when we went to teach them last night they werent home. its been a trial of their faith and ours. We know it will work out though and am not worrying about it to much. just gotta do what ya gotta do and the Lord will take care of the rest! this week is transfer week so we will be crammed for the next couple of days! this is my last transfer in the mission. its crazy. oh yeah they changed my flight, i will now be flying in on sept 11 instead of the 12th. Thanks for everything! i love you and hope you will have a great week! Remember Him! Love, Elder Machen

"The Example of Jesus Christ"

Haha looks like you had a great week! i really enjoyed your emails and thank you for that! its always a booster to keep going! This week flew by so fast i cant even believe it! haha they are just ticking by. Zone interviews went great this week! The spirit was strong and really helped us deliver our training, i absolutely love the opportunity to be able to give training to the whole mission. its been such a great blessing and a humbling experience. not only was that a really good experience our work that we were able to do this week was truly guided by the lord! Despite all the travel and time spent at the other zones we had a fruitful week here in urdaneta! We saw real progression in our investigators and them showing a real desire to come unto Christ. We saw the power of the Book of Mormon answer every question that they had, we felt the power of the Holy Ghost bear testimony to them that this message is true. We personal felt the Holy Ghost teach through us and felt we were instruments in the hand of the lord! Its a interesting thing coming to the end of a day and sitting back and realizing how incredible your day had been and its a humbling experience to know that it was nothing of what you did, it was all Him, it always has been and always will be, i hope we can always Remember that! The example of Jesus Christ has meant more to me now then ever before, he never took time to rest or relax, its easy to think after a long day of doing His work that we deserve a break or time to unwind, ive learned that really doesn't comply with His work. Its the most rewarded experience when you think you have done all you can but push through to do that much more and feel him carrying you along! I testify He is there, He knows us personally and expects us to honor him. Theres nothing i want to do more than that. I love you for all your support and love to keep me going! mahal kita nagmamahal, Elder Machen

07/14/13 " That Was Fast!"

It was sure good to read your great emails and sounds like you are all doing really well! I couldnt believe how fast this week went by! we were pretty busy this week, we had zone interviews so we accompanied president as he went around to the other zones and interviewed all the missionaries. We did that tue-fri so we will be starting again tomorrow until friday to finish up the last 4 zones. We had the opportunity to give training at every zone and it was a really great experience! it was interesting to see how the spirit worked at every zone and how different it turned out. ive learned it giving any type of training of lesson, whoever you are teaching they really play a big role in what the end result will be. some training we gave this week was really good because the zone was participating! others were ok but not as good. it was a great experience and Elder and i had a good time! i really enjoy being able to do that. Im also excited to see how this week will end up because we have four more to do. I sure have learned a lot working closely with president and it gets better everyday! Despite how busy we were, we still found time to go out and get some good work in. We have really been focusing on working with members and doing the best we can to incorporate them in every lesson. i testify that having a member present and a member that is a good friend for that person makes all the difference. yesterday we had a family show up that hasnt really been progressing at all and because this great family fellowshipped them they ended up coming to church and having a good experience! The same happened with this one family we are teaching that is getting close to their baptism. They still need to do more on their part but they are doing great considering the circumstances. The Lord continues to bless us out here, it has been the best experience to go from giving training in zone interviews to getting back to urdaneta and headed out to work and still see the hand of the Lord everywhere we go! I really am enjoying everyday out here and trying my best to fulfill these responsibility. I hope you are trying to look for missionary opportunities despite how busy you are. You'll be surprised how the Lord will prepare the way and nothing will be better then helping someone come to the knowledge of their Redeemer. I love you and thank you for everything! times flying! nagmamahal, Elder Machen

7/7/13 "Looking For Opportunities To Share The Gospel"

Oh man i totally forgot it was 4th of july this week! haha glad to see you had such a good time! Zion looked like a blast! its kinda funny you are asking about my travel plans, ive had my itinerary here for about a month now, i just forgot to tell you and plus i didnt want you getting to excited. i will arrive in Idaho Falls sept 12 about 2:45pm. you'll get it in the mail here in a few weeks probably in august. This week was a great one! we were able to do some exchanges and those are always a great learning experience! i was also able to go to the new zone alaminos, it was good and the missionaries were not to excited to change missions but now we are seeing them really stepping up and getting excited. We did a lot of driving this week and working with other missionaries. As far as work went in our area it was good, we have really been focusing on working strongly with the members, (idk if you saw the broadcast but it was great, you should probably watch it). We have been involving them more in the lessons and espically with our progressing investigators! They by the way are doing great!!!! they as a family came to church yesterday and they were fellowshipped very well and are very excited to become members! oh its been a goal of mine to get a family into the church and im praying that this one goes through! the dad is already a member but kind of less active so getting him back in crucial! I hope you as well are looking for opportunities to share the gospel and progress the work of our Heavenly Father, i know you can do it, just got to have that pray in our heart! i love you so very much and appreciate you love and suppport! thank you again for everything! mahal kita Elder Machen

6/30/13 " This Is A Blessing!"

Sounds like you guys had a great and adventureful week! is that a word? thank you for your emails! This week was really good! we got to give lots of training and running around so just a run down of our week on tuesday we went up to san fernando to the new mission office and helped the new assistents up there get settled in, that is a very long drive by the way haha, on wednesday we drove back up to baguio and had tri-zone meeting where president and sister said their goodbyes, the training we gave there was fun and super spiritual! then we had exchanges in baguio like you saw haha then we came back got to do some work in our area. We have a family right now that is really progresssing! they have made great progress and last night we gave them a baptismal date and they are now excited and preparing for august 10. we are very exciting for them! it was a neat lesson and we felt the spirit really strong! and today we just got back from a road trip with president over to the new zone we picked up in our mission, he drove us over there, it was a neat experience. we had a meeting over there. we are still working on juggling all our work in the area and all the other stuff haah but its amazing to see the Lords hand in everything we do, ill tell you im sure learning alot, alot about myself and i much i need to work on. this is a blessing in more ways then i ever thought! i love you guys and hope you have a great week! nagmamahal, Elder Machen

6/23/13 "The Most Hectic Week"

i sure do love getting your emails! sounds like you had a great week and some exciting things are coming up! oh where to even begin! this week for transfers was by far the most hectic week of my life, we were crunching hours in the office, getting things ready for the new missionaries and because the new transfer day, it was quite the task! on wednesday we woke up to a text from president that said the new missionaries were getting here early, 11am!!! haha we were expecting them at 6pm! so it was go go go go go! haha we were running all over the place, oh by the way i get to drive now, so we were running around getting stuff for their lunch and everything, then we get a text and about 10min away, so we run out to the car and by the time we got to the bus stop they were already getting off the bus, there were 27 of them, haha i wish you could have seen 27 fresh new missionaries with deer in the head lights look! haha we got there and start shaking their hands and getting there luggage and loading it up. haha it was pretty fun to see them and their excitment, this was a really good batch! i was impressed with them. they get better and more prepared every transfer! so this week we were juggling watching them, getting everything set for transfers which is crazy! haha i dont even know how we got it all done, honestly it was a miracle, after it all was over on friday elder and i couldnt believe what actually happened, it was a testimony builder! i wish i could better explain why it was such one or why the change was so big but it would take forever, ill explain later haha. other than all that this week was good, i got to speak in sacrament meeting and i like that, the ward here is so great and i feel really welcome here. oh yeah i forgot on tuesday we sent off all the missionaries that went home. its interesting to see what missionaries get out of their 2 years or 18months. this week we are crammed as well, on tuesday we are going all the way up to SFLU, its about 3 hours and we have to train the new assistents up there cause they are both new, then wednesday we are going to baguio for a tri-zone meeting, the last one. so that will be my last time going to baguio, im grateful i get to go though! then we have other exchanges to do. friday is new missionary training where all the new missionaries come back for a meeting and we will give some training there. should be an exciting week! just know that i love you and am so grateful for all your support and love you give me! ingat po kayo! mahal kita, Elder Machen