"The Spirit of the Lord"

Well family i have to start out and saying this week was a good one! at first it felt like we were just climbing this mountian and everything and anything was getting in our way! and then on about thursday to sunday we made it to the top and started "skiing down" haha. oh man it was a real neat experience. me and my comp are doing a lot better now! i'm still working with him but he's coming out of his shell and we are really starting to enjoy the work together! so this week was fun because on tuesday we got to do a service project for this family. i finally got to use a machete!!! it was awesome! we went hacking away at this huge bamboo tree and cleared it out! it was awesome i felt like indiana jones or something with this big machete in my hand and hacking at this bamboo tree! it was a neat experience and something i love doing! service! anyways that was a good time and then our lessons this week were really good as well! our goal this week was just to really step it up and to work even harder! i was proud of my companion cause he stepped up as well and we got work done! Brother valle. the old man were we water plants is doing ok, his health his declining and he lives all by himself and so it's taking a tole on him but we keep going out there to cheer him up. we haven't been able to water as much because of the rain but we still find ways to help him. another really neat experience we had this week is probably about in our are lessons but this week my testimony was really strengthened on the gift of dicernment. it was amazing to be the instrument for the spirit and finding out these peoples concerns. so that was really cool and then we went to our investigator brother willy! he is a great old man and really progressing! it's great because his best friend is a less active member but still has a super strong testimony so we are trying to do the hit a two birds with one stone thing and so hopefully we can get both of them closer to Christ. so we went to his house and we always ask if we can help him in anyway and he said well elders yeah i think i could use a blessing. i was shocked and my heart was filled with joy as i heard him say that. it's great when they request it because it means they have great faith. it was a great experience giving him that blessing and humbling. anyways when we went to church yesterday i was kind of bummed cause he wasn't there and only a few of our LA's were there. but as the meeting started they just started flowing in! and it was great because there were some there that haven't been there in a really long time so it was amazing! then walked in Brother Willy! oh man again my heart was filled with joy as i saw him struggle to walk because of his disease. the man has amazing faith, it's not easy for him to come to church becaue of his sickness but he still does and it's amazing. so all in all this week was truly one lead by the Lord and it was a blessing to be a part of it. i love you guys so much and hope you continue to follow Christ and do what's expected! love you guys so much. This church is true and this work is the work of God, i love you all Elder Machen

"Walk With Faith"

Well howdy fam! i loved reading your emails and sounds like your doing great! this week flew by and it's hard to believe i'm already at the computer again. well this week was a challenging one. my companion is super shy and i can't get him to crack that shell. we also had a lot of traveling to do this week so it cut alot into our proselyting time. it's all right though we still got in some good work done. well rainy season has hit in the phillippines and it rained everyday this week! the rain here is crazy and we are only starting according to all the natives. they say it's gets even worse later on so that should be exciting! i actually like the rain cause it cools down and we aren't walking in a oven. haha but this week was good and filled with good adventures! some great things happened this week and it was neat to see! maybe it's just cause the gloomy weather but i swear all are LA's and investigators just had some big problems and we had to do are best to nourish them with the word of god and invite them to come closer to christ. a neat experience we had this week is we were teaching our investigator brother willy and we gave him a priesthood blessing after we taught about it and he was like "oh that's exactly what i need!" so he has great faith and he said he felt some improvement so that was really cool! it's just amazing to see the spirit of the lord work through us and the people we teach. we were able to meet some new LA's this week and it was good cause they were priesthood and that's exactly what we need in our branch! anyways sunday was kinda of a bummer cause we woke up and it was pouring outside and i immediatly thought to myself this is really going to test our LA's faith. when sacrament meeting started we had like 30 people there and by the time it ended we had like 50 maybe. so it was kind of a bummer not seeing some people that have really been progressing! but there are always days like that on the mission and we just have to push forward and keep enduring. i honestly think there was something the lord wanted me to learn this week and he set some trails in our path and really tested our endurance. i've learned it's times like those when you just think you can't do anymore and want to give up is the time that we need to stand tall by kneeling. then stand up and little taller and walk with faith and everything will be alright. it may be scary at times and we may be down in the dumps but Christ will always be there and we just have to trust in that. And always smile! haha that's at least what i try and do. just be happy. it took me awhile out here to learn that but it makes all the difference! i love you guys and want you to know that i honestly couldn't be happier right now! i love it here and i love this work! this is honestly a marvolous work and a wonder! hope you guys have a good week and enjoy! remember to always read and pray and be strong! i love you guys Elder Machen

"A Roller Coaster "

Well hello there family! man it sure looks like you guys are having a good time up there in bear lake! man i have to say i sure miss that! but i'm glad you guys are doing good and having fun! it's always good to have some fun sometimes! Karter you look like a stud bro! i loved the videos you sent me haha you are the man! keep up the good work bro! mom you look as good as ever and i was happy to see your smiling face! haha well now i know that i only have to miss one more haha. well to tell you about are week...it was some good one that sent us for a ride. we had some great success and we worked hard this week!! and it showed, the lord blessed us alot this week and we had a good number of LA's at church. so to tell you some things that happened. well we had this investigator and she was really progressing and we extended a baptismal commitment and she accecpted and we were really excited and so when we went over to teach here again we found out that we can't teach her anymore cause some crazy stuff went down with her family and so it's a no go. my heart like broke in half when i found that out but there's a purpose for everything. then our other investigator accepted the baptismal commitment also and we had a great lesson with him and we were so excited and turns out he has some big problems to and his sickness is getting worse. so he didn't make it to church and so we have to work through that and help this man. so it was a week full of times that i couldn't help but smile and some where i was just bummed. but all in all it was a great week. we had fun and got the work done. we were able to meet a lot of new people and lots of members that we havent met yet so that was exciting! we taught by the spirit and i know the people felt it! one sister we have been working with since the day i got here finally came to church for the 1st time yesterday and it was so coooool! this work is amazing and honestly i wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I love you guys and hope your doing well back home! just keep the faith and keep pushing foward! i came across a scripture that was really cool! actually what happened is we were in a lesson and i was just feeling like i needed to change what we had origianlly planned so i opened the book of mormon and it fell on this scripture, alma 37:36-37. it was perfect and she was like wow elders that's a really great scripture and it was exactly what she needed for that moment. stuff like that happens all the time and it's just a testimony builder to me that this work is true and it shows the power of the book of mormon. so read that verse and apply it! it will make the difference! i love you guys and hope the best for all you! i love this mission and i love the phillippines! Nagmamahal Elder Machen

Welcome to Buaung!!

Well fam it was great to talk to you and i was so excited haha sorry if i was a little abnoxious haha. well this was a good week and definitely an eye opener for me! man i feel the weight of my calling in training a new missionary and it's going to be a good ride! my comp is way good and i can tell he knows why he's out here! that's the good thing! he's a little shy and quiet but i can't blame him it's only his first week. it will be good. this week was a good one and the lord truly opened the windows of heaven and blessed us tremedously! it was amazing! yesterday at church our investigator came again! and it's great! his schedule is hard to find a good time but we stopped by real quick this week just to invite him to church and he came! man it's amazing! and we had a good number of our less actives show up which put a smile on my face! oh yeah i spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday, i actually like speaking in sacrament and it was a cool experience. i talked on "rescuing the one" and home and visiting teaching. haha i used the story of when my friend jake lockie got lost in jackson snowboarding and how ski patrol and the helicopter was there to help and how our job as members is to rescue and save the less actives just like the ski patrol. it was fun to relate a story into skiing and snow! and it fit perfectly and hopefully had a impact on the people. the spirit really took over and helped me speak! So this next week i really plan on turning up the heat and going to work and show my new companion how we do it here for the lord! this last week we worked hard still but it was alot of meeting to the members and stuff so this week it's going to be a good one! he's kind of quiet and still kind of in shock a little so that's the hardest part is just helping him enjoy. that's really what are mission president wants us to focus on is having the new missionaries enjoy. well for me the best part of the mission is the work so that's what we are going to do is work haha. have fun and get the work done! this work is amazing fam and hope you guys look for opportunities to share the gospel as well! thanks for all your support and everything! i love you so much and look forward to hearing about memorial day weekend! Mahal Kita Elder Machen

"Digging Deep Into Our Bag Of Plays"

well another week down and honestly looking back i don't know where time is going! haha and i don't really know what to say because i got to talk to you guys on saturday! oh man it was so good to hear your voices and it sounds like your doing great! and i am for sure calling back on wednesday to let you know what happened on transfers! should be exciting! i can't lie i'm a little nervous to train, ready for the opportunity! should be one good ride! well so i guess this week was good kind of slow because we had lots of oppointments with families in the branch and so that took up a lot of time but we still got in some successful lessons and had a great attendence at church yesterday! i was way excited to see some less actives and investigators so the lord is really blessing us! i want to share with you one thing i've learned or been really pondering in my studies this week. so i was reading in alma 22 about king lamoni and how when aaron teaches him and he says he will give up everything even his kingdom to recieve this great gift, which is eternal life! so i was pondering really hard on how to have that happen to myself and to some of our less actives because honestly it's a lot easier said then done. what does it really take to have that type of conversion where we really live the principles of the gospel, really put Christ first in our life. well.....i have some ideas but before that i want to hear from all of you! i want to hear your ideas of really how to have that happen! so this is my challenge to you. Prayfully read and ponder that story in alma and i want to hear your emails next week, i would greatly appreciate it! thanks. well since i don't really know what else to say i tell you about what we did earlier today for pday. so we woke up way early 5am! and went out to the beach and played football and rugby! Young men vs Elders! there was only 6 of us and like 11 of them and it was a real battle on the gridiron! haha it was way fun and we had some good times. maybe its just the competitive side of me but there was no way we were going to loose. we kind of do a kansas city playoff thing so if they don't score and we do we win and vice versa. so we held them on a goal line stand, we started driving down the field slowly but surely it was 4th down with about 10 yards to the 1st, (which is like the middle of the field haha) we had to get the 1st or it was a turnover. so we dug deep into our bag of plays haha and pulled out the ole statue of liberty mixed with a sketchy hook and ladder haha.........1st down elders! so we had about 25 yards to the endzone we ran a few plays that didn't work to well but got some well needed yards. again 4th down the game is on the line, i call a trips left with a slot on the right side. they defense was well spread..i hiked the ball looked off the two safeties with a pump fake left and hit the slot on the right on run for a touchdown!!! haha it was way funny and i have to admit since we have been playing football for the past few pdays there actually getting pretty good! we had some of the parents come say to us that the young men have been so excited to play football because it's a new sport and there having lots of fun with it! so its cool to have that experience. well family sorry this email is kinda lame haha but i just want to let you know i am doing great and enjoying this work so much! it's the best thing ever and im excited to talk to you again on wednesday! i love you guys! Elder Machen

"We Are Just The Instruments"

well howdy fam! oh man what a great week here in the philippines! truly one that i will never forget! still i can't believe how fast these weeks are flying by! it blows me away! so first off i'll give you details about the call next week because i can tell your a little excited! and i can't lie im way pumped! so we haven't gotten any news about the call but im planning on calling monday morning here so it will be sunday afternoon for you there. i think i'll call probably around 6,7,8 there haha im not completly sure but just be ready for it! and i'll probably call the house phone so hopefully we get things all worked out this time. Alright so on to this great week we had here. so first off we had exchanges with the zone leaders and that was a good experience and i learned a lot of good things there. then the next day back in our area and we went out to help water the old mans plants brother valle, i have come to love that man and it always puts a smile on my face when we go out there but this time he was having a little bit of a bad trip. i guess his TV broke this week and so he has been extremely bored and feeling bad for himself. he was a little upset but we did our best to comfort him and the coolest thing his he came to church like he does every week. every time we go out to his house he always says elders i don't know if i can come to church this week because i have no money, my wife died, i have no food, and my tv broke, but every week he comes and has been a great help fellowshipping one of our investigators that has really been progressing. So he is great and we do our best keeping his plants alive in this extreme heat. so on to our investigator brother willie. oh man what a amazing experience there! we went and saw him last week and asked how church was for him and he said he really enjoyed it and felt really welcome which was a great thing to hear. he said he didnt know if he would be able come to church because he had a appointment....but he came! i really hope he keeps progressing so he can get baptized! so on to the coolest part of my whole week! we had exchanges on friday and i was with another american. while we were planning the night before my comp told me to go to this area that i have only been to like once and start our work there because it is like a whole compound full of less actives. i was a little nervous because i only like 2 families there but i was excited for the challenge because it was going to test me and push me. so we started out there and it started out terrible i went to the family i knew and started asking if they knew these peoplet that we had planned for, they told us that none of these people where home and so i was a little worried. what are we supposed to do now? so i just started talking to people and finding new less actives and teaching, then some of the people ended up coming home and we ended up have great success over in that area. the spirit truly made me capable to do and say the things i needed to. it was amazing! then on to the coolest part of the whole week! we have these investigators and they are born again christians but are super nice to us and are willing to listen to what we have to say, well when we go there i don't say to much because it's all out of the bible and that's one of my weaknesses so when we had planned to go there i was nervous and kind of apprehensive to go but i prepared scriptures from the bible about the apostasy and sutff like that. They were confused about joseph smith and why he isn't in the bible, so we started off the lesson and the other american with me was kinda of struggling with tagalog and i was a little nervous of how this was going to turn out, so while he was talking i said a quick prayer in my heart that the spirit would take over and help us speak! Family, i want to bear testimony with all my heart that what happened in that lesson was 100% by the spirit. i couldn't believe what was happening when i started speaking, things that i have never thought of came out, things that i have never said before or been able to say before came out. i understood there questions and answered them with conviction, i was able to share scriptures from the bible that i never knew before but prepared earlier that day. the spirit took over and it was surreal. We walked out of that lesson and i looked at my comp and said so elder how was our lesson in there? he looked at me with wide eyes and said where did that come from? we were both shocked and surprised at what had just happened. it was the most neat experience sitting there and speaking and knowing deep inside that at that very moment i was an effective instrument in the hands of the lord. Family this work is amazing and unlike anything else. i've come to learn one of the great experiences here is feeling a prompting from the spirit and acting on it. i love this work and i love you guys! have a great week and i will talk to you guys next week!!!!! Mahal kita Elder Machen

"Christ Is There"

Hello family! i have to say sorry right now because i am at a loss of words! we got to come to baguio again for p day and get some things we need so it's been kind of stressfull and i can't even think of what went on this week haha. but i'll do my best. first off i'm really glad you enjoyed your birthday mom! i thought the sand would be a nice idea haha. i was worried you wouldn't get it cause sometimes it doesn't work but all is well! so this week went by so fast i can't even believe it! we are started week 4 of our this transfer! can you believe it already week 4!! i've only got 2 weeks left with my companion, it's been a great two transfers and he's heading home so we will see what next transfer brings. I do want to share with you my testimony this week of how much our heavenly father loves his children. i feel like i felt the saviors love for me and our area this week more then ever. just like every week there are some bumps and challenges and i was feeling the weight of the pressure and just felt worn out and kinda down in the dumps. well i probably prayed harder then i ever have and i testify that god is there and listens and answers to our prayers. it was amazing. the spirit was in our work and truly softened some of the hearts of the less actives and one experience that happened yesterday that almost brought me to tears. so yesterday was church and so earlier in the week we taught one of our investigators and he his an old man and has a slight case of parkinsins disease. it's not too bad yet and they have it under control sometimes but still it's hard for him to walk. so we were telling him about church and invited him to come. he said " well elders i dont know if i can make it because of my condition" and he went on to tell us about some of the problems he has with this disease and so he didn't think he was going to be able to make it. my companion and i were both prompted to tell him that nothing was impossible with God and that if he put is faith in him and come to church his condition would get better so he could come to church. it was a powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. well that was like on thursday and so when we got to church i couldn't believe what i saw. He was there!!!! and he was really early which is surprising here in the philippines haha. anyways words cannot describe the joy that i felt and i literally was "cheesin from cheek to cheek" oh and so i was sitting by him and we had a fellowshipper for him and it was amazing. i got called to bless the sacrament and i was just in awe at some of the less actives we saw at church! it was truly a amazing day and one that i will never forget! so i was praying so hard that this man would feel the spirit and just listen to some great talks haha well it was kinda funny because the talks were on "fasting" "tithing" and "patriatical blessings" haha i was just thinking oh man this poor man is probably so confused. then in sunday school the lesson was on family history and they showed a movie in straight english so who knows if anybody really understood hahaha. i did my best to try and explain to him what was going on haha but it was amazing experience and the lord really blessed us this week. I think one thing that i have really been learning the past couple weeks is to really rely on the lord and despite our challenges in life just to stay positive, smile, and be happy! i'm so grateful for this misison and there is no other place i would rather be! i love you guys so much and hope you have a enjoyable week! nagmamahal Elder Machen