Transfers!... and I'm a ZONE LEADER!

Well, it's official. After 9 months in Santiago City, my second area, I am transferred. This past week has been kind of hard. Actually, packing up Tuesday, I felt like I was leaving home, again. It was hard to leave the place that I have come to love so much.  We spent a lot of time with all of the families that we have grown close with, and I miss them so very much! It is so hard. 

And come wednesday, we woke up at 5 a.m in order to be to the Transfer point. I didn't know where I was going, but I had received a call the night before from President Rahlf, and he told me that I was called to be a zone leader. When we got to the transfer point, we unloaded, and the list was read... "Elder Walstad, going to Bambang Zone, and your new companion is Elder Tadeo." I was excited, but nervous!

I do have to say... I really miss Elder Valdez right now.  I really enjoyed training him, and becoming really good friends with him.  That is definitely a life-long friendship! Gonna miss him, but he is gonna be such a great leader in this mission! 

So, arriving here in Bambang, it is SO much cooler here.  And Elder Tadeo is awesome :) I am really enjoying this companionship.  He actually goes home this cycle, so he is teaching me the area, and then he is no more! So I am taking advantage of the SHORT time I have to learn from him.  Also - our apartment is SOOO nice. It is, I think, the nicest apartment in the whole mission! And on top of that, we have Aircon! :D WOOO!!!!! It's so fantastic! It's a huge blessing ;) hehe. gotta love the cold!

(My new apartment...Love the air conditioning!)

So this past week, I have really felt the spirit working in me, and really helping me grow and learn. I have really been taking leaps and bounds in my teaching and language abilities. It is so amazing! I feel that I am being blessed right now, and I am able to remember our area (for the most part..) haha. Also - Elder Tadeo and I work really well together! When we teach, it's super fluid, and we support each other super well. It's super cool.  When we teach, I really feel the spirit testifying to the people. 

SO all in all, Astig talaga ang area ko ngayon! (My area is awesome right now!) Kailangan ko maging masipag, para alam ko ang buong area namin. (I need to work hard so that I can know our whole area.) Yeah! :D Hehe. Rough translation, anyways. 

Well, I hope that you all had fantastic weeks, full of awesomeness and wonderfulness... ^.^

Love you all

Stay TRUE! :D

Elder Walstad

My last week in Santiago City..

So this week has been emotional for sure.  Being here for 9 months, I have really come to love all the people here, and I would be totally fine serving here for the rest of my mission ;) haha; but I know that isn't part of the deal.. which it's all good! I am definitely going to be coming back though. I love the people here so much, and I have learned so much - I will always love this place ^.^

We had a baptism this last week, for Pheomela.  She is a 12 year old girl, and it turned out being quite successful. I'm happy that it went through, and that we were able to have a successful program.  I could really see a difference in her countenance afterwards. I just hope and pray that she will stay active in the church, and find a personal desire to go to church and participate in activities. 

(Pheomela Baptism)

We taught one lesson this week - to the Vicencio family - who is my favorite family btw... ^.^ And the spirit was super strong! I could really feel the spirit testifying not only to me, but to them, that what we were talking about was true.  We talked about the second coming, and that we need to be prepared, and be aware of what the signs are, but that if we are prepared, we don't have a reason to fear, because we know that everything will work out how it's supposed to.. When we accept the will of the Lord, all other things fall into proper place.

I am also super grateful for the Book of Mormon, and I'm so grateful for the ability it has to change lives in ways that, probably, wouldn't happen otherwise.  There is a power with the Book of Mormon that we should all be taking advantage of every day! And when we do that, we will see a big difference in our lives. :)

I'm so grateful to be serving a mission, and the time is going by faster and faster, but I know that as long as I make the most of the time that I have, I will be able to return with honor, without any regrets.

Love you all!

Have a great week!

Stay True!

Elder Walstad

P-Day at Balintokatok 

Crazy Rain storms!

So this week flew by! It feels like just yesterday I was sitting here emailing you all. The time really is starting to go by so quickly, and I know that after I get transferred in 10 days, it will just be so fast. But I am really trying to enjoy every minute of this adventure/mission! It's such a blessing to be out here serving the filipino people.. I will definitely miss it. 

(Painting Jesslyn Vicencio's nails)

But this week - we are hoping to get 1 more baptism before we get transferred. Her name is Pheomela (Pomela). She is 12 years old, and full of personality. I'll have a picture of her next week! :) We also have another investigator - Alekxy - but sadly her baptism will not be in our time. Which is ok! Things happen for a reason, and her time is definitely close, her parents just have to have a change of heart.

So we have had some pretty crazy rain storms the past few nights - but last night was the craziest yet. It was one of the strongest that I've been a part of. The wind and rain was so strong that it was coming into our apartment through the screens! So we had to shut the windows and the door... and we also had a "Brown out" (Black out) for about 30 minutes, so we had to dry up the water and everything with our little flashlights ^.^ Fun stuff! And we also have a leak in our ceiling in our kitchen, and our little bowl thing got filled up! Crazy stuff. :)

(Soaking wet after getting caught in a rainstorm without an umbrella!)

I also want to share with you all that the scriptures will help us with all of our problems. The Book of Mormon - if we read it every day - will help us (of course with the help of The Holy Ghost. I know that's true. No doubt.

Love you all! Have a great week

Stay True :)

Elder Walstad

(District photo)

(Tanner with Elder Valdez)

The Spirit is awesome.

I will just start out by saying that I don't know what I would do without the priesthood. It is such a huge blessing for us that we have access to that power.  And the fact that I hold the priesthood, and I am able to bless others through that - awesome!

So earlier this week, we were called by a member from a different ward to go to a hospital (just down the street) and give a blessing to her mother. When we got there, we entered a room with 6 other patients.  We started out by giving the blessing to the members mother, then the "neighbor" lady asked if we would give her a blessing as well. We found out that she wasn't a member, but we were more than happy to give her a blessing as well! Then, there was another member in that room, and we gave her a blessing.  The spirit was so strong in that hospital room! And everyone was staring at us, listening intently as we were talking to the 2 members. We actually talked to 2 people who were interested in being taught, so hopefully we will be able to follow them up.  We also gave a blessing to another member just a few hours later. That day was so spiritually uplifting!

The next day, we had interviews with President and Sister Rahlf. That was super awesome, and I love talking with President and Sister Rahlf. They are so smart, and they always encourage us to do our best - they are just full of so much love, and we just want to do our best!

This week was definitely a great week, full of the spirit.  Oh yeah, and we received news from President Rahlf that our area is being closed next cycle.. so both Elder Valdez and I are transferred next cycle!  It has been an emotional week, telling everyone that we are leaving - and it is gonna be hard having to leave some of the families here.. but I know that I will be coming back and it'll be a sweet reunion when I see them again!

The mission is so full of emotions... it's crazy! But it's a great experience. I love it!

Anywho - the church is true, and the book of mormon is not green!

Stay True!

Elder Walstad

The heat found it's way back...

So it has been pretty hot again. I don't know why the sun has to be hot!... I've been trying to figure this out. The sun should just give light, and the temperature should just always be a cool 60ish degrees :) Diba!?!?! (right)
ANywho! This week was pretty good. Not much happened, but we were able to really focus on our 2 investigators - Alekxy and Pheomela - who we are hoping to get baptized within the next 2 weeks! Alekxy, especially, is super progressing. She is 16 years old, and she is already incredibly active in Seminary/institute, mutual, and church! The only thing holding her back is her dad. If her dad won't let her get baptized yet, she'll have to wait until she is 18.. which is totally fine! As long as she gets baptized :) I just hope to be here when it happens. There is nothing like seeing your investigator enter into the waters of baptism!

I have been focusing my studies this week on the Atonement and how we can use it more effectively.  I have found that I can use the Atonement to improve at the language! Most people, when they think of the Atonement, they immediately think of cleansing themselves from sins.. which is definitely a huge part of the Atonement! But we can really use the Atonement for anything! :) It's so cool. Jesus Christ loves us SO much that he gave HIS life for every single one of us. It's so awesome. I love my Savior so much! And I love helping others love Him more through the help of the spirit :) Missionary work = yeah buddy!

Sa pamamagitan ng pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucriso, Mararamdaman natin ang pagmamahal niya para sa atin! Alam ko na totoo yun. Masaya talaga ang missionary work! yeah buddy! ^.^

The Church is true! My eyes are Blue. I do NOT have the flue, and I think I grew. Yup!

Pictures to come (next week)

Love you all!!!

STAY TRUE! :D

Elder Walstad