White Christmas... Moving on to a new area...

Well, hello there everybody!!! A TON has happened this past week... I have forgotten some of it, but luckily I have written it down ^.^

First of all.. I am being transferred to a new area on Wednesday.  It is a VERY bitter sweet experience... seeing that I have become very close to all the people here in this area, and especially my current companion. I have also been blessed to have been staying in the apartment that I am in right now.. so I will definitely be enjoying that as long as I can... hehe ^.^ Anywho... 

We had a lot of Christmas Parties which is way fun because that equals free food and fun times! Most especially the Christmas Party that we had at OUR branch. There were a ton of games, and some candy. We also had a super yummy dinner, which included roasted pig! That was delicious. I also got to cook a little bit of that pig earlier that day, which may have helped make it taste that much better. ;)

 We had a White Christmas (as you can see from the title of this letter), but it was not the normal White Christmas that you are all used to. No sir. This, my friends, was a White Christmas where it was still hot as heck outside! We had a Baptism!! :D Her name is Lyza, and she has been ready now for a while.. and since Elder Pandaog and I were afraid of me getting transferred, we made the baptism date for Christmas Day - which ended up being perfect! Lyza was super happy that it was on Christmas day, and she will never forget her baptism :) She will always remember the day that it happened!

I also got to skype my family this week, and I really REALLY enjoyed that! Everyone is growing up so fast... I feel like when I get back home, everyone is going to be so different.. I don't know if I will recognize everyone! We'll see though ;) 

Well, as this year is coming to a close, I have sat and thought on the things that I have done this past year of 2015.  As the new year comes up, I am excited to make some new goals and watch as I continue to grow and learn and improve.  I love serving a mission, and I have grown so much.. it hasn't always been an enjoyable experience, but the blessings that I have received... well, it's been well worth the ride. 

I love you all, and hope you all have a great LAST week of 2015! :) 

Talk to you all next year! ;)

Stay True!

Elder Walstad 

A week of inspiration (Maligayang Pasko!)

Earlier this week, we had a fantastic Christmas Devotional with 3 other zones, along with President and Sister Rahlf.  They taught us, in depth, about the Christmas story, and what everything really means... how important Mary and Joseph's roles really were. Why God chose them to becomes the parents of Jesus Christ, here on the Earth.  I just want to share a few things that I learned from this :)

First, we learned about Mary and Joseph and what made them such great people. Mary was "high favored among women." President Rahlf said something interesting.. he said "Imagine as Jesus Christ was giving instruction to Gabriel (Who was Noah here on Earth.) and with tears in his eyes, told him to tell Mary that he has been watching her, and has seen how great of a woman she is.  And to also tell her that she is highly favored."  WHen he said that, it hit me so strongly that Mary was chosen for that divine role of becoming the Mother of Christ. Her Lord. Our Lord.  As for Joseph.. it says in the scriptures that he was a just man. He had respect and loved Mary enough to not have her killed (which was an option back in their day, for women who had committed adultery) but to divorce her.  Which after that, he received a vision in a dream that the Mary was carrying Jesus Christ. Joseph was in tune enough with the spirit, and living in a way, that he was worthy enough to receive visions from the spirit that ended up protecting them. Awesome!

We also learned about the importance of Jesus Christ, and His role as our Lord and Redeemer.  As well as the Creator and he will be our Judge.  Jesus Christ has played such a major role in every single one of our lives.. we cannot afford to just stand by and wait until he returns.  As it says in Alma 34:32 - This life is a time to prepare to meet God.  I know that as we all strive more to show our gratitude towards our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and try to prepare with more concentrated efforts, we will see the blessings in our lives! :)

Also, earlier this week we finally found an investigator who we are going to be baptizing on Christmas Day! She is so fantastic, and she is so prepared.  The spirit has testified to my companion and I over and over again that she is ready! :) Oh how fantastic it will be to have a "White Christmas." ;) 

I love you all! Have a great week! AND MERRY CHRISTMAS! :D 

Stay True

Elder Walstad

Busy Erryday, in almost erry-way

Well hello there! Elder Walstad here, reporting from the Philippines.  Here in Bambang.  I am loving it here.. it's starting to cool down a little bit which is nice, and the fact that we have an air conditioner makes it all that much more enjoyable. My companion and I were so busy this week... we had something every single day, which made this week just fly by. it was crazy. Crazy AWESOME!

We had some baptismal interviews to conduct earlier this week, which is always an enjoyable experience. I love sitting down and interviewing candidates who are ready for baptism.  The spirit is always so strong.  It was especially true in my interview that I did on Wednesday.  Every question, the spirit confirmed to me that the Brother was ready.  Then, when he bore his testimony at the end, the spirit hit me so strong, I started to get tears in my eyes! What an experience!

Thursday we did splits with some of the Elders in our Zone, then Friday we went to Cauayan and did splits with our AP's.  That was fun! It was fun to go on splits with the AP's and drive around in a car ;) I also learned a lot, and I really feel that I received a lot of personal revelation on how I can better improve myself as a missionary, and I how I can better grow in the Gospel.  

Saturday there were some baptisms and a Christmas Party, which was super fun! And of course, there was FOOD! So that's always a plus. 

Christmas here in the Philippines is different, of course, but also the same. Different because of the life-style here and it's away from home, but same because of the Spirit that comes with the Christmas Season, and enjoying the lights and also the wonderful hospitality of the people.

I'm so grateful for you all! I love you all, and hope you all have a great week.

Stay True!

Elder Walstad

Work hard, sleep sound

Holy cow. I just want to say that this week has been SO awesome. My companion and I decided to really push ourselves this week, and we definitely felt the difference!

We started off the week a little slower, since we had some meetings and other obligations, but mid-way through the week, we started working really hard, and we got a bunch of new investigators this week.  We actually have started teaching a family... well, one BIG family, with a bunch of smaller families within the BIG family.  One of guys has been interested for a while now, and we are hoping to teach and eventually baptize everybody! They all had questions which led to a discussion about Jesus Christ, or how important the Gospel is and how it can apply to their lives, personally.  It was so great to feel their curiosity and willingness to listen and learn from the spirit, through us! 

We have also had a lot of members recently who are preparing to serve missions, and they have been asking us to work and we've actually had so many that we have to start scheduling them on different days, so that everyone gets a turn! This is the first time that I've had this problem... but it's not a bad problem! We have definitely been seeing the blessings of working with members, by having fellow-shippers for the new investigators, and also the members have been growing and are becoming more excited to go out and serve.  

Missionary work is so great! It's so fun to talk to random people (yet it's nerve wracking sometimes.....) because we get to know all kinds of different people, and how we can help apply the gospel to them and their circumstances.  Doing that also helps give a different perspective of how important the Gospel is in MY life, and, however deep the doctrine can be, or how many different principles there are, it really is so simple that little children can understand it and grasp it's teachings. How Glorious! ;) 

Also, my companion and I have been pretty hyper this week... so we have had days full of laughing and that definitely makes the days FLY by, and more enjoyable.  I'm grateful for Laughter and humor. 2 fantastic blessings. 

Well, I hope you ALL have a FANTASTIC week, full of laughs and happiness ;)

Stay True,

Elder Walstad