hello everybody

lets

get

started

it was a great week. many successes that are hard to describe and some things that make you very sad inside. ill go ahead and shared a few of them with you.

first of all the investigator i talked about a few weeks ago karmencita. we had a great lesson with her on saturday and the spirit was strong and she comitted to tell her family she wanted to be baptised and she would come to church and she shared her testimony how she knows that its all true..... 

she came to church. after she attended church at catholic. she hadnt talked with her parents about her coming to church and she said she didnt know if she could. and then this morning she texted and said shes decided to started serving in her own church and shes sorry that she cant join.... which makes me think a lot about agency and choices. gods very intelligent and patient with us. i cant begin to understand how he can watch all of us screw things up so bad sometimes and just wait and watch patiently.. this lady knows its true felt it in her heart feels it when she reads the book of mormon and feels it when she comes to church.. but the family pressure is just not something she can handle,. the trial of the faith is hard... it makes you sad to watch people that you know feel the sirit and know the truth to turn away from it. 

next on a brighter note. we had sister maricel pelo come to church for the first time in over 4 years! ive been teaching this family for the whole time ive been here and marical when i first got here would leave the second we came. and then if she was there she wouldnt speak to us. wouldnt even look at us. then somehow one day soething just happened. she started listening. then slowly started reading the book of mormon. and then finally yesterday she came to church. bishop didnt really believe it happened he was very shocked. its a long slow process but wow its rewarding that first week they finally come to church. her and her 3 children only attended sacrament meeting but they said they would be back next week again. ive really learned one truth here. reading in the book of mormon is the most important thing anyone can do in order to stay on the strait and narrow,. thats why nephi and lehi saw in their vision the "rod of iron" and people "holding fast to it". what does this rod of iron represent? the word if god. the scriptures. ive been working with less actives for about 8 months now. and ive seen in every single situation that as soon as they started reading again in the book of mormon... they started to gain the desire to come back to church. i guess thats the blessing of "holding fast to the word of god" it really helps to keep you on the straite and narrow path. 

the next is dan and jorami. dan likes cock fighting and gambeling. thats his big trial now in batteling the natural man and having his desires changed. (mosiah 3 19) man satan does a good job on decieving the world. look at all the things that seem so harmless at first but turn into addictive habbits. hes very good at what he does. 

thing continue to progress here. in about to the 1 year in the field mark. ha. wow. crazy. hope you all are good and enjoying the weather! mahal ko kayong lahat.. elder landeen

kumusta po tatay ( hi did how are you )

this week on newsroom philippines cabagan edition we have an exciting weather forecast of rain. diferent kinds of rain. in the words of forest gump we have big rain little rain big old fat rain, sometimes rain that comes in sideways, sometimes its basically just a mist that your walking into. not rain but litirall like your walking in a big mister . it floods up above our ankles at least 1 time a week. earlier we played volleyball in the rain that was fun. sometimes it is really rediculously hot in the morning and then thats how you know in the after noon it will rain really hard. and sure enough there comes the rain. 

as far as typhoons like whats happening in manila nothing like that has happened since the first of my mission last september. things in manila are very sad the new elder that came in talked about how when they left the airport it was all flooded even just right outside the airport doors. very sad. 

thats the weather report for this week ha. 

the work of the lord is going forward! always and then sometimes seems like its going backwards. sometimes i have like realizations as im walking around here in the philippines. like wow am i really on a mission? and about the book of mormon like what elder holland said. its hard to imagine how someone could really make up a book like that, its too good for a bad man to write it and theres really not an honest man that would do it unless it was true. its weird how sometimes in life your testimony seems to go up and down. but well i guess thats what the whole walking by faith is. 

theres a family here in cabagan thats such a great family temple cealed and everything they just have one thing that they just cant quite get their minds over, they have a little store that they sell all sorts of things at they just wont close it down on sundays. it makes you see what a blessing it is to have the day of rest the lord has given us. this family pays tithing and always helps members when they need it and thats thier justification for keeping it open on sundays but man they are missiong about on such a great blessing it makes me a little bit sad. im glad that i grew up in a house that we learned to keep the sabbath day holy. were not perfect but we did it. so once again thank you for that. 

 these are just some pictures. the big muscle man is gilbert,. he was supposed to be beptised on saturday but he started drinking again so we had to move his date. and the other is romel and my companion elder hawlader. anyways i llove you and talk to you next week keep me updated on the merit news... elder landeen

helloo!
to start off yes heavy rain is a part of life. and its not something i
write about because it is normal ha and i dont htink about it any
more. as far as a baugio (typhoon) cabagan has flooded a few times but
that happens a lot. the baugio must have been farther north than us
here in cabagan. im glad that im not in manila mission they have had
some really bad flooding the past while (the members are saying from
the news) in tagalag kawawa sila ( like poor them they are having a
bad time )

its kinda late i wanna just share with you a little experience before
i go. yesterday at church there was a sister that we found a few weeks
ago karmencita. she is having a hard time with family problems they
are very catholic and they dont want her to come to church here. (she
is in her 30's by the way ) anyways every week she tells us she wont
be coming to church but every week somehow she ends up showing up. and
she always seems confused why. she says there is something that wakes
her up early sunday morning with some excited feeling that she
described as making her legs move and get herself ready to go to the
church. she almost seems upset when she gets there. why she says over
and over, and then finaly yesterday family problems were bad and even
neighbors were giving her a hard time. the members of her church were
texting her telling her they miss her in the choir, and they want her
to come back, and if you think about that that would be hard for
anyone to leave when your a part of something like that. sunday
morning she said i wont be there im going to catholic church and we
believed her this time and then towards the end of sacrament meeting
she arrived looking different. i went out into the fawyer and she
immediately asked me what is it about your church that makes me come
here, she said theres no band, no dancing and guitar ( thats the kind
of "worship" that she is used to and loves) and she said what is it
that you have here that makes me come every week i dont undewrstand.
she really wanted to know what it was. and so i said of course,,,, we
have the spirit and this is the true church, and you know that and
feel it in your heart., and she admitted that thats true, and then
left.
its just another testimony about how christ is the good sheppard and
he is working in the hearts of the children of men. its helping them
to open the door and trust in him is the hard part. feeling the spirit
and knowing isnt enought. they have to act on it.l thats the hard
part. im just greatful to see that ive very feww times here seen the
spirit working on someone this strong and im greatful to be a
witrness. \

anyways out of time love you all talk to you next week elder landeen

This Week

hey im a couplle days late sorry this will be short my companion has been too sick to leave the house the past few days. so thats why i wasnt able to respond on monday and now since its wednesday and havent been able to work for 2 days and my companion is just getting better and not completely well yet were very short on time. ill just share a little bit of my thoughts the past few days. first of all.... thank you mom for taking care of me all the times i have been sick. i never realized how hard that is until now because im always the one that is sick! 2 nights ago up at two helping him stumble to the bathroom to lbm and throw up then rubbing cold water on his head to try and get his fever to go down, then washing all of our clothes for the whole week (garments and all.... :/) by hand and trying to keep him constantly drinking and eating what he could and giving medicine... i had an apifany (i dono how to spell it) i was taking a step into the life of a mother. and i have an announcement to make,.. thank you mothers for all you do but im proud to be a man. ha ha ha ha ha ha. i guess thats where the whole "equal partnership" thing comes into play. 

i read all of elder ballards book mans search for happiness these past few days. man its already changed my perspective on things. if you ever get caught up in life and job and everything think about how little all of it really is and how lucky we are for the knowledge we have. its absolutely amazing all the knowledge we have about god that the rest of the world is lacking. now lets just show what it means to us by living the things that we are learning. ive found something this past few days about myself and most likely most other people that knda bothered me. i worked all of monday cleaning and doing laundry and updating records and cooking food and all these important things that well obviously needed to be done theres no other way around it than just doing it. but when i found myself at the end of the day trying to read the book of mormon and have a real prayer with my heavenly father it was hard for me to do so because i had exhausted all my strength with all the other things i was doing. do you ever find yourself in this category? so busy doing things that you find it too hard to pray (really pray) because your mentally exhausted with the daily tasks of life? i thought about it a lot and i mean im a missionary if i find myself in that trap then doubtless to say many of you have also. it made me think really... what are my priorities? what is most important to me? 

maybe take the time during the day of a messy house and renovation busy work and school papers and homework and friends and dishes and all these important things that need to be done, and try to "seek first the kingdom of god"          

 LUKE 10 38-42  martha or mary? is basically what i mean. i know each one of us pray every day but do we listen after we pray? i know i teach that to people almost every day to pray and then wait and give god the chance to answer but am i applying what im teaching? its a very interesting thought, and well...  i want to do better. 

love you all and take care.                                                                                                              elder landeen