Monday, January 28, 2013

'Cool Beans' Is Still In The 'Pines!

January 28, 2013

Holy cow is that a whole month in a row of farewells/homecomings?  Good work haha.  Make sure and tell the Smith family and especially James good luck for me.  Same with Becca O. can't wait for her to get out here haha.

Haha, you definitely don't hafta worry about not having people take good care of me ma, Sister L and her friend Sister G have been trying to fatten me up for the last 2 months haha.  Every time we go to teach them they have some kind of dinner prepared even though we tell them they don't have to every time haha.
So yup, Sister L was less-active for 4 years but ever since the very first time me and Elder H she's gone all but 2 weeks.  She's probably going to leave Minuyan before I do.  She's gonna go live with her daughter in Texas sometime in February.  It'll be super sad when she leaves, she's awesome.  Her friend Sister G...... accepted a baptismal date this week! :D  She's preparing to be baptized on February 23 and we're pretty excited. 
Look At Me Ma!! :-)

Haha, glad to hear you like Sister E mom we do too.  Pretty exciting stuff.  She walked up to us after sacrament meeting yesterday and told us she wanted to set up a baptismal date haha.  She's the bomb, we were gonna try again to give her one on Wednesday but sounds like she's already decided she's ready for it :)  So we'll baptize her as well on February 23 with her son S C.  Again. They're the coolest :)  Yup, she's the one we met on the way to 7eleven.  S is their only kid and her husband is super kind but also super shy and has work almost every time we go there so he won't be ready yet but hopefully he'll accept the Gospel soon as well.  She also has a 17 yr-old niece that lives with them that will hopefully get baptized sometime in March.
Santa's Little Helper?! :-o

Haha, sounds like you're having some pretty intense weather out there eh?  Dad said the Grandpamobile got turned into an ice cube.... Can't wait to crank up some John Denver in that car with you guys again haha :)  The weather's been great here.  Not too hot and no rainstorms for a while.  Pretty nice.  Again, hope I don't freeze my first winter back home.

Yup, hopefully we'll be able to go with our investigators to Temple Tour this weekend.  It has been a bit over a month since we've gone to one.  But we did go to the Temple a couple weeks ago for a session.  We had to wait for an hour so we went to the Starbucks' across the street and got a pretty killer sandwich.  Don't know if goin to Starbucks' is good as a missionary but eating their sandwiches is definitely a good thing :)
Entrance to the Manila Temple

Like I told Dad, find out what team Jeremy's cheering for and cheer really loud for the other one. :-) Also, remind as much and Katie that no matter who wins, the Patriots won't be champions... again :o)  Honestly though I'm happy the 49ers made it and I'll go for them.  Have fun! :)

Love ya ma!  Hope you have a great week as well and that you and Dad enjoy your Pday tomorrow :)
Love ya tons!
Sa Susunod! (Kita kits means 'see ya' and sa susunod is 'till next time':)

Elder BJ

Awesome Family!


So the family in the pics is the E family.  The one on the far left is Sister J, her sister that's a member already.  Sister G is on the middle right.  S was tired so he went to sleep and wouldn't come out for pics haha.

Transfer Time, We're Stayin' Put! Received 1-23-13

Howdy! :)

Haha, wow you guys are keeping really busy with that farewell/homecoming schedule aren't you?  Pretty crazy that Trent's already made it home.  Glad to hear he's doing well.  That football pic of us is pretty awesome, sad to hear it made your eyes get all leaky though haha.  Yup, it's definitely time for me to put the shoulder to the wheel.  Don't worry bout me ma, I'm trying my best.... but thanks for worrying about me I guess haha :)  Pretty cool to hear that Conner's out on the mish too now.  We are all growed up now aren't we?

Wow!  Sounds like Hunter's a little Basketball star eh?  Not gonna lie, me and the other Elders here were pretty impressed with the arc he got on that free throw you sent.  He was so on fire they sat him on the bench so they wouldn't embarrass the other team?! WOOT. Sounds like I taught him well :)

Little 'Dude-Man' shooting a free throw.  SWISH!!


Soooooo..... Tomorrow is Transfer Day..... And Elder J and I are stayin put.  Woot! :)  He's been one of my favorite comp's so far and this is one of my favorite areas so I'm totally fine with that even though it might feel like a long time here in Minuyan.  We've had a BLAST this transfer messing and joking around in an obedient way and we've got some awesome investigators like Sister G so I'm excited to see what will happen this transfer.

Since we thought that I would be transferring we had "farewell" dinners... no... FEASTS with a couple families.  With the E's and Sister L and Sister M G.  Sister E was asking if I would be allowed to come back for her baptism next month and Sister G was wanting me to visit after leaving too haha.  The people here are DA BOMB :)  The E's were super excited when we told them we'll both be here until March.  S C is turning 10 on April 5.  Same age as Hunter, he's a pretty big kid and loves basketball too.  We tell him he's gonna be the next Shaq :)

Sounds like you guys are keeping busy with the bdays eh?  Happy bday Kylee, Hunter, Gpa, Sam and Wendy!  Weird to think I've got a 1 yr old cousin I haven't met yet haha.

Gaaaahhhh!!!  I forgot my usb cord for the camera to send you the AWESOME pics I got this week.  I'll send em to ya on Wednesday I guess.
Well..... Better go play some Bball, pday's a tickin :)
Love ya TOOOOOONS!!!!!
BJ

Prepared By The Lord Received 1-14-13

Hiya! :)

Haha the kids we meet and baptize here always are cute aren't they?  It was on the 5th of January.  That was J boyfriend, J U, and he baptized her.  With the 3 people close to baptism 2 are still progressing great and one is kinda slipping a bit because she's really busy tending grandchildren in another city and hasn't been doing reading assignments. But.... that's ok, she'll get back on track once we get her more focused.

The 2 that are still close to baptism are Sister G E and her son S C (named after S C.. Woot:).  She's the one that's a High School guidance counselor me and Elder H met on the way to 7-Eleven late one night.  She is freaking amazing! :D  At this point she's reading The Book of Mormon like crazy and still loving the things we teach her.  Our last lesson with her was da bomb.  We had taught her the Word of Wisdom the week before and she told us that she drinks coffee because it helps her calm down at night but that she would stop.  Saturday night she tells us that the last drop of coffee she will drink was the Saturday before, just like that like it was easy.  And that wasn't the cool part :)  Next she tells us that she taught the Word of Wisdom to all 380 of her High School students!  She also told us that she reads The Book of Mormon at school while they're taking their exams!  Then she said that she confronted one of her students that is a Less-Active member and told him that if he didn't come to church on Sunday he wasn't allowed to show his face in her class on Monday!  Hahaha, she is amazing!
Awesome Family BJ gets to teach!!
After that we taught her the Law of Tithing.  And she was wondering if she could pay 7% instead of 10%.  Not because she doesn't know if she can do it, but because she created her own foundation to support students and teenagers in her area and she wants to have enough to continue that.  She is da bomb.  So we promised her that if she would pay her full 10% that Heavenly Father would provide her the means to support her family, keep the commandment, AND provide for His children.  She said the reason she started the foundation was because a couple years ago she had 2 strokes and both times thought that she would die.  She said that she felt that God saved her for a purpose and that she wanted to do all she could to support her community.  I'm thinking she was definitely also saved so she could become a big part of Christ's church and to help it and it's members progress here in this area.
Hopefully she'll get baptized soon.  She wants to finish the entire Book of Mormon first and she's made it to Mosiah in about 2 weeks haha.  She mentioned that she has loved reading her whole life and often reads herself to sleep.... Sounds kinda familiar doesn't it? :o)  I'm still reading myself to sleep a lot haha.
Cool Pictures in the 'Pines!
Teaching that lesson to her really helped me to see how much we have been helped here to make a difference and that the fruits of our labors really will bring us joy.  Even though there are a lot of trials at times as a missionary the moments like this make everything and anything we may have to go through completely worth it.

Haha, you guys are awesome mom, taking the missionary homecoming and farewell tours for me.  My friends probably love you just as much, if not more, than me haha :)  Glad you were able to see Aaron and Becca and wish them well for me.  I'm super excited to see Becca here, hopefully we'll be in the same District or Zone.

Haha, thanks for the encouragement, and the funny looking comment... :o)  I've found over the mission that attitude really is the biggest thing that makes a difference.  If we think life is a bed of roses, it will be!  If we think it's a bed of thorns, it will be that instead.  Just gotta choose to be happy and have a blast and that's what I'm starting to do again.

Thanks for gettin my Patriarchal Blessing for me again, it'll be nice to get it back.  Hmm.... on treats maybe just the usual would be great.  The Rolos in the last one were great.  On hygeine products it'd be really cool if you could send me the best smelling Axe 2-in1 and Shower Gel you can find.  Not trying to impress anyone here but... it smells good haha :o)  and it's weird, stuff like that kinda gives me a smell connection to home haha.  You and the gang really are the greatest Mom.  Thanks :)

Welll...... That's all folks!  Hope you have a great week back there in warm, sunny..... oh wait.. :o)
Love ya!
Beej

BIG P.S.
The time has come!  Da Beej is on the hunt for awesome keepsakes for the fam from the Pines!  If you could send me a list of awesome ideas or things that each of you wants I would love it almost as much as a package.  Almost :)  I know Chelsey mentioned pearls but I'm wondering if that's what all the gurlz (including mom's and gma's) want.
Whew!  That was a BIG P.S. :o)  Love ya!

Baptism Time! Yippee! Received 1-09-13

Hiya Guys!
Another 'Fantasmagical Day' in the Philippines!

Yikes!  Who said it could FREEZING cold back home without my permission?  Maybe I should try and send that fur coat home for you guys eh?  Glad you got to go enjoy banging pots and pans for New Year's Eve, should be a blast next year.  Me and Elder J had a fun New Year's too.  I was kinda sorta a bum and fell asleep at 10 o'clock or so though and didn't wake up till the fireworks started going crazy.  We didn't remember to grab pots and pans so he decided to make Sasquatch Calls while I made my best wild hippo-platypus call.... yup, it was intense :)
Happy Days!

We finally got the baptism done for the M, R, and J done.  It was great!  When we first got there the font was kinda dirty so I had to roll up my slacks and get a mopping haha, fun stuff :)  So yup, we got them baptized and it was great.  It always feels really good to do the ordinance.  With running around trying to plan and arrange the baptism and program I felt like I didn't actually get to slow down until the actual ordinance and again, it feels really good to baptize someone :)  Plus it's really cool to tell people that they're clean after they've been baptized and confirmed.
Other than that the work's going ok.  Still trying to get used to being the center of attention in lessons, but that'll be something I'll work on the entire mission.  Other than that just trying to continue to have lots of fun and focus on the work so we can help as many people as possible come unto Christ!  Don't wanna miss anyone that's been prepared for us because I'm worried or trunky haha :)

Woot!!! Go Hunter!  Man, I know how sitting on the bench in foul trouble can be SUPER frustrating, you just wanna play and help your team but your stuck and helpless.  No fun haha.  But sounds like he still made a BIG impact on the game and helped them beat an undefeated team! :D  Good to hear he's being aggressive too, that kid's gonna be a star :)
Woot! Woot!

Wow, got a whole new round of farewells and homecomings to start going to eh?  Haha, I can't wait for Becca to get out here it's gonna be a blast :)  Tell Tauni congrats on her mission call, sorry I couldn't make it (I'm kinda in the Philippines right now:o), and that she'll be an awesome missionary!
 
Love ya TONS and hope y'all have a fantiddlyastimagical week! :)
BJ
Yummy Missionary Food!!  Home-Made Ma!!