Missionaries Down

This has been another hectic/insane week. I think I'll just stop saying they're crazy because its just normal now. I've never experienced so much GO GO GO in my life. Jeez, an Elder just needs to take a few moments on the stream slaying fish I'd say! Life's getting to much in a hurry for me! The craziest things have been happening lately. We've lost almost 10 missionaries to illnesses in the past few weeks. Its hurting us bad, we are pretty low on Elders and Sisters right now. Hopefully the Lord will bless us with some more soon. Maybe we are lacking in Faith... I don't know we'll have to look into that. I'm really growing from all this though. So I what I really should be saying is I'm grateful for these trials that God is giving to me, because He loves me enough to "cut me down" so to speak. A mission is a truly amazing experience. Well like I said we got a new companion last week, Elder Hernandez, who is a stud, but who I failed to mention is a BYU/BoSoxs fan so that ain't flying...but we've worked through it and both agreed that we can be companions for the time being haha. No he's great though, we're good friends and I'm happy that he's here. We had a really cool spiritual experience this week in one of our lessons. We visited an old Bishop that has gone Less Active in our area. Long story short he hasn't been coming to church for a long time and we haven't had much progress with him. We haven't even been sure what his concern really is. But on Saturday night we were finally able to peel away the last part of the onion! We found out, after an awesome lesson about becoming Disciples of Christ leaving everything using Matthew 4:18-22 I believe it was, that he was offended long ago by his uncle who also served as a Bishop. So now that we know whats up we can finally help address his concern. I hope before I leave that he will return to the Church, thats one of my Personal Goals right now. Also that me and Elder Hernandez will have a baptism here in the AP Area...which hasn't happened in almost 2 years now ha so we'll see how that goes! It'll take some Faith I guess. Pananampalataya baga!
Love Elder Akins

Transfer Week

Well another crazy week here in the Office. We had lots going on with getting ready for the Transfer tomorrow. The Plans themselves for the Transfer were really crazy. We had a lot of changes happen. We got 2 new Supply Elders: Elder Kelley and Elder O'Connor. So they will be staying with us from Tuesday on. Should be lots of fun. I'm also getting a new companion, Elder Hernandez. I'll tell you more about him next week, but he's a good guy. We are also getting a new ZL here in Legazpi, one of my good buds Elder Whitney. And part of the crazy thing is he will be taking the place of Elder O'Connor. Elder O'Connor's comp, Elder Pasadillo, is my old comp and he is heading home. So Elder Matautia, this cool, funny, Poly Aussie kid, will take his spot. This isn't even half of it...confused yet? Ya, I'm trying hard to not get confused haha. But its a blast though! We ate Lunch and Dinner with President a couple of times which is always an interesting experience. He always has these crazy stories that he shares with us that leave us saying, "That used to be President?" For example, back in the early 80's he lived in the Middle East, and he would spend countless hours Spear-Fishing. He also told us how he would catch so many fish out there when he was fishing from a boat that they would fillet them and lay all the fillets on the top of the boat and all over the deck so that they could fit them all. Then they would lay them on their car as they drove home, and by the time they got home they would dry to the car haha. He used to have a sweet Tom Seleck Mustache too. On a more spiritual side, I'm currently in the War Chapters of the Book of Mormon. I love Captain Moroni's example most of all, I think he is my favorite Book of Mormon character. He's such a stud. Humble, yet bold. Wasn't afraid of anything. He had complete Faith in his men and the Lord. I hope that I can follow his example more. I've definitely been blessed of having many amazing examples in my life. My Father, my grandfathers, my uncles, my cousins, fathers of friends, ward members, the list goes on and on. Thanks to all of you, I'm so grateful for all of you and the good influence you've had on me! I love you all. Also to my bud's, who knows where I'd be without you Ronny's!
    Love Elder Akins

Quick Email

Hey everyone sorry I'm down to only a few minutes now so I'll make it quick. But this week was pretty crazy. We were supposed to move a bunch of missionaries around this week, but weren't able to get around to it because we had a ton of other things come up like missionaries that wanted to go home and other things. So its been kind of a stressful one. Prayer has played a big role this week. I try to just not worry so much and have an understanding that everything that gets thrown at me, fastballs and curveballs, is all for my good. It works pretty well I suppose. I recently heard about my buddy Elder Bunting help fish in a shark...hey bud just to let you know, I'll be reeling in stuff bigger than that at Powell son! Can't wait to see my buddies again, its been to long. I was able to Skype the family today. Gotta say its been a long 2 years since I've seen you guys, I know that mostly because Josh is starting to look bigger than I remember. Can't wait to throw with ya again buddy! Oh man I miss you guys so much, and I especially want Mom to know how much I appreciate her and love her! I hope you could understand me during the Skype haha my English skills are less than par right now. I feel almost socially awkward when I English under pressure haha. But I love you Mom and I hope your Mother's Day was awesome! You deserve more than a day's rest! Love you! Other than that I hope everyone else is doing well! Miss you all!
    Elder Akins

The Time is Far Spent

I really don't know where the time goes! This week has gone by super fast. Everyday has been pretty busy for us. We had a few Exchanges in pretty distant areas so that took up a day. And we've also been busy moving Missionaries around to different areas under Presidents direction. So needless to say I've been spending quite some time behind the wheel. One night it just turned out to be My Night. Everyone that has been in the Office has left some kind of mark or such on the vehicles. So this one night I was coming back with Elder Surio from grabbing a bite to eat because we had just finished running errands for the day. So I went to pull into the tight opening and I ended up taking a bad angle and put a dent the size of a baseball into the side of our Ford Ranger. So that made my night. Its a good thing the Church has Insurance right?! I was pretty grateful at the time. Then I had to tell President what happened, but it was all good with him. Ha I felt like I was back at home telling Dad that I broke a sprinkler head on the lawn or something. But we got everything taken care of and its all good now. This week me and Elder Surio had a great lesson about Joseph Smith with our Investigator Joy and her boyfriend who was at their house. We watched the Restoration video at their neighbor's house who are members: the Luvendino's. They have a couple of little girls, and their youngest little girl: Showbee, who I would love to adopt and bring home with me haha the cutest little girl! She's so funny too, she's only 6 and she asks the most mature questions about where I'm from and if I have a girlfriend and what my family is like! Such a little cutie. Anyways, the lesson was great, and we had a good Question/Answer time after the video. The boyfriend even had some questions so hopefully we can teach him with her in the next lesson this week. Thats about how the week went, sorry times limited to this is all I got! Love you all!
    Elder Akins