Another Week Here in the Pines

Well I screwed up my butt muscles for about half the day on Tuesday. I had to sit on a coconut during a lesson...no chairs here. The lesson went well, she is a new investigator and hopefully she will want to continue...but my butt hurt like heck after, seriously. On our way to the lesson after that I found a monkey tied up in someones yard. I guess the people had him as a pet? Took some pics, but didn't touch him. The villagers said he is really angry...his name is MoyMoy haha. On Wednesday I went on Exchanges with my ZL, Elder Makihele. He's super sick, Tongan too. The ZL's area sucks so we tracted a ton. Met some drunk people who had no idea what was going on, the usual. I also had my first real hard rejection...never had a door closed on me. I'm glad I'm in the country, everyone's nicer in the country. On Friday it rained pretty hard. I don't have an umbrella anymore, if you'll refer to my email about 2 months ago you'll see I have no patience with the cheap umbrellas here. Anyways I got soaked. At first I was trying to stay under my comp's umbrella but after awhile I just gave up and took it. I'm glad my bags water resistant though. I am no longer an alien in our main area Gumang. Everyone knows me, and they don't stare at me anymore which is pretty nice. Right now me and E. Caguimbal are helping one of the member kids get ready to serve his own mission. Alvin Fediliaga, he is way sweet and I love the kid to death. He is having a hard time though because his brother doesn't support him in it...his brother just happens to be and investigator too so that makes things awkward. And the best part of the week was this morning when we played Basketball. Elder Wilcox went to block my dope Iverson Finger-Roll and ended up throwin a 'bow at my eye. Now I got myself a nice little Shiner! Shes a buet' thats for sure. And it gets better, we have a Mission Tour meeting on Wednesday! So hopefully shes gone by then, otherwise I'll be gettin some Smart comments from my batch and others. But regardless, the work goes on! My area is amazing, and I love every bit of it out here. I'm very grateful for Prayer and for the Love of our Heavenly Father...it definately gets me through the hard times! I love you all and miss you so much! If you have time please look up Alma 26:37, it was a good scrip for me this week. Mahal Kita! Ingat Po Kayo!

Elder Akins

Start of Transfer #5

Well lifes just great right now really! I'm loving missionary life, its amazing! Last week we had Transfer Announcements. Me and my current comp are still together. But one of the Pinoy Elders in my apartment left and now we got another Americano living in Gubat! I think theres a grand total of about 5 of us here...we aren't hard to see haha! Anyways the new guys is an Elder Wilcox from a small town near Fillmore and Kanosh. He's a good ole Country Boy, such as myself, so we get along pretty well. We talked alot about huntin and fishing...you know, the normal chit-chat. On Tuesday me and Elder Caguimbal were headed to an appointment in the middle of this rice field. The paths are always muddy and about 10 inches wide. I usually do okay, but that day just wasn't my day. I slipped and my leg was wet and muddy up to my knee on my one leg, but thats pretty much every day here. One of our investigators, Alex Salvan, has really been progressing lately. He's one of the perfect examples of "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover". He's repping some tat's and used to drink and stuff, but now he's a changed kid! He loves it when we teach him, and I love teaching him! He has trouble reading, so we've been working with him on that. He's really an awesome kid haha and I love him like a brother. Recently I've been taking a few minutes and talking with the teenaged kids in Gumang, they love playing 20 Questions with me and having me give them sentences in English for them to translate haha. When I walk past their BBall hoop they always ask me to shoot once for them haha they way sweet. The other day we were in our far area and the LA's we were going to teach brought out some Coconut Milk and Crackers. I was way thirsty so I poured a big glass and tipped it back. My first thought was man this is kinda sour for Buko (Coconut Milk), then I realized it wasn't Coconut...it was Milk. Goats Milk is officially off of the list haha. When we went home from that lesson I was walking with my head down and all of the sudden this Cobra was right in front of me! I flipped out haha its a good thing its head was cut off haha I would've be dead meat! I saw another one in the road on the way home. Theres a lot of them hear because is all the farm land is close to the Jungle. In Gumang I saw my first monkey, I thought it was a dog at first because someone had it chained up. Big ole cuss. As big as Duke actually. The day after Valentines me and Elder Caguimbal found this ghetto Filipino Love Letter haha we taped it to a pole so everyone could read it. On Sunday we had this crazy thing happen. This lady showed up at Church and walked up to us and asked us if this book she was holding belong to our Church, it was some Jehovah's Witness book. We said no but she could still come in. Some of the members sat by her and gave her a Book of Mormon. I was on the stand so I got to watch her, she was smiling the whole time so that was good I guess haha. She wanted to find the true church, but was literally searching for the wrong church, but still ended up finding the true church...God works wonders really. Now why was I on the stand, well I wasn't presiding thats for sure. I gave my first Talk in Tagalog without reading a paper...and I actually did pretty good. My Tagalog could still use some work but I got my point across! Thats all the amazing things that happened this week really. Thanks for all the love and support you all give me, I'm grateful to be a Servent of the Lord right now! This Work really is the most important Work in the World! Oh, and in case y'all didn't know, my little sister Ally is turning 15 this week! Be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday and make sure you stay off of the roads because she'll be starting driving school soon . . . scary.

Elder Jake Akins

Transfers!

This week is Transfer week...and I will still be styaing in Gubat! I was so nervous that I would have to leave, I love it here so much! The members are the coolest people ever! I love them to death! This week we found a new Investigator named Kim. Kim is actually the daughter of one of our other Investigators, and she has been living life on the wrong path really. In our first lesson about the Restoration she was so interested the whole time! We had our new Convert and one of her good friends Emmanuel in the lesson too! She was really excited for the second lesson about the Plan of Salvation. I bore my testimony about those friends and family members I've lost, and that I know I will see them again. After the lesson she talked to me about how she was feeling in the lesson and at that moment, she said she felt so different when she was listening to us! I then explained to her that that was the Holy Ghost! She is really progressing, so I'm really excited for her. The other day I was walking through Gumang and some Ronny was listening to some old classic rock on the radio, the song was actually "Smoke on the Water" by Dio. And I only know this because my Father has tried countless times to bring over to his side of music...to bad it was some good ole Country! On Feb. 8th, which just so happens to be my Birthday, I woke up with a nice little headache. After trying to sleep it off for an hour I decided to just deal with it, it eventually went away. Another cool story that happened this week was one of our Less Active's wife, who isn't a member, has been having struggles with Breast Cancer. And of course, they have no money to pay for treatments or anything so they had no idea what to do. Then the other day this Medical company from the US showed up in Gubat and started to free work on people! It was amazing! Tons of people with all kinds of sicknesses were there and getting treated. Anyways she went to see if anything could be done for her. As she was sitting in line she decided to say a prayer for help. She found out that they would take out the cancer for free! And the long story short she got it all taken care of and is healthy as a horse now! We taught a lesson to them about prayer, not knowing about her prayer, and thats when she told us about that! I told my story of when I was a kid and I sat next to a Rattlesnake in Pinto and I prayed that the Lord would help me! It was an awesome lesson! And to end on a funny note I, on average, see 3 drunk guys a day. Its halarious to watch them walk around, sometimes they drip and fall haha! The best is when they try and talk to ya though haha so funny! Well thanks for all the B-Day wishes, I'll be expecting all my presents when I get home...haha just kidding! I love you all and pray for you constantly!

Love Elder Akins

Almost 6 Months In!

Hows everyone back at home?! I sure do miss you guys! This week we had some really good progression with our work. We baptized 2 kids whose family's are less active. We are hoping the parents will start to attend church again, the older sister has been with the kids so thats good. We found a family of 7 that are really interested and accepted our baptismal invitation to them. Last week our mission had its first Leadership Training. My comp is a District Leader so I attended it with him. President Guanzon and the AP's spoke to us, it was really awesome. I wrote down a freakin ton of stuff, hopefully I'll be able to use if I ever get called to a leadership position. Today we played basketball with some of the guys from Gumang like we usually do. But this time we played at their court. Its all dirt and the hoop is probably 11 feet instead of 10. But its cool. I played with the Gumang kids, against the other 3 missionaries. I would say we won. They are pretty agressive haha. I've also found my new favorite smell...the little breadshops in the cities and stuff. The bread here is amazing for some reason...you would think all they got here to eat is dog and fish and rice but for some reason Filipinos make way good bread. I miss you all tons and hope Santa Clara is just the way I left it. I'm so glad that I chose to come on a Mission, its the best thing any young man or woman could ever do! I hope all of you teenagers out there are considering a Mission, it will change your life! I love this Gospel so much! Love you all!

Elder Akins

162 Pounds!

I am excited to say that I am no longer a skinny white boy anymore. Ok maybe I'm still skinny but I've gained 12 lbs since the MTC! Dad was right, rice is the worlds natural steroid! Our work this week wasn't the greatest, due to the fact that most of our investigators/less-actives are "Sodsod"-ing. Sodsod is when you have this giant butterfly net connected to a bamboo pole, and you drag it along the sea floor as you swim with it trying to catch these tiny baby crabs. They do it at night because that is when the crabs are close to the beach. So during the day they all sleep so that they can work late into the night. We did baptize Brother Emmanuel on saturday though! He asked me to perform the ordinance so that was really cool. He is my first real Investigator that we tracted and converted so he's really special to me! Last tuesday night we decided to take a short-cut back to our apartment through the jungle...ya that wasn't a good idea. After about 3 minutes we came to the conclusion that we were lost. After walking for another 3 we made our way out, somehow. I've been think lately that if my wife/me can't have kids one day I'm gonna adopt a little Filipino girl. The little girls here are so funny and cute. The Noriega family I talked about last week are all girls, and they are so cute! I love them to death haha, I guess I've gone soft haha! On Friday all of the 3 companionships of missionaries led a Branch Home Evening at our church with the members. We talked about Missionary Work and Families. It was pretty good. Half way through the meeting this frog hoped through the door in front of us so I picked it up and took it outside and threw him across the yard. Brother Alvin AKA Milo-Boy came and told me I should go wash my hands ASAP because that frog was poisonous. I was in the bathroom for a good 10 minutes washing my hands, I was a little nervous my hands were gonna shrivel up or grow some fungus or something. But its all good now. We'll I hope you are all well back at home, I pray for you all everyday! Mahal kita! Kita kits hanggang susunod!

Elder Akins

Masarap ang Aso!

First off sorry to everyone for not emailing last week...I know you all missed it so much haha! Ha Mom you're prob the only one who reads theseanyways haha. Well this past week was really crazy. I guess I'll start off on a sad note. Last week we had an awesome Recent Convert we have been teaching pass away. Her name is Juliet Salvan. We got pretty close and actually she was my first lesson in field. I think she was 55 years old, still pretty young, but she was diagnosed with a rare cancer 5 years ago. She wasn't supposed to live even one month, but made it 5 years. I'll never forget her. It has rained here everyday this past week, but I'm still not sick of rain. I love it, while my companion and the other Pinoy Elders hate it. On a good note we picked up a lot of investigators this week. One of them is the Dongaban family, 4 little girls and their parents. The father is actually in Manila right now but they are still accepting us and a really excited about the Gospel. The wife is the sister of our other investigator who we are baptizing this next week! They are awesome really! Both of these people are from our main area we work out of called Gumang. Lets just say this place is an "Investigator Goldmine". Its right next to the sea too, so we get to walk on the beach to some of our investigators. I love the beach here, even though its not the prettiest one I've ever seen haha. The real exciting thing I want to share is what the title of my email says...Dog is Delicious. Need I say more. I got offered it at a party in Gumang with all of the villagers. I was watching them bark it out when one of the members asked me if I wanted to eat some. Well I didn't want to upset anyone so I guess now you could say I'm offically Filipino. Well maybe not quite yet, still working on the brown skin thing but I'm getting there! Another good story was when me and my comp and one of our ZL's were waiting for the other ZL to finish interviewing our investigator who is getting baptized this saturday. We were sitting down outside the house and these 12 year old girls came walking by and started playing 20 questions with us. There was this other little girl, maybe 7 years old, and she kept staring at me. This has become quite normal for me so I didn't think anything of it. After awhile she started to get real close to me. She got right up in my face which is also normal because I thought she was gonna play with my hair or something but all of the sudden she starts to squeeze her lips to together. Its a good thing I got quick reflexes, or I might have ended up getting my first kiss on my Mission! Haha she planted one right on my cheek hahahaha man were we laughing. Well thats about all for this week! I hope all is well back in the greatest town in the world (Santa Clara) and everywhere else! I love all of you guys, oh and Aunt Kathy thanks for the Jerky! Tell Clayton that Elk was dang good!

Elder Akins 

Transfers!!!

Well I am no longer a Trainee, I am now an actual Missionary...or so they say here. I am still in Gubat so thats really good, theres no way I wanted to leave here just yet. But unfortuanely, my Trainer had to leave. It wasn't hard saying by to Elder Yu, it was more like ripping off a band-aid. They announced our new comps and off we went. But for the next few days I kept looking for him when we were walking haha and then I'd realize I have a new comp haha. My new companion is Elder Caguimbal. He is from Bagiuo, Philippines. He is a really hard worker and is actually our DL. He's always happy, just my kind of guy. We've been working hard these past few days, introducing him to everyone and teaching a lot of lessons. Last Wednesday we where at a dinner appointment and the son of the Nanay that we were eating with was having some friends over to play Ping Pong on their ghetto table that I beat Elder Yu on before he left. They asked if me and Elder Gutierrez if we wanted to play doubles with them. We beat all of them, 5 games to none. It was so sick. The next day we went to teach a really solid investigator that we've had for awhile, only to find out that he is moving to a new area. Sucks, I was hoping that I would be here when he was Baptized. At lunch the other day we were eating out and I was in line next to this old man. He looked at me, and then said in English,"Are you a Musketeer?" Haha I had no idea what to say, me and the cashier were just laughing and then he said,"I might be old, but I'm still nimble as I was when I was young!" Haha I have no idea what he was talking about but it was really funny. And this morning we played basketball with our District. While we were waiting for the hoop to be set up, me and Elder Gutierrez played Ping Pong inside the church for a little bit. I beat him all 3 rounds. My rule has just begun though haha. The Mission is amazing, I'm loving life right now! The people are awesome, I can't imagine being anywhere else! I love you all and miss you so much. I know this Gospel is true!

Elder Akins