Highlight of the Week: Exchanges with an American

This week was really awesome. I started the week out on Exchanges with Elder Wilcox. We worked in his area. The whole time while walking to appointments we just swapped stories back and forth about High School, Hunting, Fishing, Sports and all the normal stuff. I felt to good to finally talk to someone for awhile who was actually interested in my stories. We had some much fun! And our lessons were the bomb! Especially our lesson to a Less-Active Family about the Atonement! We both bore such strong Testimonies, it was awesome. The family actually gave us both these sick seashells after the lesson, so it was pretty great. At night we ran out of appointments so we just started Tracting. We came up with this awesome strategy too. So as we were walking around I noticed this lady sellling "Fishballs" (Deep Fried Batter Mix Stuff that are my favorite). I said to E. Wilcox,"Man, I'm kinda hungry." He told me we could get some but I just told him when we come back by we would. So we walked to this last appointment that fell through, then walked back by. He came up with this awesome idea, he said,"You break the ice by buying some Fishballs, then I'll OYM (Open Your Mouth) them." So I walked up, bought some, asked her which sauce was the best to put on it, complimented on how good her Fishballs were and just started talking to her. Then E. Wilcox came in and handled the rest. It went perfect! We talked with her for awhile about her and her family and stuff, then introduced the Gospel. By then like 12 other people were listening to us so it was pretty cool. We gave as many people as we could Pass-Along cards and stuff and then set up a return appointment for the lady. After, we just looked at each other and high-fived. We spread the Gospel, she got money, and I got my favorite snack, everyone won! But the next day we had something sad happen to us. We lost one of my favorite investigators who I've been trying so hard to get her to accept and follow our teachings over my whole 6 months here in Gubat. Sadly she wasn't progressing. Her husband lives in Manila, and one day he came home and found out that she was taking lessons from us. She had told us it was ok with him, but when he came home he got mad at her and told her we couldn't come back. Even though she wasn't really progressing, she was still sad to tell us we couldn't come back and teach her. Hopefully one day here husband will come around and something will happen. But on the good side we gained a couple of awesome new investigators. They all accepted the Baptismal Date we set for them, April 19, so I'm super stoked for that...even though I probably won't be here anymore haha. And to end this email on an even better note, I got hugged by a drunk guy this week, and he told me I was his best friend! I guess its my charm really, I don't even have to say things to people and they automatically become my best friend! Haha well I hope everyone is loving life! I love you all and I'm so grateful for this oppurtunity I have to serve the Lord and the wonderful people of the Philippines! Ingat kayo at mahal kita!

Elder Akins

Baptism of Alex Salvan!

The highlight of this week was our Baptism, but we will get to that later. I'll just start at the first of the week. On Tuesday I went on Exchanges with Elder Celiz. He is training an American/Filipino or Foreignoy as its called here. Elder Celiz is the exact opposite of me though. He is almost half of my height, probably like 225 lbs, and speaks no English. But he's the nicest kid I've meet out here so far! We talked the whole time, which was much different from my comp right now. We had a great time, and the Spirit was in our lessons for sure! That same day I saw a Filipino kid runnin around in a Dan Marino Dolphins Jersey...I didn't know they even made those any more?! On Wednesday the other Filipino in my apartment, E. Gutierrez, finally got his package (mine still hasn't come). Lets just say his parents have money to spare...I think I could have fit my self into his package and mailed myself home if I wanted to. It was huge to say the least. We spent the good portion of our time that night roasting marshmallows that were in his package. The next day I met an old Filipino guy who lived in Reno, Nevada for 42 years. He was pretty funny to talk to. He said that some Mormon guy from Utah was coming to do some business with him in June, to bad I more than likely won't be here. I referred him to the other Elders so hopefully they can get a hold of him soon. A lot of the "rich" people here have Turkeys, so I've been hearing some Toms gobblin hard sometimes when we are out working. Its kinda wierd though...wheres the sage brush? And the best thing that happened this week was our Baptism of Alex Salvan on saturday! He asked me to baptize him so I was pretty stoked! He was kinda nervous so the first thing he did when he got into the font was to try and baptize himself by "bending his knees" as we had gone over with him before the service. Haha luckily I had my hand on his back so he didn't go down. But all went well and we got him confirmed the next day and now he is an official member of the true church! He's definitely going to be a future church leader here in Gubat one day! And on Sunday we contacted some Referrals we had recieved from a member in a part of our area that I've never even been to! But we found them and they were super excited to hear from us so I'm way excited to begin teaching them! They aren't super dirt poor either so I think they should be able to make it to church regularly! Thats pretty much all the good stuff that happened this week. Also in my Personal Study this week I found the real reason why I decided to spend my time hunting and fishing in High School then on girls. I refer you to Proverbs 21:19. It really boosted my spirits. I'm grateful for all of your love and support and I love you all! All of you have a great week!

Elder Akins

To Family, Friends, and You Other Ronnys Out There in the Mission Field

Well sickness has finally struck me. I was hoping to make it the whole 2, but it wasn't so. Here we call it Sipon...to y'all back in the good ole US of A its the Common Cold. I'm fine during the day because its so warm here, but in the mornings and night its like I'm a dog yackin on a bone (Christman Vacation-Snots). Anyways I still manage to fall asleep so thats good. It takes me back to those days when I was sick and Dad got mad at me because I made so much noise at night haha! But its almost gone so I think I'ma be okay. On Wednesday we had the one of the 70's for our area come and speak to us, Elder Ian S. Ardern. He had a wonderfully difficult accent due to his upbringing in New Zealand. It was hard for some of the Filipinos to understand him haha so that was funny. When they did this section for some of the Missionaries to come up and share a favorite scripture and talk about it he pointed right at me. I froze, but then he said "That young sister there" so I was like whew that was a close one. She got up and talked and sat down. Then he looks out over us...then says "That Elder there" as he looks right at me. Crap, I go to stand up but the kid in front of me goes up so I was like "Shoot dang". Then he gets up and sits down. The last one I was like there is no way...but he looks at me...and then calls my companion from the MTC, Elder Haymond, who was sitting behind me too haha man it was close. I was scared to say the least haha. Anyways the talks were really good and I learned a lot from Elder Ardern. Hopefully some of the Missionaries in my mission listened too. On Thursday I was walking through my favorite part of my area, Gumang, when I heard some familiar sounds. Well I ended up walking up on some nice turkeys, right here in the Philippines. I even got the old Tom to gobble for me and my comp haha it was great. It took me back to last years hunt with Bunting and Trevor Moss haha! That same day we went to visit some of the older ladies in the ward and some of their friends. One of them is Sister Salvan, and Sister Salvan is also the mother of our investigator who will be baptized this Saturday, Alex. I'm very excited for that! Anyways Sister Salvan is pretty awesome and funny. She doesn't like Baka (cow meat) only Baboy (pig meat), and she is convinced that I am crazy because I was born in Febuary?...anyways the only sad thing about her is she has really bad Cataracts in her eyes. But everytime I see her she reminds me of the Roy D. Mercer bit about "Cadillacs" in his wifes eyes (if you don't know who that is I highly suggest you look him up). Haha but she is really awesome and I love talking with her. And the other big highlight of my week was yesterday. Yesterday I had the oppurtunity of going on splits with my recent convert into our Church, Emmanuel. He is very special to me, and is really progressing in the Church. We had so many appointments me and Elder Caguimbal split up. Me and Emmanuel went and taught his friend that we've been teaching, Kim. Before the lesson I assigned him to teach about the Atonement and to testify the best he could. The lesson was one of the most Spiritual of my Mission so far! He nailed it and I was able to talk without sounding to ghetto haha. We really did good so I was really proud of him! I love you all so much and want you all to know that I love this Gospel so much! We are so blessed to have this knowledge and happiness in our lives! Thanks for all of your support and love! Much love to you all! Mahal ko kayo! Kita kits sa susunod lingo!

Elder Akins

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