Monday, September 30, 2013

Week 29

Week 29
9/29/13

Appointment Time



Okie dokie I know I keep saying  this but.. it  was a great week once again. The only thing that has been horrible is  I lost my umbrella and I have been getting some gnarly head aches from the weather here because it'll be sunny in the morning then lunch time comes around and it is pouring, 3oclock is sunny then 3 hours later its pouring again soo I am stuck in inception I guess... can't get out unless you kill me so yeah...lol

 The work is awesome I love it here and am no longer home sick. I'm just having fun really and just enjoying my time here. I want to  share that when we walking home from an appointment my trainee got whacked in the face from an airsoft gun. HEHE... and speaking of guns we stole some nerf guns from some other elders and we had a serious fire fight in our apartment and it was way legit.  It's the little things that keep us sane.


Food Adventures..Funny thing I ate chicken feet for the second time here on my mission it's okay, the  taste differs really depending on how it s prepared. Sometimes they cook it in this sauce here called adobo and its glorious, but chicken feet are just mostly skin and little to zero meat  but its good.  My favorite meal here by the way is called bicol express. (Wish I knew what it was but he didn't say :()

The teaching has been good.  We had  like 2 dinner appointments this week and a Family Home Evening so that was legit. So different, better than not really have dinner appointments. I'm thankful to be in an area with so many members.


 I went to this place here in Naga called Marantz and they customize suits and pants so I ordered a custom pant for only 15 $ so well see how it goes. I should get them next week. And when I leave I'm getting a custom suit with a flag of the philippines on it so its going to be awesome. Uh huh!

 Elder Relf and I are just on fire! We are  living the life, reading the scriptures everyday and praying and sharing messages to all who want to hear.  Training life's good, busy and fun can't complain.

 
 I would like to give a shout out to the Brian Sutherland who did a legit triathlon and tore it up. If your wondering how I know I have some hook ups...CIA no big deal.   I hope all is good I think about you all, all the time and miss you wish you all the best. Shoot me an email about questions and that goes to people that don't know me and are preparing to go to the Philippines and want to know about some stuff, anyways. thanks again...
Only easy day was yesterday.
Elder Pogi Llorens

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Week 28

Week 28
9/23/13








Maray na hapon po and mga Pogi's. This week was another sweet week. The work has been great, so far this week we killed it we've taught the  highest amount of lessons and they have been solid.   Another Highlight of the week has been the "Pena Francia Celebration" this is celebrating the mother Mary, but besides the religious stuff they had some awesome military marching parades and majorettes and it was a blast! Even though we got a lot of lessons this week it was super hard to get to our area due to the closed roads.  The cathedral is in our area and  it was packed. But it was a super cool environment .







 I had my first dinner appointment with my whole mission and it was great. It was with the security guard who guards the mission home. He lives in our area his name is Brother Willie and  he's a the coolest ever and the funniest. He's like 60 years old and he could kill  you easily no joke!  





This week we also went to the Mariano family's house and have an family home evening with them and were going to have a BBQ pork thing basically its a pig with a stake through it and were going to slow roast it. anyways the Mariano family is like the family we go to all the time and they take care of us and they really enjoy it when we come and teach them and they are super great.  We taught a couple of new investigators this week so its been a good week over all.








 Thanks for all the emails. the Typhoon that hit wasn't near me but all the wind came my way and it felt great. Tomorrow I have a trainers training workshop and the last time I went to that was like 7 months ago when I first got here and its crazy cool how fast life has been going! Now I'm going for my trainee "aki"... But yeah salamat sa lahat and mga emails ipinadala ninyo sa akin. at salamat sa dios para sa pakakatoan nagmymysion ako dito sa naga Philippines mission. maraming salmat sa Pamilya ko para sa lahat giniagawa ninyo sa akin din. Mahal ko kayo. ingot salamat ulit.  (No translation)

Kitakits Elder "pogi" Llorens








Thursday, September 19, 2013

Week 27

Week 27
9/16/13



Okay so this week was stellar. Well, first we didn't have too many lesson because all of or most of our lessons are with females and we're not allowed to go in to the house unless there is a responsible male there,  so no bastos can happen. SO yeah that was a bummer so we tried tracking... that didn't work out so well either. But I have a hook up and I ordered one of those Illegal Chinese lasers and its legit it can be seen so far,, just kidding but I got your attention! But yeah I made pancakes a lot this week I have it down to a science, bananas and brown sugar is the secret. I also made tacos the other day and yes those were glorious also. This week everyone in our apartment got really sick. (my cooking?)  NO, it was really bad headaches, sore throats, runny noses, and ache joints. There's a really bad dengue virus going around but I dont think we got it, if we had it we would just want to shoot ourselves, we have some missionaries in the hospital from it and they are in pretty bad shape. But yeah we're slowly getting better.  Cool story we are partying to Christmas songs in September and its pretty fun makes it feel like its November. We went working yesterday and yeah its like 830 at night we just got done with a lesson and we wanted to go home but there was one more less active house in this area and it was a little walk we decided what the heck lets try it. The parents weren't there but the daughter who is a member was there and her "friend". Long story short the "friend" has been taught all the lesson and believes everything and hopefully he'll get baptized in October. So yeah blessings from working when we were sick. GO team Onan. At the same time in our area we are trying to look for a new building so that the members can go  to church closer to where they live because now they have to take a 2 ride system going one way to church and its really expensive for them. So me and Elder Relf are being awesome and  trying to find a good meeting house so they can go to church more easily. Elder Relf and I  are just being bosses and taring it up here but at the same time being very classy, but none the less we are  knocking down doors, LOL.
Thats all for now thanks for all the emails. 

mahal ko kayo lahat.

Elder Llorens  peace

Monday, September 9, 2013

Week 26

Week 26
9-8-13



So this has been a really sweet week. We finally saw our whole area, now we dont need to coordinate with other elders too see when they are free to show us around.  The work is good took, I took Elder Relf out for the first couple of days and showed him how to tract and honestly not too bad. We did really well and it was a fun experience. Together we are just having a blast.  At night time were having a blast with the Zone Leaders and  the supply elders. We just mess around,  it mostly involves make shift air soft guns, darts and poker on Friday, haha just kidding or am I?
Me and my companion and the zone leaders in the car


 We had Zone training this week and it was fun, I got to see who all is in our Zone.  So yeah the rumors are true, Christmas starts in September and yeah Im already in the Christmas spirit.! But  this week is Pena Francia which is the fiesta here in NAGA and its a huge party they have like a gold pyramid here and when they have the  parade anyone who touches it becomes healed. We probably will not  be allowed to work because it literally happens where our apartment is and were not going to be able to get through the crowds! Its going to be awesome to watch , but I bet its going to get weird too! Any ways the Catholic church does it and they think they will be healed when they touch it. i I'll try and get some gnalry pictures of it. There's probably going to be some "patays"  so that'll just add to the awesomeness. 

 We would have had a lot of lessons this week but all of our ward missionaries bailed on us everyday .... it was bakla. But we got to ride with President Reeder,our mission President, this week and show him our area because they are thinking of putting a group here. It would be closer to go to church in our area than driving into Naga every Sunday. It's so exciting the church is growing, but the bad thing is that we would have to change apartments and that means no air conditioning..boo so  we'll see what happens.  That would also mean no more restaurants either.  I'm pretty sure I'm gaining weight back since there's a McDonald's in our area and restaurants that are flippin really "masirup" great. 

Anyways yes its raining and humid so nothing has changed with the weather.   Umm this last Sunday was Stake conference here and this chapel or "stake center" was packed and we had people in every room listening to the speakers and it was great. So we are going to need a new stake center here in Naga. So cool the Church is growing here and the only real obstacle  is the expenses to come to church. A lot more people would come if they could financially afford to.  Transportation can be expensive into the city.  This week has been sweet thanks for all fo the emails again. I have the best friends ever!  Thanks again and I'll See you later my NAGA's




Elder "POGI" Llorens

Monday, September 2, 2013

Week 25

Week 25 September 2, 2013


So its been a really great week here in the Philippines. I ended up getting transfered and  opening a new area and training all at once so its a little frustrating.  But it's all worth it because I am now finally assigned sa NAGA; wooo the City!  I have everything; a good apartment with air conditioning at night and all the restaurants; but all i need is more money a and a car!



The ward is awesome and super cool a lot of support and yeah just loving it right now but  the work is going to be hard. All of those non dinner appointments are going to pay off... got a dinner appointment at 7 and its going to be delicious!!!!! 

I worked for a little bit in Milaor; its about 15 mins out of Naga City and that was cool a good area. It's super fun to be a training elder; so far its a great experience my "anak" child or trainee is Elder Relf from Sandy Utah.  He's awesome and a good missionary. It's hard determining our area boundaries and just finding stuff but its cool well figure it out. The weather is still hot and humid and rains once in a while during the week. I'm really liking the air conditioning at night time but its soon going to end our apartment is really far from our area so we have to commute a little farther than we want. There were 6 elders in an apartment including Elder Finley again. We are going to get an apartment closer to our assigned area so its easier to get to. 

Its been great here in the mission; I gave my testimony this last Sunday at church, saying the Church is true and that I'm loving the land and the people and I know that the Lord is truly hastening his work, that God knows each and everyone one of us personally and wants the best for us. 

Its been a great week and I'm sure this week is going to be better. Thanks for the emails this week they were awesome but I can't write back a lot; I need to get ready for later. I love you all and thanks you all for the encouragement and the support.

Elder Llorens

P.S. and funny you should mention christmas; guess what christmas starts right now in the philippines. Until christmas (Is that weird?) so they are going to be playing random christmas songs soon hahaha.