Tender Mercies Are Everywhere!

This week really has been great! I think the definite highlights of the week were these two things.. we taught a lesson to the District President, President Dulnuan, about gratitude.. and I was a little apprehensive because we had already taught i think 2 active members and i was afraid we were wasting our time... (time is never wasted when you are inviting anyone to come unto Christ)... but it turned out to be one of the most spiritual moments of my entire life... i cant really explain what exactly it was.. but the message had become super personal to us as the missionaries.. but we came to find out that it was super personal to their family as well... The spirit was soooo strong in that lesson that... I dont know i cant even describe it! The kids also were awesome! one of them was really really rowdy but when testimonies and personal experiences started to be shared.. everyone calmed down.. undeniably because the spirit was there..... amazing.

The other was yesterday when we did splits with some members of the ward! We went out and it was my first time teaching without my companion and the two i went with are awesome!! but they didnt have much experience in this kind of thing... but we found a family and they were super nice people! even though they appeared a little sketchy... but we ended up teaching the Restoration of the Gospel to them!

We then went just my companion and me and a awesome member.. we found a man named Jeff and he is really knowledgeable in Christian things and is really willing to ask questions.. which is a nice change because a lot of people are really shy here. But we teach him again tonight so im pumped for that for sure!

I cant think of too many crazy experiences.. but one of my favorite things to do is seriously riding on the back of the jeepneys!!! especially because its just soooo beautiful here!! everywhere is pretty in a different way!. OH and the stars.. WOW... thats somethin else for sure! But Life is great! Loving almost every second! the only time not.. maybe that first few seconds waking up.... im still not a morning person haha but all is well!

One of the focuses of our mission is sharing the "Gift of Jesus Christ"!! He really is the Gift! He is everything for us! I know He lives..... I know that God will communicate with us! sometimes its not exactly how we expect it but He will.

Have a great week!

Elder Navarro

Mahal ko ang Diyos! (I love God)

This week has been probably the best week of my mission so far! 

I didnt experience as much of a culture shock as i expected right at the beginning of getting here (probably due to us staying in the Phils MTC) which has been a huge blessing!!! But this week I've felt really comfortable in how things work and in lessons.. its been great! Elder Saguire and I were able to have a lot of success this week!

I also discovered this morning that I am pretty scared of spiders...... especially ones as big as my face!!!!! We woke up at 5 to go jogging and to play basketball with some members and people around the area. So when I crawled out of bed still half asleep... I went into the other room and was looking for some socks or something... when I put my head up, I was greeted by a HUGE spider on the wall!!!! Holy crap i was super freaked out!  I jumped back and just kinda stared at it for a while.. marveling how big the thing was!!!!! I turned the light on and it started crawling faster than the speed of light on the wall!!!!! I called for my companion to come look at it and we grabbed our bug killer stuff and carefully edged forward to spray the beast... Long story short it crawled into my bags... (which was scary to look for) and then we eventually killed it... but oh boy that woke me up for sure!!!!! 

Anyways.... I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE! The members that we have been able to have family home evenings and dinners with have been amazing!!!! They are so nice and kind and funny! So hospitable to us and willing to help! They feed us Awesome food too.... 

Yesterday was my first sunday in the Branch because last week was District Conference and it was pretty different.. Its held in a garage because the building is under construction in Bagabag... but it was kinda funny because i had always heard of "filipino standard time"... but i realized truly what that meant when we started sacrament meeting at 935.... and church is at 9. HAHA but I got to get up and introduce myself and bear my testimony to the congregation.. in tagalog! Great experience. 

Like I said earlier, we had a lot of lessons this past week and people are awesome and especally the spirit is awesome! The promise is so true that we will know in the very hour what we should say... and even in my limited vocabulary of tagalog.. i am somehow divinely able to get a message across to the people we teach! Then Elder Saguire fills in the rest ha.. but he's awesome!

Got my first taste of filipino basketball this morning!! the gym was AWESOME!! its like a mini arena.. its outdoor... but its indoor... its hard to describe but its a great gym!! and playing this morning was sooooooo nice!!

Anyway..I decided to get a Book of Mormon to read it again and to mark all the references to Christ in it... and so far its been such an amazing experience!! I want to share a scripture(s): Alma 54:10 this is in the war chapters and has a beautiful verse for us to consider! "we will maintain our religion for the cause of our God"!  this got me thinking... WOW! I need to always remember to stand up for what i believe in! Not for others. not for my friends... and maybe not even for my family... (although they are a big part) but for my God! I love that!

but anyway... this is a beautiful part of the world! I'm amazed every day! sorry this one was long!!! seriously! but have a great week!

Ingat!

Elder Navarro

Haha this kids name is Asher! hes one of the funniest kids ever! ha this is one of the few times you'll ever see him not smiling because he was really scared of the chickens hahahaha

Hinanap ang malaking chair

Ate chicken intestines on a stick today.

Lamut, Solano District-First Area (Elder Saguire)

Hello everybody!

I love being here so much!!!!!!!!! We met the mission president and his wife at the mission home in Cauayan and had lunch and got the chance to take it all in for a second and then had an orientation and then right after that we had our "Transfer Meeting" where we met our new trainers!!!!!! My companion/trainers name is Elder Saguire! He's from the philippines and he's an awesome missionary!!! this is only his 4th cycle but he knows what he's doin!!

Our mission has a song and one of the lines in it is "The God of Israel Leads this mission today" And it couldnt get any more true than that statement!!! If we give our best effort he will bless us and the people we teach!!

After the meeting i found out that my area was 3 hours away from cauayan.. so we hopped in a van to head on our way! it was crazy!!! the scenes were sooooooo pretty!!! honestly it really reminded me of Idaho! most of the mission is farmland!!! but obviously there different crops than idaho ha! mostly rice.... well pretty much all rice. haha.

The first night we taught a lesson to MaryRose, a 17 year old girl who is investigating the church... havent gotten to know her too well but i was able to extend the baptismal invitation to her in tagalog! didnt do much more than that,but im excited for her!!!!!

We got to meet a lot of the people here and they are soooo awesome!!!! such nice people! really fun and loving!!! even for a new american like me! haha but no people either think im from the philippines or they call me Joe. i've seen both ha. 

We've been so busy here with meeting and conferences since ive been here we havent had to much time to actually go out and teach people! but this weeek its go time!

President and Sister Rahlf are AWWWEEESSOOOMMMEEE!! I love them! I was lucky because the first sunday here was district conference and there was an area 70 there as well as the Rahlf's!!!! And Pres. Rahlf spoke several times and his messages were great about Hastening the Work!!!! The Lord is hastening His work!! Are we? :) ummm my favorite quote so far has been this... Success starts with TAO PO! which is like knocking here. hahaha.. but seriously i hope everything is going well back at home! You'll be in my prayers!!

sorry this letter is so scrambled... theres so much on my mind its a little overwhelming haha but Christ Lives!!!!! We have a valuable tool in the scriptures! It is a literal way that God can give us answers very specifically. i know that He will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The God of Israel Leads This Work

Love you all!

Elder Navarro

Rice Field

Apartment

I thought you'd get a kick out of our bathroom!

Letter from home-hidden in bedding!