Pasko ng Pagkabuhay! (Happy EASTER)

Just a quick update! I'm not being transferred this cycle! I love this area! And I'm actually pretty happy that I'll be staying here! That means I'll be here in Cauayan for 6 months! WAHOO! And another cycle with Elder Pandaog... and AWESOME Elder and great companion!

Let me just update you real quick on a really awesome thing we did yesterday! First things first, we had a baptism! Sister Emelyne Andres was baptized yesterday afternoon after the District Conference (I'll give an update on that later) But we had one of the most well-organized baptisms I've ever been part of haha! And what I mean by that is everyone was on time!! For the first time EVER!!! haha jokelang. But we were all ready to go, the pictures had already been taken, people were dressed, the speakers were there, and everything was ready to go 30 minutes before we were supposed to start! After the baptism, she bore an awesome testimony! Even started it in English! haha But we have been a little worried that she was just getting baptized for her boyfriend and his family, but I honestly feel that she was doing it for the right reasons.

Another really cool thing we did yesterday was we put together an Easter Missionary Fireside! The idea came from one of my batchmates, Sister Labis, who attended an event that the missionaries did in her home town. We just put together a lot of musical numbers describing the life of Jesus Christ. From before the world was until His resurrection. There were whole group numbers, solo's, duets, and small groups. In between each number, there were missionaries reading selected scriptures describing what the next song was about. It was an awesome activity and a lot of people were there! I played the piano for a lot of the songs... (oh yeah I haven't told you... I'm like the go-to piano player in sacrament meeting every sunday!) And then I sang a solo as well! Gosh I was not too excited about that when Sister Labis told me I had to do that a few weeks ago. I sang "Be Still My Soul" to describe the world at the time of Christ's death. After all the songs, there were some recent converts who bore their testimonies afterwards... It was a great activity.

Love you and have a great week!

Elder Navarro

P.S. I got to see some Elders and Sisters before they went home! Including Elder Monilla!

Welcome to my life!

the Baptism Board on the most we've had in the mission since President Rahlf has been here! Last Saturday

What are the odds?? #BNav flashbacks!

Awesome Week!

This week was great!

We had a couple of super powerful spiritual experiences this last week. We've been working with an investigator named Henry Canta for probably about 2 months now, a middle aged man with 3 sons. He's been super interested in the gospel and actually was an investigator for some time a few years ago, but never continued because for some reason, the Elders didn't come back one day. Anyways, the only problem we've had with him (and this is the problem we see with most of the people we teach) is that he hasn't completely grasped the idea that there is only one true church. His belief is that if you believe in Christ and do good and be nice, you will be saved... which to an extent is true. Exaltation is a different conversation. Anyways, we felt that we should watch the Restoration video with him, just so he could see and have a good idea of who Joseph Smith was and what really happened to him. (It makes a big difference in my opinion when investigators have a real visual so they can really see what it was like). As always, it was powerful to watch that video and feel of the spirit testify of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. And after discussing it and testifying for a few minutes after, we invited him to pray to close. And while he was praying, in the middle of his prayer, it was a like a wall just came out of nowhere and I felt one of the most powerful manifestations of the spirit that Joseph was a prophet and that our message was true. I could tell I wasn't the only one feeling it because I started to hear in Brother Canta's voice that he was starting to cry! He included in his prayer this, "Please make it manifest to me if Joseph Smith was a true prophet" After that, he was just thanking us for teaching him and for the things he had been learning. He then said over and over, "Iba talaga ito" which is something like "this feels a lot different." We couldn't let an opportunity like that pass, so we testified that it was the Holy Ghost testifying to him that the message was true. It was one of the most powerful moments of my whole mission. While we were driving home, I asked Elder Pandaog, "Did you feel that during his prayer?" He said, "Yeah I did!"

Haha tell Toby that I totally understand what his job is like! Haha moving things like crazy and almost becoming the moving squad! But this last week, Elder Jones (a senior couple missionary over the housing) had us come with him out to Naguilian (where the storage unit is) and we just did a whole home makeover of the place. We had 2 storage units, but we "consolidated" it all into one unit. Which means we took almost everything out of both and packed it all into one. One of the funny things was we got rid of a lot of the desks and extra stuff that no one is going to use and told the people really close there that they could just have it... when they saw that people started taking the stuff we just set out, people FLOCKED! It was like people just started coming out of nowhere to grab a desk and some stuff! It was a funny sight!

But I know this work is true! I join in the millions that say "Hallelujah" for the Savior! I know that God lives and that Jesus is our Savior! He loves and is aware of all people! Thank you for the love and support!

Elder Navarro #1 (Brandon)

Don't worry that's soup! haha

And that guy is our Branch Mission Leader, Brother James

03.07.16

Just an update, my birthday went great! I remember thinking on that day, "wow... my parents are probably at the Idaho Center right now!" I had a moment of 10 second homesickness, but then was back in the game and focused! We had a great day that day! There was a baptism that we attended that morning of the Sister Training Leaders. But the funny thing was that the person in charge of the baptism, didn't get there until 7:55 with a baptism that was supposed to start at 8.. now that's normal considering the culture here. But the problem was he didn't start the font until that time. And you know those things take 2 hours to fill up! So we had hoses from outside running into the font and we got buckets from the mission office to fill up and bring to the font to speed up the process... it was a fun experience haha!

I decided on my birthday that I was going to work EXTRA hard. So that's what we did! We met and exceeded our goals for the day and when we were on the tricycle going home, I just had the calmest and most wonderful feeling of peace in the whole world. I felt the Lord was pleased with what I had done that day and where I was as a missionary. At that moment I knew that He knew me. It was funny because that feeling that overcame me came when the motor of the tricycle was buzzing and cars were flying to and fro, but that feeling was undeniable. THIS WORK IS THE BEST!

We had MLC this last week that was completely focused on Leadership skills. President and the Assistants talked about "Higher-Law Leadership" that really focused on how to lead like Christ. It was cool how he compared the Law of Moses to the Higher Law and then put it into a missionary leadership perspective. It was great!

But we had some really interesting things happen this week in terms of the work! We had a good week this week! We have worked hard even though we had some time taken out of our schedule. We had some unexpected people come to church yesterday! The Bulacan family, an inactive/part-member family whom we have been working with for several weeks now, our investigator with a baptismal date at the end of March, and our neighbor at our apartment complex! She was totally unexpected! Elder Pandaog and I were sitting in Elder's quorum and I saw her and her son walking into the chapel. I said to Elder Pandaog, "Elder.... is that our neighbor??" "Oh wait... it is!" We ran out to greet her. That was a fun experience! Other than that the work has been going well. We've been talking a lot more about how to solve investigators concerns. Finding help as well from each other, the branch, and personal and companion prayers.

We played some basketball again this morning with Elders Higgins and Antenor cruz. They are awesome to play with! But usually on P-days we get haircuts, email, grocery shop, study, and then go out to work... its not really that glorious of a day haha :)

But sounds like youre doing well back there! Good to see pictures of you and of Jason and Megan's family! They're getting soooo big!!!! Love you and have a great week!

Love,

Elder Brandon N

you'll never imagine, but it got cold in Cauayan one day.