Week ~ 17

Dear world,

IT WAS MY WONDERFUL MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK! I won't say how old she is ha-ha. (I'm 32, of course) But mom I love and miss you! We celebrated with more missionary work and more sweating ha-ha. Anyways, another week dead and gone. We had exchanges this week, this time with the Zone Leaders because Elder Leofo is the District leader. I went over to the zone leaders apartment with Elder Villoso, he's Filipino and goes home in a week ha-ha. They live in a super nice apartment over there. Elder Villoso's companion is an American who is FILTHY rich. So we got to use the air con so I got to sleep with air con for the first time in months  It was awesome. 

Me and Elder  Villoso taught a recent convert about family history. We went to my family search and showed her how to do it. But the sad thing is, I have no idea how to do any of that so that's cool. It was fun though. We have of course been teaching the Vinculado family! They are as good as ever. Sister Cecil came to church in her brand new dress she bought for her baptism. So she is ready to go! Brother Mike came as well lookin spiffy! We had our fifth Sunday lesson on emergency preparedness. The stake wants each barangay to have like specialists who "specialize" in health care, communications, search and rescue, and other things needed for a natural disaster. It was basically asking people to volunteer in case of disaster. Brother Mike is officially the communications specialist even if he isn't a member yet! So that's awesome ha-ha. We had a lesson with them on Saturday about the 10 commandments. Which of course went well! At the end of the lesson we asked them about the blessings that have come from living the WOW and all of the things we have asked them to change! Which BTW they are perfect so far at living the WOW since we taught it! So flippin amazing. But they truly expressed their thanks to us for us visiting them. The words of Sister Cecil, "Thank you guys for opening a new chapter in our life!" Holy cow it was so awesome. They truly want to change and they are ready! We have their interview this Saturday for baptism! They are scheduled to be baptized September 12th! As long as everything goes well, (Which it will) they will be baptized! I am praying I don't get transferred before then, I don't think I will but who knows ha-ha.

This area is so awesome and I love the ward! We have really started focusing on finding new investigators to teach. Which works pretty well after the hours of 6 pm! That's okay though ha-ha. Yesterday we went to visit Brother Johnny, our recent convert, we get there and HE'S ON THE PORCH READING HIS SCRIPTURES! ARE YOU SERIOUS? He is such an example to me. He even asks us questions to clarify some things! He is already finding the true power within the scriptures. I hope everyone is reading everyday. everyday. everyday! It is the key to surviving this life and the trials that are in it! Johnny is a stud and I can't wait to go to his sealing in a year! If i'm still on the mainland ha-ha. Anyways, today we are going to Mega Mall for bowling. BOY AM I STOKED. It's gonna be too good. Not any pics this week... But next week for sure! I love you all! Happy late birthday mom I love you!

Elder Lambert

Headed to Palowan!!!!! I've heard it is an island paradise!! Safe travels Elder Lambert...

Week ~ 16

People they met while on splits!

The Vinculado Family
Their daughter's name is Princess

Another week done. To start, on P-days we play basketball with our district and the Ap's. I suck at basketball but we have fun! We are pretty competitive ha-ha. Its a good time. My nickname is Chicken Curry ha-ha. Because I sometimes wear my Stephen Curry jersey ha-ha. Anyways, yes mom me and Elder Bullock were homies in the mission! He is from Idaho and we were super chill. He gave me a super nice like memory foam pillow. It's amazing. I loved going on exchanges with him ha-ha. 

Anyways, this week was good! Saturday we went on MTC exchanges! A huge batch of Provo missionaries came in on Fridayand then Saturday we took them on exchanges as a zone. Elder Leofo and I each had a companion and we split our area. I went with Elder Kloepfer, he just barely graduated! It was going to be an interesting experience because I lead the area and don't know 100% of what the people are saying! I figure I understand 60% of what people say to me. And I can hopefully respond to what I do understand. We went to brother Boyet and he was washing clothes, so he was busy. Our other appointment fell through as well, so we just talked to tons and tons of people! We OYMed=Open Your Mouth) OYM a group of teenagers and they weren't entirely interested, but they were super chill! They said we could come back and teach them on Wednesday, so we will see how that goes. It was fun though! My companion was so scared to death when he talked, but I know exactly how he feels! I had a good time and I know he learned a lot! 

This week was hard though because a lot of people have "sore eyes." It's what they call it here but it is known to us as pink eye ha-ha. So we struggled teaching the Vinculado family this week, but when we did teach them it was awesome as always! They always have notes and things about their assignment and stuff. They are just so awesome. I hopefully will get pictures of them sent off here soon. Anyways, this week was fun though.

I got my Philippines leathered scriptures back. They are the super small ones and I had the, split into a triple and a bible! Super cool, Very nice during lessons and when we teach about the BOM and the bible. Lots of people here don't think we believe in the bible so I have to show them we do! We are kind of struggling with having progressing investigators, but we keep talking to people! That's how you get more people to teach. I have also been reading in the BOM about Ammon. Flip that guy and the other sons of Mosiah are studs. They are the definition of a good solid faithful missionary. I hope some day I can have even the sliver of faith that they have! But something that brings me comfort is that even they had struggles. And the Lord promised them that as long as they are faithful, he would soften the Lamanites hearts for the gospel! Now I'm not like those guys, with basically a perfect faith. But I sure try! I challenge everyone to build their faith through scripture study and prayer! There is honestly TRUE POWER in the scriptures, and I can testify of that now. I love you all and hope this email was half decent mom;) ha-ha love you nanay! PS these pics are me and my MTC companion and some people we talked to on the street ha-ha. 

Love, Elder Lambert

Week ~ 15

Missionaries from Zone Conference this past week

Here we go. Another one down. A good solid week. We had Zone Conference last week. Which of course was super super good. The "theme" of ZC was obedience and the Atonement. Always good to hear things on that. President Ostler is a stud when it comes to speaking. He really truly loves his missionaries. He almost reminds me of Elder Holland with the way he speaks. We really focused in on becoming a more obedient mission. Which is not a bad thing. Because exact obedience brings miracles! I am seeing those miracles in my mission. Even though I am not exactly obedient because no one is ha-ha. I sure try. We also focused on how to incorporate family history in the work! It is difficult to do because I have never done family history work before. But that's okay. 

We taught the Vinculado family again on Saturday. Right after we went to a baptism for the other ward with them! As soon as the stake president started the actual ordinance, the spirit flooded the room. I looked at Cecil and Mike and they both had huge smiles on their faces! We asked them how they felt about baptism after that, Mike's exact words, "I think its time for us to be baptized." OH FREAK. I just couldn't stop smiling. They are scheduled for sometime in the early weeks of September. We aren't quite sure yet. They missed church because sister was sick. So we will see. They are so ready though. 

On Wednesday we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Moris, he's from Vanuatu. He's a super chill dude. It had rained very hard earlier that morning on our way to start exchanges. Elder Leofo and I (yes that's his name, sorry ha-ha) couldn't get to the other Elder's apartment. We had to get what's called a pedal bike. I don't know if I have a pic, but we squeezed on this thing. Cause my companion is a big guy ha-ha. The driver couldn't get us up a small hill, so i just jumped out into like 2 feet of water ha-ha. And don't worry I bought cheap rubber "dress shoes" so no worries there. It was just a funny adventure. I am more and more excited for our area everyday. 

Last week as well during exchanges, we went to an investigators house. The guy's name is Robert Javier. I have never talked about him before. He is a little crazy and can never stop talking to me about America. Anyways, mine and Elder Leofo's 2nd day together, we talked to his son at the 7/11. And then we went to teach him. we didn't know they were related!? The son is named Fred. Anyways, so on exchanges we went to the Javier house to teach either Fred or Robert. Nanay, (the mom) answered the door and said Fred had died! He was 33 years old! She's like, yeah he was so fat he just died! She hardly cared.. It was kind of sad. So i guess we lost an investigator who was progressing, to death! Pretty sad... But yeah aha. Also we get lots of dinner appointments now because of my companion ha-ha. Pretty awesome! That's about all for this week. I love you all! 

Elder Lambert

Week ~ 14

Beautiful View. Awesome Missionaries!!

Elder and Sister Hanson. Apartment overlooking the city.

TWINS!! Obviously... Seriously, this is funny! :) Elder Lambert & Elder Leofo

Dear world, sorry for the crappy email last week. I am trying ha-ha. Our area is looking so good! Not only cause of all the dinner appointments thanks to my Samoan companion, but because of member referrals! This work moves so much faster through members. The Vinculado family who we have been teaching was a member referral. We neglected to teach them WOW about 2 weeks ago... So  their date needs to move about 1 week back. We gave them a pamphlet to read. They both read it that night and they both new they needed to stop drinking coffee! They both told us they were able to pray for help from our Heavenly Father. SO all in all, they are SO ready. They are a little nervous for the interview, but Elder Leofo is the District Leader so it should be good. They are so ready. I'm so excited for them! 

Yesterday at church we received a referral from a ward member to come over that night and teach a family member! She just wants to know the truth, and she knows that our message is true. She already has a strong testimony about prayer and her faith in Jesus Christ is so strong. The spirit was so strong when she spoke about prayer. We have set appointments for tomorrow and Thursday with her! I'm excited for her. On top of that, we have a less active family that lives in our building, the nanay (mom) is LA, but her kids are very active! We were told to come by and teach their maid, Ria. She is 20 years old and she is way shy. She speaks Cebuano... Another dialect here. She understands English kind of. Apparently I have a "thick accent" and use a lot of slang, She noticed how I say words like "mountain" just like how we say it in Utah ha-ha. Its not my fault! So I speak mostly English to her and a little bit of Tagalog. Her Tagalog is about the same as my Tagalog, but my accent sucks so she can't understand me ha-ha. It's very hard for us to teach her but she is always saying she wants more of the gospel! So we do our best and let the spirit do the rest. She came to church yesterday with the WHOLE family that she works for. So that means our lessons are getting investigators and LA to church! The work is really cruising along here.

I really love the ward too. Last Monday we ate at Elder and Sister Hanson's, they're from Lindon, Utah. They made HAWAIIAN HAYSTACKS. ARE YOU SERIOUS!? Just like mom makes! It was so good. They took us up to the top of their huge apartment and you can see all of Manila! So gorgeous. Anyways. This church is true ya'll! Keep smiling and remember that sa pamamagitan ugn panalangin, Ama sa langit, pagsusulot! I don't know how correct that is but the language is getting better slowly! My companion is a boss and we are super close ha-ha. We talk to a lot more people it seems like, which is good! So yeah. Till next week! 

Elder Lambert

Week ~ 13

Wow another one down. I might have to be short and sweet because I am short on time. The internet broke so that's cool. 

Anyways, new companion! He's awesome, he's a Samoan from New Zealand! He sure loves to talk and he has a lot in common with me ha-ha. He played rugby of course so that's cool ha-ha. I am excited for our area! We have a lot of work to do. He has been out for a little over a year now so his language is solid! I still suck ha-ha. I will get there.

We have been teaching the Vinculado family still. They are progressing SO well. They have come to church 3 times now. I asked them about how they are feeling about being baptized on the 29th of this month. They said that they have seen a change in their lives since we started visiting! I felt impressed ask them if they have felt their faith grow. Sister Cecil started crying, she said that she never gets emotional over spiritual things, but this time was different! I have seen them go from not really caring too much about the gospel, to coming every week to church and doing every single assignment we give them! I gave them the assignment to read half of Alma 32, brother Mike said he's gonna read all of it so he can fully understand everything! He is such a stud ha-ha. I have a picture of them, except its on my companions camera and its gonna have to wait! I have some from last week though. 

Sorry for the short email. I am super short on time because of the stupid internet shop going down... I love you all and next week I will do better at emailing and pictures! 

Beautiful sunset and view!!

So EXCITED!! He found Dr. Pepper!

Elder Lambert and his new companion were invited to a Baby Shower. They are eating chocolate from a diaper in this pic...