Week ~ 25

Dear world,

I HAVE A NEW SON! I was pregnant all day Wednesday in Puerto Princessa because the flight of the new missionaries came in at about 8:45 Wednesday night! It was a longgg pregnancy, but me(ya... whatever!!) and all the trainers went to Shakeys! A pizza place ha-ha. It's not as good as American of course, but for Filipino its not bad! Wednesday morning me and Elder Jones went to the mall in Puerto! He is our district leader, he is training as well. We went to the store, but no Dr. Pepper :( we went to a place called Mang Inasal! It is famous for the missionaries all over the Philippines because it is only 100 pesos for unlimited rice! So of course we went there and had barbecue and unlimited rice! Unlimited rice is actually a big deal for missionaries. It is my favorite place now here ha-ha. And its only in Puerto and basically everywhere except Rizal, but that's okay. 

Anyway, my new companion is Elder Garol! He is from Bacolod city! Which basically means that he is not fluent at Tagalog! He speaks another dialect called Ilongo. He understands all of it, but sometimes his grammar or his vocab is Ilongo haha. That's okay! His English is good enough so that's awesome. I am training a baby, when I say baby he is of course a baby missionary but he is also a baby member! He was baptized in February of 2014! He is brand new! I am basically training him in every way possible. A lot of new missionaries come in and they know how hard a mission is and how to be obedient, but he really doesn't know! As of right now he likes to sleep during studies ha-ha. I need to figure out the best way of approaching that but we will get there. But yeah! It is very hard for me to explain EVERYTHING. And of course he has a strong testimony and all that, he just doesn't know how to quite teach yet! That's okay, me neither! We are learning together and this is an opportunity to lead just about everything! I already am feeling big improvements in my Tagalog even after a couple days! I am excited about that. 

Elder Baquiran basically carried all of the stress of the companionship and the branch here. Right now, guess who carries all the stress, THIS GUY. You could MAYBE call me branch president. Or his counselor. Without the missionaries here in Rizal, these members wouldn't be going to the temple. I have had to make sure that everyone has money and transportation and all that! I have felt the stress... And on top of that, sometimes the cell phone service and email service stinks here so it makes it harder to communicate with people and to coordinate so that adds to the stress! It is all good though! It will be all worth it when those families go to the temple on Wednesday! To be sealed! I wish I could witness, but I am here in Rizal which is also a blessing!

My new companion and I have been focusing on finding here, in the short time we have been here to work. And contacting people we OYMed! So, that has been fun. Sister Resane, (who is basically the mother of all the missionaries ever assigned here. I love her) came to us saying she has been praying for a missionary opportunity. AND IT CAME. We were introduced to her new neighbor sister Riese! She is SO awesome and was asking Sister Resane about the church! I gave her a Book of Mormon and she was stunned! Sinasabi ko sa kanya walang bayad! She was excited there wasn't a payment ha-ha. But we have FHE at their house tonight with a bunch of members so I am excited! I am praying for progression, the only problem is that she's not married... So that should be a good time! 

Also, yesterday I spoke in church! Because every 4th Sunday is missionary Sunday, which is fine. I spoke about the Book of Mormon! And how important it is. I spoke for about 20 minutes in about 90% Tagalog! So the gift of tongues is so real here! I felt the spirit testify to me about how true the Book of Mormon really is! It was a good day. 

I am really slacking on pictures... But today us and a bunch of youth are hiking a mountain! So I am excited about that! Lots of pictures! I am sending a picture of me and my new comp (Its not like i just took this or anything) but we will get a better one this week! This is my new son! And I am actually having fun! Ha-ha I love you all.

It's fun to see a picture of the internet cafe where he does emails!! :)

PS. This is a pic of my district from last Tuesday! Elder Bernard (from Seattle) is on the left! 

Elder Lambert

Week ~ 24

Hi all people of the world!This week has been a crazy week! Lots of sickness going around. Including my companion! But not me cause I am invincible ;) it might be the typhoon that came through here! We received a text I think... Saturday night? That a huge typhoon was going to be coming through the Philippines. They said it wasn't going to hit metro Manila very hard, but that doesn't matter ha-ha. I am on Palawan baby! We got some rain. Pretty hard rain, but that's normal. So nothing at all that seemed like a typhoon! No worries people. I am safe here in paradise. 

More news for everyone, I will be training a new missionary! Here in Rizal! I am very honored to be a tatay and have my first anak! A little nervous, but I know the Lord will help me. I am, very excited for it though! 

Another bit of news, it was Kelsie's birthday yesterday! Can't believe she's 11 already. I'm sure she will be taller than me when I get home from here. 

Anyways, this week was a little hard just because of all the sickness. Elder Baquiran gets sick easily sooo there wasn't much work this week... But it was a good week! We again had hard times with lessons, and again didn't have any investigators at church. Yesterday we had a whopping 41 at church. So that was good. On Saturday I "lead" the area. So basically I lead the lessons and all that. Which was fine, just a little hard cause I am not fluent yet. It was good preparation though. I am very excited for the change that is to come. I will be the "senior" companion. Which honestly doesn't mean anything, but it kind of does if we are training. And then I will be leading a MASSIVE area that has lots of hiking and rice fields. I am excited. Part of me wants a foreigner companion so that I can improve my language. Things are a little bit different here in the Philippines! Should be fun though. 

I also promised myself i was gonna take more pictures of like... Everything! Just because it is so beautiful here. I wish we had more lessons and people progressing, but it is just soo difficult here. Hopefully that will change soon. We have the faith! I would kill for just one baptism ha-ha. We will make it happen:) basically since I will be training, that guarantees me here in Rizal up through January I think. So we've got some time! 

Update on the rats, we still have them. I haven't had time to mix the poison and all that. I am hoping for a companion who will conquer them with me ha-ha! We will see. 

Elder Lambert is a little tired of dealing with these big guys. Especially in the middle of the night when they have no power. He made a point of telling me he still feels bad killing them. He says..."I'm no killer!" Ugh... he has my permission, kill away!!

The rats don't bother his companion, so he's on his own trying to keep them under control and out of their house.

I am really praying for something interesting I can tell you this next week. We just haven't been very effective because of all the sickness of the members and my companion! So yeah.. We didn't go hiking last week either because he was sick, but that's okay! We are going to go next week for sure. 

Kind of a short email... But I took pics of the apartment so people can see! I was bored yesterday so I took some. It could be a nice place. No one has ever cleaned it though ha-ha. Anyways, I am expecting to be making the 5 hour trip to Puerto Princessa either tomorrow or Wednesday. That should be a joy. Its a dirt road too so that's lovely. I am ready for the task though, and I guess you could say I am moving up in the ranks?! Ha-ha kidding.

I also saw a Komodo Dragon! A member had it, and I wanted to eat it, but I wasn't there when they did! it was a little small, but that's okay. My camera case is there for scale. It was pretty dang cool though.

Dinner... I mean, Komodo Dragon!!

 Like I said I am gonna take pics of the area and what it looks like! It is a little hard though to send stuff just because of the bad internet here. Sorry for the lame email. Next week should be better! I am praying that I will get a companion that knows how to have fun, is obedient, and works hard! So lets hope! I love you all!

Elder Lambert

Week ~ 23

Another one gone. Sounds like some great things are going on at home with school and lacrosse and of course our sports teams ;) Ha-ha love it. 

This week was VERY busy. Lots of travel to Narra and Quezon for interviews and district meeting. About 10 hours of travel spread out over about 4 days. We had exchanges this week. I went to Quezon to be with Elder Bernard! He is Samoan so of course it was a good time. He is about a transfer behind me in the field, so his Tagalog isn't the best. He "lead" the area but I "lead" all of the teaching because his language isn't good enough yet. But he sure loves the people and that is what is important. We had a good time, he's from Seattle so he's a Seahawks fan. We have a lot to talk about and a lot in common. It was a NICE break. We had fun and worked hard though. 

This week was also conference! I was SO excited to watch conference! The senior couple who live in Narra, 3 hours away sent the conference on flash drives to Rizal, via shuttle. We didn't get them until about noon. We had to go to the church and set up the computer and "speakers" that I bought for some half decent sound. We got it all set up, and I was so excited! All the faithful members came and we started it, IT WAS IN TAGALOG. NOOOOO. I understand a lot of it, but Tagalog translates almost awkwardly to English. A lot of the members wanted English as well. Because the translation is almost robotic, no emotion. It just isn't the same as hearing Elder Holland speaking and all that. Luckily our district leader has a copy in English, so next week I will listen to it at the house slowly ha-ha. I am still excited for it! 

Also, next Wednesday is transfer day! I couldn't be more excited :)))) It will be a great change, whatever happens. The week was very slow when it came to lessons. We didn't have very many just because we hardly worked. But this week we focused on talking to people. My companion is kind of afraid of rejection so he hates talking to people. I promised Pres. Ostler that we would hit our OYM (Open Your Mouth) goal, which we did! I made sure we talked to people. I am also very excited for some of those OYM's. Some of them were interested! So we will for sure recontact them. 

We have been focusing on really preparing the people here who are going to the temple soon. Some of them don't have their money yet... Or some of them don't have their records updated! So many problems... We are a little bit stressed about it. But we are figuring it out. Like I said, the work was hard this week. But I really feel like we are planting seeds here in Rizal for the future.

I want a baptism SO bad, it will be in the ocean! But I think we are planting seeds right now for the future! I love it here though! For all those wondering, the water here isn't okay to drink... Every apartment in the mission has a super expensive filter, except us. We don't have running water so that doesn't work. We have to text the water guys, and they deliver us pure water! So that costs us a little bit of money. The water we shower with is freezing cold, if any one wants to know. And its clear! So that's good. But yeah. I haven't had a warm shower since the MTC ha-ha. That's okay. Yesterday we had a "dinner appointment" thing at an investigators house. They killed a pig and ate all of it. They made this pork stuff. I had it in my first area, I don't know the name, but it has pork and then blood as well. But when they cook it, it turns black. I don't love it ha-ha. But I choked it down anyways. That's my adventure this week. Hopefully teaching wise, this week will be better. But today we are going hiking with some members! SO I will have some pics next week. I love you all!

Elder Lambert

Week ~ 22 Sup

Hi world. Sorry I didn't email yesterday! We had interviews with Pres. Ostler in Narra! Which is about a 3 hour shuttle trip away from Rizal! The road is ugly too, lots of rocks. Basically a dirt road. Anyway, I had my interview with Pres. Ostler yesterday, of course it went well. We talked about the area in Rizal. He told me he only sends his most trusted missionaries there. I was mind blown. I am only new! Ha-ha.He talked to me about training and how I felt about it, so we shall see. It was great though. We talked about the leadership in Rizal, there are some issues there. But we sort of figured that out. So yeah, overall pretty good! 

The work here is very difficult. We had a pretty solid weak though. We are having a hard time keeping people progressing. So that's hard. We really need to OYM more. But my companion struggles to OYM, so that's a little bit frustrating. That's okay. I am getting alright in the language. I understand most of the lessons, but conversational is still very difficult! I struggle. Thats okay. 

The members are so so awesome here. We have members work with us almost every single day. Which is so nice. My companion doesn't really talk to me when we walk or are in the apartment, so its nice to have people to talk to! The members I just love so much! 

Our families we have been preparing to go through the temple at the end of this month! They are so so excited for that. Other than that, the work is kind of slow. We have lots of lessons. We don't have anybody progressing really. We had a whopping 35 people at church, none of them investigators. So that was disappointing. It is very very trying here in Rizal. Lots of Muslims too, so that is very very difficult as well. But yeah. Good thing the members are so faithful here. I can't really pin point a good solid lesson this week. We had some good ones but no body keeps their commitments, very frustrating. 

This last week we went hiking to this cave in Quezon for district activity! Sorry for my sweatyness. But it was fun! Pretty sure my companion was gonna die though. Lots of stairs to these cave things. But we had a good time! It was a good adventure. 

Pday hike to the cave

Uhhh... being weird!

Also this last week, the first missionary who first opened Rizal 5 years ago visited! He was out in the ocean swimming to catch sea urchins to eat! He caught three, and I ate some of it raw ha-ha. Apparently Americans like this thing in their sushi! It was actually pretty good. I guess in the States it goes for $40 a roll. I had it fresh fresh!! For anyone who wants to know, I eat 3 meals everyday of the week. Oatmeal, fried rice, and canned beans and rice! So I feel full every meal. If anyone has any ideas on how to make any of that taste better, feel free to lemme know. Think of canned things maybe, and MAYBE veggies too, and MAAAAAYBE they will have it here in Rizal.

Tan with the sea urchin

Sea Urchin!! Yum :)

 Also, the rats are still strong. I killed another one. We should be getting poison soon. That should be good. 

Oh yeah i forgot! My companion baptized an older man named Bro. Rolando before I came. We have been reteaching him. He lives alone and is a mechanic at a motorcycle shop. He is about 68 years old. Every time I see him, I feel like I am teaching Grandpa Lambert! Since he has found the gospel, his life is forever changed. He used to smoke and drink everyday. HE has changed everything, and he loves reading the BOM! He is so awesome. He is about the only one that is "progressing" through building his faith. He is a great example. 

PS. This picture is the last time I saw the Vinculado family, I finally got confirmation they were baptized! That made me so happy. Pretty ordinary week, I am hoping for a better one next week. I love you all! Also, sorry for the short email ha-ha.

Elder Lambert