Good morning friends and family,

So this morning has been kind of crazy. Elder Carter was supposed to
Skype to his family, but the internet shop owner forgot and we are
kind of just scrambling now. I sure hope that my Skype works tomorrow
when I try to get on. I guess we will see tomorrow when it happens. I
am thinking that I will be able to Skype, but this is still Palawan.
So the internet is going to be very… Not good. So we just need to be
patient. It might come down to me being able to see you, but you can’t
see me, just so we can have a decent conversation. So just bare with
me, besides the fact that I will see all of you soon so no worries.

It has been a GREAT week! We have really had the best week since I
have been here in Palawan. We have TONS of great people we are
teaching right now that are part member families. We have been
focusing in an area called Mainit. It is like a 30 minute tricycle
ride from our house. It is a little far from the church, but it is
around lots of members. There are tons of part member families up
there so we have been trying to find those who are seekers of the
truth. One of them that we talked to is the niece and the nephew of an
RM here in our branch. They are Sis. Abigail and Bro. Ryan Macles.
They are siblings the kid is like 14 and the girl is 13. We taught a
great first lesson about families, read in the Book of Mormon, and
then we invited for baptism! This was all on Saturday. Then, they came
to church yesterday! It was super awesome. I think that should be
baptized. We gave them a day for baptism on February 4, 2017, but of
course that can change depending on their progression. I am very
excited about them. Another family that we have been focusing on is
the OTHER Macles family. So the Macles family is HUGE. There are like
9 kids and they all have their own families. So we are teaching some
of the grand kids and yeah. So this other Macles family is very
special. Their 3 kids, Joel, Morelyn, and Jenny Ann were baptized by
Elder Gibson last December. And now we are working on their parents
and some of their other cousins! It is so hard to explain, maybe I can
explain on Skype and then mom can type it all out haha. Basta.. It is
so awesome. We are really finding some families to teach so that we
can help them be complete and active in the gospel.

So about Christmas… On Saturday night, we were up in Mainit. Which
like I said, is very far away. We were at the Bagyo family. They are
one of those families who are Natibo, meaning they speak a different
dialect and do things a little differently. They are so kind! We went
to their house and watched Joy to the World hooked up to a small DVD
player and then a car battery. It was a very humble but very amazing
experience. They speak like close to zero English so it was hard for
them to understand the video. I translated it a little bit just to
keep them up to date on what is happening. It wasn’t too bad though at
all! I had a good time and then a member came to pick us up. When he
picked us up, we had to get Elder Jones and Elder Reyes in their area
and take them home. When we got there, I had to go and get them in the
house. Of course they invited us in and we started smashing more food
and stuff. So yeah. Lots of food. We got home a little late because of
that… But I mean. Yeah… Hahah.

Christmas day was good! We had 9 investigators at church! That is how
you know that you did well, is based on investigators at church. The
Lord really blessed us this week, and he guided us to those people who
we needed to focus on at this time in their lives. It was a 1 hour
sacrament block, and that was it. We then got to watch the First
Presidency Christmas devotional with the members. After that, we went
home and ate lots of French toast that we made at our house! Then, we
went up to a place called Espanola to work. It was about a 45 minute
shuttle ride to a member that lives there! They fed us heaps ton and
we left full. After that, we rode home and starting cooking our own
food! We had adobo and sisig. We cooked it at the house with the
members. We have like an outdoor kitchen thing that we cooked at. Then
we moved the table and ate! We were SO FULL. We even bought sparkling
cider and had some nice bottled kuwan like that  So it was nice!

I think this was our week in a short email. We had a GREAT week. The
Lord is blessing us at the best time of the year! It has been another
humbling Christmas as we have been here to share the gospel. I have
loved every second of it. Sana we can Skype tomorrow! We shall see.
Love you all and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Good morning friends and family,

Merry Christmas to everyone! This was a good week. We had lots to do
and were super busy. Monday we had our P-day and just worked. Tuesday
we had zone meeting in Narra. Basically, we got home late from that
and had no work that day. We just had a good training from the zone
leaders and all that. We learned about really going out to find
scattered Israel. Basically we learned how to better apply the
training from our Christmas zone conference from Elder Haynie.  It was
really good to see some of the Elders in the zone. Elder Gibson and
Elder Monson go to Manila every month for meetings and they got some
stuff from my luggage. While they were in my luggage, they pulled out
2 of my ties that they thought would be funny to wear at zone meeting.
So that was a little funny haha. That was our Tuesday I suppose.

Anyways. Our first official day of work was on Wednesday. Me and Elder
Jones went on exchanges in his area. That was a nice rest if you know
what I mean. We taught 7 lessons in his area. We basically killed it.
It made me really see where our area is lacking. I came into our area
and it was kind of… kulang. (ya’ll can translate that if you want.) We
worked and just had a good day in his area. In the mean time, the
other two elders were supposed to be working in our area. I guess
Elder Carter got sick, so they were unable to work. So that was
another day in our area with no work. Thursday we worked hard and
prepared for the Christmas party that was happening on that Saturday.
We taught a few lessons. But for the most part we were rejected to be
honest haha. We were trying to go to an area and find new people, but
it just happened to be where there are lots of Iglesia ni Cristo
members. We just got basically told off all day haha. We had lots of
OYMs though! Nothing much came out of it though. We recontacted a
former investigator of Elder Carter’s from a while ago. Her name is
Anna Mae and she is like 19 years old and has a kid. She is actually
very interested, and we were able to teach her mom who was there as
well. So it was nice to finally get someone who was willing to listen.
We basically just ended the day very tired and sweaty. Friday was an
okay day as well. We weekly planned and I did my best to get a feel
for the area and what we should do for it. This area has a few
challenges, just like all of the areas, but it is a great area. We
also went to the church to have some of the RM members teach us a
dance for the Christmas party, but then we figured it probably
wouldn’t be a good idea, so we just ended up singing anyways. Friday
we worked, did some more finding again so that we can have some new
people to teach. Saturday was a day that I was really looking forward
to. It was a day where we got to go be at the church and feel the
Christmas spirit and spend time with the members. For various reasons,
we need to make some friends and build some trust with members. It was
a great opportunity to see and be with the members. I have a lot of
friends here who are new RM’s and some are preparing to leave on their
missions. We have a lot of fun together with those guys. I got to know
lots of new members and stuff. AND on top of that, we smashed a lot of
super nice food! We ate lechon baboy! It was another one of those pig
things that tastes oh so good. We sang songs and lots of the members
performed like dance number things. It was a lot of fun and some good
laughs. Another one of those stress reliever things.

Saturday we went to church. The thing is, is that there has been an
UNREAL amount of rain here in Palawan for the past 3 days or so. Like
it has hardly stopped. A lot of our area was flooded yesterday after
church. After all that, we had about 3 investigators at church again.
We are doing well in that sense, we just need to really push them
harder. That is what we are lacking in our area is pushing people to
baptism. We just have a hard time inviting people and teaching them on
a consistent basis. We are having fun though. Sometimes a little
rough, but not bad though.  I am really loving it here and I guess
Christmas is in a few days. So I will see some of you soon! Love you
all!


PS i will work on some of the pics

-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Good morning world,

We are just having another nnice hot sweaty morning here in Brookes
Point. I still love it here. We had a super busy week last week so we
ended up emailing on Monday night, when I was expecting to email on
like Wednesday. Its okay though because we got the fast internet up in
Puerto. We actually ended up back in Brookes Point on Wednesday
because the travel is so far away. It was nice though. It was a nice
couple days to relax and enjoy the Christmas spirit, especially with
the other missionaries from all over the island. Lots of stuff is
going on here. We will see how that goes.

So the 4 missionaries here in Brookes Point, we are are trying to
organize a Christmas proselyting activity where we can invite people
to come out and have some fun, and learn about the message! So what we
are doing, is we rented this like basketball court thing where we can
invite people to come out to this court where we can watch Meet the
Mormons and watch some of the church’s Christmas videos they have done
over the years. So far it is taking a lot of planning. We are trying
to get some money for it as well to rent some nice speakers and stuff!
So hopefully we can get all that approved. It should be a great
opportunity for people to learn about the church, watch a movie, and
have some light snacks. That will be going down on December 23rd.
Also,  this coming Saturday we have our branch Christmas party! I cant
wait for that one. I guess we are going to do a talent thing for the
branch. I think that would be the 4 of us, so we will see how that
goes ha. I look forward to that.

So the work here in Brookes… Hmmm. It is a little difficult right now
here. I mean it wouldn’t be right if it was easy. We are having just
some struggles just because the area is so big! Transportation is a
bit of a problem just because we have to make sure that we are getting
a good deal when it comes down to our transportation. It is a little
difficult since lots of people think that we are two rich white guys,
when in reality we know what the price should be. So that is a little
tough. We have to like work them down but they come up with some of
the dumbest reasons to raise the price. We do alright though. We work
in an area called Mainit. It is like a 20 minute tricycle ride up
there. It is like up in the forest. So it is a lot of fun to go up
there. It is like hiking through the forest and stuff. It isn’t too
hot either. There are TONS of members in that area too, which includes
Less Active members.  So when we go up there, we have lots to teach,
the problem is, is finding transportation when it is like 7 or so at
night. The other day we got a free ride in the back of a flat bed rice
truck thing. That was super fun ha. We had a ball on that one. We have
been teaching a few people. Some are progressing, but not a lot of
them are at a fast pace. Especially since we had a lot less work this
week. Some of the people are coming to church, others disappear at
random times and we cant find them. We really are doing our best . We
had a lot of investigators at church though! The issue is, is that
they are kind of on and off investigators. We are going to really
focus this week on people who will progress so we look forward to
that.

I think that is all for the area. We are trying to get adjusted to
each other, me and my companion. Its very interesting, but it is
going. I guess we will skype in a few weeks! That will be good. We
will see how it goes with the internet here in Brookes. Love you all!

PS i will add some pics

-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Dear World,

So sorry I am on so dang late. We are currently here in Puerto Princessa Palawan here at the church. So yeah. I will explain that momentarily. 

So this last week was pretty good. We knew it was going to be a busy week just because of all what was going to be happening this last weekend, but sufficeth to say I am/was really excited! We had a lot happening this weekend. So I will start at the beginning.

Friday: We had our weekly planning. And that was a joy, as always. We taught a few lessons to some people. We were hoping to teach Sister Michelle again, but she ended up cancelling on us after we scrambled for a member to work with us so that we could teach her. So yeah, also we packed for the weekend, since we were going on a road trip!

Saturday: So we ended up (as a branch) renting 4 shuttle/van things so that the entire branch would be able to go to district conference. We ended up going with the branch at about 6 in the morning all the way up to Narra. We road in the van with like 6 RM's and a couple of guys who are preparing to go on missions. Lets just say it was a troll fest, (or the new "slang" these days: Savage.) Everyone was so savage in that car. Lets just say we had a good time and then ended up sleeping. It was nice. We ended up in Narra at about 1 I think and then we had to go study. At 4:00 PM we went to the chapel to prepare for the Saturday night adult session. I was SO excited because I was going to see the Rizal members! Just like last year they were the choir. But this year i wasn't helping to direct it. They did a good job. Anyways, before the session, I walked by the room that Rizal was rehearsing in and Sister Mia saw me. I remember seeing her jaw drop and she liked yelled my name and they all ran out to say hi! I was so excited and basically almost starting crying. Several of them teared up a bit too. Boy I miss them a lot. It was GREAT to see them. The session was great as well. We had an area Seventy there that presided at the conference. Also President and Sister Ostler were there and of course spoke. It was interesting because they had a translator. A lot of the members here in Palawan speak very little English, its very different than the mainland. It was a great conference, we learned a lot and the area Seventy that spoke is awesome. It was interesting because he spoke TONS of English in his talk. So we understood everything he said. Sometimes it is a little difficult to understand that kind of stuff just because it can get deep. It was good though. After the session we drove the 45 minutes in a shuttle to Narra so that we can sleep in the Narra Elder's house. That morning, we woke up and went to the Sunday morning session of the District Conference. 

Sunday: At the conference, we started at 9 in the morning. Again I saw the Rizal members. They kept on telling me that I needed to come back to Rizal. I want to so bad, I just kept telling them that, but we can wait I suppose haha. It was a great session as well. They also reorganized the District presidency here in Narra District. The new District President is from Brookes Point. He will do a great job, and hopefully in the next few years we can see this area become wards and stakes. The vision for the area was really like layed out for everybody to see and understand. They can make that happen. it may take some time though. After the session we took some nice pics and I had to have another good bye moment with the Rizal members. So that was a joy. Immedietly after, we got into shuttles and made our way to Puerto Princessa for our Mission Tour. This year, Elder Allen D. Haynie of the area presidency came to our mission to speak and train us. That was actually this morning, since I am emailing at night time. 

Monday: I thought that I would be emailing on Wednesday (sorry I forgot to tell everyone last week) but then it changed and here I am emailing... So next week it should be back to normal next week. Anyways, after waking up in a NICE hotel bed and CRYING in my 25 minute hot shower, we showed up to the church for our conference with Elder Haynie. We learned about the gathering of Israel! It was pretty deep doctrine, but he made it sound so simple, and so true. It was a great conference, but because of my lack of time, I will have to talk about it at a later date. 

This week was super nice. We had a nice relaxed week this last week. We are kind of struggling in our area. My companion is still trying to figure out the area, but thats okay because it is forcing me to learn it faster and get to know the members faster. So no problems. We are doing well.  I really love the members here. The area is great. I am just kind of prepping for a nice Christmas again here in paradise. So yeah. I love you all. Hope you like some of my pics. Here is a few more. Also, I think I will be able to skype from Brookes, so we can discuss the plans for that in the next few weeks. I love you all! 

PS the hat that I just got like 10 minutes ago is of course too small for my giant ulo. 

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Good morning family and friends,

It was a pretty good week. This is Palawan so the area is a little
more difficult and there is a lot to plan for. We have to worry about
paying for transportation and stuff like that. It makes it a lot of
fun. I am very blessed to be here in Palawan again! The branch is
great as well. There are a TON of RM’s here in the area. Which is very
surprising. But it keeps the branch very strong. They are fun to work
with as well. I need their help sometimes too and it is very nice to
have people with REAL missionary work experience.

This week went fairly well in terms of the work. We had 6 investigators
at church this week! That is very good for this area. Some of our
“regular” investigators didn’t even come so it should have been even
higher. It was a great week though. I am really excited about some of
them as well. We have one girl named Michelle, she is a student here
at Palawan State University. She is catholic and originally she was
kind of listening just with her older sister, but her sister has kind
of lost interest. So I told my companion we should focus on her. This
last week we taught about the Plan of Salvation. She said that they
have that in their church. I kind of laughed to myself about that, and
then she realized that there is no Heaven and Hell and that there are
the 3 Kingdoms of Glory. So we taught a quick lesson overview about
the whole plan and it went really well! So we invited her to church
and she said she was invited to a different  church. I basically VERY
limited her free agency and told her that we will be at her house to
pick her up. She said that would be fine, so that’s what we did! We
went to get her and she brought her Muslim friend to church. Which was
great! All of the RM’s did a great job fellowshipping and all that.
There are a few sister RM’s so yeah. It went well for them I think. I
sure hope that they will come again on Sunday. We stopped by their
house to set an appointment and she was already heading to her
church.. So that was a little awkward haha but it was good! She said
it was a good experience with our church and said we could come over
tomorrow. So yeah.

We have been working with this LA family named the Bagyo family. There
are SO many of them. They don’t speak Tagalog as their first language.
They speak the Native Palawan language. It is called Natibo. I don’t
really understand any of what they are saying. So I am doing my best
to learn their language! I am writing down words when they explain
them to me. So it is a lot of fun learning their language. They
understand Tagalog of course, but when they talk to each other they
use their native dialect. They also have 0 Christian background. So
when we taught the first lesson with some of the nonmembers over
there, they didn’t even know who Jesus Christ was. So that threw me
for a HUGE loop. I wasn’t expecting that and I actually had to explain
the crucifixion. So that was interesting. Some of them came to church
as well! So that was really cool.

Our last investigator that we are teaching is JR Delgato. We had a
great experience with him this last week. We taught him about the Book
of Mormon and he said he doesn’t know what the Holy Ghost feels like.
So we explained it and told him to read and pray about it. So he did.
We came back and he said he prayed.He then paused for about 20
seconds. Then he looked at me and said that he knows its all true.
Then he paused again, then looked up with tears in his eyes and said,
“I know the Book of Mormon is true.” The spirit flooded the area we
were in (because we were teaching outside his house in the forest
haha) and I know once again that is was true. It was such a great
experience. Those are the ones we dream of out here.

I think that is all here. I drink lots of Mountain Dew. So no worries
there. It will never top off Dr. Pepper though. We also have to cross
a river to get to some areas. So that is my favorite part. I am sorry
but I don’t trust these computers if I send pics. I am deathly afraid
of getting my pictures wiped. So I am so sorry about that. I just
don’t wanna risk it. I think that is all for this week. I am doing
well and happy as ever! Love you all.


-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Brookes Point, Palawan

Dear family and friends,

This is it. I made it. I am now assigned in Brookes Point Palawan.  I
love it here so far! It is just a bigger version of Rizal. The town is
much bigger, which means more people. It is also a tougher area, which
is good with me! I have another American companion haha. He is from
Missouri, from a town that had like 100 people with it. So Brookes
Point is right up his alley. I actually know a lot about the area.
From Elder Leofo and Elder Gibson so I have heard some stuff about the
place here. Some of the members have seen me before as well just
because of the District conference last year when I was in Rizal. So
far so good!

So my companion’s name is Elder Carter. He was companions with Elder
Reber in the MTC. It was actually prophesied by Elder Reber himself
that I would be with him like 2 months ago. And here I am! Also, I no
longer have his awesome typer thingy. So my emails might be a little
shorter again. Especially since the internet here is basically pretty slow. So
just bear with me people, especially since you will all see me in a
few months ;) I will do my best to send pics home. But I also don’t
want any viruses. So I will be doing my best to send pics, but I will
be also taking a CRAZY amount of pics in this tour of Palawan. So
yeah. So far so good!
The area is a little tough. I wouldn’t expect anything less. The area
is HUGE. So transportation costs are through the roof. If we plan
effectively, we can minimize that. I feel bad for Elder Carter. His
trainer was also a VERY new missionary. So the two of them had minimal
experience. Elder Carter will hopefully benefit from at least some of
my experience. I also feel bad because he doesn’t know the area very
well either. So I am forced to memorize the area and the people. Which
is not a huge deal. It makes it more fun for me. Hopefully I can get
the hang of it fast so we can get some things moving this week.

In terms of lessons… I actually didn’t get to Brookes Point until
about Thursday. So we didn’t teach a lot of people. On Friday we went
out to the super far area. We met a family named the Baguio family.
They are converts from a while ago. The nanay that lives there is
super nice. She doesn’t know how to read actually. It actually threw
me for a loop because I haven’t heard that since my Rizal time! Also
all their family was speaking the native Palawan dialect. They just
call it, “Nativo.” So yeah… We didn’t understand anything they were
saying, but when they speak to us they use Tagalog. So yeah. That
again threw me for a loop haha. It is just so like… primitive in some
of these areas. I came from having malls and thousands of people to
like nothing! Lots of the people far away use solar panels for power.
So that is cool. The people in the town though do just fine. There are
some NICE houses here. So yeah it’s awesome.

Nothing else to really report on. The flight was good. The food is
good. We have a HUGE house here in Brookes. And I have  roommates!
Elder Jones is from England. He is a cool guy. We knew each other from
our time in Las Pinas. He is cool and his companion is a new
missionary from here in the Philippines. So yeah that is nice. We also
have some members come and do ALL our laundry. So that is a huge
blessing. We just have to pay them a little. All is well.  I don’t
know what else to say. I don’t really know anybody yet here. The
branch is really strong actually and we have an actual chapel. We are
doing our best and hope to have a baptism maybe in January. So yeah. I
love you all! Hope I can attach some pics. We will see. Love you all.


-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Palawan Baby!!

Dear friends and family,

This week was a really solid week. From start to finish, it was one of the best/favorite weeks of my mission. Lots happened this week. I will start with Pday. 

So last Pday we went to the the Jose Rizal monument in Pasay. Jose Rizal is the national hero of the Philippines. The monument that we went to was at the area where he was shot and killed by a firing squad. We had to get special permission for us to go there, even though the monument is super close to our house honestly. We saw the big huge statue, where they buried his remains. They have two Filipino marines guarding the statue. I had to explain to my companion that they were real people guarding the statue, they just aren't allowed to move. We paid to go back into the grounds area where he was actually shot and killed. They had HUGE 10 feet tall statues to portray him being shot. I have  pics of that. So we just walked around that area. It had a special spirit to it, it was basically a hallowed ground. It was super cool. There were a huge group of Koreans there on a tour, their Korean tour guide studied at the University of Utah, so he knew who we were. That was kind of cool to see. Anyways, so it was cool to be able to see the spot where all that went down. After that, we just toured some like Chinese garden areas and just walked around the area where there were lots of ponds and trees and stuff. It felt a LITTLE bit like Palawan. So that was cool. We walked to the end of the grounds area of the Rizal area and there was this huge statue. It was a statue of Lapu-Lapu. He was a king here in the Philippines like 500 years ago I think. But there was a 50 statue of this guy. So that was pretty cool. We got some nice pics at this place. I can't send them all, but I can send a few. It was a solid Pday. I also knew of this restaurant called "Army Navy." You can bet your bottom dollar that place had hamburgers AND burritos. So I smashed a burrito for the first time in 20 months. It wasn't quite cafe rio, but it wasn't bad. So that was our PDay, super awesome day. 

Tuesday and Wednesday was a pretty normal day. We just worked. Thursday we had zone meeting. We discussed a few new things that the mission will try out. One of the new things in the mission is the new OYM standard. Before we were to talk to 190 people a week. It got DROPPED to 105. I was a little mind blown. I think President is looking for more quality OYMs more than quantity at this point. So we will see how that goes. Also, our zone leader Elder Jim will be going home this week. So he gave his final words. He told a story, I will give a little run through, because it was so cool. So Elder Jim is from Ponpeii. I think thats the name, its like close to Guam or something. So this is the story, "So I knew a kid, who's father died when he was very young, he had 6 brothers and sisters, not including himself. He was the oldest of all the kids. This kid was kind of always getting in trouble, just kind of messing around with no direction in life. His family had a farm that he had to work on so they could have a little bit of food and some money to survive. One day he got into trouble with his mom, and his mom sent him away to work. While he was working on the farm, two "angels" (the words he used) came to him. These angels were wearing a white shirt and a tie, with a name tag. These 2 white skinned "angels" talked to this kid in his native language, which kind of surprised him, but kind of struck him. They asked to share a message. Now, this kid was interested, but his family was through and through Catholic, so he was reluctant, but he said yes. These kids came back the next day. The rest is history. This young man was baptized soon after, but only him. Not a single one of his siblings or his mom was baptized, just him. Less than 1 year later, this young man was in the MTC. Preparing to go out in the mission field. This kid marked 1 year in the church WHILE in the MTC. His family didn't want him to leave, but he knew it was the right decision. For 6 months of his mission, he didn't hear a single word or get a single email from his family. Until he was assigned in Quezon, Palawan. He got an email saying that his mother had been baptized a member of the church. He didn't know what to thing. After all his prayers and fasting, they were being answered. Since that time, 5 of this young mans siblings have been baptized. The last sibling lives in Ohio, she will be baptized on November 19, 2016, this coming Saturday. His prayers were answered. Prayer works." That is the story that Elder Jim told us. That young man, was himself. I had kind of known his story, but I had never heard it all in one big thing like that. The spirit was so strong. I am so grateful for the family situation that I live in. I have been so blessed. I was really touched by his experience. Tomorrow he will be going to the temple to have the temple work done for his dad. He will be baptized and confirmed for him, and then endowed. I love Elder Jim, he is the man. He is a spiritual giant. He will be missed here in the mission. 

Saturday was the next eventful day of the week. As a district and as kabahay (roommates) we had 4 baptisms! Sister Jahn Mae and Kristina Delacruz were baptized from our area, as well as Danny Santos and Rae Ann Delacerna from the other area. It was a great day. It was so SMOOTH! We made sure that every thing was in place, that the font was clean and everything. We did a good job and it went so well. The spirit was strong. The 4 candidates got up and bore their testimonies. Brother Danny Santos got up to bare his. He started crying, he knows he made the right decision. He dropped all of his alcohol and everything, so that he can be baptized. That was cool to see. Sister Kristina and Jahn Mae did great as well. Its funny because they are both the same age as Mckenna and Kelsie. It was a good day. I have so many pictures from this week I can't send them all haha.

It was just a great week. I couldn't have asked for a better last week here in Tondo. I think this will be my last week here. I have really liked it here. Like I have said before, my nose is numb, I have seen so many things that I think I could have lived my whole life without seeing, BUT I have loved every second of it. We will see where I end up on Wednesday. I wanna go back to Palawan of course, but I would be missing about 3 temple sealings, so its kind of hard to decided haha. We will see.

***Note from Mom:  This next section is regarding the recent Presidential election. Elder Lambert does not have a TV or internet access at all. So when he says he is out of the loop on the election, he means it! The only internet he has is once a week to email friends and family. So, I think really all he knows about Donald Trump is that he is a wealthy businessman who appeared on a reality TV show, which I think is what made him laugh. I'm sure he'll be more educated/involved when he is back in the country, but for now, his focus is missionary work! :)***

Another funny experience this week. So we all know that the election was this last week. It was actually very popular here. The Philippines really looks up to the US as like a big brother. So lots of people paid attention to it. Therefore, I was kind of in the loop about it. Now, I have no idea who I would have wanted in the election, I can't really say my opinion because I am super out of the loop on that stuff, but I laughed that Trump won. So yeah. Anyways, with that in mind. There is an American that lives in our area. His name is Bobby. He is from Maine. He knew right off the bat that I am from Utah, and we have talked before as well. I saw him on November 14th, which is what we call Veterans day in the US. I actually didn't know that... Because they don't really do that holiday here in the Philippines. But my homie Bobby, is retired US navy married to a Filipina. He was drinking some super hard alcohol in celebration for Veterans Day. He saw me and wanted to talk to me about the election. He asked me what I thought about it and I said something along the lines of, "Well, I can't really say. I am just a missionary and we actually are discouraged to watch that stuff so... I don't know." He proceeded to rip me a new one, (in English btw) "This is the problem with the young generation Americans! They don't care about politics. I care, I am a Navy veteran, I care! I want what's best for our country! You should pay more attention to that stuff to get an idea about life!" Now, he didn't really yell at me but he kinda just chastised me about not watching the election and paying attention to it. I kind of laughed. It was super funny for me. He is actually a really kind guy, and its good to see someone from the US every once in a while. He was super happy that Trump won and explained all that to me, but I am not emailing to explain about that. It was just a funny experience for me. 

I think that is all for this week. I figure that I should have a good last email for my last one in Tondo before I head off the paradise in Palawan. I don't know the area I will be in, but it is the same zone that I was in before when I was there. I love Elder Reber's AlphaSmart typer thingy. I might be going back to being lazy on emails in the future. So sorry about that. Thank you and love you all! 

Elder Lambert 

PS I have TONS of pics, but I can't send them all so sorry not sorry. 

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Rizal Monument

Gotta rock the shades!

Close to the water, thank goodness for the selfie stick!

Gotta picture next to Confusious. Had to do a little Napolean Dynamite!!

This tall statue is Lapu-Lapu, it's like 50 feet tall!

My boy, Reber!

We are all squinting, it was so bright outside!

Gotta smash that burrito!

This is my man, Elder Jim!

This is Danny Santos. We love him lots, even though he is from the other area.

Good morning people of the world,

I hope everyone is doing well today. I know I am! Today we went to the cultural center here in the Philippines. So that is why I am on late today. 

This was a pretty solid week. We did a lot better than we have in the past few weeks. The thing that was the highlight is that Jahn Mae and Kristina passed their interview! So they will be baptized this coming Saturday. I was super excited, they are really active in the ward, including in the YW, so I think this will be a good thing for them, and their family. They are super awesome. Sister Brianna and Brother Aljan are hopefully on track to be interviewed this next weekend and then be baptized November 19. The problem with Aljan, is that his mom hasn't given permission for him to be baptized. His mom is working in Saudi Arabia, so it is a little hard for us to go and talk to her about it. So we are really really praying that she will say yes. Brianna I think will be fine, her mom is a member anyways. We have a few more people that we are working with that have lots of concerns. We are really trying to cover those concerns, I think that lots of people don't understand how our church is different. They think the message is good and all that, but sometimes its hard to clarify our purpose right up front. Anyways, I think that is about all the big things. 

On Saturday, while our investigators were being interviewed, I got to interview an investigator from the other area. His name is Danny Santos. He was an OYM from the other Elders from about 2 months ago. That guy is AWESOME. He is already in Mosiah 28 and every time they go over there he has his Book of Mormon open on his table. He loves the Book of Mormon and everything he says he always ties it back to the Book of Mormon. Everything he said to me was what we love to hear as missionaries. Everything makes sense to him, and things are starting to kind of fit together, in terms of a living prophet and all that. It just shows that the Lord really does prepare people to receive this message. When we commit him to do stuff, he always says, "I won't try, I will do it!" Haha so he is awesome. I have taught him a few times on exchanges, and he always has good insights. So that was a cool experience and a cool interview that I had. 

Another thing that we did, is that me and Elder Reber taught piano! Hahaha we all know how good Elder Lambert is at piano :') It was a little bit of a joke honestly hahaha. Elder Reber is super good piano player. So it is a little funny because I have to help him with the Tagalog. So while he is teaching/explaining the concept, I have to try to understand it so I can explain it in Tagalog to the students. So I was kind of learning piano too. It went okay though for not having like any books or anything to teach with. It went well. The pics I took of that are blurry... So yeah that's cool. One of the members I think put lots of the pics on Facebook, so ya'll can look there :) 

I think that is all for this week really.. I don't know what else to say other than, don't forget to dab! ;)

Elder Lambert 

PS I will see if i can send pics in a minute. This computer has a virus... 

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth


These pictures are taken from a sweet sisters FB page.
Thank you so much!!