Good morning world,

So I guess today is P-day so we are emailing this morning. We had
flights and all that yesterday along with a hour shuttle ride back to
Brookes Point so it was a long day of travel, but here we are! Today
we will be going as a district up to Mainit Falls so we are excited,
even if it is our 3rd time going up there. So we look forward to that.

So, last Thursday we had our flight scheduled to go into Manila. We
all requested (as was the idea of President Ostler) to work in former
areas to see some people that we have worked with in the past. So I
requested my first area since it is close to the mission office. Then
we got our assignments and the requests we put in were not granted. My
roommates were assigned in my area and our District Leader was
assigned in our roommates area and then we were assigned in our
District Leader's area. So it was all backwards. Anyways so not gonna
lie I was a little bit sad about that, but it all ended up working out
like always. So we go to the assigned house and then they tell us to
move and then yeah. We ended up in an old missionary house with the 4
of us. My old companion, Elder Panugao slept in that house as well
with us. It was a bit of an adventure because we had no rice, no rice
cooker, and no stove AND we didn't know the surrounding area so it was
a joy to get around hahaha. It was fun though. We worked with the
Elders on Friday in their area. So it was a good time.

Saturday was Elder Bednar! We had a huge mission luncheon on Saturday
before the big conference thing. So we got to see EVERYONE. I
basically walked in and could have started crying. It was the first
time in like 5 years that the whole Manila mission was in one place. I
saw all the homies from Elder Eteaki, Elder Jones, Elder Reber, Elder
Bernard, Elder Reyes, Elder Carter, And yeah. It was just so awesome!
I wanted to get more pics but I had to talk to the office couple about
some going home stuff. So I was a little sad but that is okay. It was
good to see all of them!

After that we went and took a huge mission picture. We had to wait for
Elder Bednar because he was to join us in the picture. While we were
waiting, church security had the idea that someone should start
singing. So one of the sisters with a CRAZY good voice started singing
"I Know That My Redeemer Lives." And then a few of them like blended
in and it was amazing. Then, we all sang "We Thank Thee Oh God for a
Prophet." As soon as we like got through half of it, Elder Bednar
walked in and the spirit FILLED THE ROOM AGAIN. So at this point, you
can all imagine where Elder Lambert was at this point. He was getting
a LITTLE teary eyed. So yeah.  I will never forget about that
experience. I know he is an Apostle of the Lord.

The first thing he said to us was, "Good morning Elders and Sisters,
are you ready to work?" I was super surprised but it turned into a
huge discussion thing with him and us. Some of the stuff he said was
very deep, but exactly what I needed. I am not going to say much about
it, you can ask me in a few weeks. I know everyone wants to know, but
it is just so long I don't have the time. But yeah. Anyways. It was a
good weekend. I love being a missionary. Time is flying. I love you
all.

-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Good morning world,

I hope everyone is doing well. I know that we are. Time seems to be
flying. I don't know what to think about it. Its like a bitter sweet
that is kind of going on in my brain. So yeah. We are just working
hard even though we are super busy. Especially this upcoming week. We
will be in Manila from Thursday night all the way until Monday
morning! Super crazy. It is going to kill the work in our area for
about 5 days. We won't even be able to attend church in Brookes that
day. Rumor has it, that I will be working in my first area while we
are in Manila ;) so lets hope and pray that it is a true rumor! I will
seriously cry for joy if that is the case. Also just a warning for
those of you that still actually wait for my emails on Mondays, that I
don't know which day we will be emailing just because of travel and
all that. Maybe on Tuesday we will be email so I don't quite know yet.
Anyways.

We had another busy week. Tuesday we were in Narra for our zone
meeting. The focus there was about inviting for baptism, since that is
basically our only focus. So that was good. We had no work that day
because of the travel... So that is always tough. Wednesday we ended
up in Mainit again. We are kind of teaching a lot of the same
families. We should probably branch out a bit, but we just get so
wrecked in our travel and all that so it is a little bit tough in
terms of the work. The Billion family is doing as well as they could
be doing. It is seriously so hard for them to come up with the money
to come to church. We can give them the money to go... But that
requires no faith. As soon as we stop giving money, they will stop as
well. So its a touch battle. We counseled in ward council meeting
about it and we will have them come up with the money for the travel
for only half way, and then the branch will pay for the fare so they
can get home. So they will basically have to pay a counterpart type
thing to get to church. We still need to build that faith so they can
come up with the 50% of what they need. In our lesson we tried to
focus on baptism and how it really relates to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. When we invited for baptism, we got rejected very kindly
hahah. That just tells me that we need to review the Restoration with
them. So hopefully we can work that out within the next 2 days before
we leave. They are so awesome though and they really want to go to
church! We just need to go the extra mile with them. It is going well
though.

The Asandy family is going well too! They came to church yesterday.
They were busy all last week because of festival stuff up in Mainit
but they still came to church so that is a good sign! We are excited
to get them moving along hopefully soon. It is just a little different
approach with them because we are having to teach so simple to them
and Nanay struggles a little bit with some stuff. Hopefully we can get
them moving before I leave. So yeah. Its going well though. Abbigail
and Ryan came to church again and they are doing well as well. They
are both in Mosiah in their BOM reading so couldn't ask for anything
better!

My companion and I are doing well so yeah. The work is great and we
are excited for Elder Bednar coming this week! It is going to be so
good we are going to be blessed. I am also excited to see all my good
friends here in the mission before I go home. Its gonna be good. I
love you all! I will try to send pics soon.

-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Dear World,

It has been a good week. I couldn't complain at all. The work is well,
and we are blessed. I love my companion. I love the area. And I love
this work. All is well. I am a little numb right now, but I guess that
is expected when a missionary gets to this stage of the work. We are
pushing forward though.

This week was good. We had our Pday which was pretty normal. We had
some time to relax which is always nice. We bought some good food and
all that. So yeah. Tuesday we had district meeting and worked all that
day.We have seriously just been working in Mainit, because that is
where the best work is. We are teaching some very humble families out
there. Some of them have seriously like nothing to eat. I feel so bad
and want to help, but I think the biggest help in their life is the
message we bring. We do our best to help build there faith, but
sometimes it is just so hard to get them to church. We coordinated
with the branch about it, and we have a solution hopefully. It will
just take our investigators to put some effort into some things. So we
will see how that goes.

The Asandy family is doing pretty well. At least most of them are.
Tatay was like SO sure he was gonna come to church and then... He
didn't his wife and oldest son Jackson did. They are both doing so
well and understanding everything we teach. Even if Nanay can't read,
she is still progressing well. Bro. Jackson is always listening and
asking great questions as well! I can see him as a great future
missionary. I am excited for him. They finally came to church so now
we can make sure they stay on track to be baptized before I leave. We
have just kind of stopped focusing on Tatay because it is a little
difficult to teach him, but the other two are doing well. So we'll
keep at that.

The other family that we are teaching is the Billion family. And no,
sadly they are not billionaires. They are actually very very poor.
They are doing so well though in lessons! Keeping commitments and all
that and then we are cruising along in lessons. The only other
problem.. Is church attendence. Their concern is similar, and that is
that they have a hard time getting to church. Especially since there
are like 8 or 9 of them that want to come. So we are working that out.
The members are hopefully going to help us out as we continue to teach
them. The issue is, is that if we have members just take them to
church, then they will always rely on the members. When the members
are not taking them to church, then who will take them? They will have
been trained to not have the faith to come to church. So it is like a
balance that needs to be found with helping them, and not helping
them.

The members are working well with us. Bro. Mac Mac (the one who got
his mission call) works with us almost daily. So that is always really
nice to have. I really do love this area a lot. I couldn't have asked
for a better area for me to die in. The Lord is blessing us here right
now. We just need to get a few more people on track and we can have a
few baptisms before I take off. So we look forward to that. Sorry I
have no pics this week... I can't use the USB because it is full of
viruses. So I guess next week na lang! I love you all.

-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Good Afternoon world,

So first, I was on emails this morning and I had a crazy good email
typed up and I lost it all. So I am really disappointed and honestly a
little lazy now. I will try to sum it up into one email that is
shortened because I have like 15 minutes...

First and foremost: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE MOST AMAZING PARENTS
EVER! You have made it 23 years now and you have an entire eternity to
go! The girls and I love you so much and we wouldn't be anything
without you guys. Don't ever forget how much we love you.

So it was a crazy week. We had zone conference and that was super
nice. We got to go to Puerto where I also attended a meeting that has
to do with going home.. So that was a party. We learned about some of
the new missionary rules and stuff and we are having a good time
trying to implement them best. It is a bit of a challenge but we can
do it. We also broke down the Hymn "I Stand All Amazed." I will never
look at that song the same again. It is just a perfect song that
really explains the Atonement so simply. It was a great conference.
Then we had to take a long shuttle home. I also had to say goodbye to
Elder Gibson. He is one of my best friends in the mission. He and I
have been together a lot and he was a great Elder and a good friend. I
sent his pics home.

So we have been struggling with finding time to work. All of these
meetings make it a little bit hard to work effectively. We are doing
our best though. We had a decent week in terms of work. We only had 5
investigators at sacrament and that was a little rough. Most of our
investigators are from member referrals. So that is a HUGE help. I
love the members so much here.

Also on Saturday night Elder and Sister Atkinson called and told me
they were going to be bringing a mission call down to be opened for a
member on Sunday. So we had to organize that. That was a good
emotional time. We enjoyed it. Brother Dandel (MacMac) got called to
the Philippines, Davao mission. So we are excited for him! He leaves
about the same time I go home so yeah thats pretty cool. The Lord is
really blessing us in this area. So I couldn't have asked for anything
better. Also I am super fat right now so  that is pretty cool. I love
you all! And I have nothing to say about the Pats game (; you all know
how I feel.





-- 
Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth