Week ~ 8

Another one gone. Kind of a frustrating week. Nothing too interesting happened honestly. We try so hard to get people to come to church every week and we testify of the importance of church attendance and they come up with the most ridiculous reasons to not go. On Saturday we had a stake activity called Flight 2015. It was a huge missionary opportunity to get people to learn about Ang Plano ng Kaligtasan. We started all of the members and non members in the gym, that was where "take off" was. The imaginary plane took off and everyone "started their lives." They showed a legit video that talked about buckling up and all that stuff. It was like a real video from Delta Airlines ha-ha. Then, the plane crashed and everyone died and that's when we started the tour of the church/activity. All the rooms of the church were decorated to represent a different part of the Plan of Salvation. We didn't actually go through it because all the missionaries were at the question and answer portion which was toward the end. But I did get to go through before it started. Super awesome and made really good sense. We invited at least 8 less active families to attend, none of them came. That was so frustrating. We also invited all of our investigators to come, NONE OF THEM CAME. OH MY GOODNESS I WANTED TO FLIP. So frustrating. One good thing came from it though, last Friday we OYM'd (open your mouth) like 8 kids and invited them to go, we talked to them because they started talking to me about my skin and my nose and all that ha-ha. But we invited them, 5 of the 8 came to flight 2015! I didn't think they would, they had a good time though! And I'm sure they loved the air con! I always do ;) but after the activity we invited them to church the following day. My lack of faith showed again, I didn't think they would come, BUT THEY DID. At church we had 6 investigators, 5 of them kids. These kids are like 10 and 12 years old. I don't even know their names ha-ha. They were fellow shipped so well by the young women's president and the primary president, they had a good time they said! Now we just have to meet their parents. That will be hard. 

Update on our other investigators: Brother B. is still smoking, so that's AWESOME. Not. He's trying though. He didn't go to church, for whatever reason. So he has to start his 4 weeks over. Should be glorious. His progression is kind of slowing down. Very frustrating. We were blessed this week to teach a guy named Brother J. O. He has been taught all the lessons twice, and he is SO ready. His family are all members and hes the only non member! He asks us to teach him everyday when hes not working, hes a security guard at Starbucks Coffee, cause apparently they need guards here ha-ha. He's super awesome and I know he will be baptized in July! He knows most of the lessons we are just required to teach him again! I'm super pumped for him. 

I have been thinking a lot this week about the circumstances the people here live in. Last P day we went to a place called Divisoria where you can buy literally anything you can think of, real and fake items. Don't worry mom I bought things i needed ;) We were on a jeepney on the way there and we got into metro Manila, as soon as we got into the city the traffic was super slow. And I heard this creepy laughing and there were two kids who got on the jeepney and started crawling toward the front sweeping the floor for money. They were wearing hardly any clothes, more along the lines of no clothes. They stopped at me (cause I'm white) and asked for money. We aren't allowed to give them money... But it really hit me. We live in such great circumstances in Utah, and such amazing homes. So many people here have hardly anything. I have found myself become more and more thankful for the things I have. We have mansions in Utah. My flippin bedroom was bigger than most of the houses i teach in. Very humbling. I'm glad I have been able to be here. Best decision I have ever made. I love it here and this work. Is that long enough mom? ha-ha. Love you all!

Love, Elder Lambert

Lovely Members of the Mandaluuong 2nd ward. feed Elder Sacay and Elder Lambert on their wedding anniversary!
 So nice!! What wonderful members of the church! :) Thank you Brother and Sister M. 

Week ~ 7

Wow. Another solid week. First of all, HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO THE BEST DAD ANYONE COULD ASK FOR! Miss you dad :) Hope today has been a good day! Cause you deserve it :) 

Today was a good week. I got to witness a temple sealing! It was weird for me because we weren't allowed to go to the endowment but we could go to the sealing, so that was interesting. But wow so worth it. It was for the DeJoya family, we have been teaching them. Brother Michael is the husband and we have been teaching his brother Jonathan. They are such an amazing, humble family with such great faith. Sister DeJoya has super week knees for whatever reason, so it made it very difficult for the ceremony, but she was able to withstand the pain and make it through! So amazing. I loved every second of it. It was transfer week this week and the Elder that baptized them was going home, his family came to pick him up came to the sealing and was able to witness it. They took us to Shakey's pizza after so we got free food ;) The spirit was so strong in the sealing room the entire time, I of course teared up a little bit because they were so happy! It made me get more excited to be sealed for time and all eternity. After the ceremony, their crazy daughter came flying in the room like a whirlwind! Kinda funny, but even if she didn't understand what was happening, it didn't matter, she was sealed to her parents!

 Anyways, now to Bro. Boyet, I need to get a picture of him, he's super awesome. We had church yesterday and we were expecting 7 investigators to come! I will explain that in a sec. We had 0 investigators at the time sacrament started, so that was kind of depressing. But we had practiced before sacrament meeting the song, Beautiful Zion. I had never heard it till i came to the Philippines. Elder Sacay roped me into singing tenor in the ward choir. I don't even know what tenor is, but that's what i sang. After the song we went to sit down and Bro. Boyet had made it to sacrament meeting! 1 investigator to church. Prayer is real. His WOW problem is getting better, he fully committed last week so we will see what he says when we visit on Wednesday! We were gonna visit tomorrow but we finally have that wedding! I don't even know the people, should be interesting. And no people, Elder Lambert does not get to perform the wedding ha-ha. 

Brother Boyet is awesome though, he wants to know more and more and he always keeps his commitments. He needs to fully understand the BOM, he thinks its a revision of the bible so we will clarify that. We will see next week how he's doing! 

Brother Jonathan DeJoya... Wow this kid. He's the brother of Michael who got sealed on Saturday. He secretly hates hearing from us I think, he just wants to go back to the province to see his GF. We are trying to help his desire to be baptized... So we will see how that goes tonight actually. We also have been teaching the Supilanas family. We met them through one of our investigators brother Romy. We were gonna drop brother Romy, till we started teaching them with the Supilanas fam. The peoples names are Gretchen shes 26, Jenny shes 20, Amor (the mom), shes 43 and then a lady came and listened to the message, sister Arlene, shes like 30. They all said they would go to church till the morning of, so we will see what happens next Sunday. We teach them today so we shall see! 

Those are most of the investigators this week. Lets hope they progress! Its starting to rain a lot here, so at night I don't sweat anymore so that's good ha-ha. I love you all and Happy Fathers day to all those amazing dads out there!

Love, Elder Lambert 

Some kids making fun of my nose!! Apparently, I have a pointy nose ha-ha!?!

This is the couple that I got to witness their sealing. I'll explain in my email. So cool though!

This is a pic of all of the elders that have taught the Dejoya family. Elder Wilkinson got to baptize them. His parents came to pick him up and got to go to the sealing. So dang Awesome!

Week ~ 6

Elder Lambert's District. These sisters are getting transferred this week!!

Elder Lambert's Zone

Another one gone. Pretty solid week. This week is transfer week. I don't see myself going anywhere. Or any of my roommates. 

This week has been good though. We had exchanges on Friday and Saturday. I got to teach some new people, so that was fun. I went with Elder Ganesar, he's from Malaysia but he's half Filipino. Super nice kid. We talked to lots of people but weren't very successful in lessons. I got asked at least 3 times why I'm so short for an American. That's always a nice compliment. 

We also went to the temple last week! First time in the field. Super awesome. And even better, WE ARE GOING THIS SATURDAY! A recent convert and her husband are getting sealed! So we got permission to go this coming Saturday. I should have some pictures! Should be good. 

We also had a baptism we attended for some Elders in our district. We had to go because Brother B said he would come! And he did! He's progressing super well. He just needs to overcome his WOW problem. His new job won't let him smoke. So that's a good thing. He still smokes so much. He's like a chimney. We are trying to help him build his faith. People here love to smoke. It's probably worse than Vegas. He is continuing to keep his commitments. Which means he's getting closer to pagbibinyag! July we will hopefully have our next baptisms. 

Yesterday we had a multi-stake conference that was broadcast from SLC. Elder Anderson was presiding. It was super cool the invitations that were extended to the people here and the faith the saints have all over the Philippines! The church is so strong here. And its growing and growing everyday. The Lord has prepared the people here for a very long time to be ready for the gospel. My testimony is strengthened every day by the examples of the leaders here. Elder Anderson is the one who oversees the Philippines area, he has been here several times and spoke about the "Philippine Way," the way that all Filipinos show their love and service to others.  Its a saying that goes like this, "let me be the one." Filipinos will do ANYTHING to take the burdens off of others. That's what I love about here. We have talked about the various storms all over the Philippines. Specifically up in Tacloban, almost 2 years ago there was a big storm there that wiped the whole area. Elder Anderson talked about the help and fast offerings that were given to the are, and how within 4 short months 3100 homes were rebuilt by church members. UNREAL. We all need to have that mindset of "let me be the one." Give service. Service is such a blessing to ourselves and of course to others.

I love this work and the opportunity to serve here. I'm finally starting to adjust to the food. But not the heat haha. Who knows if that will happen. I should have pictures next week. I love you all.

Love, Elder Lambert

Week ~ 5

Dear everyone,

Another crazy week here! Its still so hot. All the time, I usually lay down in my bed and its about 91 degrees in our apartment. So thats cool. I hope all of you enjoy your air con! Cause we have none. Anyways. Another solid week! 

We had Zone Meeting yesterday and we focused on Hebrews 11. Its all about faith. It made me think of some of my faith building experiences before and during my mission. I thought about how I almost drowned in Moab haha. But that was a big one. Elder Thurber, who's one of the AP's in the mission goes home this next transfer which is 2 weeks away. He's been someone I have really looked up to and who has a strong testimony. He bore his testimony yesterday about pride. He talked about how he wishes that he would have layed his pride down on the table at the beginning of his mission and focused on what the Lord wants. It made me really think. He pointed me out, with tears in his eyes and told me that I was so lucky to have another 22 months on my mission. Out of 40 missionaries in my zone he said that to me. I know that was the Lord prompting him to say that. I know I'm a prideful missionary and I need to change! Thats why I came out here. So that was really cool. I really love Elder Thurber.

 Anyways, we have been teaching a man named Brother Boyet. He is SO amazing. He is so ready for the gospel and is so receptive. He came to church the day after we taught him last week and he also came this week! He accepted a baptismal date as well! He expressed his desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ. He knows this church is true. He only needs to overcome his WOW problem. He's a chain smoker, so we will see how that goes. I have faith that he can do it. We went to visit him yesterday but he was at work, his nanay told us he's been reading the Aklat ni Mormon! I was so happy. He is so ready. He is being fellowshipped as well by many members. He's doing well. 

Yesterday we had a service project to help Bishop Cardona fix up a house he's selling. They asked me if i knew how to install a door nob. Luckily my amazing dad raised me to be a handy man and I told them I could do it! I thought I could. Until the dumb door was so old the knob wouldn't fit! But luckily Filipinos aren't perfectionists like us Americans so we beat the crap out of the door to make it fit haha. So that was good. After that we were fed by bishop's wife. She gave us a Filipino food called ulam. One of my favorites. There's tons of ways to make it. This one had ground beef and potatoes and carrots. SO good. And a bonus, a couple of members were watching the NBA finals while we were eating, so I may or may not have watched a little (dont tell anyone) so that was good. NBA is huge here. 

Yesterday I'm sorry to everyone for not emailing haha. Today is our P day because we are going to the temple! So that's awesome. Last night we got to eat at the senior couples house. Elder and Sister Hansen, they're from Lindon, Utah. They let me eat MANCHOS (nachos made Tanner's way!!)Finally. An american meal.They are so amazing and loving. They're in our ward and basically like our parents. They took us on top of their super nice condo mansion thing which is like 45 floors and we saw the view. HOLY COW MANILA IS BEAUTIFUL AT NIGHT. Its so big too. I loved it. That was a good night.

 I'm starting to really love it here even if the language is hard. People are always yelling to me saying "Hey Joe!" because I'm white hahaha. I'm used to it but kinda funny. It's always so hot here. Also, I GOT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGES! Thank you Mom and Dad I love you guys! It was so nice to see some food and things from home. I haven't even eaten any of it yet haha. ALso, I got my 10 items you ordered mom so thank you! My knee is fine as well, we eat a lot from members. Sometimes too much haha. I sleep well, I sweat though even with my fan so that's cool. My companion is good. I love Elder Sacay he's awesome. No complaints. I just bought my new birthday present. It should be done in July. Lets just say I don't have my new scriptures anymore ha! Should be good though! PS I got my first pedicure last week for like a dollar. No biggie. And at district meeting last week We had a party with pizza! And the DL got me a cake :) Love Elder Bullock. A solid week though! I love you all. Church is true.

Love, Elder Lambert

It's so nice to see someone got him a cake!!

Happy 19th Elder Lambert!!

P-day! First pedicure ever! I hope he tipped her well. He said it cost $1... ;)
He is in a walking mission and I've heard it's pretty hard on the feet and a lot of the boys get bad ingrown tonails! So.... this is probably a good thing! 

Week ~ 4

Time is kind of flying here in the mission. We are busy everyday! I'm getting lots of questions about the wedding. No I'm not performing it haha. A member in the sisters area is getting married. We were invited for the food haha. Except it got postponed to I don't know when. 

Anyways, on Wednesday we went on companion exchanges. I went with Elder Bullock, he's from Idaho. I actually played his high school in lacrosse. He went to Capital. I really enjoyed myself being with an American who understands my struggles. It was fun. We taught some new people I had never met since we were in a different area. Nothing incredibly special.

Anyways, we had our FIRST BAPTISM! Brother Ken! Finally. I didn't get to baptize him because he wanted Elder Sacay to baptize him.So theres one in the books haha.3

I also just wanted everyone to know I found a shop who sells Class A (fake hahaha) NIKE ROCHES. oh my goodness i might get some. they may as well be real haha/ theyre like $15 mom ;) haha we'll see.

We had invited like 6 investigators to come to church with us yesterday. We went to go pick all of them up. It was like an hour of walking and riding jeepnees to pick people up. Not a single one came with us. I was frustrated and sweaty. I got onto the jeepnee and this guy that we had taught got on! He said he saw us and decided to follow us to church! So he came! I was so happy we had one investigator at church. 

Church was a different story... We had the 5th Sunday lesson. We tried to teach about fellow shipping investigators. It got scary. So many people thought we were pointing fingers at the people! not even. People started yelling at each other and it was insane. I was scared to death because we had an investigator there! The sister missionaries were crying. It was an absolute mess. Our investigator probably thinks were crazy. Ugh. So dumb. People are dumb. 

The work is going well though. We are trying so hard to find and open our teaching pool. This week has been fun though! It rained a lot so that's why i have so much swag in one of my pics. Also I sent a picture of my district! And a picture of Brother Ken at the baptism! Then the other pic is Brother Jonathan and Elder Sacay and I :) I'm trying to do better at pics! Anyways. It's hot. I'm sweaty. The church is true and I love you all.

Love, Elder Lambert

Elder Lambert, Elder Sacay & the rest of their district

Singin' in the Rain
Rainy week!!

Elder Lambert, Elder Sacay and Brother Ken at his baptism