I got to Skype today!!

Hello world,

I got to Skype today! So that just basically means that I will be writing a shortish email for the sake of time. This week was great! We had that one week mission thing where the youth worked with us like every day and we actually split because of it. So Elder Webster and I took two groups and went to different parts of the area. We taught some good lessons and the youth got to participate. The youth were super super excited to teach and experience missionary work. So that was good for our area. 

This week we also were able to invite 5 new people for baptism! It always helps to have baptismal dates because they know that we are here for a purpose, not just for bible study. That brought our number to 13 baptismal dates, so we are even looking for a few more this week. Our area is catching fire right now. Which sometimes tends to happen when it gets close to transfer day and Elder Lambert may or may not be transferring. I do know that we have turned this area around in the last few months. The Lord has really blessed us here. 

We also had some people at church yesterday. One of our members committed to bring his house help/maid to church. Her name is Marlene. She asked us for a BOM a couple weeks ago and we set an appointment. She has a baptismal date for like June I believe. She came and had a good experience. We will follow her up tomorrow when we visit her. Sister Melh-Jean didn't show up... So if i transfer, I won't be seeing a baptism in this area. But sister Maricel showed up again! We didn't teach her all week because she stays in at her job. She even brought her friend Julie Anne. We have never met her friend, but she came to church. She showed up in a super shirt dress. It was her first time and i think she knows better now. It was kind of funny though. 

That was about it for this week. It is still bloody hot in the Philippines. So thats a joy. Its all good though! I can go swimming in like a year  

I love you all!

-- 

Elder Lambert

Week ~ 57

Hello po world,

Great week! I really think this week went waaaay better than the past few weeks. We changed some things up to improve ourselves as a companionship, and it went well! It is going really well actually. This last week we had 23 new investigators! Which is I think the most I have ever had in a whole week. We also had 5 investigators at sacrament meeting! Sister Melh-Jean made it! As well as her sister and a couple of her friends! So that was a HUGE blessing for us. We finally are starting to teach them on a consistent basis again, and they are starting to progress. We set a very firm May 28th baptismal date for them, so we will make sure that it happens. They just need to go to church, they know most of the lessons they just HAVE to go to church. We have an update on Sis. Maricel, she has been gone for almost 10 days now! We haven't seen her, she was working in Makati and had no communication with her sister or anyone. So we were discussing whether or not we should drop her, but we didn't know what to do because we don't know her status! So anyways, we didn't teach her all last week and then all of the sudden, SHE SHOWS UP TO CHURCH! She randomly walks in during the closing song! So that was a huge surprise and an even bigger blessing. So we had probably the biggest amount of good investigators at church that I have ever had my whole mission! So that was a huge blessing. We are like killing ourselves in this heat, but we are loving it! We worked really hard this week.

So this week, we were told that our schedule is being changed! It will just make it so we won't be out in the hot sun proselyting, so that is super super nice. We will be starting it this next week, because this week is our ward's "One Week Mission." What that is, is basically all of the youth in our ward will be missionaries for a week! That will mean that they will be assigned companions, study just like a missionary, and work with us every day! I am very excited for all of this. We will be studying with the youth every day at the church (where there is air con) and it will just be awesome! I am super excited about it. It will spice up the work and give the youth opportunities to see how missionaries do things. I am really excited for that, and there is free food everyday haha. So even better!

Can't wait to skype this week! Love you allll. 

PS heres a pic of me and my new rubiks cube that is super hard. and heres a selfie with my sleeping roommates ahaha  

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

The Real One

Alright, this is the real email. It was a a pretty solid week. We did our best to reestablish contact with some of our investigators like Melh-Jean and Maricel. We talked to Maricel on like Wednesday, but when we talked to her we were without a 3rd member working with us. So we weren't able to teach her. She told us that she was going to work on Thursday at her job in Makati and then coming back on Saturday so that she can go to church. We made her pinky promise to be at church this last week. So we were expecting her to make it. Sunday rolls around, and all the members are asking where she is, we have no idea. We went there last night to see what the deal was and she STILL wasn't there. So that was great. I kind of think she isn't being the most honest with us but we will see what happens in the next few days. Yesterday we FINALLY taught Melh-Jean! We had like 3 members with us so that was really awesome. We kind of went into the lessons not knowing exactly what to teach since we taught them like a month ago. So we went in just intending to follow the spirit. We started asking questions. We started with the "Kumusta po Kayo?" question just to see how they are doing. The answer was "not so good." To start with, they have no power in their house because they are unable to pay their bill, so that was probably one reason to her negative answer. We basically shared about trials, and how they shape us into who we are, with a little bit about how turning to the gospel will ALWAYS help us and give us answers. It was a great lesson, and the spirit was so strong. They actually committed to a day and a time for us to come back, so lets hope that it actually happens. We were also able to teach some LAs that we have never been able to teach. They are the family that had their grandpa die last week. They were super cool, just LA now. The mom used to work with the missionaries every day I guess, but now she won't even go to church. I don't know what her concern is, but we have an appointment this Thursday to find out! We also have been doing better at finding. We have some former investigators from the provinces that we are teaching so maybe we can keep that going. We just kind of have a small teaching pool at the moment so we are trying to work on that. 

So this last week, we starting finally discussing with the ward about the one week mission. The one week mission is basically having all of the youth and the YSA work with us for the whole week. We will be studying with them and basically doing everything we can to help them experience missionary work. We are looking forward to it, and hopefully people will actually participate. It will give us some help in the lessons and really just let the youth know what it is like to be a missionary! That will be May 1-7. I guess the ZL are also trying to get President Ostler to come and speak at it too, so that will be really great if that can happen. 

I can't really think of anything else that happened last week. This week we have about 8 set appointments with new people, LA, and dinner appointments  so I really hope that we can have a great week this week. I know we can do it! The Lord is blessing us with some new people to teach, and we just need to focus on getting them to church. The Lord is also blessing us with great ward leaders who really push the work forward. It is just great to see. 

I included some pics of our whole zone! This is kind of old I just have forgotten to send them. Also the other one is me utilizing my selfie stick at the ward FHE  I love you all! 

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

A short one

Hello world. How are you all? I hope ya'll are doing well. This week was transfer week, and guess what happened!? Haha nothing. Elder Webster and I are still together. No problem at all! We have fun together haha. We had a pretty good week though. Last Monday and Tuesday was a little bit crazy but that is okay. We have been doing better at the whole finding thing. We have some new investigators who are actually from other provinces here in the Philippines. We have been focusing on finding men to teach so it is a little easier for us, and they always just like turn into us teaching girls!? Hindi ko alam and problema jan, seguro gwuapo si Elder Webster hahah. So yeah... We are trying to build a teaching pool. Sister Maricel didn't come to church this week. She promised she would... but it turned into her just disappearing again. We don't know where she is, but we are going to teach her this week hopefully. 

So I know my email kind of stinks, I will get back on between tonight and tomorrow, there is some Koreon lady kicking me off to use this computer so yeah. here are some pics of us working with some members. Don't worry, you will all hear from me soon!

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

The Bird

Hello world again!

So fast, the weeks go by so fast. I don't even know what to say about all of that. This week was crazy. The Zone Leaders borrowed our phone this week so we didn't have a phone for like 3 days last week. So that made it a little hard for scheduling appointments. When they had the phone, the ZL scheduled appointments with the mission nurse to get Elder Smith's shoulder looked at. Anyways, Elder Webster had his trip thing all the way at the MRC that same day, and I had tried to schedule a dentist appointment on the same day. Anyways, long story short, we ended up going to the MRC for Elder Webster on Wednesday and all the confusion landed my dentist appointment on Friday. So that basically killed our work for like 2 days last week. That kind of hurt our numbers. We also have a certain member who tells us that he will work with us, so we plan to teach certain people and then the member just won't even show up. So that automatically makes it so we can't teach some of our girl investigators. That is just one of those trials that shouldn't even happen haha. So yeah... We have had a hard time teaching some of our investigators. Melh-Jean has literally dropped off the face of the earth. We have a set appointment with her tonight, but we had something come up and won't be able to make it. Maricel on the other hand... Went to work on Thursday in Makati and hasn't come back. So no one knows where she is. So that is interesting. I don't know what to say about that. She didn't come to church because of it, so the extension on her baptism just got extended again. That is always fun. 

This last week on Saturday, we were called by Bishop to come to a funeral! A LA member's father ended up passing away last week. So we show up at this funeral and of course it is awkward. We barely know these people because they are never home when we visit them! So that was an awkward moment... Bishop asked me and Elder Webster speak SEPARATELY! I was slightly scared for that. Not about me... But my comp. But, he did it! He was FREAKING out. But he did it! It was like 2 minutes... He shared an interesting verse. It went well though! I just shared about the resurrection and stuff so yeah. Not too bad. The man who died was super old, so he was ready to go. That was a fun experience, just being thrown into giving a talk at a funeral ha ha. It wasn't bad though. 

This last week was just super busy. I just feel like every week is so busy now! Transfer day is in two days. So we will see what happens. Usually I can give a small prediction of who transfers and who doesn't but I got nothing this week. We could stay together, I could leave, or Elder Webster could leave. I guess we will see what happens?! No texts so far about becoming a Zone Leader, so yeah. 

This weeks funny story is a FUNNY ONE. So, this week I bought a selfie stick (probably one of my greatest purchases of all time) we were OF COURSE taking selfies in the apartment until IT HAPPENED. The back door was open, and all of the sudden a bird flies in! So I am taking pics of Elder 'Ete'aki and myself until he starts screaming! He gets up and like drops to the floor and runs out the front door with his selfie stick! He basically like barrels through the door and almost like breaks it ha ha. So during all this I switched my camera to video so we can record this! My goodness so funny. Then we force the bird out the door, but the door we chose was the one Elder 'Ete'aki is standing by! Keep in mind, he is a 6'2" 320 pound beast. And he is so afraid of a small bird! It reminded me of the episode of the Big Bang Theory where Sheldon is afraid of the Bluebird  anyways. That was such a funny experience. Hopefully this week will be better. We need some nicer numbers! Anyways, I love you all!

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Ketchup on the Nun

Hi world. What a week. Finally we got to hear conference! That was of course a spiritual recharge that I needed. Conference always does that for me. I hope if any of you haven't watched conference, I invite you to repent and watch it! It was super super good. I learned lots of good things that I can apply to myself and hopefully become a better missionary. 

We had an alright week with the work. Maybe I will go into more details later about conference. Anyways, the week was a little bit of a trial. Sister Melh-Jean basically has fallen off the face of the earth. We haven't been able to contact her at all. Her family and neighbors always tell us that she left earlier that day, but of course they don't know where. So that's always fun. With Sister Maricel, we focused on her coming to conference up at the stake center. She always told us she was so excited to go and listen to the prophet. So we were for sure planning on her attending with us on  Sunday. So Saturday night we definitely went over just to remind her about conference and that we would be willing to go with her. So we go, and her sister Lennie (who we used to teach, until we dropped her due to lack of progression) told us that she wasn't there, and that she was "staying in" at her job. Meaning that she wasn't going to be going to conference. That didn't put me in the best mood. I was already slightly frustrated with some things that had happened earlier that day. So yeah, that was a fun one haha. Its all good now. That was a fun one to finish off the night thought! The frustrating part, was that we had just earlier that day, coordinated with Bishop for her baptism on April 30th. Now, since she didn't go to church, her baptism at the EARLIEST will be on May 7th I believe. So yeah, we will keep pushing and visiting her! 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we have been working in the sisters area. So here's the story: So in my district, Sister Tinate has been super super sick. We thought it was chicken pox, but has actually been hand and foot disease. I am not too familiar with that, but I do know that they haven't worked in their area for almost 2 weeks. They were actually at St. Luke's hospital for like 4 days. Anyways, so the Zone Leaders and I have been talking and they decided we need to try and cover some of their area. So we did that, we definitely don't know the area at all. So specifically last night we went there with some members and taught some of the recent converts from the ward over there. That was an adventure. We also tried to contact some of their progressing investigators. We actually couldn't find them, but we did teach some random lady on the spot! That was probably the BEST first lesson I have ever taught. I probs would have died without the members with me, cause my comp wasn't able to speak. So yeah, that was fun. I love the members here though. They sure save me when I need it. So yeah, we have been covering some of our area and the sisters area over the last few days. We had to actually go to their apartment and take them medicine. We spent like 3000 pesos on medicine, which converts to like $75. So that was great, luckily they paid us back. It was just slightly a crazy week. We are trying to find more in the area, the houses are just so big and have gates that everyone hates us! Haha but we are doing our best. I don't know what else to say, we are talking to people and trying to contact them again. We are actually focusing on members a lot. We had 4 dinner appointments this last week. We are trying to ask for referrals! It was nice though to get some good food. You all just wait, no more spaghetti parties at the house, only rice and Filipino food! I can cook up some nice stuff, so be ready. (oh, we are!!)

I loved conference though, I am kind of lame and forgot my notes with the quotes that I liked from it. But I  really encourage all of you to watch it. You can all find your own amazing quotes :) The funny story of this week comes from our adventures at McDonalds :) After conference, we all went to Macdo for some nice food. I like ketchup, so I tried to open it. These two nuns sat next to us, in the classic nuns costume. Anyways, I noticed them and kept squeezing my ketchup. Long story short, it exploded and squirted like 7 feet and got the nun all over her clothes! It was bad. I felt super bad haha. Pretty funny though! Anyways, this week we will be going to the MRC Wednesday. So that will be fun. And no mom, I do not have my packages. So that's fun. But yeah. I love you all! Here's some pics of Elder Leofo, Elder Eteaki and then with some members last Pday haha. That's all folks.

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth

Week ~ 156523

Hello world. Another week down. Kind of a slow week since we didn't even work for two whole days. Last Wednesday we went to the MRC for Elder Webster, so that was a day of no work haha. Kind of hard. Then Thursday was Zone Conference! Boy that was the highlight by far. We were trained and taught by our wonderful mission president and AP's. It was just great and uplifting. It was just a nice spiritual recharge from everything we have been doing. We went all the way to Makati, which is where the mission office is for this conference. I was super excited to see some of my best friends here in the mission. I have some pics, but I forgot the memory card at home so that was cool. I got to see all the boys though. The theme of the conference was "I Will be the One." Basically it was focusing on the missionaries being "The One." Really just meaning the one to always be obedient, to always do the right thing. The one to stand up for what is expected of us as missionaries. It was just really good. President Ostler focused on teaching the message of the Restoration, which we all know is our unique message to the world. President Ostler actually did some practice teaching which I thought was really cool. He focused on making the First Vision a VERY special thing. He said we are making it more of a casual thing when we share it. So that's something that we need to work on. I actually find it so amazing when we share the First Vision, it blows my mind every single time. I can't even remember it in English  kind of funny. So that is something that we can work on here in our area. 

This week I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Casteneda. He is one of our Zone Leaders who is a pretty chill guy. We had a tough time with exchanges cause the sisters in my district are having some problems. I don't know the nature of the problems, but yeah so the ZL's had to go give them a blessing. So that cut into exchanges. I learned some great things from him and new techniques in teaching that I have already applied so that was really good for me. I sometimes don't like exchanges that much, but this week was really good during the exchange. 

Anyways, about our work this week. It was a little tough this week, since we didn't have much work, but yeah. Anyways Sister Maricel now has chicken pox. So we taught her once on Tuesday with Elder Casteneda, but other than that we weren't able to teach her. We are having troubles with members commiting to work with us, and then they bail by just not even showing up. So we make plans to teach people and then we can't teach them cause we don't have a brother working with us. That was super frustrating this week. We got punted (or in other words didn't teach any lessons) like 2 days last week. So that really killed our numbers. We just can't seem to get people to be home and ACTUALLY commit to being there when we come over. So that is no good. We are trying to find new people but the small little areas that are worth working in just don't like us aha. And when we knock doors at the super rich peoples houses we just get told by the maid that the owner isn't home. We are doing our best though! Hopefully this next week will be better. We are trying to keep our people who are progressing, progressing. It was hard cause Sister Maricel wasn't able to go to church because of chicken pox, so that was sad. But it won't count against her at all towards baptism. It really shows in progression of people when you just aren't able to teach people for whatever reason. So yeah, we will keep being positive. 

The funny story this week is SUPER funny to me ha-ha. We were walking and these "bakla" (which is the Tagalog word for gay) were yelling at us. We had talked to them a long time ago but I felt like having some fun, anyways we walked over to them and they immediately started hitting on us. They told Elder Webster that he was more "gwuapo" than Harry Potter! So I was just laughing and all that. Pretty funny, had to be there ;) If anyone wants to know sometimes you can't tell if a person is a guy or a girl, and that was the case with these people, they are dudes! But they basically are 90% girls ha-ha. You always know when they start talking to you. Pretty funny. Anyways, that was the funny experience this week. 

This next Wednesday should be transfer days, but since the MTC is changing the way things are done, we have an 8 week transfer. So yeah. 2 weeks more until transfers. I love you all and will talk to you next week! 

-- 

Elder Lambert

Philippines, Manila Mission, Earth