Elder English Serving in the Philippines: Training

WEEK 43
We were able to visit with Bradyn via Skype for Mother's Day. He looked wonderful and sounded very happy and enthusiastic to move the work forward. He has found great joy in interacting with the people he is among and mentioned how much he liked the openness of everyone and their willingness to engage in deep discussions regarding life. He certainly appeared more confident and readily expressed that his language and communication abilities have greatly improved. Bradyn also met his niece, Kinley, for the first time and I was thrilled to still receive a brief e-mail regarding his week.

Dear Friends and Family,

So, I picked up my new companion last Thursday at the mission home. His name is Elder Hodges and he is from Bountiful, Utah. He is 18 years old and I'm really exciting to train him. He's a really good Elder who wants to work really hard. That's all that you could really ask for in a companion. We both get along well and I'm super excited to start him off on a good note in his mission.

This week we had a lot of appointments fall through, so we did a lot of walking in the sun. We were able to visit a lot of members, and share messages with them. Training a new missionary who doesn't speak Tagalog yet has really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I am learning a lot. We have found a lot of potential investigators and I am really excited for the coming weeks and the things that we will be able to do in Tanauan.

We had a really good experience this week as we have focused on helping our investigators progress towards baptism instead of just working our way through the lessons. I have noticed a big difference in the work when we are working towards a vision instead of just working our way down the teaching record.

Things are going great here in the Philippines and I'm excited for all of the new things that I will be able to learn from this companion. Thank you all for your support!

- Elder English