December 17, 2012

Hello y'all,
Well since you guys didn't decide when we are going to Skype I guess that I will, So i will be online 8:00am(my time)  Dec 25th. if this is a bad time then you need to let me know when by next monday okay. Thank you
Yes its okay for me to email back and forth with if you are online, we have an unlimited time for our email time.
This week has been great! my comp went home and I got a new one! Elder Armoreda, he is awesome, and I think that he is more American than I am, last night I asked him if he wanted rice and he said no haha I am more Filipino than I thought. And our investigator was baptized it was great! I will send a picture to dad.
So tomorrow is our mission Christmas Party and its going to be a blast, Its going to be a last Christmas in the field.
Sorry this is short, but I am tired from playing rugby haha
I love all of you
Love Elder Proctor
Merry Christmas

December 10, 2012

Hello Family,

How is the Christmas season going back home?  With Skyping for Christmas, I can skype on the 24th 25th or 26th, y'all just pick a day that works. Who is going to be home for Christmas? 

Anyway things are going great here, we have a baptism coming up this Saturday, my companion goes home on Wednesday, and a Zone Meeting on Tuesday. So its going to be a busy week,

So this week we attended a baptism in the sisters area and after we went to Mcdonalds and the new couple missionaries, Elder and Sister Kiholm from Huricane Utah, were there and they offered to buy us dinner, actually they kind of insisted it haha but  as we were talking to them they told us that this is there 2nd mission that they have served. They say they are making up for lost time because they were less active for most of their lives and they said that 7 out of 8 of their kids are less active, and Elder Kiholm told me that when I become a father and if I want to be a good one, I have to set an example. That made me think of my Dad, and the amazing example that he has been to me all my life and that reminds me of a great country song called "Ive Been Watching You" it is a great song, I love you dad, and you too mom. And I love all of you! 

Sorry this is short we are short on time 

Merry Christmas 

Love Elder Proctor

December 3, 2012

Hello Everybody,

So Mom I will be able to Skype on Christmas you just tell me the time. Speaking of Christmas, the Filipinos have a tradition that is like caroling mixed with trick or treating only when they come to your house and sing, they don't leave until you give them money! How neat is that.

Oh and do you know that book I am always asking for? the Book of Missionary Inspirational Stories, I finally got to read it and it was great! There was one story in there that I wanted to share, So its low tide on a beach and there are tons of star fish that are going to die unless they get back in the water, and there is a young man on the beach just chucking them into the water one at a time, saving them one at a time, an older man sees this guy on the beach and says to him "quit wasting your time! there are miles of beach and there are millions of starfish, how will you ever make a difference?" and then the younger man picks up another starfish and says "I made a difference for that one." How cool is that! I realize that I may not be able to teach the whole city about the gospel but I can make a difference for a few of them.

So this week I have been thinking about my emails home and I realized that I need to write better so this week I have been praying that I would be able to write you guys more and that I could bring you to the Cauayan Mission. So I was thinking last nights about what I could write and I thought of the Philippines and that got me thinking about the things that I dont have here, but that also made me realize what I do have.
For example, here in the Philippines its crazy hot and would be awesome to have air conditioning, but I have an electric fan that works as long as there is electricity and there is electricity 80% of the time, there are others that have less. I also thought about the food here and even though its not the food I am used to and sometimes its not very good, but I am never hungry. Or the running water that we have and the water filter! Clean and drinkable water! Some people dont have that. Or my worn out shoes that have holes in them and are falling apart, well at least I have shoes. Or my feet and knees that are always sore from walking, well at least I can walk! Or my shirts that are getting holes from hand washing them, at least I have clothes to wear. Our apartment maybe small and hot but at least I have a safe place to sleep every night. My Family back home that loves and supports me, and understands why I am out here, The Gospel and its endless blessing. There are so many things that I have to be grateful for and I know that I have these things because of a Heavenly Father that loves me.

I love all of you! Cant wait to talk to you this Christmas!
Love Elder Proctor

November 26, 2012

Hey Y'all,

I see that there is a bit of an uproar going on back home because of my short letters haha you guys have to forgive me, I didn't play Mavis Beacon typing games like Martha, and I barely passed in all my computer skills classes. And My English is degrading everyday! I have been living with native companions for and entire year, and we don't use English. But today I am going to make an effort to tell you a little more about my mission and how I am doing, it might not make sense but that's okay :) 

 

So I am doing well, I am still recovering from a cold, which is kind of annoying because I have a stuffy nose and Tagalog is a language that needs clear nasal passages haha the language is going pretty good I am still learning but I can have a conversation with anyone and say just about anything I want. The Gift of tongues is real! A week ago, this 10 year old girl we are teaching kept asking me questions like, "Why is your nose so long?" Why are you white?" Why is your hair golden?" and I told her because I am an American, and she said "Really! I thought you were a Filipino!" I got a good laugh out of it.

 

Oh I found this setting on my camera that I can use to just do a voice recording, I am going to try that out and see if I can send you guys a tape through the email.

 

I am also going to start a video journal, I will do one video every month till I go home, I thought that it would be cool to have after the mission.

Isaac asked if we go tracting, we do but not a whole lot. We do eat at members homes and share with them and that's also were we get new investigators, friends of the members or relatives.

Missionary work here is different then I ever imagined it to be, we dont get doors slamed in our face, preachers don't fight with us, or any of that good stuff. Which is good but at the same time kind of annoying because we will talk to people and then set up a time where we can share a message with them and they will agree to it even if they aren't interested so that's why we don't to a whole lot of tracting. We work a lot with recent converts and less active members to get/keep them active. And in the process we find new investigators.

What else, do you guys want to know?

our apartment is tiny, it could probably fit in the wood shop back home, our bathroom is about 4ft by 3ft with a toilet and a faucet and a bucket, oh this might gross you guys out but oh well, we don't use toilet paper here! its water and your hand, its like the wet and wild out here haha but don't you worry about me I am an expert at washing my hands haha.

Doing our laundry by hand is no fun but I can normally get it all done in an hourish, we do our laundry twice a week so its not to bad, but I wouldnt mind a washer and dryer, even just a dryer would be great, because most of the time its raining here so we have to hang our clothes inside and that attracts the skeeters and they have denge which is not good haha

Is this a satisfactory letter for all of you? I don't think that I can do this every week haha we will see.

I love it out here and I love all of you

I will try to send a recording with my next email.

This work is true.

Elder Proctor

November 12, 2012

Hey Y'all,
 

I am glad to hear that you are all doing well. Everything is going great here in the Philippines, It turns out that my Companion will be going home this December so that he can be there when his family gets sealed. I was kind of bummed at first because we get along so well and I wanted to have more then 6 weeks to work with him. but its all cool. Do you want to know something cool about my comp? so when I asked him what he did for fun before his mission he said "Drag Racing Motorcycles!" haha how neat is that? 

 

My new area is great, the ward is so organized which is refreshing, all the leaders are humble and hard working which is also great. I love the work, even when its hot and we are sweating from our eyelids! its still a blast talking to people about the truth of the restored gospel. I love the people here. Its all good

 

I love you all and wish you all the best.

 

Love,

Elder Proctor

PS about the election... lets not forget that as Americans its "In God We Trust"

love you all

November 5, 2012

Hello all,
 
So you are all doing well from what I hear. Especially Mom with her quilt retreat coming up, haha I cant imagine anything better than non-stop quilting!
 
So I got transferred! I am in a little town ,or Barangay as they call it here, named Baluarte near Santiago City for those of you that love google earth. My new companion is Elder Rocaberte, I will get a picture by next week. He is way cool and fun to be around. The Lord really knows me and he has shown it my putting me with another gear head haha he loves motorcycles too and its usually what we talk about while we eat.
Baluarte is a cool area, its out in the rice fields, its nice to be out of the city and get fresh air. But now I have to wash clothes by hand again... yay say goodbye to 4hrs of P-Day, but I am looking forward to the experiences that I will have here and the things that I will learn.

Hey Jake, do you remember a Aaron Cass? he says you used to be his ym leader in St. George. he just got here last Thursday.

I love this work so much, I love all of you I hope you know that and don't forget it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth so what reason do we have to be sad? Eternal Life, Joy, Peace, and Love are all waiting for us if we just do what is right. SO LETS DO IT!
 
Love,
Elder Proctor

10-29-12

Have ACTIVITIES!!! With your FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!
Williams talk was awesome! way to go buddy.

So this was an exciting week with the baptism, completing the Quilang Family! It was so cool to see the gospel bless this family. I love them.
We also had our quarterly interviews with the Mission President, and he told me that I would be transferred, I am sure gonna miss this area, and the people here, but I know that the Lord has other plans for me, even though I would love to stay here the rest of my mission, its not my will, but his.

I know that this is his work, its done his way, and thats the only way!

President Carlos also told us about the jump in missionary applications, right now there are about 150 missionaries assigned here in the Cauayan Mission and in the next year its going to climb up to 250! Which means there is going to be many new areas opened up! Its really cool to be a part of it. who knows maybe I will have the chance to open a branch! how neat would that be!

what an awesome way to spend 2 years.
I know this work is true, nothing will stop it
I love it and I love all of you
Love Elder Proctor

 

Letter to President

President Carlos told me to email him this story and I thought I would forward it to y'all.

Dear President,

This is the Quilang Family, They are a family that has been completed through the rescue efforts. The ward first contacted with the Tatay on a one day mission youth activity. He was baptized in the 80's and had been Less-Active for almost 20 years. Then the ward told the missionaries about this man and his family. When we first visited him, he was drunk and didn't want to hear much from us but on the second visit we were able to teach him a lesson and commit him to come to church. To our surprise he came the next Sunday! After that his 2 sons, JP and Niko, started to listen in the lessons we were teaching. So we started teaching the 3 of them and they were coming to church and

 keeping their commitments, eventually JP and Niko were both baptized by their Father, Oh yeah Tatay got over his drinking problem and now is a Priesthood Holder.
After they were baptized we continued to visit with them, and pretty soon Nanay and their youngest daughter Karen started listening in, And after some time they were baptized as well! Now they are a complete family, with their eyes set toward the Temple to be sealed forever!
They are an awesome family, they are now being blessed for following the commandments and its only the beginning!
Its amazing to me that all this started because the ward followed the example of the Savior by reaching out to the one lost sheep.
This work is true, and I love it.

Elder Proctor

 

Oct. 22, 2012

Hello Y'all,

So I don't have a lot to say. The work is great! we have some awesome investigators and they are coming to church which is so cool. This Saturday we have a baptism planned they are part members but once they are baptized they will be complete. I might even have the opportunity to see them enter the temple when I go home. That would be awesome. I miss going to the temple.

I know this work is true, I love it out here, I don't know what else to tell ya,

I love you.

Love,
Elder Proctor

Oct. 15, 2012

Happy Birthday momma,
 

Sounds like your birthday dinner was pretty good, we normally just have rice and whatever we have to give it flavor. Pretty cool huh, SO this week we had a zone conference and General Conference so it was like being spiritually fed to the max! we had some Investigators watch conference with us, it was cool because they got really excited when the Prophet spoke, they are really cool so I think I will tell you about them, They are Two couples and their kids the husbands are twins, they work as boat drivers taking people from one side of the river to the other, both couples and their daughters live in this little bamboo house that is no bigger than my bedroom back home, They were referred to us by one of the sisters grandmothers who is a member. Because of the Brothers job schedule we are only able to teach them on saturday and Sunday, but they always keep their commitments and haven't missed one Sunday since we started teaching them, they have flat out told us, "we know this is true, and we need it." The have committed to be Baptized on November 10. I am so excited for them, to enter into the strait and narrow path that leads to salvation.

 

I don't know what else to tell ya. I love all of you, I love this work

The Church is True

Love Elder Proctor

Oct. 8, 2012

Hey Y'all,
 

That news is great! oh and mom that 12 week training is old news, its been that way for over a year now. unless they are changing the program.

 

So that family I am always telling you about is doing great! Yesterday at fast and testimony meeting the mom was touched by the testimony of one of the members. They all seem happier and all around more unified, that's the blessings of the Gospel for ya! Its crazy to think back to when I first met this family, the dad was drunk, the mom wouldn't say 2 words to us and the kids were all super shy around us, but now its like I am a part of their family and every time we teach them we are in tears or laughing so much that it hurts, its so great to see this in people to see the spirit touch their lives and the gospel enlighten everything that is good inside them. 

 

I am getting excited to watch conference this week, i kind of wish that I could watch it live at the conference center but the revelation is still all the way out here.

 

I love all of you and I love this work,

 

PS a member told us last night about the age requirement changing for missionaries but the way she told us was "Elders President Monson came out with an Official Declaration!" haha so I was thinking that there was going to be something added to our standard works haha pretty funny huh

 Hey Y'all,
So its official, Laura and Tyler is gettin hitched! how neat is that. With the ring and everything! What an exciting time, Keep the pictures coming I love them,
Mom, we get conference broadcasted  to us the week after you guys see it. We are real excited for it.
So that family that I have been telling you about, with the returned father and the 2 sons, well we are now teaching the mom and their youngest daughter, they came out to church for the first time yesterday, i love it, seeing the Lord unifying this family through the gospel, and that's what its all about!
Everything in the gospel is a means to that end, to be unified or sealed with our family forever, because our Heavenly Father loves us. I am so grateful for my family and that we can be together forever. What else is there to say? this is the best news that there is haha
I love all of you!
Love Elder Proctor

September 24, 2012

HEY ERBODY!

Its good to hear from you guys, or should I say girls the men in our family don't really write but I cant talk either.

That's cool that you all got to go to the temple dedication, us Utahnites are so blessed/spoiled when it comes to temples so we should make sure that we don't take them for granted. I miss going to the temple with mom every week, we will have to start that up again when I get home okay mom.

There isn't a whole lot to report on this week, there weren't any transfers in our apartment so that's cool.

I love this work, I love the people, I love this gospel

What else is there, oh and Of course I love all of you supporting me back home :) Tanks guys

Love Elder Proctor

We got'em wet!

Hey y'all

So those people I asked you to pray for got Baptized last Saturday, It was great! That Dad I have been telling you about got to baptize his 2 sons, Then Sister Gretchen(she is the older one in picture) and Shaira(the younger girl). Shaira is part of a family that has just returned to activity, the plan was to have her Dad baptize her but he wasn't able to attend the baptism. Sister Gretchen was referred to us by her sister, she has been through a lot of trials in her life, but she was converted to the gospel through the holy ghost. After she was baptized she got up and bore her testimony and said that when us missionaries would teach her she wasn't sure if it was us talking to her or Jesus Christ. I was so humbled when I  heard this, this really is his work, I felt more like a servant of Christ at that moment then I have my whole mission. Heavenly Father knew that these people needed the gospel and he sent it to them. How great is his work. 

Transfers are happening this week, but I am pretty sure that I will stay here because training usually goes 12 weeks and we are 6 weeks in. 

I am glad to hear that all is going well back home, keep me posted on anything crazy that goes on.

Thanks to all of you I love you

Love Elder Proctor  

Pictures

1, My Birthday Cake that our bishop gave me 

2, This is the 4 of us in our apartment me, Elder Juzgaya,Elder Averion, Elder Oliver

3, This is a weird fruit called uway, and its super sour

4, Thanks Casey for an awesome shirt 

5, Me and a successful week 

6, my comp sleeping

7-9 Baptism

September 10, 2012

Hey Family and Friends ,

 
So this week 4 out of 4 of our investigators passed their baptismal interview, please keep them in your prayers as the continue to prepare this coming week. Also I got the package you guys sent with the tie and shirt and cds. I love it all! I am wearing the tie right now haha the trunky proof shirt was hilarious. Thanks you guys.

Heads up this is a short email, yesterday one of the families we are teaching said that the Book of Mormon is what they have been searching for, the spirit was so strong as we testified to them of this truth. They are so awesome, they would have been baptized a long time ago but the Mom and Dad cant get Sunday off at their work, but they have told us that they have been saving up to open up a store in their house so they could come to church. This experience has testified to me the Power that is in the Book of Mormon, they just had to read from it and then ask Heavenly Father if it was true and t

hey did it, their prayers were answered. And because they have received a testimony of this truth they are willing to change their lives, Talk about contrite spirits. These are the treasures/ perks to missionary life, getting to see people change for the better and come unto Christ.

I know this work is true, I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I know that through Joseph Smith the true church that Christ established was restored on this Earth. 
I love all of you and I thank you for your love and support 
 

Elder Proctor

September 3, 2012

Hello Everybody,

Mom, I do know Elder Wooden, we went to high school together and we played football earlier today as a matter of fact haha He is a cool kid.

This week has been nuts, all of our investigators with baptismal dates are progressing like crazy, if things go as planned they will be baptized on september 15th. I would love it if you all would keep them in your prayers, I have grown so close to them in the past few months and they mean so much to me. Its kind of crazy for me to think about, but I have fallen in love with the people here in the Philippines, I love them! and I know that this is where I am supposed to be, Heavenly Father knew exactly where to put me. Where I could learn, and help the people and invite them to come unto our Savior.

Oh and about service, we do service but not as often as I would like. Filipinos tell you that they dont need help. but every now and then I will help someone draw water from a well, or haul a bucket of water, actually yesterday we decided to go and visit a former investigator and while we were waiting we helped her family take this hard corn off of the cob, it killed my thumbs but it was way fun, I love doing things like that because it helps people here realize that us missionaries are here to help them and not just to get more numbers.

I love my mission, I love this Gospel, it changes the lives of the people we teach, it continues to change me for the better, I know that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father live and that they love us, I know that through Joseph Smith, the fullness of the gospel was restored. 

I love all of you and I thank you for all the prayers and emails and packages soon to come :)
 
Love,
Elder Proctor

August 27, 2012

Hello Everybody!

Oh what a week!  I loved it.  It sounds like you are all doing great! I think its crazy that Laura was picking out dresses, but that is super exciting.  I wish that I could have heard Grandpa play his harmonica!

President Carlos wrote you? He didn't mention a zip line did he? haha I hope what he had to say was nice.

I want to tell you all this story about that dad that we have been teaching.  So the whole time we have been teaching him and his kids he has been out of a job, and so it was always on the back of my mind that when he got a job that he would just go less active again.   So last Monday he got a job and was working the whole week and we didn't get to teach them until Saturday night.

We had planned to teach them about keeping the sabbath day holy and that was before we even knew that he had a job.  So we get to the house and we were talking with him and he told us about him finding a job and he said that it was a blessing from Heavenly Father because of all the changes he has made in his life.  hen he told us that he would have to work on Sunday.  And I was pretty bummed about that.  Then we taught them about keeping the sabbath day holy and the dad just went quiet and didn't say a whole lot after the lesson.

Then Sunday morning we were waiting in front of the church, it was 8:55 and sacrament started at 9:00 and they still weren't there.  So I said a little prayer asking the Lord to let them be able to attend.  They still didn't show.  Me and my comp go sit and wait there for a minute or two.  I was still feeling pretty down, then I looked out the window and I see him and his kids running inside.   They all came and sat next to us and the dad asked if he had missed anything! haha It was so great to see these people live the gospel and to see the sacrifice that they are making to live it.  It was a great Sunday.

I love this work! and I can't say it enough! I know that this work is true and I know the Gospel is the answer to all of our questions.

I love all of you.

Love,

Elder Proctor

August 20, 2012

Hey all you Proctors! 

How is everything going back there? They keep telling us that there is a storm heading our way but nothing to worry about.  I havent gotten any of the packages you sent, I think its because there is a flood in Manila and so it has slowed things down. 

This week has been a blast, training is fun because its like a part 2 to my training i have been learning a lot and am doing my best to be a better missionary everyday.

And its been fun having a greenie as a companion, haha I play harmless jokes on him and its fun haha, like the other night we were walking down this dark road and i thought I'd give him a little scare haha we had a good laugh, luckily my comp has a good attitude about it haha 

I want to tell you about the awesome day I had yesterday, that Less active dad that we have been helping come back, was ordained and set apart as a priest yesterday! and his 2 boys are going to be baptized soon, which means he will get to baptize them! It was so amazing to see the change in this mans life, all because of the Atonement. He just had to apply it and the rest just took off. Its going to be such a blessing for his family, oh ps we have been inviting his wife to sit it while we teach his sons, before she wouldnt want anything to do with it but now she is listening to the gospel and she just seems happier, all of them do. I love serving these people.

Then later we went to the church to watch the broadcast for President Monson's 85th birthday, It was way cool. I started to tear up when that lady sang "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera and then I couldnt hold it back when that guy sang "Bring him home" from Les Mis. It was Heavenly Fathers way of reminding me of how much I love my family.

I love all of you and I Love this work.

Love,
Elder Proctor

August 13, 2012

Hey Ya'll,

Wow what a week.  Thank you all for the birthday wishes and for the packages(that are still on the way.)  Congrats to Laura and Tyler.  I don't know what to say, I just know that Heavenly Father loves our family. 

 

So I got my greenie this week, his name is Elder Juzgaya from Quezon City.  Its weird to be training because it feels like yesterday I was on the other side of the training, but it is great because it is another opportunity to learn and to grow. 

 

Bad news, Elder Cook won't be visiting our mission any more because of the flooding in Manila, so that kind of stinks. 

 

Just to let you know I had a great birthday.  Our bishop ordered a cake and then invited us over for dinner, they spelled my name wrong at the cake place but the love was still there :) and we had some awesome lessons.   It was great.

 

I love all of you and I love this work.

 

Love,
Elder Proctor

August 6, 2012

Hey Ya'll,

 

I cant believe that James is back, you should get him to write me something. haha If not that's okay.

 

So as far as news goes, I found out this week that I will be training a new Elder this next transfer. I am way nervous and twice as excited. I will tell you more about that in next weeks letter.

 

This last week we visited a less active member.  It went pretty well until we asked him if we could share a message with him.  He started to tell us about all of his problems and all the reasons that he had gone less active.   He told us that he didn't want us to share with him. 

 

My Companion then shared with him the change that happened to his family when they returned to activity.  He told him about how they all used to fight and never got along, until they became active in the church. While this was going on I couldn't help but think about my family. My comp was talking about the fights his parents used to get into, and it made me realize that I have never seen Mom and Dad fight.  I haven't even seen them raise their voices at one another.

 

As we were walking away from this members home, I could hardly hold back the tears as I thought of how blessed I was to have such a wonderful family. I have a hard time at describing how much I love you guys, but there is this country song that describes my feelings towards my family. It goes "They're the world my world revolves around, my sacred piece of solid ground, the flesh and bone that give me strength to stand, They're the fire in my drive, my drive behind my coming home, They're the living breathing reason that I am"

 

I love all of you so much, I am so grateful for our amazing family. And why is our family so amazing? Well its no secret, its because we are rooted in this gospel. I know this Gospel to be true. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus live. 

 

I love all of you.

 

Love,

Elder Proctor

July 30, 2012

Hello everybody,

 

Another week has just flown by, we had some great news today from President Carlos, we found out that the Cauayan Mission is leading in the area, which includes the whole Philippines, New Zealand and Australia. but we aren't letting it go to our heads. 

 

It sounds like you are all doing well, I wish you would send me a picture of Isaac in his vader costume. 

 

That's cool that the Olympics have started, I love the Olympics. You will have to keep me posted on anything amazing.

 

That's nuts that you already have Martha's release date time has just flown by and continues to do so.

 

This week has been a great one! We have this investigator named Joseph that is awesome, he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and the Restoration. He wants to be baptized! We are working that out, I am so grateful to see these changes in people and seeing them taste the Gospel for the first time. I love missionary life. I love all of you.

 

I know that this work is true, I know that through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ restored his everlasting gospel to the earth so that we could return to him. I know the power of the Atonement, I have seen it work in me and in others, I know that through the Atonement we can be made clean. I just remembered one of my favorite quotes, it goes "Mine is the strength of 10 because my heart is pure" to be pure is to be clean, and through that there is strength given to us that we may overcome any trial we are dropped into. 

 

I love all of you and hope you are all doing well.

Love,

Elder Proctor

July 23, 2012

Hello all, 

This week was great! We had our Zone conference with Elder Teh.  It was great. We learned a lot from him and his wife on how to become better missionaries.

 

And after the conference Brother Pete cooked some amazing mashed potatoes and chicken. It was wonderful. After we ate we sang a thank you song to him and it made that old sea dog start to tear up. The guy loves the missionaries. He is so great.

 

Also this week, all of the elders in my district went to one ward and we taught the ward about effective teaching and then we went out and visited less active families. This one guy that my companion and I visited was a really cool experience.  We showed up at the door and he came out and was mad at us, telling us that he didn't have time for us and that he didn't have time for church. 

 

We just told him that we would like to share a verse from the Book of Mormon with him and he calmed down a bit and let us in, we shared 1Nephi 1:1 with him, and said that because of Nephis "goodly parents" he was taught to live righteously and did so. Then he opened up to us and told us about how he has these 2 grand kids whose mom had passed away and dad had left them.  He takes care of them and is doing everything he can for them, he told us the only thing he wants is for them to be brought up in a good home, and he said that his home would be better if they went to church more. It was great, the power of the Book of Mormon is amazing. 

 

As we left he asked us if he could order the Liahona again, so that he could share the stories in there with his grand kids.

 

And that's the beauty of missionary work. Inviting others to come to Christ.

 

I love all of you and I hope you all have another great week

 

Love,

Elder Proctor

July 16, 2012

Hello All,

 

So this Wednesday we are starting our fast and going to sleep at 6pm because we have to wake up at 2am Thursday morning to head to Tuguegarao and be there by 7am for our meeting with Elder Teh! I am excited! And to top it off Brother Pete is cooking for us. He is that navy vet that used to be a cook on a ship.

 

And today we got some more exciting news, In August Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve will be visiting our mission! How neat is that! 

 

Here is an update on that dad I have been telling you about.  Every time we go to visit him, he is either reading from the Book of Mormon, Teachings of George Albert Smith, or the Priesthood manual. I guess if he is going to come back to activity he is coming back running haha.

Its good to hear that you are all doing well, and that Grandmas surgery went well, tell her that I love her. I love all of you, I love this gospel.  I love missionary work, but I don't love typing haha. But don't worry I will have plenty of stories when/if I come home. 

 

Love,

 

Elder Proctor

7-1-12

I don't have a lot of time, I am still in the same area with the same companion and the other 2 Elders stayed as well. I love all of you so much, I will try to tell you more next week.

June 25, 2012

Well How the Heck are ya?

I am doing great. This week is transfer week.  We will find out tomorrow who is getting transferred, so that's kind of exciting.

I want to tell you about this family we are teaching.  The Dad is the only member and he was less-active but he is coming back now, and he is bringing his 2 sons and his daughter. Our goal is to keep teaching the kids and Mom and then have the Dad baptize them all! We were over at their house yesterday and we were teaching about the Restoration of The Gospel, it was so great.   They were asking good questions and through the spirit we were able to answer them. After the lesson we gave them a copy of The Book of Mormon. The Dad got all excited and said to his kids that they were going to read it together. Then he kept saying, "A family that reads and prays together, STAYS together!" It was so awesome.  I love seeing the gospel give people the help that they need. The great thing about that is that EVERYONE needs the gospel and that it is the answer to all the problems and questions in the world!

I love it.

Now to answer moms questions, to stay cooled off is not that hard we just use electric fans.  When we are out walking in the sun there isn't anything that we can do so we just sweat.  haha The cool thing that I have noticed is that as long as I am in my white shirt and tie, that I don't get sunburned but if we have an activity on p-day, then I get fried! haha

I do email Reeve every now and then.  I don't want you to forward me his letters.

I love all of you and I love being a missionary,

Elder Proctor 

6-18-12

Happy Fathers day!

Sorry I didn't get you anything Dad, kinda far.

This week has been great, mom to answer your question about the language yes I dream in Tagalog, I am doing okay with the language I plan to be learning the language the whole time I am here.

That is so cool that Josh is heading to the MTC he will do great!

This is going to be kind of short, We got an appointment to keep.

I love all of you, I love this work

Love Elder Proctor

 (random picture from Jared's mission president's blog. :))

June 11, 2012

Hello,

Mom first off to answer your questions.. It is hot! always unless its raining, then its freezing, and right now is the rainy season and will be till about October. We don't have bikes, I wish we did though, we could double our teaching appointments, as for food in our apartments its usually just rice and tuna haha full of nutrients.  But earlier today I cooked those no bake cookies and they are delicious.  Thanks again for sending the recipe.

For my birthday I would like this book, i think its called Missionary Inspirational Stories or something like that.

This week has been a good one, we had a combined Zone Conference which was really good, I learned a lot and got to see buddies from my old zones.

Another cool thing about this week is that one of our investigators that has wanted to be baptized for a long time but didn't want to get married to her boyfriend or leave him, has finally started to work out the papers they need to make there marriage official. That is one thing that I really don't get about the Philippines, people will tell you they have a husband or wife but then they tell you they aren't married. 

Anywho, this morning we helped these members plant mango trees this morning, which was super cool because they are a returned less active family, when I first came to this ward the dad was always drinking coffee and beer and the family was always getting in arguments but now the dad has kicked the beer and coffee and they have all talked to the bishop and are having a family prayer every night and they have a goal to go to the temple this October! I love seeing this change for better in people, I just love missionary work.

I was thinking the other night about how I am here in the Philippines, and I said to myself "Hey skitch, how did we get here?" and I thought about my life and the things that led me to serve a mission, and then about our family history and how we got the gospel, then into church history and I realized that I am here because a 14 year old boy sincerely wanted to know the truth! Talk about a marvelous work and a wonder. I love you all, I am so grateful to have a testimony of the restored gospel and to have such an amazing family! 

Love,

Elder Proctor

6-4-12

Hello Family,

So this week has gone by faster then the rest, it just keeps going faster and faster. Some of the challenges that we are facing in this area is that Tagalog is a 2nd or 3rd language here, so we have to keep our Tagalog as simple as possible and we are picking up some Ebanag and more Ilocano. Another thing that all of the people we are teaching (less-active or investigator) are just not keeping their commitments.   They keep telling us that they will do these things but then they don't even try. It drives me a little nuts sometimes but that's okay. They have their agency.

As far as cool stories go, we are teaching this one less active family that are really coming back strong! A couple of weeks ago the dad was drinking everyday but now they are all coming to church.  The dad has stopped drinking and has talked to the Bishop. In all of our lessons with them we focus of Eternal Families and the Temple, those are my favorite things to teach because of the great family I have.

Oh get this I found Root Beer here! Halleluiah!

That's it folks, I love you all so much thanks for all that you do,

Elder Proctor

May 27, 2012

Hey Family,

So this week I didn't keep a list of things to tell you so this is gonna be a short one,

First off, I still want someone to forward the recipe for no-bake cookies to me, that would be awesome!

I showed my companion a picture of Martha and he said "bayaw" to me which means he will be my Brother in law haha and he comes home in December its a match made in heaven.

Elder Oliver and I just so happen to have the same interests so we are always talking about cars, motorcycles, and other stupid stuff like that, but don't worry I am trunky proof

Next week we are going to take a tour of this army base here for a zone activity! I am excited to see how ghetto it is, and I will let you know how it goes.

Isaac and Taniel are parents now! That makes you both old by the way haha Abigail looks beautiful, Its good to know that everything went well, I have been praying for that since the MTC. Just one more to go (Michelle)

Laura, boys are dumb, start looking for men, there is this great talk by D.Todd Christofferson called Let us Be Men and I think that every guy you date should listen to it.

I love all of you and I love Missionary work
Love Elder Proctor

5-21-2012

Hello Family,

 It sure was good to Skype last week, but I think for Christmas I would rather talk to you one at a time haha it was kind of crazy.

So right after we stopped talking on Skype, me and Elder James got a text from the APs and It said that I was going to be transferred! 

So now I am in Ilagan, Elder Galang is my companion and he is 1/4 American (his grandpappy is a GI) we share an apartment with the Zone Leaders, and my companion is a District leader, I guess president Carlos is trying to get me to shape up haha

You are in luck this week because I have kept a list of things that I want to tell you so that I wouldn't forget! 

So here is my list of cool things

Brother Pete, He is this American that lives in Tuguegarao and he loves the missionaries, he also used to be a cook on a NAVY ship so he shows his love to the missionaries by cooking delicious food in mass quantities. He also has really cool fishing stories.

In my new ward there is this member that actually lives in downtown Salt Lake! He just spent his vacation here and now he is bringing his whole family to America. I got to talk to him for a little bit and he told me about all the cool things happening in Utah. 

Now I would like to tell you more about the people, I hope you dont mind that I keep up this list form thing, it helps me write more.

The people are incredibly nice

They are super easy to talk to, a lot of the times I can just go up and ask them their name, age, how big is their family, and then talk about the gospel

They are friendly, they always say hi, and good morning, day, evening.

When they see Americans they Shout out "Hey Joe" or "Americano" sometimes its annoying

When we share the Restoration with them and ask if we can teach them more they usually say "Next time" but it usually means they don't want to. they are just to polite to tell us that they aren't interested 

There is also what I like to call the "Ambitious Drunk." its common for the older men here to come home from work and just get hammered, and then they see us and tell us how they want to change their evil ways and just completely turn around, but then we go and visit them when they are sober and they don't want anything to do with us, but that's agency for ya 

There are also the people that invite us in to teach them just because I am American, haha in my last area we were in this lesson and I was in the middle of bearing my testimony about Joseph Smith and the Lady we were teaching just pulls out a camera and snaps a picture of me haha she said she wanted to tell her friends that an American visits her haha

So now about my new area, out neighbors are members and they have a washing machine and they let us use it! no more raw knuckles for a little while haha, Also our apartment is above a motorcycle dealership! Talk about tender mercies of the Lord haha And Remember how we share the apartment with the ZLs? well good, one of them is Elder Gloria, who was also my trainer! and a super cool kid and the other is Elder Oliver from Filmore Utah and is also a super cool kid...so yeah that's about it (oscar from the office)

So now I want to talk about this analogy that I thought of, although I wouldn't be surprised if it has been used by an apostle before because we tend to think alike hahaha 

So Imagine that we are back in the day where if you wanted travel somewhere you had to take trip on a ship. The place we are coming from in this little analogy is of course the preexistence and our destination is the Celestial kingdom, and so our life here on earth is the journey on the ship from on place to another. As members of the one and only true church we are aboard a unsinkable, Iron clad vessel. Captained by the Savior him self, and our prophet is the navigator. This vessel is also fitted with a rudder, a keel, and sails so that It can make it to our destination. Now as for the people that are not on this ship of ours, we might find them on a ship with no sails, or one missing a rudder, some of their ships have holes in the hull and will eventually sink, we might also find them clinging onto a life raft, or life preserver, and unfortunately we can also find these people swimming relying on their own strength to make to there destination.

Now back to our great unsinkable vessel, everyone on the ship is a member of the crew, and all of us have a job to do(callings) and we must all do our part, in fact that's all that the Captain asks of us. And no matter what our job is, it is important to the whole crew.

As for us missionaries, they are the dive and rescue team! just like Kevin Cosner ahah they dive into the depths to rescue people and bring them on board. 

The greatest thing about this ship is that its destination is sure, no matter what storms come it remains on course, we just need to stay on the ship, and do our best, and when those storms come we need to make sure we don't fall off back into the depths.

I love this gospel and I love this Church, I love the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful to have a knowledge of this gospel. I know it is true, every bit of it! 

I love you all and Thank you again for your love and support.

Elder Proctor

5-7-2012

Hey y'all, 
 

So this week has been great, although this week I forgot to keep a list of things that I should write you so I have once again forgotten the entire week the second I sat at the computer.

 

But as far as Skype goes next week, I will be able to catch you around the time that mom said "Monday at 9:00 am my time, it will be sun 7:00 pm. your time " 

 

So earlier today we went to Banaue (look it up) its the 8th wonder of the world, its is beautiful just see the pictures.

 

Well I love all of you and I cant wait to Skype with you, (hopefully the Internet isn't dumb)

 

Love,

Elder Proctor 

 

 

4-30-12

Dear Family! 

How y'all doing? Mom and Dad are empty nesters till Sister Proctor gets home, Laura is out and about just loving life haha
Sounds like you are all doing great!

Mom I got your package, the cookies were delicious and I will see if I can get that paper signed the next time I go to the bank.

Dad, I found a van that is harder to fix than an Astro, Its a hyundai and the engine is under the front passenger seat, I was talking to the mechanic that was fixing it up and when I asked him where the engine was he said "nakatago" meaning hidden haha it gave me a good laugh, plus it was cool to talk about cars with this guy.

Another cool story, so we are teaching this less-active family and we invited them to come to church on Saturday, and right after we asked them to come to church, their 3 year old little girl shouted "iyan dapat!" which means "we should do that!" we had a good laugh at that one, They came to church and it was great! I love it when the people we teach actually do something! 

Oh another cool thing, there is a lot of carpenters here and the smell of sawdust is everywhere, its one of the few smells here that remind me of home. I do miss my woodshop.

Well I love all of you so much. This is the true gospel and I am pleased as punch to be doing my small part to spread it to the people here!
Love Elder Proctor

4-23-12

Hello family,
So remember how I told you about riding on the outside of those jeepneys? well I was doing it earlier today, just enjoying the air like a golden retriever sticking his head out the window, and as we were driving along we pass this cop and he stops the jeepney and then tells me how its illegal to do that haha so now I will just have to jam myself inside of the low ceiling jeepney and dream of head room.

This week has been great, we started teaching this lady, and she is super prepared to hear the gospel. She has all of these great questions for us which is really refreshing because most people just want to know how tall I am and if I know any movie stars haha but she asks us things like "where do we go after this life?" and "will you teach me how to pray?" I love it! I will keep you posted as we teach her more.

Oh so here is an adventurous story you should all know... our house is haunted. Like seriously haunted haha Members have told us about times when they would walk past our house and see a little girl in our house haha kind of creepy no? and other missionaries that have stayed there have said they saw her, I haven't seen anything yet but at night I hear stuff all the time. haha What an adventure.

So who all reads this email? I have decided that if you want to read my emails you have to send me an email or letter haha I love hearing from all of you

I also had a nerdy revelation that I would like to share with you, here it goes... imagine if I could meet a vulcan and then mind meld with the said vulcan, he would see how the gospel has blessed my life and feel my testimony of it and then be converted. and then he could mind meld with all the stubborn people here and they would see the truth of this message haha but seeing as that is just science fiction I will just have to keep doing what I am doing haha

I love all of you and I really appreciate the letters (or should I say future letters) haha
I love you thank you for everything, I love this gospel like a fat kid loves cake!
Love Elder Proctor

PS in my area a lot of the people speak ifuegao, there are over 120 dialects in ifuegao alone! I think that the tower of babel was built here haha 

 (A random picture of a jeepney. :))

11-26-11

Well Well Well Lets have a drink :)

So my p day was moved to saturday this week because we had in-field orrentation yesterday haha and it was all day! So thanksgiving in the MTC was pretty cool, Russel M. Nelson spoke and it was awesome. oh and last tuesday D. Todd Christofferson spoke at the devotional so that was pretty neat :) anyway back to thanksgiving, we had that devotional and then a big thanksgiving dinner/lunch and the food was pretty good for cafetira food, nothing like good home cookin but still good, then after that we had a thanksgiving program for us, it reminded me of what I used to do in elementary school haha kind of fun, then we did a service project, we put together some injury kits that are being sent to Sudan and we watched a video on the churches humanitarian efforts, it was really cool to see how things like that can open doors for missionary work :) then we got to watch 17 miracles! it was way cool to watch a movie again haha they had a big bag of kettle corn for each missionary it was great :)

So I leave in 2 days, how neat is that? haha oh mom I got both of the packages you sent, thank you very much. You are the best mom a kid could ask for :) Speaking of those packages, my comp and I and the 2 other elders going to Cauayan went out when it was snowing and we shared that bottle of martinelis hahaha it was good :)

Oh man I am excited to do some real missionary work, I wish I was there now! but I just have to wait I guess. So just to clearify, when I call you from L.A. it will be 5:30 or 6:00 here (dont you love time zones) so just make sure you are there if you want to talk to me, I figure i will just call moms phone :) Its so crazy that I have already been here for 2 months, where did all that time go?

I am so ready for the philippines, I cant wait to see the people and to be able to tell them the best news that they have ever heard! I love this gospel so much, I cant even express my gratitude to this wonderful church. This is the one true church, It has been restored by a prophet called by God. I am so happy and so blessed to know this simple truth. And I am Chompin at the Bits to get to the field and find those who are ready to recieve this glad message. I am not going to give up, and I am going to work my hardest. Because I have seen with my own eyes what this gospel can do for familes and long ago a missionary brought this message to our family, and it has blessed us in countless ways. It would be selfish of me to keep this message to myself, I have to share it to all of those that will hear me.

I love you all so much and I hope I make all of you proud

next time you hear from me, I will be in the Philippines!

love elder Proctor

P.S. Could you tell me the story of how John Proctor first heard about the gospel? and maybe a biography of him? also how many generations ago did he live?

Here is Last Weeks Letter

Hello my Family,

It again sounds like you are all doing great back home, I cant believe all the new stuff that mom and dad have bought, it will be a completely different house when/if I get home haha. 

Oh so mothers day is coming up, and I am going to see if I can Skype! Just for your information, President Carlos says we can have as much time as we want when we Skype so that's pretty awesome! 

So I want to tell you more about my new area, our area is one of the tougher ones, we live about 45minutes away from it so that really cuts into our work time. and its far from the branch meeting house so our investigators dont come to church which stinks, and the people in our area are either super Catholics, inactive Catholics, or Muslims. and we aren't aloud to teach Muslims because here if a Muslim is converted to Christianity they kill the convert and the people that converted them. kinda scary. And these super Catholics just want to bible bash when we talk to them, the more I hear about the Catholic religion the more I see why its so popular, from what they tell me if I want to be saved all I have to do is believe in God, open the bible once and a while and go to mass on Christmas, its a lazy mans church. It also saddens me when these people fight us or tell us to go away, because I know our message is true and I know that it would help them too, but that's agency for you. There was this one lady that really didn't want to hear us, she said "my family is catholic and always has been" I held myself back from tell her how the catholic church came to the Philippines by the Spanish that invaded and conquered the Filipino people then told them what they should believe. I am sorry I don't mean to bash on the Catholics.

But it is still great, the Branch members are so strong, the Branch President is a 26 year old RM and he works with us sometimes, so cool(and he just so happens to be a carpenter)
The people here are part of what is called the Ifuegao tribe and they have there own language with 100's of dialects but luckily most of them speak Tagalog or ilocano as well.

This week our area has been smoky because the ifuegao are having their hunt, and they strategically burn the grass in the mountains to scare all the wild pigs and deer in to a smaller area so they are easier to hunt.
Oh i should tell you about jeepneys! That's what we use to get back and forth from our area. They are these jeeps left over from ww2 turned into something that looks like a bus. Anyway i am to tall to sit inside them so i hang on the back of it, I guess all those times of riding on the tops of vans in high school were just mission prep haha Its also very beautiful here, I love the Philippines, it a good thing I love you all and America more or else I don't think I would be able to leave this place. 

One thing I dont love about the Philippines is the food, I was sick a couple of days last week and I just kept craving American food, I think I will get some McDonalds tomorrow haha all the Americans in my zone go there after district meetings its funny.

Well I love all of you and I know that this work is true (hey that rhymed)
 

Thanks again for all of your love and support,
Elder Proctor

He is at the far end of the first row. :)