12-4-11

Kumusta Pamilya

Boom I am in the field! Its crazy here! I am near Tuguegarao in a small town called Catagaman. I would send you pictures but I forgot to bring the cable that connects my camera to the computer, so i will buy one here :)

So when we landed in Manila we were picked up by these guys in white shirts holding a sign that said Cauayan Missionaries, they took us to the Manila MTC, we stayed there for a few hours and rested up a bit then we hopped on a buss and took that 10 hour ride, the buss had AC and you would think that was a good thing, but they cranked it! It was like a refrigerator in there haha then we got to the Mission home many hours later and put our suits into the closet never to be seen again haha then we had breakfast and it was delicious then we were all interviewed by President Carlos, he is a great guy, when I was being interviewed he gave me some great advice, he said that I shouldnt focus on the numbers but to focus on the man that I am becoming. I am learning so much, its hard to keep up sometimes haha After that we got to meet our trainers! My companions name is Elder Gloria and he is filipino! he is great we work hard every day! He helps me a ton with the language, I am very grateful to have a native trainer. Our appartment is actually pretty nice compared to the surrounding houses, we do have electricity and running water, our shower is a bucket and a ladle haha we have a toilet but to flush it you have to fill up the shower bucket and dump it in the toilet haha

As far a weird food goes, I havent had anything that was too unusual, its mostly different things on rice. Lots of rice! but its good, and we drink lots of soda, thats what the people give us if we visit with them for a lesson or anything haha

The kids are hilarious! When I walk down the street they say "Americano!" or "Hey Joe" and there is this one street that has tons of kids, whenever we walk down it they swarm me saying "up here" (thats what you say for a High 5) its fun :)

This is such an adventure! sometimes we are teaching by candlelight in a shack with a dirt floor. Its very humbling for me to see that these people have so little, but they are happy people, they understand the important things in life. They understand the importance of family, which is awesome because the message that we have for them is about how they can have a happier family and how they can be with them forever! Oh this whole missionary thing is awesome :) I am already loving it, its so great.

I love it here and I love all of you

Elder Proctor

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?

11-11-11

Kumusta pamilya ko!

Yet another week has gone past and I dont believe it! So funny story for you, I was waiting for my comp. outside the bathroom and I decided I would try to scare him! So I got right next to the door and I heard somebody coming out and I thought that my comp was the only one in there but to my suprise it was a Branch president and I scared him! haha it was hilarious, he seemed pretty cool about it haha

Anywho, so remember how I was released as the district leader? well last sunday they called Elder Nielsen and me to be the new zone leaders haha at least I had one week of freedom :) but it was fun for us to welcome the new missionaries this week and to see how scared they all were haha it brought back somw memories of my first day here. One of the new Elder's was actually in the phillipines for a few months and then had to go home but is now heading back out! He told us some cool stuff about the philippines, and mom its true that Christmas starts october 1st there. and I cant think of anything I will need, but I will be sending some stuff home like my pajamas and that tie michelle sent, Sorry michelle i cant take it to the philippines because it is made out of silk but I will wear it all the time when I get home.

I cant believe I will be in the field in less then 3 weeks! I am so excited for it, so there is this one teacher that went to the cauayan mission and he was telling us a funny story about this rat that bit his companions hand and then he killed it with his machete! haha yeah I get a machete for my mission how neat is that? haha there are some more stories he told us but I dont want to scare the women folk haha

So the language is still coming, it was good to see the new missionaries because it showed all of us how far we have come in so little time. but we will have to relearn it when we get there oh well, I think I am up for the challenge haha I am glad to hear that everything is going well back home, I was sad to hear about Stephen, tell him I love his gutts if you see him. I was also glad to hear that Taniel and the baby are both doing well, I will still keep all you in my prayers. I Love all of you and I hope you are doing well, thank you all for your prayers and letters.

I am doing my best to learn as much as I can while I am in the MTC so that I can be a little more prepared for the field.

Alam ko po na totoo ang simbahan ni Jesucristo, mahal ko kayo pamilya ko!

Elder Proctor

11-4-11

Kumusta pamilya ko

  

   I again cant believe another week has gone by! I am glad to hear that Laura isnt pregnant haha I want all you pregnant women to know that I pray for you constantly and I hope you know how much respect I have for all of the women in my life. I am reminded of the talks Gordon B. Hinckley would give about the women in his life, I feel just as he did about all you wonderful women.

So in less then 3 weeks I will be in the Philippines, fun fact for you the Philippines has about the same land mass as Arizona but they speak over 250 different languages! haha I cant wait, but I am soaking up as much as I can while I am here from all the resources here so that I can leave the MTC knowing that I did my best, I promised all of you that I would do my best so thats what I am going to do, no buts about it! I have learned so much in the time I have been here and I am so grateful for it. I am sorry I have to cut this short, but know that I love all of you and I thank you for your prayers and letters and I hope that I am making you all proud. Oh mom we will probably be leaving on the 28th but nothing is certain till we get our travel plans in a couple of weeks. I love all of you more and more each day!

Love Elder Proctor

10-28-11

Kumusta pamilya ko!

Hello again family, I cant believe how fast this week has gone by, I think that the mtc is capable of time travel, but I am still investigating it. So today is the one month marker! Can you believe that I have been here a month? again a sign of time travel, being in here one month also marks my halfway point in the mtc, and at the halfway point they release the old district leaders and call new ones! I am pretty excited about that. The district ahead of us just got their travel plans and they leave in 2 weeks and its been exciting to talk to them about it.

So here is another fun tagalog word, nagkakapagpakabagabag, it means to bother haha no joke! The language is coming slowly and surely still haha and we found out that in the cauayan mission they speak another dialect called illicano so I am excited to learn more then one language :) And another funny thing about the cauayan mission is that anytime I tell a teacher that I am going there they always say "I have heard crazy things about that place" or "where is that?" haha its just awesome. Out of the 20 tagalog teachers only one of them went to the cauayan mission! I guess thats where they send all of the rare gems ;)

Congratulations Isaac and Taniel! I am so happy for you and I will keep all 3 of you in my prayers :) as far as names go, I think that if its a boy he should be named Russel so I can call him muscle Russel! haha 

I love all of you so much, if you are reading this then know that I love you. And know that all of you played a part in raising me to who I am today, I only hope that I may live up to the example that you all have set. I know that this mission will bless the filipino people and It will bless you and it will bless me and my future family, there is nothing I would rather be doing right now. At times when I am discouraged I can always look up to Dad, Jacob, Isaac, Brian, and Clint, because of the example they set for me, and showing me that it can be done no matter how hard it gets. I want to again thank you for serving missions and being the men that you are. I can promise all of you right now that there are only 2 ways that I will come home, Either I come home after serving a full time and honorable mission or I could come home on a stretcher haha

I know that this is going to be hard but more importantly I know that with the Lord I can do anything (Alma 26:12) I want you to know that we can all do anything, if we rely fully upon the Lord. It doesnt matter how big or small the obstacle may be it only matters that we trust in the Lord and follow his son Jesus Christ. What a beautiful yet simple truth, to know of our Heavenly Fathers Love for us. 

The Book of Mormon testifies of this love, because our Heavenly Father loves us he called a simple 14 year old farm boy to be a prophet and to translate the sacred book that with the bible contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that through the book of Mormon we may receive revelation from our Father in heaven. I cannot express the importance of this book, but I do know that it is a True book and that It was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith, and that I will work butt off everyday in the philippines so that they too can come to know of Its truth.

I love all of you, I love this gospel

-Elder Proctor