3-26-12

Hey Y'all,

Mom yes there are Senior couples here.  I want to say 4,  not counting President and Sister Carlos.

So this week has been another week of missionary work, lots of teaching, even more learning. I love it. The other day we were at Jollibee (Filipino burger joint) and it was pretty crowded and I saw that I towered over all these people and it reminded me of Avatar, whenever it shows the blue aliens compared to the humans.   haha   Yeah I feel like an alien, but that's all right by me.   I know that half way around the world I fit in haha.

So as you know we are focusing on reactivating the less active members here. Me and my companion are focusing on these 5 families in our ward, while we are also trying to retain our recent converts and trying to teach our investigators while also trying to find new investigators. Sometimes it can get overwhelming but then I remember that this is the Lord's work not mine.  I just have to do the best that I can everyday, so that is what I am doing, giving my all everyday. Earlier this week I was studying Diligence (a Christ-like attribute) in Preach My Gospel and it says that a missionary's effort reflects their love for the Savior. I love my Savior, therefore I will work hard! 

I love my mission, I love the people. I can really see Heavenly Fathers love for all of us. Just look at the world! It is so beautiful! He made it that way because he loves us. And look at the gospel! He has given us everything that we could ever need and more! HOW NEAT IS THAT!
Oh I do love this gospel and I am so very grateful that all of us know of it.  I cant understand how everyone else goes on without it.

I love all of you so much, and I thank you for your weekly emails, they are so great and uplifting.

Elder Proctor 

PS I would absolutely love it if you would send me this book of missionary Inspirational stories(Curtis will know), but I wont be too disappointed if you don't send it.

PSS I ate papaya for the first time, it has the texture of squash and the flavor of mango mmm delicious

3-18-12

Greetings Loved Ones,

   So how y'all doin? As I was reading Dads email about buying the used candy machines from Aliens in Roswell, I thought that exact thing happened in Twilight Zone. haha

 

So it sounds like you are all doing well, which is wonderful to hear, I am also glad to hear that little Ella is smiling again, those pictures of her in the hospital got me pretty worried but now everything is okay.

 

  So this week I talked to my first English speaking non-member! It was kind hard trying to talk in English but I some how managed haha He was very nice and not too interested but that's okay because he has his agency.

 

I also started teaching the Gospel Principles class in our ward! haha its kind of funny how it falls to me, First the bishop assigns a teacher, then the teacher doesn't prepare so then he goes to us haha the Missionaries! but I cant complain, I love teaching because I learn as I teach and I love learning! haha don't tell Mom I said that haha not a whole lot else happened this week. Its getting hotter here every day haha but there is something interesting that I have noticed, even though its blazing hot, as long as we are walking, I don't get sun burnt! haha I think that is a blessing from hard work. And I love hard work! haha don't tell Dad I said that haha 

OH there is something wonderful that I learned from a more experienced missionary! His Mom sent him homemade cookies, she put them in a Ziploc bag and then into a Tupperware container and he said when he ate them they were still soft! So if you all are just chomping at the bits to send me some cookies feel free to do so! haha 

 

I am still loving it out here, even though I struggle with the language I love it. I know have a better insight why we have trials here, its for our growth, and that's why we came here, that is what we fought for in heaven. And I can honestly say that every trial I have had before and during my mission, has drawn me closer to Jesus Christ. and because of that I can honestly say that I am grateful for trials. and I know that no matter what happens, Our Savior is there to pick us up and help us through. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his Gospel. 

 

I love all of you so so so Much, you might say that I love you more than 4 ;)

 

Thanks for your support,

Elder Proctor

 

PS and I would like to thank you in advance for the cookies haha 

3-12-12

 (Jared's Zone.  He is the tall one in the back.)

How y'all doing!
No pictures again this week, still in the crap computer shop but don't worry, they will come haha so this week has been pretty good. One of our recent converts was telling her friend about how we give priesthood blessings and her friends grandpa was in the hospital and she asked us to come and give him a blessing. When we walked into the hospital room, I saw this 98 year old man lying down, he looked so weak and frail. Some of his children were there in the room and they were telling us about this 98 year old man. They told me about how he had helped the Americans fight the Japanese in WW2. As we sat there listening to stories about this man, I had this feeling come over me and I realized that this man was close to death, and he was close to returning to seeing our Savior. The spirit was overwhelming and the more I thought about it the more I realized how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives and to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Then we offered a simple blessing to this frail man and then we asked his daughter if we could stop by and share a message with them, and she readily accepted it. It was quite the experience.
Well I have to run off to an interview so I cant write anymore,
I love all of you and hope you are doing well
thanks for the love and support.
Elder Proctor

3-5-12

Dear Family,
So this week I kept a list of things to write so I wouldn't forget once I sat down at the computer.   No pictures this week because we are in that crap computer shop and I don't want to risk loosing all of my pictures again.
So for this weeks adventure, we had a brown out (black out) there was no electricity and so that meant that the fans didn't work. And it just happened to be a really hot day so that was just awesome. And the running water that we have in our house comes from an electric pump well, so we didn't have any water to bathe! Needless to say we smelt pretty bad haha Then we noticed that the chapel next door to us had a water storage tank, so we filled up a couple of buckets and took them back to our apartment so we could get clean, it was pretty fun.
Another cool thing that happened this week, we were on our way home riding in a tri-cy and I started talking to the driver, turns out he is the pilot of this huge cargo vessel and he just drives a tri-cy to stay busy when he comes home, I asked him how long he is away from home when he is on the vessel and he said from one to three years, and as soon as he told me that the spirit told me to give this man a Book of Mormon, at first I hesitated and thought to myself that it wasn't a big deal, then the spirit told me again give this man a Book of Mormon! I then realized what I had to do, I didn't have a copy in my bag so when we got home I told my comp to pay for the ride and I ran inside and grabbed a Book of Mormon and ran back and gave it to him and told him a little about it and our church. He then thanked me for the book and said he would read it on his long journey, then he drove off and I felt great!
Also this week we had Elder Nielson, of the area 70 come and speak to us, it was really great he had some great insights on how to help less active members come back. Then at the end he let us ask him questions about anything, and this one elder asked how the prophets security guards are selected, he told us some great stories and showed us that everyday he gets a security update on his phone and it tells him places that he needs to avoid and stuff like that, how neat is that!
Another awesome thing that happened this week was the 3 less active families that we have been working with came to church! it was so great to be there greeting people at the church and then see these families come oh it was so great.
Well that's about it from this week :) pretty neat if I do say so myself. It sounds like you all have had a good time, I hope you sick people stop being sick!
I know I say this a lot but that is just because I mean it, I love you all and I love missionary work. It is so great, but its so fast! I cant believe how fast it is going! its crazy. It just goes to show you that this work is true, I love this gospel so much, I am so grateful for our savior Jesus Christ, I am so grateful for my mission and the opportunity it gives me to learn and grow into the man that Heavenly Father wants me to be.
Thanks for all your love and support
Elder Proctor
Ps could you send me a copy of my priesthood line of authority?
pps do we have any relatives that served in North Carolina? there is an elder in my mission who's grandparents were baptized by an Elder Proctor! wow neat

Are You Saying I Killed Lord Morely?!

Hey Ya'll,

So this week we had our transfer, there weren't any new pilipino elders so me and my buddies lucked out and we wont train this cycle! My new comps name is Elder Magsanoc his english aint that good so it will really help me to learn the language. He goes home in may so he is kind of trunky, but he still works hard so that is good  :) haha I am having a hard time remembering what else happened this past week, I should start writing things down.

Oh I tried balut for the first time! It didnt taste weird at all, it was actually pretty good.  But if you are going to try it I recommend eating it in the dark because it looks like death. haha I also tried this fruit called star apple, it was really tasty and fun to eat!

Another funny/cool thing that happened, was last night we were at the Apocoliptic family's house for dinner and I got to talk about motorcycles with the dad and that was really awesome.  He then told us about how he was a fireman and how ghetto the filipino fireman equipment is.  Then he started telling us about his mission and he said that I looked like a companion of his, so he pulls out his photo album and shows me an elder with a face that only a mother could love.  haha It made me feel really good looking! haha They are an awesome family. I love the work here, I love the people. I just dont like typing a whole lot. haha

I am out of things to write about so I am going to try and catch up on pictures.

1. This is D, M's daughter chowing down on some chicken. I just love this picture.

2. This is C, R, and As baptism. They are all so awesome, its so cool to see the gospel bless peoples lives

3. This is H and M's baptism, they are also really cool and they have made that mighty change of heart

4. This is us playing rugby! fun stuff

I love all of you, I love this gospel, I love studying it and learning more and more from the scriptures its just great. I love missionary life. haha Its weird to think that Martha is already counting down the months. Trunky ka ba?  just kidding. I wish that I could just film everything that I am experiencing here, but i guess you will just have to wait till heaven and you can watch my mission movie :)

I love all of you so much, and I am so grateful for our wonderful family and all of your wonderful examples to me.

Elder Proctor

PS Its really fun to play basketball with filipinos haha

2-19-2012

Hello Everybody!

So this week has been really good,  M and H were baptized. I will be sending pictures later I am in the same computer shop that deleted all my pictures so I don't want to make the same mistake twice! 

Sounds like you are all having fun, Mom and her sisters talking till dawn and Laura and the Jones clan getting ready to head out to Disneyland. Since dad didn't write me this week I am assuming that there is something really good on the History Channel so that's just great! haha

 

I might have another niece by next week eh? Its weird for me to think that there will be members of our family that I haven't met yet! But its awesome.

 

Speaking of weird things, I don't know what is happening to me! I am from Utah, I used to run barefoot through the snow and everywhere else, and yet there are times when I get cold here! I am in the hottest place in the whole Philippines and I am getting cold! haha I think I might die when I come back to Utah, but hopefully I will adjust when I get back there. haha 

 

Oh yeah this week its transfer week and there is a good chance that I will train so that should be... exciting. haha But I know that whatever comes that I wont be doing it alone :) Transfer meetings are fun, I will get to see all my old mtc buddies and its just great. 

 

I don't know what else there is to tell you, other then we are working hard and I really am loving every step of the way! I love all of you so much and I am so grateful for your support and love, I am sorry that I don't get to write all of you all of the time, but know that I love you no matter what :) 

 

Love,
Elder Proctor

2-14-12

So I am okay!

I didn’t even hear about that earthquake and the reason I didn’t email yesterday was because my comp was sick so we stayed inside all day.   I got cabin fever, haha but other than that I am fine.

The work is going great here.  I am loving every minute of it and that’s about all I have to say... just kidding.   So I want to tell all of you about this awesome investigator of ours, her name is Mellakamekemaka (names have been changed for blog content) and she is about as golden as any investigator could ever be.  She keeps all the commitments and reading assignments and comes to church every Sunday and all that other good stuff.   The only problem that we have had with her is that she is not legally married to her husband, and for the longest time we told her that she needed to be legally married before she could be baptized. And she would talk to her husband and he would say "What’s the rush?" as their 4 YEAR OLD daughter is running around.  That continued for a while, but this week after much praying and fasting he opened up and they are getting married on the 17th and Mellakamekemaka is being baptized on the 18^th. haha "What’s the rush?” haha When we heard the news that she was getting married I ran outside and shouted for joy! haha. It was awesome, I love mission life.

Another cool story, so Sister Yoyoma who was just recently baptized, we have been trying to teach her son, but he didn’t really want to.  Then a week or two passed and the kid busted his arm! and had to get stainless steel rods in his arm.  Just before the surgery he asked his mom how we pray, because he has seen the blessing that have come to his mom through her prays. Then after the surgery, which was at 3:00pm, he didn’t wake up from the anesthesia! As the hours past his mom texted us asking for us to pray with her and so we did.  Then at 10:00pm she texted us and told us that he woke up and everything was okay! haha And now he wants us to teach him! haha The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways! haha 

This work is true and I love it so much.  I want to share a quick thought I had this week to all y’all about the Book of Mormon.  I was thinking about Moroni as the  last Nephite running from the Lamanites so he could hide and protect the record.  Then I thought about Joseph Smith and all the times that the mobs tried to steal the Gold Plates or destroy the translations. I thought to myself "Man, Satan really didn’t want this book to get out."  He tried so hard because with the Book of Mormon we can know exactly how we can return to our Heavenly Father.   Of course we know he failed back then and now millions of copies of the Book of Mormon are all over the world in different languages. But Satan hasn't given up, he has simply changed his tactics by making people think that they don’t have the time to read it.  And by making people think that they are too busy, by making people think "tomorrow I will start reading that." 

I testify that the Book of Mormon is true and we should all read and study it every day!  There are so many things that we can learn from this wonderful book. Don’t let Satan win, read the Book of Mormon! haha Put that on a t-shirt! haha 

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

Love,

Elder Proctor