The Mission is growing!

I hope you liked the letter I sent you from President Carlos. :) I sure did.

(President Carlos' letter tells about the changes that will occur with all the new Missionaries that will shortly be entering the mission field. Here's part of the letter..."1. The Philippines Area will receive an additional 804 missionaries. There is an average of 188 missionaries per mission so that number is more than the equivalent of 4 missions! No mention of new missions being created as of yet, but you see the writing on the wall.

2. The Philippines Cauayan Mission presently has a complement of 180 (that's how many we are supposed to have if all of our slots are used. Right now, we have 150 missionaries). Our new complement is now 250!. That is 100 more than we have now. While the missions around greater Manila (Manila, QC. QC North) maintains their current complement, our mission along with the other "provincial missions" are going to receive the bulk of these increase.")

 I was flipping out when I read it. I feel like I only know a 1/4 of the mission as it is. It’s about to get really BIG! :)

The work is going well. I thought at first it wasn't going well. We only got 9 lessons this entire week. But it was good pala. We had a baptism of one of our investigators. Sister Shaner should be putting something on her blog about it. ;) We had a bunch of people at church as usual.
This week in particular was super busy.
Starting last Monday was p-day.
Tuesday-district meeting,
Wednesday- normal,
Thursday- weekly planning,
Friday- observe weekly planning in 2 areas,
Saturday- our baptism and we went to a baptism in bayombong,
Sunday- normal,
today- pday again,
tomorrow/Tuesday- district meeting again,
Wednesday- farewell fireside for my tatay Elder Schmidt,
Thursday- transfers in Cauayan,
Friday- weekly planning........... It just never ends for the ZL's:) hahaha

Fun- I ate 1/4 of a 20'' pizza and only had to pay 50 pesos for it! :)

The Shaner's also brought a ton of stuff for our house. We were missing a ton of stuff...

Yup! :) We share a house with Elder Makiling and Elder Dixon. There are 4 of us. :) It’s fun.

I never go to the mission home now unless we absolutely need to, like for training and zone leaders council and transfer day.

Fun fact, when you use a washing machine to wash your clothes here, you spend just as much as it would cost to buy new garments....might as well just buy new ones and not waste your time washing! :) lol

OK, well I got to get going! I love you guys! :* have a great week!

-Elder Lundy

There was sunshine today -

Hello!

There was sunshine today and I am happy. :)

Funny thing...President Carlos' letter was much the same as yours and Dad's was this week. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something... :)

Sickness isn't getting me down. I keep getting sick. There is nothing I can do about it. I just keep working on.

The work here is good. I am still getting fewer lessons than I am used to, but the work is better quality and conversion is slowly taking place.

Tatay R-- and his son are doing great and progressing towards their baptism. I love them to death. I had an image sweep into my mind last time I taught them... I pictured Tatay in temple clothes facing me, smiling. Everything else was white. If I had to tell someone what Heaven was like, I’d describe that moment.

Tatay R----d is progressing a little more slowly than we anticipated, because of his house renovation. He is still doing great and is really trying to find out if the church is true. He wants it to be, he just doesn't know yet.

Tatay H--- is a big old teddy bear. He has a bit of a speech impediment. His girls are his biggest weakness. He has 2 daughters and a wife, all of whom are members. He loves them and they love him to the point that they are doing everything they can to show him the truth.

Sister L---, 19, friend of Tatay H----'s daughter, is going to be baptized this Saturday. She is ready to go! :)

As a total, we hit 17 lessons this week, even with me getting sick and losing my voice for a couple days. I think I told Bridget a little more about that...

Well, I gotta go.

I love you guys! :*

Bye.

-Elder Lundy

 

Being a ZL in Bagabag

Hi!

 I'm sorry I didn't write last week. I got a brown out. 

Eric sent me a letter about what he plans on doing with serving a mission early. It absolutely put me in tears. I know it’s what he should do; it’s what I want him to do. When I realized that it means I might not see him for 4 years I started bawling. It hit me like a brick wall, even though I know this is right for him.
I'm doing fine right now. That picture was taken on transfer day 4 weeks? ago. I don't think I lost too much weight. The Carlos' took really good care of me. Work is going really well here in Bagabag. We have 5 investigators with a baptismal date as of now. 3 of them are husbands in a part-member family. :) One of these 5 will be baptized next week on the 27th. She is extremely ready. This week we got 15 lessons. Last Sunday we had 10 investigators/less-actives at church. This week, even with going to church in Solano, we still got 5 at church. It was great.

Conference was amazing too.

It was what helped me calm down this week.
I felt the Spirit so strongly this General Conference. It was unlike any other time. I loved it. It’s so much better as a missionary. :)
I love you so much.

:* I love you!

October 8, 2012

No letter at this time.

Here is a link to hear 182nd General conference:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/10?lang=eng

A new week in Bagabag



My Tranier, Me, my Kid, my Grandson
Elders Schmidt, Lundy, Ardon and Bundy

 

Questions I asked Elder Lundy:

 1. How are your ears holding up with the traveling you will be doing over the mountain ring to go to the mission home?

My ears are pretty good. No major problems. The ride down here with Elder Gottfredson was a lot quicker than normal so no major prob's. It was nice.

2. Now that you’ve been doing the Zone leader thing, what do you think of it? Is it easier or harder than District leader?

As a zone leader you are expected to know a lot more and use a lot more judgment. It’s hard, but not as hard as preparing a district meeting every week.

3. Which senior couple is over your area?

There are no senior couples over my area. We are the outer space zone of the mission. The Gottfredson's originally were supposed to be down here, but their apartment fell through so they got put in Alicia.

4. Are you sharing an apartment with Elders Dixon, and Makiling?

Yes. It’s a ton of fun! :)

5. Is Bagabag like your first area, in that they are already decorated for the – Ber months? (Christmas season)

Nobody is decorating yet. They play Christmas music every now and then, but that’s it. It feels like Christmas with getting to see all of the people back from Solano 2 though. :) I love being so close to them! :)

6. What part of Bagabag do you cover? ) Is it the lower part or the upper part. I was looking at the area on Google maps and it has a very open area and a populated area that is all called Bagabag.)

That whole area is my branch. In our branch, we have 2 sets of missionaries. Elder Makiling and Dixon cover the north part. Elder Caoayan and I cover the southern part from Bakir down to Solano 2 area.

7. How many lessons did you get to teach this week?

We taught 17 lessons this week. Work is good here.

I’m sorry. I’m out of time. We spent too long at the apartment this morning getting other stuff done. I promise I’ll write more next week. I love you very much!

Have a great week!

-Elder Lundy