Sunday, August 28, 2016

First week in the Philippines!

So before I start off, I want to tell the Hansen family that I love you so much and that I'm praying for each and everyone of you. You have all been amazing examples for me and I'm so grateful for you in my life.​​​​​​​​​​ 

The Philippines is amazing! I can start off by saying that I have NEVER sweat this much in my life. It's the rainy season so its extra humid. I'm somewhat used to it now. So I'm in a place called Taytay. It is a rural area so its really cool. I love it here and It's so green! So I dont have much time emailing so I'll make it quick! The second day I was here I got to eat Balut!! (chicken inside of an egg) Oh man was that awesome! I was with the Bishop of the ward and he made me try it! It was actually really tasty. I'm over the Tayuman ward here. And Elder Radin and I are "whitewashing". Which means we are basically starting from new. The Tayuman area had missionaries here about a year ago but then because they weren't progessing they shut the area down. So now my companion and I are opening this area up!! So far this last week, we already have 2 baptism dates!! Its so amazing to see people accept the message of the restored gospel and I'm greatful the Lord has shown them the truth of the message we are fortunate enough to share with them. Please pray for Donna and CJ that they might continue to progress in the Gospel and enter the waters of baptism. They are both super excited about the Church and so excited to read the Book of Mormon. 

It's really funny being an American here! All the little kids will run out of their houses and say "up here" so they can get a high five from you. It makes their day. I love the kids here, they are so funny and they always teach me new phrases and words, its the BEST!! It feels like I grew in the MTC, but I'm pretty sure I'm the same height and everyone is just a little bit shorter than me. So at least 2 years out of my life I can feel tall!! hahah joke-lang. (just kidding) One crazy thing here is that they love American music, so if you go into the store, they will be playing hardcore rap unedited, so you just have to buy as many things in the grocery store like food and other things as fast as you can so you dont have to listen to the the swearing. No one knows what the words mean, they like the beat, so no one excpet for me knows what's being played!! hahaha. Oh and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the apartment that uses toilet paper... SO I dont know how I feel about that. But at least I know if I buy toilet paper, I'll be the only one using it.. haha! I love this gospel, I know this church is true. I know that through Jesus Christ we can return to our Father in Heaven. I know that families can be together forever through the Plan Of Salvation. And throught the Plan Of Salvation we can see our loved ones again.

Love, 
Elder Aguiar


Eating Balut



Our apartment

Our apartment

Random car... and a goat


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

A Note from Mom...

Cody's hand is fine and he will be flying out to the Philippines tomorrow as planned!  We are so excited for him.

Week 6 Grab! (Whoa!)

Grabe! (Whoa!) So it is Tuesday, and it is not my regular scheduled p-day, but its for a good reason!! IM LEAVING TOMMOROW! Sana.. (hopefully) So my district and the other districts in my zone that have been here for 6 weeks will be leaving tommmorow. Pero (but), the Doctor that looked at my hand last week was looking at the past x-rays of my hand and wrist and said that my scalphoid may be fractured. Which is a smaller bone in the wrist and of course is one of the slowest healing bones in the body because of the lack of circulation... So I went to the hospital yesterday to take an MRI. And let me start off by saying it was the weirdest thing ever.. they put you in a loud, big mechanical doughnut looking thing and you have to lay inside of it not moving at all for like 25 minutes.. So I left last night at 5:55 and didnt get back to the MTC until 9:00pm sooo I also dont get my results for my hand until about 11:00 am today.. So its a big waiting game and Im really anxious. Or "nakakaiba ako". So if that bone in my wrist is fractured, I will have to wear a cast or a splint and serve the first 4-6 weeks of my mission here in provo instead of going to the Philippines with all my elders and best friends. But I have been praying multiple times a day, been given blessings, fasted and found out others in my zone have been fasting and praying for me which has made me so thankful for them and has made me tear up because of the love of all the elders. I truly love all these guys with all my heart. We are all best friends and will stay in touch for a long time. But I also know that whatever happens is the Lords will and Im completely 100% ok with that. I LOVE THIS WORK. And I wouldnt want to be anywhere else. Thank you for all of your prayers. I love you all.

Elder Aguiar


Me in my scrubs

Doing laundry with Elder Decker

The hospital

With the Elder's

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Week 5

Kumustaaaa! This week has been easily the best week so far here!! So last Thursday my companion and I did a "TRC" which is when you teach members of the church a little lesson, like home teaching or visiting teaching. And last week we skyped a Filipino that LIVES in the Philippines. It was super awesome. What an experience! He was actually at work when we were skyping him. He is a teacher and while we were teaching him about having faith in Jesus Christ, all these cute little Filipino kids kept peeking into the camera and waving! It was the best thing ever they were so great.  The guy we were teaching was super nice. Elder Hunt and I understood him alot more than we thought we would! But he most likely was speaking alot slower than usual, but Ill take it!! haha. Then on Sunday we had an awesome devotional by Matthew Holland! (The President of UVU and also the son of Jeffery R. Holland). But he went so in depth of Jospeh Smith and the History of the restoration and Josephs life. It helped build my testimony so much. In Ezekiel 37:15-19 It talks about the Stick of Judah and the Stick of Ephriam and how they will together in the Lord be together in his hand. And I know that those two sticks, which are the Bible and the Book of Mormon, are together in purpose, that they dont replace one another and that they both testify of the Lord and God. And through them you can come closer to Christ and know he lives and that he died for all of us. Then Tuesday, Neil L. Andersen (An apostle from the quorum of the twelve apostles) spoke at a devotional. And as a choir, we sung "More Holiness Give Me'' and "Happy Birthday' because it was his 65th Birthday. His talk was amazing and it made me feel so close to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father afterwards. I can feel my faith increase every single day as I'm here. The greatest thing that I have learned here that will help me the most in the Philippines isn't Tagalog, but the faith in Jesus Christ that I have. And I know that through faith many miracles can happen. And I know that God is a God of miracles and that miracles still exist in this day. Then Wednesday I went to a hand specialist! Let me tell you, it was sooooo weird being out in the real world and having my companion and I be the only two missionaries in this huge building. I could really feel a difference being outside of the MTC because I know there is a strong spirit there and that angels really do walk the halls here. But it looks like my hand is thankfully FINE and I dont need any surgery on it. The doctor had said I need to wear a brace for about 6-8 weeks and that I only severly sprained my ligaments. So definitely a blessing!! And I also got to host on Wednesday again (help welcome new missionaries) and the ONLY GUY I got was from Las Vegas! It was super cool to talk to him. The vegas brothers/sisters band in the MTC is growing!! haha But I only have about 5 days LEFT IN THE MTC! I leave Wednesday to the Philippines!! Soooo crazy.. It went so fast, but I'm sooo psyched to be going to the Philippines, and I know for a fact that this is the right mission for me. I'm excited. Also this is our first week with music in our room!! Elder Davis got an ipod with tons of church music on it and its sooooo nice. 6 weeks without music has been a little tough since I love music! But anyways, Hopefully I'll be able to send off another email before I leave on Wednesday!! 
MAHAL KITA
-Elder Cody Louis Aguiar

Elder Cody Louis Aguiar
AUG24  PHI-QUE
2005 N 900 E Unit 102
Provo UT 84602
Elder Sasine and I Rocking free ties from the Distribution Center!! 
Our District

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Computer time w/ half of our zone

Our zone in the cafeteria

Week 4

Lets just start by saying it was a very eventful week!  Sunday was great as always! I was called as sacrament coordinator so Im in charge of the sacrament for our branch of over 110 missionaries. Its pretty cool. I had the opportunity to bless the sacrament for the first time in Tagalog. Oh and it was my branch presidents farewell, so the MTC presidency came! As if I wasn't nervous enough! It was great though. I did awesome and didn't mess up so thank goodness for that!  Later that night we had an awesome devotional by Brother Allen who is part of the missionary program. So great. Then we got to watch The Restoration movie. I absolutely love that one. It is definitely my favorite. Monday, during excercise I was playing volleyball and hit my hand as I was swinging for the ball. It was pretty swollen after that. Later that day I couldn't move it. So Tuesday I went to the doctors and got x-rays. Luckily it isn't broken but they said it might be fractured in a bone on the joint of my thumb. So, I have to go back Tuesday and have them check it out again! Its doing a lot better, just a lot of pink and purple all over my hand. I thought it was funny because Camden (Elder Pisciotta) basically broke his toe playing soccer at the MTC and I thought he was ridiculous for that. But here I am with a brace on my hand in the MTC! haha Wednesday was super great! I got to host the new missionaries that came in!! It was super awesome to see all the families and get to know the missionaries and where they are going. I hosted 3 missionaries. One was going to Melbourne Austrailia, one to Japan and another to Ogden Utah! I told the guys going to Ogden to look for the Tiners! haha but it was definitely a great opportunity to do that. The time is going so fast here its crazy!! Ill be leaving August 17th to the Philippines so I'm suuuuupperrrr hyped for that!! It's crazy how fast time flies here. The language is coming so good and my comp and I get to Skype with a member of the church in the Philippines tonight!! Im kind of nervous but I cant wait at the same time!! 

I know this church to be true with all my heart. I know that God lives and that His Son Jesus Christ died for us so that we could atone for our sins and live with them again. We are all sons and daughters of the most high God and I know that for a surety. I know that if we have faith in Christ and pray that we can be delievered from any struggles we go through. Through the Plan of Salvation, we can see our family again and live with them for eternity with God and Jesus Christ. Alam ko po na, sa pamamagitan ng Espiritu Santo malalaman tayo katotohanan.  May pananampalataya ni Jesucristo, at sa pamamagitan ng pananampalataya ng pagbalik-loob kayo
Have a great week and I cant wait to hear from you guys next week!!

-Elder Aguiar
My swollen hand
At the temple