Monday, April 17, 2017

Easter Sunday!

#PrinceofPeace 

Above is the Church's Easter Initiative. (Yes I know I'm late...) Even though I'm late on sharing this, I encourage you all to watch the inspired video :) It is absolutely amazing!!

This past Sunday was Easter. What an important holiday. Something that I realized when I was a little older is that Easter isnt about easter eggs, candy and the Easter Bunny but instead, about Jesus Christ! About His life and His death. One thing Im grateful to know is, Christ didnt just die and atone for all of our sins, but He rose again. HE LIVES!  He is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. He is Jesus Christ. And because of Him, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can be forgiven for my mistakes and so can everyone else that accepts His Gospel. 

So, we are baptizing a woman this weekend, and her daughters are members, they were baptized last year.  They live in our area, but their real house is in another area and their dad lives there.  We have never met him before, so we got permission to go to their house for his birthday to get to know him, etc.  So yesterday, it rained sooo hard all day!  Which is crazy because it's been hot everyday since I've been in this area.  So we took a trike all the way to their house, it was the two of us, her daughters and the trike drivers family!  Haha!  So 8 people on this little trike, and the house is the farthest in the middle of nowhere that I have ever been! Haha!  We had to go up mountains and because it was rainy and we had so many people in the trike, we couldn't get up the mountain, so we pushed the trike with people in it up two mountains!  Once we were within walking distance, it was still raining so we walked down a landslide of mud to finally make it to the house.  All of my clothes were wet with puddles in my shoes.  But we got to meet the dad and he was really nice!  But because the travel was so far we only got to spend like 30 minutes there.  But is was a good visit.

I don't have a lot of time this week, but I'm happy to say that we have a baptism this coming weekend! :) And through my mission I'm grateful to see people grow and change because of the true, Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Love, Elder Aguiar







Monday, April 10, 2017

#ldsconference

Question of the week: If there was a conference two weekends a year where you could listen to a living Prophet and Apostles of the Lord talk to you, would you listen?  Of Course, right???

Well that's what happened this past weekend! As members of Christ's church, we have the great opportunity to watch or attend General Conference! What a time we live in today!! As a missionary it means so much more to me to listen to the many talks given by the Spirit of the Lord through Prophets and Apostles and many other General Authorities of the Church. (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/to-the-friends-and-investigators-of-the-church?lang=eng) one amazing talk, about those investigating the church!) 

Obviously, that was the highlight of my whole week! But Rizal this week had a "Fiesta" which means "feast" because it was the week it was founded. So they had a week full activities at night, including motor cross, boxing and competitions. On top of that, it is harvesting season for all the rice farmers here! So of course that was so fun for the people here, but it also means it was very hard to find people interested that had time for us.. But in the coming months we will have tons of time to teach so that will be very exciting! 

I don't really have time to go through my whole week... But this weekend was full of the Holy Spirit and times for me to ponder on me and my life and come to a realization of the love Christ has for me and how fortunate I am that I have this time to share that love to the lovely people here in the Philippines. And to be so thankful for the ever strengthening testimony I have in God our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ His begotten Son, and in the Holy Spirit. I'm so humbled to serve my Lord for these 2 years.

-Elder Cody Louis Aguiar

BATCH!  Zone activity at the beach

Captured on a bike ride

I forgot to mention this! This highschool picked The Church to sing for them at their graduation!! The choir was comprised of missionaries and members. Our 2nd counciler of our mission even spoke!  So cool!

They take their ice cream sandwiches quite literally here!  Serious business!



Monday, April 3, 2017

Happy, Happy, Maligaya! (Happy)

The weeks here never fail to get faster and faster... But on the upside, I contine to get happier and happier every week!

This week has been full of blessings! We have found many people willing to listen to the message of the Restored Gospel! One family in particular, The Acosta family are so sweet! We found tatay on the rode waiting for gas when we stopped to talk to him. He listened and invited us back! We were able to teach them and extend a baptism date for the 29th of April! They wanted to know how fast they could be baptized because they knew it was true! But we had to explain we still have other things to go over before they were baptized! Another one, is Sister Corazon. She is a mother of two twins that were baptized last year, and she has grown in understanding and her testimony so much!! Its been great to see! We are excited to say that she will be baptized on the 3rd week of April!!

I dont have to much time, but yesterday on Sunday, while we were teaching Sister Corazon at church and after as we were sitting in our meetings, I couldnt help but feel an overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness! I realized yesterday that being on my mission has made me the HAPPIEST I have EVER BEEN in my life! 

On my mission, I have experinced many different trials. But after those trials, I have come to love my Father in Heaven more and grow in grattitude for his blessings toward me. I know with all my heart and mind that God is our Perfect Father. He hears our prayers and answers them everytime we open our hearts to Him. 

Love,
Elder Aguiar

Our Branch Presidents kids.  The cutest kids ever!

Post personal study time, featuring the Philippines of course!

A bird flew into a members home last night, they caught it and I got to hold it!! (Dont worry I dont have bird flu)