Monday, May 29, 2017

Tag-Ulan!!

So yes! It's Tag-Ulan (rainy season). It's rained a couple times this past week, and I mean hard! There's been thunder and lightning and brown outs but its GREAT! So it looks like I suvived my first summer here in the Philippines!!

MIRACLE OF THE WEEK:
So lately it has been so hard here in Rizal to be able to teach lessons. Elder Almasin and I have undertaken the task of focusing only on the areas closer to the church, which is really hard. The missionaries used to live closer to the church so they would talk to everyone that lived over there. So it's been a lot of people that don't want to talk, or they say they have somewhere else to go. Sooo... our amazing district came to our area and we ALL worked here in Rizal, all 8 of us. It turned out well and as we were tracting we found an amazing family! We can truly tell they were prepared by the Lord!! Along with the 20 other refferals from the other missionaries in our district. We have seen that after patience and hard work and prayers, God can truly blesss you!

So we only have a couple of weeks left of this transfer and its been so fast!! I hope that I will be able to stay one more transfer in this great place!!:) 

Other than working as a missionary, I'm doing my best to become the best Filipino I can be here! I love it! Sometimes I forget that I'm totally white and wonder why everyone stares at me. But that's when I remember that my heart is filipino but unfortuantely my skin is still American.

Love, Elder Aguiar

Elder Almasin and I


My favorite district after our activity

My favorite little kids ever!



Monday, May 22, 2017

I Love My Mission

So this week Rizal was blessed with 3 sweet baptisms!! :) So 3 daughters of God entered the waters of baptism this past weekend! What a great and happy ending to the week! Marissa, Vanessa and Nadine were able to feel of the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!! So Vanessa and Nadine are siblings and since they have been baptized, their mom has been more and more interested in the church. I know that the Lord will bless their family! Just a feeling as I'm writing to all of you, I just wanted to say that I've been so blessed to be serving here. In no way is this work, or this mission about me, but I know that the Lord has blessed me so graciously with the amazing people I have met. I'm not perfect, but to feel of the love of my Heavenly Father and to look back at the people I've been able to meet since I have been a missionary assures me that I have a loving Father in Heaven, He knows my name, He knows my weaknesses and He's always there for me, and He's always there for you. I know Heavenly Father rejoices when His children accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or when His children start to become converted to the Gospel or when they come back unto Him after being lost. 

So not too much with personal experinces, but looks like my time is up! I love you all and hope you will be able to feel of the special love your Father in Heaven has for you this week! Mahal ko kayo lahat, patuloy maging fresco ;) haha
"Yung aklat ay azul, Totoo yung simbahan, at si Moroni lagi siyang sataas ng bolla" ;)

-Elder Cody Louis Aguiar

Baptisms with Sr. Couple

Astigg

Sunset

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Three Baptisms in the Ocean!

Today I'm short on time again! ...

This week was so fast!! I can't tell you how fast time flies here in Mindoro. Elder Almasin and I are totally killing it out here though! Not literally, but we are super happy and even though many of our appointments have fallen through, we just keep going at it. I'm super thankful for him though. There are many times during the week where things don't go as planned or we don't get to teach the people as we had planned, but he says that it's just not the right time for them. Then we move on to the next house! It's been really helpful to have him as my companion! 

So this week, we are planning on 3 baptisms!! :) We had kind of a miracle projection a couple weeks ago, and are excited to see Marissa,Vanessa, and Nadine, 3 daughters of God, enter into the waters of baptism! 

Our area here in Rizal is amazing and filled so many great people! I hope I will be blessed to stay here a little longer!!! 

-Elder Aguiar
P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all of you!  I love you all so much!

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Miracles and Blessings

So I don't have time this week really so I'm so sorry!!  My new companion is Elder Almasin and he is from the southern Philippines. He is so hard working!! 

Just a quick story! On Saturday we were punted all day. All of our appointments fell through and everyone was busy. It seemed like we couldn't talk to anyone because they all had things they had to do. At the end of the night, just about 10 minutes before our curfew, we decided it was time to show our faith in Christ and keep working. As we were passing by houses, we felt prompted to talk to the people in one particular house. We stopped and we talked to the sister that was there, and just as we were getting to know her, her husband came home! It was perfect timing. We got to know them and found out they were former investigators and that they had a baptism date before that fell through, AND it was the same family I realized, that was on the teaching record I had read earlier that day! We had no address and no map so I had no idea where they lived! But through our faith and works the Lord lead us to that wonderful family! And Brother Calizo even attended church with us that very next morning!! What a miracle, what a blessing!!!

Going to do service across the river




Monday, May 1, 2017

Transferssssss

So, to sum up transfer day, look at the number of "s" above in the subject heading! And yes, that's how many months I will be staying here!! haha I didnt get transfered but will be staying here in Rizal for another transfer! 6 months altogether in Mindoro! Which Im totally ok with because its TOTALLY BEAUTIFUL HERE!! My new companion will be Elder Almacin, which I was told is hardworking, humble and kind, so I'm excited to meet him in the coming days!  Right now, I'm with two other Elder's until Elder Almacin gets here on Friday.

Experiences from this last week:
  1.  Nagbuhat kami ng palay We carried 50 kilo (110 lbs) sacks of rice on our heads and stacked them neatly ;) It was kind of a pain in the neck (PUN INTENDED) But I loved to help serve our members in our branch, even though I was a little stiff a couple days after
  2.  I ate Fresh Squid
  3.  I also tried my favorite "Kearns Nectar" Fruit, Guava ;) and something called Santol!
  4.  Became friends and got a return appt. with the Ukay-ukay Sister! (she sells used Japanese ties :)

MIRACLE OF THE WEEK!!
We were blessed this week to have a miracle happen!!! This past week, some of our investigators that were wavering on their baptism date for May 20th. So we visitied them on Sunday with a member. We found out their concerns and with much help from our member (our ward clerk who's preparing for a mission) he bore his testimony and shared experinces he had exactly similar to theirs. After much crying they decided all 4 to go forward with their baptism date on the 20th!!!!! Then as we all knelt down in prayer they thanked God for us and that they were able to have us in their lives :)What a MIRACLE!! What a blessing from Our Heavenly Father!! 

I'm so thankful for Him and for His many blessings in my life. Even someimtes when we feel like we aren't worthy for His love and blessings, remember that YOU ARE! You are His child and He will always answer you no matter what!!

Have a good week to all of you!!! 
-Elder Cody Louis Aguiar
(Apparently my letter last week did not send! SO I will include pictures from last week too!

Baptism of Nanay Corazon



"I love you random citizen!"

Members home

Zone Meeting

Mystery rash!  Going to the doctor today!