Monday, December 18, 2017

Merry Almost Christmas!

Hello Everyone!! And Merry Christmas I guess? This week was a great one as well as the other ones! So I dont have that much time this week to explain waht happened. But I can tell you that the Lord ALWAYS has his hand in our lives. I know that for fact. I hope you can feel the love of the Lord as you all serve someone you love this week:))🎄🎄🎄

-- 
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Monday, December 11, 2017

Man I love this place!

This week has been great. And because of that I'm just going to get straight to what happened :)
-We had Mission Tour with Elder Haynie (area presidency) and it was truly so amazing I felt like my testimony and my love for the Gospel of Christ turned into this mountain greater than Mt. Everest!!
-We attended a baptism of the sisters in our district of Brother Neson Jacob, the one I was able to interview a couple weeks ago! Long story short I was the person the ended up baptizing him and to make a longer story shorter, I didnt bring a change of clothes so I was walking around with a nice wet mark in my pants to our ward christmas party (But YES it was worth it. No doubt about it) 🎁🎄😊
*Note from Mom* This is what Cody sent us regarding the baptism :) "Last Friday we attended a baptism for the sisters in our district, of a guy I had interviewed. He had invited us to his baptism and of course we had to go. So at his baptism the person who was baptizing brother Nelson, tried about 7 times to baptize him. But because of it being probably his first time to baptize anyone in his whole life and probably because he is kinda small, he wasn't able to baptize him correctly.  Finally, I volunteered to baptize him. I changed into a nice jumpsuit the church had and performed the baptism, thankfully successful in one try. But the problem was I didnt have a change of clothes. So even though I was laughed at (by the sisters) for the wet mark of my garments through my pants, it was well worth it even though my garments were soaking wet :) hahahah! But I was blessed for them to dry off pretty fast!"

So my new Companion is Elder Iligan and he is from Negros Occidental here in the Philippines. (I would send a picture but a child of a member accidently deleted all my pictures on my camera so I have absolutely none saved...) Here in our area we have a "Group". (It is not yet a branch) Last Sunday there was about 15 people that atteneded. So here I was, a speaker last Sunday, (we are back up speakers every week :) we bless the Sacrament, we teach classes and I was asked about what topic to assign a member for their talk next week. So, in short you could say I LOVE IT here and love the members. They are the best. I'm thankful for the opportunity the Lord has given me and hope I can accomplish what the Lord expects of me and also help others reach their full potential as sons and daughters of God. Please keep them in your prayers :) And also keep in your prayers to have missionary experiences everyday so that you can be used as an instrument in God's hands and help scattered Israel find their home. I love all of you. I know that our prayers are always answered and that God the Eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ live and love each one of us!:)
Eler Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission
Last week at the temple. Shout out to Elder Polotu that sent this!


Tuesday, December 5, 2017

What the bundok?

So this has been my first area in Quirino area, and the "city" I thought I was moving to turns out to be just a mountain!! haha we are the only one in the whole city zone that has ABSOLUTELY NO CITY AT ALL!! It's awesome :) Anyways, it's only been one week and I can say that I already LOVE the people so much. They have a very special place in my heart :) Our area also is basically "squatters" as they are called, which is just houses built on houses, so there are tons of people living in a pretty small place. 

Our district is super amazing!! We have 4 Sisters and 4 Elders and it's a super happy district!! I've been able already to interview 2 children of God for baptism this past week. I was able to see and hear how the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has touched them personally and changed their lives as they were able to come to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church here on the earth. I'm thankful for that and for the many things that have already happened this transfer. 

As I look back on how TIME HAS FLOWN BY so incredibly fast, I feel so blessed to be sitting down in the humble homes of my brothers and sisters here, eating their food, learning their culture and how willingly they have accepted me here. I didn't think I could be able to grow so close to a people that were so foriegn to me just 16 months ago.

I love the Lord, I love the Philippines and I know the church is true. It just IS! I can't fully explain my experiences but as I see how I and the investigators have changed by abiding to the precepts of the Gospel, I know we have come closer to Christ than by any other way. 

NXT WEEK I WILL HAVE PICTURES :)

Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

I met this guy, Brother Zebe, (He's from Vegas too, small world) outside the temple earlier today.  He and his wife decided to attend the temple as well, here in Manila