Monday, June 18, 2018

Paalam/ HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Well Family and Friends, FIRSTLY HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL THE GREATEST FATHERS OUT THERE!! And secondly, this will be my last email as a Full-Time Servant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This has been the most AMAZING two years of my whole entire life. I honestly am not sure what to think, so Ill just tell about this last week:)

A busy week... So yesterday AJ  got baptized and her dad was the one that was able to baptize her. It was awesome! And they were so happy!! AJ said she felt just so happy after her confirmation. On Tuesday I had my last zone conference and our batch had our "pauwi" testimonies. Yesterday at church I was asked by the Senior Couples to be their translator while they taught temple preparation class to all who attended. It was a really neat experience! I know that my tongue was being guided in order for me to say what they needed to know. And yesterday as we stopped by the church to go to the bathroom, my companion yells "Elder!" I came into the bathroom and there was a baby snake in
the bathroom! hahahah🐍 It wasn't that big but how many times do you find a baby snake in a bathroom, cool right? But besides that, I have noticed this week specifically how many times the hand of the Lord was in my life. Constantly reminding me and blessing me even when I feel I'm not worthy to receive them.  I have truly come to know Him and to come to love Him. 

I can't put quite into words what a blessing this time has been in my life. It is the most wonderful feeling to bring others unto Christ and have them learn more about Him as I am doing the same.  I just want to say over these 2 years, I have come to know that Christ lives. This IS His Church on the earth and only through the Gospel and through sacred ordinances through the Priesthood of the Almighty God, can we come back and live with Him, Our loving Father in Heaven, for eternity.  I have felt that same yearning the prophets of old have felt for the people they have preached among, just to have them follow the commandments and just to believe and follow Christ. Because I have felt the sweet assurance that it is the only way to gain eternal life. The Philippines will be in a special place in my heart forever.🌏

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. 


My homecoming talk will be at July 8th, 2018 at 9am. 
6051 Dorrell Ln, Las Vegas, NV 89131 


Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission
The only umbrella I could find

AJ's baptism

Members made this for me

He tried to tell me this was a back scratcher





Monday, June 11, 2018

Tag-Binyag ;)

This week went by so fast. We had MLC (which was my last) and it was amazing!! Our mission is progressing and we are stepping it up. We have now changed our standards of excellence and almost every number was doubled! It is definitely a time of miracles!! 

This past week, we had a baptismal interview for AJ Palanca. She just turned 12 and her parents were baptized in March of this year. She will be baptized this coming Saturday! Her dad was able to receive the priesthood just yesterday so he can be the one to preform the sacred ordinance of baptism for his daughter :) His name is Brother Marc Caores and he is extremely amazing! Their family is just full of faith. And his face just lit up when our branch president said he might have a new responsibility in the church (a calling). The Aguilar family wasn't able to attend church this last week. Nanay Aguilar wasn't able to attended church either which is sad because we had been planning her baptism for the last week of June. But it just means she's just not yet ready and she will be more ready next month :)

Our Zone alone has projected 28 souls to enter into the waters of baptism this month of June! And this month for the whole mission, we are projecting 258 souls to enter into the waters of baptism. which we are all really excited about!! 

I love you all. I don't have much time, but I know this to be the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!

--
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission


Monday, June 4, 2018

MIRACLES!! and my Birthday is apparently tomorrow...😓



Anyway, this week has been filled with miracles! This zone has been doing so well!!! They definitely know why they are here in the mission field! And we have seen lots of miracles because of it!! So this last Saturday the sisters had a baptism and their baptismal candidates wanted ME to baptize them because they said "I was great in Tagalog". hahah I was thrilled to baptize them and it was such a happy day!!! When we were changing, the older one whose name is Bernard, who is in his 60's, said that he just felt the sweetest feeling after his baptism and I couldn't help but smile!

Another miracle happened when I was on exchanges with Elder Dean this week. We were in the farthest area in there area that almost no one goes to, becasue it's so far. But the Area Presidency was thinking of putting a meeting house there, so they have been focusing a little there. Anyway, we walked down this first street, we started talking to a bunch of groups that were sitting outside (they wanted to talk to because it was 2 Americans speaking Tagalog haha) and it turns out one is a member, and they were baptized a long time ago, but they didn't know there was a church nearby.  But the awesome miracle is that a deaf/mute man named John-John camed up and wanted to start a conversation by writing on paper. SOMEHOW out of the many different sign languages, he and Elder Dean both signed American Sign Language!!! Which in the Philippines is unheard of! I was so amazed! Elder Dean is TOTALLY A LEGEND!! (he hasn't signed in 5 years) but they had a fluent conversation for 45 minutes!! He told us his life story which was really hard.  We met his wife which is also deaf and mute, but they said they loved Christ and want to attend church every Sunday!! 

Our Zone has just been finding new investigators that are part-member families and that are just so ready for baptism.  We have 7 companionships in our Zone and we have projected 26 convert baptisms for our Zone this month!  They are so awesome!  I have a feeling June will GO OUT WITH A BANG! 💪💣 

Thank you so much for all of the BIRTHDAY WISHES!  You are all the best and I love you all!  Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers :)

Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

My cute friend!
There are more pics but Mom can't seem to upload them this week ;)


Monday, May 28, 2018

Buhay pa ako! Nagsisipag lang kami dito ;)

So this last week was pretty golden. We had exchanges with the AP's on Wednesday, after a New Leaders meeting with my companion Elder Sardan. And exchanges were just the best!! On exchanges we just went to work and taught repentance and the wonderful message of the Restoration of the Gospel!! That helped set the tone for the rest of the week. 

Then, especially Saturday and Sunday, we just had tons of appointments!! Saturday we received a referral from the area office and it took us 1 hour to find the house! But they were just a great a family. I cant remember how to spell their name. But the father works at the temple and the mtc as a security guard but isn't a member yet. And that night we were just sprinting home to get home on time. And then yesterday we had the youth and RM's  work with us so we could know where the members live and get to know them as well!! Missionary work just goes so much easier when the members are involved!!! Also Nanay Clarita Aguilar and Angelika (her grandchild) attended church this week!! Which was totally unexpected! And yes their name is Aguilar ;) I just tell their family all the time that we are just long lost cousins and they laugh and really like that. They are the best!! And the wife of Brother Dante Aguilar is ALMA Aguilar!! HAHA how sweet is that?? And they have no idea about the church. I made a joke to them the first time we met them and asked if she was familiar with Helaman and some of the other Prophets of the Book of Mormon. (She didn't).. But we told her that she eventually would. They are the best. We have also been teaching AJ. She's 11, and everyone in her family was baptized in her family in March except her. So we have been teaching her and have a date for her on June 9. And we were able to arrange a meeting with the Branch President to interview Brother Marc (her father) so he can receive the priesthood next week so he can be the one to baptize his daughter and he loved the idea!!  So this week has been great. The members are great  and Missionary work is just the best kind of work known to man. So ya.  

One thing I want to share with you all is about what Elder Haynie (Area Presidency of the Philippines) told us when he visited our mission last year; That Scattered Israel HANGS around Gathered Israel! It means that each one us has at least one friend that we can invite to hear of the Restored Gospel of Christ. No, they wont all be ready to hear of this wonderful message, BUT it means that there IS one person we know that's ready to receive the Restored Gospel. The test is finding out who it is :) So that's my extended challenge to ALL of you. To start this week and work on finding that one soul looking for the Gospel of Christ!! I know that to be true! Just get over our fears and go share! I promise the blessings will be immense and  "D&C 50:22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together."

I'm sorry I don't have pictures.. we didn't have anytime.. And I'm also sorry if I wasn't able to get back to your email this week 😬 magsipag muna ako dito, pero pag uwi ko,  maglibang tayo ;)


--
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Last 6 Weeks of My Mission

😢

So this is my last transfer... Which is hard to believe because my mission has been almost done in a blink of an eye... This week EVERYONE in our zone got a new companion so we are losing half of our zone which is really sad... But Elder Formantes (my last comp) went home and my new one will be Elder Sardan, I'll have the opportunity to train him because this is his first time serving in this calling. So it will be interesting because I feel like I still need to be trained in what I'm doing. Kind of like the blind leading the blind. But I know that the Lord in His bountiful mercy, qualifies those He calls and it will be another chance for me to completely trust in His plan for me this last 6 weeks of mine!! :)  Anyway, be ready to witness the best zone in the mission be on fire these last 2 months ;) because of their hard work and faith!!!  (I'm short on time agian! I'm sorry)

Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Elder Formantes and I hiking a mountian at 7pm to our investigators house​





Monday, May 7, 2018

No time!

Family and Friends! I'm still alive :) haha I dont have that much time right now, but I have some pictures.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I didn't realize that my comp was so heavy!

Regina


Family

Monday, April 23, 2018

Caterpillars, rashes and sharing the Gospel

So here I am in the same computer shop again. Time keeps going faster and faster, but this week was KILLER!!! It was just... let's say very very eventful!! 

First off,  last Sunday I started getting a rash and from what was going on, me and my companion have come to the conclusion that "hinigad ako" or this hairy caterpillar thing fell on me that has irritating hairs on it. I'm having trouble explaining this so just bare with me!! English is slowly going away. But I'm trying to get better. My face and eyes have been swollen but the rash has gone away!!

We also had new leaders training this week and it was amazing!! I love President and Sister Koster so much. We also have a senior couple that's assigned in our ward and we have gotten pretty close. They are amazing!!! Elder Ferney is so knowledgeable in the gospel, and they are just 1 of the many couples that said I could have dinner at their house when I go to Idaho, because that's where ALL the senior couples are from here in the mission.

We also went on splits this week and my companion was Tatay, who is about 60 and he was telling all the members we went to, that he was my father. I just went with it and we had a good time. We were able to share and bring the Spirit into some homes that really needed it and I hope they felt it as I did :) I love the people here.

We are more on the "finding" aspect here in our area and there are tons of people to teach. Basta the Filipino members just are so special and I love them. I'm pretty sure I have been able to see just an ounce of the love of the Lord has for them and it's more than any human being could possibly love.

We had a good talk this Sunday about the talk in general conference regarding our failures. I have come to the conclusion that failure is what makes us successful... If we get back up!!! I know that the Atonement of Christ is real. We can truly be forgiven for our "failures". I also know that The Priesthood does come from God in His mercy, so that we can help bless other so that they can "glorify their Father in Heaven". I know that this is truly the Lord's work and this is the Dispensation of the Fullness of times.
 
(Well the computer can't read my sd card so next week na lang)

-- 
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Monday, April 16, 2018

Killing it!

Well I have about 0 oras this time. But tons of stuff have happened this week!! We met a lady and her daughter whose name was Eden. We were just walking and they were resting from carrying water to their house. I just told them that I would carry it (which was surprisingly heavy I may add) but they said "no" and picked up it and made it to their house pretty fast! Then when we came back to teach them the other day, Sister Eden (the mother) had SO MANY questions and is so so interested in the Gospel!!!  Then we taught a part-member family and as we were closing the lesson, the mother almost blurted out that she wants so badly to be baptized with her child! So, we are hoping for them to be baptized in May!!  We were in Gospel Principles class yesterday at church, and we found out that the couple there has 3 kids at home that aren't yet members, and they want us to teach them!! So we have just had so many blessings basically dropped into our laps only because of the mercy of the Lord for us. I know it is not because of anything we have done that we earned those blessings!! 

So our area is still beautiful, I'm still making people believe that I'm from Davao, and our ZONE IS STILL KILLING IT!!! We have broke some "false limitations" in our zone this last week in our key indicators so, it's just the best!!!!

Playing kickball

What happened to the dental hygiene program?


Beautiful view



Monday, April 9, 2018

Paradise and General Conference

Soooo! This week has been great (except for the many many hours of traveling...) I LOVED THIS WEEK!!! I don't think I could fit everything in this email about what happened, how I feel and the total and COMPLETE love I feel from the members, people, and most importantly the Lord.

So this past week on Friday, we had MLC and it was so so good. I learned so much!!! There is POWER in counseling together and I totally see why that's the way the Church is moving through revelation. Anyway, I loved it.

Then this week we watched CONFERENCE and it BLEW my socks off! It was the BEST and most spiritual conference I have ever been a part of!! I know completely by the Spirit that President Nelson was called of God. I love him so much, he is such a spiritual giant. I think for me the theme was about the Holy Ghost and revelation which is perfect for me. I have thought about something President Nelson said this past weekend, (I forgot the exact wording) "That Christ will do His most amazing miracles between NOW and His Second Coming". HOW AMAZING is that?? I believe at least some of those blessings we will see here in the mission field as missionaries :)

I love this area it is sooo pretty. In our zone there are 7 companionships and 10 (out of 14) of them haven't even reached 9 months in the mission! So our zone is really new and they are all hard working so we are really lucky. We have a lot of things we think can help our zone to become even better so we are super excited!!!

Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Our district bowling activity

I love these kids!  They are the sweetest!

The view outside of our apartment.  Yep, those are rice fields!





Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Transfers!

So transfers were this week... And I will be transferring to the Morong Zone which is a province :) My whole mission has been province haha! President Koster called and also informed me the Lord has called me, to be a Zone Leader in Morong my last two transfers of my mission. So it will be an interesting last 3 months of the mission for sure. I'm comforted by the knowledge that the calling truly comes from the Lord and not from man. 

BUT THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING!!! Me and Elder Cagnayo just worked hard this last week together. We found 15 new investigators this past week who are ALL interested in the Gospel of Christ. We have found families and many individuals. There was one individual named Jopet that was refered to us by 2 people! And those two people don't even know each other and neither are members yet. So we figured that he was important to find right away! It turns out that he is being taught by some sisters in a different mission by his school, but because he and his family live in our area, we will be taking over the lessons for him :) We have been teaching  Joey Omugtong for the past couple weeks and I love him so much! He is less active and hasn't come to church in over 17 years! We taught him by the spirit and he realized he needed to come to church.  AND HE DID ON SUNDAY!! For the first time in so long!!! Everyone was so happy to see him, and later that night he came to our Group Family Home Evening :) How thankful we are for being used by the Lord to help our brother and best friend come back to the church!!

 I have seen so many miracles this week. This is truly the Lord's work, and oh how it is moving forward!!! I'm so humbled and filled with exceeding happiness to be part of it at this time. 


Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Our assistant ward mission leader

My best friend Joey

My last ward FHE group




Monday, March 26, 2018

Another Great Week!

Everything is just starting to really blur together honestly hahah! This week was a great week though!! This week we had a baptism, and our zone had a zone baptism this where 11 people were baptized including our investigator Dwyane Placer. His mom has been a member for about 20 years and hasn't attended church in quite a while. Ever since Dwayne wanted to get baptized their whole family starting coming to church and now Dwayne's dad will be getting baptized this May! It's been really great and we have grown close with them. The family we had omyd a couple weeks ago "Alex", we have been going to their house every week but they are always busy and don't have time to talk with us. But that's ok, I know we did what we could and maybe in the coming months they will come to the truth of this Gospel :)

Things that happened in our area:
-I was asked if I could be a Godfather for our investigator's baby 😂😂
-People thought I was Filipino 😂
-We have seen less actives come back into activity because of the Book of Mormon 😊
-I gave a talk again this week (maybe the best I have given on my mission haha)
-We recieved a 21 of 21 on our apartment cleanliness check ;)
-Helping our investigators get married (It's quite a process especially when you yourself have never been married before! haha)

This week I was so blessed to recieve many many revelations through the Book of Mormon. I was truly edified by the spirit of the Lord. Just something quick I learned that I want to share. I came across Alma 57:10 this week and I ALWAYS laugh at that scripture. It says
 "And we, instead of being Lamanites, were Nephites;". I just thought how obvious that was that they weren't "Lamanites" and laughed at the scriptual language. But I felt like it's in there for a reason, so why was that sentence worded like that? I came down to the conclusion that they "remembered who they were". They could've killed every single one of those Lamanites and destroyed them and their provisions like savages, something the Lamanites would do, but they remembered who they were as Nephites, of the knowledge they had of God and were still in the moment, good examples. They took them as prisoners and took provisions probably I think in the kindest manner possible. I'm thankful for something my mom always used to tell me "remember who you are", and that's what the scripture means to me :) (A little long pala sorry)


Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission
Stake baptisms



Old Zone Reunion



Sunday, March 18, 2018

Tag-init na!

Sooo it's definitely summer here in the Philippines!! The funny thing is that ALL the filipinos think America is really cold. And I always have to say, "Wellllll... its a different story. Especially in Las Vegas.." haha they are always so surprised.

Things that happened this week:
-I ate some fried liver (I have no idea what animal it comes from) hahahaahahaha (sorry mom)
-I ate some fried chicken neck (sorry again..) Here they use EVERY PART of the chicken (or any other animal for that matter), and I mean every part. They don't let any of it go to waste
-Ate some fried pig foot (and some vegtables don't worry)
-I was the "foreigner tour guide" yesterday for our "Half Day Mission"
-MTC exchanges

So yesterday we had a "Half Day Mission" in our ward and in our group. There was the Stake Young Men's President and counselor that attended our group and then afterwards 4 Stake High Council members came with us, along with members to go visit less active members as well as investigators and members. Me and Elder Cagnayo split to show the houses to the members and stake counselors and they were cracking up that an American was their "Tour Guide" in their own country, it was the best hahah!

We also had MTC exchanges and my companion was Elder Moala, he is from Tonga, and will be serving in the Legaspi mission here in the Philippines. He just started learning English in the MTC and he was quite good at it for the 3 weeks he has been there. He was so generous and humble. He bought this huge thing of water as we were proselyting and said "Here, you drink!" We found 4 new investigators as well. The little kids went crazy, I might add, because they saw a "Giant" and an "Amerikano". It was a really good day. 

This week and all these last weeks have just blended together. Honestly this is all I remember! haha I don't have any pictures because I left my camera at home. Hopefully the description I left can help all of you make a mental picture this week;)

-- 
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

(Pictures are from Mom.  They came from a sweet Utah family visiting the Philippines.  They ran into Cody and his companion and spent some time with them.  I'm so grateful for kind people)



 







Sunday, March 11, 2018

PQCM

So all I can say with the time I have is I know that Jesus is the Christ, He is totally and utterly perfect. He is our advocate with the Father. Because of the Book of Mormon and the records it contains we can all know more clearly God and Christs relationship with us here on earth. Just "fear not, only believe."


Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Some cute kids playing baseball with a stick and tape :)​

Monday, March 5, 2018

March (I've run out of headlines!)

So this week was just a really solid week. 

The last couple of weeks we have been able to find a lot of families that have been interested and we were able to teach them! (did that make sense?) hahah. It's fortunatley  very rare, but we have been totally unnoticed by people as we tried to talk to them. Sometimes when I just ask someone's name they tell me what religion they are, I always have to ask that question (what their name is) 1 or 2 times for them to realize that I'm just trying to get to know them. We always offer to help, either to wash their clothes or to clean around their house or sweep outside. Almost everytime that softens their hearts, to help them realize that our purpose as missionaries isn't at all just to convert people or make them come to church, or make them change religion, even though that's what they suspect when they see us. We are here to serve others and help them come closer to Christ through faith, repentence, baptism, recieving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end.

So this week we are helping one of our investigators get married, and her name is Rose Canete. And she is so awesome!!!  We are working hard so she can get baptized on March 17! The same with Christian Silva which we have been teaching since November! So that will be an exciting moment when he has more time this week to meet with us so we can get him prepared to enter the waters of baptism this month :)

I have so much more to share about this week but I dont have time.. So next week na lang
 ha? :)




We treated ourselves for the first time with pizza, I was disappointed about the shape of it though :(



Our favorite ward missionary

Monday, February 26, 2018

Basta ang saya talaga dito

Sooooo I don't have to much time pala. But basta ang saya ng area na ito. Don't worry about me here ;) The members are the best honestly!! We have honestly gotten really close!! We got to have a FHE last night with the members and let me tell you, the kids were amazing!! They brought so many friends!! There was 40 of us in this small meeting house and 3/4 was kids! NO kidding. I was so happy!! I love them. There is also a nanay (grandma), Nanay Saberon here that feeds us every Sunday and she just calls us her kids. She's amazing. 

So that family that we found last week is still doing good! Alex is really interested and everything we teach him, it just clicks in his mind!! I have never had an investigator like him before!! He is really great. His wife isn't too interested as of right now, but I know God is aware of them as He is all of us, and someday His plan will be fulfilled no matter what :)

If you are struggling (work, spiritually, or in any way possible) read the Book of Mormon. 
2 Nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

My camera broke so I don't have any pictures.  (Parang scripture no?) Haha

--
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

President Nelson visits home!

So I saw on lds.org that President Nelson went to LAS VEGAS!! And I can't help but to be just somewhat jealous of that. Especially since I saw our stake president, President Hansen, in the background!! haha What a time that would've been to hear the words of the Prophet of the Lord, but how lucky we are that we (well at least all of you with smart phones and access to computers all the time) can access those words anytime and anywhere! How lucky are we that because of the diligence of prophets of the olden times, that we can access their words as well through scriputres, lalo sa book of mormon! I have really been able to see how blessed we are with the many resources we have in this day and age.  I hope that we are using them as much as we can to learn more about our Savior Jesus Christ.

This week we had tons of opportunities to teach and find new people. One miracle this week happened when we were planning for the week ahead and felt we could add 2 more to our goal for bap dates. As we went forth with faith, God provided!! We were walking and passed this young couple that has a baby.  We were pretty far away and I said "I think we should go back and talk to them", and we did! It turns out the brother is GOLDEN. He said that everything we were teaching just made sense and that he wants to learn everything we know! And right in our first lesson he accpeted a baptism date! :) Faith is truly a power that Heavenly Father works by! We saw many more miracles this past week, especially yesterday. We were working yesterday and my body was just totally dead but my spirit was just saying "keep going!".  It was a great experience really, to recieve that spiritual power to keep going :) haha

Transfers are tommorow (that's why we have pday right now) and we are both staying here in Quirino to keep our work going :) 



--
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Happy Valentines Day!

Monday, February 12, 2018

A Challenging Week

So this week was great and very very challenging honestly.  This whole week, every. single. appointment we had was either busy or not at their home. So we just talked to people we came across and that didn't even work. But it's a new week! And I probably wouldn't have gotten through this week if it wasn't for the Book of Mormon. I've been blessed this week with a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. I can truly see it as Elder Renlund put it as my "anchor" or center of strength. I'm so grateful for that. There are some people that push aside the Book of Mormon and say it's worthless or not of God, But I LOVE the promise that is given to us. All we have to do is read it with a willing heart, real intent to know if it's true, ponder about it, and ask GOD if it's true. No one is forcing you to say it's true. All we have to do is go straight to our Father in Heaven, and if you do that you WILL get an answer. 

So with investigators this week I don't have to much to share. But just wait on it til next week, this email will be popping with investigators ;) 

This week we gave service to an elderly lady in our ward. We pruned this huge mango tree and cut all these vines out of it (like Tarzan) and other than being bit by tons of huge ants, the size of my thumb, we got it done haha. But lately I have been really itchy and the members think that I may have encountered a... I'll just explain it... It's a catepillar with long hair and the hair is really irritating to skin. So I have all these spots and itchy places so we will see again what our mission nurse says about it!!! haha but I'm not worried. I know the Lord will provide :) 

This week do your best to see the Book of Mormon not just as another set scriputre, but as your center of strength, as a place you can go to get revelation and spiritual strength from our Father in Heaven!
--
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Monday, February 5, 2018

Wait... It's February?

So am I happy? Yes! And trust me it's not because its February, it's because I'm still a missionary :) So this week I got to wear flip flops and I wasn't allowed outside if it was raining, and it was supposed to rain almost everyday this last week!! But a miracle happened and we only got light rain. We also got to work a lot and do a lot of work this week:) So that was good!

We were between appointments when we got to talking to a random guy on the street.  He told us his family's last name is Bautista, which in spanish and tagalog means "baptist". So I asked him if he knew Juan Bautista (john the baptist) as I pulled out a picture of Christ being baptized. As he responded "Yes, that's me, I'm Juan Bautista.." Turns out his name is Juan Bautista!! hahahah We had a good laugh, I said that he and the picture looked alike.  We got to testify and get a return appt with him and his whole family later!! It was great!! 

I have really grown to love this area. I've learned a lot. Time really goes fast though when you 1.) love the work/people you are doing/serving and 2.) are diligent in your labors. I just keep telling people I go home in 2019!! hahah its the best :) 

The Book of Mormon is true. This Church is true, it just is. Everything just makes sense. Especially as I look at pioneer members of the church here, or senior couples, or the older members here. As I look at everything they have experienced, the knowledge they have culminated, the love for the Gospel, it just makes sense. To have a place (earth) where we can gain all this experience and then be transfered by death to the Spirit world, it just makes complete and total sense to me. 

What great knowledge and resources we have in this time of life here on earth!! It's amazing. 



--
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

I'm going in!  

Everything is A-Ok

I love this guys shirt!  Haha

Fried chicken... chicken head that is

Area Namin

Monday, January 29, 2018

Crocs to Flip-Flops

So this week was incredibly fast. Tuesday was zone conference and it was the best. We all met at the mission home and it was just our zone so it was a really great time with President and Sister Koster :) They are the best and you can really tell that they love you as they do their own children. We also had MTC exchanges (which is new missionaries from the MTC for the day into our area and they work with us, and go back after work is done.) And we (Elder Cagnayo and I) were in charge of it! haha It was a really good experience and the new missionaries just had that special spirit that comes from the MTC :) This week also, we reflected on President Koster's words about having a "vision" for our area and ourselves and what we want them to become. This past week, me and Elder Cagnayo came up with a vision for our group and it is defiintly a good one, we were guided by the Spirit. We were blessed with the highest attendance in our group since I have been here! We had 30 people come to church, it was amazing!!:)  This week was good. The Lord lives.

So let me briefly explain the subject line. So I haven't mentioned this in any of my letters, but I'm sure that you have noticed that in my pictures I have been wearing crocs.. haha. So for the past month I have had ingrown toenails, and so I have been able to wear crocs as we watched them and cleaned them. So this week because they weren't getting better and weren't healing, we got to go to the hospital here in our mission, and we saw a doctor today, They said that they would have to do a "minor procedure"  on my feet in order for them to heal. So that's exactly what we did. We met with the specialist at 12 and at 3 I was wearing nice hospital clothes (the ones that dont have the backs on them) and flip flops as I was being rolled down the hall to the surgery room. I was then laid on this table with a blanket as they strapped a "safety belt" to the table so I couldnt "fall off". I'm not sure but it seemed pretty fishy to me ;) They loaded my toe up with a couple shots of anesthesia and they tried to operate but I could still feel it, so they just unloaded about 5 more shots and took something out. I'm not sure if I have a toenail still on my foot because I didn't want to watch as they did surgery. So that's my watered down story of my first operation in my whole life. It was great of course! I'll send pictures next week:)  The Lord lives, The book of Mormon is truly the word of God:)

-- 
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Monday, January 22, 2018

Divine Design

So ever since last conference I have constantly thought and pondered about Elder Rasband's talk about the Divine Design of God. And everyday it's gotten more and more real for me. There have been a lot of great things that have happened this week. One of them that topped it off for the week, happened last night with a recent convert here :) He has been stuggling lately with some things he struggled with before his baptism, and he started going back to his old life. This was really hard for me because I just have this special love for him and we are close. But as you can imagine, it was even harder for his mother to see him like this. I won't tell exactly what happened because I feel it's not really my story to tell, but yesterday I could see as he told me that a huge blessing, a huge miracle, happened to him. As we talked about it, about him and the Lord, it was a very tender moment, especially for him. I know this is kinda vague, but I know talaga that the Lord is SO mindful of each one of us. Even when we feel like we are alone (as I mistakenly felt last week) that's when God is closest to us. This Gospel is true. This Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. There are a lot of things or people that say otherwise, but the Lord has blessed me with many moments I cannot forget or mistake for mere coincidence. If you follow all the commandments-both scriptual and latter day- the Lord has given us, there is no way we won't know these things personally for ourselves! :) 

I love the Lord. I love my God, my Father in Heaven. I love this Church, I love this missionary work and know it to be the most important work on this whole earth. I love my wonderful HUGE family the Lord has so lovingly given to me in this life. I know that without a doubt Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the head of this church because afterall, it is His.

Have a good week, remember to be loving, remember to see the many blessings you receive every day (One of my favorites, simple but powerful, Alma 26:2) and you will truly be humbled :)
 

-- 
Elder Cody Aguiar
Philippines Quezon City Mission

Eating corn, like Nacho Libre ;)

A member from my last area sent this to me. In the middle are two of our converts attending the temple.  How awesome!  Mark your calendars for Sept!  Temple dealings of course!