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

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!

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

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!

Easter Sunday!

#PrinceofPeace 

https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_SU_9-4-2017_dMIS_fMORG_xLIDyL1-A_

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

#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!

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)