Random

Family and Friends,

bet you werent expecting this email cause neither was i! we got extra time to email today because of how weird our pday was yesterday cause of splits and the political lockdown thing! hope you all read your scriptures every day.. cause if not you should. importante gid siya. Love you all tons! enjoy your air conditioning :)

Palangga,

Elder Stagg

First P-Day in Bacolod

Family and friends,

First P-Day in Bacolod! i am alive. and doing great! My first area is EB Magalona, Elder Wilstead and I have a very large area, Soooo it makes for a lot of travel but thats great! the people here are amazing.... i cant even begin to explain. the poverty is unreal, BUT they are so willing to give you anything they possibly can! They have love for everyone around them.. they trust and are willing to help people. I cant explain how different it is here, because you have to experience it to truly know. The people NEED the gospel so badly. You can see the change in their lives start to happen when they start applying the principles we teach them. My biggest spiritual thing i have learned the past few days is this.... God truly does love all of his children. I have felt it for these people. I LOVE being able to testify to people that God does love them... and as a representative of Jesus Christ I have the authority to do that. Its amazing. Always pray for help and guidance in your life. The Lord is in the tiniest details of our life... Elder Wilstead being my companion is a true testimony of that. Think of those odds for a second.. over 300 missions... tons of zones in each missions... tons of companionships in each zone... and here I am with one of my great high school friends. The Lord blesses us all more than we deserve... dont ever forget that. Love with all you can and do not forget to rely on the Lord. People need your light. Love you all!

Palangga,

Elder Stagg

such a beautiful ocean sunset in the philippines

 

thats our humble apartment :)

Last Pics of MTC, Trip to Bacolod, and First Few Days in the Field

my MTC district!

our classroom where we spent the entire day,, haha

last night in the MTC.. sorry kinda blurry

on the airplane... awkward?

the menu on the plane! hahaha

the picture is of a guy playing bejeweled on the plane. i am NOT exaggerating, he played for the entire 11 hour flight. He didnt even use the restroom. he stopped to eat and that is it. he was an old asian guy. hilarious. hahahah

bacolod airport!

elder wilstead and i!

main area of our home.. yes the whole house is an awesome teal-ish color!  haha

study area

sleeping quarters

kitchen

finding our terminal. ahahah

weirdest little store ever in tokyo airport

 yeah.. thats a  strawberry kit kat

sister sefeti and i's first experience with the filipino humidity

 all just way stoked on life,,  this was our first steps outside into the philippines

flight out of manila!

last temple walk

fake crying... kind of a weird inside joke with our district

gotta love biscoffs

a cool walkway in san fran airport.

yeah... that explains it all. haha

sorry its blurry... but the tokyo airport. haha

sister smoot; sefeti and I! on the flight to tokyo

 food on the flight!

just use your imagination on that one

elder wilstead and i

our bedroom

our kitchen

its these kinds of fields ALL over! sugarcane! namit gid!

yeah.. im in a beautiful country

weird tree. ahah

thats my shower :)

Finally Starting the real work!

So after some crazy jet-lag i had orientation today. guess who my companion is. Cole Wilstead!!!!! So crazy. Its awesome and super comforting to be here with someone i know. Our area is called EB Magalona. Its about an hour north of Bacolod city. Its a big area.. today is kind of an adjustment day but tomorrow will be great. I will be skyping at 9 am on monday morning my time. Thats for you to figure out what time that is for you. I will email you that morning to get it all set up and what not. Love you all tons! ps... its hot and i feel like they are speaking arabic. But that will change... (not the hot part) haha!

Palangga,
Elder Stagg

Bacolod!

Here in the mission home at Bacolod! The trip was crazy good and long. Stay in the mission home tonight, orientation tomorrow.. then off to my area with my trainer tomorrow! Halong!

Palangga,

Elder Stagg

Last Pictures From the MTC

Patrick Nilssen from St. George. He like me has had a long path to get here.. he goes to virginia i think? speaking korean!!!

 the computer.. every missionaries' favorite place.

elder evans and i cleaning toilets for the last time.

pretty flowers diri sa MTC

Ulihing nga mga adlaw diri sa MTC

Family and Friends,

Thanks for the letters/ packagaes/ love/ prayers and all. Love them all. Yeah so our schedule got all switched around because they are preparing for the giant influx of missonaries come June. So Pday and everything got switched, but its better actually. Wow! Its time for me to leave.. cant belive i am saying that. we leave monday. we fly from SLC to Seattle, then Seattle to Tokyo, Tokyo to Manila (then we stay the night i think?), then manila to Bacolod... my home for the next 23 months. I think its like a full day's worth of travel! plus you skip ahead 15 hours so its nuts. Boom! Getting our flight plans was so great! haha. it made it all seem real. I'm kinda sad to be leaving the MTC.. ive enjoyed my time here.

 

We had some hilarious moments this past week.. most during our lesson to our "investigators". At one point i mixed up pronouns and instead of saying, "we know we aren't the best teachers" i said, "you know we aren't the best teachers"... sounds not that funny but she had a difficult time not busting up laughing. Another good one was we were teaching someone who didnt know how to pray.. we convinced him to say the closing prayer though. So we are all 3 kneeling. He starts saying the prayer (in hiligaynon of course) and about 20 seconds in he keeps saying "wala na. wala na. wala na." i had no idea what he was saying.. wala na means "no more" (which i didnt know then... but sure do now! haha) ... we forgot to tell him how to finish praying. so we are sitting there and elder evans starts trying to figure out what is going on... i am still under the impression we are praying sort of.. so i just keep my arms folded and head bowed as elder evans tries to explain it to him. Most awkward teaching moment ever! hahahaha. Gosh it was bad. Gotta love it. On that note.. the lanugage is actually going very well. It helps when you teach twice a day for 30 minutes in the language. I love the language. Its hard to describe but its so fun... literally. Its known for being a "fun" language. Love it.

 

A few notes about the past week.. one of the sisters in our district got the Flu and had to be quarantined.. yes quarantined. In a room by herself off in some random wing of the MTC for 3 or 4 days straight! super bummer. we all have to take these anti-flu pills to not catch it. #everyoneisalwayssickattheMTCsoitdoesnotreallymatter . That's what happens when you crowd a couple thousand 18-22 year olds into a small area. Its expected. Kind of like the stomach problems associated with the food. hahah. I love the food though. I eat like a champ... way more than i should. and somehow, i havent gained or lost a pound! Awesome i guess!

 

Spiritual notes for the week. God does love us. All of us. That being said... everyone deserves the knowledge of the gospel. We had a wonderful devotional about repentance. Here's my understanding of the talk. You MUST put forth the effort. People want to be cleansed and saved... but not put forth the effort. thats not how it works. you must ask god.. not tell him.. but ask! ask and ye shall receive! its the same with forgiveness. we must believe in his grace, then we will receive the mercy and he will make up for our shortcomings. Something that hit home for me this week... obedience. The last week you really see some of the missionaries start to taper off in their obedience. Elder Evans and I have been trying to avoid that like the Black Plague. I've already seen the fruits of it. That being said... it directly relates to obedience to commandments. God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are ALWAYS there... we ourselves choose to withdraw ourselves from their presence. if you feel alone, evaluate what you can change to be closer the God. Those of you reading this who are baptized members of our church.. remember you covenanted to take upon yourself Christ's name. Thats my kind way of saying, figure it out/shape up. haha. Satan knows all our "buttons" and he knows how to push them. Its a war. Constantly. Be on the attack. I've been doing some deep study of the Plan of Salvation, particularly the Atonement. It ALL hinges on that. Everthing before this life, everything in this life, everything after... hinges on the Atonement. Go buy a Preach my Gospel.. and study the Atonement like its your J-O-B. It will bless your life tremendously. One thing i loved learned... Christ came to earth to be like us (human/mortal) so that we can become like him (godly/immortal). what a beautiful gift and sacrifice. If you are looking to start fresh/ need to change something remember this. It all starts with Faith and Repentance. Start there, the Lord will help with the rest. I love this gospel. My knowledge and testimony of it grows everyday. Which i am super grateful for. I love the Lord and i love missionary work. Can't wait to get out there and get to work more fully. Scripture of the Week- D&C 130:20-21. OH and if you are struggling with church attendance and need a reason why to attend.. go read Mosiah 25:23,24. Love with all your heart and develop your Christlike attributes more fully.

 

Palangga ko kamo sa tanan nga akon tagipusuon,

Elder Stagg

 

 

ps--- might not write for like a week or 2, not sure how the whole pday situation is over there. Oh ya, i dont remember my new address so.... ask my parents. haha.