Week 47

Hey Everyone,

The Elder I gave a shoutout to for keeping me good on what week it was just got his P-day changed to a new day of the week, so he's no longer keeping me on the right week. But its all good, I'll do it the old fashioned way and just check last weeks email I guess.

So its been another week and time is flying by out here. We had zone conference this last week and it was great to see old friends from other places again. We had a really good workshop on asking questions, and another one on our commitment to following the Savior and how important covenants are in our progression as people trying to make it back to the Father.

Elder Taysom and his companion had two baptisms this last week. They are some of the most prepared people I've ever met. Its been amazing to see their progress and sacrifice as they've come to know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love

-me

Picture 1 is my district bowling last week

Picture 2 is the baptism of Leo and Lalain

Picture 3 is President Espinosa my awesome mission president in the middle of a workshop

PS Its week 47 

PPS I was bowling left handed because it was most of these people's first time and also for fun

Week 46

Hey Everyone,

Hows it going? This week was a pretty fun one. I saw a horse. That's different.

We had zone interviews this last week. Its fun having so many new people here, both native speakers and foreigners. Its a lot of teaching and learning and questions.

We had a lot of people come to church yesterday and it was great! It's so amazing to see people taking the steps that they know they need to to come unto Christ. That's really the reason why we're all here, and it is an active process we all need to be engaged in.

I just want to add something I've learned this week: the importance of remembrance. we need to remember the experiences we have. we need to remember the love that we've felt for us and from us. we need to remember all the goals that we're working for and the things we need to do. Satan tries to get us to forget. his whole thing is to make us forget who we are and who our Father is. We cannot forget. The people in the scriptures (namely the book of mormon) are repeatedly called to remember again and again, and sometimes we even have trials to make us seek Him again. But, because God loves us, He gave us the Holy Ghost to "bring all things unto [our] remembrance." God gave us a gift to help us with one of the most important things we need to do because it is exactly that important. He gave us the Sacrament to remember the sacrifice of His Son every time we go to Church. He gives us so many ways to remember and we just need to try our best to remember Christ always. To remember His sacrifice and His Love. To remember who we want to be and who He knows we can become. Don't forget the love God has for you. No matter what he's there for you.

-Elder Collier

PS sorry if that doesnt make sense, I dont have time to proof it.

Picture 1 is us hanging off the back of a full jeep

Picture 3 Drug sign

Picture 2 is our new Beach Church

Week 45

I'm gonna open this email with a quick shout out to Elder Shakespeare for always letting me know what week it is in his weekly emails.

This week was a pretty good one actually. A lot of fun little things happened. The prime thing to mention is that we made tacos. I mean we still used plain white rice because we really made taco meat for ulam, but we used real spices such as cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and others. It was pretty good. We had tacos as ulam.

The second thing is that we got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders Elder Seve and Elder Sau. They are both great missionaries and it was fun teaching together. We were able to teach some really powerful lessons and help people.

I also got to help bail water out of a flooded house.

We went fishing earlier this morning and the first one I cost was a fish valued somewhere around 25000 Pisos so I just let it go before we got a picture. The others made pretty good ulam though.

Lastly, the family who feeds us every Sunday granted our request and fed us Dog. We didn't think they'd actually do it, and we thought they were joking when they told us one of the ulams was dog, but it totally was. It was actually super good. So just remember that. Also, dog meat is really expensive here because i think it might technically be illegal. Fun stuff. 

Love you all and I love the work out here

-E Collier

Picture 1 is Tacos

Picture 2 is me and Elder Taysom with lunch by the river this morning. 

Picture 3 is us all up on the roof while we were just waiting to start

Picture 4 is my district plus the zone leaders

Week 44

Hey everyone,

I'm a tatay! I just went down to Urdaneta to pick up my new companion. His name is ELder Notarte and he's from the Manila area. He's fresh out of the MTC and even though he definitely speaks the Language better than me its fun to teach him how to do missionary things. 

We are having a good time out here and its always a party in the rain. I get to wear boots a lot now because otherwise I get very wet feet. sometimes though we gamble on it not raining and it doesn't, and other times you wear just rubber shoes and then fall in a deep puddle up to your shins. I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

This week I also got to work with Elder Taysom as we were waiting for our mga anak and we had some really good lessons and fun times. He's from St. George and says its a cool place, but I'm still saying California's better.

Hope you're all doing well!

-Elder Collier

Picture 1 is Elder Notarte standing up on the seawall 

Picture 2 is me and Elder Taysom with our new companions, fresh from the MTC

Picture 3 is us doing face masks while there were just two of us in the apartment