Week 75 (Corona week)

Hey everyone,

I'm doing okay. I dont have corona. Sorry to all the people who live in Corona. And to all the people who live in areas affected by the disease...

Anyway, Life is pretty good. Missionary work took a turn for the more difficult when church got cancelled and Manila went on lock down, but we are still proselyting because there really is nothing more important than the news that Jesus Christ is our Savior and gave us a way to be made clean and free and safe. With that news we don't really need to fear anything other than our own unworthiness which, turns out, is solved by repenting and relying on Christ. So thats the message of the week. I like how in the Introduction to the Book of Mormon we read about how the Book of Mormon tells people what they need to go to find 'peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.' That is the message. It is true. It is there for a reason to help us. That book is the key to peace in this life as we come to know Jesus Christ.

Last week we also had the super cool experience of getting Elder Taniela B. Wakolo of the area presidency to come speak to us. He shared a lot of doctrinal insights and a very powerful testimony of Jesus Christ. I am very grateful to him for that.

If you were wondering, I do have food storage, and yes it is 25 kilos (55 lbs) of rice. That should last two people a couple weeks.

I love you all

Stay safe

-Elder Collier

Picture 1 is me with the container we bought to hold all the rice (we used to only by 5 kilos at a time)

Picture 2 is the batch at zone conference (Sister Cunningham will be going home this transfer if there are still planes leaving Manila)

Picture 3 is me and Elder Sio welcoming all the potentially infected people fleeing Manila into our small little province of Pangasinan. 

Week 74

Hey everyone,

So this last week was a pretty interesting one. We had a lot of ministering with the branch which was pretty fun. The thing about ministering is that everyone rides motorcycles to go from house to house. Thats super cool and saves them a lot of time, but it also leads to a lot of walking back and forth for me and my companion who are not allowed to ride on motors. We made it to the last 5 minutes of like 4 different ministering appointments, but they were all appreciative we were coming along. We called them cheaters for using motors though. Bikes would be nice in this area. Or a car.

Anyway, life is good in Umingan. Elder Sio and I really wanted to go explore the mountains this week, so we went finding and found some pretty cool people to talk to and teach. This morning, we went and hiked an hour and a half up a river bed (not completely dry) to get to a waterfall we had only heard vague rumors about with no real idea of how to get there. We found it and it was really cool. It made me appreciate more the beauty of God's creations.

Love you all, and until next week, its been me.

-Elder Collier

Picture 1 is my super buff companion at the falls

Picture 2 is us in the falls

Picture 3 is lunch after (the 8inch diameter burgers were only 4 dollars) 

Week 73

Hey everyone!

Its march right now so thats pretty weird. Also happy belated leap-day! I hope you did something to celebrate. Here we were blessed to be able to help Diane and Joshua Vendiola enter the waters of baptism and be reborn through the covenants they made with Christ. A very cool experience always.

Last week I finished the Book of Mormon on my 21st birthday. I had been marking the Book of Mormon highlighting good and bad, or things that made me rejoice and things that made me sorrow. Yes there is a lot of sorrow in the Book of Mormon, but the good is greater than the bad is bad. The Atonement of Christ does not just negate the fall of Adam, it completely destroys the effects of it. God is better than Satan is bad. God is infinitely more than is Satan and if we'll just try to follow His plan, we'll see the blessings.

Oh yeah, shout out to the super awesome Banago family who got me a cake on my birthday. They're the best! It was a pretty fun day and week overall. Elder Sio and I are doing good together, and we're going to have a lot of fun out here.

Its been another one,

-me

 Pictures 1&2 are me (ft Elder Sio) on my birthday celebrating it up

PIctures 3&4 is the Vendiola's baptism (ft the branch)