Philippines Legazpi Mission: Elder Feraer

I've only been here for four and a half days and I can already tell that Irosin Branch is really helpful and working well with all of us missionaries. Especially Tatay Danilo Geruela and Tatay Porcado. They are always want to work with us every single day. That's really something despite their age and circumstances. I'm really amazed by their dedication. 😮 

We had powerful lessons today in Bulos and Cogon. I'm really excited about the upcoming baptisms! 😃 Powerful and faithful prayer really works. Enos 1 😊 

One of the duties of the Zone Leaders is preparing and sending scheduled calendars for the whole Zone. It's my first time to do this and luckily I have saved the calendar format of the Catanduanes ZLs that they sent to me before when I was a D.L. It was a good guide. 😅

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We had District Meeting in the morning led by Elder Pascua. He is the D.L. of Irosin District. The workshop was about "we invite, they commit, we follow up". It's a good workshop and he explained it really well. I also like the verse (D&C 50"19-20) that he shared with us. It's also felt weird that I'm a Zone Leader now. I got used to being a D.L. for quite a long time. When I was a D.L. I always prepare workshops for every meeting but now I just participate, listen, and observe. 

In the afternoon, we went to Bulusan for a baptismal interview. It is a 45 minutes ride via jeepney. It is also a beautiful place to visit. The investigators of E. Pascua & E. Reyes passed the interviews. 😊 

When we got back to our area we immediately work and preach the gospel to our scheduled appointments. We went to our area in Salvacion together with Bro. Geruela & Bro. Porcado together with two additional members, Sis. Jecel & Yveth. They are all good MPs. We went to our area in Batang afterwards and I met our Branch President here in Irosin together with his family for the first time. They invited us to eat dinner with them. They are all nice. 😊

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Today was my first whole day here in Irosin. I got to know my new companion more. We had a good day in missionary work. I'm starting to feel comfortable in this area. The two diligent adult priesthood members worked with us again. They're really dedicated members of the Church. 

We also visited a member in the hospital and we blessed him. As we lay our hands upon his head we didn't know that there's a family that was watching us. After we did the blessing, they approached us and asked if we could also bless their love-one who is also in the hospital. We said yes and blessed their father. We also said that having faith in Heavenly Father that their father will be healed is the key to all of this. We are priesthood holders and just instruments and we're glad to help. 

In our last appointment, we shared D&C 128:24 to help out recent convert to be a submitter again.

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Transfer day! I'm going to the southern part of the mission for the first time. 😀 It's fun to see my batchmates as always. And now... who'll be my next companion? *drum roll* My next companion is Elder Alolor! I met him before when I was a trainee and he is my former zone mate in Tabaco. I barely knew him before and all I know is he is the trainer of one of my batchmates. He seems nice and also soft-spoken. I'm excited about our companionship and I hope we do well in our area.

The most surprising part of this day for me was when they also announced that I'm going to be the new Zone Leader of Bulan Zone! 😨 I didn't expect this and I asked my companion to please guide and help me about this calling. 😅 I have a good feeling that I will learn a lot from him.

We travelled from Legazpi to Sorsogon. It's a long ride but the excitement that I felt keeps my mind busy. When we arrived in our nice and neat apartment, my companion introduced me to our housemates. They are Elder Siarez (Davao) and Elder Witehira (U.S.A.). They both seem nice. We worked in the afternoon and the evening. Yep! No time to rest. 😁 There's also two adult priesthood who worked with us and they're both great member present.  

It was a tiring day but I had fun. It's only my first day here but I'm loving it. I ended the night by reading the zone leader pocket. I've learned the responsibility of this new calling. I'm inspired by Elder Loren C. Dunn's "message for Zone Leaders". I'm a little bit overwhelmed by this. Hopefully, I'll do this well. 

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Today was Elder Reyes and I last Sunday in Tiwi Branch. We both said our farewells to the members. Elder Reyes was really emotional. He really loves this Branch. He's been here for a long time. Honestly, I'm just little bit sad about getting transferred because I've been here for only a month and a half. It was really different from the two previous areas that I'm super attached to. Besides, I'm also happy because my companion will become a Trainer soon. 

We had a good lesson in Priesthood class about Prophets. Sustaining our living Prophet is really important. D&C 1:38 I'm also happy that we have an investigator that finally attends sacrament meeting. Even though it is my last day I'm still glad that I planted a bunch of seeds before I left.

After the Sunday service, there's a lot of picture taking going on. I'll miss all the members here in Tiwi Branch especially the leaders and all the YSAs that worked with us. Also, all the people that I met and taught. There's a lot of people here that were all nice to me. I'll pray for this Branch to grow more numerically and spiritually. I know Elder Nibarger and Elder Bahinting will continually do good work in this wonderful area of Tiwi together with their new companions soon. We ended the night by having a farewell dinner at our Branch President's house. 

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One day mission in Tiwi Branch! This kind of branch activity is always meaningful and fun. 😊 Each of us missionaries did a workshop first. Today, I'm grouped with Bro. Whoopee and Sis. Namie (with her daughter). They are both nice to work with and I'm happy with my group. The most memorable and teaching/visiting moment is with Sister Clet. She's really happy to see Sister Namie again. 😀 We shared 3 Nephi 20:7-8 with her and it was an emotional and spiritual teaching/sharing moment to all of us. When the night comes, all of us gathered in the chapel and shared all of our experiences today. Everyone is enthusiastic and had a wonderful experience. It was a good day for all of us. 😃

Oh. Today was also the transfer announcement and I'm getting transferred together with Elder Reyes. Mine was somehow shocking because I'm just new to this area. I have a short stint here in Tiwi but it's alright. The good news is my companion is becoming a Trainer next transfer. I'm so happy for him. 😃

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I had a meaningful personal study. I read 2 Nephi 27 and Isaiah 29 and there are some verses that I think we can share with our Seventh-day Adventist investigators. We did WPS today and we're more ready for next week. 

And it came to pass, we did use it and it really helps. Thanks to the guidance of the Holy Ghost and our lesson went well with them. We also invite some of our investigators to be baptized and they committed. It was a good day overall. 😃

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Reunited for a day with my Sensei! 😀 It would be nice if we work in our old area in Comun during my training days, but unfortunately, they had a change of plan. It is still okay. I'm happy that I had this chance to work with my trainer again for the last time. He will go home soon next week so this is a memorable moment for us. It is like a father and son reunion. 😅 It really feels nostalgic working again with him. I felt like a trainee again but better. The flashback of memories really hit both of us. It was fun. Haha. We did a lot of tracting and contacting of referrals. We also had some good and spiritual lessons just like in the old days. 

We had many good memories during my training days and I'm thankful for everything that he's done for me. I learned a lot from him. Proverbs 14:18 I respect him a lot and he is one of the most influential and great leaders for me. Thank you Sensei.

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