The Mission XXI: Return to the Office

Yes you heard me right, I have been transferred back into the office hahaha.  Only this time around I’ll be coming back to serve as an Assistant. I got a call from President Fermanis a little while back telling me the news!  That means I'll be mainly emailing on Saturdays from now on (Fridays in Utah). My “new” companion will be Elder Somosa. I say “new” because Elder Somosa was actually my companion back in the day when we served as Office Elders hahaha!  The boys are back. We’ll be serving in my old ward in Makati and it seems as if this will be my last area in the mission. It was super difficult having to say goodbye to my wards here in Sampaloc and MYSA.  The members here made me feel so welcome and treated me like a member of their family. I’m so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me the chance to meet these incredible people and I will never forget them.  I will also never forget the wonderful experiences that I had in my time serving here in Sampaloc.

This week we had our

-MLC

-Temple trip

-MTC exchanges

-P-day trip to Ocean Park with the Parañaque ZLs and Vedz

-Interviews with President Fermanis

Pics:

1) Elder Dewsnup (to the right of me) will be replacing me here in Manila when I transfer back to Makati.

2) Elder Burdeos is cheezin' :)

3) We went to the temple with our zone and we saw our recent convert Charline there!! She went all by herself hahaha she is so amazing.

4) A group of students studying at PUP conducted an interview with us hoping to learn more about the church for an assignment!

5) MYSA ward being MYSA ward hahaha

6) WE ARE BACK AT OCEAN PARK YET AGAIN! It's basically the Disneyland of all P-days hahaha

Thanks to Kenneth and Vedz for the fun pictures!!

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I won’t lie, I’m a little nervous for this new responsibility but if I’ve learned anything from my mission it’s that we are never alone.  Heavenly Father is with us every step of the way, we just need to trust in Him and always give Him our best. I'm also super excited to have the chance to work closely with President Fermanis again. Such an incredible Mission President and I'm excited to learn so much from him.

Love you guys!  Have an amazing week!

Elder Burdeos

ELDER BURDEOS

""

2016 - 2018

PHILIPPINES MANILA MISSION

TWO DECADES

What a fun week it's been here in the Manila/Mandaluyong Zone.  

On Tuesday we were able to test out one of my ideas that I came up with!  It's called the Find-Off and it's a super basic concept.  It's a district vs. district finding activity, within the span of 2 hours.  We were able to see some success come from it, within that span of  2 hours we as a zone were able to teach and find 25 new people!!  

Friday the MIR held a mini MTC event which was a success!  There were a good amount of non-members who attended and it was such an awesome experience to see non-members take upon themselves the role of a missionary!! There they learned how to teach, share scriptures, and follow mission rules.

Saturday was my birthday and man it was such an amazing time.  Prior to serving a mission I always thought that holidays and birthdays in the mission were going to be sad and terrible but the members and missionaries still find a way to make it an enjoyable experience for you.  The members in our ward gave me kind letters and surprised me with a cake!!  The Sister missionaries in the ward gave me a GIANT card signed by some of my best friends in the mission and favorite members.  It meant so much to me and I'm grateful for everybody who made my birthday a special day.  It did however end kind of awkwardly with us attending a funeral service but that's okay I still had a great day.  

Sunday was the Manila Stake Conference.  It was crazy because a year ago I attended the same stake conference at that same chapel when I was assigned in Tondo and it felt like that was yesterday.  Time flies.  President and Sister Fermanis also gave some super strong talks and that was super enlightening to us.  They spoke about the importance of reading from the Book of Mormon EVERY SINGLE DAY!!  Imagine reading from the Book of Mormon as talking on the phone with our Heavenly Father.  Also imagine that every time we refuse to read it's like we are putting Heavenly Father on hold or rejecting His call.  JUST READ IT!  IT WILL BLESS YOU I PROMISE!

I had an amazing week!!!  I received some fun news that I'm excited to share with you guys on a later date hahaha.  

I have so many pictures to show you guys but my card reader isn't working so I guess we'll have to wait another week :(((((  I do have some from yesterday though :)  ALSO I WILL NOT BE EMAILING UNTIL TUESDAY NEXT WEEK DUE TO OUR TEMPLE DAY!  

Love you guys tons!  Have an amazing week!

Elder Burdeos

-- 

ELDER BURDEOS

2016 - 2018

PHILIPPINES MANILA MISSION

Good Times in the Mama Zone

Hello family and loved ones!  It was a great week here in Manila.  

Wednesday: We had our zone conference and it was really good!  We talked about teaching by the spirit and what it truly means to use your wisdom.  President Fermanis dropped some doctrine on us and that's always my favorite part.  The man knows the Book of Mormon better than anybody else that I know.  

Thursday: I got to relive being an Office Elder for a day and helped them create a giant map of the mission including Palawan.  It was a long process but it was worth it in the end!!

Saturday: We took the new missionaries in the MTC with us for another round of exchanges.  I went with Elder Greer, Elder Hitchins, and Elder Stevens who are assigned in the Iloilo and Bacolod mission!!  They are learning Hiligaynon which is a different dialect from Tagalog so that made for some very awesome lessons hahaha!  I just translated everything for them to English then translated their answers to Tagalog for the people we were teaching.  I loved their positive attitudes about the work and I'm always grateful for all the excitement new missionaries bring to the field.

I love it here.  I love being able to teach people how they can be together with their families forever and I love teaching them that they have a loving Heavenly Father who cares about them and what they are going through.  I love all of you as well!!  Have an amazing week.

19 year old Elder Burdeos :)))

(I don't have any pictures of this week because the Sister missionaries in our ward borrowed my card reader and forgot to give it back so there will be tons next week!)

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ELDER BURDEOS

2016 - 2018

PHILIPPINES MANILA MISSION

I'm Elder Burdeos and I'm a Mor-...Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints :)

Hello family and loved ones!  Check this out.

We had a family baptism in Sampaloc Ward.  The Banañia family was one of those miracle families who just kind of showed up out of nowhere coming from the province ready to be baptized!  The Sisters did a really good job in making them feel welcome and caring for them.  The ward loves them and they are a great addition to the building up of Zion!  What a great blessing it was to witness them enter the waters of baptism and make that covenant to follow the Savior. 

Along with that, Jay-pee our recent convert received the Priesthood yesterday!  He'll be preparing to serve a full-time mission hopefully by next year.  

I know that this is the true work of God and Heavenly Father is calling His children to come unto Him.  MISSIONARY WORK. WOO.  Love you guys!

Elder Burdeos 

-- 

ELDER BURDEOS

2016 - 2018

PHILIPPINES MANILA MISSION

Red Flood Warning!

It's been a really rainy time here in Manila.  It's been stormy almost every day and it makes it a little hard to do missionary work when the streets are swimming pools and it takes you hours to walk to one appointment.  The funny part about being a missionary is that you embrace stuff like that.  

This week was transfer week and I'll be taking another 6 weeks in the Manila/Mandaluyong Zone!!  The Lord must really love having me in Manila i've spent almost half my mission in this zone hahaha!  I love Manila though and we'll keep working hard regardless.  

Besides the rain and the transfers this week has been pretty smooth and very enjoyable.  With the rain sometimes making it hard to leave our apartment I've been able to use that time to read more of the Book of Mormon and I cannot emphasize how important this Book is to me.  If you are in need of feeling comfort, joy, and peace in this life I can testify to you that this Book will deliver exactly that.  The Book is of God no doubt about it.  If you're not reading it I cannot tell you how much you are missing out. 

Pics:

1- We attended a birthday party at the Blanco family residence.  Their house is tiny but they are still some of the happiest people I have ever met.  I never want to forget how humble and content the people are with their lives here.  

2- Brother Blanco straight up got some chocolate bars as his birthday present and he was happy as ever about it.

3- Our zone made these sweet zone t-shirts to represent our love for the MAMA ZONE!!

4- 2nd transfer of the MAMA zone has come to a close!

5- Elder Viñas is sitting on a tall chair because he wanted us to be the same height hahaha

6- Our AWESOME Ward Mission Leader treated us to Starbucks!

7- We taught 5 students from CEU and they wanted to take a picture with us after the lesson.

8- Just a little example of what the streets look like during rainy season here

I don't know if I've said this enough times in my emails but I love my mission, I love being a missionary, I love the message of the gospel.  The church is true and we are all children of a loving God!!  Mahal ko kayong lahat!  Ingat!

Elder Burdeos

Every Single Day

Friends and Family,

Every single day this week there was something going on.  

Monday: Went to Manila Zoo for P-Day

Tuesday: Interviews with President Fermanis

Wednesday: Exchanges w/ Elder Shelley the Mandaluyong District 

Leader and my old housemate in Makati

Thursday: MLC with President and the other zones!

Friday: Exchanges w/ Elder Ludlow the Manila District Leader and P-day pal.

Saturday: MTC Exchanges!  Went on exchanges with the new missionaries in the missionaries who have yet to hit the field.

Pictures:

1- Taking a ferry to cross the Pasig river was an adventure on its own

2- Exchanges with the boy, Elder Shelley

3- MLC feat. the boyz

4- Sister Ta'ofi, the tallest one in this picture departs this transfer day!  She'll be missed.

5- We received a shipment of 10 washing machines and we still need to deliver them

6- I love Filipino food and I'm grateful for Brother Coco for treating us out while Elder Ludlow and I were on exchanges

7- Here are the two Elders from the MTC that came on exchanges with me, Elder Spiker and Elder Miller they will be headed to the San Pablo Mission!

8- We had a service with the Mandaluyong District where we moved plants from the fourth floor to the bottom floor... hard work but they made it a blast!!

Can't express to you how much I love being a missionary and having this opportunity to preach this gospel.  I can tell you however that if you follow the counsel of Russell M. Nelson and read the Book of Mormon you WILL be happier in this life.  Never been so sure of anything in my life.  Anybody who isn't reading it constantly is missing out.  Have a good week!  Love you guys!  

Elder Burdeos

Cleanliness is Next to Managerliness

HOW GOES IT MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY

This week was consisted of checking missionary apartments within the zone!  I was very impressed with the cleanliness of them all!  It was also a fun opportunity to bond with the missionaries!  

This past Saturday an investigator from the Piña Ward asked if I could be the one to baptize her. I had the opportunity of giving her a Priesthood blessing a couple months ago.  The Sister is an older lady who a little bit on the heavier side in regards to weight but I thought to myself, “that’s okay!  It’ll be hard but it’ possible.”  That was my mindset up until I saw the baptismal font.  The water was at knee level!  It was in that moment that I began to get really nervous and said a prayer in my heart that the 30 minutes of exercise every morning would somehow miraculously allow me to pull this off.  It also got better as prior to entering the font as we were out in the hall and I was demonstrating how she was going to be baptized, she informed me that she was unable to move her left hand and couldn’t grasp with it and she has a knee condition where her knees will give in if they bend too quickly so it had to be super gradual.  Through all of the difficulty she was finally successfully baptized! MIRACLES

We held a zone fireside on Sunday and we were blessed to have President and Sister Fermanis come and attend.  We had a great time and the most powerful part of the fireside was having some recent converts and non-members who are currently being taught give their testimonies on what they experienced or currently experiencing through learning more about the church.  Our recent convert Charline gave a STRONG testimony and it made us super proud :))

Pics:

1- We visited Rizal Park for our P-day which is a memorial dedicated to Jose Rizal.

2- Jose Rizal's memorial

3- Rizal Park again...

4- Night at the Mamaril residence!  Some awesome members in our ward

5- Baptism of Nanay Estela!!  The Sister from the Piña Ward

6- WOW AM I IN CHINA OR THE PHILIPPINES 

Being a missionary is hecka tight.  I love it.  

INGAT KAYO MAHAL KO KAYONG LAHAT!!