NOTHING CAN STOP THIS WORK! WEEK 102

Absolutely nothing can stop this work! It’s Gods greatest work! He will not allow it to be stopped! This week we had a couple of hindrances to the work..but! we wouldn't let it hold us back! My comp has been struggling with some health problems these past few months with migraines and now just recently this week with stomach problems so quite a hindrance to the work but he has been good at trying to get out and work the times that he can and puts a smile on for the people around us! We were able to get out this week and go to a new area to us. We found a place called a "relocation site" which just means all the people that lost their house in a typhoon back in 2006 got relocated there... well THESE PEOPLE ARE SOO HUMBLE! They are all super close with God and love to hear anything about God! So we walked up to the first house in the place and as soon as they saw us they immediatley yelled and told us to come in haha! We went in and got to teach them and it was a really good lesson 3 different religions in the one lesson so lots of different opinions but it was an overall good lesson. One sister was super interested in Joseph Smith so she promised to read about him in the pamphlet we gave her! We’ll be going back this week! Then we wanted to go teach more people but we had an appointment coming up so we would have been tight on time so we just went talking to everyone and set like 10 return appointments for this week soo hopefully this week we will be able to go back to them all! This is like the promised land!! haha

Well we had a super cool lesson this week also with a lady named MARIFE we taught last last week. So when we showed up at her house I saw little pages that looked like hymns from our hymn book so I looked at them and she said it was from the jehovas witness hymn book so we talked about how she’s been going to church there for like 5 years now but not yet baptized.. and then she said she went to born again for a couple years also.. but wasn’t baptized also.. she said she just really loves searching for the truth.. so we related her story to Joseph Smith and his experience and she was SUPER interested and then when we said that we believe in a LIVING PROPHET she like looked up and was like "really we have a prophet today?" so she was super interested in learning about how Joseph Smith became a prophet and if he’s a TRUE prophet! So we told her about the BOOK OF MORMON! And how she could know Joseph Smith was a true prophet by reading and she looked pretty excited and said she would read it and pray about it! It was one of the most awesome lessons I've had! THEN we left and I was talking to some kids in the dialect here in Daraga and they were freaking out that I spoke bicol and told their mom and she came out to see me and then we were talking to her for a while in front of the house of Marife and then guess what? The missionaries for the jehovas witness showed up and went to Marifes house... HOPEFULLY they didn't get mad at her for having a Book of Mormon now hopefully we can still teach her this week! We’ll see what they talked about on Wednesday haha!  But that lady that we talked to outside was super cool also and super interested in listening to us! I've seen some awesome investigators out here in Daraga that have soo much potential they just need to put their faith into action!! I think this area will see some awesome progression soon! 

I LOVE THIS WORK! I love seeing these people get soo happy just to talk about God I'm sure gonna miss that! These last 2 years have been a ROLLER COASTER! It’s been a rough time! And I could not have gotten thru it without the Book of Mormon!! And THE AWESOME SUPPORT from each and everyone of you!! Your emails and prayers have been like rocket fuel in my system to keep me going! 

I’M SO SAD to leave this people! The Philippines definitley owns a part of my heart! And the people here have helped me see the true beauty in life! And I've learned what true happiness is! It’s gonna be hard to leave them here but I know my mom still owns a pretty big chunk of my heart! haha and I need to come home to her! And continue my mission back home! 

I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!! AND CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN ON THE 27TH! 

LOVE ELDER PANADERO

HAKUNA MATATA!!

This may be Elder Baker’s last letter home!  He will be making his way to the mission home next P-day and might not have time to write.  He will then go to Manila from where he will be traveling home on Thursday July 27th! We want to thank you all for your love and support to him throughout his mission.  It has meant the world to us to know you are all out there praying 

dinner with the Sarto family!

 

 touring our new found area and found a cow so of course i fed it

and took a selfie with it right....

 apparently the cow was still hungry!

shortly after capturing my selfie he tried eating my shirt!! hahah 

view of mayon from our really high area!

 walking thru the pitch black jungle while it was raining! 

selfie on my new bed! 

 another selfie on my new bed but wait did i take a selfie with my feet?? YESS I DID!! 

 The gangsta granny and her daughter in law

 crying at night looking at my last planner. 

"THE SQUAD!" i mean district... 

shantell and jade delavin the kids of our investigator family

 pics with GAB yupp he tried to moon the camera.. 

"GANGSTA GRANNY"  at church!  (no she did not bring her gun to church. or her shank!) 

Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying

repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul

unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought

unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy

if you should bring many souls unto me!
                                                        --Doctrine & Covenants 18: 14-16

WHAT A WEEK!! WEEK 101

So this week was another great week to pile on to the last 2 years worth of weeks!! 

Well I don’t have like any SUPER cool story to tell you why it was a great week it’s just always a GREAT week when you get to serve the Lord! Although we didn’t get some awesome miracles to happen we got at least our part member family to come to church and hopefully working towards their baptism (which will probably be after I leave.. sad) they are working on a word of wisdom problem right now, so when that problem is gone they will be READY! They were our only investigators to come to church even tho one family and our baptist investigator promised to come... they didn’t show up so kind of sad but okay! There’s always next week right? We’re kinda worried about our baptist investigator cause ever since we invited him to be baptized he hasn’t come to church.. so we’re trying to find his concern, hopefully we find it and help him out! Well, the awesome blessings this week that happened is we found 3 new investigators, and two of them were really interested and are gonna try to come to church sometime they said.. so HOPEFULLY! they will come! 

I also had my LAST exchanges this week and it was with Elder ROBINSON! The GUS BUS! hahaha he’s the man! l love that guy!  

But to end the week.. or start this week we kinda had a lil bummer happen.. I went to grab some personal money earlier and didn't find my wallet. Turns out someone broke in and took all the money that was in the apartment.  A lot of mission money and then my personal money, so that was a bummer but who knows maybe they will be nice and bring it back later! HAHAHA! 

Well that was our week sorry no awesome stories or anything.. I dunked on some palm tree basketball hoop this week which was legit hahaha but that’s about it.. I LOVE YOU ALL! THANKS FOR ALL THE PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!! See you all soon…

LOVE ELDER PANADERO

HAKUNA MATATA!!

ANG PINAKAMAHUSAY NA BALITA! WEEK 99

Heyyy fam and amigos... soo this week I had my last zone confernce.. which was actually a cluster conference which means we had other zones in the mission with us and we had all of the zones except 2 so pretty much more than half the mission.. and I got to bear my LAST testimony in front of all those missionaries!! I just bore a nice 1 minute testimony about my favorite thing ever... THE BOOK OF MORMON!! It truly is the keystone of a testimony.. 

Well I heard the COOLEST NEWS EVER at that conferene!! So the Masbate zone was there which was my first area!! Well the elders from mobo stayed at our house the night before the conference cause we’re right by the office.. well we were talking and GUESS WHAT?!? That family that we baptized back in the day in mobo (the Cantoria fam) well they're SUPER ACTIVE STILL and the mom GOT ENDOWED!! ahhh I was close to tears when I heard that!! I was soo happy they are still super strong in the church! The elders said she is still pretty sad cause she wants her husband to get baptized so they can be sealed in the temple.. but her husband is never home cause he works far away... but that time will come!! And her 4 boys want to serve missions and maybe the one daughter!! AHHH soo awesome! #blessed 

Well other than that, we also were #blessed because we found this part member family that apparently has been coming to church for like A LONG TIME!! haha but we just met them this last week and now they might get baptized in July!! SOO hey that’s cool! no?? haha They will probably get baptized when her husband gets back from work in a different area! Sunday was interesting also because some guy from Masbate showed up at the church on Sunday morning, apparently he’s a principle for some religion school in Masbate and came to Daraga this weekend and was like I’m gonna go to church at the "mormons" so he showed up and had a ton of questions and he said he really likes our church and wants to always go to church here when he’s here in Daraga... and his son is gonna go to church here every week now. haha Kinda weird but okay!! It’s funny cause he’s also baptist like our investigator that’s been coming to church and they both really like the church! We are gonna try to teach him next week if he comes to church again! 

Well that’s just about all that happened this week! IT WAS ANOTHER GREAT WEEK! And I’m ready for another great 4 weeks!! hehe 

LOVE YOU ALL!

LOVE ELDER PANADERO

HAKUNA MATATA!!

pics from the conference 

Dillon and his comp after a good game of P-day basketball!!