"THROW THE UMBRELLA AWAY!" -WEEK 93

Soo first off about the subject I heard something cool in church yesterday. So this guy was talking about how God is always showering blessings upon us but sometimes we’re just too scared to take in all his blessings! Then he said "GO OUTSIDE, THROW THE UMBRELLA WAY, AND TAKE IN THE RAIN!" 

I thought it was the coolest thing cause God’s blesisngs are definitely raining down on us ALWAYS! Maybe not the blessings we want.. maybe it’s a trial.. but no matter what it is, IT’S A BLESSING to help make you stronger and more ready to enter in his presence! 

But we had a pretty good week this week.. well it ENDED AWESOME!! So my new companion is Elder Balacuit this is his second area so he’s kinda new but he’s a GREAT missionary! Kind of quiet but I’ll break him out of his shell and help him be a little more open. But this week I was kinda showing him the whole area so that hopefully by next week we can do splits cause we have a lot of members that work over here with us, so hopefully we will be able to find those people that are ready for the gospel quicker haha! 

But we had the most awesome blessing this week! So our investigator Arcel came to church FINALLY!! She was the one that couldn't go cause her dad didn’t want her to ..BUT she was able to go this week and brought her little sister with her so that was AWESOME!! She’s soo excited to be baptized also.. we had to move her bapt date and she was like "ohh why I thought it was the 30th" haha so she really wants to be baptized and she loves the Book of Mormon! She testified of its truthfulness to us last week! I’m soo excited to be able to help her come unto Christ and finally see some progression in this area, she could be my last baptism..hopefully no.t Hopefully we find those other souls that are waiting for us! 

But Arcel coming to church was another testimony builder of FASTING! Cause I was fasting that her dad would soften his heart and let her come to church and.. it WORKED!! YESS!! So I’m pretty excited now and pumped to go out and find more people ready to be taught! 

One other thing that was awesome that we talked about in district meeting was the story of Lehi and his dream and how he wanted to share the fruit with his family and then Elder Vainikolo brought up the word ohana which means of course "family and family means no one gets left behind" and we talked about how everyone here is our family and we need to make sure NO ONE gets left behind! and doesn’t hear the gospel!! 

I love each and every one of you. You’re all part of my FAMILY!! And I hope you have an awesome week and an even better MOTHERS DAY! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THOSE AWESOME MOMS!! Where would we be without you!! 

LOVE ELDER PANADERO

HAKUNA MATATA!!

 "district"

TURNING "20"

FIRST WEEK IN DARAGA -WEEK 86

WOAHHH ANOTHER WEEK...GONE! First week in Daraga down and 17 to go! hehehe So about Daraga, well it’s about the exact same as Guino... small teaching pool and not really any progressing investigators! BUT it’s GOING GREAT!  So this week was a lot of just walking around to all of our areas and showing me like our whole area and then teaching some of our investigators but mostly teaching less actives or "resting" members is what they're called here haha! But it’s soo sweet out here we have these 3 guys that are 18/19 yrs old and they work everyday! One guy worked with us everyday the whole day then his friend would come when he was done with school so it’s so much fun going out and working! Cause we’re always happy and it’s also good cause we can do splits a lot! Which was weird this week.. We did splits on Saturday and Sunday and I was with these 2 guys that I didn’t even know on Saturday in an area that I barely knew haha but it was  alright then Sunday I was with some other guy I didn’t know either haha but it’s good out here the member missionary work is great! But what we’ve been trying to do this week is every resting member or just other members we go to, we teach them about missionary work, cause we know that their referrals are our ONLY HOPE!! haha 

So to answer your questions... my new comp is ELDER COPADA! He is from Taguig Manila! He’s DOPE! We get along good! Do we have any baptisms lined up?? NO starting from zero again hehehe (that’s always fun!) How’s the food situation here in Daraga!??! Well lemme tell ya! So I got here on Tuesday and that night we had a dinner at bishops house the next day we went out and worked and were tracting and after getting rejected at the first 3 houses the next one accepted us AND FED US!! and they fed us TINOLA! a really good dish here in the ppines! haha Then after we came out of our lesson there the ward mission leader texted us and said we had a lunch there, soo we went and ate AGAIN! Wanna know what dish it was?? TINOLA!! HEHEHE! Then after that we have had dinner every day except Saturday!! hahaha sooo food?? NO PROBLEM!! Any funny stories I want to share?? hmm well I held a snake this week!! hehe that was fun! and I shook hands with a monkey hahaha!! 

And a verse I would like to share with you?? hmm well how about a whole chapter!! After reading Alma 26 I found somthing that an apostle said about how AMMON experienced EVERYTHING missionaries do now! and even worse!! And it was talking about how he REALLY DID SERVE A MISSION!! IT WAS HIS STORIES!! It was not Joseph Smith writing about what it would be like to be a missionary..CAUSE HE WOULD HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE when he was translating the BOOK OF MORMON!! Just another testimony building experience to read that and then a cool feeling to be able to be EXPERIENCING what the great AMMON experienced in his missionary efforts!! 

AND I KNOW!! WHY he was soo happy!! He says that being an instrument in the Lords hands is how we can receive a FULNESS OF JOY!!! I testify that that is true! This work is HARD!! And STRESSFUL!! And I always ask myself...why are you soo happy!? Most of the time my answer is I don’t know... all I know is I'm doing what I should be doing and I'm being an instrument in His hands...SOOO I’M HAPPY!! 

I love you all and hope you have a great week this week and don’t forget to have an EXTRA BIG SMILE THIS WEEK! 

"live so that those who know you, but don’t know HIM, will want to know him because they know YOU”

LOVE ELDER PANADERO

HAKUNA MATATA!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ❤️ -WEEK 80

HEYYYOO I’M BACK!!.... AGAIN!  It seems soo fast!

Well this was A GREAT WEEK!! Nothing really cool happened it was just a great week with my new companion! So my companion is Elder Abracia! I knew him back in the day so we get along good! 

Well this week was just finding and talking to new people! Well actually we had a cool experience while out tracting... so we went to a house and she came out and said no one was there and to just leave.. well I started just talking to her about a banner I saw on the wall about some lady turning 81. Then she kinda got closer to us and then we just talked for like 2 minutes with her thru her gate about our beliefs and then randomly she was like well maybe we could talk for just a little bit.. so we got in and started just talking about her life and stuff.  Turns out she’s from Masbate! hahaha that’s my second home! Then we actually got pretty close with her and taught her the lesson and she was really interested! She agreed for us to come back and teach her again!! Her name is AMOR! Which means love in spanish! 

That was pretty much our whole week finding new people and getting to know them! We found a lot more new people we can teach and actually have some baptisms lined up for the next upcoming months! 

So funny story! We got a new sister in my district this week!! She’s a short term and she came from... MASBATE!! HAHA we knew each other back in the day when I was in Masbate!! So it is fun to have her over here in my district!! I have a pic with her she’s the one in the selfie with just 4 of us… she's the one with the nametag! 

Some sad news is... the baptism we had lined up isn’t happening this week because she has to get married first and the supposed to be marriage got postponed till later on when the stake president gets his marriage license!! ughhh... but we’re hoping it will be soon!! and we also have one lined up for March 4!! Brother Felipe Siapno!!  Hopefully we will set up some more for the next few months!! 

LOVE YOU ALL AND HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

PPINES UPDATE -WEEK 38

Well this week was the first week with my new comp!!  And well it was AMAZING!!  So it was really hard last transfer because I was trying to go and work and teach people, but my comp was really just wanting to sit around at the members house, so it was like making me pretty mad.  I wanted to go work but since he was like 24 he was just like ya don't tell me what to do.. so it was annoying!!  But then this new guy came in and everyone was saying he was gonna be lazy too but NOO he is not lazy, he's like let's get out and work!! hahaha the first day with him we went out and got 12 lessons!! hahaha  It was soooo sweet!  That's the most we've gotten in a while!!  And like all the other days are like 10 or 8 lessons!!  So it's great to be back in the grind of things!! 

Well update on some of our investigators!!  Well we found this girl last week, she was a referral from our new convert family!  She is 11 yrs old and her name is Shella Cervantes!  But everyone calls her aunty cute!! (aunty means like sister) hahha but so we call her aunty cute too hahahha!!  Well we first taught her last Saturday and then she attended church the following Sunday!!  And she attended yesterday din!!  So that's working out great!! We also found a friend of Justing her name is Betsey, and she's pretty cool too, she reads the Book of Mormon but her mom wont let her attend church at the "mormons" but hey, we'll get hat figured out! (i'll have elder nonu take her out) And then last week we had one of our old investigators who I thought still wasn't interested but then she told us last week she wants us to start teaching her again!!  So that's awesome!!  And then a couple days ago we were over there and I saw a ctr ring on her finger hahaha!!! 

Something that is pretty funny but kinda annoying!! Is Sundays!!  On Sundays I'm pretty much like the first counselor!!  The president calls me all the time to do something for him or like I had to teach Sunday school and Priesthood class two weeks ago!! and I almost always have to teach at least one class if I'm not teaching Sunday school I have to teach Priesthood!!  But it's been great cause I learn sooo much more and it helps me like feel more comfortable getting up and teaching or talking in front of people!!  But then again when I come home and have to speak in front of 300 plus people I'm still gonna be pretty freaked out!!  But it will be a lot better talk than my last one cause I have learned soooo much on this mish!!  I love it and I'm soo gratefull for this mission!! 

LAST I WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO MY MOMMA!!! AND TO ALL OTHER MOMS AROUND THE GLOBE THAT ARE READING THIS!!!  HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!  I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU GUYS DO FOR YOUR KIDS!!!  I'VE SEEN SOME OF THE BEST GUYS OUT HERE AND THEY ALL SAY I'TS BECAUSE OF THEIR MOTHERS!!  YOU FIND OUT THERE'S A LOT OF SECRET MOMMAS BOYS WHILE YOU'RE ON THE MISH!!  BUT I ALSO JUST WANT TO GIVE A LIL EXTRA SHOUTOUT TO MY MOM, BECAUSE IT'S HER BDAY THIS WEEK!!  AND IF IT WASN'T FOR MY MOM I WOULDN'T BE HERE!!  ACTUALLY I DON'T THINK I WOULD HAVE GRADUATED HIGHSCHOOL, BECAUSE SHE WAS THE ONE WAKING ME UP AND MAKING ME BREAKFAST EVERYDAY!!  (MAN I MISS THAT BREAKFAST!!)  MAHAL NA MAHAL KITA MAMA!! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed

and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.

For behold, they are blesed in all things, both temporal and spiritual;

and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven,

that thereby thay may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. 

O remember, remember that these things are true;

for the Lord God hath spoken it.

                                                      --Mosiah 2:41

BAPTISMS/TRANSFERS/PPINES!!!! -WEEK 37

WELL THIS WEEK WAS PRETTY DANG SWEET!!

Soo last Saturday we had 7 baptisms in one day!!! It was soo cool we had 4 from mobo and then 3 in masbate!!! But it was wayyy cool, cause because 3 of the investigators of the missionaries chose me to baptize them!!  And then I was supposed to baptize our investigator, but the investiagtor that Elder Jardeleza was supposed to baptize bailed.  So then I gave him our investigator.   It was so cool tho cause every missionary in mobo got to baptize someone in one day!!  It was super funny tho cause I was just like chillin in the water waiting for the next person lol!!! But something really cool I realized the other day is I have not in my whole entire life baptized someone in English!! Actually as I was writing that I remembered I did baptize for the dead once with Liv!! So that's not true, I have baptised for the dead in English but... I have yet to baptize an alive person in English!!! 

Next funny thing!! I DIDN'T GET TRANSFERED!!  I've been in this area for 7 months and after this transfer I'll be here for 9 months!!! I think I'm the only one of all my friends still in their first area!!  Yessica will probably go to her second area before me lol!! BUT MY SON GOT TRANSFERED!! My son is my trainee!!! It was sad sending him off on the boat, but it's okay he's gonna be a great missionary!! WELL, MY NEW COMP IS ELDER NONU!!  He's from Australia!!  He's like 5 foot 6 and 225 pounds!! He's a sick guy, he's a rugby player!! But he's a pretty new missionary!! He just came out of training so he has a very limited amount of Tagalog, so it's gonna be fun trying to teach now!! I'm super excited tho I've always wanted like an Australian or Newzealeander comp!! 

Well this last week we were super busy going to different places for interviews and it really screwed up our work we only had a limited amount of time to work!! But we have this really cool inveestigator named Betsey!! She is 16 and she is really interested in reading the Book of Mormon!! We haven't been to her house since we dropped off the BOM but we're going there tomorrow to see how it goes!! We also had a new investigator come to church!! Her real name is Shella, but she just goes by aunty cute!! hahaha she attended church for the first time last week!!

Well I still haven't seen General Conference so if you want to tell me some of your fav talks so I can look out for them that would be nice!! But I was reading in the old conference talks last week and I was reading one of my favs, which is "A Saint Is A Sinner That Just Keeps Trying! by Elder Dale G Renlund.  I would advise you all to go read it, it's super cool!! and inspires you to be better!!

GIHIGUGMA KO KAYO!!!! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/latter-day-saints-keep-on-trying?lang=eng

God cares a lot more about who we are
and about who we are becoming
than about who we once were.
                         --Elder Dale G. Renlund