Bucket Showers

Hello Everyone,

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving with lots of food family and football. I must confess that I did not really have any of that but that is because I am in the Philippines where there is no Football to start of with but htat is okay because I cannot really play it right anyways as a missionary, basically for me Thanksgiving was just another wokr day for me as everyday is we do not have anydays off as missionaries but that is all good. There is also no turkey here in the Philippines it is mostly an American food I think the closest thing to turkey is chicken but we all no that that is not the same and my family is on the other sode of the work right now so it would be sort of hard to be with them but that is all good to because I know that they love me nad I love them and nothing will change that so that in part makes it possible for me to be in the Philippines right now on my mission which is pretty cool for me to think about. Now on to my week it was pretty good it went pretty fast again we have been working alot still on finding new investigators and people to teach because we do not have a lot to work with right now as well we have been working with LAs and PM Families it has it's challenges no doubt but me and Elder Watene are working pretty hard on finding solutions to their problems and helping them come back and partake of the goodness of God's Love that he has for all of his children. Also some other things about my new area because I have a little bit more time now we have to buy water that is how bad the water is here it is pretty bad so we cannot drink it but it is not that expensive so we do it becasue we have to. I have to take bucket showers now as well because we do not have a real shower so you cna imagine how that is it is all good with me becasue it is very hot here so the cold water feels good atleast for me. It is also bug season so the bugs have been a little annoying but it is all good if anyone knows me I won't get sick or admit to being sick there are several Americans who have gotten sick here just saying but that is all good or a fun challenge if you will for me to not be like them and not get sick.(Mom/Mother Figure in my Life, do not worry I will be fine) Me and Elder Watene have been wokring pretty hard that is about all I can say in that department and I have been learning a lot Tagalog/Bicol in the process but yes there are a lot of different types of problems here in the Philippines that are different from American but that makes my mission and my time here so much more fun and I know this church is true with all my heart and I am so blessed to be a prt of it nad this great work.

With Lots of Love,

Elder Chilson         

Elder Chilson and Elder Watene

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone,

I am doing well here in my new area in the Camaligan Branch it is more city here I am about 10-15mins away from the mission home and mission office in Naga but I am in the same zone as I was before so I know most of the elders in the area which is cool. They speak a lot of Bicol here I am not joking my Branch President speaks Bicol and a lot of the other member's do too so maybe I will learn a lot of Bicol here which will be tough but maybe fun. I had to bear my testimony in sacrament mtg yesterday that was fine much improved than in my last area I would say it helps now that my companion knows English so we are on the same page and we can be a little more unified as a companionship. Elder Watene is pretty cool he is pretty musical so that is nice as well but we get a long well he is a veteran missionary he does not have much time left I might be his last companion but we will see. We laugh and work well together and we just have fun together I guess and work hard at the same time if that is possible. Since this is relatively a new area that I am in now we do not have a lot of investigators we spend a lot of time finding and trying to help less actives come back to church but it is all good I can do that right? That is right yes I can so we are working hard at that. I fee like I am understanding people more now as well as opposed to my last area as well. My appt now id pretty big we have a upstairs and down stairs it is meant to have 4 elders but we only have two so it is like 3x's larger than my last appt I would say it is alright though I mean it is the Philippines that is about all I can say about that it is not like America but that is all part of the job.We had a lesson with a principal of a school yesterday about the Book of Mormon it was our first time meeting here she was a referral from some members and then went with us to go and meet this individual and like most people she thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses but we explained that we were not and that we were Mormons and she basically wanted to know what we were about and why we as foreigners were here in the Philippines and we went straight to the Book of Mormon that is what makes us special and sets us apart from other religions so we had a really good lessons about that and the Spirit was pretty strong their and I know that if she takes Moroni's challenge she will come to know as I have the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon so we will follow up on that and see where that takes us. I know this church is true and as I continue to work hard blessings will come and I know that same can happen to all of you through you missionary efforts also Happy Thanksgiving they do not have that here in the Philippines but that is all good.  

Love, 

Elder Chilson          

Transfers

Hello Everyone, 

This has been another crazy week and the craziest part probably happend last night about 10pm (Filipino Time) I got a call from the Zone Leaders and they wanted to talk t me and Elder Paragas and since it was the end of the transfer I figured that they have some news for ELder Paragas because he is our District Leader but hta was not the case they called to tell me that I am being transfered and I though they were joking but they were not and we were like what my training is not done yet and such but it is all good so my new companion will be Elder Watene he is from New Zealand so he is an "Islander" but he is really cool I have sung with him before and he is in my Zone right now so I know hum somewhat he is pretty cool so I will be in the Camaligan B Area so that is close to Naga than where I am at now so that will be exciting this does not happen very often usually new missionaries are with their trainers for 2 transfers but I will finish my training with Elder Watene and I though I was going to be here in Calabanga for Christmas but that is not the case but it is all good it just goes to show that the Lord knows better than we do because for reasons I do not know yet the Lord needs me in Camaligan now so that is where I will go it is never a quiet moment here in the mission that is for sure. We have been pretty busy teaching lessons to investigators and less active families and we have been doing well with that we have less active families and investigators at church yesterday and we had a investigator pass through a baptismal interview on Saturdayso I will miss that baptism but it is all good the work continues to move forward no matter who is standing for the Lord. We have to FHE's and they went well and we have exchanges this week too and they were fun I was with Elder Malungahu and he is pretty cool and he really loves the people here in the Philippines. So I am just continuing to do my best to be the best missionary I can be here in the Naga Mission. The language/languages are tough not going to lie but what does not change is the language of the spirit and if we continue to listen to that and follow it's promptings we will never be wrong I testify that the language of the spirit speaks to everyone differently but it does not lie and it does not change but that the windows of heaven are open today and we can all seek to have the Holy Ghost with us if we are living accordingly and I know this to be true and because of the knowledge that I have I will continue to share the gospel here in the Philippines until my time is done.

With Much Love,

Elder Chilson

 Mission Home

  Sabang

 Elder Paragas and Elder Chilson at the ocean for P-Day 

Miracles

Hello Everyone,
I am basically just working and studying and I cannot believe that I have been here for over one month now in the Naga Mission and I have also lost roughly 8-10 lbs which is kind of surprising but we were at a member home and they had a scale so I jumped on it and I converted from Kgs to Lbs so it's all good I am not going to be the same when I get home that is for sure but that is all part of the mission if you are the same when you get home then you just wasted two years in my opinion. There is so much power in a Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith we had a lesson last night and the Spirit was so strong we were teaching the Restoration which is something I love to teach about mostly because it is close to my home and close to my heart I love saying to people that my house is close to the house of Joseph Smith. I also saw so many miracles this week and I was also pretty sure that I lost our cell phone this week but I did not it was one of those miracles that I saw this week. So we were in a huge rain storm and I am soaked right do not worry mom I am using the rain coat you sent me with but anyways we got off a padyak and I put my hand into my pocket to look at the time on our cell phone that we share and it was not there and I was like fudge did I just leave it on that padyak we are toast and this and that but after some talking and looking Elder Paragas had it the whole time in his shirt pocket and he had no idea how it got there and I did not either because we were both sure that when we left our appt in the morning that I had the phone in my pocket because it was my day to carry it but that is mission life that Lord is watching over us as he does all of his missionaries and miracles are happening all the time and we need to have the eyes to see them and that is part of the fun of mission life. It is now into the rainy season earlier this week it rained for three days straight no joke but it comes and goes but when it rains it usually rains very hard. We also had a Filipino holiday this week All Saints Day I do not really have time to explain but it is a day where people go to the cemeteries here which are different by the way of the cemeteries in the USA but they essentially party and worship their dead family members and it was different but since most people are Catholic there were prayers songs and such but we just observed it and visited some cemeteries Elder Paragas said it was okay so I was fine with it. It was different but all good if you want more info I am sure you could Google it. I cannot believe that I am almost through my first transfer and my training is almost half over I ahve learned a lot and I continue to learn all the time about Tagalog, Bicol and the Filipino culture. I am doing well and just enjoying my mission here in the Naga Mission. 

Love,

Elder Chilson     

Trainers and Trainees Workshop

Philippines Naga Mission