Senior Missionary Couple

Hello Everyone,

So this week was a pretty busy one because the new Senior Couple Missionaries came this week so a lot of my time was spent getting their house ready and their car as well. So I got their car fixed up and that was already which was sort of a miracle all in itself because what I was waiting for were some parts that had to come from Manila and luckily they came and the car was finished the day before they arrived here in Naga so I am pretty sure that the Lord's hand was in that and he made it so that those parts that the Senior Couple's car needed got here in time. That goes as well for their house coming together as well we had some struggles with the air conditioning and some other minor details but in the end their house was ready by the time that they arrived, I was there all day last Thursday helping President and Sister Zapanta putting things together then I was there again on Friday to make sure that everything was in place for their arrival. Elder and Sister Hansen are their names and they are so nice they are from Southern UT in the desert and they are very excited about the missionary work here in the Philippines Naga Mission and they are so willing to serve which is awesome as well. 

Other than that I went to Daet on Saturday on a delivery run and I went to the furthest area in the Philippines Naga Mission again it is about 3 hours it is nothing like driving from TN and back so I can handle it no problem most people think it is pretty far but I have a lot of experience driving/riding in cars so it is not that far for me and it was a pretty nice trip and I will be doing some more delivery runs this week as well so hopefully that will all go smoothly as well. We have been working as best as we can as well in Cararayan our new area outside of the office and we have a baptism that is scheduled for this Saturday we had one of our investigators make it through the baptismal interview no problem yesterday after church so that is very exciting as well. We have been working really hard with members that live there in Cararayan so that we can continue to get familiar with the area and I have an example that I would like to share with all of you that shows just how important members are to missionary work and this applies to everyone and anywhere, where ever you live. 

So last night me and Elder Go went and worked in Cararayan and it was the first time that we worked without a member with us and we thought that we were going to be able to find the house of one of our Recent Converts from the past missionaries that served in Cararayan (and of course I am pretty good with directions like my Dad I thought to myself no problem we can find it) what ended up happening was we tried to find the Recent Convert's house and we ended up going to a pretty rough part of our area that we did not really know about so we got into a little bit of a tough situation and for the first time in my mission I got a feeling that we shouldnt be here (and most people know about me that I am not afraid of anyone or anything) and I just got this feeling that straight up said we shouldnt be there so I turned to Elder Go and said "hindi siya maganda dito po" and then he agreed and we both said to each other "pangit dito po talaga po" and then we left and then we continue to find the house but we never ended up finding him but maybe another time we will find that Recent Convert. I do not know what might of happened if we had stayed there but I am glad that we left when we did I am sure that there was a reason for us leaving that place when we did but that just goes to show me and hopefully all of you that members are so important to missionary work and missionaries anywhere whether you think so or not they need members help regardless of circumstances or place. I know that if we had a member with us to guide us last night me and Elder Go would not have found ourselves in that tough situation and we would have found the house of the Recent Convert but I know that everything happens for a reason because while we were looking for that Recent Convert we found a new family to teach and they are really interested in our message so hopefully they will continue to listen to us and to accept the gospel in their lives and continue on the path to eternal life. I know that this work is the work of the Lord and that as we continue to find missionary opportunities we will find them and with the Lord's help we will know what they need and how we can help Heavenly Father's children get back to him. I hope that you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Chilson

A Cool Mountain 

 Elder Chilson standing on top of the Senior Missionary Couple's House.

    Jose Panganiban the furthest area in the Philippines Naga Mission.

Baptisms

Hello Everyone,

First off Happy Father's Day to of course my father and all the other father figures in my life (you know who you are) Thank you for your patience and love that you have expressed to me over the years and of course all of the advice and wisdom you have given me as well to help me get to this point in my life has been much appreciated and will never be forgotten. This was a pretty busy week for me but it was very rewarding for me at the same time. So this week I was able to baptize one of my real investigators that I actually taught a substantial amount to for the first time which was awesome for me it was a great feeling and I hope that I get another opportunity to experience that feeling again (All of you who have served missions before know what I am talking about) I dont really have any other way to describe it. 

So this week in all I had 3 baptisms which was the most I had ever had in a week on my mission so it was really exciting and the fact that it was while I was in the office as well only made it that much more special but like I said that things were a little crazy this week one reason was that we changed area this week. So to no complicate things to much I will just give a simplified version of what happened so last week was transfer week and surprisingly enough me and Elder GO got transferred but we did not get transferred out of the office but out of our area of the Naga 2nd Ward so we got transferred to Cararayan which is an area in the Naga 3rd Ward surprisingly enough so that was kind of surprising to us but of course no problem for me and Elder Go the only problem was that we had these baptisms this week so we got permission from President Zapanta to follow through on these baptisms that is what we did this past week we finished these baptisms and confirmations in the Naga 2nd Ward and now we are on to the Naga 3rd Ward and Cararayan and we are pretty excited about that. 

For me it is just kind of weird all around because all of you who live in Rochester, NY know what I am talking about for me it was just like me moving from the Roch 3rd Ward to the Roch 4th Ward it is just like that here with the Naga 2nd and 3rd Wards one is in the morning and one in the afternoon and they meet in the same building and all that so it just brings back a lot of feelings and experiences from back home which is cool because I have experienced that and it just strengthens my testimony that I know that I know this church is perfect anywhere in the world and that it will fill all the nations even the whole Earth because this church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all of God's children not just one particular group. 

So everything went well with transfers this week as well if you were wondering I got to do a little traveling as well I went to Ragay which is in the Pamplona Zone about 1 and a half hours from the Mission Office and of course I drove the missionaries that went home to the airport and I drove the new batch of missionaries to the Mission Office and Mission Home. Other than that I did some miscellaneous things with mission vehicles and orders that different missionaries have. Also we have a set of Senior Couple Missionaries coming to my mission on Friday so we are very excited for that as well they are Americans from UT so as an Office Elder I will be ready and willing to help them with whatever they need to make their transition from their regular lives and the MTC to the Mission Field as smooth as possible so I am excited for that responsibility as well. I hope that all of you are enjoying summer wherever you and that you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Chilson      

     

Vehicle Coordinator

Hello Everyone,

I am sure that wherever you are summer is either starting now or it has started or it will be starting soon right now is a great time of the year. I am pretty used to summer weather because it has been summer here in the Philippines ever since I got off the plane in Manila. I hope that everyone enjoys a fun filled and safe summer. This week was a pretty solid week for me I did a little bit of everything this week, supply orders, traveling, car stuff, missionary stuff etc. this week as well was all about preparing for the upcoming transfer week and that was good as well things went pretty smooth. 

Also, I had an appointment with the Vehicle Coordinator from The Philippines Area Presidency's Office in Manila this past week he came to give me (as the Vehicle Coordinator of the Philippines Naga Mission) some training about somethings and it turns out that I had a lot of the answers to his questions and he said that the Philippines Naga Mission is one of the few missions the whole Philippines that is doing things correctly when it comes to vehicle related things, I have the correct paperwork filled out and I use the church program CARS correctly so it was really nice that I was able to impress him while he was here, I wasnt really sure how things were going to go but he was a very nice man who came and things went really well.

So I was able to travel as well some this week as well I went to Tigaon and San Jose those are both places in the Goa Zones and they are not that far both between 1hr to 1hr and a half away from the Mission Office when there is not that much traffic. I also traveled to Iriga with Sister Zapanta (The Mission Presidents Wife) and that was an enjoyable trip as well I was happy that I was able to help her out. I really enjoy traveling sometimes it is a hassle with the traffic but I enjoy it a lot going and helping out other missionaries in their areas and with their houses with things that they need. 

Then we had 3 investigators that had baptismal interviews this week as well and they all did well in their interview so if everything goes well I will have 3 baptisms this week so that is exciting as well they are all investigators from the previous office elders but I helped teach them some as well so I am very happy to help these investigators become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and help them get into a good position to be able to return to their Father in Heaven and we had some other solid lessons this week as well, along with some adversity as well with some parents of one of the investigators that is supposed to be baptized this week but it is okay all that means for me is it shows that Satan is trying to stop people from returning to their Father in Heaven and he is trying to use peoples families to do that but I know that we can overcome that our faith will be tried while we are here on Earth but I know that as well stick to the things that we know to be true like the Gospel of Jesus Christ then we cannot go wrong and if we are struggling with our testimonies all we have to do is pray to our Father in Heaven and he will give us confirmation through the Holy Ghost of what is true and what is not true. I know that this church is true and that this work that we are all a part of and that I am a part right now full-time as well is true as well and I hope that all of you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Chilson     

 Elder Chilson's District

 Elder Chilson and Elder Golez (an office missionary)

The closest thing Elder Chilson can find to pot roast and mashed potatoes.

Zone Conferences

Hello Everyone,

This week was a pretty good one even though I traveled a lot this week and spent a lot of time in Zone Conferences this week. So for those of you who are not familiar with Zone Conferences it is like General or Stake Conference or any kind of conference for that matter where a lot of missionaries get together for one meeting and they listen to their Mission President and his wife give training and workshops about how missionaries can improve their skills/work and become better missionaries and of course since I love my Mission President I enjoy Zone Conferences a lot and since I am in the office this time I got to go to 3 of the 4 Zone Conferences for the whole Philippines Naga Mission because President called upon some assistance from his office staff so I got to go and help and of course I enjoyed that. During the Zone Conferences President Zapanta shared some experiences and journal entries from his own personal mission with us which I thought was cool it is cool to see how the Philippines has changed over the years and especially how the church has grown here in the Philippines. 

Aside from working on Zone Conference stuff, I took a trip to the furthest area in the Pamplona Zone it took about 2hrs ish to get there and it is pretty wildernessy which is cool there is really no much there so that was a pretty fun trip because there was not much traffic on that road which was nice so that was a plus factor as well, but that is also probably because there are not that many people that live there that have cars as well. So that can sort of paint a picture of how the lives of the people are their there are a lot of bamboo houses but if you have a cement house you are pretty well off for that part of the mission in which I serve.     

Also, the AC is so nice I love it so much right now I am doing a lot of work with the vehicles and I like traveling to different parts of the mission and seeing what they are like because I have just been around Naga for the most part of my mission. As far as the work in our area we have one investigator that is really progressing but her parents do not want her to get baptized so that is kind of the only trouble there because her father has a strong opinion about the religion that he is a part of but I think that we can still work through it. We have some other investigators that are doing fine we had 5 investigators that came to church last week so that was pretty good as well. I know that as we continue to do our best to be the best examples that we can be to the other people that are around us, they will recognize us as disciples of Jesus Christ and nothing could get better than that than Heavenly Father's children learning about how they can get back to his presence than through his disciples so let us embrace that calling that we have as disciples of Jesus Christ and do his fathers work while we are here on Earth and I know that if we do so there will be more blessing that we can even imagine waiting in heaven for us when we get there. 

Love,

Elder Chilson