Zone Conference

Hello Everyone,

This week was another fast week because it was pretty packed with many events. I had Zone Conference this week and 2 sets of exchanges and much more. First of all I am happy to say that the water is now fixed in our appt so now we have water now in our kitchen because when I first arrived in Sipocot the water was fine but then after like 2 or 3 weeks they found a small hole in the pipes so the pipes were replaced but for some reason when they were done replacing the pipes we ended up with no water in our kitchen so then I followed up with them a few times and no one came so then I just sort of took things into my own hands if our landlord was not going to do anything I guess I will so I went to the Town Water of Sipocot so to speak and I explained to them what the situation was and then I was like what can we do and then they agreed to come the next day and they did and now we have water in our kitchen and that is great now we do not have to go back and forth in and out to use water so that is nice. 

Zone Conference was pretty good this week as well I really enjoyed it and I received some revelations as well as to how I can improve as a missionary as well so I set some new goals and I am excited about that, this week if everything goes well me and Elder Abrigo should have a baptism so we are excited about that as well. Overall I am really excited for the month of April for my whole zone in Pamplona because in March we have worked hard and now we will be able to see the fruits of our labors in April and I am really excited for all of the missionaries in the Pamplona Zone but we are not going to let up here that is for sure I am not going to be pumping the breaks at all we are going to just continue to push through till the upcoming months and seeing the Lord's hand in our work as we go I know that there are many miracles that happen everywhere and as a missionary I am so blessed to be able to witness them often, I know that he is guiding this work. 

I just want to wish everyone an early Happy Easter I am so thankful for this time that we have to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ I would just like to share that I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves us I know that on the first Easter Morning the large tomb stone was rolled away and that Jesus left the tomb and rose from the dead for all of us so that we to can become resurrected and so that we all can return and live with our Heavenly Father again and hopefully we can share this special message as well with others as well when we have the opportunities to do so. 

Love,

Elder Chilson       

Trials

Hello Everyone,

This week in all truthfulness was a pretty trying week but I am not letting that gt in the way of my work here in my mission. Trials come to everyone at various times in their lives usually in the moment we do not know why they occur but I know that Heavenly Father knows why they occur because I know that he gives us trials so that we can learn and grow most of the times these are humbling experiences I experienced many trials before my mission and since I have been here in the mission as well I have experienced many trials as well and I believe that I have become stronger because of them spiritually sometimes we just need to take a step back and do out best to see things through Heavenly Father's eyes and I know that if we do that then we will see more of the reasons as to why the trials that we have faced have come into our lives. For me trials are just opportunities that we have to draw nearer to our Savior Jesus Christ because without him and his atonement we would have no chance to be able to return to our Father in Heaven. 

This week me and Elder Abrigo did a lot of finding and walking luckily we were a little bit more successful this past week in finding some new investigators because that is one of the goals that me and Elder Abrigo have at this point for expanding our teaching pool because we are just doing our best right now to be able to sort between the progressing investigators or the investigators that are keeping investigators as opposed to the investigators that are not willing to keep commitments and continue to the Gospel of Jesus Christ but for me whenever we find some people that are not really interesting in the Good News that Jesus Christ lives and he loves us and that his church has been restored to the Earth again through the Prophet Joseph Smith there are always other people near by that are interested in hearing our message that we have for them as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints regardless I know that in the service in the Lord no effort is wasted and everything will work out in the end.

I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to serve a mission for the Lord in the Philippines I know this is the work of the Lord and that without him I would not be able to accomplish the things that I do I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and they love us all very much and I know that as we continue to turn to the Savior this Easter Season we will be able to have strong desires to serve the people that are around us and help the to know of the joy that the gospel brings to all of our lives I know that the Book of Mormon is a true witness that Christs church is here again on the Earth and I invite all to read it because I know that it will change our lives for the better and that is was saved for our day to help us face the challenges of our days.

Love,

Elder Chilson  

A Week Full of Meetings

Hello Everyone,

This week was a week full of meetings, I guess that is what you get for being a leader is you have to go to a lot of meetings and represent your group or in this case I represent the missionaries of the Pamplona Zone because I am their Zone Leader. So this past Monday me and Elder Abrigo went to Naga in preparation for our MLC meeting the next day with all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the Philippines Naga Mission and that was okay the MLC meeting was an all day meeting with President Zapanta and the other mission leaders and it was fun I learned a lot and there are a lot of things that me and Elder Abrigo will implement in our zone to help the missionaries here then the next day Wednesday we had a DLC meeting with all of the District Leaders of the Pamplona Zone and there we talked with all of them about the things that me and Elder Abrigo learned from MLC and then we taught the District Leaders and we did some training with them then of course I had District Meeting on Friday and then went well as usual and then on Sunday after church me and Elder Abrigo went to Libmanan for our PL meeting with the leaders of the Pamplona District and we talk about missionary work and the missionaries for the whole District of Pamplona (Pamplona is not a Stake yet because there are only branches in the Pamplona District but in the future those branches with become wards and then Pamplona will become a stake) That is at least the goal and those are some of the things that I am helping the people here in the Pamplona area with I am all about achieving goals so I am working very hard to do my best to be able to help the members achieve their goals and then by the start of next year hopefully they will have a new church here in Sipocot.

Also I would just like to share quickly about how the Lord answers our prayers, yesterday I had two experiences where the Lord answered my prayers in two different ways. The first was in church me and Elder Abrigo have been fasting and praying for our investigators to come to church and yesterday we saw that come to a reality we had investigators come to church that we were not envisioning that were going to come to church and I believe that was an answer to one of my prayers and then in the afternoon and we got back from the PL meeting while I was reading the Book of Mormon, Heavenly Father answered my prayers as well in the form of a verse in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Alma and so for me that was awesome I know that if we have questions we can ask Heavenly Father and if we are patient and we are preparing ourselves to receive his answers then we will receive what Heavenly Father has in store for us I know that he has all the right answers for us and I know that answers come in many different forms but I know that if we are ready then I know that we will not miss the answers when they come and I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book of scripture and that if we read it often we will also find the things that we are looking for in this life me and Elder Abrigo usually tell our investigators that we know that you will not become temporally rich by reading the Book of Mormon but we know that we will become spiritually rich as we read the Book of Mormon often and I know that is true and I know that we will learn much about our Savior as we read and study and ponder the words in the Book of Mormon because it testifies of Christ.

Love,

Elder Chilson        

Ground Breaking

Hello Everyone,

Nothing really all that exciting happened this week other than the "Ground Breaking" that took place here in Sipocot last Saturday. So everyone here in Sipocot is pretty excited because they are going to have a new chapel here in Sipocot that was what the "Ground Breaking" was about and for me it was fun because some of my friends from Naga City came up as well to see it or at least some of the local leaders of the church that I used to work with while I worked in President Zapanta's Office before when I was an "Office Elder" so it was nice to seem and for me it was just an exciting time to see how the church has grown since the past because they have been waiting for close to 8 years I think for this new chapel to be built because the chapel that they have now is a little too small for them and for it just shows have hard the past missionaries and members have worked here in Sipocot to move the Lord's work forward and now they are seeing the blessings because of it even though I will not be around to see the new chapel finished I am still excited for the people here in Sipocot they deserve it.

Me and Elder Abrigo worked pretty hard this week and I sweated a lot no joke it was pretty hot this week we walked a lot and we did our best to find some new investigators to meet our goals that we have for the month of March and April and here in the mission I have really learned about how important goals I have never really set goals in my life I do not really thing before I came here in the mission but I know that goals are the way that the Lord has designed for his missionaries to accomplish his work and of course as a Zone Leader here in the Pamplona Zone I need to set the example for the other missionaries in my zone and if I am not able to achieve my goals that I have set what are the other missionaries going to be thinking, that Elder Chilson and Elder Abrigo have not achieved their goals this month so me and my companion do not have to achieve mine either. Now that for me is simple to handle because for me in life and here as a missionary in the Philippines it is unacceptable to give anything less than my best and I think that a large part of achieving goals in having the right attitude so I know that if I can set a good example to the other missionaries and help them to have a good attitude then we are going to be okay, we are going to be able to achieve our goals with the Lords help so those are some of the things that I have been doing this week is just working hard to be able to achieve my goals for my zone and ultimately for the Lord because I know that he will not leave us alone but I know that he is always there to help us whenever we ask for his help. 

I know that as we continue to do all that we can to be the kind of people that the Lord expects us to be then we will be blessed with heavenly help that is meant just for us. I know that we are all Children on God and that we need to help our friends and our families be ready for the time when our time on Earth is done and we get to go and return to our Father in Heaven I know that he is cheering us on and as we continue to make right choices here on Earth we will be just that much more ready to return to our heavenly home. 

Love,

Elder Chilson