Big Week

Hello Everyone,

This week was a very big week for me but it all came together just as it should. So as we know Super Bowl we is a big week and a lot of things have to happen at just the right time in order to be successful in the Super Bowl and that is what I felt this past week as well because last Saturday the whole Aysara Family was baptized and I was so happy for them it was a feeling that I had never felt before and for them it is just their first steps on their way to the temple but I really hope that one day they will be able to make it to the temple and they will be able to be sealed as a family for all time and eternity one of the great blessings that Heavenly Father has to give to us and I feel so grateful for the opportunity that I had to be able to help this family move in that direction. I know that they are so happy right now and all of the sacrifices that went into their baptism and everything I know will be worth it. 

Me and Elder Denoy also had two part member families that came to church yesterday which for me was awesome because they really showed their faith in Jesus Christ because a lot of the people here in Paracale they need to work everyday even Sunday just to have enough food to be able to feed their families for the week so when a whole family of 6 comes to church that is a big sacrifice for a family but I know that the blessings will be there as well and that Heavenly Father will not leave us alone, He wants us to be successful and I know that as we call upon his name he will come to us and help us in whatever way that we need because I have seen that in my life and while I have been here on my mission I know that that is true. Even though sometimes are tough and for reasons we do not know why we need to just continue to move forward with the faith that we have and that is one thing that I have been trying to help my investigators with recently and I know that is something that we can all apply to our lives I am not certain what the future hold but what I am certain of is that God, Our Heavenly Father is in control so we should not fear but we should be of hope for we are waiting for that day when our Savior, Master, and Redeemer will come again and oh what a great day that will be.

I know that as we continue to strive to do the little things right especially in our families we will feel an abundance of the Spirit in our homes, and I know that the Book of Mormon is the key for that, that is one thing that the Aysara Family did they read from the Book of Mormon almost every night and they found something that was missing in their lives and even though they were facing trials before their baptism and even now after their baptism they are still facing trials but I know that they will be okay because they have to tool that they need to find peace and answers to their questions and that is The Book of Mormon I know that it has changed the lives of the Aysara Family and I know as I have been helping them on the road of conversion I have been more deeply converted as well to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that is my invitation to all of you to read the Book of Mormon because I know that if we will all continue to read the Book of Mormon it will change our lives for the better and help us get back to our Heavenly Father.

Love,

Elder Chilson    

The Aysara Family Baptism

Super Bowl

Hello Everyone,

This week was another week that did not go quite as planned but that is okay, the plan was to have the wedding and then by the end of the week have the baptism but that did not really work out we had the wedding and that was no problem but the baptism part did not go through as I had intended to because some things came up that I did not see coming but that is missionary life sometimes so I am not phased by it hopefully this week the baptism will take place, everything is now in place and now everything is in Heavenly Father's hands and I know that he will come through because he always does, countless times during my mission I was in need of his help and he came through and I know that is still true and that will never change as long as we are doing the things that we are supposed do and staying obedient to the commandments that Heavenly Father gives to us. 

As these different events took place last week my thoughts were turned a little bit to the Super Bowl actually because I know that the Super Bowl is soon and obviously it takes a lot of preparation to go to the Super Bowl and many things have to work in your favor and in a lot of ways having a baptism is like that as well because in order to have a baptism many things have to take place at the right time for instance someone has to become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that is not something that just takes place over night just like going to the Super Bowl that is not something that just happens over night but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be able to win all the games that you have to in the regular season and in the playoffs in order to make it to the Super Bowl and that is similar as well in order to makes it to the waters of baptisms someone has to work as hard as they can to fight off the temptations and doubts that Satan will through at one person and they have to do all they can to stay worthy in order to make a true and lasting covenant with our Heavenly Father. 

Also a quick story so I am not a cook by any means but I know how to cook the basic food and just the other day I said to myself that I was going to make some pasta to eat and I was like okay I can do this and then after looking at the pasta for a little bit I was a little puzzled as to what I was supposed to do I was unsure if I was supposed to put the past in the pot before the water boiled of if I should wait until the water had boiled and then I should add the pasta to the pot. After a quick silent prayer and a little bit of pondering I boiled the water and then added the pasta afterwards and then I let the pasta cook and it turned out to be okay. So I thought that was a little funny. I hope that all of you enjoy the Super Bowl if you get a chance to watch it because that is one of the best days of the year.

Love,

Elder Chilson 

Elder Chilson and an office missionary

More Wedding Pictures

 Elder Chilson and Elder Denoy

Evelyn and Jerwin's Wedding at the Mayor's office

Wedding

Hello Everyone,

This week has been one of the busiest weeks of my mission I think because it has been a lot of running around in preparation of the wedding that took place earlier this morning I am so happy that I was able to help out that couple their names are Jerwin and Evelyn and they are a very happy couple now that they are married and now that they are on their way to entering the temple they want to go to the temple and I am so excited for them for when they get the chance to enter into the House of the Lord and to be sealed together as one family with their children for time and all eternity. I know that this is what our Heavenly Father wants for all of us as I have been here on my mission I have seen the Plan of Salvation come to life and I have seen it change lives. The Plan of Salvation that our Heavenly Father has given to us is perfect and I know that he wants all of us to be happy while we are here on Earth and I know that that is all possible. I am so privileged to have been able to help this family on their road to returning to live with their Father in Heaven again. Their baptism will be this week and I think that will be a glorious day, I am pretty excited for that.

Yesterday was a pretty loaded Sunday for me because I blessed the sacrament in sacrament meeting, gave a pretty solid talk in sacrament meeting, then I taught Gospel Principles class as well and then we met some pretty cool new investigators as well. The members here in Paracale are so amazing and they are so helpful I would not of been able to accomplish all that I have accomplished here in Paracale thus far if it were not for their help. I cannot believe that Elder Denoy's training is almost done he only has a few weeks left of his training and he has changed so much since we have been together we have for sure been together through some ups and downs and I think that has only brought us closer together. This week I actually have a training in Naga so I am excited for another opportunity that I have to be able to return to Naga where I served many people and helped other people Come unto Christ. 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church on the face of the Earth at this time I know that we have a living prophet who has been called of God and who gives us instructions as to what we need to do inorder to get ready for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I know that he is coming soon and I know that Heavenly Father continues to help his children become ready for that day so I know that is one of the reasons why I was called here to the Philippines because I know that Heavenly Father needs me here to help his children get ready for when Christ comes again and what a honor it has been thus far to be able to serve Heavenly Father's children here in the Philippines and I know that there is more happiness and joy to come.

Love,

Elder Chilson     

 Elder Chilson

 

 Elder Denoy and Elder Chilson

Elders serving in the Paracle Branch

Elder Chilson, Evelyn, Jerwin, Elder Denoy

Ice Cream

Hello Everyone,

This week was a pretty interesting week for me because this past week probably has been the coldest week that I have experienced since I have been here in the Philippines because this past week we had what they call a "Amihan" or a monsoon and I think that it happens every January here where I am serving in the Bicol Region of the Philippines it was mostly a lot of rain and a lot of wind but for me it was nice because I did not sweat as much as I have been sweat here in Paracale but it was not really cold for me I usually get made fun of by the other Filipinos because I continue to buy and eat ice cream because that is one of my comfort foods and I do it to stay cool but they think that it is ridiculous because for them it is so cold they do not really understand how I can continue to eat ice cream but I do, even Elder Denoy my companion has asked me on a few occasions why I am eat ice cream but I guess that is one of the differences here because I am still sleeping in my shorts and a t-shirt and he has been sleeping in a sweater and blankets because I know that this week he got cold some. 

This past week I also got to provide some service even though it was pretty rainy and muddy, I helped some of my investigators move some wood that they had at their house because they had been storing up some wood for various reasons some people here in the Philippines use wood burning stove to cook with and for heat and other uses because they cannot afford gas stoves etc. but told my investigators this is no problem I told them that I used to do this at my Grandfathers house all the time so me and Elder Denoy made short work of this week stacked up some larger logs that were going to be cut up and then we separated the other wood from the brush and then we stacked that up as well and I enjoyed that very much. This was in the mountains where I was able to provide their lifestyle is hard but they are pretty content and used to it so even though it is hard they are a very happy people.

This week me and Elder Denoy should be able to find out when our wedding is going to be for our other investigators that are going to be married hopefully within the next few weeks we will be able to have a wedding and then a baptism and that is pretty exciting for me. My other investigators are doing well and me and Elder Denoy are helping them progress in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we taught a pretty solid lesson to one of our new investigators last night and I think there is a lot of potential there. I hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying winter wherever you are I will be looking forward to a real winter and snow when I return back to America but I hope that all of you will be able to find ways that you can share the Gospel and help other people come closer to Christ because this is a team effort the missionaries need the help of members and the members need the missionaries as well and I hope that we can join forces to be able to spread this Gospel to all the lands and complete the work that Heavenly Father has placed before us.

Love,

Elder Chilson

Filipino Style Wooden Canoe

Hello Everyone,

This week was a very crazy week for me and Elder Denoy, we traveled a lot again and I was pretty busy with a lot of different things this week because this week is a transfer week and so there luckily there is only one change that is happening in my district, I thought that there were going to be other changes that were going to happen but go figure as I learned from my days when I served as an Office Elder that sometimes you think that you know what is going on or what is going to happen and then you find out that Heavenly Father a smarter and greater plan for all of us. Going a long with that I had the opportunity to attend a funeral last night of a relative of a member in the Paracale Branch where I am currently serving and that was a very night service and in case you were wondering the music was pretty nice as well because I was the one who was in charge of the music and actually it was requested that I sing a solo and I am not one to turn done requested so I ended up singing a solo at the funeral as well, that is crazy since I have been here in Paracale I have been doing a lot of singing and other people have been enjoying that as well.

Our investigators are still doing well we had a good amount at church yesterday but not all of them and we have still been working out the marriage of two our investigators here in Paracale we have been hitting some road blocks but one by one I have been knocking them down as well I know that Satan is real and that we need to except that for what it is and press forward because he is going to try to do all that he can to make us miserable while we are here on Earth but I know that as we continue to turn to Our Heavenly Father in prayer he will come to our aid and we will comfort us I have seen that many times on my mission in many different ways sometimes it is through the Book of Mormon or other scriptures sometimes it is through other people or by other means but I know that he will come to our aid and can rescue us if we will just turn to him and ask for him help.

I also got to go ride in a Filipino style wooden canoe type boat yesterday in order to get to a member's house and that was fun experience because we had to cross sort of a river or canal and we did not tip over which was great my companion Elder Denoy was a little nervous that we were going to tip over but I told him that things would be alright because I have experience in canoes and the Holy Ghost is will us. I am excited for what the future brings for me this is a fresh new year of 2018 and a new transfer so, I am excited for the opportunities that I have to be able to continue to improve my missionary skills and continue to increase my knowledge about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that as we strive to continue to do our best in keeping the Commandments of God we will be blessed and we will receive more blessings that we could ever imagine I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and that they want the best for us here on Earth and they want that all us will be able to return to their presence someday. 

Love,

Elder Chilson     

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year,

First off I cannot comprehend right now that I have been here in the Philippines for over one year now as in that I spent Jan 2017-Dec 2017 all in the Philippines for me that is crazy because I think that the year of 2017 has been the fastest year of my life but at the same time it may be one of the most memorable years for my life but only time will tell that story. My New Year was pretty smooth we had a lot of food that was given to us from members and my appt is on the third floor I was able to see a lot of fireworks all over Paracale which was nice that was the same case for me last year as well that we climbed onto the roof of our appt to be able to watch all of the fireworks. I cannot believe that 2018 is hear now a lot of things are going to happen to me in the year of 2018 so I think that it is going to be a fun ride and I am excited to see what will happen.

Most of this week was a lot of traveling for me I was able to skype and talk with my family last Monday for Christmas so that was nice so they are doing well and it was nice to see them. I had a lot of exchanges this week which means that I went to Jose Panganiban twice this week so that I could have companionship exchanges with them because I am their District Leader and so I had a fun time working with the missionaries that are assigned in Jose Panganiban they are all Filipinos and they are actually all training right now just like I am training with Elder Denoy right now so I have been working with a lot of newer missionaries which has been fun because there are a lot of good leaning opportunities to learn from each other and there are a lot of good teaching moments as well. They are hard working up there in Jose Panganiban because most of their area is in the mountains so they really have to walk a lot and up mountains, I thought that there were a lot of mountains in Paracale but there are more in Jose Panganiban but it is a lot of fun up there for sure the people are really nice and most of the time they are receptive. 

My work here in Paracale has been going good as well we have just been helping our investigators get closer to baptism and we have been working really hard with one family about their marriage but it is going to be a little while longer before anything really big happens there because here in the Philippines there is a long process to get married and it takes a long time to process the papers and that is one reason why a lot of the Filipinos do not usually get married because it is a big hassle but I think that for January there is going to be a lot more progress made like yesterday at church I stood up the whole time for sacrament meeting because there was not enough room for more chairs so hopefully more and more people will continue to come to church and stay active in the church but I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ here on this Earth and that we have a live prophet today and all the tools that we need to be successful here on this Earth and I know that as we continue to do the things that Heavenly Father has commanded us to do we will be happy and the year of 2018 we be a year never to forget. 

Love,

Elder Chilson