Patience

Hello Everyone,

This past week was pretty good because me and Elder Abrigo worked really hard we worked with many different members this past week because we are trying to find some good fellow shippers for our investigators that we have right now because I have seen and now have a stronger testimony that the members are essential in missionary work the missionaries are simply just the placeholders for the Lord so to speak because the missionaries can be transferred at any time, they will leave eventually, and they only have 2 years to give all that they have to the Lord but the members are not just placeholders because they will be there forever, the missionaries have to put their trust in the members because missionaries need them every missionaries knows that they are essentially nothing without the help of the members at least that has been some of my experiences since I have been serving here in the Philippines I know that as the Lord prepares his children to receive his gospel he also prepared members also to be able to help out in that process because the missionary work is not just the work of the missionaries alone that is one of the common misconceptions when it comes to missionary work but as I have worked in the shoes of the missionary for a time I have come to know that the missionaries need the help of the members in order for them to be successful and I have been very blessed because as I have been serving here in the Philippines there are awesome members everywhere that I have been assigned and I will be ever so grateful to them and for the service that they rendered for the work of the Lord.

Also right now I would like to just share a bit about patience I know that patience is something that we need to have to grow and to become the people that Heavenly Father wants us to be sometimes we have ideas of how things are supposed to work out and what we are supposed to do and then we find out that Heavenly Father had a better idea because he has the big picture he loves us more that we can comprehend here on Earth and I know that Heavenly Father gives us experiences so that we can learn and grow and to be able to develop the gifts that we has given us. I know that we all have talents and gifts that Heavenly Father has given us and I know that we all have a purpose as to why we were sent here to Earth at this present time and I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven for all that he has given me, he has given me so much and it is natural to feel sometimes that we do not measure or that we are not good enough because I think that in this life we will always fall a little short because this life is not perfect and we are not yet perfect but I know that as we continue to do our best to repent and turn to the Lord he will great us with open arms ready to embrace us. 

I know that as we continue to be teachable and to serve the Lord with a willing heart that we will gain so much happiness and that we will want to share that happiness with others and I know that desire will lead us to do the things that the Savior would do if he were here I know that Heavenly Father is counting on us to help his children come back to him and I know that we can do this as we continue to look for opportunities to serve his children here on Earth and I know that with great sacrifice come great blessings I know that Heavenly Father is only a prayer a way and that the atonement of Jesus Christ is always there for us to grab and use it, it will never run out or expire until at least our Savior and King even Jesus Christ returns here to Earth for his 2nd Coming and I hope that we will all do our best to prepare for that day.

Love,

Elder Chilson 

Another Transfer Week

Hello Everyone,

This week was another pretty busy week for me, not much of a surprise there, it seems like this whole transfer is going to be pretty busy for me but I am excited about that as well because if we are busy that means that we have a lot of work to do which means that Heavenly Father is really pushing forward his missionary work here in the Philippines and I am so honored to be able to serve the Lord and his people here in the Philippines. So this past week was another transfer week and so we got several new missionaries here in the Pamplona Zone so I am excited for the new missionaries that are here now and for all the things that we will be able to accomplish together I know that communication and unity are two very important things that we must have if we want to accomplish the Lord's work effectively and that also applies in any real life situation as well communication is very important when working with other people. I have enjoyed working with other missionaries last transfer and I look forward to working with other missionaries this transfer as well and helping them achieve their goals and helping them to become successful as well. That is one thing that I have noticed as a Zone Leader is I work a lot more hands on with the other missionaries in my zone and I follow-up often on their goals and what they are trying to achieve in their companionships and in their branches. I know that this is the work of the Lord and as I said earlier I am so lucky to have been called as one of his servants here in the Philippines and that with his help nothing is impossible. 

I also attended several meetings this past week which was fun for me because I love learning from President Zapanta ever since I got here in the Philippines Naga Mission I always felt that there was some sort of special connection between us and I am always excited when I have meetings with President Zapanta because I always learn things that I can improve on and new ideas that we can try to improve the missionary work wherever we are serving, I know that he is called of God to preside over the Philippines Naga Mission and I know that I have been called of God as well to serve at this time while President Zapanta is here as well. He is a great teacher and he really loves his missionaries and I have learned so much from him since I had the opportunity to work in the mission office and now as well as one of the leaders here in the Philippines Naga Mission I am always excited for the opportunities to be taught by my leaders because they are the ones that receive the inspiration from Heavenly Father and in like manner I am happy to have had the opportunity to hear from our living prophet as well President Nelson in General Conference I know that he is also called of God to lead and direct this church in the direction that the Lord wants it to go in. 

I know that we are all sons and daughters of a living Father in Heaven and I know that he loves us very much and that is one of the reasons that he has given us a Living Prophet Russell M. Nelson and scriptures the Bible and the Book of Mormon and other for us to study and ponder about how we can become more like our Savior Jesus Christ because I know that Jesus Christ is our way in order to return to our Father in Heaven and I know that as long as we continue to follow his commandments and more forward with faith regardless of what will happen to us we will be blessed according to our obedience and faith which is in Christ and I know that families can be together forever and that is one of the best gifts that we can ever receive from our Heavenly Father.

Love,

Elder Chilson      

Easter Sunday

Hello Everyone,

I hope that everyone had a joyous Easter Sunday yesterday for me it was a pretty normal Sunday for me because outside of going to church the Filipinos do not really have any big traditions or anything that they do special for Easter here but that is fine, I enjoyed remembering Jesus Christ through the scriptures this week I did sort of a special study about the life of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon and in the New Testament. Outside of that this is my first time experiencing "Transfers" from the view of a Zone Leader so it is a little different I have experienced "Transfers" from many different points of view throughout my mission and this is just another experience to add to my book of experiences so to speak as a missionary. There are several missionaries that are transferring from my zone tomorrow but I am still excited because the missionaries worked really hard last transfer and this transfer I think they are going to be able to harvest the seeds that they planted lasted transfer so I am excited for that speaking of harvesting me and Elder Abrigo had a baptism last Saturday and it was awesome I really enjoyed it and I felt so happy for the person that got baptized after her baptism she was speechless and she was just overwhelmed with the Spirit those are the kinds of moments as a missionary that are priceless because you know that you did your job right because you know and God knows that you did all that you could to help that person get closer to their Savior Jesus Christ and ultimately return back to their Father in Heaven. 

This past week was Holy Week as we know so our work was a little bit different the Catholic population here in the Philippines is really large so most people were really busy this past week with their families and vacationing so me and Elder Abrigo had to work sort of extra hard so to speak so that we could continue to fulfill our purpose as missionaries even though sometimes the other people do not really want to cooperate but you cannot really blame them because they are legitimately busy. I would just like to share that I know that we are so blessed to have the religious freedoms that we have here in this world (I realize that there are some areas of the world that do not really have religious freedoms and that is tough) but in the areas of the world that do have it we are so blessed and I know that that is one of the blessing that Heavenly Father has given to us and I know that that is part of his great plan for all of his children. I know with all of my heart that Heavenly Father wants all of this children to be able to return to him I have felt that time and time again since I have been here serving my mission here in the Philippines I know that Heavenly Father loves all of his children perfectly and as we turn to him in prayer often I that he will come to our aid and he will help us with the things that we are struggling with and he will give us comfort. I have also experienced this throughout my mission as well I know that Heavenly Father lives and that Jesus Christ lives and I know that he rose again as well so that we all can rise again as well when the time comes. I hope that as you all go throughout this week you can see the hand of the Lord in your lives because I know that he is not that far away if we will open our eyes and just look him.

Love,

Elder Chilson              

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