May 26th, 2014 "...the work is still going"

Ah, hello my wonderful family. It was great to read your emails and it sounds like some good things are happening...and not so good things too. Poor Elder Snow...Just make sure if he has to have an operation that he doesn't take the same hallucinogen as dad ;) Anyways, I have super little time because we had a zone activity and then there were some problems with getting on the internet so this will be extremely mabilis (quick). But just so I don''t forget congratulations to all the newly called missionaries (whether or not they're still in our ward is another question). Good job to Layton's soccer team. Good luck to Emma!

Well I guess really I just need to say that the work is still going. It could be accelerating with the full coordination and cooperation of members, but we're doing what we can with what we have to work with. Bro. Acoba and his two kids passed their interview and are going to be baptized this Saturday the 31. And what added more to our joy, their cousin that has been listening to the lessons and coming to church with them wanted to be baptized too so we asked President and he said go ahead with it. She did better at answering the bapt. int. questions than Bro. Acoba's kids according to our District Leader. What do you know eh? Sorry I don't have time for pictures (it's too slow right now) but next week you'll get to see them in baptismal clothing :)

Bro. Acoba is one of a kind and I doubt I will ever find anyone like him out here. There are golden investigators and then there are GOLDEN investigators. He is the latter. This is a man who was searching for salvation and like James directs, like Joseph Smith did, he prayed to God that he would find it. He just so happened to meet the bishop here who was reading from the Liahona. Then the missionaries introduced the gospel to Bro. Acoba and his testimony and faith has been growing to tree status (reference in Alm. 32).

We have a lot of work to do still and we have high expectations this week. Time to work our butts off once again! :) Elder Valenton is great. He'll take good care of Batac once I leave (which I will be either this or next transfer).

Well that's about all I have time for this week. Lots of love to all back at home or abroad. Mahal, -Elder Egan

May 18th -"We're improving and always striving to do our best."

Well how is my most wonderful family?  From the sounds of it we're down one car, but I'm really relieved to hear that we aren't down one sister.  I know you sort of implied this by saying you were okay, but I'm just going to ask again and make sure: are you ok?  You can't do those things to me Emma, I'll get a heart attack.  There are plenty of things not to take after me in. (that was one that hopefully you didn't take after ;) ).  But yes I'm very happy to hear that you're okay and that you had a good time at morp.  Hopefully Keoni treated you well.  I remember when I hit the tree.  I felt like I hit it pretty hard and I thought it was the wheels on the curb, not the brake light.  I was pretty mad at myself too, but it was a good learning experience.  I was a much safer driver after that and who knows if I would have had a bigger and worse accident if I hadn't learned from my mistake. The good news is that you were blessed to be safe.  Did it make a huge noise??  Sorry, just curious ;)  

Well that's interesting to think about.  It's an example of what happens in life.  God gives us choices and experiences to help us learn and grow.  When we are given even more choices and responsibility, he sometimes lets us experience a trial to help us learn to use our agency more wisely.  We experience some sadness and unpleasant things, but we can choose to improve ourselves and gain more knowledge, joy, and peace.  When we make mistakes and run into stumbling blocks (or trees) the next thing we can do is learn from it.  May pagsisisisi pa rin (there's still repentance).  So let's learn from our mistakes so we can be refined and formed into what God knows we can become.

Well this week has been a lot like every other.  Ups and downs.  We're improving and always striving to do our best.  We're going to break 15 lessons this week for sure.  We were really busy doing some finding and we gave 9 new baptismal dates last week and half of them were brand new finds.  I have a good feeling about these families that we've found.  One of them comes from a referral and she's a 14 year old that reads the Book of Mormon all the time.  She takes it with her wherever she goes.  Whenever we go to teach her she's always gone, but we've taught her family and they've had good experiences before with going to church in San Nicolas and Laoag.  Now we just need to help them learn about the importance of this gospel to prepare them for baptism. The other two families we actually found on exchanges.  One of them is renting rooms to a less-active member and when we went to visit him we were able to teach about the restoration to the family and give a Book of Mormon to them.  The tatay is having a hard time sleeping but he reads the Book of Mormon when he can't and he says it gives him a really peaceful and comforting feeling.  He wants to learn more about the Church but we feel that he will eventually find out that this is where he needs to be baptized.  The last family was also found on exchanges and there are a total of 21 people living in the house(s).  Right now we have given baptismal dates to 4 of them and we have had really good lessons with them.  Bro. Acoba is doing great.  His interview is this Saturday and he'll be able to be baptized on May 31.

I don't know if I'll be staying in this area to see all of these people be baptized, but I have a really good feeling that a lot of them are willing to learn and, although it may take some time, they will receive and accept the gospel. The gospel is a truly beautiful blessing in our lives.  Every good person out there wants it, they just don't know where to find it.  The Lord is preparing more people and opening the hearts of His children.  We're going to give it 132% this week.  Keep praying for us (Can't thank you all enough for the prayers).  This is the work of Salvation. I know that our Redeemer lives.

Mahal!

-Elder Egan

P.S. well I got some ideas for the package.  That yellow rope that you sent me...well it broke unfortunately (must be using it to much).  Just thought I'd let you know.  Also some clearasil.  And Elder Valenton doesn't have a camera so if you could send even a cheap one just so he can take some pictures and show his family that would be awesome! :)  (I'm letting him send pictures from my camera but I'm talking about later on specifically).  And last but not least: (definitely not least) Pictures!!!!!!!!  Old (like California old), new (specially those) but just some pictures of the fam. that I can show others.  But yes, that would be just splendid. 

P.P.S. I still have no idea what's going on in America or any sort of worldly news type stuff, but you should make note of any good movies that you see so I can catch up after I'm back (which is still a long way off hopefully ;) )

Happy car hunting!

Mother's Day Skype - Video coming soon...

Well you're all probably asleep but the pictures I want to send haven't downloaded yet and I finished emailing President so I'll get a quick email in after all.

That was great being able to skype for a bit.  Christmas will be here before I know it.

Anyway, well it's sure going to be interesting getting all the ward stuff sorted out.  I still want to know where Ryan Semadeni is going and when Clark and Randall get their calls.  I can't believe I'll be 19 next month either...

Well you heard Bro. Acoba's story.  It's pretty awesome.  Prayer is a very real and powerful thing.  We're excited for his family to be baptized at the end of this month.

Well that's really short, but it's all there's time for.  

Ingat and mahal!

-Elder Egan

The New Zone

May 4th -"The Lord is too kind to me"

Well hello family I hope you've had a great week (aside from the whole stake changes thing). Look at it this way, there are enough members to have a split in the stake. How many members are in our ward now? Of course I'll pray hard for you whilst all is being taken care of. You could be the Primary President, teacher, conductor, chorister, and YM president to boot right? ;) I'm sure it will be just a good ball of fun and enjoyment ;) But in other news, tell me where Sunshine (Austin) is going to serve. That's pretty sweet that they're doing that good. I guess Viewmont is pretty good this year eh? What about Ryan?? Or mister Clark???

Anyway, Acoba's family did not get baptized. We were going over the bapt. ?s and when we went over the Word of Wisdom he told us that he had been drinking just one shot every other week. Can you imagine, that small of a thing is keeping his family from being baptized and eventually being sealed. Addictions are the hardest thing to overcome, even when it seems like it should be relatively easy. So I hope by the end of this month they can be baptized, but I feel like it's going to take a lot of work for him. Well the work here got extremely hard. We had a full week and only got 4 more lessons than last week (-2 days last week). Our best fellowshipper has to work as a tricey driver now so we have pretty much no fellowshipper. We had a good MCM in the ward yesterday and it seems like we'll get things back up and going again.

Well yesterday started out as a seemingly miserable Sunday because none of our investigators came to church. So I was pondering as the sacrament service was about to begin really thinking about what we could do to help our investigators come to church. The water was about to be passed and I couldn't help but feel a little bit sad that all our work had seemly been for nothing, but just in that depressing moment guess who walked up the stairs and looked through the door into the chapel? Sheilla from Pagudpud!!!!!!!!!!! She just moved here to start working and found out that the church was really close to her house. Guess what else? She and Rex were married and baptized!!!!!! That enormous pick me up made the day!! On top of that, Len-len (progressing investigator) came with Rommel and their friend Jepperson from the back (Filipino time is a lot like Egan time). The Lord is too kind to me.

Well this week will be a little short because we have a lot to do and little time to do it! Love and miss you all, -Elder Egan

April 28th -Busy, Hard Week

Whew!  What a busy and hard week!  We got back Wednesday night from Laoag and started on getting into the missionary life.  We only had 4 days this week to work, but we had a really hard time getting lessons in. Missionary work in the ward is absolutely necessary.  If the missionaries come over, follow what they say and help them out as much as you can.  It's so different here compared to Utah, or America even.  The church is relatively new (53 years right?) here and it's building slowly. There needs to be some programs instituted to help the missionary work and then perfected here.  I think I learned a good bit about patience with my last two companions and I'm sure I'll keep learning.  I just hope we can be obedient as possible (time management is still hard with only two Elders in the apartment).  Busy, busy, busy.

Well that's cool to hear that Elder Andersen spoke at the broadcast.  He spoke to us in the MTC too.  Make sure to keep me up to date on where Ryan, Adam, and Jacob are going.  I'll definitely want to hear about the boundaries.  Keep working Kolsen, even the best teams lose (sometimes a lot).  Poor Mia.  She can come here, it's nice and hot! ;)  Favorite food... there's a lot.  Chumba-chumba maybe.  Just write it down and tell me to explain it when I get back.  Happy birthday Stef!  Yes I got both packages and they're perfect!!!  Well actually the cord for the ipod might be a little broken (may have to do with the exposed wires and sorts).  But I'll see if I can get it to work and update you next week.  Yes!!  Preach my gospel is awesome for all the members.  Pay attention to ch.9 about finding (specifically the working with ward members part).

Well not a whole lot went on.  Two days of waiting for my companion.  Bro. Acoba and his family will hopefully get baptized this Saturday.  We have to review the bapt. int. ?s.  It's really hard to teach right now for some reason.  Either we go to the houses and nobody is home or we don't have a fellowshipper, or there's no reply from people.  Don't know why it's super hard all of the sudden but I'm sure there's a good thing the Lord has in store.

Love and miss you all!

-Elder Egan

Elder Egan and his new trainee

Letter from April 20th...(Sorry, Mom is way behind...)

Hello and How's it going to all who may be reading this!  It has been a blazing fast transfer and I can't believe we're starting a new one already.  Well I have some exciting news that I'd like to save or something but I just can't wait to tell everyone.  I'll be training a new Elder this transfer!!  That's pretty exciting news.  Elder Larson is going to Lal-lo to be District Leader and one of the Badoc Elders is becoming our District Leader.  I'm excited for this new experience to be training (just pray that I don't screw up too bad).  Batac is a great place for a first area though.  I'm sure I'll be learning just as much if not more than my new companion.

In other news, it's been hot.  Summer is on and it's going to last until at least July.  After that it should cool down a little bit (maybe 10 degrees or so).  We had a great Easter yesterday...for the most part anyway.  My long sleeve shirt lost a button so I had to sew it back on and that made us late for church unfortunately (the ward started on time the only day that we have a problem like that).  Well we were blessed to have Bro. Acoba come to church again and I might as well tell you how he's been.  I would describe Bro. Acoba as one of those who "[was] kept from the truth only because [he knew] not where to find it."  We taught him about the law of chastity and tithing this last Wednesday (those are some pretty big commandments).  He was so glad that chastity was explained to him since he had kids before being married and now he has no clue where his "wife" went.  If only he had known about it before.  He has already been repenting for it and has only wanted the best for his two kids. To tithing; he said the same thing as he did about the Sabbath: "it's a commandment of God, so I'll follow it."  He said he was ready to be interviewed for baptism and now he just wants to get his kids ready for the interview that we are having next Saturday.  They're getting baptized on May 3!  

So it sounds like everyone's into the soccer mode right now.  Sounds like Kolsen had some sweet shots.  I still want to see the cleats (do whatever Emma did).  Speaking of Emma; first prom/date!  That's exciting!  Yep; jumping...dancing, whatever you want to call it.  Masaya pa rin! (still fun). You look so much different now I swear.  By the time I get back you'll be like a senior in high school or something ;) Oh good old Mia :) I'm sure she'll just be a cute little munchkin for the rest of her life.  Good to hear you've got a job.  I'm sure you'll get a car that's much nicer than the Sentra anyways (that I can steal when you're on a mission! ;)) 

Well let's answer some questions for mom now.  I'll actually get to pick it up today when we go to the office. They celebrate Easter, but they have Lent.  It's basically the whole month up to Easter and they have good Friday, Ash Wednesday (yata), etc.  Lots of parades with statues of Jesus, Mary, and other various saints.  Well all I know about the boutineer is that it always took a long time to get on and all of the mom's did it pretty much.  So good luck!  Way to go Layton!  OK.  So it's another Luke now that she has a crush on.  Where did the Randall's go though??  Conference was in English.  Well I'll try not to live it up to much in Batac.

Well that's about all I've got for now.  I'm sure some exciting things will start to happen in the area.  

Mahal ko kayong lahat!

-Elder Egan

Visit to an "awesome family" in Dumondon on exchanges

300 year anniversary celebration for a municipal called Badoc (part of our District) and the Stake President had the idea to have all the missionaries from the stake and some Badoc ward members sing in the celebration. 

Last district  activtiy

"Hardest Week Here So Far"

Well conference was great yesterday.  So for how it works: everyone in the Batac stake (yeah it's actually a stake) goes to the stake center (which is in the next municipal called Paoay).  They have all the conference sessions broadcast in the stake center.  I thought conference was wonderful.  There were some great overall messages as well as some that I found more personal guidance from.  One that surprised me was Elder Ridd's talk.  I thought that one explained perfectly how the youth of today are affected by the internet.  Well congratulations to Addison!  She's getting old way too fast. How was the Lasik??  You'll have to tell me a little more detail about how it went, but I bet by next week you'll be seeing and looking perfect.  So Emma got the job and she's driving now.  Well I'm sure she'll start to get a lot more familiar with Layton and Kaysville (I did).  Hey quick question: how is the soccer team doing at Layton? Emma's got quite a few friends from the team by the sound of it so I'm sure she knows a little bit (and it's her school now I guess).  Mia, Mia, Mia.  She's probably super huge now with long hair and more teeth.  She's living up to the Egan soccer name I guess.  So who did move into the Randall's house?  And where did they move?  Oh wow, Bro. Yerka is moving in talaga (really)?  He was my first seminary teacher at Layton High.  He's pretty sweet (I mean he has the best first name ever ;) ).  Make sure to say hi to him for me.  Wow, I can't believe Brennan's home already.

Well this week has been probably the hardest one here so far.  We lost a lot of time for proselyting for a few reasons.  Tuesday we went out to a far baranggay and found out exactly where everyone didn't live anymore.  That was maybe the least fun 3 hours of straight walking in the heat of my life.  Then on Wednesday Elder Larson was sick so we couldn't get out until 1 and we had to go to Badoc to do interviews for them.  We had enough time to go to an area called Tabug and hopefully get 3 lessons.  Well we got punted like a football on 4th down.  Complete 0 day.  Conference took a good amount of our time too (although it was a very good spiritual use of time).  So we did a lot more walking I feel than we did teaching which is rather unfortunate.  But we've been giving it our all and the Lord is blessing the area.  Sister Len-len (Aiko's friend) has come to church 3 weeks in a row now and attended 3 of the conference sessions.  She liked it a lot and I think she's beginning to gain a testimony.  She always reads her reading assignments and now what she really needs to do is just sincerely pray to gain a witness of the truth.  She might get baptized before May 10th at the rate she's progressing.  It definitely takes awhile for people to really learn how to live the gospel after they've been living in a culture that is so different.  The effects of the Apostasy were very far reaching and long lasting.

It's pretty hard still, especially the finding right now.  We really need to do what Elder Ballard said; pray to be led to someone that you can invite to listen to the missionaries and then follow-up.  There are people ready and waiting to hear the gospel and we know our friends and neighbors a lot better than two Elders or Sisters from a different state or country.  Love you all though and miss you all too.  Can't wait to hear again next week and get to share a little more with you.

Mahal ko kayong lahat,

Some college kids they are teaching

Nice new apartment

Elder Egan's favorite part of the new apartment

-Elder Egan