Home Sweet Home! Welcome home!

Home Sweet Home! Welcome home!

To the rescue!

To the rescue!

After the storm

After the storm

P-Day Hike

P-Day Hike

All wet!

All wet!

Flooding

Flooding

Bagio, Tropical Storm

Bagio, Tropical Storm

A day to remember!

A day to remember!

Zone or General Conference

Zone or General Conference

Elder K and gummies

Elder K and gummies

Street sitting

Street sitting

Jogging on the beach

Jogging on the beach

Elder K 21st Birthday

Elder K 21st Birthday

Birthday Mango Icecream

Birthday Mango Icecream

Elder Verzo - Big Boss!

Elder Verzo - Big Boss!

Elder Verzo new comp

Elder Verzo new comp

Mission Tour

Mission Tour

The Best Zone Ever! My comp circled

The Best Zone Ever!  My comp circled

Teaching with Elder Misbach

Teaching with Elder Misbach

Leganez w/Pablero Family

Leganez w/Pablero Family

Zone Leaders Conference

Zone Leaders Conference

Iloilo Zone

Iloilo Zone

Filipino Smile

Filipino Smile

Elder Misbach's back

Elder Misbach's back

Elder K face

Elder K face

Big pig!

Big pig!

Clothes dryer on the beach

Clothes dryer on the beach

The Seduco Wedding!

The Seduco Wedding!

Hookey bobbin in the Philippines!!

Hookey bobbin in the Philippines!!

Three Iloilo kids

Three Iloilo kids

Iloilo lil boy

Iloilo lil boy

Happy mug shot

Happy mug shot

Digging it

Digging it

Grocery Shopping

Grocery Shopping

Airport scene

Airport scene

Iloilo Trio!

Iloilo Trio!

Yum yum green and all!

Yum yum green and all!

The Fearless Duo

The Fearless Duo

Hiy-ya!

Hiy-ya!

A little out of focus, but happy!

A little out of focus, but happy!

Heleman Warriors?

Heleman Warriors?

Baptism Rhea, Geneva & Dave

Baptism Rhea, Geneva & Dave

Me and Elder Booth w/face paint

Me and Elder Booth w/face paint

Sheryl's Baptism

Sheryl's Baptism

Baptized in July

Baptized in July

Basking in the Light

Basking in the Light

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Wk 56


Yeah!                                                       
 Hey Family! I just love you all so much.
      So we are finally done with all the busy weeks of training and transfers. Things are settling down this next week. Except for today, Elder Adams Birthday. We will be going to get Two "Super Gang" Pizzas at Pizzaro later. And Really Good Mango Shakes. I'm stoked.
I had quite the memorable week last week. I will try to tell you all what happened.
     Because Elder Adams was training, I got to work with Elder Farnsworth in his area.  Elder Farnsworth is the Mission Recorder.  We went to this area, called Sooc. And I met this amazing family, the Villaneuva's. She is the most awesome lady. They have a family of 5 kids all really cute and all of them are really progressing. The mother has so much faith.The father is also a neat guy. We gave all the kids CTR rings. So the next time we came over the dad was doing really well and all the little kids were wearing the rings. They always tell us how grateful they are that the missionaries came to them. I probably won't be able to see them again because I am in a different area. But maybe we will be able to attend their baptism.
      We visited the Enriquez this last Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. I think it will be another week before we will go over there.
      The other day we were over at Dave and Genavas Ramos's house. The two single adults and mother we baptized. The father that usually isn’t there when we visit, for the first time opened up and started to join the conversation. I was pretty awed that he had lightened up. The whole Ramos family are members and active gid kaayo (really active). We are hoping the father will continue to open his heart and allow us to teach him. The family is sooo strong and so amazing. Dave bore his testimony at Stake Conference yesterday and told everyone how he was excited one day to serve a mission and was really touched. The gospel has changed that family drastically. I will hopefully send you a picture of them soon.
      Sorry I have to wrap this up. I will send a picture of me like you told me mom probably next week though.
     I did open the two Christmas wrapped things. I couldn't wait. Thanks so much for them. Me and Elder Adams decided to buy Christmas lights for Christmas and make a fort in our room so it will be nice and Christmassy. I am excited to talk to you all again pretty soon.
      Dad and Mom I hope all is doing well with you. I am so thankful for the awesome parents I have.  You guys are such awesome siblings. I love you so much. I am so glad I am out here serving the Lord and want all of you to know how much I love you and love this gospel. We are so lucky to have the knowledge of our Heavenly Father’s plan for us and to know that He knows us personally and will help us in every aspect of our lives.
Love,
-Elder Kirschbaum

Monday, November 22, 2010

Wk 55


Hey!
      I loved the vids you sent Heidi, and Kyle. Ashton is a super funny guy. I like how good he is at talking with his arms. I think it really helps get the message across. I am going to try to do my arms like his when I am teaching our investigators. I CAN"T BELIEVE how big Oli is. She’s not a baby any more. And I am finally a big boy. ;). And Kevin...well he is an old man. And Mom and Dad......ehem
     This week has been awesome. You know the ten investigators that came to church last Sunday. Well...none of them came this Sunday. Yeah we were pretty depressed. Not even the Enriquez family came. Me and Adams were thinking it was because Elder Booth is no longer here.
     Yeah Elder Booth has now hit the dust. He is home. We woke up at 3:30 in the morning to take him to the airport. Ridiculously early ya know, but it was nice to see everyone go home. I am not going to lie but I felt pretty trunky while I was carrying his bags up to the check in. We took a few photos and they all left. (I attached one photo).
      All the trunkiness is out of me now though. Me and Adams are super excited to get working. He has to train in a few leadership trainings this week, so it will probably just be me going out to work.
     Yesterday President Pagadaun joined us for our companionship study and worked with us for half the day. I was pretty nervous at first. But I quickly discovered how sweet our President is. He Really Just rocks. He sports the short sleeves when he goes out with us and is way powerful. We got to go to the Enriquez with him. But it was kind of a bummer because Ezekial wasn't there.  We were bummed but we had a good lesson with the wife and her two kids. I guess they didn't come to church because one of their kids were sick and some other reasons.  She was so glad that she let us in because for the first time in his life he has stared to change his life, pray, and read the scriptures. In that lesson we told her how much we know that the Book of Mormon will change their family and that the peace that they need they could find as they continued. Keep ya updated.
      Man the mission is awesome. It has been so great being able to communicate to these people. They’re so amazing. There is so much to learn. Ahh I just want to learn it all. But we are not allowed to. We have to learn the lessons we need to learn through the way Heavenly Father wants us to learn them.
     Well things are doing good. I love you all, and appreciate all the emails. Talk to you next week.
-Elder Kirschbaum

Mom, 
My electric shaver is Great!  I love it. I am saving money like crazy and look as Guapo as ever.  And the insoles are great on my feet too and the rest of the package was awesome also. I will get a check up on my eyes pretty soon and I will see how much contacts will cost
Love you,  Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Week 54



My Beloved Family,
     Well there were no new emails this week... so I will have lots of time to tell you what’s up in the Philippines.
     The first thing is first. Elder Booth is going home and the new AP has been called. My new companion will be an Elder that lived with us in our 6 elder apartment. His name is Elder Talon Adams. I will send you a picture of him. He is a way awesome guy. He is actually younger than me in the mission by about 3 transfers. Both of us will be working hard on the language. Speaking of the Language, it is coming along awesome now. It is just about vocabulary. There are so many words in three different languages.  Elder Adams and I might have a member help us with our pronunciation every week. We are really excited.
     So this week was the last week of Elder Booth, and we had 10 investigators at church this week. The coolest part was that the Enriquez family came, all of them with their two daughters and little boy. Their littlest boy is probably about 2 years old and is a wild kid. He is super cute though. He was climbing under the seats and pressing the keys on the piano during Sacrament. So Lenor, the mom had to take him out. During Sacrament I looked back at them and he was reading the Book of Mormon. I was pretty happy. A change has already taken place in their family. They are so prepared to finally hear the Gospel. They just kind of fell in our hands. One of our members told us about them.  We told her we wanted to meet them and bamb the next Sunday they were at church. We just committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Today we will go back and see how they are doing.
      This next week is TRANSFER WEEK. That means there are going to be late nights. I never thought I would stay awake past 10:30 on my mission. And especially past 12:00. But that is the joy of transfer week. I have to wake up at 3:30 on Wednesday to take Elder Booth and his Batch to the airport. It’s a way busy week but I love it cause we get to see all the new missionaries and their fiery spirits, and their horrified faces when they ride for their first time in the Philippines. And we get to eat the food of sister Pagaduan!
      I am pretty proud about my non pickiness now in my life. I really think that just being able to eat healthier food is going to change my life. I had a huge burger the other day. Not Healthy. But I had it with Lettuce and Cucumbers and Sauce. I turned to my companion after I had eaten it and told him, "My parents would be proud of me." Mom I can't wait to try all the good healthy food that I never ate at home that you cooked.
      Well things are going well. Super Excited about the work here in the Philippines. There is and will always been so much more to learn. One thing that I learned from Elder Booth is that "Never look how much further there is to go, but how far you’ve already come."
I love you all so much, Mom, Dad, Leah, Heidi, Kyle. I know that this Gospel is True.
-Elder Kirschbaum

Week 53


Brotha,
     Yae my spling is gting pritty bad isnt it?
     Yeh we have the transfer conference meeting but we don't do testimonies at them. They are actually pretty fast. All those who are being transfer come and then our President gives a message. The new missionaries all line up in front as they call their trainers. Everyone either laughs and says nothing when the trainers are match up with their new Bata (kid).
     Well I am just going to make this the email for the whole family since I don't have very much time this week.
So HEY FAMILY,
     I got the package from mom. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...thank you. I felt like it was Christmas a month early. I am loving the electric shaver. It is so much better than razors. Even though it burns a little bit, It’s still wicked.
     I gave some of the snickers to an investigator of ours that asked me for some chocolate the other day. Haha other than that I pretty much ate it all.
     Our work this week has been very minimal. Really it is pretty lame. We have been taking President everywhere and picking area Seventies up from the airport. That was actually kind of cool. I drove out to the airport last week with Elder Andres (the hermit king) and picked up Elder Misalucha of the area 70. I was pretty nervous about driving. Since the driving in the philippines is so crazy, I wasn't sure if I was driving recklessly or not. So busy week.
     We are teaching a new family that we are really excited about. They are the Burungy Captain. Which means he is a politician of a certain section of the town. Here they have Cities. Example: Molo. and inside of Molo they have what is called Burungy. So the Enriquez family is the Burungy Kagawad or counselor of Burungy KasingKasing (heart heart). They are a pretty well known family. They are super sincere and really want to study out the church and change their lives. The mother came to church last Sunday, the first week after we taught her, which was awesome. Yesterday we got the father to say the closing prayer. So we are exited to teach them.
     The transfer is coming up pretty soon. On the 18th of November. This next week after this will be the busiest week. The new AP, Assistant to the President is coming in to be trained. Two other office elders will be leaving and the newcomers and the people leaving and cargo, and hopefully work, and food. Sleep. wash clothes and just these past two days my eyes have started twitching without my control. It is super sabad (annoying). Well, I have to end it short this week.
LOVE YOU
-Elder Garrett Kirschbaum