Garrett will be speaking December 11th at 11 am at the Canyon Road Church,
2115 North 1000 East, Canyon Road, Pleasant Grove, Utah.  

Last letter

HEY FAMILY!!! 

     It’s Monday right now, 8:45 am.  I am waiting for my suit coat to be finished and then I will be heading to Iloilo. 5 pm is my interview with President.  Then Tuesday we have a workshop to help us learn to write a resume and stuff. Then I will hit the skies on Wednesday. I love you all. See you in a few days. 

      I was sitting in Sacrament yesterday up on the stand behind the piano, it was really weird thinking that next week I would be sitting in our chapel with you guys. CRAZY thought. Well Love you all! I’m excited to see My FAMILY!

Good bye na.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 107 November 21, 2011

Whoaa There,              

:)

      DAAA.... It’s really close now. It doesn't really seem real though yet.

I don't think it will until I step off the airplane in Salt Lake City. It is always so emotionally....bending to have a big Changing moment in your life. My feelings right now slightly reflect the feelings of leaving the MTC, or saying bye to you when you dropped me at the MTC. I remember it being so scary flying over the different islands of the Philippines for the first time, and not knowing what in the world to think. "Would I be preaching the gospel as soon as I got off the plane?" "Would I be able to understand the people?" It was just so unreal and nerve racking. I remember the Flight was really clear so you could see down to the islands. It was super beautiful. It was like I was in a dream. Then I saw smoke everywhere, and it looked like there was a war going on...which I learned later was just the burning of sugar cane. Anyways....after the whole experience and emotions are over....hahaha. It was like nothing happened. I was there now living in the Philippines and it felt....normal....ish.

      That is pretty much what I am feeling now. And even though it really feels weird now...as soon as I have slept in my own bed a few days :), it will be all just like a big dream. It is weird to think that..."the mission" that I pondered about and thought so much of as a kid, and always saw myself going on,...is now over. Haha, I never imagined my life after "the mission". It was always just up to the mission. Haha now I have to clue in where to go in my life. :) joke. Anyways.... there is a little bit of my thoughts about going home, aside from being excited to see...ya'll.

     Here is a little update with the Lord’s Work. Alfonso will be getting baptized this week. I am super lucky to be the one to baptize him. So yeah Father! We will be baptizing on two separate continents. That is kind of cool to think about. The work of the Lord will go forth boldly and nobly until it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every nation, and sounded in every ear.  It is cool that we are fulfilling that prophesy ....at the same time. :)

      I am so happy to live in this time now. And I am so happy to know these gospel truths, that so many people would die to have, if they only knew it was there. I love you all and am so glad that we will be together forever.  It amazes me how God provided the way for his Gospel to be restored. I am so grateful to know that with all my heart. And I am so lucky to be one of the Lord’s missionaries to preach that...It is true.

 I will see you in....A FEW DAYS FAMILY!

-Elder Kirschbaum

Hey,

I forget to tell you that we got caught in this crazy Flood on Tuesday, and ended up swimming around helping people cross this place with a heavy current so they could get home to their flooded houses. Here is a few pictures. Oh yeah, and we were on the radio. Mmmmhmmm. Our clothes were filthy when we got back four hours later. The other picture is our district today going on a hike. Enjoy.

Wk 105 November 7, 2011

HEY FAMILY!                                                        

     This week flew by. And now I only have like 3 weeks left. I am super excited to see home again. But I am going to be super sad to leave this. 

Me and Elder Buluran are having a lot of fun. We are working hard and just having a lot of fun teaching and meeting new people. I am super glad he is going to be my last companion. We both help each other out a lot. Elder Buluran is bad at getting up in the morning and the same with me. So we set a goal this last week, where we put our mattresses side by side and when the alarm goes off we wrestle and smack each other around. That sounds kind of....Fruity, but so far it has worked great.

     Kristine will be baptized this week. Our branch is really excited. After her baptism we will be having a fireside where we will be watching the movie of Joseph Smith. She is doing just great. She is well into the Book of Mormon and is teaching her family a lot. We have been able to teach her family this week too, which was great.

     Alfonso is doing great. He is a funny man. This last Sunday our Gospel Essentials teacher, who is pretty much a bible scholar, taught the lesson. He taught about gospel principles in a really simple and exciting way to help the new converts.  It was a really good lesson. He has a lot of love in his voice. Bro Alfonso really looks up to the Gospel Essentials teacher. 

      I just asked my companion if anything crazy happened to us this week. Then I remembered....We ate DOG. Sorry if you’re a dog lover. We had DOG for our new converts daughter’s birthday. It was really hard to eat, but I wanted to try it. As I was eating it, my thoughts couldn't help but wander to the many loving dogs I have known in my life. I will just leave it at that. 

     Mother, I found a woman who is going to make an "Americana" Suit Coat for me. Not yet sure how much it costs.

Welp I am keeping it short. 

I Love you All!

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 104 October 31, 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!                  

AHhhh,                                           

     I'm freaking out reading all your letters. "Garrett your coming home soon, Garrett, Garrett" Ahhhh. Haha. Then hearing about Caleb getting home. Ah man. Tell that man Hi for me.

     So my comp right now is the bomb. We have been having a lot of fun working together. He kind of reminds me of a mix of Caleb and Josh, he randomly makes high-pitched animal sounds and says random funny stuff. Then his Josh side of really sincere looks you in the eye and smiles. Yeah he is pretty good at English.

     Today is Halloween. There are lots of little kids running around dressed up as Aswangs - A mystical creature who during the night his upper half of his body dislocates from his lower half, sprouts wings, and flies around stealing little babies.

      The Filipino belief is Aswangs can get a little out of control. We had an investigator that would put salt around all the doors of the house. Then she had little red bags with garlic and other crazy things pinned to her kids. Whenever we went to her house she would tell us her latest encounter with the Aswangs. We were able though to help her with belief in Jesus Christ, and she told us she started praying when she was scared and not doing other rituals and stuff. (as I am typing this a little kid is talking about an Aswang next to me.)

     We have had some awesome progress with Alfonso. Actually later tonight I will be cooking Ginatang Pukbet na may Baboy. (a coconut vegetable soup with pig) and having a Family home evening over at their house. We will be playing a round of Scrabble, that is for sure. He is doing great. We gave him a blessing that he would remember the scriptures when he was tempted to smoke. The other day he told us that he was having a big craving to smoke and a scripture popped into his head. The scripture was about setting aside every sin. Every sin. It motivated him enough to conquer the craving. He will be ready for Baptism soon.

     I have been reading Jesus the Christ lately...Yeah it’s pretty much>....Mind BlowING! I am almost half way done with it. I have planned it out so I will be done before I am done with my mission.

     Kristine is doing awesome! She will be baptized on the 12th of this month. She says nothing will stop her. We had a family Home evening for her birthday on Friday night, and invited her family. Her dad and brother came, that helped a lot. We will be visiting her family this week also.

     Well I am doing great, preaching the gospel, becoming a chef, and loving this branch. I love you all. Till next time

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 103 October 24, 2011

Here is the update fam!

     I have a new companion as of last Friday, Elder Buluran. He is a Filipino. He is from Manila, but also lived in LA for a little while. We get along great it is way nice. It has been a fun few days with him. We have already had some crazy experiences. One of which we were inches away of being struck by lightning.

     I will "DIE" here in Makato, meaning this will be my last area. Elder Buluran will "Kill Me".  I am excited though that this will be my last area. I am glad that I didn't get transferred for my last transfer. I absolutely love this branch and will love them till the end. The Branch is so awesome in fellowshipping our investigators. This Friday is the birthday of one of our investigators. They are using their auxiliary budget to throw a little surprise birthday party for our investigator, Kristine.

     I don't think I have told you about Kristine yet. We met her at an activity we planned last week. She went to the activity, the following day she went to church, then that Sunday we taught her and committed her for baptism. She pretty much asked us if she could be baptized. What a blessing. We are so lucky. This last week it is just amazing how she is gaining her testimony. For a long time Kristine has been trying to get work. She told us that she finally got accepted to work at a pretty popular restaurant. She was way excited and it was a pretty big blessing for her. The next time we saw her we taught her about keeping the Sabbath day holy. We told her to read 1 Nephi 3, and seek guidance from the Lord. You can never come closer to the Lord and be an investigator without trials. Today was p-day. As we were at the shopping center, Kristine ran up to us. She was holding her Book of Mormon, with it’s protective case she made. Who does that? Who runs around the Mall reading the Book of Mormon? She is just on fire.  All will work out.

     It has been an awesome week with investigators. New investigators coming to church and just the spiritual experiences with them has been amazing.

     Now...we were teaching at Bro and Sis Antoja's house. I was holding the Book of Mormon explaining something, Elder Buluran was watching me. Our ward member and the wife of Bro Antoja sat across from us. All of a sudden (we put together what everyone saw) a lighting bolt entered the house from outside through the door and hit Elder Bulurans watch. Sister Antoja and our member said the stream of light exploded off his watch. The explosion is what I saw, nothing else. Following the explosion, Elder Buluran, Sister Antoja, and our member saw a stream of fire, Red-violet and orange on top go in between me and Elder Buluran. Elder Buluran was watching me teach but all of the sudden lost sight of me because of the Red-violet light that went between him and me. Sister Antoja said the light went directly to my face then all of the sudden dodged my face then left the room. Everyone’s mouth was open as we stared at each other for about 2 seconds. Then the loudest thunder...that sank into our souls...came. All of us didn't know what in the world just happened. We put what happened together in the next 30 minutes. We decided we were pretty much protected amazingly. The weird thing is no one felt anything and Elder Bulurans watch was working fine. I believe we had some heavenly assistance. The next day we went to one of our investigators that lives close by and they said that last night they saw a big bold of lightning hit something a few houses down. We all smiled and then told them it hit us. The lightning that night was ridiculous.  We were pretty much running home scared it was going to chase us home.

So there is my new experience of being inches away from being hit by lightning.

      Well Life is good here in the Philippines. Yes there is lots of rain, and I might add lightning also. But the work of God will go forth boldy and nobly until the great Jehovah shall say....The Work is Done!

Love you all

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 102 October 17, 2011

Akong Pinapalanggaon na Fam.

     Crazy Week this week. It starts off with a crazy bagio/tropical storm, followed by a new found awesome family, 3 branch combined activity, then to top it off with Erma's Confirmation...

     I'm not sure if you heard any news about the tropical storms here in the Philippines, but earlier this week was we had a scale 1 ( it’s 1 out of 3, 3 being the worst) tropical storm hit Panay. It started to rain on Wednesday early in the morning. The rain was super heavy. You know when the rain hits so hard on the roof that you can’t hear anything. That was it. Well the rain continued like that all day. Elder Verzo and I got out our umbrellas and put our scriptures in ziplock bags and headed out. We got soaked as soon as we stepped out of the house. As we were walking to our appointments, we walked by a river that was unusually high and almost coming up onto the road. That was about 5 pm. Later that night coming home we saw a bunch of people gathered on the side of the road. The water that is usually way below the bridge was almost spilling over. The houses right next to the river had water about 5 feet high. There is nothing you can do when there is a flood. The people just watch their houses being filled with water. They took out some furniture and other things so they didn't get wet, but anything else was under water. One house that we saw was at least one story under water. Our apartment was fine because we don't live close to the river so that was fine besides a few minor leaks. But most houses are just bamboo with bamboo leaves for the roof so they got pretty wet. The following day we helped one of our members of our branch take down all their rice that had been put up high as to not get wet from the bagio, so they could eat. All in all it was the worse tropical storm that I have been in, and I guess it wasn't even all that bad. My comp was just like "yeah, whatever, this is normal". There were other areas that were hit worse, and in Iloilo I guess there were a few kids that were washed away by the current of a river. Pretty sad.

      We met a way awesome family the other day. We had no set appointments for that day and we were close to "turning around and going back".  We were talking about what we would do next. We were standing close by a house on the side of the road and so I just walked up to it and said "Tag Baeay!" That is when we met a new awesome family. The most awesome family ever! We taught just the dad the first time and then set a schedule to come back. The second time we taught the wife and a few of their kids. They have I think 7 kids. The dad said to us "I usually don't let people like you (missionaries) come to our house." But he said "I don't know why I let you in, maybe it’s time" The lesson kind of went long and I was thinking...okay I will just say the prayer, but I thought to bare my testimony and ask the father to say the prayer...and he did! He gave an awesome prayer. We have had a few more lessons with them and some other way awesome experiences but I don't have time to share them all. But the last time we went we asked their daughter to give the closing prayer. Without resistance, ahaha, she gave the prayer. She gave the best prayer. She said. "Thank you God for all the things we learned, thank you that we have another testament of Jesus Christ, God we hope that we can go to church." Boom. Yeah I am way excited about them.

     We had a combined activity with the three branches in our ward that we planned. It went well and we were also able to find some people to teach from it. We will see how that goes.  Best of all Erma Dangautan was given the Gift of the Holy Ghost this last Sunday.

     Welp I love you all and thanks for your letters, videos, and ....love. Talk to you again next week.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 101 October 10, 2011

Maayad-ayad nga hapon pamilya!  

     Hey well this week was the Baptism of Sister Erma! It was such an awesome baptism. If my companion wasn't so short he would have probably baptized her but Erma joked around that they would both go under if she let him baptize her...So I was the one to baptize. Our whole branch showed up to the baptism.  Erma's whole family including their daughter. Erma's member daughter Maryanne was assigned to give one of the talks. Before the baptism though she ate some fish and started to swell up. She came to the baptism even though she felt like she could barely stand. When she got there she asked us to bless her. So we took her into one of the rooms and gave her a blessing. By the time she going to give her talk, even though her eyes were almost swollen shut, and had big bumps all over her, she gave a tear filled talk on the Holy Ghost. Her mom, Erma was in tears, along with the other members of the branch. Then we had the baptism. The spirit was strong as we both were standing in the water. It was such a privilege to baptize her. After when she gave her testimony she just kept on saying how good she felt when she came up out of the water. She said she felt like she was falling from really really high. It was hard to not cry as she bore her testimony. I just kept on thinking the whole time how lucky I was to be a part of her conversion and her journey to follow Jesus Christ.

     General Conference was gut blowing - a mix between gut wrenching and mind blowing. The talks from Priesthood session were crazy. I love Jeffery R. Holland's talks. Mom when his talk comes out in the Ensign and you can read it, tell me when you and dad will be going on a mission huh. I took Elder Scott advice on memorizing scriptures. I like what he said about how a memorized scripture is like a good friend that never leaves you. Good for Elder Scott.

      We met at our Stake Center to watch Conference. On Saturday it was pretty much just the missionaries, but on Sunday the church was packed with members. Brother Alfonso came and loved it. He and his wife fasted this last Sunday for strength.   He is doing great and just loves talking about the gospel. I gave him my "Our Heritage" and "Search for Happiness" books. He has already finished Our Heritage.

     We have been doing a lot of finding this last week.  Still repenting and trying to be a little more patient with my companion. I think by the time our time is over, I will have learned a lot. It has honestly been a good challenge for me.

     Well, I am going to check out some BYU stuff now. I love you and thanks for all you do. I love God’s plan for us and I love him and I am so grateful I can be a part of this.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 100 October 3, 2011

Hey!!                    

     What’s up ya'll? You guys are going to have to teach me how to speak Utahn English again when I get back.

     This week was a just a wonderful loving week. It was kind of like an opening in the cloudy sky and with some sunshine too. This week I really dedicated my study time to the last General Conference Ensign issue. Oh man I love General Conference. I learned so much from reading it and trying to apply the things I learned into my week. There was a lot of good talks that helped me learn patience towards my comp and self. :).

     We haven't seen General Conference yet. We will be going to Kalibo this weekend to watch all the sessions. I am super excited.

     This week we have been going over to Alfonso's house everyday. We are confident he will continue doing well. He really feels strong that he wants to be baptized in November. He is doing great though. Him and his wife play scrabble to keep his mind in the right direction.

     Hey I got some new pants. Brother Alfonso when they came back from Manila gave me some of his pants. That was super nice no? I felt pretty special.

     Sorry this is a really sort letter. We are over our time here at the internet cafe. That would probably be due to putting BYU more as a priority than you guys. JOKe, but kind of not. Next week I will make sure I don't worry about BYU stuff till after I write you. Well,  Love you all and talk to you again next week.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 99 Pinalangga kong pmailya September 26, 2011

  Hey! Everyone!

     Mom thanks for that song that you sent, I really like it. (In the Strength of the Lord by Jenny Phillips).  I am actually listening to it right now. I think I might cry. :). But really...I like the message. I kind of feel like the brothers of Nephi. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much and I have had so many marvelous experiences, but the good old natural man of Garrett likes to forget those things I have learned and just focus on...me or slacken my strength. It’s a dirty pronoun, me. These past few weeks have just been a real trial for me. I think a lot of it has been because of my attitude and just thoughts toward companion and self. Maybe it’s the fact that I will be going home soon. They call that trunky. But I want to deny myself of all trunkyness because first of all I know that when my mission is over its not. Being a disciple of Christ is not just a two year thing, it’s my whole life. I remember a letter that Elder Stewart wrote about being a disciple of Christ.*  I don't want to just serve two years and...yup done. But...I want to BECOME. Kind of like that talk that was given last General Conference. Becoming vs Doing. This last week was just that. A Doing Elder Kirschbaum, and nothing of the sort of Becoming. I have been having a hard time Becoming and even doing. Becoming the most important of the two. The song you sent me just kind of reminded me of the faith that is needed in the Lord, an enduring faith not just when it’s convenient. huahh.

      Yesterday at church I was surprise attacked with the "can you give the talk in sacrament in 5 min" So after playing the opening hymn on piano and confirming Sister Gracelee Gadong.  I received a little revelation on what I could speak about. Something that I want to do better this next week. That is...having a vision. In Proverbs it talks about without a vision, the people fail. I applied it to wearing glasses. When we take off our glasses, we can't see as well. It was a training given to us at leadership training. That will be something I will do this week. Set myself a vision.

    Well let’s move outside of my mind and let me tell you about the awesome Baptism and Activity we had this week. A few weeks ago we decided we were going to do a combined baptism with a close by ward. It was going to be Alfonso, Erma, and Gracelee being baptized. After the Baptism, we would do a talent show. After getting everything rounded up and then Saturday came. Here is what happened in a nut shell.

     We have been telling Erma to inform her husband about her baptism for a long time. Her date is now moved to the 8th hopefully of October. The father has a great respect for the church.  He is awesome and we are still working with him.

     Alfonso ended up coming back from Manila on Monday, but then left again to Borocay (a famous tourist spot here.  You should look it up if you haven't already) He was supposed to be baptized on the 24th but we will have to move his date. We had a lesson with him though on Sunday and he told us he had smoked and had almost gotten rid of his addictions but not yet. So we committed him right then to stop. He gave us his cigarettes and we chucked them and stomped on them on our way home.

     Gracelee was baptized!!. We had 1 baptism this week. Even though the others weren't baptism it was an amazing baptismal service. Gracelee was soooo ready. She just bawled as she bore her testimony after. Her family was super happy.  In one year they will be at the temple. :)

     The activity was a success in the end. We had a talent show. Even though most of the talents were little 5 year old girls. We had a few investigators come too! And of course we drew eyes on our chin put diapers on our heads and did the whole upside down lip sync thing. The same thing that you did in your mission Kyle. haha. :)

Well I have to go now. But I love you all and I am so grateful for all that you do for me. Talk to you again next week.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 98 September 19, 2011

Hello Family,    

     This week started of pretty awesome, and then got awesomer, and then exploded with awesomeness today when our whole zone was invited to eat at a members house. Let’s start though with the first awesome.

     Awesome: One Wednesday we went down to Iloilo for leadership training. It is always fun going to Iloilo. It is kind of like a vacation almost. It’s super fun seeing everyone and learning and telling stories. The whole way down to Iloilo I talked to a man from Germany. He was a pretty funny kid. 25 years old his name was Karl. When he said his name is sounded like Kall because of the accent. It was fun having the opportunity to share the gospel in English. There are very few times that happens here. After the trainings, Elder Misbach, my old comp, the AP if you didn't know, and I went out working. It was way fun to be back together again. We went around and just tracked really big houses and practiced different techniques. It was really enjoyable. Elder Misbach is an awesome guy. Love um. Amen.

     Awesomer: When I got back on Saturday we had Mar's baptism. The baptism went really well. The branch had a good turn out. I was the one to baptize which is a real privilege. The water in the font was about 3 feet which was a little bit of a challenge. Good thing Mar was really good at doing the limbo so we were able to baptize him first try. After the baptism, he was a little bit shy to bare his testimony and we forgot to tell him that he would be bearing his testimony after. Everyone just kind of shouted at him while he was up in front of everyone telling him to say what he felt. Mar kept on saying it felt good. Nami nami ang pamutchug. It was a great feeling. His family was really excited for him and are planning on going to the Temple soon with all their kids to be sealed.

     We will be preparing Irma and Gracelee and as soon as Alfonso gets back from Manila we will be preparing him also. He gets back....today. They will all be getting baptized on the 24th of September. We decided to exercise some faith and do a combined baptism and activity after the baptism. Our plan is to have all the members invite friends to watch the baptism and after have a talent show.

     Kyle I remember you told me once how you held a talent show and one of the talents was riskay dancing. We are praying that everything will work out and that it will be a success. Yoohoo.

     It is weird thinking about how things will be coming to an end very shortly. Someone told me that I should be signing up for school about now. BLAA. That’s a little weird after not going to school for 3 years now. The other day one of our members came up to me and asked me to solve a math problem 3x/5=3x or something like that. It took me the whole gospel principles class to solve. But I solved it I’ll have you know. :).

     Thanks for the emails. Palangga eot ang kamu tanan. makita kat ing nakon sa pila ka adlaw ina kamon kato. :)

-Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 97 September 12, 2011

Minamahal kong pamilya,  

      What a week. This week flew by way fast. Just like always it was a challenging but rewarding week.  We are planning for 1 baptism this week on Saturday right after I get back from Iloilo, and 3 baptisms the following week.

     Mar is the brother of a kid in our ward. Their family is almost all members expect for him, Mar, and their oldest brother. We have been teaching Mar for about 4 weeks now. He is a really fun kid to teach. He is 17 years old and since he has listened to the gospel he is changing for good. We taught about the Ten Commandments the other day and we went through with him the steps of repentance and committed him to repent. He said he would repent.  He's doing great and will be ready to be baptized by the end of this week.

     Irma, is a miracle woman. She is sooooo ready to be baptized on the 24th. Right now we are just reviewing lessons and answering her questions.

     We taught Gracelee yesterday. I don't know if you remember but she is the wife of a long time less active member that recently started coming back to church. Our first meeting we met with Gracelee we committed her to be baptized on the 24th of Sept and pray about that day. We haven't been able to teach her until yesterday, two weeks later. We followed up with her on how her prayer was and how she felt about the 24th. She said she is willing.  She is ready to be baptized on the 24th. This week we will be going to teach her every day, so she will be ready for the 24th.

     Alfonso comes back from Manila this next week, so we will be working with him for his baptism also hopefully on the 24th. Also we met an awesome kid the other day. He has a really strong desire though to find the truth. We taught him the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel. As we were talking about the spirit with him, he said that he felt something while he was reading the pamphlet at his house. He said he just felt really good while he read about Joseph Smith and his vision.

     So pretty much the work is going great. We are pretty blessed to be able to teach people that are interested and willing to make and keep commitments. It makes such a big difference.

     Not everyone has been progressing though. Some investigators that attended church with us a few weeks back are now hiding from us which has been way sad. 

     We have been learning Aklanon everyday from a member in our ward. That’s been way fun. Well, I think that is about it for now. Love you all. See ya soon, and talk to you next week.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Filipino Fact of the Week:

 Air Conditioning is called Air Con

The bathroom is called CR for Comfort Room

You ask for a tissue instead of a napkin.

You say "Take Out" if you want to get your food to go.

When you walk into a restaurant they say "Happy Morning!"

Wk 96 September 5, 2011

Hey FAMILY!   

      It was way good reading your emails this week. I got some good laughs. Some Filipinos gathered around my computer wondering what the white guy was laughing about.

 1st off: Mother Good luck on your journey this month.

 2nd: Father, I just love your emails they are always way funny. It sounds like you got some humble pie. I think your leadership analogy was great. Good job.

      It’s been a good Monday today. I spend 350 pesos on pizza and pasta today, that’s a lot. That was nice for a change. The cashier lady gave me a weird look when I told her it was just me eating everything I ordered.

     This weeks gone by really fast. I am having a hard time remembering anything that happened. Let’s seee.

     Nanet one of our long time investigators that was supposed to be baptized in the next few weeks.  She decided not to come so we tried to listen to her a lot, and just express our love. We will be going back to her again this next week so see how things are going.

      Irma, a non-member mother of three member kids. Irma is our most progressing investigator at this time and she is AWESOME. She has been coming to church the past 3 weeks, and this last Sunday she had a remarkable experience. After church she explained what happened to her. Part of what happened to her is that she prayed that she would know if she should be baptized on the 24th of September or earlier. Well She got a pretty solid answer and so she will be planning on getting baptized the 17th of September. We are really excited for her.

     I really like that scripture Kyle. "Welcome home thou good and faithful servant, now enter into my rest." I will also make that my goal as my mission is coming to an end. We watched the Jospeh Smith Video the other day with one of our investigators. I don't think Joseph Smith slacked at all up to the time of his death.

     I wish I could write more but my mind is kind of scattered right now and we have a family home evening coming up really soon and I still need to wash my clothes. So I will leave it at this for now.

I love you all and talk to you next week.

-Elder Kirschbaum

PPS Kyle here is the correct translation.

Kung gusto mo cheeze pizza, iptaas ang iyong mga kamay. -Tagalog

Kun gusto nimo cheeze pizza, ipaibabaw ro imu nga mga alima - Aklanon

kun luyag mo cheeze pizza, ipaibabaw ang imu nga mga kamot - Illongo

Wk 95 August 28, 2011

Helo 1nc agan,                                         

      Dis wik waz a blst n da realy hrd wik. (This week was a blast and a really hard week.)  At the first of this week I was just struggling bad, with everything. Even though Elder Verzo has only been here about a month now, he knows a lot already about missionary work because he worked with the missionaries like every day for months before he came here. He’s way good at the language.  I love this side of being a missionary, it’s always fun to have learning moments like this. About half way through the week I guess you could say I was just really discouraged. On top of that I felt like my TagalogAklanonIlonglish was turning into Tjajpsoiejfj;lksajf. aka I was having a hard time in the language. haha.  I was really praying hard for help from Heavenly Father to get me out of that slump I was in. I had  some enlightening revelation. Heavenly Father taught me that...It’s not so much about what I could teach him, it was more about just loving him. I remember when I was being trained and how I didn't so much remember all the logistics of missionary work, how to fill out a Baptismal Record...etc.. that my trainer taught me, I just remember my relationship with him and our work. The only way I could truly help my comp is by my example, in excitement, attitude about the work and obedience. I decided to pray for more understanding of him, and to support and love his ideas. BOOM. That made a difference in a matter of minutes. From Wednesday forth, our work turned around like Tony Hawk doing a 360 Benihana. (That is my attempt of writing how dad poetically writes)

 Alright the good stuff...

      We found some teenaged kids this week. They are a group of guys. Really poor, and like to play cards. Their age is from 14 to 18. We have taught them a few times this week and invited them to church. They CAME! Tiamson, Jonjon, Carlos (has a big mustache), and one more ( I forget his name). They had a good experience at church, including Jonjon lost his wallet which I think will actually be a good experience for him because we told him to pray that he could find it. They don't have the biggest testimony in prayer so we are praying also that this experience can grow his testimony. :).

      Armando is an investigator that his half paralyzed. We had a great lesson with him on Saturday and he was going to come to church the next day but there was a misunderstanding. I guess he wanted us to text him Saturday night and we didn't. So on Sunday morning we texted him to meet us somewhere so we could go together to church but he didn't text back. We got a text later that day saying that he doesn't understand us and he doesn't want us to come over anymore. He lost his Ape tit. (Hence the subject of this email) He was pretty mad I guess. We just bore our testimony over text. haha cause that is all we could do. He said that if he wanted to hear the gospel he would just come to church but he didn't want us to come over. We will see what happens. We will be visiting him anyways on Wednessday.

      Sister Gracely and Ronald:  Ronald is a less-active member for years. Lately he said that he "woke up" and now him and his wife have been coming to church. This last Sunday we were able to visit them. We asked them questions about what they wanted in their family. They said...WE WANT TO BE A FOREVER FAMILY. Wow. Me and Elder Verzo just looked at each other in awe. On the first visit we gave sister Gracely the non member a baptismal date for the 24th of September. I am sooo stoked to teach them as a family. They are just sooooo ready and I love um. ah.

Well that is about it for now. I love you all very much and talk to you next week.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Oh mom I read that talk you gave me by...I forgot on GRACE. I loved it. What I got out of it: Jesus Christ did it all. All of it is paid. It wasn't just so that we could return back to Heavenly Father, but that we could become like Heavenly Father.  All I need to do is develop the desire to use his Atonement always and practice. Learn Heaven.

A big part of me always says that I need to be more and better, and I have a hard time of being okay with who I am. Knowing about Grace and how the only thing we have to do is practice I think helps us realize we don't have to be perfect. We just need to do our best to be perfectly willing to...practice.

Wk 94 August 22, 2011

HEY!                                          

      Mother and Father, Yes! I got your package just last week. Thanks a whole lot. The shoes fit great and are nice to wear around the house. I am not allowed to wear them proselyting though. :). I had a fun time with the beef sticks. We were driving from one area to another and I leaned over to the driver of the van and asked if I could open the smelly sticks. He said yes, so I then proceeded to hand our beef sticks to everyone in the car. At first everyone was kind of like "What? What is this thing? Where is the rice to go with it? Why is there a white guy giving me a brown long thing?" I told every one in the van just to take a bite. Everyone looked at it like it was some foreign meat stick (which it was). They all said it was "Sarap!" "Delicious!" So it was a success. One of them asked me if I had a rice stick I could give them. We laughed.

     This week has been a little bit of a mix up. Our district leaders companion had to go home because of heart problems. That was really sad because he was an awesome missionary just barely new to the mission. So from Thursday till now we have been staying in the Tangalan missionary apartment. There are three of us. Elder Arrieta, Verso, and I.  It has been really fun with the both of them. We are switching off areas every other day until he finds a malkesidik priesthood to be with him.

     That’s cool you had Stake Conference, because we did too! Ours was way packed and not everyone fit inside. President Pagaduan and his wife spoke which was good. They talked about missionary work and had us stand and told the members they need to feed us. :). But the best part was Brother Armando came to church! Mar came to church and Nanet came to Church!

     Brother Armando we didn't think he was going to be able to make it because he was in Baracay (a closeby sinful island) but he surprised us. He made it back early from Baracay because he said he was bored and went with one of our members to Stake Conference. We were way happy to see him. He was to cross a bambu bridge with a cane. I am pretty sure that has got to be hard. Right? right. What a trooper. We visited him also on that Sunday to teach him. He is accepting the message so far. We taught him about Joseph Smith, he said it is new but he wants to know more. :) I am excited for him.

     Sister Nanet is a longtime investigator. She has been progressing great lately and her and her husband are close to getting their marriage license so they can get married. I was amazed though of how strong Nanet is and she set the example of attending church with her two kids. It’s not easy to go to church but she exercised her faith and did what she could to make it to church. I know Heavenly Father will bless her family for that sacrifice.

      Alot of good stories this week, but I can't tell them all. Here is a few other things I have been able to do and see this week:

1.  Jogging on the beach every morning.

2.  All companionships now have DVD players so we can watch the missionary training videos. District 1 and 2. You should watch them they’re good.

3.  Taught a really big man with no pants on. Actually a really good lesson.

4.  Did missionary work with an investigator as in our investigator came and proselyted with us.

Kyle I hope everything goes well with the move. Sounds like quite the trip. Love you Leah, Heidi, Kyle, Mom and Dad. Talk to you next week.

 -Elder Kirschbaum

Wk 93 August 15, 2011

Hello Family,                    

      This week absolutely stunk! Joke. This week was...rad. I don't know if I have written very much about our investigator Erma. She is the mother of 3 of the kids who are recent converts.  Erma has been taught by the missionaries for probably about a year now. She just recently had a baby so she hasn't been able to come to church for the last little while. This last week we have been fasting for her and her family. We had a few really good lessons over at their house.  The next Sunday Erma came to church. All the members were way nice to her and she really enjoyed the classes.

      Our investigator named Nanette also came to church. That was awesome too. Armando didn't come though. We were really excited for him to come to church and he was excited too. But when the member from our branch went to pick him up, he wasn't feeling well, he said, so he didn't come. Okay though, next week.

      We held an activity on Saturday. It went really well. We had about 20 of the 30 branch members attend so that was good. We did the balloon object lessons. They were all laughing hard. Then we did a few more object lessons, then practiced how to contact people that have just experienced life changing experiences. (new baby, death, new move in, etc.) We made them all practice how to introduce the church and invite them. Then we had ice cream. I am pretty excited though for the follow up.  We will be visiting them throughout this next few weeks following up  and hear about the 5 people they have contacted.

      This week I kind of got frustrated with the language. We speak Tagalog when we are at the house, then Aklanon when we teach. I have been having a hard time speaking straight because 4 different words for what I want to say pop into my head at once when I speak. I think I am speaking my own made up language of Taglishaklonggo. I have been praying and fasting for help.

      I hope things are going well with Kyle and Kierston’s move. I am excited that you will be close when I get home. I just want you all to know that I love you, and I love this church and the knowledge that we have and get to share with others.

Till we talk again,

Elder Kirschbaum