Monday, September 26, 2016

phlegm globs and sharing the gospel...not at the same time!

Helo everybody!

This week has been full of nose sniffling, phlegm globs and sharing the gospel. Don't worry though! I try not to do the last 2 of those things at the same time. hahahaha "I'd like to share a message with you about (chgraaaughoutch ptew!) the restoration of the gospel." hahaha Don't worry anymore though. I kicked that snuffy-nose out of my face so hard, his ancestors could feel it! I didn't literally kick it because I'm not nearly flexible enough to effectively kick myself in my own face, but it did finally leave after an excessive amount of hacking and gargling and stuff. My stuffy-nose is no more. :)

Speaking of Sunday, remember that one time when I said I'd never spoken in church on my mission. I've been dodging bullet after bullet, but yesterday I finally got hit, and it was a fatal blow. I was the concluding speaker yesterday and had to speak, no was privileged to speak the very longest. It was super nerve racking!!! I'm not very good at giving talks in English. Let alone Tagalog! It actually went fine though. I talked about home teaching and visiting teaching. I felt prompted that that would be a good topic and I guess it's a good thing too, because later on yesterday I learned that our ward is super terrible with home teaching. Hopefully something I said can help the people here to see how important it is! Listen carefully to President Monson this upcoming general conference, because I think he'll be declaring my talk as "Doctrine and Covenants, Section 139". haha Or maybe "Official Declaration 3."

That's too bad Brother Burdette died. I always liked shaking his hand every Sunday before Sacrament meeting. Maybe because he magnified his calling so well as ward greeter, he will be the official greeter of everyone who goes to Spirit Paradise. That would be cool! I wonder if they have Sunday meeting and stuff over there in the Spirit world. I guess I'll have to go James 1:5 on that one. 

I'm sorry to hear about Mylo's eye. I met an old lady the other night walking a dog that looked just like Mylo, except not nearly as handsome, and I started talking to her about her dog. After a minute or so I introduced myself as a missionary and she all of a sudden had somewhere very important to be. haha People are so ridiculous. They'll talk all day with you about their dog, or if Lebron James is really 6'8", but once you bring up the gospel, their language turns from Tagalog, to "ayaw"kano. haha (There is a language in the Philippines called Ilokano, so if someone rejects us we make fun and say they are fluent in "ayaw"kano. Ayaw means "don't want/like". It's really funny if you get it.)

Anywho, I didn't get translated during my last district meeting like I hoped, but maybe this Tuesday. :) haha It's been a really awesome week! 

Grabe! Sayang ang balbas mo Sam. Pero, guwapo pa rin!!! Almost as good lookin' as I'll be when I'm allowed to grow a sweet beard. haha

Mahal ko kayo!!! I hope all y'all have a super awesome week this week! bye.


Elder Fawson

Eating at the September zone conference feast!

Rob receiving his birthday treat

all the September birthday boys and girls in the zone :)

I love how Robert's hair is like a flaming beacon in this picture!


Tuesday, September 20, 2016

I totally OYMed Ronald McDonald

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! (last Wednesday) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!
(last Thursday) HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTIN!!! (Last Friday)

Woo wee! Lots of fun things happening at home way over there yonder on
that side of the world. But let me tell ya', fun things happened here
too! On Wednesday (my moms birthday) I went on exchanges with Elder
Baquiran, my zone leader, and we had a super amazing day! I get to do
stuff like that because I'm a district leader. It's the only exchanges
I get to go on because the rest of my district are sisters. Anywho, we
had a super successful day. We were able to have 8 lessons, and 80
OYMs. Grabe ang dami [heavy volume]!!!! There was this one time where we were
completely surrounded by little children shouting at me, "Ano ang
height mo? Grabe ang tangkad! Kaya mo bang mag-dunk?" [ What is height Mo? 
Heavy height!  So you like to dunk?]and lots of
stuff of the like. I turned to Elder Baquiran and said, "They're my
disciples!" hahaha I think Elder Baquiran has heard the word
"Matangkad" [tall] more times that day alone than his whole life previous.
hahaha It was awesome!

I had a super crazy awesome OYM last Monday after we left e-mailing
for lunch. We went to McDonalds and it just so happened that Ronald
McDonald was home. haha I totally OYMed him and gave him a restoration
pamphlet. I think that's the famousest person I've ever OYMed in my
whole mission. haha My chicken McNuggets tasted just that much better!
hahaha


Elder Guzman and I had a really successful week this week. Last week
we had a shortage of OYMs. We only got 157 (Our goal is 190). This
week we went crazy and had 224. We made up the slack of last week and
plussed one. haha. We are super pleased with ourselves, however, I
must say na mas magaling ang Espiritu Santo! haha

Dad, I'm with you on not feeling super great at the moment. I had a
super bad sore throat last Thursday and then thursday ng gabi, nawala
ang voice ko talaga! [Thursday night I really lost my voice] I sounded worse than 
Yoda would after 63 years of smoking. It was ridiculous. It was so hard.
 I could barely force out a "Magandang gabi po. [Good Evening]" 
to the passers-by. My voice did come back. but I'm still hacking up a bunch
 of nastiness from my throat. I think I'm actually a teensy bit sick right now, 
but it's no biggy. "Carry on, carry on, carry on!"

Don't be surprised if there is an extra section added to the Doctrine
and Covenants in the very near future. I've got quite the district
meeting planned for tomorrow, so you can all be on the look out for
that. Maybe it will be announced in a few weeks in General Conference.
:)

So yeah. That's what's up with me! I'm glad you were able to go to
Ryan's Homecoming. He's the best running partner a running partner
could ask for. If you see him again, tell him I've got some sweet
Pedro-proof shoes.

I do have a scripture of the week. It is found in Deuteronomy 22:5.
Cross-dressing is an abomination daw. Have fun applying that to your
life and finding spiritual comfort.

Mahal ko kayo!!!


Elder Fawson

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

My birthday was awesome!

Helo sa lahat! at sa lahat, magandang araw!
[Hello Everyone! And in all, a good day!]

I know your all just dying to know, so I'll curb your curiosity now. My birthday was awesome! We ordered some pizza and had a mini kabahay-party during our lunch time which was really tasty! I haven't had Papa Johns for quite some time! The baptism was also a success, so that was also a good addition to the happy-day atmosphere! I was able to interview sister Hanna last week and she is so awesome. Elder Guzman (I always think Goose Man when I say his name. haha) was the one to baptize her. As we were leaving the bahay to go there we was grabbing an extra pair of garments and I told him about how after my baptisms on Palawan I didn't have to change my garments because the water level was below my knees. haha He laughed at me. hahaha

One thing that was not super fortunate about my birthday is when we went to visit one of our investigators. He had been trying to quit smoking and drinking, and has been doing pretty good for a couple weeks, but he was drunk when we got there. it was a super bummer! His whole family are members except him, and his wife was so sad that he had given in to temptation. We gave him a print-out of the churches Addiction-recovery program and hopefully that works out for him. I really hope that he can take advantage of the resources of the church and accept our help to overcome his addiction. It's sad because he has a strong desire to change, but it's so hard for him. He's awesome though!

Tara! mag-party tayo! (come on! Let's party!)

On a happier note, pizza isn't the only thing I was able to eat that I've been deprived of for a long time. I had the wonderful opportunity to go to SUBWAY last Thursday after our zone conference. It was super awesome. As I walked into the establishment a tsunami of joy and contentment crashed onto the beach of my heart. It was amazing. As I took my first bite of SUBWAY in almost 11 months, I said to Elder Guzman, "Ito ang lasa ng Celestial Kingdom!" It wasn't quite as good as Amerikanong SUBWAY, but it was still way satisfying. I guess that's the difference between being single in the celestial kingdom and being there sealed to your family. Filipino SUBWAY is still SUBWAY just as the celestial kingdom is still the celestial kingdom, but having your family with you makes it just that much better. I guess that makes Jimmy-Johns like the terrestrial kingdom. hahaha SUBWAY!!!



So yeah. It's been a super great week, and quite the grand birthday!!! Thanks for all your wishes and prayers. Mahal ko kayo!

Elder Fawson

P.S. I still haven't gotten my package, so hopefully it comes before general conference. I don't know if I can go through another 10 hours of inspired talks by the wonderful leaders of our church and not nibble on some candy corn at the same time. hahaha Mahal ko kayo ulit!

Monday, September 5, 2016

I made the Triforce my symbol of inspiration for my mission...


This is a picture of the road to our recent converts. I basically lived in the jungle for 5 months. No biggy.
Helo! Thanks for the birthday wish! I haven't gotten your package yet, but zone conference is this Thursday, so I'll be going to Buendia and be able to drop by the mission office and hopefully it will be there. I'm super excited!!! 

This'll be my first birthday in the mission, so who knows how it'll go? I do!!! I'll wake up at 6:30, say to myself, "Maligayang kaarawan, Elder Fawson!" then exercise for a half hour. Then I'll take a shower, prepare for the day, do my studies, eat lunch, and go out and invite others to come unto Christ. Around 4:00, I'll go and attend a baptism of sister Hanna, an investigator of a companionship in my district. You can all say congratulations to Sister Munda and Sister Balasubramaniyam!!! Her name is sooo long!  I was the one to interview her and say she is allowed, so that was cool! Being the district leaders, I interview all the baptismal candidates in my district. It was actually a miracle. I was really worried when I was called to be district leader about conducting this interview, because my Tagalog isn't perfect yet and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to understand everything she was saying, but during the interview I had the gift of interpretation of tongues and understood every single word she said. It was awesome!!!! After the baptism I'll eat some dinner, proselyte some more, go home, plan, eat some birthday Choco Muchos (Mmmm boy!) and go to bed. I can't think of a better way to celebrate! hahaha


There are 3 points to the Triforce: Power, wisdom, and courage. I made it my symbol of inspiration for my mission. Power in the priesthood /Wisdom in inspired questions /Courage to OYM 
Also being district leader, I get to teach district meeting, so last Tuesday was my first time to teach that. It was pretty good. I taught how to more effectively find new investigators. I thunk up a super nice analogy about it too. You see, hunting for new investigators is just like hunting for a shiny Pokemon. You have to come across thousands and thousands of Pokemon before you find a shiny. The same goes for finding. There are Thousands and thousands of people we will talk to before we will find that "golden investigator." It was quite a successful lesson if I do say so myself. I'm just glad I'm not the only Poke-maniac in my district. That would have been super awkward!!! hahaha


I'm really liking my area. I had forgotten what it was like to be flocked by herds of children. Sometimes it's like I have my own disciples. I sort of know what Jesus felt when he was on earth about his disciples. He performed some awesome miracle and the people were all amazed and followed him around the streets, then he started teaching them his gospel, the people realized it was hard and stopped following him. I get children following me around all the time. I'll dunk a basketball or something and get these crowds of 10-15 kids, then I introduce myself as a missionary, give them a pamphlet and they lose interest and go back to their old lives. It's sort of sad, but I've found a few new investigators through these tactics, so it's always worth a shot! 

That Balut picture was crazy huh? You could see the little duck head and everything. I just sprinkled some salt on it, and dumped the whole thing into my mouth. I could't just swallow it, 'cause it was an entire mouthful. I chewed for almost a minute. It wasn't hard, but sometimes there would be a little crunch as I chewed the baby beak and stuff. It wasn't super gross, but I not jumping for another opportunity to do it either. I'd do it again though if everyone else was. It was a good experience and I invite everyone to try it if they ever get the chance. hahaha

I'll send some more pictures for you from my journeys on Palawan!

I hope you all have a nice week! Mahal kita!

Elder Fawson
Kabahay farewell party...We had ice cream, and made some toron (a banana wrapped in brown sugar and a thin, crusty tortilla, then deep-fried. Super yummy!)




This is a picture of the shrimp that our elder quorum president gave to us. We fried it and turned it into a delicious ulam. MMMM


Monkey Picture for Heidi


You can tell Grandpa to sell the tractors and just buy a couple of carabao for the farm. The only problem is that I think they only live in the Philippines. hahaha