October 13, 2013

Hey fam,

I just uploaded some more sweet pictures into drop box and I had an awesome week and baptized the Lanojan family. It was a great experience because they have had some serious persecution and there own family has rejected them because they became "mormons". Other churches here really hate mormons. We have been teching an investigator lady and everytime we teach her pastor shows up and argues with us about the book of mormon and D&C. I am really greatful that the Lord has bless me with patience and my mission because I get pretty heated sometimes. We got to watch conference finally yesterday and it was awesome. I sent you a pictures of us sitting in the chapel because it was only missionaries... Philipinos don't always "get it". But, I loved conference and I am so pumped up for the work now. Holland and Monsons talks were definately my favorite but Elder  Bednar totally taught me how to call people to repentance when teaching the law of tithing. Other than that this week was pretty normal. We found a snake in our apartment and I met a Born Again american dude in the grocery store who I thought was pretty cool until he totally denied the existence of Joseph Smith. Oh well, love everybody. Zone conference is this week so on wednesday we will head down to Bacolod and it should be pretty crazy because it is the Maskarra festival right now which is like one of the biggest festivals in the Philippines. We will be safe. Thank you for the cash, I will definitely buy the whole fish this time. I love you guys and miss you so much and cant wait to get that package. I miss you and hope you miss me too.\

DUECES

Elder Pulsipher

September 29, 2013

Hey Family,                                                                                                                                                                                               I am sorry but I have been trying to put pictures on for the last few weeks but I just don't know why they wont download. But I finally got some in dropbox today, I just don't know why they are still files... Check it out because I think there are some cool ones. At our baptism on Saturday we found a Halo(big lizard) and caught it. The one we caught though is still a baby. They get like six feet long and live in the trees here. Other than, business as usual here in Vallehermoso. We had three kid get baptized on Saturday and this week their parents will be baptized along with the Cadorna family. But, unfortunately I might not be able to make it because I have to go to Bacolod for a fingerprinting. Something about my passport... Hopefully I can get back in time. Other than that Our area is super big so we are going to start a group in between our area and Gihulngan so that should be exciting. The food is still the same but I am getting pretty good at finding different ways to cook fish though. I really wish there was a better variety of fruit here like in my other areas. Here there are only bananas. And a lot of them... Well, my area is awesome and progressing and I am happy doing the work and learning more than I ever have. I still have to teach in church every Sunday even though they tell us that they have teachers. I gave a pretty sweet lesson on temples on sunday and realized how big of a blessing temples are in this life. I miss the temple so much and I hope that you are still taking advantage of that huge blessing of having a temple so close. Some people have to save up for months to be able to go to the temple here. I love you guys and miss you so much. And I am super excited about that package that you sent! I love this work and know its true. Keep helping the missionaries there, the help of the members is more effective that anything else in missionary work. LOve you.                                                                                                                                                                         Elder Pulsipher

September 22, 3013

Hey everyone.

This week was another doosy out here on the North Shore. Alright so its not actually that much like Hawaii but I am trying to look for the good in everything. I am glad you got to see the pics of zone conference and got to see how much weight I've gained. I think I am the only american that has put on weight in the Philippines and its ruining me. I dont know why because I only eat dried fish and rice, but I have been pretty stressed lately. Anyways, Zone conference was awesome. Its always good to have some really spiritual meetings and get to see all your friends in the mission. I am trying to upload pics of my area and stuff but my card reader is playing games with me... We did have a baptism on Saturday of a kid named Tini who is super funny. My letter my be super short today because the computer shop keeps blacking out but I love you guys and I am super excited for Christmas. Its still like a few months away but they start celebrating in like August in the Philippines. I will take some more pics of my area and my apartment and try to upload them on dropbox for you guys. I do have running water in this new place which is awesome. First time I have had it in the mission. But I am still washing clothes by hand and forgot what a dishwasher looks like. Gotta love the Philippines. Other than that I am working hard and loving  watching the gospel change peoples lives out here. Lets see, I do have one request for a Christmas package if you guys think you can handle it. I saw one missionaries family made a video for him. It was just at one of their family Christmas parties and everyone just said hi but it would be so awesome to see and here you guys again. I love you all so much and you are always in my prayers. I know that the Lord will take care of you and I am not worried at all. I hope yo don"t worry about me either. I miss you guys and cant wait to here from you all next week.

Love,

Elder Pulsipher

September 15, 2013

Hello again,

TRANSFERED! I am not gonna lie, I was pretty excited to get out of my sceond area even though it is progressing so much. I did not want to hit 1 year in my second area. You guys would all be freakin jealous if you saw my area. It is called Vallehermoso. It is one of the two area's in Negros Oriental. I think that President Lopez likes to keep me as far away from him as possible. Dad, I am sorry that you are stuck in Carlsbad because I live on the North Shore. It really does look exactly like the north shore. Well, minus the waves and all the houses are made of bamboo. The area is just one road that goes right along the beach and on the other side is just a huge mountain range. So I get to go hiking every day which is cool because I do no exercise here. If you guys can believe that. My new companion is Elder De Guzman who is another Filipino that speaks no English. He is still pretty new to the mission but he is doing pretty well. Our house id pretty old and shotty but our church is rad. The Branch is not the strongest though. We had 60 people at church on Sunday so I have some work to do here. On Sunday I taught Sunday school, gospel principles, and spoke in Sacrament while my companion conducted. That's only because our Branch Presidents wife was in labor. But I will try to take some pictures of this place for you guys. We have a baptism coming up on Saturday but what I am excited about are the two families that we are teaching. I love family baptisms. I swear I had a bunch of stuff to tell you guys but I guess I forgot it all... I do have zone conference this Thursday and because my area is so far away I have to go to bacolod and stay in a hotel Wednesday night. Hopefully I remember how to speak Ilonggo! Oh yeah, this area is pure Cebuano, like straight up deep Cebuano. And they can't understand Illonggo at all here. I don't know why there are two completely different languages only like 2 hours away from each other but I guess thats just how Filipino's do it. As for the food here...fish. Nothing else. Rice and fish every day. You guys probably think of fish like tuna, salmon, those are like whales here. The crap I eat is like this size of my finger. But, Ill survive. haha Can't wait for the next package! haha Anyways, I love you guys and I am stoked that your house is getting all pimped out. I think I forgot how to use a cell phone. Oh well. I love you guys and miss you so much. The Church is true.

Elder Pulsipher

September 1, 2013

Hello,

Man this week was really hard for me. On tuesday we had a conference with President Lopez and in my interview with him he said that there would be a lot of changes soon. Then on Wednesday during a baptismal interview, the AP's called and said that my companion would be emergency transferred on thursday. So he packed up his things and I picked up my new comp in Bacolod. My new comp is Elder Inlayo who is a Filipino from Canada so he speaks perfect english. It is nice to be able to speak english for a little while but I have a feeling that I will be transferred next week. I am kind of excited because I have been here forever. On Saturday we changed up the routine a little bit and baptized a 64 and  an 89 year old lady. It was pretty sweet. The 64 year old was a recent converts grandma and he got to baptize her! The 89 year old is someone that Elder Cano and I have been teaching for a while. The baptism was pretty funny, I baptized the 89 year old and see kind of freaked out a little bit in the water but it went well. This last weekend was the fiesta in buena vista and I took a real toll on our teaching. No one was home and there was a whole bunch of drunk people that wanted to fight me in the streets. You gotta love the Philippines. Other than that, I did get a package (the one with the shirts in it). Thank you so much and I am excited to make the brownies. But, unfortunately my new companion likes to eat a lot, and he demolished my package in about 2 days. Its all good though because I am trying to be more like Jesus.  You guys all sound so good and Carlsbad sounds way awesome. But, I still have work to do here, all the ladies in Carlsbad will just have to wait another 14 months. I love you guys so much! I will throw some more pictures in dropbox and I hope you guys do the same. Oh, and look for me on facebook because we are supposed to use facebook now t find new investigators... I love you guys and I wait wait to here from you again next week.

DUECES

Elder Pulsipher

August 4, 2013

Hey guys,

So, we thought for sure that Elder Cano would be transferring, but no... We'll be together for at least another six weeks, which is all good because we get along really well and we both love to eat(a lot). We both decided that we have been in this area for so long because we have a purpose to do here. We also decided that we have not been as obedient as we should be. So yesterday we opened our transfer with a fast and decided to be exactly obedient. If we want to bring for miracles here in the mission field then we need to live the higher standard. But, I think that goes for all of us. This last week was really good. We worked really hard and are preparing a lot of people for baptism. We had 2 baptisms on Saturday but then there was a big rain storm on Sunday so they couldn't be confirmed. We were pretty bummed. There are supposed to be 4 more huge storms here in August so that should be fun but I hope that it doesn't interfere with our work. He are preparing 5 people to be baptized on Saturday(all teenagers), but one of them has a step-dad that doesn't like mormons and will not talk to us. We are gonna go talk to him tomorrow. Hopefully we can soften his heart and resolve some of his concerns. People here think the weirdest things about mormons. They all think that we are here searching for gold and we walk around with detectors all day. Other than her, four of them for sure will be baptized on Saturday so that will be exciting. I am super excited about this transfer and I can't believe how blessed I have been in this area. I am stoked that you guys are getting in on the missionary work. That's rad that dads new best friends are the missionaries. Ward mission leader??? That would be sweet. Well in other news, my shoes are pretty beat, one pair are pretty hammered and are not gonna last much longer. The other ones are practically brand new because they hurt like crap to wear. Ill throw some pictures on dropbox for you guys to check out. Don't forget that I love getting pictures of you guys too. I want you guys to know that this gospel is true. I have seen it change lives that I thought that there was no hope for(mine included). There is nothing that will bring us more joy and true peace in this life than living its principles, and sharing that joy with others. Thank you so much for the examples that you are setting for me and I love you and miss you so much. I pray for you every day and I hope that you feel my love even though I am on the other side of the world. Keep it real. Don't forget what you represent.

Elder Pulsipher 

August 11, 2013

Hey everyone,

Its true, it is my b-day week but feels pretty much the same. I don't know what a "staycation" is but I am stoked that you guys are gonna spend some time together. I am very tired today after a couple 14 hour days of straight proselyting but I gotta say that my joy if full. Saturday and sunday last week were probably the most rewarding days of my mission as of yet. Saturday was our baptism at the beach resort here and it was pretty sweet. And then yesterday we witnessed a straight up miracle at church. WE showed up at 8:50 because we were waiting for the boat for a long time but we were surprised that so many people were already there. But then we were even more surprised when people just kept on showing up. The sacrament meeting was rad, we had 5 confirmations and a new baby blessing and then Elder Cano and I helped all of our youth to prepare a musical number. "They all sand I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and President Gayon spoke and the spirit was so strong. After church, our branch president pulled us into his office and Elder Cano and I thought that we were in trouble or something. But, he just wanted to tell us how grateful the he was for our service here and how happy he was that the branch had progressed so much while we have been here. He told us that the attendance hit 70 and that's the highest its been in almost 14 years. I cant believe how many blessings that we have received and how many miracles that I have seen here. This area and our investigators here have completely changed my perspective on missionary work. I think that growing up i the church it is hard to see the effect that the gospel has on peoples lives. My testimony of the gospel and of the Lord preparing people for it is so strong. There is no doubt that this is the Lords work and that He is at the head of it. I am so glad that I get to be a part of it right now. But anyways, what is your plan for your "staycation"? Hopefully when I get home we go on a legit "vacation"... Because I am gonna need it. My body is so tired that I wasn't sure if I was gonna be able to stand up earlier this morning. But, then I stood up and somehow it was all okay. I am sure your all probably wondering was my big plans are for my B-day. Well, I will probably have weekly planning in the morning, and then I'll go proselyte for a few hours. My neighbor raises chickens for a living and I convinced him to give me one to kill and eat on my birthday. So that should be fun. I was thinking that maybe we could all pull a Joe Dirt and on the 16th you could all look up at the moon at like 9, then I could look up at it too and we could be like connected... But then i'll realized that I am on they other side of the world so that joke went bad. But anyways I love you guys, thanks for the B-day package that you sent, I still havn't got the last one so it probably got jacked. But Ill keep you all updated. Also, happy B-day to my big sis Kelly. Hope you can get poo bear off the boat and get him to take you somewhere nice. I love you all and miss you.

DUECES

Elder Pulsipher