Hello Everyone!!!
Last week was unthinkable...
Just like what I told you last monday, Brother Quita my short term trainee finished his term. We had our transfer announcements last wednesday, and guess what!!!? I am again Training!!! Training for the 5th time, So, Thursday was our Transfer Day. Bro. Quita & I woke up as early as 3 am. Why? Our area is super far from the Mission Office! I do not like waking up that early! After our preparations, We started to travel @ 4 am because we need to be in the mission office before 8 am. So, it takes 4 hours to get there. I only had 4 hours of sleep that day. Why? Wednesday night I helped Brother Quita to packed his things. Now, I am starting to dislike Transfer Day... Anyways, Our Zone Leaders last Wednesday announced that I am not just training, I am also the District Leader... Training & District Leader at the same time? What a Big Responsibility for me to handle! They also stated that Paco Roman never had a District Leader to be assigned in their area. I am not bragging this but I break a record. :)
Thursday was our Transfer Day, and despite of waking up @ 3 am and traveled @ 4 am I am still grateful that we arrived on time... I have seen some of my missionary friends last Thursday. The only former companion that I've had that I've seen last Thursday was Elder Hagen (the one who is originally from New Delhi India Mission) It is so nice seeing him there. He can now speak Tagalog! I was so surprised of that! Because in our time together He doesn't speak Tagalog at all. He also told me that He is now going back to his Original Mission for he already got his Visa. He left the Philippines last Friday. I will miss Elder Hagen, I have learned a lot from that man... And, I am super excited to introduce my Newest Trainee (Anak) to you... He is an American, He is from North Ogden Utah, He is super Health Conscious (doesn't wanna get fat) He just turned 20 last monday, and His name is ELDER MECHAM!!! He is fresh from the MTC (Missionary Training Center) And obviously Paco Roman is his first area... Let me tell you that his batch is the biggest batch in our mission, there is 30 new missionaries for our mission! And He is the only American Elder in his batch. Most of the New Elders are Filipino and there is one Samoan. I really thought that I will train a Filipino again. I was really confident about it. But when our Assistants to the President announced that He's my new Trainee, I was like, No way!!! Hahahaha. After the meeting we went straight to our area. The meeting finished around 1 pm. So, We traveled for 4 hours again. My Anak (trainee) is awesome! We were riding a Jeep back to our area, He started talking to the guy sitting beside him. He was talking to the guy in English, (The guy understands and speaks fluent english) At first they were talking about school, and then Elder Mecham started talking about the Gospel, He even invited the man to come to Church this Sunday. I was really impressed when he did that. And before we end our nightly planning that night I told him about it. He was really happy that I am impressed on what he did. That day We arrived in our area around 6 pm. We have such a little time to work, after we arrived to our beautiful apartment, We went straight to our Branch President's house and I introduced him to our Branch President and some of our Branch Leaders. And visited some of our Investigators and Less-Active Members. Thursday was really a tiring day for me. Friday, was our day for Weekly Planning in this Mission. Weekly Planning takes 2-3 hours. In weekly planning we plan for our goals for the coming week, and the people that we need to teach for the coming week. Elder Mecham haven't tried planning for his coming week before. So it's his first one... I really love doing Weekly Planning. It is truly a Spiritual Creation. The Holy Ghost is the Director of the plan and We are the Workers. In our Weekly Planning for the week of April 4- April 10. We goaled for 4 Baptisms. Elder Mecham wouldn't believe that 4 baptisms can happen in a week. Haha. So, Those 4 people are Angela, Mark, Edison, and Aries. They were interviewed last Friday, And Yes! They passed the Interview!!! Elder Mecham and I are so excited for them. The Lord truly sent angels to touch the hearts of the children of men. I am grateful that I was called to serve here and in this time. I am grateful to be Elder Mecham's Trainer. I already love him. We are both working with the Spirit. Service, Love, Trust, And Obedience are our strength as a Companionship. He is really doing great in his training. He just needs to learn more Tagalog, But I am grateful that He can already teach a principle of the Gospel in Tagalog. One of our Less Active member here thought that he is old in the mission because of his Tagalog. I also commend him for that. He is really doing great with the language. And there's more, My Anak (trainee) has a lot of Confidence, Faith, and a Big desire to help others come unto Christ. I can see that for our 4 Days together. He sometimes leads OYM'ing or talking to people about the Gospel without me telling him to talk to them. I am so lucky to be with this missionary. What more can I say?
Also as a District Leader I have a big responsibility. And one of them is to Strengthen, Serve, Love, and Teach my fellow missionaries in my District. There's 6 missionaries in my district including us. Rizal 1st and Rizal 2nd are the names of other areas. The missionaries in Rizal 1 are Elder Valdez (my batch-mate) & Elder Lewis, while Rizal 2nd's Missionaries are Elder Silva (my younger brother in the mission he is the last missionary that Elder Armatage trained) & he is also training a Short Term Missionary. We are District 4 of San Jose Zone.
Anyway, Paco Roman Branch is doing great! We are still trying to cure the problems that I have mentioned last monday. Last Friday we went to Elder Valdez and Elder Lewis' s area to interview one of their investigator for baptism. I interviewed him. Sadly he didn't pass. He is lacking of understanding the commandements and he still needs to strengthen his testimony. His baptism date was moved 1 more week. Our District needs to focus in Finding New Investigators and OYM's or Testifying to people. I know we can do it! I Love the missionaries in my District! Also, yesterday We had 42 people attended the Church, still low number of people because of the Harvest time. The Harvest of Rice here will kill our work, Everyone is busy! They're at the farm all day long! That is why last week we got punted a lot. But I have trust in the Lord that He will help us find ways to use our time wisely, just like what it says in Jarom 1:3. . .
And also, 10 Investigators came to church yesterday! We were so pumped! Our Investigators now understands the importance of coming to Church! Some of the members here told us that they have referrals for us and Less active members we need to visit this week. We are blessed by this wonderful members and branch leaders helping us here. I am looking forward for more miracles this week. Especially it's General Conference! I am so excited! I challenge you before the General conference happens, to list down some questions that you need to be answers. For sure the talks of our Church Leaders, Beloved Apostles, and Prophet may answer your question.
That's all for today...
ELDER ORDEJAN
Philippines Angeles Mission
Paco Roman Branch
San Jose Zone
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