Letter #93 (15th May, 2013)

hey all,
this week has been good. We continue to become familiar with the area,
and this past Monday we were able to get a member list for our branch.
It gave us an idea of the members we are yet to meet in the area we
are working in the branch also, in helping the branch to progress as
well as Bagakay. The list shows around 500 members on list of which
there are around 100 in the areas Elder G and I are working at
the moment. We are going to continue to work closely with Elder
Pn and Elder U to help to strengthen all these members
as well. It has been hard to keep track of the members in the areas we
are working in especially since twice a month we have sacrament in
Bagakay and don't get to see if they are at church or not, but we work
with the other elders to get this information. We are beginning to see
some progress in the branch with members starting to come back and
strengthen their testimonies, becoming more converted to the gospel.
The members in Bagakay are doing well. The progress is slow, but
steady. It can be really hard sometimes because they really need us to
explain well the doctrines so they understand, and so the problem we
are finding is we are taking longer to explain the doctrine so they
understand it well and can apply it to their lives, cutting the time
we have to visit more people in a day. It really presses us for time,
trying to balance teaching these people so they understand and
teaching lots of people in a day. I have a feeling it will be a
struggle to reach all or lessons for  the week, but feel
that it is much more important to help these members and investigators
to truly understand the gospel and how it applies to their lives. This
last week we hit 21 lessons which made me feel excited for the work
that it will be possible if we strive everyday.

Elder G is doing great too. His attitude is amazing. He is
really striving to learn from everyone around him and absorb all the
information he can. He is working on learning scriptures by topic and
is always asking for new scriptures about the topics we are teaching.
He is going to become a great missionary and a great leader in the
future. He has a great love for the people around him and he is always
willing to help. We are sort of keeping up on the 12 week program...
not that we are falling behind, but it is a challenge to fit
everything in each week with the schedule we have. We take time for
extra study at every opportunity we have to continue to improve our
teaching skills and practice the skills and doctrine we will teach.
I am loving this transfer. It has been good to see Heavenly Father testing
me in this area, even though it is most probably my last. Especially my patience...
 I have definitely felt him testing my patience with myself and with others.
It has been good.

The district has been doing well too. They seem to be holding up well,
and their work is improving. They are keeping their area books updated
and we are encouraging using the new and returning progress records in
the meetings at church. We hope this will help to increase the member
involvement in the work we are doing.

Yesterday I went on exchanges with Elder P. He and I just sort
of clicked when we met one another, like long lost brothers or
something. We get along really well and he is a great missionary
trying to become better every day. He loves talking to people, even
though he still struggles with the language being fairly new in the mission.
He has such great charity for the people around him.

Monday we tried to work but we just ended up going back to the house
to study. It wasn't very crazy at all here... just a normal
election... sort of the same sort of busy as back home with everyone
lining up at the local school to vote and what not.

Hahaha... if only we had dinner appointments! we have one family that
feeds all 6 of us elders once a week. They are from manila and brother
works as a manager up at the mine in carmen. But our dinner schedule
looks like this... Mon- Caesars (the Aussie guys place), Tues- angels
burgers (take-out burger stand), Wed- dinner appointment, Thur- angels
burgers then Branch presidents house, Fri- we usually cook, Sat-
angels burgers (yes, again... basta we come back from Bagakay or Casoy
this is our dinner), Sun- dinner appointment or cook. So thats that...
and it seems to be doing well cause I'm putting on weight again... up
to almost 60kg. (He's always trying to put on weight! haha)
So not much else to say too... seeing we talked on Sunday. I'll send
the photos to Reilly.
Miss you,
Love you tons
Elder Taylor Addison Cox