note: We sent an email the same time he was emailing us. Don't worry, he did get it.

Hey family.

Everything is going really good and the work is great!! A lot has been happening in my life as a missionary, and I am moving forward with faith following the example of my Savior. I am kind of sad that I did not receive an email from you folks today, but I know how busy you all are. Just know I look forward to hearing about everyone and everything. You know missionaries love mail...(Proverbs 25:25) but anyways I am doing fantastic. Just doing work, and preparing for my next companion. It is pretty sure that elder Taylor will be stepping up to zone leader next week, and I will have a different companion next Friday. It is kind of scary, but I am ready for it. It is the time that my mission as a true missionary will begin. Just having all of the training I need as a missionary be finished and be on my own able to hold my ground is what I am striving for. It is funny because elder Taylor thinks my next companion will be super bugoy (disobedient) and that it will be really hard for me. I just know that I will not tolerate it if he tries to disobey because that is a companion's job. Ughh I am kind of stressing but it is all good. Just a lot of things going on. Well I still love all of you and I am having such a wonderful time here. I really feel close to my savior and I feel his love all around me. Yesterday there was an experience in which I really felt protection. So we were riding a bus home from Bayawan because there were baptismal interviews there and this bus was air con and usually on the air con buses they play movies. It was the only one we could ride though because we had to get to an appointment. So this movie was horrible. Rated R and so I was looking out the window or trying to sleep the whole time. We were about 5 kilometers from Siaton and I was looking out the window. I was thinking about my life and purpose as a missionary, and decided that I am going to do my best and not disgrace those whom I am representing. All of a sudden something came at the window, and it just hit really hard right at my head where I was looking out. The crazy thing is though that there was nothing that hit the window. Elder Taylor and I felt like it was Satan or some evil thing trying to get at us. The whole window was cracked and I was freaking out. I knew it was the adversary trying to get at us. Thanks to our obedience we were protected and the lord watched over us. It was such a great experience that I think has shaped what the rest of my mission will be. I am so glad I wasn't like watching the movie because if I was the window probably would have shattered and I could have been injured really badly. Literal craziness. I am so happy though that we were protected. It is so great and was such a testimony builder. Also we have a baptism on Saturday. Four adults are coming into the church. Three of which could quite possibly serve missions. It is actually highly likely. That is seriously the best convert!! One that goes on a mission after converted. Well things are all good here. Loving everything. It is crunch time though. I am still working on the language but it is coming along just fine. Well I love all of you and am so grateful for the support you all give me. Stay strong and remember to never forget that this life is for man to prepare to meet god. Let's not waste it.

Much love, Elder DeSchepper

NOT ABLE TO EMAIL EVERYONE

Jake hasn’t been able to write a mass email to everyone the last two weeks but wanted me to send his love to all of you. I thought I would share some excerpts from what he sent to me.

Mom!!
We were walking home the other night, and I was thinking about putting up the Christmas stuff with you. I got a little teary eyed, but I looked up at the stars and I just felt peaceful and happy. But it’s all good. Things are great here. I am so happy that Isaac’s baptism went well, and that makes me happy. We had a baptism last Saturday as well so in a way I felt like I didn’t miss Isaac’s special day.

But yeah so I will be able to Skype for Christmas. My companion and I are thinking Monday morning here like early. We don’t know what time exactly yet but I will let you know next week. So the mail gets to me from when the zone leaders or whoever goes to Cebu or when president comes here to our island. I got your package!!!! Thank you so much the food is so yummy. Oh and my companion loves you!!

So we eat some sort of fish pretty much every day here with rice. And sometimes we eat baboy (pig) that can be cooked tons of different ways. People here do whatever they can to buy food for their families. Fishing, driving pot-pots(little tricycle things that you can ride around town), sell or fix motorcycles, there are tons of bakery places too. There are some good treats, these things called quakes. kind of like a type of little debbies that we get every week. And we get bread a lot. It is so good here. The market here is called a chungy and it smells. I don’t really like walking through it because it reeks of fish, but yeah sometimes we walk through if we need eggs or oil or something. But every p-day we come to Dumaguete to do our grocery shopping at a grocery store called Robinson's. It’s cool.

Sometimes I drink the water, but mostly it is just from our house. We have a filter for our sink which is good. I never really got diarrhea or anything too bad. There are a lot of mosquitoes and cockroaches and little lizards everywhere, but not too bad.

I am in a branch, and we had like 55 people at church last Sunday. We are really working hard to reactivate less and inactive members but it is hard work. It is good though.

Everything is so great here!! My comp and I are working hard even though our branch is struggling. There is no budget for any activities... even a Christmas party. So we don’t get to really do anything like that with our branch members. It’s so sad because our branch is probably one of the poorest in the mission. And we might not have a very merry Christmas in Siaton.

I’m working hard to help the branch progress. So the training in Cebu was good. We learned more about how to progress as missionaries after the adjustment. To become real effective missionaries. That is my goal. My mission president is so awesome. We had a Christmas program/devotional/party for Negros Island and elder Pasikala and I performed a musical number, away in a manger. He played on a little guitar thing and we both sang. Then pres Schmutz gave us fist bumps when we sat down. He is just like a father/bro/greatest mission president ever. I love him! But yeah things are good.

Because here I realize how much I took for granted back home. Just be happy we have shoes r clothes or underwear or soap and food. It is so different here. But the gospel is true and I know it will help those who listen to the call of their father in heaven. I love being here and being able to be the instrument in the lords hands in which his children may attain life eternal. It is so great.

Thanks for being such a cool family, and being active in the lord's church. It is so great. Well I love you all so much and am so excited to Skype on Christmas!!

gugma gikan ang akong kasingkasing, Elder DeSchepper

New Focus

Hello all!! well here is my status report from the Philippines... clear skies and one paved road in my whole area (Siaton, Negros). i love it here. it is getting easier and easier being here, and being able to understand more and more Visayan each day. my comp and i have two baptisms on Saturday (same day as Isaac & Shelby) which is awesome. We had a zone conference with President Schmutz last friday, and there is new revelation that there is to be no more tracting in the entire Philippines... NO MORE TRACTING. It's crazy!! We are now focusing on reactivating members and getting families to the temple. this is so we can have a firm base to which we can bring more children into the fold and them stay in, instead of "baptizing into inactivity". So i am going to cebu tomorrow for a update training just for one day. it will be a long journey just to be in cebu for like 4 hours. (1 1/2 hour bus ride, 1 hour barge ride, 8 hour bus. and back again) butttttttt things are going really well. well a lot of good things happened this week, and i am just so happy to be a missionary. i eat a lot of fish and rice every day, but it is all good- part of the experience and most of the time it is really yummy. well yeah no much else going on besides the work. I'm loving it. I love not having to worry about anything else except for preaching the gospel. It's the life. Well i gotta go. Much love, kinamanguangan DeSchepper.

Photos from the MTC

First Full Week in the Philippines :)

All family and friends those whom I love so dearly,

This week was crazy. Technically my first full week as a missionary here in Siaton, and wow a lot has occurred. First of all, Visayan is way hard, but I know that if I am patient and work and seek the lord's guidance,i will eventually be able to speak all that is needed. As a missionary, there are certain standards set by the mission president to track the progress of missionaries throughout the mission. The standards are 20+ lessons a week, 140 i2l's(invite to learn), 7y7(7 days comp study, weekly planning, 7 daily planning), and our zone leaders have just instituted a new standard which is 5 copies of the book of Mormon a week. I have already seen some good missionaries, and some bugoy(disobedient) missionaries here in the mission, and the success of missionaries definitely is reflected by effort, and diligence. My companion, Elder Taylor and I, rocked the standards last week with 26 lessons, 144 i2l's and 7y7. I can already feel the success and the blessings that will come to us by our diligence. we have 8 investigators with baptismal dates, and this past week found 22 new investigators. i know that even though my Visayan is not the best, these people understand and feel the urgency of our message through the holy ghost.

so there were some funny/crazy experiences i had this week. first of all, on Friday while we were studying a man came and called to us saying he had just come from the Garcia's house, and that he knew the missionaries could help him. his name is Oliver and just by looking at him i could tell that he had not eaten for at least two days. very sad. he was really pleading and asking for help, and we decided that we would pay him some pisos to clean and trim up the weeds in our yard. he was super pumped, and started going to town on those weeds, which was cool. about and hour and a half later he asked for some water so my comp and i decided to take a break, and eat some pan with him. he asked us for 600 pisos so he could find a place for his homeless kids to sleep so we prayed and talked to pres and then decided that it was okay. so after that he left, and said he would come back tomorrow (Saturday) to keep working. he didn't show up until like 10 with one of his kids. he had bought him some briefs and thought it was necessary to show us. Filipinos are pretty open, but he was like super pumped to go to church and he said that he wanted to be baptized which was sick. so of course brother Oliver doesn't show up to church, we see him last night (Tuesday) riding his pot-pot around and when he sees us he pulls his shirt up over his face so we couldn't see him, we knew it was him though. funny stuff. BUT, the moral of the story is we gave a hungry man 12 bucks for him and his kids not to die. and maybe one day he will realize, once he runs out of money again, that the things of this world do not matter and will hopefully turn to the lord.

another funny thing happened yesterday ( Tuesday) when we went to Cabangahaw, another place in our area. we were going to teach two ladies and a tatay a lesson, but there was a drunk nanay, tatay, and some sister. they were SUUUUPER wasted so it was very distracting. we ended up not sharing with them, but while we were sitting there talking this old nanay, straight up 88 years old, was sitting in her hammock with her super long Marlboro cigarrio, and flipped out of her hammock. just fell... TWICE!! it was the funniest thing ever because of what she said(direct translation from Visayan) oh no i just fell from there to the earth. it is hilarious trying to talk to people in Visayan while they are drunk because they freak out when Americans can understand it.

oh so we get called guapo (handsome) like 5 times a day because elder Taylor is just super guapo. they all laugh, especially the girls, when we smile and wave. they try to hide behind each other because they are shocked that me guapo comp is smiling at them. it is fun stuff.

so yeah umm we are the only two elders in Siaton and our area is like a 30 minute bus ride from the next area closest to us. so its pretty big. we have a cool house with two bathrooms with shower heads that work, but the water is freezing. a cool kitchen, a little couch, a room for just our beds and fans, another room for our clothes and where we can hang our wet stuff. it is a pretty sweet set up, but there is no aircon but since it is so spacey and there are only two of us it is pretty cool, not too hot. so its cool.

from Cebu to Siaton it was a 6 hour bus ride, then an hour barge(boat) ride, and another 1 1/2 hour bus ride. so not too far... haha. but yeah it is pretty cool here on the mission. hard at times, but i know i need to be here doing work. it feels good coming home at night exhausted from a hard day of missionary work, and yeah i like this opportunity i have to serve the lord. stay strong and don't worry about me. i'm doing fine.

lots of gugma, Elder DeSchepper

SIATON, NEGROS-PHILIPPINES

Companion: Elder Taylor, Highland UT

Hey,

So i am pretty much here in the Philippines and everything is crazy. I have seen security guards walk around with guns, women breastfeeding just out in the open, Some people welding a metal gate in shorts and sandals, and just the most random things. So here in the pinnes all of the missionaries get called "Joe". Its pretty funny because they will just yell hey Joe! so onto more important things... My trainer/ companion is American. His name is Elder Taylor from Highland Utah and is way cool!! at first i wasn't sure if i wanted an American companion, but it is way awesome. if i have a question about the language it is easy for him to explain instead of there being a language barrier. My area is on the island of Negros, and it is called Siaton. There is a nice church building here, and on Sunday we had 53 people attend sacrament with 3 investigators. Oh dang i totally forgot but i didn't get to my area until Saturday. we had a baptism like 2 hours after we got there, and i was able to perform the baptism. Her name is shane villagantol potente, and she is 9 years old. Super cute little pinay. It was so spiritual being able to help her come closer to Jesus Christ and go through the gate of baptism.
But it is so beautiful here on Negros. I am falling in love with the food, and more so the people. There is a family in our branch who feeds us dinner almost every night. They are the Garcia's, and just love the gospel so much. tatay garcia was talking to me about himself, and said he is happy to be poor because at least he is rich spiritually. these people really understand how important Christ is. So yeah they are just so amazing, and nanay garcia cooks some bomb grilled isda (fish). I love it.
So we have been tracting up in the bukid(mountain) area, and in the past 2 days have found 7 new investigators. Our area is about to blow up with baptisms and church attendance. It is so awesome feeling how much the spirit really does touch peoples lives. It is the most important thing in my entire life, and i am starting to realize it more and more as i study and teach. I love being here. My companion couldn't count how many times through the day i say "This is crazy!!" because i am still in shock that i am really here in the Philippines. I'm so grateful for this experience.
My mission president is way cool, and i can feel his love whenever he teaches or anything. But yeah he has given me comfort that the language will come in time, and that through these experiences i will grow to be a better disciple of Christ. So if anyone has any questions about anything shoot me an email back!!! i would just love to tell all about the culture and people even though i am still learning about it.

WELL, I love you all with everything i can possess.

-Elder DeSchepper

p.s. the streets here are crazy!! no rules!!

November 10, 2011

CEBU-PHILIPPINES

Hey family!

I just want you all to know that I have arrived here in Cebu safe and sound. My mission president is great and his wife is fantastic as well!!! I will email next Wednesday all of my info and whats going on. like my comp and area and stuff. well got to go!!

lots of love!! -Elder DeSchepper