Heyo , weekly email.

This may be a bit distracted , I take this opportunity to watch videos on Mormon.org. I miss this , haha. HOW ARE YOU ALL!? Mom , you're back in the states ... I'm sorry to hear that. Haha , I prefer asia. Though I still don't understand anime. So let's talk about General Conference real quick ... who was stoked about that? That was a pretty awesome general conference if I do say so myself ... I know that was a couple weeks ago , but I'm still going over my notes - it was way good. Oh yeah.. we had a personal general conference here last Saturday. Wow. So good. Elder Holland , Elder Callister , and Elder Teh came and spoke. Meeting Elder Holland was obviously pretty awesome , as was meeting Elder Teh again and Elder Callister for the first time. I'll talk about that a little later.

So this week was hard , but always good haha. We got punted alllllll week long. We found 15 new investigators last week , but we got a second lesson with only a couple of them. It was rough. But Tuesday we came out of district meeting feeling pretty good and it was sunny for the first time in a while so we were in a mood to talk to everyone. After doing so for a while we came across an old man. And I'm sure why but I decided for a new approach , haha. The first thing we say I say "where's your house!?" hahah and he's "why?" "and we're like we're gonna teach your the truth" ... and then he started bauling! Haha I have no idea why but then with like lips quivering tells us how he needs a friend and is so poor and stuff , and we're like take this book ... read it ... we'll be back on Friday. But when we came back he wasn't home , haha , it was too bad. But we met a few other people who were home when we went back. So we'll see what happens there. Filipinos are way funny , you can be so blunt with them and they'll often prefer that over trying to get to know them and stuff. But the worst part is that filipinos are so incredibly insecure. I think I said that last week , but I'm getting tired of it. Why can't they just be honest if they're not going to be there. But no , they'll say "balik kayo!" which means come back another time and when we do ... they hide or are purposefully not there. It drives you nuts ... if they're not interested just say so!
So yeah , that was a majority of our work this week. Investigators come and go , and it's difficult in Baguio to get anyone over the idea that they need to come to church "TO BE SAVED!!!" . Usually we get the "isang lang and diyos, bruds." which is ... there's just one God , brothers... meaning your religion doesn't matter. In a sense that's very true , but people aren't accustomed to the idea that faith takes works. Anyways , so that was basically my week , not the most exciting but it's still being done in the Lord's way. I've been spending most of my personal studies recently trying to figure out what success means. The stupidest thing a missionary could ever do is to relate success with baptisms. It is naive and rarely happens , thankfully. But besides that I've been thinking how to measure myself as a missionary in order to improve. Is it how much I feel the spirit in my life , how much I feel the Gospel effecting those I teach , my own conversion , my own obedience... and so on. Preach My Gospel outlines it briefly , but I'm not comfortable with that short of a definition. What I found that I loved was actually in the Bible Dictionary. I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time last week so I'm trying to branch a little bit back into the New Testament and I loved the explanation about John the Baptist. Let's think about his life a little. He's a great prophet/man who has the aaronice priesthood. He's given an incredible responsibility to prepare the world for the coming of the Savior. He's the very last watchman to be called before Christ comes and so he spends all his time gathering a group of believers and ultimately followers. Then Christ comes ... and what happens? John the Baptist becomes a nobody. Of course he understand who Jesus Christ is , but how would be react if we were him? Even two of his followers , John and Andrew [I think?] left and became two apostles and were given authority than his. He then continued to live his life preaching but to almost no avail. He then gets thrown into prison and people doubt his conviction and his devotion to the Lord. So I'm not sure why that struck me , but I was thinking how amazing of a person he must have been. To have had a huge following of people , to feel so important , and then be left alone and die alone. But he followed with exact obedience to everything the Lord asked him to do and never questioned , murmered , or was upset with having the spotlight stolen from him. He was never given the authority given to others to baptize , in fact his baptisms were all done over again because it was only the baptism unto repentance and not for the holy ghost. That's sucess. Exact obedience and a clear understand of purpose. I've wondered periodically what my role is as a missionary , if I'm called to plant or harvest. And I've realized it's not the least bit important. There's a ton of ways to determine one's own success , but it never has to do with a standard or with anyone else. So that was one thing I loved reading. Also I've realized the importance of humility in the work. That's something I always have to watch and control , even in the small things.

Okay ... time is short so I'll talk about the Elder Holland conference. Basically we got there , anddd got front row ... or pew ... ha. But it was awesome. So so awesome. Finally the general authorities and Sister Callister showed up and we took a mission picture and then filed back into the chapel. Elder Gillies , an assistant , then conducted and Elder Holland told him it was the sweetest and most dedicated conducting he'd ever heard then kissed him on the cheek and told him he's conducting general conference in April hahaha. Then Elder Teh gave a short 5 minute remark and wow... I don't know why but instantly I was slapped in the face with his spirit. Then Sister Callister gave a great 5 minute remark , Elder Callister ... and AMAZING 5 minute remark , and then... the Legend... an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself .... EEELLLLDDDEEERRRRR HOOOOOLLLLLLAAANNDDDDD. Wow. You guys thought you had a good one with Elder Bednar. Try being a missionary and having the greatest speaker on earth pound at you for an hour the importance of your calling , what you are doing , and what not to do. I quote ... "Don't you go home and tell STUPID STORIES! of short-sheeting your companion or other hi-jinks that you shouldn't have done in the first place!!!" Oh man. I love his boldness. Then the line ... "You do not .. YOU DO NOT! have the right to damage the image of a missionary" Oh man.... so so good. Anyways , I can't say everything he said but I'll say that I'm quite confident when I went to sleep saturday nightafter getting home that was the most tired I've yet been on my mission. And we did nothing ... the only reason is because Elder Holland's spirit drains yours. It squashes it and makes it work.

I can't begin to explain how blessed we were to hear so personally from an apostle , and Elder Holland nonetheless. He shook all our hands and then later told us that was his interview with us , ha. He's like it doesn't take long ... 5 - 10 seconds only. But I can tell more about a missionary in 5 seconds of looking into their eyes than an hour of interview. ...wow.

Okay , I'm out of time but two things I wrote down to remember.

1. PLEASE! Inform everyone of the change of my address. Especially Sister Sturgess. That sweet woman still sends me cards , haha she's awesome. But the last few have still been to the old baguio address.
2. Tell June it's been like weeks now and no word... no excuse.
3. Write me letters , ASAP!

That's all.

I love you all , I'm all smiles as always. This work is incredible and ... has made a difference , haha. Hopefully I'll be able to send a package off soon.

-ELDER WHITE!!!-

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