Sunday, December 18, 2016

Christmas

Hello.

So this week was a busy one. SO so busy. We had a choir performance at a local mall, two sets of exchanges and a whole lot of other things to take care of. It was a great week. Just busy. This is going to be a super short one because we cut short on time.

But yeah. Christmas season is a great time to be with the family and enjoy their company. And most importantly we get the chance to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It's great. I love this season and am so happy to share it with people this season. Hope you guys have a great Christmas season with your families. Until next week!

-Elder Bondoc

Meet Elder Flores. He's like a carbon copy of me. He's half Filipino and brand new on the mission. Great guy. 
All the missionaries who participated in the choir performance. We got pizza. It was awesome. Next stop SM. 

Sunday, December 11, 2016

False Limitations

Hey.

This week was SUPER DUPER busy. We were swamped with work, meetings, reporting, practice, and a whole bunch of other stuff that we barely had any time to breathe. But we managed. It was great though! We've been practicing for the past couple of weeks for a choir performance this upcoming Saturday. Super nervous but also super excited! We also had MLC this week. All the mission leaders got together to discuss the needs of the mission and what might help it improve even more. It was great and I learned so much! We also had Zone Training which was super awesome. I love learning from insights of other missionaries. We were able to give a workshop too! 

That leads me to the topic of our workshop and the topic of the week: False Limitations. We all have standards. We all set goals and strive every day of our waking lives to achieve those goals. But do we know why our standards are the way they are? And the same goes for how high we set our goals. Sometimes I think we're too scared to aim high, to achieve what seems impossible. We give ourselves these false limitations and set for substantially less than what we know we are capable of. I think if we break that attitude and strive to do something more every day, we'll undoubtedly achieve all the goals that we've ever set and will ever set in our lives. Needless to say it won't be easy. It takes a push, or even sometimes a forceful shove, to get to where we've dreamed of going. But we can get there, through patience and our effort to do so. I know that our Heavenly Father has high expectations for each and every one of us. Although we might not be perfect, he's give us every capacity and capability in order to do not only what we want to do, but what He wants us to do. And with that the seemingly impossible becomes reachable. Mosiah 4:27 says, "...it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize." So whatever our "prize" may be in this life, we be as diligent as ever in obtaining it. And by that, the Lord will certainly help us in every step of the way. Thanks for the emails everyone. I'll catch you again next week.

-Elder Bondoc


MLC




Sunday, December 4, 2016

Music

Magandang tanghali sa inyong lahat.

So this week... Brother Rexon and Sister Hermay were baptized! They're investigators that have been taught by missionaries for over a year now. It was such a special experience to help them finally reach their goal to be baptized. To say it was a privilege to be a part of their conversion would be an understatement. It was awesome. We were also put in a temporary trisome with another missionary named Elder Mercado. It was a good change and super fun! But other than that this week was full of work and a whole lot of other things. We ended up organizing a mission choir composed of 20 missionaries all over the mission. In about 6 hours we prepared 6 songs to sing to all the Stake and District Presidents at a dinner held by our Mission President. It was sweet. 

So that brings me to the topic of the week: Music. I think I've mentioned the power of music before, but this week I think I got the chance to understand it even better. Music is another form of communication, in my opinion. It's a way to express one's desires and emotions, especially with Christmas music. I don't think I ever gave really appreciated Christmas music as much as I do now. I feel a different sort of spirit when I hear Christmas music. I don't know what it is or why... But I love it. Hopefully we all get a chance to do a bit of caroling this Christmas season. Even if it's the classic belting of your favorite Christmas song should do. D&C 25:12 Hope you all have a great week! Talk to you next week!

-Elder Bondoc

Pictures of the Baptism