receptive with a return appointment

receptive with a return appointment

hi mama,

nay! buhay pa! lifes going good! the past 3 days we have had a lunch and dinner appointment. truly the promised land.

so i finished reading dans mission book. time for round 2!  loved that book. great kid. 

a little bit more about my area, our house is a couple minutes walk from the chapel and there are an insane amount of members on the street! super fun! theres a couple youth in the final phases of their mission papers so we work w them everyday! very fun and sunny! 

and about the house. so we had a surprise apartment check and.... they were not stoked. but tons of love still! in dupax we were pulling off perfects!! 

but yeah timmy was talknig about cockroaches in our emails and joel mentioned he had a couple too. before my mish i thought that would freak me out but in dupax when i was washnig my clothes there was always a couple running around when i would rage on my yellowish white shirts, it was nice to have something to distract me. but yeah, cockroaches don't faze, super chill house mates. and everywhere has like salamanders on the walls but they are your friends bc they eat flies n stuff so you invite them in. but other than that we've had mice! but back home that stuff freaked me out but its been fun having them around. occasionally they pop out and it is fun trying to keep track of them. basically i'm shocked that they don't faze me anymore! you just adjust. but then he started eating the cereals you sent! so Elder Castro managed killing 3 with a broom! the kids a whiz. i only thought there was one but the fact that we've killed three explains a lot.

on a more spiritual side, i met a man i never want to forget. his name is paul and he has had it rough since birth. his body has some issues meaning he can't control his legs (knees and down) and can't use his right arm hardly at all. super hard to explain his body but he gets around by crawling on his knees with like pvc caps on them (his legs are folded in half, like feet touching his thighs) and his left hand. or he will drag himself on the dirt floor of his house. the members built him a tricycle hand crank bike for getting around. he bikes every sunday over 5 kms to church. and seeing him crawling around at church makes me literally feel guilty standing up. the thing about his bike is he lives at the bottom of a rough bumpy dirt road. so we taught him and sung to him "be still, my soul". after the opening verse, we were all pretty much in tears and then we shared DC 101: 35-38. the spirit was insane. hard to explain what this man means to me. my whole mission has been worth it to meet him. 

i never want to forget this man, paul

another cool experience was to interview 3 people for baptism (responsibility of a district leader). 1 on 1. tagalog lang. all three took close to an hour and all were very different and special. the first was a 12 yo who blew me away with his desire to get baptized and knowledge from the lessons.  we were in a very cool location surrounded by jungle and a cool view. then his mother, testified how grateful she was for you for raising me in the church and giving me that blanket of safety even when i maybe didn't want it and how important that is for her son. again some tears. i love interviewing. 

this week has been spiritual almost every lesson. saw tears from lots of people. w so much love,  i told a LA lady "you need to repent and come back to church". 

sorry, but these once a week letters don't even cover 10% of the mission experince. my journal maybe 50. theres just so much. 

ugh love it.

hymn 124 Be Still, My Soul

"when disappointment, greif, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, loves purest joys restored."

"thy best, thy heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to  a joyfull end" 

TATAY KEARL 

asia

3 tatays 3 snakes

ere day here

street vending bc the misions cheap on us

25 kilos cuz we hungry

tricys here have mirrors sooooo like a filipino SELFIES 

first dunkin donuts here

family find 

mice kill

i hope some trials come quick so i don't waste my time

hi mama

currently in the craziest net shop. i'm talking over 100 super high tech computers in a big hip shop w insane chairs just chalk full of asians playing crazy asian computer games. this place is getting me going!! 

so first off, my anak (child) is a champ and i'm in the utah of the cauayan mission! he has perfect english and classing filipino mission hype. just loves being a missionary. he's insane cute, sometimes we will be deep in the scriptures and we will just say like "yeaaaaahhh" with a fist bump. he's constantly saying stuff like "we can do it" or is always saying "thanks so much". sometimes some people will shew us away and he will say "aww man i wanted to teach them so bad". he's the man. 

so we are opening the area of Alicia (Ah-lesh-ah) ward in the Alicia stake. the sister missionaries who belong here are so hardworking that there area split into 2. super strong ward with over 230 in attendance and full callings with dedicated members. they love missionaries and we love em back. i've had a meal appointment every night and 2 on sunday. the bishop is a spiritual powerhouse and almost teared up when saying how grateful he is that we came to help. the wards helping us get to know the area and people. on our first day this 70 y/o man spent 5 hours walking around with us and showing us around. he loves working with the missionaries. tuscany ward has got to step up its game. 

it's pretty weird opening an area. for example when we arrived in alicia sentro we had to ask a random tricyle driver where our house was and luckily he knew! i have roommates as well called Kabahays. they are younger then me in the mission and ones training his comp. so 2 tatays and 2 anaks. they are obedient, super fun and even funnier. just firecrackers. ones first name is Rixie Red so that pretty much explains him. 

the area is a little different than BamBang. no mountains at all. flat as far as the eye can see and our area goes to some pretty weird, small and depressing towns. 

its dang hot and i often quote will ferrel by saying "that heat is tremendous". pretty much the northern mexico of the philippines. super cool working with a strong ward and learning how to work effectively with them. 

pretty cool sitch because everything is fresh! the comp hasn't been touched, the area hasn't been touched in like 6 months, and even the area book with records of investigators has like 2 records. so everything is ours for the molding. completely our style which is cool. 

so i thought i would deal with the usual uncomfortable adjustment process like i have in the past in the MTC's, my first area and when my tatay left but it has been honestly a blast every minute. this is what people mean when they say "the best 2 years". couldnt be better! 

and to close and top it off i got your package and christmas letter! the family christmas letter is gold and a trt. cherish. and the trts in the package were a trt.

my fav is dans book you sent (side note from julie:  i made a hard cover book with all of dan's emails and pictures from his mission in micronesia guam). i've read it every free minute i get and can't get enough. love that guy. quite a bit of tagalog in there which is neat. and it was cool reading what dan said about his companion, Elder Garcia's family, especially because i met and taught them in my last area. 

but i can't help but ask for a few more things INCASE you send another package. actually all i really need is cheap things from the LDS store online and you could just ship em for free to the mish. so some small leather hymn books and gospel photo books would be great for members and other missionaries. also tagalog triples for Recent Converts ($5). and i would LOVE a small quad with a flap for me. blue if you can do that. i have a list ill bring next time and i kinda hate asking for things but i know you love sending things soooooo.....

i hope some trials come quick so i don't waste my time! if you aint learning what are ya doing? am i rite??!?

Hymn 196 - jesus, once of humble birth

"Once a meek and lowly lamb. Now the Lord the great I Am." 

Tatay Kearl 

update from mission mom

Hi Sister Kearl 

Your son has completed his root canal and all is well and he is ready to train.

His new area is close to the dentist but not expecting any problems.

President said today in training that "Elder Kearl is sharp, on the ball and a great missionary."  He is happy, healthy and enthusiastic about the work.

We love him!

Thanks for 'training' him up well.

Love Sister Hiatt 

a mission isn't the best 2 years of your life....but FOR your life

MOM.....I'M GOING TO BE A DAD! 

got a call from prez way up north telling me the Lord trusts me and knows i'm prepared to train a new missionary, open an area and all while continuing in my District Leader serivce. it just keeps piling up! so opening an area means the 2 missionaries from that area are pulled out or white washed for some reason, sometimes for no reason sometimes for some chastening and me and my comp are going to somewhere brand new with no idea of what's going on. i'm stoked!! i'll be getting an Anak (child) and becoming a tatay (dad). theres even one coming from berta!! 

so dentist again, all my face poision still hasn't drained so i'm returning again. her x-ray machine is like 50 years old!! thats about it there, found out the tooth hole goes pretty deep.

so this all means im leaving beloved Dupax del Sur. oh man, del sur. in my service there so far, i have taught 587 lessons and contacted 667 strangers. we have moved chapels, gotten bikes, broke them, repaired them, had one stolen and a couple weeks later returned, baptized a convert, rescued a less active family of 8, i've given 9 talks, always taught at least one class on the fly every sunday and a lot of sunny days. theres even talk of moving area boundaries now! 

there is lots to miss from that area but a couple things are on the top of that list, the neighbourhood kids are a big one, the super old, like 90 yo man i see every morning as i lift my weights, rambunctious 3 yo babe with his sidekick grandma, my insane sketchy bike that rattles while i ride, the couch, and my extremely amazing and humble Branch presidency + all my nanays (moms). a truly fine place to be born. 

that seems to be about it, hard to stay calm right now because i am just stoked to have a child and see whats in store for me. a mission isn't the best 2 years of your life but for your life. its been a cycle thats for sure and i'm excited for the future!! come what may and love it right

Hymn 134 I Believe In Christ

"I Believe in Christ so come what may." 

TATAY Kearl 

(and here in the philippines if someone is like grandpa or grandma, you call them nanay or tatay then their first or last name. so just call me papa kearl)