Sunday, April 23, 2017

had salsa for the first time in like 10 months and now i'm trunky

NANAY!

another week went by quick!! with some funny things to report first for the freakin skimmers out there. 

so my comp is a funny guy and whenever we see naked boys running around he just looks at 'em and does a scissor motion with his fingers suggesting amputation type business. also people will warn little boys that dogs will bite it off! cracks me up every day! 

had salsa for the first time in like 10 months and now i'm trunky :(. Elder Ambaliza is a replica of Eric, laugh and everything  and he's a trt and we work hard with some fun! and also the road going up to our apartment is insane sketchy and if i get a new camera i'll video it and send her out. love it tho. im talking narrow and quick with tons of people, tricys and cars. 

more serious note for those who actually care. this week has changed my life a bit. Elder Ambaliza and i have been trying to improve our teaching alot bc we are the youngest ZL companionship in the game and i realized how much i love teaching and speaking tagalog. we put lots of time into it and i've been trying so hard to focus and results have come! baptisms on the way! i've improved a lot these past few weeks and i am really loving it out here. we hardly have time to eat before going to bed but i wouldn't have it any other way. 

recently got asked a question that i want you all to think about and i would love to hear your answers: what was your defining moment? 

mine is when i was in the MTC learning about the plan of salvation. we were talking about Adam and Eve and the fall and a lot of things instantly clicked. Earth life is hard and it's supposed to be. we are here to go through trials, make mistakes and repent. we needed to come here to truly learn from experience and without this time we would not be ready for our responsibilities in the Celestial Kingdom afterwards. i want to explain this more but i have 4 and a half minutes before the computer shuts down :) but this understanding, reinforced by additional studies and repentance has solidified my testimony and attitude. alma 34:32 means alot more to me now and i love trials! (expect this stupid heat)

KEARL 

Monday, April 17, 2017

apartment is so freaking nice and clean and organized which calms my l'il OCD heart

teaching at zone conference

NAY!

i'm in CAUAYAN! the city! the apartments like nicer than our home!  i'm now with Elder Ambaliza in the Cauayan Zone living in Christian Village in the nicest apartment this mission has to offer. 

more specifically: this is Elder Ambaliza's third cycle as a Zone Leader and he is now training me as a new Zone Leader. he is super freaking hard working and obedient which is awesome and its been hard to keep up with the guy! i'm learning tons but also realize how much more i have to learn! he is only slightly older than me in the mission but is pretty streets ahead. it feels like i'm a new missionary with him and have had lots of weaknesses come to light which is good, and we are getting there. he only will speak english to me but then in return i only speak tagalog to him so its kinda funny if your listening to us. he's fun and always says "you're in the wrong neighborhood son!" and he has a scary deep voice. were having fun together. 

we are covering the Cauayan Zone which is full of some amazing missionaries. my first day on the job we had to teach our zone a lesson based off a previous council meeting i never attended but it went smooth with a strange little incident that was a good learning experience. but that was my first zone meeting and my last as now the missions all over the world will no longer hold them :/ she still goes. it's weird though because as i was teaching i felt so stoked for our zone. seriously like a weird love increase. super fun. 

The apartment is on the top of this kinda hill and offers a cool view and its in the rich part of Cauayan. the apartment is so freaking nice and clean and organized which calms my lil OCD heart a lil compared to the last trash can we were living in. 2 floors, small, washing machine, shower head, couch, a cushy chair. we are living like kings! also our room mates are the Assistants and are amazing elders and its fun seeing them at nights as they are wizards in the doctrine and leadership plus super super nice guys. we also get rides down to the mission home if we are all going over there in an actual car! also our church is at the mission home location so we sneak in and copy papers and stuff. good perks. 

our area tho is good as well but far. kinda interesting with some good success and people. not much to say from that other than some awesome nanays are offering us maryendas (snacks consisting of soda pop and crackers/cookies) daily! but Easter is weird here because this place is insanely catholic. so they call it holy week which means thursday, friday and sunday, no one works or leaves their house bc Jesus died. hard to teach, but my comp killed it. had to remind lots of members were not catholic tho. also so many strange things are against the rules bc they are trying to respect Christ's death which is cool but what do you the rest of the year? no chocolate or Easter bunny on this island!

the rest of the pics wont work :/ sorry. but i had one of a guy wearing a centenial coytoes shirt for my south crew friends! 

yeah and the other thing would be that i read the talks given at Grandma Rosenvalls funeral. it was a great experience. it bummed me out tho bc i wish i knew her a little bit better but helped me realize how amazing of a woman she was. hearing those stories were amazing! i felt pretty weird with some heavy but peaceful and nice emotions. love being a rosenvall. 

that should be good. got no more time :)

KEARL!

a chicken in bits and pieces

the comp

Monday, April 10, 2017

no pics but a new calling for the boy

hi mama,

NAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EMILY, DAD, AND LOLO KEARL!! miss you, love you, keep your eye on the mail.

hey, in response to you asking about by bday package, anythings good but i pretty much got everything i'll ever need. so don't stress about anything. just letters would be nice. or that Birthday banner thing like you made for dan on his mission and anything you can send me on grandpa rosenvalls b of m research stuff to read.

so a little bit of an announcement: i'll be leaving my sweet tender child and thrown into a new area with a new calling, i've been called to be one of the 22 Zone Leaders in this mission. mentally, i feel to young to handle this and my 14 yo body seems a little bit out of place but i feel calm and ready. should be fun. 

so i'll jump into a pretty cool find we had. We found 2 less actives who both served missions and got sealed. it was interesting teaching these super fun and funny people but we only used questions and barely talked. you could tell the Holy Ghost did the teaching and correcting. they both want to be active but they are pretty offended from other members (really big issue here). they said they are shocked with their lives and how far they went off the plan they originally set. "on your mission you make such a solid plan, what happened to us?" kinda stuff. pretty emotional and real. ended with tons of love, small commitments and priesthood blessings. i'm excited to see what happens with them. 

with conference, it hit me pretty well. i learned a lot and was corrected/chastised a lot. yeah, i got some figuring out to do. but ironically what stood out for me the most was about leadership. this was before i knew of my new calling. it's all about being an effective warner (D. Todd Christofferson), Correcting correctly (Uchtdorf), using love (S. Mark Palmer), trusting them to learn for themselves (?), and also remembering that the direction is more important than the speed. 

and also how annoying is it to constantly be pushed?! paitence, Gods got this whole thing figured out. 

not much more to say other than i love Grandmas. Nanays are the best. RIP to all my Alicia 1A nanays :/ 

hymn 142 Sweet Hour of Prayer 

"And since He bids me seek His face, believe His word, and trust his grace, Ill cast on Him my every care and wait for thee sweet hour of prayer"

no longer TATAY KEARL, Elder Kearl na lang :/ 

Sunday, April 2, 2017

"you know what Elder? your doing very very well. keep improving, you got this"

my 2 fav boys :) reminds me of some kearl cousins
Hi mama,

NAY!

man what a sunny trip you had in utah with the kids.  glad you enjoyed it! 

pretty interesting week to be honest.  so I started with ANOTHER package from you! and a third letter from oma! she put in an email from Celine Horne and Ben Velasquez and i loved it. that woman is so amazing wow. any way i got some pretty awesome plans for the church stuff package you sent. im going to send most of that stuff to people in the mission and i'll let you know how it goes. also big plans for the big quad. you are a trt. best missionary mom in the PCM! 

oh, also i ate some cobra!! yeah it was funny.

so the interesting things. tuesday and wednesday were actually really hard for me. i was discouraged, not able to focus, feel the spirit, or just feel enjoyment. i was sick of it so asked the Anak to bless me. he did so ever so humbly and i've been reinforcing it with some deep personal prayers and my life has done a 180! i've felt some truly deep and true joy and happiness. amazing advances in my tagalog and a handful of other tender mercies. but ultimately i've just been feeling satisfied. i stepped up my obedience a bit and have seen lots of other little things change as part of it. me and my anak are really focusing on exact obedience. it's hard, but it all pays off and also I love Heavenly Father sooo. just a nice calming feeling like "you know what Elder? your doing very very well. keep improving, you got this" i'm studying the white hand book like none other and the scriptures in there give such a deep and better understanding to certain commandments were given. an interesting one is in james 3:1-13. you cant have a fountain that has fresh water and salt water. same with our language! 

Anyway, something fun here. they use the word "pag-asa" or in english "hope" to mean GF or wife. for example they say i have no hope but referring to a lover. idk kinda gets me hyped. and the kindness and patience out here is insane!! but its almost too much. people will never correct you or be strict at all. like the children here are kinda out of control and there's even some dogs in sacrament! just no one wants to say anything to be mean.  its a little frustrating at times. but maybe i just gotta get more into it. 

the works been slowing down a bit but theres some cool things happening. lots of good work from our supportive ward, love em and good work in our furthest barangay while the closest is pretty anti us. a pretty good "I love being a missionary" kinda week. 

so i studied the 10 gifts to bring home talk and it really hit me and helped me re evaluate my mission. things i've been doing well and things i need to focus more on. i've been doing well with gaining a love for my scriptures, my parents, understanding the holy ghost, faith to act and also the power of prayer. but the things i need to work on are loving the people, my personal virtue and also working harder. 

thanks for the talks! i really really love it and appreciate it. excited for next week when i can watch conference. 

so i can only acsess my chequing account. my camera is improving so don't worry about sending me money for a new one.

Hymn 19 "we thank thee oh God for a prophet"

"when dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us and threaten our peace to destroy, there is hope smiling brightly before us, and we know that deliverance is nigh. we doubt not the lord nor his goodness."

KEARL
chilling.  waiting for a super small van full of like 15 filipinos

don't really understand this one

my childs milk creation


an american cow trick

my BB

love it

cat find


some alicia 1A legends

chocolate