Hello my dear friends and family!

Well we had another good week in Lubao. We were able to get Jhonmer baptized. The other Sisters in our branch had two really solid baptisms as well. They all gave amazing testimonies, the Spirit was so strong! One of the best parts of being a missionary is hearing recent converts bear their testimony; it helps me remember what I felt when I obtained one. The harvest has been fruitful for sure! Lubao is growing!

We've been struggling with getting our investigators to church these last couple weeks. We've only had one or two come. We're hoping to coordinate with the branch and have a fireside or some kind of activity where our investigators can see what the church is like. Hopefully we can figure something out!

We did a zone service project where we cleaned the weeds around a fish pond. We got to go fishing after which was pretty fun! Nothing like Idaho fishing but hey it was pretty worth it. We had a delicious lunch afterwords. One thing I learned about Filipinas, they aren't scared to bait a hook. They tried to teach me how to bait it "their way" and I was like excuse po I'm from Idaho I think I'll show you. Anyways I almost ended up as bait. Ok I'm sounding a little too country now. We had a good time.


1 Samuel 16:7 "... for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

I really enjoy this verse, we need to always remember that we are equal in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. Elder Marvin J. Ashton said:

“When the Lord measures an individual, … He measures the heart as an indicator of the person’s capacity and potential to bless others.

“Why the heart? Because the heart is a synonym for one’s entire make-up. …

“The measure of our hearts is the measure of our total performance. As used by the Lord, the ‘heart’ of a person describes his effort to better self, or others, or the conditions he confronts.”

Thank you for all you do to serve your brothers and sisters around you. The gift of the gospel is the best gift you could give. Have a good week!

-Elder Furniss​

​robbin padilla jr.

​our rice cooker has wifi​

miguel family (less actives)​

I will come to you

Good afternoon! This week was awesome, we found a family named the Sotomayor family and they seem really cool. They are of a family of 10! We've just been finding some big families these last few weeks! Our part member investigator Jhonmer is getting baptized this week.

We were able to teach the Tala family, but it's kind of hard to keep them focused on the lesson. They really like to talk haha, especially the nanay (old lady). They are super super kind to us though, and they always gather their whole family together to listen to our message. I really hope we can be able to get them to come to church soon.

I have always heard people talking about how everyone has their own time when they'll be ready to accept the gospel, I just never had really experienced it until this week. My companion and I had decided to go visit one of the members in our area to see if they had any referrals for us. So we went to an older couple and visited with them for a bit and then without us even asking the sister says "Elders, follow me I'm going to take you to one of my friends, who needs the gospel." So we get up and follow her and she takes us to the Orgiente family. Apparently the past missionaries had tried to teach them for ages, but they weren't interested. This time when we tried, they let us right in and were super excited to listen. The dad had had a near-death experience at work where he was driving a truck full of dirt and he ended up sliding off the road, totally crushing the truck; he however ended up without a scratch. He and his wife both testified that it had to have been a miracle for that to happen. So we talked about that for a bit and then taught them about the Restoration. We extended a baptismal date to them for March. We are helping them work towards getting married before then.

I just want to share a scripture real quick that I've been thinking about this week. In Mosiah 7:33

"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

We all have temptations, weaknesses, and trials that in a sense "bind" us. It can be a real struggle sometimes honestly, and sometimes we feel all alone in that struggle. One thing I've come to learn on my mission is that it's usually at this moment of this trial when our Heavenly Father manifests His love so strongly to us. We are told in John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." I just want to bear my testimony that I know that our Heavenly Father knows each one of us and that if we turn to Him He will indeed deliver us out of bondage. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope you all have a good week. Keep doing what you're doing! You are awesome.

-Elder Furniss​

​reunion with the furniss lineage at Shamboli's pizza in Subic bay​

​bebeh quail #yum

Jhonmer and I​

​some more friends​

The tropa​

aka hard working​

​This jeepney driver has met the missionaries before..

One wild but amazing week

Mayap a gap-panapun!!!

That's Kapampangan for "good afternoon."

Well this week was pretty good. We reached our goal for new investigators and were even able to teach a couple families! We were able to teach the Roque family, a part member family that hasn't been to church in years. Only the mom is a member. The mom said that she was pretty surprised that we were able to get her husband to listen us, she said that he refused to listen to the sister missionaries when they were here. So I thought that was pretty cool. The only problem with the dad is that he only speaks the native dialect of Kapampangan so the Spirit has been working overtime to carry our words for us. It's a good thing we have his wife to translate for us. But hey at least I can say good afternoon!

We weren't able to teach our investigator Stanley or the Tala family which was pretty disappointing. They just weren't home and we weren't able to contact them. I hope we'll be able to teach them next week. On the upside though, our investigators Jhasmine and Edjohn came to church! Edjohn is a part member (his uncle was baptized just a few months ago) and he is really cool! Jhasmine is one of the Sister missionaries' previous investigators that we've been teaching. They are both starting to develop firm testimonies of the gospel.

We are baptizing a part member named Johnmer on the 27th. He's a 9 year old and he can't read yet but we're helping him out by reading with him and having his cousin read with him. His cousin is an RM who just got back and he's been present in all our lessons with him which has been a big help. We taught him the Plan of salvation last week, which for some reason was really hard to explain to him. He's all good now though!! I'm going to buy some fabric to make him a white shirt and pants this week for his baptism. He sure is a good kid!

We had surprise apartment checks last week and the Rollins couple (the mission nurse and her husband) were the ones to do it. My companion was still in the shower at the time so that was kind of awkward but it all worked out. Before they left they asked if they could share a spiritual thought. Sister Rollins shared from the October general conference talk "I have a work for thee" by Elder Pingree. Here are some of the things she shared: “The Lord has more in mind for you than you have in mind for yourself! You have been reserved and preserved for this time and place." She also talked about developing spiritual gifts, praying to know your spiritual gifts, and using experience from your trials to help others. One way to find out our spiritual gifts is by reading our Patriarchal blessing. I know that has blessed me so much since I've been out here.  Elder Rollins shared about the difference between Priesthood power and authority. It was really really cool and it made my day. To make things even better, they brought a letter that my Bishop had sent me before Christmas. On the inside of the letter it started off with "this probably won't make it to you in time for Christmas" but in my eyes it came just at the right time. That letter gave me an extra boost of strength and motivation to help me get through the week. I am so thankful for a Bishop that cares about me that much. And I am so thankful to Heavenly Father for getting that letter to me just at the right time. It truly was a tender mercy.

I'm thankful for all the support I have received from back home and for my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I testify that they know each one of us and want what's best for us. We will come closer to them if we humble ourselves and keep the commandments. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Philippines loves charcoal and salt. They put it in everything.

Bananas

That's me trying to pick up my anak. They grow up so fast.

I saw my anak (trainee) and his anak my apo (grandkid) I have a pretty good posterity.

We ate at a place called Army Navy in Olongapo. It was decent.

magandang tanghali mga kamag-anak--Good afternoon Family

Well this week was pretty fantabulous. We found a super awesome family that I'm excited to be able to teach again. The "Tala" family. There's 10 of them, so they're pretty fun to teach. They are really kind and receptive to our message.

We also found a super awesome kid this last week. His name is Stanley. We taught him the Restoration and he was kind of shocked. He really knows the bible which was cool for a kid his age. Anyways, we got to the part about prophets and we asked "if God were to call a Prophet on the earth today, would you follow him?" He was like "yeah, I guess but anyone who claims to be a prophet nowadays is just a false prophet, which God warned us about. Also, we don't need prophets because they used to heal the sick and we have medicine so that's probably why God hasn't called a prophet for our day." I thought that was a pretty interesting response. We shared Amos 3:7 and cleared some things up for him. He now understands what a Prophet's purpose is, and we taught about Joseph Smith. He took up our invitation to pray about what we taught.

We did exchanges with a couple of the district leaders which went well. I was able to go with one of the elders from Alaska he's pretty interesting but it's all good. We actually had a pretty good time and ended up learning more about each other. Exchanges are always fun.

We have MLC this upcoming week so it's going to be fun to hear if there are any new changes in the mission.

Well I hope you all have a good week! Take care!

Elder Furniss

y'all better not make fun of me for balding when i get home #kalbo #panot

 2 kings 2: 23-24

23 ¶ And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

On bathroom door in some elders' apartment in my zone