tiyaga tiyaga lang

Magandang hapon kapamiliya! (Good afternoon Family and Friends)

We had a good week this week. We were able to extend a baptismal date to Charlie and it was pretty shocking how good our lesson went with him.

As we were walking to teach him, Elder Penrose and I both had a distinct impression that we should just read the Book of Mormon with him. So we got there, and shared 3 Nephi 27. Wow let me tell ya, the Book of Mormon is a game changer. Our last few lessons have pretty much been us trying to explain why baptism is essential and kind of turned into a low-key bible bash. So this time, when we let the Book of Mormon do the work, and along with a little help from the New Testament we were able to get the wheels turning in his head.

"And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;
Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

We extended a baptismal date for him for July 7th. His cousin is our old Branch President here, and we are going to teach with him tonight. I'm excited!

We went hiking up to the waterfalls last P-day which was heaps of fun! Cabangan is such a beautiful area. MABUHAY ZAMBALES! (Zambales is the life!)

Mahal ko kayong lahat. (I love you all!) Take care and keep close to the Savior. You are amazing!

Romberto's baptism last week

My goal is to get diabetes from eating too much mangoes.

Romberto made a sweet drawing last week. He surprised us with it when we got there.

Back to the promised land (April 29, 2018)

Naimbag a malem!! (Ilocano)
Maabig a awlo!! (Zambal)
Good Afternoon! (Amerikano)

Hello everyone!
Well I am back in the promised land aka Zambales! Cabangan, Zambales to be exact. I HAVE MISSED ZAMBALES!! We had branch conference yesterday and I was able to see a lot of the members from San Narciso that are serving in the District. The members here are just awesome. The first counselor works with us almost everyday and he is a huge help. He has a trike so he's able to take us all over the place to our appointments.

So my new companion is Elder Penrose from Missoula, MT and I'm finishing his training. Funny thing is I'm his "Lolo" (grandpa) because Elder Hall (my trainee) trained him. Legendary.

We had a baptism yesterday and have another one in a couple of weeks. This area is just awesome, and we're trying to keep up the momentum.

So yesterday we had a combined meeting with the Branch President and we talked about Ministering. He showed us a couple of videos and Elder Rasband shared an awesome verse that I really liked.
Mosiah 23:18  Therefore they did watch over their people, and did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness.

What an awesome verse right? I love how the word "nourish" is used. We all have times when we are spiritually hungered, and need nourishment. That's why as a missionary I love being able to help people and lift their spirits, because I have felt the nourishment that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings into my life. I hope we can all look for ways and pray for opportunities to nourish our brothers and sisters with things pertaining to righteousness.

Another really cool thing happened last night. We went to teach our investigator Romberto who's 13. His mom let us in and told us that she would go get Romberto for us. So she came back in the room with him and told him to listen to us. I could tell that she was trying to get out of the room so she didn't have to listen to our message, but I wasn't about to let that happen. So I started asking her questions and stuff trying to get to know her. Instead of leaving the room she wanted to keep talking, so she sat down on the couch next to Romberto and we told stories for about 15 minutes. Then I asked if we could share a message with her. She was a little hesitant but we persisted. We taught her about the Restoration which went great! We had an awesome lesson. At the end we asked her how she was feeling. She said "I'm gonna be honest with you, the missionaries have been trying to teach me for a long time but I've always tried my best to avoid them. This time I had a feeling that I should listen. I feel really happy, so thank you." We then explained what the "fruits of the Spirit" are and what she was feeling. We set a return appointment for Sunday after church. Romberto is getting baptized on the 19th.

I wish I could tell you more about my week but just so much happened it would take forever to say everything. So I hope you have a great week and thank you for all your love and support!

-Elder Furniss

​

May "eagle powers" na ba ako? (Do I have eagle powers?)

Hello friends and family!

What a great week indeed. We were able to teach our investigator Leirene and we extended a baptismal date to her for June 2nd. She is always so fun to teach and she always surprises us with the questions she asks. We taught her "the Gospel of Jesus Christ." We asked her to say the closing prayer at the end of the lesson and she said "Heavenly Father I am thankful to have found an answer to the questions I have been asking you almost every night for the past month" I was shocked to be honest. It is just so cool to see how Heavenly Father prepares people to receive His message.

We have a baptism on May 19th. Romberto is the man! We taught him again last night and he is literally probably the smartest 13 year old I've ever met. He is going to be an awesome missionary one day. He wants us to baptize him in the river, so that's going to be a really cool experience.

So we went over to the Reyes family (they are super duper awesome btw) and when we got there, their kids said "Elders! Elders! Come here, we want to show you something!" They then took a huge ostrich egg off the shelf and were telling us how they found it and such. I told them the legend of Nacho Libre and told them that if they drank the yolk they would get powers. They wanted me to do it first but I was like "nah I ain't bout that life" so they weren't too convinced about the eagle powers thing which is probably a good thing because I don't want to get blamed for them getting Salmonella. We taught them about the Book of Mormon again because it had been a while since they had read, and the Spirit was super strong in the lesson. They seem really really interested in reading all about the Book of Mormon stories. We committed them to asking if it was true.

Elder Penrose and I have had quite a few adventures just in first couple weeks together. We gave mga "libreng sakay" (free rides) to all the little kids out in our far area which was a lot of fun. We also tried eating electric eel adobo which was decent. We're going hiking to the water falls on the 21st and are bringing their zapper so we can electrocute some fish cause apparently that is 100% legal out in the bundok (mountains). Well I hope you all have a great week! Take care y'all!

-Elder Furniss

Lil Flame

​future cockfight finalist, give him 15 years

​EAGLE POWERS

When you get adopted into a Filipino family

E. Penrose knows how to ride a bike backwards​

all you need is a tire to be happy

At Mama Liwliwa's