One year in the Philippines 7/30/2018

Well the rain has finally stopped...and now its back to blazing heat!!!! It was a HOT ONE today, and I am not gonna complain about it because I like the heat way better than the rain. 

This week was pretty good. Im gonna include a couple highlights from the week hopefully it gives you a pretty good idea of how I am doing. So the first thing was my baptismal interview with A.J. Baptismal Interviews have now become my new favorite hing to do here on my mission (other than baptizing of course haha) A.J. is a 10 year old investigator from Santa Monica ward and our interview was great. We went up onto his roof for the interview and this kid was super humble and I could see he was nervous and really wanted to get baptized. As I usually try to do, I talked about the NBA for a minute to help him feel comfortable and it was great we both share a hate for GSW and a love for LeBron haha. Also he like Donovan Mitchell so I was pretty happy about that. The interview itself was awesome, felt the spirit super strong and he passed with flying colors. His family was so nice to us and fed us after. 

Another good thing was our lesson with the Dela Cruz family. We have taught them before but they have not been coming to church and so we decided to give it one last go and hope they come to church. The lesson was maybe the best one I have ever had on my mission to this point. It was not really anything we said but the feeling in the room was amazing, everything flowed and our switch offs were so natural, everything about it was awesome it was a lesson I wont ever forget. We answered some of her questions about Ang Plano ng Kaligtasan, we were able to help her understand kung saan tayo pupunta pagkatapos ng buhay natin dito sa lupa. It was great and we got free ice pops (filipino otter pops) afterward. 

We practice taught our mission president this week for our interviews and it was kinda funny because he doesn't understand Tagalog so I dont know how much he actually understood but spirit was there and it was awesome to see the progress I have made with the language and with my teaching. I asked him a question in tagalog and he stared at me for a couple seconds haha, then i realized i had to ask it in English haha. Today we also played tennis...it was dope. Im not good though so im gonna stick to pickle ball. 

This week went fast! I have now officially been in the Philippines for a full year now. I love this country and the people in it. I love my mission. 

Pictures: 

1. This is wat kids usually look like when they see their first white person haha 

2. my area

3. basketball courts are everywhere here 

4. Tennis

7/23/2018 Ulan Pa More

This week has been sooooo rainy. There is a tropical storm near the coast of the Philippines so the rain is pretty crazy and it has been raining every day for the past week and a half. We keep getting text warnings about flooding, thankfully our house is on a small hill and we live on the top floor so we dont really have to worry about our house flooding :)

This week we did lots of member visits following up on the referrals they gave us, the only problem is with the rain it seems like every one is too busy to help us. We were able to find some families though this week and the lessons went great. Again it was pouring on Sunday so the attendance was very very low...but there is always next week right? On Saturday night i woke up at 1 am and i could feel that my legs were wet, i was confused so i got up and there was a huge rain storm and the wind was very strong, it was crazy loud too it was the strongest storm i have experienced so far on my mission. anyways we (being the smart missionaries we are) left all the windows open i the whole house haha. the rain was coming in the house and it was getting everything wet. All four of us woke up and ran to go shut all the windows of the house, there was already some water in our house but nothing too bad. Our clothes outside on the clothes line were soaked haha and we had to get them off so they didn't fly away. sad to say we lost a few socks that night. after it all we were all wet and there was nothing we could really do about it so we just went back to bed. In the morning some of the roofs of the houses close were damaged and like i said before the church attendance was not the best. 

 Thankfully we do have some progressing investigators and one of them came to church and we have a bap date set up in August....transfers are on Aug 8 so i really hope i stay here in Deparo so i can be here for that. Also because our house is huge and really nice...we are lucky haha. I am loving my mission, the time goes faster and faster every week and the mission truly gets funner every week as well. This country is awesome, the people are the nicest people in the world. I could fill a huge book of all the acts of kindness i have experienced from these humble people. I wish i could just baptize all of them haha. Love you guys have a great week! as my unlce skee always says "remember Jesus loves you!" 

Pics

1. some pics of the area

2. my beloved APs stole my camera   

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Elder Hunter Munk

MERICA 7/10/2018

well folks the week of the 4th of July is always a good week. Elder Quilloy my zone leader was really sick pretty much this whole week and so this week was a little slow, but it was great too. The 4th I was on exchanges with Elder Slade and we mapped all day, we were working with the Rodgers who are Canadian so they had absolutely no excitement for the 4th like me and elder slade did haha. They did however have a car and have air con in their car so that was awesome, and it made it really easy to get around to the far places and map them. We came up to one house and it was pretty far out in the bukid, we left the Rodgers in the car. It had a dog out front and here in the Philippines dogs are primarily used to protect the house from pretty much everyone and anyone who is not the owner. We noticed it did not have a rope or anything holding it back, so we quietly and slowly walked past it and we had our umbrellas out to protect us. It got up and walked toward us barking and barring it fangs at us but we got passed it without having to actually hit it or do anything. We got to the house and mapped it and on our way out, the dog was pretty pissed at us. We went back to back with our umbrellas out and jabbed at the evil dog until we thought we were clear. Somehow me and elder slade got separated and as i turned to go back on the main road there were 4 other big dogs right in my way and I looked back and saw elder slade having his own little battle with the original dog, it was crazy and he almost tripped and got bit haha. I jabbed my way through the mad barking dogs and sprinted outta there, slade caught up to me and we both ran until the dogs gave up and went back to the house. It was nuts, it got my heart rate up for sure and we both felt bad for the next set of missionaries to go back there. Anyways we made it through the day and on our way home we bought a bunch of soda and ice cream for the fourth celebration. We bought big macs and fries from McDonalds and some sparkling grape juice that we found. We had a good time although elder Quilloy was sick in the room. 

I am proud to be an American, I am also very grateful for the founding fathers of this nation who, with the help of God, made it possible for this country to have religious freedom creating a way for the true church of Jesus Christ to be restored again. I love the mission and all the craziness and challenges it brings. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way we can return to the presence of God after this life, and I am grateful for that knowledge.     

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Elder Hunter Munk 

Binyag, Templo, One Year Na Lang 7/2/2018

Well, this eek was just a great one. 

We started off with mapping again because there were some people that moved in and some people that messaged us on Facebook and told us that they do live in the ward still so we had to go map them. We experienced miracles ion order to find them. Countless times we were prompted to ask random people things and stop and turn around or to walk down certain streets, it was very clear that the spirit was guiding us to these people. And the craziest part about it all is that we found all but 2 in the span of three days, we also found one nanay who is the only member in her family....another part member! Always remember to follow and recognize the promptings you get every day, the more you follow the promptings the more guidance you will get and the stronger you will feel it. 

We had the baptism of Mark Salaverez this week! It started 30 minutes late...but it happened and at the end of the day it was a really good time. It was actually pretty funny to watch his face as he went into the freezing cold water in the baptismal font haha. Mark is awesome and hopefully we can get the rest of his family on board and baptize them as well! We had two referrals come to church this week and one is from Georgia....he sounds like a gangster and I was really excited to hear someone talk like that haha, I have not heard it in a while. Today is temple p day and we were able to go the the Manila temple. It was amazing! It was so nice to be there and go through a session and feel the spirit that comes with temple attendance. All people, especially those who live in Utah, should really take advantage of the many temples you have. This country only has 2 and some people will do anything just to get to the temple. 

It was a great week of teaching, mapping, baptizing and of course, walking. I love you guys thanks for the support. Tomorrow is the 4TH OF JULY (my fav holiday) so party hard and have fun and be safe...MERICA. Also today is my one year na lang mark, the time has flown and I still have so much to do here. Masaya talaga yung mission, I am loving it! 

pics:

1) broken mirror 

2) MARKS BINYAG

3) a lil shake and bake with Jazz

3) our zone at the temple

4) we buildin the kingdom

--

Elder Hunter Munk 

Transfer Week 6/26/2018

Hello everyone so this week is transfer week and a lot happened but after all of it I am still here in Deparo with Elder Mahinay, still as a DL and I am way hyped about it because now this is my longest area!!! Also because we have a baptism on Saturday and another one on the 7th of July. Also because next week Nova zone gets a TEMPLE P DAY!!!! I have not been to the temple in 7 months and I am way hyped to go back it is gonna be amazing. 

So earlier today Elder Richards and Morris and Meyer left, we played basketball before and then said goodbye to them. I am gonna miss those guys I am grateful for the help they have given me on my mission, Ill be happy to see them again after my mission cuz they are all really close to Utah. Anyways, this week was pretty average we did lots of walking and teaching and I got to do my first baptism interviews for three young men in Sampaguita ward and they all passed and are all awesome. It was elder Richards birthday so we bought him a cake and it was actually pretty dang good. Marc Salaverez passed his interview so he will be baptized on Saturday. I am way excited for him, and also his family are not members yet so hopefully this can be the turning point and they will start coming to church. This week for my workshop I was looking through D&C and in section 4 and in verse 4 it says the field is white already to harvest. I think it is really cool that it says here there area already people out in the world ready to harvest, the field is already white. I have seen this in my areas, the area can seem dead and nothing was going but when we look back to this verse we see that no matter where you are there are people ready to be harvested (baptized). This applies anywhere in the world. Hopefully we can all see the importance of the gospel and share that with someone who does not know. We are promised many many blessing if we do. 

Thanks for all your support I love each one of you, I hope you have a great week and this time my comp is working and so i have pics!! finally 

     

Elder Hunter Munk 

Mount Balagbag and Mga Binyag 6/17/2018

This week was a very very awesome week! First of all on Sunday it was Fathers Day, shout out to all the fathers out there!!! Also shout out to my dad, he is hardworking and puts the family first before himself, he is a great example for me and is a big reason why I chose to serve a mission Magaling Ang tatay ko. Also on Saturday we had 2 baptisms! Erle Ongsiako and Marc Stephen, they are both really awesome and I was way happy to see them be baptized, they will both be great additions to the church. It was really cool to be able to see them go through all the lessons and come to church and see their families start coming to church again and regain a testimony. Great experience.

This week was another rainy one. It gets really humid here to the point where my towel was wet for like 5 days and my bed sheets were wet so I had to sleep on a foam pad for a couple nights. The socks I washed two weeks ago just dried! Gratefully on Saturday the rain stopped and the sky cleared up it was a miracle because it was just in time for the baptism so people came and showed up on time. We pretty much focused on our part members this week and went to Erle and Marc everyday to make sure they were prepared and ready. Marc Salaverez is scheduled for the 30th and I am hoping that I dont get transferred so i will get to witness that baptism. It was a good week for work. 

Earlier today we went on a hike. It is Elder Richards and Meyers last P day today so because Elder Meyer is an AP he somehow got it ok'd and we went. We hiked Mount Balagbag it is San Jose Del Monte zone so it was like a 45 minute drive and it was up this really pretty mountain. It smelled so good and the mountain reminded me of camping it was awesome. Our mission is pretty small, there are tons of people but the area itself is tiny. its like the size of Davis County haha so we go on this hike and we take a trike up one of the hills, somehow we got up the driver just put it in low gear and cranked it back hahaha, but we made it up and there was a small village and a small basketball hoop so we played a little ball and then walked the rest of the hike. The top was sooooo pretty, my camera could not capture the beauty of it....by the way this computer wont let me download the pics so next week na lang. Anyways on the top you could see our entire mission, I could see Malolos and my first area haha, you could see Manila and Quezon city and the ocean as well....I never realized how many buildings are in Manila it was crazy. It was an awesome experience and it was like the first time I have done something like that since I have been out. 

I am really enjoying my mission, it seems to get funner and better each day. Remember though as members of this church we are all missionaries, you don't need a name tag to be a missionary. There are sooooo many people in this world who have no idea about the plan of salvation or the atonement and its importance. I encourage you to share the gospel to those people who dont know. Help them gain this knowledge and happiness, it might seem hard but it is worth it and it will help them more than anything else in the world. Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

           

--

Elder Hunter Munk 

6/11/2018 Rain Rain go away

Hello everyone! 

So this week was pretty normal, but we had two baptism interviews for our investigators and they both passed so this saturday we will have two baptisms!!!! I am pretty excited because both of them are priesthood age so it will be a good addition to the ward. Erle Darius is 21 years old and he went to church as a kid but was never baptized so we reactivated his mom who was very less active and he was able to come to church and we taught him and he passed the interview, he is excited to be baptized and it is going to be a very good experience. Marc Bajar is the other one he is almost 12 years old and he is also a part member, his family was less active and so we tried ahrd to reactivate them and they finally started coming back to church, he was supposed to be baptized last week but we had to move it back because he missed a week of church but this week it will hopefully happen. We also have an investigator who we are preparing for the 30th and another for the 1 of July. I am really excited and really hope i dont get transferred again hahaha. 

It has been raining really hard for 3 days now, it is hard because lots of the houses here are not really built to be able to handle hard rain fall so yesterday at church we had very little show up. Hopefully it stops soon, rain here really effects the work. its hard to do laundry here because when it rains it takes forever for the clothes to dry haha thank goodness for fans. Anyways other than the rain its going good out here. This week should be a good one, and i will charge my camera so you get the pics of the baptism.

Love you all, I want to testify of the Book of Mormon, it is true and the counsel inside that book is for everyone of us even now. There is power in the Book of Mormon, I would ask that you read it everyday and if you get the chance share it with someone who does not know the blessings it brings. the book of Mormon is true and because it is, the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the one true church upon the face of the world.  

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Elder Hunter Munk