Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby, Ruby, Ruby) coming!

Hey family!

So President Tye gave us time today to email before the typhoon hits because he thinks that we're gonna get smashed but we're probably actually not so theres really nothing to worry about, I am not worried at all. Theres only a 60% chance that it will even make land fall. We'll also get to email on Monday so I really dont have anything to say right now that I wont say on Monday, I'll just wait until then to tell you guys about my week and stuff!

Maddie is pretty worried about me though because of this typhoon, so maybe you guys could like I dont know comfort her somehow! 

Just in case anything bad happens or we're arent able to email on Monday, I love you all! I miss you guys a lot! 

I do have some pictures to send today though so I'll send some pictures! yay!

I love you guys, I'll most likely email again on Monday!

Love,

Elder Lasley!

Sunset in Cavite

Homes

SS Lasley Maiden Voyage

Bonvoyage

Chillin'

Meal Time

Posting Up

Homes

Super Missionaries

Sharing the Gospel

Baptism

June 8, 2014 - New Area

Hey Dad, Mom, Ben, Sam! 

Family! I'm glad things are going awesome in Flagstaff! First week of summer over and done, only 2 months left ahaha. I wish I could be going to Lake Powell, thats one of my favorite trips we take as a family, I love the lake! I miss swimming and water sports ahaha. Yeah hopefully we can switch our week next year so we can all go when I get home! Its okay if Ben misses the first few days and senior year, and Sam misses the first few days of sophomore year! :) the Skinners rock, I love that family. I bet youre happy youre bringing someone who can drive the boat so you can do some skiing. and I mean, I havent met the Razbolds yet, but theyre probably pretty cool. ;)

I cant believe Ben is losing his attitude and Sam is getting one now! Theyre switching attitudes. I was surprised when I heard Sams voice when we were skyping, hes really gettin older haha. Yeah Harrison is super close to entering the MTC! Thats super cool, I'm excited for him. He sent me a short email so I'm gonna email him back. 

Yes that is correct, I did get tranfserred! ahah but I am in the same city still, Dasmarinas. I mean it is a pretty big city, so I'm not very close to my last area, but I'm still in the same stake ahaha. So my new area is not a whole lot different than my previous area, except, the work is much more progressing here! My last area was very difficult, and here it is a little bit easier. We have members work with us pretty regularly which is awesome, and we have several progressing investigators. School just started back again here, so teenagers are now usually in school until around 6 o clock, but after that time our work really picks up ahaha. Its been raining a whole lot too! Everyday since Wednesday its rained! We're thinking rainy season is starting up, which is great because the temperature is much cooler now. My new companion is Elder Espiritu, from somewhere that I dont know! I mean its in the Philippines, but its a province I havent heard of before. His native dialect is Ilocano, but hes still fluent in Tagalog. And! He speaks very little english! Very little! like, I speak more tagalog than he does english! which is saying something, ahaha. So its a little bit of a challenge sometimes, but my tagalog is definitely getting better because, you know, I've only been speaking tagalog while proselyting. Sometimes its hard because I cant really express what I really want to say in tagalog, but I just fine ways to work around it ahaha. Sometimes it gets pretty quiet when we're walking around because I'm not very good at just small talk in tagalog, but its fine! I know I've been given this companion and that it is a blessing, I will definitely improve in tagalog because of this companionship! Other than that, he is an awesome guy. We laugh and have fun, and I have no complaints! He's been out about 5 months, so I'm almost exactly twice as old as him in the mission (by the way my year mark is in august, I may or may not be expecting a 'happy one year' package. :) ). He has kind of a cool story though, because he was actually called on his mission to Singapore! But was temporarily assigned here while awaiting a visa. The visa never came though, so he was re-assigned here. But hes happy about it because The Singapore mission is english speaking and he didnt have any enlgish training in the MTC, so he probably would have had some trouble with that. He says he still wants to learn English though, so while he helps me in tagalog, I'll be helping him in english! It should be fun ahaha. The house me live in now is not as nice as my last house, but I like it just fine. Its quite a bit smaller, but the beds are more comfortable (lol), and it has a washing machine! but no drier. but thats okay it has a functional washing machine! Alright, washing machines here are very different from washing machines in the states. like this aint no Kenmore Whirlpool, its about 3 feet high and 2 feet wide, made of plastic, and shakes violently when its cycling. but it works and gets my clothes clean so again, I have no complaints. :) Also, one of the rooms in the apartment has a air conditioning! but we never use it because we pay for electricity and its pretty expensive to run. The other two elder in our apartment are our zone leaders! Elder Rindlisbacher, from Highland, Utah (no he doesnt know the Abbotts) and Elder Devinuwara from Sri Lanka! theyre both super cool.

That article that mom posted on her facebook is awesome! I really feel that exact way sometimes! I dont do much crying (like I'm pretty sure I've only cried like twice on my mission, in my first week here), but I totally understand the emotions that author was portraying. Missionary work is hard work. Its hard to stay happy on the outside sometimes, when so many other feelings are going on inside you. But its okay, I love the work and I dont regret it for a second.

Dylan sure did mess his thumb up, holy cow! What happened?! that looks terrible! I bet nurse Jennifer wasnt too happy about that ahah. Did he cry? I wouldnt blame him! Hopefully everything goes well with that, dang.

Whoa! Thats cool that my Mission has the same transfer schedule as the phoenix north mission or whatever we are! cool. anyways, Elder Pratt sounds like an awesome missionary. That is a concept a lot of people have a hard time understanding, the sheer uncondition-ality of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for us.

Thanks for that though. Dad. I mean I know you love me, but its great to hear it in that way. I know you will love me no matter my choices are. I love you very much too! I will also love you no matter what. 

That is about all I have for this week, but of course I'll send some pictures! 

I love you all, and miss you too! Go hard at Lake Powell! Dad, jump the wake for me! 

Love,

Elder Lasley :)

Elder Lasley enjoying the Philippines

My District

My last Family Home Evening in Dasma 2nd Ward

My final District lunch at McDonalds in Bayan District.

Yeah, we got cake!

Some of my favorite kids in my last area.

The Peenz!

One of our investigators - he's 82 years old.

June 1, 2014: District Leader, Mission Devotional, and Monkey

Hey family! Mom Dad Ben Sam!

Sounds like things are awesome! the first few days of summer! Dang, I remember graduating last year like it was yesterday! Its crazy how time flies. I'm glad Ben had some senior friends this year so he could go to grad night and get to some grad parties, those are always super fun and the food is usually awesome! and its awesome how so many of my friends dropped by, I'm glad they still remember me and my family! Maddie told me that Mom dropped a present off at her house for graduation and she was so happy! Mom you really made her day! Thanks for that. :)

 

Yeah it kinda sucks that Sam isn't all for going to Flag High, I wish he would too. All the teachers he would have would know him by his big brother and it would be awesome ahaha. and of course, Ben and Sam would be going to the same school which is always good. But i guess i understand his reasoning. just do work Sam! and when you play flag high's basketball team, make sure to lose. ;)

Things here are going just fine though! and Yes! I am finally being transferred! This area is not my favorite, so I'm super happy! i'm not sure where I'll be transferring yet, i should find out later today, but I'm pretty much all packed already because transfer day is wednesday. oh, and I will be a district leader in my new area! I got called to be a district leader! If you don't what that is, just ask the elders because i'm not exactly sure how to explain it ahaha. but its awesome! I was a little bit sad that I didn't get called to train a new missionary, but then President Tye called and told me he was calling me as a district leader and then I was happy ahahah! It should be an awesome experience. obviously, I'll keep you guys informed. Elder Matina is staying here, and he was called to train a new missionary! He should have fun with that.

 

One more cool thing happened this week. We had a mission devotional in a neighboring city, with Elder Craig C. Christensen of the presidency of the 70 and Elder Larry Echo Hawk of the Philippines area presidency. they both spoke along with President and Sister Tye and Elder Echo Hawk's wife too. it was awesome and I learned a whole lot! Elder Christensen blew my mind at least twice with crazy gospel doctrine, it was awesome. He told us this fact about Satan, that Satan can't actually read your thoughts, that power is reserved to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They way Satan tempts you is by observing your actions, and by observing your actions, he uses deductive reasoning to find out what you are thinking about, because obviously, all actions start first with thoughts (unless you're extremely impulsive, like me). so the best way to throw Satan a curve ball is when you have bad or inappropriate thoughts, to do the opposite of those thoughts! obviously, its very difficult to do the opposite of what your mind is thinking, but if you can master it, Satan can have no power over you! That blew everyone's mind and was super cool to hear about. He is a crazy smart man and super knowledgeable in the gospel as he should be ahaha. 

 

Anyways, that's about all that happened this week, I don't really have any stories about crazy experiences while proselyting or anything like that. Literally me and Elder Matina looked at each other just earlier and were like "what happened this week?" because it was so routine ahaha. But its okay, I'm glad I had the opportunity to serve in this area, and I will go to my new area with newfound motivation and diligence! yeah! 

 

Oh one more fun thing. On wednesday, we had exchanges, so elder Muavesi from Fiji was my companion for the day. He's a super fun guy, I love him! anyways, we were proselyting and then we saw a group of kids playing basketball on this makeshift basketball hoop, so we were like "lets play with them" so we played basketball with 10 twelve year old kids for like 30 minutes. people started like coming out of their houses and were like videoing us and stuff ahaha it was super fun. Afterwards we were sweating like animals and just went straight to 7/11 because they have air conditioning there ahaha.

 

Thats about all though! i'll send some pictures now! I love you guys, and cant wait to see you all in a year and 2 months! ahaha. 

Love, BMOC,

Elder Lasley :)

 

Me and Boots

 

This less active family that we visit sometimes has a pet monkey named Boots! I was always afraid to touch him because i thought he would bite, but he just play bites and is super funny! ahahah if you put your head near him he'll pull your hair or grab your nose ahaha

 Boots play-biting with my finger ahaha

My District

This is Elder Zacarias, my trainer, Elder Calipes, his trainer, me and my brother Elder Ballantyne! as in Elder Zacarias trained him too. so Elder Calipes is mine and Elder Balantynes grandpa.

 

 Elder Baylon turned 20 on Sunday, so we went hard on Monday night (last Monday)

 Elder Baylon turns 20!

 River after some rain

Waterfall

 Fun kids we hang out with

Love these kids

March 30: Service Project

Mom! hey hey hey its Elder Lasley!

so its probably like 8 pm right now? yeah I think so! anyways,

A little bit about my week! 

It was good.

thats all.

just kidding ahaha

it actually was good. but I will go into some detail. mostly it was a regular week though. But! on Wednesday, we finally had a member work with us! In my whole 2 months here in Dasmarinas we just had a member work with us for the first time! its legendary! everything is so much easier when you have a member with you, its crazy! I mean most wards have members work with the missionaries several times a week, but our ward is a little bit...neglectful? yeah they just dont really pay as much attention as they should to helping the missionaries. but theyre abviously getting better because we actually had a member work with us! So I'm not sure if you know the rule about elder missionaries not being able to teach a lesson to females if there isnt another male over 16 present, but that is a rule. and its usually a rule that Elder Matina and I have a lot of trouble with! not as in we break the rule, just as in we are so dang obedient, we never enter a house unless theres another male present, so quite often we cant have lessons at certain places. like this one place! the daughter is a recent convert, but hasnt been visited by missoianaries in over 4 MONTHS because the missoinaires before us just plain didnt visit her, and every time we tried there was no male present! but finally on wednesday, we were able to teach her a lesson! her first lesson in 4 MONTHS. way too long. anyways, that was a good experience because she really wants to be involved in church, but she doesnt know where to start! Shes 13, and her and her mom are the only members in the family because her 2 older sisters have live-in spouses and need to get married first before they can be baptized. so its a difficult situation really. BUT perhaps that visit was the start of something golden. hopefully.

anyways, the rest of the week was pretty normal! We are obviously still visiting Vincent still because he is awesome and wants to be baptized more than anything, so his scheduled baptismal date is still April 19! woo hoo! 

we dont really have any other golden investigators right now. we obviously have others but every single one of them has a problem they need to resolve first before they can be baptized, whether it be marriage, a word of wisdom problem, a job on sunday, etc.

OH we also had a member work with us yesterday actually! so twice this week. its historic. revolutionary.

oh and one other thing we did this week! We had a service project and a family home evening in the sisters area again! it was at an investigator of theirs, and they were pretty wealthy ahaha. when we got there, the wife said like oh dont worry about cleaning anything, the yard is already clean! and we were all like what I thought this was a service project, so apparently there wasnt very good communication ahaha but thats okay! we cleaned her yard anyways, and then had dinner and got to know tha fam! so the wife is filipina and has one filipino child who is 27, and the husband is British! but he lives in africa right now because he is some kind of engineer doing work over there right now. and apparently theyre looking in to moving to taiwan because the husband doesnt like the heat in the philippines. so next week theyre going to taiwan to look for houses. its pretty weird.

anwyays, after dinner, we had a family home eveving! which was just a short lesson, and then an initiation into a filipino secret society called Booga-Booga. hopefully I can send you guys the video of my initiation. all it really is, is a prank ahaha.

but that was about our week! I'll send some pictures.

things sound great in flagstaff! hows the weather right now? is it spring yet? its the middle of the hottest season here right now, and it is just extremely unfathomably hot every single day from 12pm-5pm, constant sweating. tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day of the year too, yay! 40 degrees celcius which is about 105, and just you know, normal humidity of around 80%! should be a great day. and! I think I may need some new socks, in the next package you happen to send, could you include some dress socks? preferably no super high socks either. I mean obviously high enough to be dress socks, but not like knee high or anything. oh oh and also since you havent bought the chinos from pac sun yet, could you actually make the size on those 33 length and 31 waist? 32 waist would be fine too if thats all they have. but 33 is a better length. thanks mom! :)

anyways, I love you guys! I'll send some pictures now! 

Love,

Elder Lasley :)

Me Drinking Buko Juice from Fresh Buko

 

Buko (Kind-of like a coconut

 

 Basketball hoop

 Chicken Dinnah

 emailing on P-Day

 Failed District Picture

Successful District Picture

 Me and Elder Matinas

 Me and Hosh

 Me and Chihuahua

 Service Project

 Elders

 Sketchy Bridge

 Small Jackfruit

 

March 23: FHE

Hey family! So I havent recieved an email from you guys yet, but its totally okay because I understand! you guys are probably driving home from california as I type! So really its fine if I dont get an email from you guys today, just make sure next weeks is super awesome! I have a whole lot of emails this week anyways so I gotta reply to them! SO I'll just give you guys a brief overview of my week!

Monday: duh P-day. but after p-day, we were invited to a family home evening in the sisters area, which was a ton of fun! it was at this old couples house, whos kids no longer live with them so theyre like super lonely and we just brightened their day! yay! I'll send some pictures of that latah.

Tuesday: district meeting (just like every tuesday) and regular missoinary work. nothing big. We did teach Vincent, probably our most progressing investigator about the law of chastity which is always fun! yay law of chastity! dont worry he didnt have any problems with it.

Wednesday: our work today was terrible ahaha. we got punted from every single plan we had to go to! punted is missionary vocab for every single place we went to was like "I'm busy right now" or "maybe another day" or just had some lame excuse ahaha. but its okay, no effort is wasted! I know the people we opened our mouths to, or stopped by at, we're positively effected by knowing that we care about them! 

Thursday: we went to our other area today, the one we dont go to a whole lot. again, we didnt have many planned places to visit so we did a lot of finding! we kind of even went actual tracting! and out of that came 3 new investigators! a single family invited us inside to share a message, so again, no effort is wasted! it was a good day over all. OH! also, we were walking around and we saw a white guy! and he called to us and was like "hows Salt Lake City?" because I guess he knew we were mormons, so we took the chance to talk to him! it turns out he is from Germany, working in the Philippines because hes over retirement age in Germany so he couldnt get any work there, and he says he likes to work, he doesnt want to just wait until he dies ahaha. hes a porfessional photographer! anwyays, we talked to him for a few minutes. then he invited us back on sunday, and said he would buy a "shwarzvelder" or something like that, which means black forest cake for us when we come back! 

Friday: was a lot like wednesday, we were punted an awful lot, but we did have ne lesson. yay!

Saturday: another punty day. it was just a punty week I guess! we only had two lessons, but they were both awesome so its cool.

Sunday!: was super cool! We went to our other area again and again we were punted a lot, but its okay! we visited a lot of the people that we foud on thursday but they were either not home or had some excuse ahah. then we returned to Udo! oh eah thats the German guys name. and he was actually expecting us! we didnt know if maybe he was just inviting us back to be nice and wasnt expecting us t actually come back. anyways, he invited us upstairs and we all three sat on his balcony deck thing and ate black forest cake! and talked about some of his religious beliefs, and then talked about ours and we had like a friendly religious exchange. it was super cool. He didnt exactly have our same beliefs, he believed a lot about like science haha like a scientologist or soemthing, but it was still very cool and a great experience! not to mention interesting. and he invited us back and said he'd take some pictures of us in his professional studio! which is in his house by the way ahah. but how cool would that be! 

Monday: woke up, played basketball, studied, emailed (currently) not much ahahaha.

Well that was my week! again, you guys better send me a super nice email next week yeah? ya hear? :)

I'll send some pictures now! I love you guys, Stay Golden Lasley Family!

Love, 

Elder Lasley!

 Keep Hanging On

 

 

Family Home evening with the Sisters

  

Our District (with Elder Zacharias, my teacher).

 

 Family Home Evening with the Sisters

 Just Me