First Week in the Field

Hey Fam!

Well I'm a real missionary now! I have so much to tell you guys about my last couple days!! First of all though, on my last Sunday in the MTC I got to bless the sacrament in front of all the 300 missionaries so that was kinda cool! Also, I met President Stucci mom and dad:) He came to the MTC to find me and said he was your Stake president in Louisville haha it was random but I thought I would tell you! Also I went out proselyting on MTC splits again before I left the MTC. We went to the same area as our first exchange and I found out that girl I taught on that trike ride was accepting the lessons now from the missionaries!! Her and her sister were two of their new investigators:) I was pretty proud of myself when I heard that haha!

Arriving to my mission was so fun! We got to meet president Hughes and his wife. HE IS SO COOL! He gave us a few workshops and everything he said was so good. He's such a good speaker haha I know I'm going to learn a ton from him! 

Now for the fun part though, My trainers name is Elder Barth. He is from cottonwood heights and went to Brighton! I didn't know him at all before, but we know a few people in common so that has been fun! I'm lucky to have someone that knows about all the hikes up little cottonwood and that knows all the hang out places with our friends! It has been super helpful to have all those things in common.

We are in the Lagro Ward, which is in the Fairview zone. It's definitely the best area I already know it! Haha we have a huge mall in the middle, but we can't really go to it because we don't have time, and president doesn't want us to spend too much money on food. It's crazy though because the mall area is pretty nice, then we hop on a jeepney or a trike for 6 mins and were in super poor areas. We spend most our time in the poor spots walking though the little alleyways! It is so humbling to see how content these families are to be living in little rooms that are like 12 feet by 12 feet. Especially the Ambidang family. They have a tiny room for the 5 of them, but they have been so helpful and kind to us missionaries already. Last night they gave us both sprite which was super nice because I was low key about to die from the heat of that room haha. They are members, and have such strong testimonies! It's just cool to see how kind Filipinos are and how they're willing to give up anything in order have the gospel in their lives.

Yesterday I got to meet my ward! The Lagro ward is going to have a special place in my heart after my mission I can already tell. They were so welcoming to me, and all the members seem to have really strong testimonies. The youth here are absolutely amazing! The ward mission leader is named Jared. He is 18 years old and has come to a lot of our lessons with us to help us out. I think it is super cool because they assign kids like Jared to callings that work a lot with the missionaries to help them prepare for their missions.

Also, the bishop called me up in sacrament meeting and had me bare my testimony in Tagalog! Lol I did alright, but I know my grammar was probably super bad haha. It was nice though because now all the members know who I am, and they all want to help me with my Tagalog:) I have been able to understand the gist of most conversations, but I still don't know what they are saying for sure haha. Tagalog is a fun language though and I can't wait for the day that I can speak it without thinking super hard about it!! I've just been staying positive about it bc I know it is going to be a couple months before I can talk more with people.

We also got to confirm two little girls in sacrament meeting. They got baptized last week but had to be confirmed in sacrament meeting this week because they are converts, and last Sunday there was a typhoon so they couldn't go to church. Their names are Glyza and Rojean. It was cool to be able to confirm them members of our church on my first sacrament meeting though! The people here are so humble and ready to hear the gospel.

We got to give two blessings this week to members that were sick which was cool. I love using the priesthood to help people. I know God gave it to us for us to use often, so it's always cool when people have enough faith to ask us to come over to give them blessings!

On Thursday night, we got caught in a super crazy rainstorm!! IT WAS SO FUN! The water was up to the middle of our shins! We were drenched, but luckily one of the members saw us and offered to drive us home in his car. The weather here is nuts!

Anyway, I'll tell you more about the food and the people next week after I experience it a little more. So far so good though!

Love you guys!

-Elder Reber

 Graden was trying to download pics onto Dropbox but it was taking awhile and started back to his flight to the Philippines:) It never did download all the way to his present time but I added a few we have never seen. Always happy to see pics of our cute missionary!

I spy the temple!

Had to add these pics- thought it was too funny even took them :)

Let the Fun Begin!

Graden is moving out of the MTC today and starting his new adventure out in the field. He will go to the mission home for an orientation, and then out to his new area with his trainer. We are so excited for him and for the adventure that lies ahead. It is going to be a crazy few months as he is still learning the language and acclimating to his new home but we know he will do great! 

 The President of the Philippines MTC and his wife are Rodolfo and Brenda Carlos from Salem, Utah 

Sister Hughes wrote: We were happy to welcome nineteen new missionaries this morning! This large group is unusual because there is only one Filipino. The rest are from Fiji, Samoa and the USA. They received several hours of training and are now in their areas with their new companions. We're so thankful for this great addition to this mission!

Elder Reber and Elder Barth

Last Week in the MTC!

Hey guys!

Well this is the last email I'm going to send you guys from the MTC! We leave next Wednesday so we probably won't get to email for 2 weeks, but I'm not 100% sure. I can't believe it is already time to leave! It is kind of a bitter sweet haha. I am soooo excited to get out in the field and start meeting tons of people and jumping into the culture! But at the same time it is going to be kinda hard to leave the MTC. I'm not scared or anything, it's just that I have had so many spiritual moments here, and met so many amazing people that it is going to be hard to say goodbye to! The other elders in my batch feel like we have been friends for years haha! It's crazy how close you can get to people when you are sharing your testimony everyday! IDK it's been super fun at the MTC but I know we are all ready and eager to get out and start serving!

So the last couple days I have been trying to study the gospel a little more than I have the last couple of weeks. I have been so worried about Tagalog that I run out of time for a lot of scripture study. Anyway because I have been studying gospel more lately I wanted to share a few experiences I have had.

The first one was during one of our lessons that Brother Fajardo gave us. IDK if I have told you guys about brother Fajardo enough as he deserves, but he is the BEST teacher ever. He brings the spirit so strong. Anyway, he played the video of Elder Holland's talk "Sanctify Yourselves." I had seen it a bunch of times before my mission, it is the one that talks about the kid  getting struck by lightning at football practice. Then the young newly ordained elder gives him a priesthood blessing and he ends up surviving. Well this just reminded me of when I was put in that same situation on Pfiefferhorn and I gave Christopher a blessing. That moment means so much to me. I can't listen to that talk about priesthood power anymore without crying haha call me my mom I guess. But really, I know without a doubt that the priesthood is real. I have seen its power here in the MTC too as I have had the opportunity to use the priesthood to help some of the sisters.

The other super cool moment I had this week was last night. We had a devotional with Elder Teh. He is in the Philippines area presidency and he gave a super good talk! He talked about how we are going to go teach and struggle with the language, but that we will not be alone while we teach. Not only will we have the spirit, but we will have angels of our ancestors with us as we teach. I had an overwhelming feeling that my Papa is going to be with me when I need a little boost. It was such a cool talk, the way he explained it all was just so freaking cool. He said that not only our ancestors will be there helping us teach, but the investigators ancestors will be helping them feel that what we are teaching are true. He explained that when we teach we could be teaching the investigators ancestors too if they hadn't accepted the gospel yet. IDK it was just a talk that had a ton of thoughts I haven't ever thought about before!! I guess we really don't know the impact we can be having on people!

I have had so many cool devotionals, spiritual moments, and funny times here at the MTC! It has been such an amazing way to start off my mission!! But I am excited to get out and start serving! I'm sure my next email will have some good stories for you haha! I get to go proselyte tomorrow again too btw:) But there might be a big typhoon too so they might not let us go out. I'm praying we can though!

Love you guys!

-Elder Reber

We didn't receive any pics this week but this one was posted of the teachers of the MTC. So grateful for them!

Got to go Proselyting!!

WOW! So this week we got to go out proselyting for our first time! It was the most humbling experience of my life, and fun at the same time. We went to the Quezon City mission area, which is right below mine. The people here are so freaking nice it's super cool! It's weird being here because I have seen so many pictures of Parker's mission, and now I am the one here:) The traffic here is nuts haha people do whatever they want and nobody even gets mad.

So I got paired up with Elder Canaya. He is a Filipino that has been serving for just over a year now! He was super nice and spoke good English so he could answer all my questions I had while we were out there. It was so much fun to get out of the MTC and meet some people. I know what Parker means when he says you feel like a celebrity here haha! Everyone was yelling Joe and Kano at me it was funny!

So I got to ride on 2 trike rides while we were proselyting. The first one I just realized that I am wayyy tall. Then the second one Elder Canaya told me to jump in the back seat by a random lady so I did, but then a Dad and his son got in the seats in front of me and our trike took off!! I thought I was driving away alone without my companion but then I realized he was just outside sitting behind the driver.

Anyway, I started talking Kristine Florento, the girl in the back. I  introduced myself and told her I was a missionary. I asked her a bunch of questions about her family and work, and she was super nice! She understood some English so I could get away with my Taglish haha. It was so cool though, I started feeling the spirit a ton when I told her why I was there and why I wanted to serve a mission. She was super impressed that we leave our loved ones for two years to try and help other people. I started asking her more questions like if she believed in God and if she went to church, and I found out she was Catholic. That was super nice to know because then I could just build on common beliefs we have! So I talked about how we believe in the Bible too, but also in the Book of Mormon. We talked about the Great Apostasy after Christ died and how the church needed to be restored. It was so cool because the spirit was so strong even with all the noise. She was listening to everything and sounded interested so I got her address for the missionaries to go teach her later this week! I also invited her to read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon:) It was a super cool first teaching experience and Elder Canaya was super impressed when we got off the 25 min trike ride and found out I had taught someone so much haha!

We talked to tons of people and handed out 7 pamphlets to potential investigators that they were going to return to try and teach more! My Tagalog still has a long way to go, but I was able to bare my simple testimony to people at their doorways and my companion said it actually was super powerful. He thinks people are a little more receptive and willing to listen to foreigners because they feel our love for them as we try our best to speak Tagalog. It was overall just such an amazing experience and it makes me super excited for what lies ahead of me!

I love this gospel and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be serving a mission! One thing I heard this week in a devotional with a member of the Quorum of the 70 was "You are leaving your families for a short amount of time in order to help other families be together forever." That really stood out to me. I know the people here are so prepared to hear the gospel, and I can't wait to get out and start teaching them about this gospel that brings me so much joy!One other thing is that we started celebrating Christmas this week! Haha the Philippines start their Christmas season on September 1st so that has been weird for all of us! Also I got a sick ring that says Philippines Quezon City North on the outside, and "Return with Honor" on the engraved on the inside. I think it is pretty dope:) Anyway hope everything is going good back home! 

Love you guys:)

-Elder Reber

Who says September 1st is too early to start celebrating Christmas??