Dear Ms. Garcia:

I am pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Isaac Michael English, has been called to serve as a new Missionary Trainer.   This is one of the most important callings in the mission.  New missionaries will always remember their trainer and the example he sets for them to follow.

I am confident that Elder English’s knowledge, obedience, and enthusiasm for the work of the Lord will be a blessing to his trainee as he helps him begin the path to becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary.

Sister Bertin and I are grateful for your son’s dedicated performance, his strong testimony, and his willingness to work hard to bring about success.  We also appreciate the love and encouragement you give him.  Thank you for sending such a dedicated missionary to serve with us in the Philippines Quezon City North Mission.

Sincerely yours,

Kim C. Bertin

Mission President

SEPTEMBER 4TH 2016

September 4, 2013

Three years ago my whole life changed in ways that still baffle me till this day. 

Where am I? San Rafael, Montalban, Philippines. 

Why? I am serving a full time mission to bring people unto Jesus Christ, to help them better their understanding of the purpose of life here and that Lord knows you, he loves you and wants you to follow him. 

How? Heavenly Father has a plan for me and all of his childeren, and sometimes that plan may seem crazy, may not be exactly what we would choose to do on our own but it's what he knows we can do. With faith man anything is possible.

I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on September 4th 2013, all because I had a feeling that I had never felt before. A feeling that is hard to describe but only felt through the power of the Holy Ghost. Elder Janis and his companion (whos name i forget at the moment, im sorry) taught me the truthfulness of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I asked God if what they were sharing to me was true through prayer and received a feeling that felt better than anything I had ever felt. 

Little did I know my life would completely change for the better and better and better and better. I remember all the family of my friends telling me how big of a decision being baptized was and how much it would improve my future life. I trusted them but honestly had no idea what they were talking about. I clearly remember just putting a smile on my face and agreeing. (kinda like my first few months here not understanding anything anyone said to me.) 

Its hard for me to put all I have learned into an email but this life is full of its ups and downs. Life is tough no doubt about it. “There is no comfort in a growing zone, and no growing in a comfort zone.” This mission is hard, and nobody told me it would be easy. Again I just smiled and agreed when people told me because I had no idea what I was in for. I have grown so much in these 3 years and its been a great ride. I have grown even more in these past 10 months here in the Philippines as a missionary. 

I am excited to keep on this journey. Time has absolutely flown, its quite unfathomable how fast time is going, but I am having fun becoming the person that our Heavenly father wants me to be. These people here are amazing! My love for the people I have met and have yet to meet is some quality unconditional love. People are so nice here and full of laughter, fun, and love. You can go up to almost anyone out here and have a great conversation. Its funny we met this 13 year old girl with her aunt visiting her family here in the Philippines. An american! that automatically means I am talking to her in English, with a name like Elder English, I cant turn down moments like that. She was scared of me and my companion trying to keep to herself. She was really caught off guard when we tried talking to her, really shy and nervous. Now any other 13 year old born and raised here in the Philippines is going to have a fun joking conversation with you. There is a beauty here. You can talk with almost everyone and have them fully intact with your conversation. You approach a random in the states, you are weird and kinda like "why are you talking to me?" attitude. 

Now I know things are just different in the states the cultures and the trust factor of a random person but I want you to be open to people. No matter who you are get up and talk to someone you have never talked to before. The result may be great or a nice shut down. What ever the case may be you jumped out of your comfort zone and grew just a little more than what you once were. Hahaha give it a try, email me what happens.

Thank you all for your love and support. I love you all

(and especially thankful for my family for being so supportive of my decision to be baptized and serve a mission, leave them for two years to become help people feel that same love I have felt in my life from God and his gospel)

I testify of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not just for me or the people of the Phillipines, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bakersfield Cali, Oakland Cali, Mehico, Oregon, or North Carolina, but for everyone everywhere.

Love,

Elder English

VIDEO....The cowboy rides again!

NEW PICTURES

CHANGE IS COMING

CHANGE IS COMING (new president of the Philippines slogan) DUTERTE

Its been a busy couple of weeks. Transfer announcements come by last Monday and I was assigned in a threesome, with new area but same zone so i wasn't moving too far from where I was originally. Transfer day comes along and as we are about to head out the door all packed up ready to go, I get a call to go to a new zone called Montalban. So I am now in the land of Montalban! its super nice, our house is spacious and has a shower! My last area was bucket showers all day. Running water all day, last area only at night... I feel like im livin large now a days. We have a really good area out here, people are super nice like always, mountains in the distance, the elders that live in our house, their area is a place called WAWA DAM. search it we should be going on a pday here soon which I am excited. I miss doing some out doorsy stuff, waterfalls hiking and all that. 

My new companion is real cool, from cali, he will be going home after this transfer. He is hard working and a fun Elder. We have had similar backgrounds so we automatically clicked. My first week here has been super successful, we received a text from the sister in the ward next to ours and they had an investigator move into our area and she is absolutely ready for baptism. Its awesome, we call these people golden investigators. They have received their answer and are ready to be a member of this wonderful church. Our first day as a companion ship, we were introduced to a sister/ mother by a member and had a great lesson with here. She offered the closing prayer and started to tear up. Now those tears are not because we are sad, they are tears of joy. That feeling she described to us after the prayer was the Holy Ghost giving her a answer to her prayerful question. It was quite beautiful and these moments man, are the moments that help me realize why I am out here. 

If you are thinking about serving a mission. Do what you need to do to become ready, it will take sacrifice but thats okay cuz i promise you this is worth it. People need your help and will be prepared to hear your voice! 

I love you all and especially thank you for the love and support you all show me.

Love,

Elder English



Wawa Dam (also known as Montalban Dam)^[1] is a gravity dam constructed over the Marikina River in the municipality of Rodriguez in Rizal province, Philippines.^[2] The slightly arched dam is situated in the 360-metre (1,180 ft) high Montalban Gorge or Wawa Gorge,^[3] a water gap in the Sierra Madre Mountains, east of Manila. It was built in 1909 during the American colonial era to provide the water needs for Manila.^[4][5] It used to be the only source of water for Manila until Angat Dam was built and Wawa was abandoned. Due to insufficiency of water supply for Metro Manila, there was a strong clamor to reuse the dam.^[6]

LOVIN LIFE!!!

LOVIN LIFE

Dearest friends and family,

First off I love you and thank you all for being you. I miss you all but I am having the time of my life out here, and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I learn so much each and every day its almost weird but how I enjoy it man. This week was really good for Elder Newman and I. We are trying our best to get our investigators to come experience church. I like using a term here to get people to realize they don't know what they are missing out on here on these warm Sunday mornings. "How do we know whether a food is delicious or not?" They usually say "we try it," although we have gotten some out of the park answers a couple times haha, but then compare food to church, we will never know if we like it if we dont try it. Gets the people thinking a lil bit. 

Here is a cerpt of the email I sent to our mission president:

This last week, much of my personal study has been focused on faith, because of a Less active who asked us a question on how he can truly build his faith to be stronger. We gave him the answer I think most missionaries would have given. Read, Pray, Got to church, but I was disappointed with our answer. I wanted to go into more depth, to truly help him increase his faith, of course reading, praying, and attending church will be the best place to start, and he knows that. Luckily I had a talk given to me by Elder Stratton way back in training that I had not read until this last week. It is called "Increasing our Faith in Jesus Christ" He explained how the 12 apostles wanted the same thing, to better to increase their faith. They had asked Jesus Christ what they must do to better increase their faith. Christ gave a parable about a servant and a master, how the servant had worked all day in the field then comes back to the master expecting a break because of the such hard work put in. The Master had him continue with his duties with out time to sit and relax, or take a break. the apostles were confused while expecting the answer to pray, read, treasure up the word of God. They got the opposite, what Christ was explaining how we are always in debt to our Father in heaven. Our Faith is grown by giving/ dedicating our life to the LORD and his son Jesus Christ. It never stops, our faith is either increasing, staying at the same rate or descending. 

I am super happy to be here on a mission to give myself to the LORD, This is the best time of my life. I love this work and coming closer to our Heavenly Father each and every day. Its crazy for me, I've dreamed of being out here since I was baptized and being here now almost doesn't seem real. Have to pinch myself sometimes. But I love it, the trials and realizing the significance of a trial in the midst and enduring while enjoying. The life of a missionary, how you see things from a different perspective out here.

This talk I shared isn't exactly quoted but its how I understood it. I hope it helps you to grow your faith each and every day! 

I love you al,l keep being yourselves and having fun.

Love,

Elder English

PICTURES

"NEW AREA....GOODNESS GRACIOUS"

MALOLOS 1

New area! Goodness gracious, I will miss Sapang Palay with my heart. It was tough for me to say bye to those I've grown so close to those past 6 months, but its okay, new ward new area, new brothers and sisters to help come closer to our savior. So Malolos is about half and half, we have city and jungle type atmosphere. We live in the city, call it the Bayan and as we go out to work we end up with a bunch of banana trees and open fields. Its nice I like it. Our chapel is the stake center so we have AIR CON.... wow how much I missed that, our last chapel had fans all over the place.

The members are super nice and the recent converts have such strong testimonies. I was fed dinner almost the whole first week I got here which is nice. Had the opportunity to bear my testimony and talked about how our testimonies are our personality, how you know this gospel to be true is what keeps us going. Most members here in the Philippines are converts being the church is fairly new here, we are seeing the second generation of young me and women who grew up in the church (born in covenant) have a strong desire to serve a mission because of how much this gospel has helped their families. I love seeing someone preparing themselves  to serve.

My new comp is Elder Newman from Utah, straight outta the factory as he explains, being most Mormons are from Utah and raised in the gospel, but he is quite the opposite, what a personality he has man, just an outgoing guy who loves missionary work. He is going home to end his mission not this transfer but next, so I will most likely watch him leave the mission. I am learning a bunch from him and his experience here in the mission. Our teaching goes hand in hand, we feed of each others teachings and expecting great things to happen here in the work of the LORD. The goal out here for us is to grow grow grow and grow each and every day, becoming the person who the LORD wants us to be, being the best missionary we can be every day. When you and your comp have the same goal in mind, things go smoothly.

Im having the time of my life and enjoying each and every day, one thing ive learned out here is how fast time flies. Its crazy but such a great learning experience. These people are awesome, I wish you could meet all the people we meet on a daily basis, they love to have fun here and be themselves. What a perfect mission for Elder English. 

Elder English

 

"I FEEL BLESSED"

I'm waaaaay up I feel blessed,

Looks as if I will be in my first area Sapang Palay for over six months which I am very excited/happy about. We have some upcoming baptisms in the next few weeks if everything goes as planned! April 30 will be a baptismal service for a 14 year old girl, Rose Jane. She has been taking missionary lessons for three years now and has been prepared by the Lord to make the baptismal covenant. She has always been a shy little girl which holds her back from participating in lessons or growing close with members at church. We can slowly see that changing every week. I truly believe she is ready. It is just crazy to think how the Lord can prepare us for things.

Back when the missionaries found me I had no idea that I was looking for God or looking for church. But the Lord put them before me and helped me to feel the power of the Holy Spirit. Completely changed my life in so many ways, opportunities arose, friendships began, my thoughts became clear as to what the purpose is for me here right now. I am very happy to help people accept this gospel into their own lives. How amazing to have the fullness of the gospel at this time. Don't take it for granted. If you feel you don't have that fullness in your life. Find it. Find him and if ye shall knock it shall be opened unto you.

Don't be shy!!!!! I have seen it hold so many people back here. It is a common trait I see here. tagalog- Nakahiya(shy) Don't let shyness hold you back from opportunities that we can easily receive by stepping out of that comfort zone. Have confidence in yourself. Have confidence in the Lord. Have confidence in Jesus Christ. They want you to be happy so follow them. Do your best everyday, and trust that the Lord has a plan for you.

I love you all thank you for being you, those who are in your life are in your life for a reason, find out why.

Elder English

WOWZAS... GENERAL CONFERENCE APRIL 2015

WOWZAS General Conference April 2015

I absolutely loved this conference and all of the speakers that prepared for us. We are so fortunate to hear from a Prophet of the Lord and his many apostles. Very thankful to be a member of this church and the inspiration these speakers give to all who listen. So a little bit different here in the Philippines for conf. Usually at home making breakfast head over to a friends house maybe a nice nap in the middle of talks. Here we attended our Stake center where they Satellited the conf. A week later than the actual conference a week ago. No naps involved, I have never been so intrigued and focused on a conference, before. It was a great experience for me as a missionary.

The talk by Christofferson touched me on fathers, really motivated me for when the time does come to be the best loving father to my wife and kids, protecting them at any costs and preparing them for the wonders of this church, and all the opportunities thru serving the Lord. All you fathers, thank you for your example to me of your love to your children. Express love everyday, we don't get these times back. Show your kids how much you love them. I loved the talk by the Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson on choices. It all depends on our choices in this life. Alice in wonderland having no where to go, not knowing where to go when faced with two different paths, the cat in wonderland asked her where she was going Alice replied I don't know. The cat responded with if you don't know where you are going how will you ever get there? Goals, set goals and have a vision of where you want to be in this life. Without a vision there is now way for us to get there. Sometimes it gets hard to follow the path we want, God has given us the privilege to make mistakes learn and grow from those mistakes. I have never learned how to truly appreciate my challenges until being out here as a missionary. If you are in a situation that is hard, maybe tough to endure and cant yet see the light, have faith, have faith in heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ, if you lack faith in them have hope that your faith will increase. Have to start somewhere. I leave this with you to pray to heavenly father, he is real, he wants the best for you. If ye knock he shall answer.

Hope this helps everyone who reads! I love you all and miss ya! Know I am doing great and loving it here as a disciple of Christ, how great it is to be a representative of Jesus Christ and bare testimony of his love for us.  Thank you and INGAT PO KAYO (take care)

JUST A FEW PICTURES.....

Isaac said he "picked up a random lamb"

          This gentleman walks up and down the street near where they live everyday singing

                                                            Someone's pet monkey

"Sapang Palay... Exactly what I expected the Philippines to be like"

I realized that I haven't been very fair with sending a letter for the blog much, but I'm sorry. I have 2 hours at a computer cafe and have many people to write personally which I feel is very important. I also haven't been fair in sharing what my area is like here in the Philippines. It is called Sapang Palay and its the province area, so i guess you could say more ghetto than the city. It is beautiful here. The amount of trees and plants its crazy and such a beautiful sight to see. This area is exactly what I expected the Philippines to be like. A whole lot of walking up and down, we are in a mountain region where as the city you are on flat ground for most part, to explain how much we walk bot of my big toe toe nails have fallen off, but they have grown back remarkably fast which is nice. Our house is very nice. A lot of the houses here are mad of sticks cardboard and tarps, whatever they can find basically. So we are blessed to have a nice 3 bedroom with kitchen shower and bathroom. Toilet paper exists but there id no point, there is no flushing in almost all the places? homes i have been to. We use a bucket of water and a tavo which is a nice big scooper and use your left hand to wipe along with water from the scoop. its actually a lot more easy and efficient than using toilet paper having to wipe multiple times other than a one and done kinda thing, and probably cleaner. We walk about 5 mins down the main road and have an area called sampol, its a bunch of little markets set up as well as a couple grocery stores and bunch of random crap but some cool things too. fruits veggies meats you name it we got it, we have a drug store and very nice, expensive but useful when sick. Anytime we go through sampol it is a struggle because of the amount of people and there are still jeeps and buses that try to squeeze thru. I am very surprised I haven't been hit by a vehicle, mostly trikes here which is motorcycle with side car, but there have been countless close calls which has helped become aware at all times, haha its a great time.



President Nelson from the the Quorum of the twelve visited and spoke with our mission. I forgot to bring my notes but let me tell ya, did i learn something from him and his wife. You can feel the spirit as President Nelson speaks, His talk was simple yet so profound. One principal I took from his talk was missionaries can do hard things. There have been many times in the past where apostles and prophets

have been tested and have completed what was asked of them in true faith and courage. We as missionaries can do hard things, we have Scriptures to let us know of that. It was reassuring hearing it from President Nelson, something about it coming from him really sticks with a person, I noticed missionaries changed on the bus ride home from the bus ride there, as well as my self. This work isn't easy but its exactly what the Lord wants from us. TO SERVE, when we serve others only then will we find ourselves when we are looking for others to help and serve.


This time here has been the time of my life. I am so happy to be here doing what we are doing, I have never felt so much happiness doing anything in my life. This mission is a testimony builder to me in so many ways. My invitation to you is to look for others to serve. I know many of you already do but sometimes we get to lazy or tired when people truly need help. Be yourself, have fun we have this life here for a reason, use it to your full ability, Find God, invite him into your life and he will be there and so happy that you have done so. I love you all and thank you for the love and support thru email. These emails I read bring smiles to my faces seeing others grow in this time while I'm here truly makes me happy.

BAPTISM

Not much to share...Isaac will write a letter for me to post soon.  He did send a picture of two young kids that asked to have Isaac be the one to Baptize them.  So sweet brings happy tears to my eyes.  He is doing an amazing job!

I'M DOING GREAT....LOVING LIFE...LEARNING LOTS

I'm doing great loving life learning tons, we had our 5 week training with our mission president and was really good and well needed, he is a great smart man and knows how to get the people going. A topic there was to be PMG (preach my gospel) scholars. PMG is a book in where we learn how to be missionaries and what not. We received instruction to study 30 min a day which was something I hadn't been doing, and started this week and wow, I need a lot of that book in my life. It has it all on what to teach and how to teach it better for our investigators and less actives. An activity in the book was to be a journalist and write how the gospel has changed your life with a title.

                                                                        

THE TRUTH HAS BEEN FOUND:

Which of the many churches on Earth is true? How do we receive true eternal exaltation and return to live with our heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ's presence?

After high school 2013 around the time of August/ September, I had no idea what was going to happen next in my life. Most friends went off to college to receive an education for a future job in which they could provide for themselves/ make a living. Some went off into the armed forces and accepted the role of faithfully serving and protecting our country. I was lost, not knowing what I should do with my life, and what step I should take next. Working at a Papa johns pizza shop, I was truly in a weird spot of my life. Missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints found me. Their message was clear and I believed them, when they told me they knew of their message to be true. They extended an invitation to me to pray after they had taught me of the returned gospel here on Earth. I did so in Faith and real intent from my heart, thinking this really could be true. In that very moment of prayer, I felt the most powerful feeling known to man kind, an uplifting feeling that felt as if I was being taken up with the arms of our loving heavenly father. I explain to the missionaries what I had felt and witnessed after closing that wonderful prayer. They explained to me that that very feeling was the Holy Ghost testifying to me that what they had taught me was true. Since that moment I have found the true church here on Earth. I know exactly how to be the happiest I can be in this life, and how to be properly eternally exalted to live with God, and our brother Jesus Christ. I do believe that I was uplifted that day, although I had no idea what I was getting into or looking for in my life. It found me, That is the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a purpose to your life, that I promise, but to find it you must have FAITH and trust the things in which you can not see ,If your faith is true, there will be no need to see, but fell his LOVE for you. I know that God loves you very much no matter if we feel worthy or not. He loves me and you because we are his children and his beloved son Jesus Christ is not only our savior and redeemer but our brother. He suffered and died up on that cross for all of us to be forgiven of our sins. Pray to God, ask him for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ and pay close attention to how you feel. The power of prayer is real, the power of repentance is real. Have faith and he will bless your life in ways you didn't know could be done. I know this church is true with all my heart, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

                                                      

A FEW MINUTES OF OUR CHRISTMAS SKYPE - (VIDEO)

We were able to SKYPE for over an hour.  It was amazing to see his smile...here his voice... and feel how happy he is to be serving the people of the Philippines. This portion of the skype he talks about balut (see below).  Being able to skype with him calmed my heart.  He is safe, happy and blessed to have this experience.

"A balut (spelled standardized as balot) is a developing duck embryo (fertilized duck egg) that is boiled and eaten in the shell. It originated and is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines. They are common food in countries in Southeast Asia, such as Laos (khai look ໄຂ່ລູກ in Lao), Cambodia (pong tia koon ពងទាកូន in Cambodian)^[1], Thailand (Khai Khao ไข่ข้าว in Thai) and Vietnam (trứng vịt lộn or hột vịt lộn in Vietnamese). They are often served with beer. The Tagalog and Malay word balut means "wrapped".

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

WATTBA what a time to be alive

NEW YEARS was crazzzyyy fireworks every which way u turn, we got on our roof and just watch in amazement looks like a war zone, it was raining and smoke everywhere, LOUD fire crackers. great time though and they didn't stop, usually after the new year y'all go back inside and enjoy the party with fam or whatever, here they party don't stop, i didn't stop hearing fireworks, this morning woke up still hear music blaring bombs going off. haha fun experience. I'm doing great very thankful to skype with the fam. they are so supportive and I know they are proud of me being out here, so supportive. Wish I could record everything I go through out here, everyday is something different and an adventure. I love it. Quote I've been thinking of lately is "don't leave somewhere you wish you could have done more" trying to do everything i can out here, language is dang tough but i can get my point across with the spirits help so I have learned not to hold back in trying to say things and share experiences. Love this work. Food is bomb, I miss pepper jack cheese, crunchy jalapenos and nanas homade cookin as well as a floridinos calzone, mhmmmm, getting time for lunch here soon, but they have a pretty good hot sauce. The desserts are my favorite so far, we had dinner with a member yesterday, chicken chunk cooked in pineapple juice carrots sweet milk and real good over some rice. ube, which is dessert purple looking pie that had a potato mash texture to it but was a vanilla flavor, with shredded cheese on top haha you'd think the cheese is horrible addition I was surprised when she started to shred it over dessert but it actually gave it a good flavor. love life live every day to the fullest, be yourself, some things I try to apply everyday here and its helped a lot.

-mahal

Elder English

​                                           "Johan, it was his bday so we took a selfie"