This Blog is about Elder Hennessey's two year mission, in the Philippines Baguio Mission, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Monday, October 30, 2017

This week was pretty cool as usual. The big thing that happened this week was we did 2 service Projects. The second was clearing weeds/vines from the plot of a member, but the one that I have pictures of happened on Friday. The whole day was Crazy. I woke up at 430 to do insanity workout program with Elder Peua and Elder Tabaua who were about to leave for Abra to do a musical Presentation. They were gonna leave at 600 so we had to wake-up insanely early. We finished at 530, after I'd eaten Elder Jimenez woke up and told me we were gonna go help the Office Elders move houses; I was hoping I could take a little nap before studies! We went and helped move 1 bunk bed frame plus mattresses, electric fans, desks, suitcases, dishes, wardrobes and everything else that goes into an Elders’ apartment. It took 5 Jeepnee loads to get it all delivered. We helped from 730 until 3 with an hour lunch break (we also played Uno for a quick second). Upon arrival to our house we were very tempted to take a nap because I was exhausted, and Elder Jimenez's back was really bothering him, but he had some set appointments we had to go hit. All in all it was a really fun day because our schedule was different. The missionary lifestyle can get a little monotonous sometimes. 

Hope Everyone will have a good Halloween. 

Gotta go!! I'm all out of time

Bye Portland plus all my other peeps here in the Philippines :)


Elder Hennessey


My Haircut!

The First Jeepnee load (of 5) that we brought to the Office Elders new house.

Office Elders New House

One way that Philippinos make things last even if they’re broken/breaking. The grey metal around the edges of the truck bed have been welded in to cover places that were rusted out.

Monday, October 23, 2017

One thing that happened this week was we had another Musical Devotional, similar to the "Come Unto Christ" one we had while I was in Abra, but this one was about the “Restoration of the Gospel.” It had songs like "Quiet Grove," "Did You Think To Pray," "Josephs Smiths First Prayer" and "Praise to the Man". President Bangal sang with 4 sisters a tagalog rendition of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." He has a really nice voice, he could be a Professional, no joke. It was an amazing night and the spirit was most strong while we sang the classic melody of “Army of Helaman” and “As Sisters In Zion.” I wanna give a HUGE shout-out to Elder Tavita who organized it all, it was Amazing. We asked all of the members to invite a friend too so we could hopefully have some referrals for people to teach :) I'm just glad so many of the missionaries were willing to share their talents of singing in order to share the Gospel Message that the True Church and doctine and authority of Jesus Christ’s Primitive Church have been restored to the earth after a period of Apostasy, through the Boy Prophet Joseph Smith.

Two weeks ago I was laying in my Hammock that was attached to the metal bars on our windows. I flipped up-side-down because I was feeling bored and Elder Tabaua came and sat on me. I yelled for him to get off - that my Duyan was gonna break. He didn’t get off, but it didn’t break surprisingly... instead the metal grill on the window that the hammock was attached to got torn out of the wall hahaha! So we have to get the drill from the mission office and fix it. Once it’s fixed we’ll have a strict rule of one missionary at a time.

A man we are teaching right now, Brother E. is very close to being baptized. He is one of the best investigators I've ever taught. We just give him a pamphlet, then he reads it before the next time we come. He is very interested in the Temple, so we have him a pamphlet on preparing to enter the temple even if he’s not been baptized yet. His girlfriend is a member and she has been helping him and his interest to grow in the Gospel. We played basketball with him this morning and with President Bangal, they’re both really good :)

Sorry I don’t have any Pics. I was hopefully gonna send one of my New Super Short Haircut, but I forgot my cord. Next week nalang

This is a very inspirational and genuine talk by Elder Holand, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. If any of you are feeling stressed, ESPECIALLY COLLEGE STUDENTS or NEW PARENTS, I invite you to read and apply it in your lives :)

Kelli told Tiegue of taking his Grandma’s dog to the vet for a tooth extraction, Tiegue’s response… That’s one of the things that shocked me the most. On my second day, in Manila, I was walking along the hot, hot, exhaust, clogged road and there was a dog coming towards us. My jaw dropped and I stopped walking, stunned because when it passed I saw on its back it had open sore/rashes. I quickly closed my mouth cuz dogs here are suuper Mabaho sometimes (bad smelling). It doesnt happen very often but every now and then there will be a dog who has open sores, sometimes even blood covered in flies on its back. Super pathetic (is that the right word? kawawa)


Kelli had made Tiegue’s grandma’s chowder recipe on Sunday and asked Tiegue if the Philipinos have anything like chowder, Tiegue’s response… Philipinos have a dish that’s just straight clams/snails/little conch shell type things. They cook ‘em all, use a needle to get the meat out, and eat it over rice. The closest thing would probably be sopas, basically milky chicken noodle soup.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Hey yall, 

Sorry I don’t have any Awesome stories of climbing mountain, baptizing a barangay, or drinking coconut juice right from the buko, our email servers were down earlier but we were allowed to email for 1 hour either tonight or tomorrow morning, and I was super busy responding to all of the emails. If you were one of those lucky recipients I will be hopefully reading the responses next week when I have more time.

Hope you all read your scriptures today! If you haven’t yet, there’s still time! Read the last 3 verses of the last chapter of the last book in the Book of Mormon. Some of my favorites :)


Be safe lagi :)

Monday, October 9, 2017

(Kelli was telling of the Blitz happening in Portland to see if the names on record match up with actual addresses)  That’s good. Member work is more important than missionary work, but a lot of times members get distracted/tired out from worldly responsibilities and forget that it’s their calling too. But anyways, that’s really good, hopefully they find success as they go. 

My new companion, Elder Jimenez is from Antipolo, part of Manilla. He is turning 28 on October 30, and is 3 months away from going home. He's really cool and I'm learning a lot from him. Also he does most of our cooking, and I do most of our dishwashing, but I am taking notes so I can cook once he’s gone. I already know how to cook a pretty nice Chicken Adobo, but even that gets old after a while. 

Our home is in the Rulloda Compound, and right around the corner is the church. Our area consists of Purok (Ward) 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7/sagayad/Relocation. Philipino cities are generally divided into Cities, then Barangays.  If the barangays are still very large then the area is separated into either Puroks or Zones. Then within those there are individual compounds. We are in the center of one of the biggest cities in Northern Luzon. 

We have been finding a lot lately, because Elder Jimenez decided not to go back to some of the investigators they had before. We are using one of the finding tools that President Bangal gave to us, a Survey about God and the Family. Instead of just handing out a pamphlet and leaving, we usually are allowed to do a short survey of 10 questions ranging from "Do you Pray, and do you feel God hears your Prayers?" to "Do you think that churches should provide good programs for families and youth?" This is much more effective because if we pray before the short survey it is counted as a fist lesson, we find their concerns/interest quickly, and then can give a pamphlet more catered to the before mentioned interest. It’s part of our effort to work smart and not just work a lot. 

Hope we were all able to watch Conference, I invite everyone to read or re-watch the Conference talks and find one thing that stands out to you. For me an overall message this conference was that we need to listen to the Prophet's words with exactness no matter how well we already are doing or what position we have in the church.

Have an awesome week y'all!!!

  
Pancake Monday, First Monday of every Transfer in Bangued Photo Creds @ElderFenn


Landscape from Bangued, my last area. 


 If you thought my zone was cool, check out the Temple ROC, Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission. My Grandma is the one in the brown top halfway back on right. #SeniorsSchedule @Grandma Grosnick haha :)

Monday, October 2, 2017


This week I was transferred from the top of the mission boundaries, Bangued, Abra, to the mission’s center, San Fernando, La Union. I am currently assigned to the Sevilla ward as, and am a Zone leader for the San Fernando Zone. I am so surprised to be in what’s been called the most functioning unit in Baguio Mission. On Sunday we walked into the Chapel and I thought that it was general conference weekend; there were probably 150-175 people. Such a big change when compared with where I was coming from, the Beloved Bangued. 

For my Birthday last night I was pleasantly surprised that people remembered my birthday at church and wished me a good one, also a lot of my former companions and house/batch mates texted me (through proper line of authority) Happy Birthday including PRESIDENT ANDRADA :) To celebrate we ate dinner at Sister Patot's house and we ate pizza, chicken/jojos, and some fried spaghetti with ham(?). I don’t know exactly what it was but it was good. And since it was my birthday, I supplied the ice cream, rocky road, Sister Patot's favorite (which was bought the night before).

Me and Elder Jimenez have a lot of plans on how we are going to be exactly obedient and find like crazy so we don’t waste his last 12 weeks of the mission. 

Me and Elder Walsh, the trainer of my trainer, and also Assistant to the President, challenged me to an arm wrestling contest on week 5 of this transfer, his last week of the mission. We're best buds but now we’ve got a very good bit of friendly rivalry going. I’m currently doing the Insanity Program and working out so I can defend the United States once again from the likes of Britain. :) 

I'll try to make some notes so I can tell a funny story tor two next week, hopefully it’s just not another accidental wedding engagement. 


Elder Hennessey