Week 26

Merry Christmas everybody!!! I'm feeling really energetic so here is 6,000 words in total for everyone!

Love you all!! Thanks for all the support <3

Love, Elder Grasse

Christmas lunch

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas lunch again

Christmas Eve dinner again

Family Home Evening pic

Christmas dinner

Week 25

I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!!!!!!

Sadly I am not going to Siquijor :( Sunod panahon na lang. Instead, I'm going to an area called Lawa-an in the Talisay zone. It is still on the island of Cebu so I am not going to move islands. It is still a city area so no bukid area ... yet! I'm super excited. I head over tomorrow at 8:00am and I'll meet my new companion, Elder Swain! If you can't tell by his last name, he is not a Filipino so it will be kind of weird being with an American now haha. I honestly can't wait to start my new adventure in Lawa-an. And a bonus, my trainer (tatay) is in the same zone so that will be lit.

So my birthday was also this past week and so Tuesday night (my b-day) a member had us over for PIZZA!!!! And they got me a little cupcake and a Christmas present. It really made my day because right before that, we got punted from like 3 of our lessons. Kinda rough but it is ok because I got a Christmas present hahaha.  

Nothing else too new. Crazy to think Christmas is next week and the week after that I will hit my 6 month mark... BONKERS!!!!

Elder Grasse loves you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!

P.S. Thanks for all the b-day wishes on Facebook or email or Messenger, it really meant a lot:)

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Rainy day

Rainy day

Rainy day

Our district with Pop Rocks! Thanks mom:)

Our district with Pop Rocks! Thanks mom:)

Bunyag ni Cyrene

Week 24

Howdy howdy everyone. 

Well sadly, there is no news as interesting as last weeks story about my left hand but I'll try to make this email as interesting as possible. 

So first off, I am going to be baptizing a cute little 11 year old this Saturday! I don't know her too well because the Sisters in our ward taught her but she wants me to baptize her! It's probably because she thinks it will be cool for the only white guy in the ward to do it, but it was awesome saying "oo"(yes) to her nervous face when she asked me haha. 

So like I said last week, Dumanjug has been getting lots of meal appointments for my birthday coming up and some of them have already happened. And, oh my golly, has it been awesome!!! We have a few wealthy members in the ward and they have treated us to some very nice places. I'll attach a few pics don't worry. But this week, and the next few days, I have eaten some good foods. Also, a Korean man, Tony, came to church a few weeks ago and mentioned he was baptized like 20 years ago but just over the years has become super inactive. So on Thursday or Friday (I really can't remember individual days, everything is flying by) we were able to meet and teach him. He's here for a few months just on vacation but his hotel that he's living in is AMAZING! Just look at the picture that is attached. But anyways, since he is Korean, he knows a little bit of English but NO Bisaya! So I was able to FULLY lead the whole lesson and let me say, it has been the first time I have felt like a TRUE missionary!!! Kinda sad to say that, but I was just going on and on about how God loves us and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help us and our families and it was just so amazing! Finally, Elder Dumanjug knows how I feel during all our normal lessons haha. "Ohh how the turn tables!"

Yesterday was Christmas Con!!! The whole island of Cebu missionaries got together and after President and Sister Pajaro addressed, we played games and had skits and at the end we all got a little goodie bag. There are 5 zones on Cebu island and each zone had to prepare a skit or video. 3 zones did a live skit and 2 zones did a video. My zone, City Zone, did a skit and it is pretty dumb but it is kind of hilarious. The licking the ice part and me singing our version of Last Christmas got everyone dying. It was a really good time!

There is one more week in this transfer and hopefully by next Tuesday night I will know where my new area and who my new companion will be. I'm really excited because I just want to experience something new and the companionship on Siquijor is breaking up so... you know what that means, Elder Grasse has another request in his daily prayers haha.

That's it! Love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!

My address for mail:

Temple Complex-CJCLDS

Gorordo Ave
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Pic with Br. Tony

His view!

Me and a frog

A member treating us

Lami ang panihapon!

Dums and I

OBENA!!

Jollibee from members!

Link to Our Christmas Con skit

Week 23

Hello everyone... I have some bad news. I'm sorry for disappointing you all but unfortunately, I have fallen to the peer pressure from every single person in the Philippines. I held strong for a solid 4 months but this past week I was defeated... by the kasilyas. Feel free to look up that word. WARNING GRAPHIC: Thursday, in the middle of the night, I awoke with a sense of feeling that I had to go Number 2. In the middle of the process, I realize there is no TP. So, I sucked it up, became a TRUE Filippino and used my left hand for something I never thought I would use it for. I have failed my personal mission while being on my mission. The next district council, my companion told everyone the big news and they all celebrated. Little did they know that I was depressed haha. Literally everyone and their grandma here uses their hands for the cleaning of... tae. So that was probably the most eventful thing of the week hehe. I will admit, I hate doing it, but it does feel a WHOLE LOT cleaner. Count your blessings, not your problems, right?

Anyways, Elder Dumanjug and I have been grinding in Mabolo. We have 5 people that could be baptized but all five of them have some sort of problems that are keeping them from being baptized. It's ok though because we are helping them as much as we can. This transfer only has 2 more weeks so I probably won't be here in Mabolo for their baptisms, but it's all good.

My companion, Elder Dumanjug, is famous in the mission for him being able to get meal appointments. And let me tell you, it's true. His first day in our area, he got us free lunch with some members that he had never even talked to before. It was amazing, I'm trying to learn as much as I can. But since my birthday is coming up, the 17th, which happens to be the day before transfer day, he's contacting all of the members in our ward and telling them that my birthday is coming up and that they should do something special for me. Just yesterday, Dumanjug told me that we 5 dinner appointments for my last week here!!!! So that last week will be pretty nice.

That's it for week 23. I love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!

My address for mail:
Temple Complex-CJCLDS
Gorordo Ave
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Dums and I at McDonald's

Pic with Tatay Cezar

I'm in Siquijor!!!

#NoFilter

Week 22

I'll be real, I'm super kapoy(tired) right now, super busy, and I'm tapulan(lazy). So I'll just send some pictures and some videos today!

But don't worry, I still love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!!!

E Dumanhug and I

Bacayan Pic

Bacayan Family pic

Journey with E Dumanhug

Bacayan vlog

Week 21

Maayong hapon!!! Kamusta man mo?

This week was packed. So I got my new companion....... Elder Dumanjug!!! He's pretty great but he's really pushing me to become a great missionary, which is good but tough. He's pushing me to learn the language, improve my teaching skills, and he's having me lead a ton! Luckily, his English is really good so he can answer my deep questions which I love. We have been trying to get in contact with lots of members in our ward so we can hopefully get referrals through them because our area is pretty difficult finding new people. Nevertheless, we have been trying our best to bring others closer to Christ. 

This week we dropped two PBD's (Person with Baptismal Date). We are still teaching them and visiting them and they are super receptive but they just aren't solving their problems. Elder Obena and I had been working with 3 less active families for probably 4 weeks or so and they never came to church. But last week, all three came!!! It was so amazing to see that hard work has paid off haha. 

Getting a new companion means it was transfers. So a new batch of missionaries came in and I don't want to lie, but it's sooo nice not being a full-on newbie anymore haha. And it's super nice to talk with them in Bisaya because I really get to see the progression I've made! 

So yesterday night, Dumanjug and I stayed over at the ZLs' place. But getting there was a full-on journey! So I'm used to Eugene Oregon where there isn't too much traffic especially late at night, but here, oh my gosh. We walked over to this massive mall called Ayala and waited at the Jeepney terminal for a straight two hours! We were walking back and forth trying to find the right Jeepney and when we did, it would be crammed full! Eventually, at like 9:30pm we just got a taxi. We would've gotten one from the beginning but they are just super expensive here. So we finally arrived at 10:00. 

Kana lang! I love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo GYUD!!!

My address for mail:

Temple Complex-CJCLDS

Gorordo Ave
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Elder Dumanjug and I

60% of the best district in the mission

Good ol' service

Biggest spider I've seen so far!!

Week 20

Hello everyone!!!

Well I have to type on the phone again so I'm going to make this short. This week was really good. It was super busy but good. 

Thursday I went on exchanges with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Andreasen, and that was a ton of fun. We had a dinner appointment in there area and it was by far the best food I have had in 3 months! There were TWO different types of pastas, chicken, and they had ice cream for dessert!!! I was in heaven and I ate soooo much. There apartment is also the best in the whole mission because they have A/C in the bedroom!!! That was also the first time in 3 months that I had a blanket on haha. It was glorious. 

Friday was Zone Con so I got to see my Batch and a ton of other missionaries. It was a ton of fun but it's like the whole day so it gets a bit boring after a while. However, on our way home there was a man selling... BALUT!!! I asked him what the oldest day he had was, day 19. So I got a day 19 and Elder Obena got a day 16. This was my second time eating balut and it is really good. You just gotta trust me. So enjoy the two videos below haha.

Today, probably in like 30 min, I will get a call about my new companion!!! I've officially completed training and now I'm on to my follow-up training. I'm kinda nervous but I'm really excited for something new. 

That's it! Love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!

My address for mail:

Temple Complex-CJCLDS

Gorordo Ave
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Batch mates

Batch mates

Elder Andreasen and I

Balut

Eating day 19 balut (part 1)

Eating day 19 balut (part 2)

Week 19

One more week of training!!!! Next week I will have my new companion and I will be leading the area! Super excited but nervous. Elder Obena has been such a good trainer. He's always so patient, kind, and obedient. He really makes life easy for me and it's sad our companionship will end next week:( This next transfer is only going to be 5 weeks long because if it would be the normal 6 weeks long, transfer day would fall on Christmas day so President Pajaro decided to make it 5 weeks and then extend the next transfer after that to 7 weeks. Two days ago was also my 4 month mark of being on my mission. Time has really flown by. Just thinking that I left home 120 days ago is insane. 

The work has been going good over here in the Philippines! Elder Obena and I have been trying really hard to get new people and really progress the work before he leaves. Sadly, 3 of our PBD's are really struggling with figuring out their problems. We've been trying to be as supportive as possible but it's so rough not being able to solve their problems for them.  

Two days ago we had workers from the church come down here from Salt Lake and they held big interviews with the missionaries here. We were separated into two groups and they asked us about our missions, why we chose to serve, any changes we would make, Sister missionaries, and if we've been enjoying the mission. It was really cool and interesting. And then right after, we had interviews with President and Sister Pajaro. President Pajaro gave me a bit of info about my next companion so that was cool hearing. But interviews always take so long because we have to go through our whole zone and Sisters always go first and elders with assignments usually go last. Since Elder Obena is a district leader we were one of the last companionships to go. We finally got home at like 8:00pm. 

This week I got sick AGAIN! Luckily it wasn't anything too bad, just sore throat, runny/stuffy nose, and a headache but it just sucks not being able to stay healthy but I know these are just small trials for me to improve my faith and my desire to serve, since we had to take it easy for a day. I've really loved my mission so far and I'm becoming a better missionary every day and I'm becoming a better person every as well.

I love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!!

 My address for mail:

Temple Complex-CJCLDS

Gorordo Ave
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Week 18

Happy Halloween!!! Sad to think I can't go trick or treating this year:(

Elder Obena and I have been working, working, working over here in Cebu. On Sunday there was a visitor at church and he came over to us and gave us 3 referrals which was amazing because it's so difficult to find people in our area. So yesterday we tracked them down. All the person told us was that they lived near 'Corner Bakery'. So we went all around asking people where Corner Bakery is and we got lead all over this compound for like an hour and then finally we found it and we realized it's literally 50 yards away from our church building, which is 10 min away from our house. So that was a big waste of time. We called the man that gave us the referrals and he said all three of the referrals work at the bakery! We walked in and all three ladies behind the counter were the referrals!! We talked with them and got their phone numbers and then Obena and I decided to buy a little treat but one of the ladies just gave us a ton of bread and baked goods and didn't even have us pay for it. It was so nice and all of the goodies were sooooooo tasty.

Cebuano is slowly coming and I am definitely getting used to the heat and humidity. And this morning our zone had a session at the temple which was amazing! But that's it for this week. Sorry for the email being so short but our missionary emails aren't working on computers so typing this on this phone is very difficult! 

Love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!

My address for mail:

Temple Complex-CJCLDS

Gorordo Ave
Lahug, Cebu City
6000 Cebu
Philippines

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Mga bata

Obena and I in 1,000 degree weather

Baptism

Week 17

Hello sa tanan!!!

I have three more weeks of being a trainee and then I'm leading the area and the lessons. I'm pretty darn nervous because I do not know Cebuano and my area right now, Mabolo, is like the most city area in the mission so everyone lives in compounds which are like full on mazes! So this past week Obena has been letting me practice leading haha. Hopefully it will help but we will see in three weeks.

Compounds here are run by gangs and while some gangs love us missionaries, other gangs despise us. Because of that, we are only allowed to enter certain compounds so we've had a bit of trouble finding new people. However, we've (Obena) decided to say hello to everyone we pass by and then have Obena stop talking because some people love talking to Americanos. The only problem is I don't know how to talk back to them! I'll try my best and sometimes they'll just laugh at me and when that happens Elder Obena will jump in. It's worked so far because we have found 2 new families and an old lady to teach

Nothing too new has been happening. Gahapon (yesterday) I went on exchanges with Elder King to his area, Oprra. It was a lot of fun because since he is an American he had to learn the grammar of Cebuano instead of just growing up speaking it, like Obena, so he answered lots of my language questions. We had a few really good lessons and one of them was with 4 super funny little girls and they just kept roasting my language skills. But luckily they were able to get the gist of it and I was able to understand them... making fun of me haha.

I haven't written much Bisaya in my emails because I feel like I'm no good at it but here goes!!!

Nasayud ko nga tinuod ang simbahan. Tanan mga adlaw nagkita ko mga milagro ug mga panalangin. Bisan pa dili maayo ang akong Cebuano, nagtabang ang Dios sa akoa sa mga leksyon. Naay mga adlaw, nagbati ko guol, pero naghinumdum ko sa pagampo ug nagbati ko mas maayo kanunay. Ang akong kauban, ni Elder Obena, moa ang nindot kaayo elder ug trainer. Christ-like siya gyud. Kahibalo ko nga naganhi ko diri, sa Philippines, para sa rason kay tungod nagbati ko sa kalipay ug kalinaw sa tanan mga adlaw. Usuhay naghunahuna ko nga magkaton sa Cebuano ug magsulti sa Cebuano lisod kaayo pero sa Moroni 7:33 nagbasa siya, "Ug si Kristo miingon: Kon kamo adunay hugot nga pagtuo kanako kamo makabaton sa gahum sa pagbuhat sa bisan unsa nga butang nga maayo ngari kanako." Nahigugma ko sa akong mission ug nahigugma ko sa inyo! Ug sa ngalan ni JesuKristo, amen!

That's it for this week! I love you all and hope you all are doing maayo gyud!!!

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Sorry for lack of pics this week. I wasn't able to upload them all for some reason.

Elder Dumanju, Elder Grasse. Ward missionary Stephen and Justin. Elder King, Elder Obena

Elder Obena and I at Stake Conference with his cousin and her family

For dinner we ate tiny octopus!

Week 16

It's weird, every week goes by sooo fast but the days seem so long. And to think, I GET to enjoy 616 more days out here in the hot but gorgeous Philippines. 

This week nothing too new happened. Lots of our lessons fell through which sucked but we were able to have some amazing lessons and we were able to extend the baptismal invitation to Sister Angelica and she said yes! She's 16 but now her mom doesn't think it's the best idea :(  We are trying to talk with both of them to get it all figured out so we will see this week.

Throughout my short time being here, whenever I've hung out with the ZL'S we talk about the Sam Yang challenge. SUPER spicy noodles. Monday, after district council, the Zone Leaders brought 5 packs of Sam Yang noodles. So we cooked them up and 5 of us ate them. All the elders were racing. Elder Martin (ZL) and I were trash talking each other about who was gonna finish first and he was so confident because he had already done it before. So we all lined up and started. Of course, a certain good looking elder who shall remain nameless DESTROYED everyone and finished it in 49 seconds! Elder Martin I think was second at 1:30. But afterwards my lips were on fire but the worst part... was going to the bathroom the next morning :(  But all that matters is that the best looking elder there won haha. 

The past 2 weeks Elder Obena and I have been really poor because something was wrong with his card so we've been having to use my money to support us both so the past few days we have had nothing in the fridge and have basically been starving haha. Luckily, the Sister missionaries in our ward had some spare food for us. Dried fish and rice!!! So that night we actually had a real meal. This was my first time having dried fish and the smell is absolutely horrendous but it tasted pretty good. The only thing was, you eat the fish with the bones but I didn't chew it enough and that night it destroyed my throat!

On Saturday and Sunday we were finally able to watch conference!!! I don't know if it's because I haven't been able to watch anything on TV for 3 and a half months but holy cow General Conference is the greatest thing ever. Back home I would basically sleep through it but here I took notes on every talk and I found myself shushing Elder Obena when he tried to talk to me haha. And I can't wait until the session in April!

I love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Sam Yang (part one)

Sam Yang (part two)

Dried fish

The gorgeous Cebu Temple

Our fridge the past week

Week 15

Maayong buntag! This week was super busy but super awesome. Sadly, since I am in the Philippines the time 15 hours ahead of the U.S. so I wasn't able to watch General Conference this past Saturday and past Sunday. All of us missionaries are going to be watching the rebroadcast this Saturday and Sunday so that will be nice. 

On Saturday I had my first baptism!!! I was able to baptize both Joana and Glenn and it was such an amazing experience:) It's nindot kaayo being able to help others come unto Christ and feel his love. 

Monday was a super fun day. First we had district council so I was able to see and talk with all of the new missionaries is my zone and my district. And later that night after working, we picked up 4 other elders to stay the night at our house because of DLC (District Leader Council) the next day. So that night was a full on party at our tiny broken apartment haha.

Tuesday was my first time going on exchanges. Because my comp, Elder Obena, is the district leader I went to work with Elder Rabina, whose companion is also a DL. Then right before we were leaving another DL said that his comp needed to come with us too. Elder Smith is really nice but he is also brand new in the mission so it was fun not being the most clueless person during our work haha. We went to Bicayan, Elder Rabina's area, and it was very bukid (middle of nowhere)! So that was a new experience for me because my area is in the middle of the city. It was neat because in that area the only white people that are ever there are missionaries so the people who live there rarely see a 'Puti' like me. So whenever I walked by people they would full on stare at me and would always want to shake my hand and touch me hehe. And another nice thing was I was able to see the growth in my language. Elder Smith being brand new was me almost 7 weeks ago so the times he spoke I realized, my Cebuano has come long way.

Other than that, everything has been the same here. Hot, humid, but awesome! 

I love you all and hope you are all doing maayo gyud!!!

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Obena and I were bored so I made a chess board. Pieces are pesos, q-tips, paper, a pill, etc

Picture with Glenn and Joana

Me at the temple

I rolled my ankle again :(

Ronald McDonald and his twin

Bicayan

Elders Rabina, Grasse, Smith