Week 9

Hello friends and family! Cebuano is very difficult! Just thought I should get that out of the way real quick. In during our visits I can maybe get like 5% of the whole thing. I have no clue what's going on the whole time. It's really rough. But I'm slowly but surely learning... I think. 

After eating sardines with tomato sauce and rice a few times, I realized I should probably buy something else to eat. So I got some bread and mango jam and now it's literally my favorite thing ever!

On Sunday, they asked me to bless the sacrament and afterwards I bore my testimony in 100% Cebuano. I introduced myself, shared my favorite scripture (Jacob 2:18), talked about that scripture and then I bore my testimony. All the members after sacrament meeting came up to me and told me I was Bis Dak (Short for Bisaya (Cebuano) Dako (big) which basically means I'm fluent) So that was cool hearing, even though they were just messing with me haha.

Monday was pretty basic and it was my first time using a Philippino ATM. Automatic Tubig (water) Machine. Put in 1 peso and it dispenses water into a little bag. It's pretty neat. We also had district council and afterwards all of us Elders went to restaurant called Wingers for lunch and it was amazing! For 250 pesos (basically 5 US dollars) we could eat bottomless wings and fries. There were like 10 of us elders there and by the time we were finished, we had probably all gone through like 500 wings. It was so gooooood, mainly because it wasn't rice hehe. Tuesday morning, after we had just finished our first visit of the day, the ZL's called and told Elder Obena and I that we had interviews with President Pajaro at 2:00. So we quickly returned home, got a bite to eat, and headed over to the mission office. Elder Obena and I were the second to last companionship to be interviewed so we were there from 1-7 pm. I felt like it was kind of a wasted day but it was super nice because we were in a room with AC, eating some candy, and talking with others Elders/Sisters. 

Today is my first real P-day, last Friday was a substitute day for all of us newbies. After the morning routine, we played basketball with some other Elders in our zone and after two quick games, all of us were just dripping with sweat. It was bad but they just told me to get used to it lol. The rest of the day will just be relaxing and shopping for more mango jam and then we'll have a few visits to finish off the night. 

Sorry for the shorter email but I don't have too much time today :/

Normal walk for Elder Grasse in the Mabolo area

Normal walk for Elder Grasse in the Mabolo area

Elder Obena and I after church

My district during district council

Week 8

Thursday was an amazing day! The first thing we were able to do was go to the temple. In Utah, the provo temple was closed the whole 6 weeks i was there and the manila temple was closed the 1 week i was there too!!! Super depressing. But the Cebu temple was awesome and beautiful. Now i can say I've been to the Portland Oregon temple, and the Philippines Cebu temple hehe.

After the session was over all of us trainees went outside and sang"called to serve" and then the trainers came up behind us and when we finished singing we turned around met our trainers. My trainer is Elder Obena and he is honestly one of the greatest people I've ever met. He's so funny, kind, helpful, positive, and hard-working. The only rough part is his English isn't the best and my Cebuano is terrible so sometimes it's a bit hard to communicate.

My area is Mapolo which is basically apart of Cebu. One scary thing is, unless we have visits our curfew is at 7:00pm because there can be some sketchy stuff happening outside. But I feel safe because I got God on my side.

When we arrived to the apartment i unpacked and then we instantly got into planning lessons for our visits THAT NIGHT! I was super nervous but excited. On our way to their homes, more like huts made out of spare wood but I'll get into that later, i drove in a jeepney. It was so tight and because I'm the tallest person here, it was especially tight. When we got to the neighborhood, probably 20 kids ran up to us and started giving us high fives. Here it's called "up here" and i held a quick contest with all of them to see who could reach the highest, none of them reached the top haha.

We met with a family and one of their friends, Sister Angelica who's 14. Elder Obena taught most of the lesson but he would let me read the scriptures and bear my testimony. And the interested people would always want me to pray. It was super awesome being a part of the lessons. I actually feel like a real missionary now haha!

Then we got back to our apartment and I realized our shower is a bucket full of water with another smaller bucket that you use to scoop the water and dump it on yourself. It was a new experience for sure. Oh and by the way, the stories about people inthe Philippines using their left hand for something that pertains to the toilet is 100% true. My companion laughed at me when I had to grap my tissues because there was no toilet paper. It's gonna be rough here haha!!!

The people here are the most kind people I've ever met. I've been here 1 day and I already think Americans are pigs haha. The people I visited have ABSOLUTELY nothing. Their house is 1-2 rooms and each room is their kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Their whole home is the size of my room back home. But they are still so happy and grateful for everything. It's really taught me that materialistic items, money, cars, etc isn't true happiness. Having a family and being around the ones you love is true happiness. This church and this gospel is the greatest thing on earth. It allows us to become closer to our friends and family and gives us peace. I'm so grateful I  decided to serve a mission because I'm having the time of my life!!!

I love you all and I hope you are doing maayo g'yud!!

A meal I had at the MTC. The black stuff is pig's blood and it's been the only food I haven't liked so far. it was disgusting

Me with balut

Link to a video of me eating balut

Week 7

PHILIPPINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've made it everyone! Safe and sound. Monday morning we all got up, finished packing, and started to leave. We got on a bus, then a train, then another bus that took us to the airport. It was insane being out of the MTC. I felt like I had just got released from prison or something. Spending 40 days flew by. The flight to LA wasn't too bad mainly because I was asleep the whole time but one row ahead and to the right of me was someone watching ESPN and holy cow was it tempting to watch that puppy. I got myself at least a few times taking a quick peek but I just decided to take a nap rather than watch. I was pretty proud of myself. Waiting in LA for 7 hours was MISERABLE! The first 2 hours was fun because we were like some kids in a massive candy store and were roaming all around our terminal. But after those 2 hours, we were all just so bored. The plane arrived like an hour before boarding and 'oh my heavenly angel' was it a massive plane. There were 75 rows and there were 11 seats in each row. 3-5-3. It was so annoying because the TV's on the plane had like every movie ever but we couldn't watch anything. And then to add on that, every other passenger that isn't a missionary is watching a movie so we just all have the screens around us and we are trying our best to avoid looking but it was very tough. I slept for probably 10 of the 14 hours so that was fantastic. After getting off the plane and getting through security our escort told us to exchange our dollars for pesos, and that was very strange. And then we walked out of the airport...

The first i thing I noticed was the humidity. In the words of my oldest brother, who served in mexico, "the humidity hit me like a brick wall!" It's honestly just like walking in a sauna 24/7. The second thing I noticed is that all the cops here just carry either an AK-47 or a huge shotgun. It was kind of scary. When we got into the shuttles I instantly thought of that scene in Monsters inc. when Randall is chasing Sully and Mike in the the huge door facility thing and they are all jumping from doors to door and entering one door and then going out another door. Know what I'm talking about? Just imagine that, and then replace all the doors in that scene with cars, and multiply it by 10. That's what the driving is like here. Withing the first 5 seconds I was convinced we weren't making it to the MTC. I thought we were all going to die. Cars, jeepneys, motorcylces, buses, and bikes are all weaving back and forth. There are no rules here and everyone is constantly honking. I really can't even describe how insane it was. When we arrived at the MTC we had breakfast and then they let us all take a 3 hour nap which was super nice. But right after we got thrown back into classes. The whole day I was just amazed that I'm in actually in The Philippines now. We didn't have an evening class today because the MTC president let us all got to bed at 7:00 which was awesome!!! 

Thursday: During breakfast, President Clark(MTC president) called Elder Malm and I out and told us that we are going to made the district leaders of District Jeremiah and District Job. Which is really cool I guess but now I got a ton more responsibilities and I'm still trying to figure out the basic responsibilities. So we'll see how this goes. The rest of the day was pretty basic but everytime I walk outside the humidity is just insane! The food here is amazing, way better than Provo. It tastes more fresh and more real and it's all different. Except for rice which we eat for every meal haha. 

Anyways, we only have an hour to email so I gotta wrap this up but The Philippines is already amazing. Everyone I've met so far is so kind and so happy. Although I won't be able to communicate with anyone for a good 5 months, I'm excited to finally go out in the field and teach the greatest message on earth. 

I love all and hope you are all doing maayo g'yud!!!

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

On the train to the airport

Right outside the Manila airport

Elder Malm and I on the shuttle to the MTC thinking its our last day on earth because of the driving.

A quick pic of the Philippines

Our view of either Manila or Quezon City (I really have no clue which one) from our class

PHILIPPINES!!!!

MAAYONG HAPON!

Hello everyone:) I have arrived and am well. The travel really wasn't as bad as I thought. The long plane ride only seemed like a few hours longer than my flight to L.A. but in reality it was actually 7x as long hahaha. Anyways, my email this friday will be a lot and will explain everything a lot more. This is just a quick update that I've arrived and I already love it here! But let me tell you, it is HOT HOT HOT! 

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Week 6!

Time here has FLOWN BY! To think I’ll be flying to the Philippines in 3 days and arriving in 5 days is insane(traveling is gonna suck because I’m gonna time travel two days ahead! I leave the 12th and get there the 14th hahaha) My first few days here I would look at our schedule and flip to week 6 and say, “Pshhh I’m never gonna get there!” And look where I’m at now, at the end of week 6. Inconceivable!

Friday: In the evening for rec. time the gym was like empty, and usually it’s packed because there are 2,500 missionaries here so it was so nice not having to wait in line to play. But while Elder Young and I were playing volleyball we met two awesome Sisters(Shulson and Anderson) who were super funny and awesome and they just made rec time super fun.

Saturday: Today we had our 3rd to last TIP. The teachers are encouraging us now to build our own sentences rather than go off our memorized ones or follow a script while we are teaching. We can all do it but it takes so long because first sentences in Bisaya are structured differently than English sentences. So for instance, ‘I want to go to their house with you.’ In Bisaya it’s, ‘Want I go with you to their house.’ It’s so complicated and so tough to think of the words in Bisaya AND THEN form it to their structure. But I felt like I did pretty darn well and our teacher said that we have really improved in the language.

Sunday: Another fast Sunday here and lemme tell me, this was one of the longest days of my life. I think I’ve said it before but Im pretty sure the branch presidencies just make up random classes/activities for us so we won’t have free time. Church, priesthood (Elder Fleischel and I had the lesson today on the Plan of Salvation), district review, mission conference, mission conference review, then we had another random meeting talking about obedience and faith but it was actually kinda cool but we spent 1 hour just talking about that hahaha. Then all the missionaries in our zone with a calling had a meeting and then it was finally time to eat. 

Monday: We had our last TRC today. It’s crazy being able to talk in another language that I started learning a month ago. I can actually understand others and my brain is starting to actually understand Bisaya rather than in high school I just had Spanish words memorized and when I heard it my brain would convert it to English. But my brain actually understands Bisaya so I don’t need to convert them to English. That was probably really confusing but it’s really hard to explain.

Tuesday: Dili maayo(no good), being here 5 weeks I’ve gotten comfortable here and so my old hyper, outgoing, and curious self is coming out. I won’t go into too much detail but I probably did something that missionaries aren’t supposed to do but it was all in good fun and nothing bad happened but the old Kasden is forming in me again hahaha. Don’t worry, my teachers and district laughed about it but Sis. Cragun talked to me about it lol.

Wednesday: We had our second to last TIP today and Elder Fleischel and I taught about baptism. It went amazing. I only prepared one line to say, “Nagaluto kami pagpabunyag pinaagi pagpauslob, mora kita maluhason sa atong mga sala.” But other than that I winged the whole 20min lesson and at the end I bore my testimony and oh wowza was the spirit present. It’s just crazy being able to sincerely bear my testimony in Bisaya. 

Thursday: Today was Sister Cragun’s last day teaching us!:( She is headed out of town for the weekend and we all leave Monday morning. We also had our final LSA test. It’s like 15 questions with a prompt and we have around 2min to respond to it only in Bisaya. They are pretty difficult but it was really fun.

Before I came out, I never thought I would have rough days on my mission. Obviously I knew I would have tough days physically but I felt like I was so prepared emotionally that I wouldn’t have tough days mentally. Oh how I was wrong. I always try to be as happy as I can because my mindset is ‘why be sad when I can be happy?’ But just from feeling left behind in the language, comparing myself to other missionaries, or just feeling unprepared, I psych myself out and I start feeling unworthy. Whenever that hits I just say a prayer. Prayer has become my favorite thing in the world. My testimony has been strengthened so much from praying. Every time I pray and ask god to help me with my emotions, within an hour I’m happy Kasden again and I have my missionary purpose in my mind again. Prayer is the greatest thing ever. It lets us communicate with our loving Heavenly Father and ask of him to bless us with whatever we want. I’m not even close to being worthy of the blessings he gives me but he still blesses me more than I could ever deserve. I just want to challenge you all to pray more often. Pray to God for help, I KNOW that he will answer at the right time and if you think you aren’t getting an answer, grab a Book of Mormon, flip to Mosiah 4:9, and read it! 

I love everyone of you and hope you all are doing maayo g’yud!!! (Maayo is good. Maayo kaayo is very good. Maayo g’yud is like, couldn’t be happier)

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Our district with Sister Cragun (one of our three main teachers)

My cousin, Elder Yost, and I

Week 5!

This week has been special because I learned to say “Unsa’y nagaluto, nagatan-aw maayo.” (You can look it up, it will prolly come up with something literal, just change two words around and you’ll get it). So now whenever we are talking with Sister Missionaries I’ll always say that haha. Probably not the best the thing to say on a mission but I gotta have have some fun here, plus they have no clue what it means!

And this week has also been special because I’m finally back playing sports again!!! The trainers said my ankle healed very quickly, although there is still a bit of swelling.

  

Saturday: Pretty basic day and we had a 20min TIP in full Bisaya. It’s kinda crazy because I can talk pretty well about the Gospel and Jesus Christ, but just talking about normal stuff is really difficult haha.

Sunday: Today most of the districts in my zone switched DL’s. Now I’m sure when I’m out in the field I’ll want to be the district or zone leader, but here, I don’t want to be either. They really don’t have much control or anything, they just have to get the mail and go to more meetings. This morning everyone in our district was thinking it was either Elder Young or myself and both of us were hoping it was the other. Then during sacrament meeting they call, “Elder Young.” I was dying laughing and started messing with him when all of the sudden I hear “Elder Grasse.” I stand having no clue what’s going on and now I’m trying to hold in my laugh, which was directed towards elder Young. I hear “Thank you” and I sit back down. I was called as The Technology Specialist. Then Elder Young started laughing at me because none of us had any clue what they do. But basically every week I have to teach all the new missionaries about their devices and safeguards. So it’s not too bad I guess. But elder Young did get called as DL.

Monday: My first online TRC. We had a 30min lesson in full Bisaya with someone in the Philippines. It was fun but very tough. Our person couldn’t hear us at first so he hung up and called back like 5min later and then he didn’t even understand like half of our words we were saying. Pag-ula is atonement and he had no clue what that was. So we had to cut out like 5-10min of our lesson. Our teachers said afterwards that he might have been speaking Hiligaynon. So that was fun haha. But it was just cool listening to a native speak the language.

Tuesday: Today was the day the trainers cleared me for physical activities. I went back to volleyball and I hadn’t lost any of my skill. My team won 100-0, give or take about 100, but it was so much fun being back out there.

Wednesday: Our district was assigned to be Host Elders today. This new batch of missionaries had 600 elders and 150 sisters! They said this was one of the biggest batches ever. When a car arrived one of us would follow it and introduce ourselves, get to know the family and the elder, grab the luggage, and take a pic of the family. Then we would quickly take them to their room and back to T4 for check in. It was actually a lot of fun but right as the new missionaries were arriving, it started dumping. Dumping as in a Thursday evening in November in Oregon. It was actually super nice to see the rain again.

Thursday: Today was another English Fast. LISOD KAAYO(very difficult) but it really shows how much we’ve learned and how much we still need to learn! There are like 2,500 missionaries here now which is insane! Everywhere you go you have missionaries walking behind and in front of you. During meals the lines are crazy long  but in the midst of all the crowds I was able to see my cousin Kadem Yost! It was so amazing seeing family here because the only other person I’ve seen outside the MTC is another Sister here. Not many LDS people my age back in Eugene haha. We also had a TIP today which was a surprise to us all so Elder Fleischel and I quickly got a lesson out of Preach My Gospel and started reading out of there when our teacher stopped us and said it can’t be out of Preach My Gospel!!! I puffed up my chest, acted like a missionary of God and spoke from the heart about the restoration, the great apostasy, and dispensations. Our teachers said besides the broken Cebuano, it was awesome. I felt great but I took over and left Elder Fleischel was kinda left in the dust... oops. 

The first day I got here I restarted the Book of Mormon and just yesterday I finished the whole thing. It took me 30 days. It’s insane how much I cherish the Book of Mormon out here. I hate to admit it but reading it back home was a full on chore. Here, BoM personal study is what I look forward to everyday. I know God has blessed me immensely because I’m able to read, ponder, and really comprehend what’s going on. I know that the Book of Mormon is the most true thing ever written. It testifies of God and his son Jesus Christ being alive and real. Every time I start reading it I just get overwhelmed with a joyous feeling. I can’t wait for when I start it over again.

Real quickly I wanna share what is now probably my favorite story in the Book of Mormon. In Alma 30 it talks about Korihor, a wicked man who denies Christ and God and teaches against their doctrine, talks with Alma about if there is a God out there, why doesn’t he show himself to me right now? When I was back home I talked to my dad about this a few times. I had always wanted for an angel, or God, or a massive sign to tell me this church is true. But then I think back to Laman and Lemuel. How many times were they spoken to by God? How many times did they tremble and fall to the earth because of God? It doesn’t matter if we see God in person or if we’ve never even had the slightest sign, it’s all about our faith. But continuing on in Alma, Alma says, verse 44: “...Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.” The scriptures are the biggest sign that this Gospel is true and I didn’t fully realize that till I came out here. But also if we just look around, our earth and everything on it and around it witnesses that there is a God.

Sorry for that little shpeel, that’s just been going through my head for weeks.

Anyways I love you all and I hope you all are doing fantastical!

Ayo ayo!

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Ang mga dakong lalaki=The big boys (my district)

Elder Kerby, Young, and I. Kerby is speaking ASL in New York! He’s awesome

Elder Hughes! He plays baseball at BYU and he left Monday for Brazil

Elder Shutt is from Cebu and he told us this is how all the Philippino kids will take pics haha

Bryson and I snagged a pic together like 3min ago in the laundry room.