Week 13

Ok, I have no time at all this week:( But they say photos are worth a thousand words so here are some pictures!

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

My dinner yesterday... 3 hot dogs

This morning we played some badminton and I had to recreate this classic pic

Elder Obena and me

Elders James, Rabina, Obena, and Grasse

Sisters Gogola and Montaňo

Week 12

It's official, when I get married and start my life I'm going to live in either Iceland or Antarctica because the heat and humidity here is UNBEARABLE! Yesterday the temp was 41 Celsius which is 105 degrees Fahrenheit!!! Just walking outside for 10 seconds and I was already sweating. It's pretty rough sometimes. But other than that, life is pretty fantastic. The language is slowly but surely getting better and my taste buds are beginning to enjoy cold white rice so that's good. The past few days I've been starting to teach a lot more and the families we teach seem to understand what I'm saying so hopefully they aren't just nodding and pretending to understand, which is what I do when they speak haha. 

Friday: Lots of appointments and walking. 

Saturday: After we had appointments and at 6:00, our ward had a Saturday Fun Night. The theme was the Amazing Race and my team was Elder Obena, Aaron(a youth in the ward), and myself. Of course, our team won;) One of the challenges was to memorize and recite an Article of Faith, and our group was assigned the 6th. Which happens to be the only one I have memorized haha!

Sunday: During sacrament meeting, Pres. Sy (2nd counselor in the stake presidency) was the concluding speaker and a few days prior Obena and I had ran into him and his wife at the store. He wanted us to share a message with him so I shared a quick scripture and talked about it in about 90% Cebuano. During his talk, he mentioned me and how my ability to communicate in the language is already maayo gyud and how my message was a testimony builder for him. It made feel so good knowing that even though I can't talk that well, I'm still able to touch the hearts of others.

Monday: Today after district council the Zone Leaders pulled a few companionships aside because they needed to film us talking about FTE(Finding the Elect). Every Sister and Elder in the room was fluent in Cebuano except for me haha. They filmed one companionship at a time and each missionary spoke for about 30 seconds in Cebuano.  When it was Elder Obena's and my turn, our question was what are the best ways to FTE? The ZL's wanted ours to be funny so they had Elder Obena answer and speak as fast as he could for a full minute and then afterwards have me look at the camera and say "Know the language." And now that video is going to be shown at a Zone Con this Thursday for the whole island of Cebu to see.

Tuesday: Elder Obena had two baptismal interviews so we were at Lahug for the whole morning and afternoon but it all worked out because that evening we were able to have 5 full lessons which was amazing!

Photo from Saturday fun night

Photo from Saturday fun night

Visual representation of how Elder Obena and I normally look throughout the day.
Him being goofy, and me being completely lost

Week 11

Maayong hapon! Kamusta mo? Sa Philippines maayo kaayo. I'm loving it here although the past few days have been 34 degrees celsius but the weather app says with the humidity it feels like 39 degrees(102 fahrenheit) so I've been full on dying.

The other day we went to an appointment and they fed us. Us being missionaries couldn't refuse. The only thing was we had District Council right before that and so Elder Obena and I ate had just eaten a ton of food. So we accepted and said thank you but then they wouldn't stop giving us more food. And when I say food, I mean just plain white rice. Cold, plain, white rice. So after a while I tried to say "Busog ko, salamat." --I'm full, thank you.-- However, I accidentally said "Bugot ko, Salamat." Bugot means dumb, but a lot stronger. So I actually said, "I'm super dumb, thank you." They all kinda looked for a bit and then started laughing. I didn't know what I did and Elder Obena was dying laughing so he couldn't help me so I just sat there for like a straight minute not knowing anything that had just happened. Eventually Obena helped me out but it was rough haha.

I don't have a lot of time today because we have to help go set up a ward activity but on monday we were headed to an appointment when all of the sudden a ton of kids ran up to us. It's always fun messing with them and practicing my Cebuano. But right before we left Elder Obena said we should give some them pass along cards. At first I thought, "Ya and on our way back we'll see all the cards we handed out laying on the ground crumbled up." But I just said ya lets do it. We gave a few of them to the older kids and while we were walking away I turned around to see how many cards had already been thrown on the ground and to my surprise, I saw every kid on their knees saying a prayer. It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. In the middle of this trail they all had gotten on their knees and were trying to communicate with their Heavenly Father. It was so awesome and there I realized that anyone can receive this message and the holy spirit can touch anyone.

Anyways, I love you all and I hope you are all doing maayo g'yud!!!:)

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

I tried to do a cool pose but Elder Obena just couldn't time it right haha

Elder Obena and I in front of the Cebu temple. Ear tug

This is Mango Float and it is the greatest thing I have ever put into my mouth.

Week 10

Alright my week was eventful but kinda rough. 

Thursday: Today a full on monsoon hit my area. It was pouring rain in all directions! I honestly think of the scene in Forrest Gump (sorry mom hehe) where he's in Vietnam and they are walking through the rain and he said rain was coming from the ground going upwards because that's what it was like here! Within 30 sec of being outside my whole body was soaked haha. We had a baptismal interview and while we were trudging through the rain Elder Obena slipped and rolled his ankle but he was completely fine so we just kept going. We had a few visits but so many paths were flooded, and we aren't allowed to walk in water because of parasites and other wacky stuff, so we came home early.

Friday: This morning when we woke up, Elder Obena couldn't walk! His foot was a bit swollen but he said even touching it was painful. We called a cab and took him to the hospital. He got an x-ray and it showed that he had like stretched his Achilles tendon or something. The doctor told us we would be out of work for probably 5-7 days:( We finished up the day by just working in the mission home. When we were going to bed I could feel a sore throat coming on but I was just hoping it would go away with some sleep.

Saturday: Today i woke up with a temp. of 101 degrees! I had a super sore throat, headache, and a stuffy nose. I contacted the mission nurse and she just told me to rest and drink plenty of water. Later that night the AP's (assistant president) came by to check on me and they thought I had DENGUE FEVER!!! The virus thing from mosquitoes. Dengue usually puts missionaries out of work for like a week and they feel like death that whole time. I was super bummed. 

Sunday: The temp I had broke today and I was feeling a ton better. I still had the sore throat and a headache but I felt great. I contacted the nurse and she said either I kicked Dengue's butt or i just had a cold and that we would go to the hospital tomorrow to check it out.

Monday: I woke feeling fantastic but as soon as I got out of bed I noticed a big rash on my hands and my feet. We drove to the nurse and she said that rashes are a typical sign of Dengue. We drove to the hospital and they took some blood to run some tests to see if it was Dengue. The first two came back negative and the third one would arrive on Wednesday.

Tuesday: The rash was still here and it had spread to my shoulders, knees, elbows, and face:( Elder Obena as DL had a conference to go to so the ZLs had to come by and watch me for the day. We played card games for like 8 hours and they had brought pizza from this supermarket and oh my gosh did it taste better than rice and hot dogs! My taste buds were in heaven!!!!!!!!! 

I'm trying to make my illnesses not seem bad because I don't want to sound like a debbie downer but it was pretty rough and it's still pretty rough. I've been out of work for 4 days now and it sucks! However, since I've had so much time on my hands I've been studying a lot. On Monday I was reading in the Bible in the book of Job. Real quick overview of Job---Job was a man of great faith to God. He had a family, livestock, he was wealthy, but he still loved God and had great faith. Satan got permission from God to tempt and try Job to see how faithful he actually was. Satan killed all his animals, knocked over his house with all of his children and they all died, gave him terrible diseases and boils, his friends mocked him and were angry with him but through it all, Job stayed faithful and God blessed him again with everything he had lost. Being sick right now sucks. Having to stay indoors all day sucks. But I know these are just small trials for me. Everyone in the world has small trials and they probably seem like the worst things in the world at that moment. But I know if we just persevere and rely on God and his strength to bless us, we can overcome anything and we can be happy doing it. 

Mosiah 23: 21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. 22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

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

A photo I submitted to Vogue magazine hoping I can become a model ;)

Click to watch a video on Thursday of Elder Obena and I walking through the rain.