Week 31

Naay usa ka semana para niining transfer! By next email I should, hopefully, know if I am staying in Lawa-an or transferring. 

Pasaylo kaayo pero not an interesting week here in The Philippines for Elder Grasse. Same old work, same old getting punted:( But luckily we are slowly getting more and more people to teach and we are finding more less actives that are coming back to church! 

One of my kabalay (housemates), Elder Henrie, has been in the area for 5 transfers (7 1/2 months)!!! That is a very long time in one area so he is super close to all the members in our ward. He is like 100% getting transferred so lots of members are having us over for dinner which is glorious. We have had a dinner appointment every day so far and we have one scheduled each day for the rest of the week. 

That is it for week 31. Next week I will reach 7 months which is insane!!! Only 17 more months (514 days) left!!! Dugay gyud... haha joke ra

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

Love, Elder Sagbut (Grasse)

Model pic with Elder Sustal

Elder Swain said something funny

Pic with some YM

The volcano has arrived

Busog kaayo ko!!

Week 30

How is everyone doing today??? I am doing good. 

Last week we had interviews with President Pajaro and he told me there is like a 50/50 chance I will be transferred this transfer because he believes Elder Swain is ready to train. Kind of sad because that means I would only have 1 transfer here and having 1 transfer anywhere sucks because it just goes by way too quick. And I'm actually having a lot of fun here. However, it won't be all that bad if I get transferred to Negros, the other island in the mission. I wanted to go their last transfer so if I get transferred on February 6th, that's the place I want to go. 

We had Zone Con yesterday and it was so awesome seeing everybody from City Zone (my old zone)! I got really close with a few of them so it was super nice being able to talk and sit with them. 

This morning we had a temple trip and GOLLY is it nice going there! Going through it just allows you feel God, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost sooo much. Every time I go there it just revives me and reminds me why I came to The Philippines for two years. I know this church is true and I know God and Jesus Christ live and watch and care for us every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day :)

Sakay mi?

Pic with Talisay Zone

Pic with Talisay Zone elders

Heaven AKA Halo-Halo

Elder Obena, me, and Elder Sudayon

Week 29

Maayong hapon sa tanan! Kamusta man mo? Ako si Elder Grasse ug ako og missionaryo sa Simbahan ni JesuKristo sa mga Santos sa Ulahing mga Adlaw! Nagassign ko diri sa Cebu Philippines ug nindot kaayo ang Philippines. Nahigugma ko sa mga tawo, lami ang pagkaon, ug makakaton ko og lain nga linguahe, Bisaya, gihapon. Karon, akong area mao ang Lawaan Philippines ug si Elder Swain mao ang akong kauban. Akong favorito butang kabahin sa Philippines, og mga bata. Katawan-an gyud sila. Naghistoryia ko uban nila kabahin sa America, basketball, sa ilang mga uyab, ug pagka nangutana ko sa ilang idad, motubag ko, "Mao ba! Ako sad!" Hahahahaha. Basta, maghistoryia na ko sa English.

How are all of you stud muffins?:) This week was a good week (just like every other week so far haha). But one really cool thing was that I was able to go on exchanges with a batchmate of mine, Elder Cutler! Meaning we started our mission at the same time and we actually shared a room together at the MTC for 6 weeks. It was super cool being with someone that I know from the beginning and we both realized how far our Bisaya has come. Other than that, nothing too crazy or exciting has happened.

Feel free to email anytime, I seriously love getting emails from anyone and everyone!

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

Love, Elder Kasden Grasse

Pic with kids

Cool view

Helping a kid get a ball from a roof

Elder Cutler and I

P-Day pic

Week 28

Hi! This is Elder Grasse with a short update for everyone. The weeks here are FLYING by so I lose track of what happens. I've written in my journal every day so I could be referring to that or just take pictures of it and attach it but lots of times it contains private stuff or just really tedious stuff. So this week I'm just going to bullet point the things that happened.

• We have found TWO new promising people who are super interested.
• One of the elders I stay with, Elder Henrie, got foot surgery for a wart so his comp has had to do lots of exchanges with us.
• My Bisaya is getting better:) I am leading and teaching a TON now. It's basically like 50/50 when Elder Swain and I teach as to who talks.
• Last week we helped a companionship of Sisters move and in the middle of it, Elder Henrie and I started to play football with an ornament. He said "HIKE" and then I started to run. However, I was on straight gravel so I slipped and basically did the splits. Afterwards, I felt like I had dislocated my hip or something but it wasn't too bad. But over the past week it has been acting up a bit and this morning when we played basketball, I messed it up bigtime. So prayers up for that haha.
• I really like rice now, and I need it with everything I eat.
• And the last point, I love the mission.

Hopefully that all wasn't too confusing!

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

Love, Elder Grasse

Pizza time

Mga kuyog

Eating wings(with rice of course)

Elder Swain and I

Week 27

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! My new years was actually pretty cool as all the elders in my zone had a sleepover and stayed up until midnight watching fireworks. We bought some super expensive sparkling grape cider and some little fire crackers. It was pretty cool. And then afterwards we played a massive game of Monopoly that lasted 3 hours and most of us just quit because we were WAY too tired to finish it haha. But now, I can officially say, "I go home next year!" Even though I still have 18 months haha. 

Two cool/weird things happened this week. The first thing was that were on our way to withdraw our monthly support funds ,but as soon as we reached the little pharmacy thing, the security guard was lowering the gate. I quickly rushed over there and just rattled out "Pwede ba mi magwithdraw karon?" He said yes and we were able to go in quickly before it closed. It may not seem like a big deal but afterwards I realized I said a full Bisaya sentence without even thinking about it at all. I can usually say what I want in the language if I have time to think about it but I just went into Bisaya mode and it just came out. Re-reading this it sounds super dumb but it was a really big deal for me haha. The second thing was on Sunday. We had finished church and went out with the other elders to do some visits and as we were walking home, a group of about 10 people called us over. Now being called over isn't anything new so we gladly walked over there and tried to make small talk. As soon as a few of the men spoke, we realized they were all drunk. We tried to be kind and talked for a few seconds and then we left, or tried to at least. As soon as Elder Henrie took a step back, one of the men reached out, grabbed his bag, and aggressively pulled him back. Elder Henrie stumbled and actually hit his head on the tin roof. The man was blabbering something (something your momma wouldn't be too proud of you saying) but then the next thing you know, I had clenched my fists and grabbed the man's arm and ripped it off his bag. We quickly got away and I realized that my hands were in fists and I had adrenaline pumping through me. It was a pretty scary moment but Elder Henrie said he really appreciated me getting the man off his bag. So afterwards I felt like a baller hahaha.

My new area, Lawa-an, and my new comp, Elder Swain have both been really good so far. We are really trying to help a couple get married so they can get baptized but it is just so hard to get married here especially when everyone is super duper poor. So sad to see it but we are trying our best to help them. We have a few other families that are progressing so I'll update you all in the future.

Real quick, I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. Man oh man has my testimony grown sooooo much out here. Seeing this Gospel change lives is absolutely amazing. Each night when I write in my journal about the day, I am able to see how much God and Jesus Christ are in our lives. Please, please, please pray and read the Book of Mormon. It truly testifies of Jesus Christ and of this gospel. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here in Cebu helping others change their lives for the best!

That's it for 2019!!! 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

Pic with Sister Noto and Sister Joaquin

Dave John (Dong)

Elders in a truck

2020!!!

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