Hello from MAKATI!

First off- Happy Birthday Dad!!! Thanks so much for the awesome example you are to me. You have no idea how great you are and how much you have influenced me in my life. Keep doing what your doing! I love you!!

So back to Makati.... Yep that's right haha I got transferred! Right in the middle of the transfer. After emailing last week I got a surprise text from President I'll be transferring Wednesday and will be trained by Elder Ahn to be an office elder. Never in my mission life would I have ever thought I'd be an office elder! But I'm already learning a ton so far and I know that there are experiences in the office and in our area that I need in my life.

So all of us elders were freaking out in Palawan haha. We hurried and went to the crocodile farm since it was my last P day in Palawan. Tuesday we taught lots of investigators and said a quick goodbye to some members. We taught one last lesson with David (from cali) and he shed a tear as i left for the last time. We had another lesson with an investigator we've had for awhile named Boy and we finally got him to agree to a baptism date! Wednesday morning we did some service. We had the sisters in my district take a little trike and the elders decided to jog up the mountain through the forest since there was nobody else to give us a ride. Haha I remember thinking wow i'm gonna miss running around in forests all day trying to share the happiness of the gospel to everyone possible. The hardest part about transferring though was we were having our first baptism as a companionship in that area Saturday! It was the first baptism in that area in a super long time! But I heard Liann was baptized and it all worked out well. I'm just so happy she was baptized and it's not really a big deal i wasn't able to make it:)

Flying back to the Manila area was super weird! I was all ALONE! It was the first time I've been alone like that since July of last year haha. I talked to a cool soldier guy though as we waited to get on the plane and tried to talk to a business lady while flying. Right before I got on the plane though I stood up and saw a guy and his wife wearing BYU shirts! It was super weird! Apparently they were visiting his mission areas again in a different mission in the Philippines then decided to go to Palawan to end the trip on a good note.

My new companions are Elder Ahn (Lone Peak) and Elder Webster (Box Elder) - my first american companions. Elder Ahn is training me to take his place and I'll be companions with Elder Webster. They're both super fun! Elder Ahn is super pro at piano and violin so we might try to do a song together sometime. Elder Webster has been in the office since his training and is the smartest kid i've ever met haha. Our office is in Buendia which is like in the city! Everything is super rich and we have tons of crazy good food options. Our area itself is a little outside of the city but we spend most of our time walking next to hotels and malls haha. We even own a car!! I drove for the first time in months Wednesday night and I felt like a 16 year old! I totally popped a curb it was sick. We had to go on an "emergency mattress run" which was super crazy haha. We got home late and every morning for the most part we actually have to wake up at 5:30. We're super busy but it has been really fun.

Thursday night I got to meet lots of the ward. We had a big ward party where we ate and played ping pong. We could only be there for 30 minutes but it was fun to meet the ward. I'm in the Makati 2nd ward and they're super strong. Our ward mission leader is a stud! My companion Elder Ahn is Korean so of course he's a pro at ping pong. All the filipinos kept yelling "Korean hit!!" every time he had a crazy spinning shot. With their accents it sounds like )Ko ree ahn Heeet!) Haha it was super funny to watch that. Speaking of the good ward, we had dinner on Saturday night at the Pimentel house and they're know throughout the mission for being the family that serves the BIGGEST DINNERS EVER to the missionaries haha. Literally I was in shock walking in and seeing all the food on the table. It was all for us too. The funny thing too is that they literally won't let you stop eating. The wife just stands behind you and every time i took a sip of my juice she would grab my cup and fill it back up to the brim. Literally the nicest family. They have two kids and one is serving a mission right now so they love to talk about him. People in the PHilippines are the best honestly. We didn't even eat until dinner yesterday.

I left early before my last area's baptism but this area actually had a baptism too for Albert! It was the first baptism Elder Webster has had in his 17 month mission and the first one in this area for a while. We normally have to work in the office doing tons of stuff until 4 so it's has been hard to get baptisms in this area I guess. It makes me really motivated to do all we can to get out of the office so we can go find those who are ready! We have another really nice Nanay who's been to church twice now and might be baptized too! Apparently they've only taught her twice but she seems pretty great to me so far. Yesterday she told me "here at your church is the only place where my heart cries!" Haha funny way of saying it but it was awesome to hear!

At first I was wondering a little why I had to leave my last area so fast but I know there's a reason I'm coming here to be an office Elder. I got to have an interview with President and he said he had the same calling as me when he was a missionary! He said it's really blessed him and that I need to remember I'm still doing lots of good things- even if the work is a little different now. I'm excited to work with President Ostler more. I've talked and interacted with him more this week than what would normally happen in a few months! It's been a blessing to see how awesome he really is- I know i'll learn a ton from him. He will be leaving in June and I'll get to see the new president come in too! Should be good stuff.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Reber

**We were so excited to finally receive pictures from Park. Sorry/not sorry for the overload

Rick got the most perfect birthday gift- seeing pictures after all this time was the best!! Love this great missionary!

Love this sign of a hard working missionary!

So glad Elder Reber is able to have relationships with such outstanding people!

I think we would all LIKE PALAWAN :)

The dry spell is over!

Hey everyone!
It was another sweet week here! Our mission was super excited to hear
there will be a new temple in Manila!! The work is really moving here
in the country and I’m super grateful to be a part of it. Couldn’t ask
for a better place to be.

This week we had some good family home evenings. It’s the new finding
tool that our mission is focusing on so my comp and I are doing the
best we can to apply the new focus. Anything President says for the
mission should be followed and not taken for granted, it’s revelation
coming from our Father in Heaven! The family home evening that sticks
out to me is one we scheduled at a less active’s home. At church we
met a couple that is visiting family here in Santa Monica and they’re
from Brooke’s Point. They were baptized actually last year in 2016 and
brother is already in the Presidency of their branch. Haha the church
has really changed their life, especially their schedule! But anyways
they invited us to some of their extended family’s house who are less
active.we headed over to the less active’s house to find out that it
was a huge family and friend get together. They had invited 30 plus
people to attend haha! It was the biggest house I’ve been in in my
mission so we could fit haha. But anyways we had a huge family home
evening and then ate afterwards! We weren’t expecting that we’d be
teaching that many people but it all worked out and it was a blast!
Lots of non members and less actives were there so it was solid.

Elder Vinculado had his birthday this week! To celebrate we ordered a
pizza. The pizza wasn’t super good but hey it was pizza  I’m just
thankful to have him as a companion. I don’t think I’ve really talked
about him enough in past emails! He’s the youngest of nine kids- him
and his parents are the only members in his family. We’ve been having
a great time together and he has such a strong desire to share the
gospel. He’s such a hard worker and a pretty funny kid haha. Although
he’s new in the mission he knows what he’s doing and why he’s here. His
english is getting good too!

We had a funny lesson the other day. We met this lady who is a wife to
a pastor but let us in because we teach words from God. Our lesson was
pretty cool and we talked about prophets and how at times we go into
apostasy. After the lesson she invited us to their church haha! But it
wasn’t like an invitation, it was like “you’re coming to our church
this Sunday.” Haha my companion tried to tell her we had appointments
but he had said earlier we could return to their house during that
time. Haha I was just kinda laughing because she wasn’t budging on the
fact that we’d be goin to there church no matter what. We just told
her to text us Saturday night to remind us about it and she finally
let us go. But before we left she went back and got 50 pesos and we
said we couldn’t take it. Haha she didn’t care, she still tried to
force us to take it. We just stood up and started walking to the door
but she then asked if we could take food. Haha yes we actually can, so
she gave us tons of bananas and bought us halo-halo outside from some
little kids sellin it. She was so nice but kinda crazy too haha. It’s
cool to see though how kind and thoughtful people are here. We’ve had
so many instances lately of people just giving us bananas, mangos, etc
even if it’s our first time meeting them! Lots of them don’t have
much, but they’re willing to give what they have for the joy of
others.

General conference was the best!! We had Lian Go there as well as
Cesar and a new investigator named Gerry. All week in multicabs or
knocking on doors I would ask “if Moses were here on earth would you
listen to him?” Everyone would say “yes of course!” and we’d then ask
if they knew that we have a prophet here on earth today! God doesn’t
change His ways and He’s constantly reaching out to us in perfect
love. One way He does this is by calling a prophet to lead and guide
us through our lives. I’m so thankful for Thomas S. Monson and his
consecrated life centered on Christ. Cesar said he didn’t understand
hardly any of the English but said he felt the spirit and knew that
they were all called of God.

It’s hard for me to choose a favorite talk but one I really liked was
Henry B Eyring in the priesthood session. He talked about how we can
truly see miracles through submitting our will to God’s will and being
worthy priesthood holders. He talked about how real the priesthood is
and the spirit was really strong. He said, “when’s the last time
you’ve thought of your priesthood being power for the heavens to open
up to you, or the administering of angels.” Something I’ve realized on
my mission is how real the gospel really is. How close God is to us.
How often He’s reaching out to us while we’re here on earth. He said
we need to see others as God sees them and help them see that in
themselves. We must see past the outward appearance and look into the
heart. How do we come to have the same view and perspective as God?
Well it’s simple. By doing the small things that make us more like his
son, Jesus Christ. As we walk with Him we will see others as noble
sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father with limitless potential. I
hope that we can forget ourselves a little more each day, have a
little more integrity, and continue to serve others and walk with
Christ. As we do this we will gain His light and people will notice
this light in us. We will eventually have no disposition to do evil.
The spirit was strong but only because President Eyring lives what he
was saying. Christ said, “be even as I am.” The best leaders and
examples are those who lead by example. Henry B. Eyring honors his
priesthood and doesn’t take it for granted. He knows how powerful it
really can be if we have the faith. He lives a very consecrated life
and as a result has become a very Christlike person. The only way we
can become like this is by doing those small things. No shortcuts! I’m
thankful for the gospel and so thankful for a prophet and apostles on
earth today.

Have a great week! Lian passed her baptism interview and will be
baptized this week! We’re so pumped. The dry spell is finally over in
this area!

Love Elder Reber

I can't wait to see the pictures that Parker has taken in this beautiful island!

Enjoy those smooth arms!

Hello!

More great times here in our area. This week flew by and we saw lots
of good things happen. We continue to do our best as a companionship
so we will be able to qualify for miracles. I don't think we used full
eating time once this week haha it was tiring but it's always a great
feeling hoppin in bed knowing we tried our best.

Our main progressing investigator right now is sister Lain Go. She's
22 and has one kid but she seperated from her asawa like last year.
She grew up in Palawan, went to Manila for 2 years to work, then
returned here last year. Her baptism is scheduled for April 15 and she
was at church this week for the fourth time in a row! Once we finish
teaching the lessons she is qualified for baptism. Like I said maybe
last week she literally had a huge change of heart and not only
started listening to us but keeping commitments and really showing her
faith through action. Because of this she has had experiences for
herself that have testified the truthfulness of this message to her!
Wednesday we went to her house and she told us she was in 2 Nephi 1!
She only started reading 2 weeks ago! The cool part though was on
Saturday she went and witnessed a baptism for a different area in our
branch and after we taught her. At this time she was in 2 Nephi 28 in
her reading! Crazy! She's doing really well though and says she's
always thinking about her baptism!

Cesar Ibanez is also progressing and continues to grow each day. He
hasn't had a problem with drinking for the past week which is awesome!
He didn't have to work Sunday so he was at church. He stood up in the
middle of Elder's Quorum and bore his testimony of the church and the
Book of Mormon. It was so cool there were like 20 plus members in
there! It once again really strengthened my testimony of the power of
the Book of Mormon. I know I say this every week basically but this
book really changes people's lives. It changes their view, actions,
choices, and gives them new hope. Everyone in my mission who has
really progressed and who has been baptized really started to make
changes when they read the Book of Mormon. It's the center of all
their testimonies. I'm so thankful God has such great love for us and
he has blessed us with such a powerful tool for missionary work as
well as such a guidance for our lives. Through it we have the fulness
of Christ's gospel as well as all of God's plan for us. We will come
to know Christ and draw nearer to His waiting arms. We should never
take it for granted!

David Piasecki is awesome. We went over Wednesday and he was smiling
ear to ear when we showed up at his gate. He told us how excited he's
been to meet with us again. He said it's all he thinks about and his
wife agreed haha! They're so kind, to prepare for us to come they went
to Robinson's and bought snacks for us for when we'd be visiting. LAYS
CHIPS, pie, cookies, etc. I hadn't had food like that forever. They
also cleaned the whole house for our visit. When we got there he had
the Restoration pamphlet sitting on the middle of the table along with
TONS of articles he had printed out about Mormons! Ha at first i was
like ahh no google, but actually almost everything he had read was
true and we were able to clear up anything that was false. It's so
cool though because he's not trying to prove anything wrong, he only
looks for the good. He basically told us Joseph Smith's life story and
then told us there's no way he would just make it all up! And he said
there's no way he did it all without help from God. We were shocked!
He hasn't even read the Book of Mormon yet and he basically testified
to us of Joseph Smith without really realizing it! He sent us home
with pie and cookies and invited us to return Friday night for dinner
and for us to teach him again. Saturday he made homemade lasagna and
pizza complety from scratch! It was so awesome haha I was walking on
clouds. We met his 2 daughters finally who are 13 and 12. We watched
the Restoration video and the spirit was so strong. We then introduced
the Book of Mormon and they commited to read every night as a family.
They sent us home with a cake and a dozen eggs. So so nice honestly!

One thing that stood out to me though was as we were eating dinner I
asked David where his favorite place on the island is. I was thinking
he would say El Nido or some of the other crazy tourist spots but he
said "right here in this house." Even though they've been around to
some pretty awesome places they still remember the importance of
family. There is lots of worldly happiness but I'm grateful for the
never ending happiness the gospel brings to families. One reason
they're so interested is because of the church's focus on family. So
ya that was cool too.

Cesar has a friend who is at the house sometimes when we teach. He's
not drunk but it always basically seems like he is haha. The other day
he said "We were waiting for you two yesterday but you never came! We
were sitting here just thinking how great it would be if the two Gods
would come teach us some words of the Lord!" He then started pumpin
his chest and said "I need the Lord in my life! I'll be at church
tomorrow! Mormons! Mormons!" Haha we were laughin pretty hard. We
explained to him that we definately aren't Gods too haha. No he didn't
make it to church.

One last thing about an investigator. Sister Morata was at church last
week but couldn't make it this week. We taught her Word of Wisdom and
she said she has a problem with coffee but really wants to stop. She
said she noticed how smooth the arms were of people at church because
they didn't drink coffee haha! So she committed to stop because she
wants smooth arms too. She's super nice.

Have a good week! We continue to find ways to enjoy the work too! This
week we wanted to see how cheap we could make a solid meal. We bought
green beans, some sauce stuff, and some other little vegetables and we
made the grand discovery of the 16 cent meal! Haha that's right
people! Anyways have a great week with all of your smooth arms!

Elder Reber

I am now resorting to google pictures of Palawan :)