Ryan Lott's Status Updates: Lotts going on in the Philippines

I recently found this picture. Wow that's a lot of corn.

9-21-15

I am glad that you guys got the letters. So this week we had zone conference. President rahlf and sister rahlf came up and talked to us. One of their talks was about fulling our full potential. Like what will we did with our opportunity to serve. Their messages were good, but another thing I was looking forward to was the lunch. The guy cooking was american, but he lives here so he cooks some american food and filipino food. It was pretty good. I went back and got seconds thats for sure. Then this past saturday we had a family activity for our branch. I wasn't feeling well so we didn't make it to that. The work is going good. It is cool to see how the gospel effects the lives of others. It is cool when people ask me were I am from and I answer in tagalog and they are like your good at tagalog, then I can say that I have been here for awhile and I am here to share the gospel. So all that yellow stuff on the road is corn. They dry it out on the road even though it is pretty much a highway. We went jogging this morning, and we were just going along minding our own business and I didn't see this dog and it got a little to close for comfort. I am glad it didn't bit me. Who knows maybe I would have had to come home early...haha just kidding that wouldn't happen. Well I don't really know where september went. it just flew by. It goes by fast when you are sharing the gospel. I love you guys so much. Have a great week

Love Elder Lott

Hopefully he doesn't want to ride on the top of vans when he comes home.

Drying corn on the road.

9-28-15

Wow the time is just flying by. So this week on Tuesday we went on splits with our zone leaders in there area. They are pretty lucky because they have a dinner appointment every night. So we went with them. I really enjoyed the food and it was good. The next day on Wednesday we had different feelings about the food. Lets just say that we were visiting the restroom a lot. It has been raining a lot this week, which is a good thing. I was wondering when it was going to start because it is the rain season and we haven't had that much rain. It is also nice that it isn't as hot. The work has been pretty steady for us. We are focusing on contacting and stuff. I have probably told you guys this before but I am not a big fan of contacting. We also contacted a referral that we got from a member. She said that we can keep teaching her, which I was happy about. Yesterday me and my companion were the speakers in sacrament meeting. I was kinda nervous, just cause the last time like no one listened. It also didn't help that we had no power. So when I was up speaking I was sweating like crazy!! Yesterday we had a pec meeting after church to try and help our branch. The sacrament attendance has been really low, so we are trying to get members involved with our work, and trying to help the less actives in our ward. So we always see those horse and carriage things here, but I was wondering where the horses live. Boy the life for them sure stinks here. I saw where they are when they aren't pulling the carriage and it stinks. So I was in my bed last night just laying there, my companion was out in the other room. The light was off. I was just resting and I felt something on my knee...and then it bit me!!! I hopped up so fast and turned the light on. I shook my sheet out and about a 1 to 1 and a half inch centipede fell to the floor!! I was a little nervous because my native companions have told me that they are poisonous. So I just paid attention to see if anything would happen or if I started feeling weird, but nothing did. Ugh that's so gross. I will probably check my sheets more often now. As for the language. I can tell that I improving. I am learning more vocabulary and stuff. I can't believe that I will be the missionary that has been out the longest in our ward after dominic gets home. The time is going by so fast. Well I love you guys have a great week!!

Love Elder Lott

This is the horses little pen. By the way I am not that white it was just the flash

Mike asked Alex to write something to put in our ward newsletter. Boy we should have asked him to do this a long time ago. It was wonderful to read his testimony.

Since I have been out on mission I have realized how much of an influence the gospel has on other peoples lives. It is a blessing to be able to share the gospel with others that don't have it. I can see it in some of my first converts that I had on my mission. I remember teaching them, I remember how happy they got when they saw us walking up the road to their house. In fact they would invite all of their neighbors into our lessons too. I had the chance to go back and to do a service project for them. So far that has probably been the coolest thing that has happened on my mission. I think maybe 6 or 7 months passed between them being baptized and us going back to do the service project. I was so happy to see them again. They were so happy. I was so happy to find out that they have been active since they were baptized. Even though they are not well off financially, I could see that happiness and joy that the gospel brings them in their lives. Since I have been out on my mission I have realized how important missionary work is. It is so cool to see people accept the gospel into their lives and to see how happy they are and to watch it form them into the person or family that God wants them to be.

Elder Lott

Philippines Cauayan Mission

2014-2016

10-5-15

Wow that is another cycle done. The time is going by so fast. This week is transfer week, which is pretty crazy cause its seems like we just had transfer week. So our branch is really small and has a lot of less active members, but we finally got a BML. A branch mission leader. He got home from his mission like a month ago, he went to hawaii which is pretty cool. I am really glad that we have a bml now. I am hoping that he will work with us every once in a while. We haven't been able to watch conference yet. I don't think I would have said this back home but I am actually pretty excited to listen to the messages. I also want to see the new apostles. Ours is just one week later than you guys so we have it this saturday and sunday. The work is going good for us. We don't have a ton of investigators, but we do have some and we are focusing a lot on less active members. This morning we got together as a zone and played basketball and some ping pong while we waited for the transfer list. I was thinking to myself there is no way that one of us will be transferred because I have only been here for two cycles and he has only been here for one cycle. My companion is transferred, when the zone leaders read the list I was so shocked. I am not mad though. I think it will be cool to have another companion. My new companion that I get this week will be my 9th companion in the field, and 10 including the mtc!! I am kind of hoping for another foreigner, but I don't know if that will happen. I am excited though that I don't have to pack. That really really stinks when I have to pack, so I am happy that I don't have to. We had some pizza for lunch...and it was way good. I haven't had it for awhile so I enjoyed it. Tomorrow my companion will probably pack and we will probably visit some members, then it is transfer day!! I have 6 cycles left!! I love you guys have a great week!!

Love Elder Lott

at lunch earlier

mom,

Hey mom. As crazy as it sounds I am actually looking forward to listening to general conference this weekend. I also want to see who the new apostles are. I would like to go jogging regularly, but a lot depends on my companion and it gets so hot here so we have to go earlier and when my alarm goes up I never really want to get up to go jogging. Well you guys are decorating for halloween back home and they are playing christmas music here. Only one more christmas in the field! I have 6 cycles left! That one just flew by. I love you have a great week. Can't wait to get that package. I am pretty hungry haha!:)

Love Elder Lott

Hey dad. I noticed that my mtc companion is training and he is also a DL. I have thought about it before. At some times I have wanted to do it and at others I would rather not do it. I don't know I guess what ever happens...happens. It would be really hard though. I am looking forward to general conference. Just think this time next year at priesthood we will be eating steak or something...mmm sounds good. Well I love you dad have a great week!!

Love Elder Lott

10-12-15

So this past week was transfer week and conference week. I got my new companion on wednseday. His name is elder manalili. He is from manila. He will hit his year mark at the end of november or in december at some point. This is his third area, hey me too even though I have been out 6 months longer than him. So we had conference this past weekend. Priesthood session was at 8 am, but the alarm didn't go off on our cell phone. So by the time we woke up got dressed and traveled to the church it was over. I was kinda disappointed, but it is online. So no worries. I really liked the messages that they shared even though I was having to fight to stay awake. I didn't know why there was 3 new apostles because I thought only 2 apostles died. I had no idea that elder scott passed away. I was a little surprised. That is a really short time to lose 3 apostles. Actually elder schwitzer is coming on a mission tour to our mission. So he will talk to us at the end of the month. I saw a lot of members from my first ward and I got some pictures with them. It was so cool to be able to see them again. It was even cooler to be able to understand what they were saying and be able to have a conversation!! The members were so nice in that area. It was really cool to be able to see some of them again. So it has been a couple weeks but we got some new couple missionaries. I don't know if you look at the mission blog but they are on there. The armstrongs. When we were at zone conference a couple weeks ago I saw sister armstrong and I was like she looks familiar. I wanted to talk to her after zone conference, but I couldn't find her. So I just started talking to her husband. I asked them where they were from in utah, he replied but I didn't know where it was. I told him that she looks familiar to me. So I just asked him if she was a teacher and he said yeah. I asked him what school she taught at and what subjects she taught. He said a lot of subjects, but keyboarding was one of them...and she taught at rocky mt jr high. Then I realized it. I was in her keyboarding class in jr high!! I think that's pretty dang cool. I guess it is a small world. Well I love you guys have a great week

Love Elder Lott

that's what happens when you and your companion don't empty the trash and just let it overflow...I just didn't want to do it cause my last companion never cleaned the apartment. I had to end up doing it though!

some members from my first area. It was so good to see them again

10-19-15

So as you all know like a category 4 typhoon went over my mission this past week. This is the second typhoon that has had the biggest impact in my mission. At least in my area, and both were in this zone. So one day me and my companion were walking back to our apartment and the wind picked up. The buildings around us had tin roofs. Those things started rattling and it was a little sketchy. I thought what would happen if one of those things flew off, good thing that didn't happen. They were pretty loud. We did get a lot of rain this past week. The flooding wasn't that bad in our apartment. We had a puddle over by our sink. So our apartment didn't get flooded, but we had a lot of brown outs. I wish that I would have had my mosquito net set up over my bed. Two nights the power went out at 12 and didn't come back on for awhile so it was pretty miserable getting eaten by mosquitoes. We actually had power last night which I am really surprised about. So there are 2 bridges to get to our area. The one that we go over all the time is just a single lane bridge and it has a lower base, then there is one a couple miles down the river a bigger bridge. This morning when we went to basketball we had to walk to centro and take the big bridge. I am sure the other bridge was under water. I really wanted to just go over and see and maybe get some pics. The rivers overflowed. As we were driving though I didn't see any houses in the river, but like some fields close to the river were gone. I will make sure to get some picks on the way back to our area. We didn't have church yesterday. I branch president texted us in the morning and said that it was cancelled. So when the power is out our water pump doesn't work, but we are lucky we have a manual pump outside our apartment. So those pics are of me pumping water for a shower, then I got to shower in the dark with like a candle. When there is no power our apartment is like a cave. I kind of enjoyed the typhoon, well the weather. It is a lot cooler than normal. It feels great. I have to get my umbrella back from a member. I left it at her house. When we were about to go out I was like where is my umbrella, then I remembered that I left it at her house. So we are okay, if you guys were wondering. Well I will get some better pics hopefully on the ride home. I love you guys have a great week

Love Elder Lott

10-26-15

So in a couple days a member of the 70 is coming to our mission. They will also visit some apartments randomly. I guess to see if we keep our apartments clean. So me and my companion cleaned our apartment a couple of days ago. It was a mess. We don't want him to choose our apartment just in case if it wasn't clean or something. It didn't take us that long maybe a couple of hours. I think we got it done really fast. We got before and after pictures of some places in our apartment and they don't even look the same. So with that typhoon we didn't really get a lot of flooding by our apartment or anything, but we did get to help people that the flooding did effect. On tuesday after our district meeting we had a service project at the stake center. It was filling boxes for family's that the floods hit. The boxes had some rice in them, corned beef, noodles, like toothpaste, etc. So the was the service project. There was a ton of rice. That is what I ended up helping with. Since ever family got like 4 kilos of rice people had to put it into bags and measure it. So I was one the the people refilling their buckets. I think there was 1000 bags. So there was a lot of rice. I hadn't been to the gym for awhile so it was some good lifting. Each of the bags weighs like 25 kilos. The people that work with rice bags here carry them on their head. I always thought does that hurt. The bags they put on their head weigh probably 100 pounds. So at the end of the service project I put 2 bags on my head. I know I can carry them on my shoulders, but I wasn't sure if I could do it on my head. It actually wasn't very heavy. I bet it is not that great for your neck though!! I haven't done a service project in awhile. I really enjoyed doing that service project and seeing all the bags at the end and thinking how many people that will help. Also this past week we were going to buy some food before we went back to the apartment, and I heard a little kitten. It turns out that there was two of them. My companion said that is what people do when they don't want them. Just take them somewhere and leave them. So I told them that if they were there when we are on our way back that we would take them back to our apartment and feed them, cause they are still really small. They were still there on the way back, so we brought them back. I bet jaime is jealous. I don't really like cats, but they are just babies. The names that we have picked took a lot of thinking...elder lott and elder manalili haha!! Sunday was the first time that my companion has been to our chapel, since we had general conference and then they cancelled church because of the typhoon. Our ward is not that organized, let me just point that our. So it was probably 5 minutes into sacrament, after announcements and stuff and a person in our branch presidency comes down and tells my companion that he is a speaker. I am so glad that didn't happen to me...oh my pheew. I guess the other speaker didn't show up. This morning we were supposed to go to calloa caves for a zone activity but it was raining so we just stayed here in our area. Maybe next week. I think the highlight of my week was doing that service project. I just felt so good after, to be able to help people. I love you guys. Have a great week. Happy Halloween!!

Love Elder Lott

service project

gross!!!!!

elder lott and elder manalili

mom,

Happy Halloween mom. I haven't gotten my package yet. I bet that I will get it this wednseday cause we have to go to cauayan for the mission tour. I am so excited there is going to be a lot of good food in it. That tree looks nice. I still have that little tree that you sent in that package last year and there are a little christmas lights on a bench in our apartment so that is our decorations. I hear all you guys say that you are sad that it is getting colder now...I don't even want to hear it haha! Well I love you mom have a great week! Happy halloween

Love Elder Lott

11-2-15

This past wednseday we had a member of the 70 come to our mission. We had a really early morning on wednseday. We slept over at the zone leaders. The zone leaders decided to set the alarm for 2:45 a.m. We had to be in cauayan and seated by 8:30. The sisters had to be in cauayan and hour earlier than us because they had a meeting. By the time we got to cauayan it was like 7 am. The sisters meeting hadn't even started yet!! We could have gotten like another hour of sleep or something! The meeting was really good. It was pretty long, but I enjoyed their talks. President rahlf, sister rahlf, and sister schwitzer gave us a short message and then elder schwitzer spoke to us. The topic was on repentance, and even though I was super tired I tried my best to stay awake. We had lunch there and to tell you the truth it wasn't that good. In my chicken curry I think I got the fat of the chicken. I wasn't feeling well to start with and after seeing that I had no appetite. Before the meeting I heard from a couple people that my package was in the mission home. I was so excited to get it. Everyone was saying that it was huge! When I went into the mission home to get it I saw elder arorong in there. I got some pics with him and talked to him for a little bit. He goes home either tomorrow or on wednseday so I was glad that I got to see him. He was one of my favorite companions. When I walked back into the room where everyone was with the package in my arms it was like I was a celebrity or something. Everyone was looking at me! I was thinkin...ya this is mine!! We ended up having to sleep at the solana elders apartment because there was no vehicle for us to be able to get home. I was so excited to open that package. I haven't been feeling that well for awhile. I have had a cough for about 2 weeks and I keep coughing , so we worked this week when I was feeling well. It was a busy week though. This morning we had a zone activity. It was at calloa caves...again! That was my third time going there on my mission. So this week is transfer week. I am glad to say that I am not transferring, and neither is my companion!! Finally I will go two cycles with one of my companions. Every companion that I have had in my mission except for my trainer I have went 1 cycle with. So it will be nice to break that streak. Also this is my 8th cycle total in tugue north zone during my mission, and that equals out to 12 months. So I have been in this zone for a full year, on december 30th. That is when the transfer day is. So I will have christmas and thanksgiving here!! Well I love you guys I hope you enjoy the pics! Thank you so much for the package, I love it! Love you guys have a great week

Love Elder Lott