James’ Mission Sept ‘24 - Sept ‘26 San Pablo Philippines

Hey 👋 This week was really fun. A lot of crazy stuff happened and also many miracles!!😇 Something that ive found here in the philippines is getting people to come to church is probably the hardest part of missionary work. We teach so many people throughout the week and invite almost all of them to church and only one person ended up coming lol they all have work or live too far or are just broke and dont have enough money to go to church But hey ones better than none 😁 On thursday me and Elder Bulavou were walking up and down some streets teaching and we found a bunch of kids hooping at this super nice court. We decided to play with them for a little and they were all pretty good actually. Filipinos are all wayyyy older than they look its actually kinda funny. The whole time we were playing I thought they were all like 16 but after we finished I asked them they were all older than me 💀😂 They all asked me to dunk after and I was in the worst shoes and church clothes but I told ...

Hey everybody! This week has been full of so many ups and so many downs. I know that ive been telling everybody that this is lightwork but its not😅😵 theres so many things about being a missionary that I love, and theres also lots of stuff that I dont love so much. Missionary work is so hard but so rewarding. Knocking houses and trying to introduce myself in a language that I dont even know feels impossible but Im definitely getting better in just the 1 week ive been here.🇵🇭 The kids here are actually so cute and funny. The ammount of people that just stare at me every day is starting to get annoying I wont lie😄 but the people here are amazing. Go look at my pics they literally are the funniest nicest people ever. Sige now to the title🤩 My first baptism!!! So this actually wasnt one of me and Elder Bulavous investigators but it was the sister missionaries in our area (I cant take the credit). They invited me and Elder Bulavou to the baptism and Elder Bulavou told me to bring my...

Chat this place is actually insane and I love it!😁 Think about what you thought about the Philippines and then times it by 10 and thats what it is. Honesty, nothing could have prepared me for this place. A few things that are crazy are: -the jeepneys🚙 -the houses🛖 -the people🇵🇭 -the food😋 -the weather☀️ -literally everything🫠 I already am in love with this place.🇵🇭🫰🏻 I actually feel so blessed to be in the philippines and it is super humbling. The way people live and the places that they live in is something I never thought I would see. And even through all of that they are the nicest, most caring and genuine people I have ever met. It nakes me realize how much we take for granted like I literally have to wipe with my hands waaaaaa? Theres honestly nothing else id rather be doing rn than this. (Also wiping with ur hands honeslty isnt bad I kinda like it lol) I got super lucky with the GOAT comp Elder Bulavou 🐐. Hes from fiji, he played rugby, and hes honestly just hilari...

I got lucky and received a text from a random stranger at the airport!! It definitely made my day: "Your cute elders are so excited to serve the Lord in the Philippines 🇵🇭 I'm just a random missionary mom (my son is in Brazil) and wanted to send you a cute photo of these amazing boys I met at the SLC airport." Then I finally got a message from Presidnt Scholl & his wife: "Hello! Elder Ducker has arrived safely in San Pablo! Thank you for sending him to us! We love him already!" Loved the updates along the way and I can hardly wait to talk to James on his first pday. - Melissa (Mom)

Hey everyone today is my P-day because I leave tomorrow to the pines!!!🥳🇵🇭🤙🏻 It's wild that I'm finally dippin it still doesn't feel real. This week there was a lot of lasts. My last class, my last Sunday, and saying goodbye to my teachers. These things were all really hard especially since I've come to love the mtc but even though these things all sucked, I'm still super excited to get to the pines! My next email will be from the philippines so that's fun👻🔜 So much happens every week so im sorry that these emails are always super long but I have alot to talk about this week. 😬 First of all, I learned babayan!!🤯🐒 I know most of you probably don't know what that is so look it up but it's actually really cool. I wish they had a keyboard in babayan so I could show yall but sadly, they don't. Its actually not too hard surprisingly but it lowkey looks mad confusing but it's just fun to know! My missionary work has been a blessing and a mi...