The sudden return home

 Brother and Sister Banister,

Below is the information I received this morning concerning Elder Kolby Banister. 

Please read over the information and be prepared to the best of your ability to follow the guidelines. And please plan on being at the Boise airport to pickup Elder Banister tonight. 

With all my love,

President McMurdie

The Area Presidency and Missionary Executive Council have directed that missionaries serving in the Philippines be returned home to their families.

Your missionary Kolby Banister is flying on Flight Number DL1627 and the scheduled arrival time is 22 Mar at 11:54PM.

Week 67

 Hello from the Philippines!!!

   My goodness, what a WEEK I don't even know where to start there's been so much. 

1 - So I have a Philippines flag and because I love the Philippines I put it up in our window. It's was  up there for about 2 months. Out of nowhere, we walk into the convenient store below our apartment and this guy goes OFF just telling us that we were using the flag as a curtain, and that we should not be displaying it like that. He got mad a the Filipinos also, for not telling me. WELL let me tell you what, the only thing holding me back at that time to start returning railing for railing was the tag on my chest and the name that I represent. Had to turn the other cheek and just went and took down the flag. 

2 - Now some people may remember that read these things that I ate 60 wings the other week, which was a LOT. Well, we went back there and were ordering, and the unlimited wings and rice deal went from 218 Pesos to 230 Pesos!!! SCAM!!! Coincidence? I think not! Well, I wasn't about to let them make any money off of me, so I had to up my game. The trick is not to think about getting full, and before you know it, you eat 65 wings! Yeah, I know! CRAZY

3 - Alright, the next part is from Friday to now. So Friday morning we get a text to go to a computer shop and read an announcement. We were told to go and buy a list of items per companionship, basically 2 weeks worth of food, that morning. We were to receive money to use, so long story short I used personal money to buy for the 4 Elders in the house and will make it easy. 14,000 Pesos later we were ready for the worst of COVID-19. Saturday was a normal day of work, we had a great day..... up til about 7:30 when we get a call from an AP telling us to go pick up my companion's new companion, aka, I'm being replaced and he's coming right now, and this is the first I'm hearing about it. So apparently some of the transfers had to happen early because come cities are going to be locked down, and so I spent Saturday night packing until about 2 am and got to leave on Sunday morning. Probably the hardest transfer so far, with the ward, people, companion, and house all being super great and all of the sudden BAM, it's just a prank, gotta go somewhere else. STRESSFUL. But now I'm here in a place called Cogeo and it's been pretty good so far. The work has continued and I will survive haha. (Started sounding like a drama queen there)

     I hope that everyone is doing good and staying safe and healthy. Just remember that those who prepare shall not fear, and that the Lord is Bound when we do what He says. I know that's true. That's it for the week! Thank you all for your love and support! 

   Elder Banister

Week 66

 Hello from the Philippines!!!

     Well, I first want to say that I love the heat. I can't imagine my life in a cold place anymore. But anyways..... This week we have had a lot of fun, I think, it's gone by so fast that I can hardly remember. I've been realizing the reality of how short the mission really is and how fast it goes. We had a miracle with one of our friends we are teaching, her name is Jenny. She runs a little tindahan outside her house and we just teach her in the afternoon when there's not a lot of customers. We met her a couple of weeks ago and she wasn't really keeping commitments that we would give her. But this last time we went, she read Moroni 10:3-5 and the Restoration pamphlet! Then before we even asked, she told us that she was going to church on Sunday! She even told us her plan to sell breakfast in the morning, get things ready for the afternoon, go to church from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and finish her selling. And you know what? That's what she did!!! And she brought her 3 kids! POWER!!! That's what happens when people arouse their faculties and experiment on the words of Christ. She even already has a plan for next week to go to church, and is also going to participate in English connect. I know that she and her family will be blessed as they continue to act and become engulfed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

     That's all I'll share for this week. I love and appreciate you all and hope that things are going good wherever you are! Until Next week!

  Elder Banister

Week 65

 Hello from the Philippines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     Everybody get excited, look at all that exclamation. It has been a pretty good week, the sun is trying to kill us over here. So there was one day, Tuesday I think, we were just walking down the street, just after lunch, to an appointment, about 1pm. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun said "Hey Elder Banister, you look cold down there, let me warm it up for you" or something like that. But the point is, we were walking, I was first and Elder Yaba was behind. All of a sudden I realize that I'm kind of leaning forward a little more than I should be, and lose my balance a little a little bit. Thank goodness I didn't fall, but I catch myself and just stand there thinking "Wait, that's not normal" and Elder Yaba was like "let's sit here for a second" so we sit down and I buy some juice and smack myself a little bit. Not sure if I just forgot to breathe or I was dehydrated, but I'll work on that this week.

     I think the Lord wanted me to learn another lesson this week that I may have been neglecting a little bit. I'll admit, I have been a little numbers oriented this past little while, and this week I was kind of slapped awake to focus on what I'm doing out here. The reason I am out here is to help people come closer to Christ and to live His Gospel. I am part of His marvelous work and glory, to help bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of others. I'm sad that it took one bad week for me to realize that again, but I am going to really be better about always remembering that. And that goes with everyone. We all have the responsibility of bearing other's burdens as Christ did and helping others wherever they may be. I hope we can all continue to help everyone in any way we can to make and keep sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.

     That's all I'll say for the week..... and I don't have coronavirus, so don't worry. Love you all!

   Elder Banister