Memories of a Mission – Page 13 – "We will work for the glory of our Lord"

Ako Pa!

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

We went back into San Jose today for our P-Day activities. We spend a good amount of time at the internet shop doing email and also getting pictures put onto my CD. We also got to eat a place that they just found. They had tacos. They weren’t quite like they are in the states but they were still pretty tasty. We also paid for and picked up our “Ako Pa[1]” shorts that say “Mindoro.” They are really nice big, comfortable shorts. I also started on two more pairs of pangs from G. Herrera.

The only internet on the island. Don’t mind the tired face and the deer in the headlights look.

The “Ako Pa” shorts. Yep, I still have them.

[1] Ako Pa = It’s me (with a Han Solo attitude)

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Air Conditioning!

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Air conditioning is a great thing! We got to sit in glorious cool air for a whole two hours today. It was like I’d died and gone to heaven. I got to teach another attributes lesson today. I taught about patience because it is a trait that I struggle with. It went well but I kind of felt bad because Elder Cox asked me to teach after he had already asked Elder Baylon to teach. Well as it works out, he had prepared a lesson on patience as well. I guess this is just one thing that we really need to work on as missionaries. Elder Cox also taught a lesson about how to hear and recognize the spirit. He is a great teacher and I can learn a lot from him. I found out today that my batch mate, Elder Edwards, it now in the office. I actually got to talk to him today because I guess there was a problem with my bank and that they were trying to fix. We spent most of our day today at M1 computer shop working on some paper work for the branch. We translated the outline for the new member lessons so that Tardios would be able to teach them to the Manzo family. Overall it was a pretty effective day and I’m really excited to go back to San Jose tomorrow for our P-Day.

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Still no power

Monday, November 29, 2004

Today we had a really strange discussion with an old man in an old falling apart cubo[1] hut. We worked the whole morning in Panay and got turned down all the time so we went out to check with an investigator that we taught a while ago. Well he wasn’t there and so we taught a “desperation” discussion to the old man in the hut next door. I felt the sprit but for some reason the guy was just all obsessed with becoming one. It was a really random lesson. We also got to teach two first lessons in Dagupan tonight with Bro. Pulido. One was just a review for Edwin Calera and the other was off of an OYM that we did a while ago. The second one was really good. It was a brother and sister and their three kids. They were a nice family. For dinner tonight we ate Sky Flakes[2] and gravy. We’ve really been running low on food because we can’t use the refrigerator because of the brown out. Ayaw ko saw mga brownout[3].

[1] cubo = made of palm leaves and bamboo.

[2] Sky Flakes were basically individually wrapped saltine crackers. They were very dry and had no taste.

[3] I don’t like brownouts!

Adam29 November, 201423 November, 2014 Calintaan No Comments

Church is “crazy” again

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Church was really crazy today. All of the people, mostly, didn’t get there until half way through priesthood meeting. Elder Cox was giving a really good lesson about tithing and having them come in half way was a little bit disruptive. The reason it was bad that it was really crazy was because a fairly new investigator came to church and it was really important that he feel the spirit; well it’s just a little bit difficult to feel the spirit when everything is all crazy. In Sunday school and also in sacrament meeting it was crazy as well. There were little kids running all over and making all kinds of noise. We also had the confirmation of the Manzos today and it was so crazy during that. Then Pres Isla used the wrong name for Sis Manzo and so after church we had to use the correct name and to it all over again. We had a good PEC meeting and made some good plans to start fixing the problems with the reverence. Hopefully Pres will actually implement the things we talked about. We also got a good start on getting a good Christmas party organized. Hopefully we’ll be able to use it as a great finding tool. After lunch we went out with Bro Ronnie Manzo and Bro Ambog Siscar to visit Bro Aldana. They both bore strong testimony that he can give up his alcohol and his other word of wisdom problems. He just really needs to come to church and experience for himself. We also went to follow-up with a lot of OYMs that we had in Calintaan but they all fell through so we took a break on the beach and then visited Bro Edward. We had a good conversation about how he needs to come back to church and also stop again drinking and smoking. We also talked about how we can help his wife become converted to the gospel. We finally went to Tardios and worked a little bit on the Christmas program.

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The Manzo’s Baptism

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Well we finally had the baptism of the Manzo Family. We were at the church at about 8:30 because the service was supposed to start at 9:00 and we wanted to meet them and get them all dressed and ready to go before 9:00. Well we waited and waited for a long time and they still hadn’t shown up. At about 9:30 we asked Sis Aurora if she knew where they were. She told us that yesterday they bought bread and juice for after the baptism and they spent all of their money to ride on the jeepeny. They had to walk or borrow money or something. Basically they didn’t end up getting to the church until almost 10:15 and we didn’t get started until just a little after that. We had a good service. Nanay Cabanig gave a good short talk before about baptism and she did really well. We then all walked out to the beach and took photos. Bro Ronnie Manzo baptized them in the ocean. IT was like every missionary dreams of . . . having a baptism in the ocean. While they were changing back at the church we all sang hymns. I had to conduct and I was sweating so hard that by the time we finished singing I had already soaked my whole handkerchief. Wow it was hot. We then had some testimonies. Sis Eva Tardio, then Elsie Manzo the Rolly Manzo and then Pres Isla. It was really spiritual and both of the Manzos cried while they were bearing testimony. I was really happy for them. I could really tell that they had started a new life and they literally glowed.

Us with the Manzos before their baptism. (Cox, Rollie, Elsie, Bro Manzo, Arnesen)

The Calintaan Branch with the Manzos at their baptism. (f. Burley, Isla, SIscar b. Lennie Tardio, Lola Tardio, Eva Tardio, Lola Siscar, Sis Siscar, Sis, Siscar, Rollie, Elsie, Manzo, Bro Manzo)

The rest of the day was interesting. We visited Brother Sergio Aldana and shared with him about how we aren’t tempted above what we are able to endure. We also sang for him before we left. Hopefully Bro Gregorio will remember to go by him before church tomorrow. Also today Elder Cox had Bro Viloria cut his hair. He did a really good job and so I’m going to get mine done as well on Monday.

Bro Viloria cutting Elder Cox’s Hair

Rachelle and Gabriel Vilorria … super cute kids!

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Lots of good work

Friday, November 26, 2004

Today was a really effective day. This morning we went to try to help Bro Romell start building his house. We got to his lot at about 8:15 and just waited. He apparently doesn’t know how to lay out the house and so we were waiting for the people who knew how to do it. They never showed up and so Bro Romell just took us to his house and fed us a porridge of rice and egg. It was a very good marienda. Because we didn’t have anything to do we went back to the house and changed. I had to get another shower from the bucket in smelly bukid water. We went out to Bro Pacheco’s house in Panay OYMing as we went. We talked to a lot of good people. At Pacheco we were just planning to read with him and follow-up but he ended up asking a question about baptism and also about the word of wisdom. Our discussion wasn’t exactly what we had planned but it was good anyways. At lunch we worked on our “Increasing Spiritually” quiz. We hope that by letting the branch members rate themselves on different areas we’ll be able to strengthen the branch. We also at lunch had a good discussion about the temple and about marriage etc. for our companion study we’re studying the church handbook of instructions. It’s very interesting. After lunch we went out to Nanay Cabanig’s house because she had a referral for us. We got to teach her neighbors, the Gregorios, a first lesson and it went well. The family was first taught by Elder Manning and was dropped because they were really busy. Hopefully they’ll start to progress now. We then waited for a long time for S. A.to get home from the mountain. When he finally got there he was really drunk and so we just told him that we’d come back tomorrow. We then went to Dagupan and had a really good reading/discussion with the Viloria family. We also got to have a good discussion about not working on Sunday with Bro E. C. It was really strange because we didn’t even have an opening prayer and Elder Cox just started in talking about the Sabbath day. I wasn’t sure what he was doing and so I didn’t really give him the help that I should have.

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Thanksgiving with no power

Thursday, November 25, 2004

For Thanksgiving “feast” today we ate a can of mostly beef in fat. We also made the rest of the mashed potatoes that the Pyrons left us when they went home. It was okay but not quite what we have at home. We’re still without power and so I didn’t sleep very well last night. I thought a lot about how I can improve my missionary skills. I’m not doing as well as I should mostly just because I’m lazy. I need to put forth more effort to talk to everybody. Elder Cox chastised me today for not speaking to people and wait for him to do the work. I need to be more outgoing and friendly to the people here if I am going to have the success that I would like.

Thanksgiving, we even had gravy

The Mango tree at the church after the typhoon

Me, Bro Andales, Pres Isla, working on cutting down the tree

Elder Cox with a big piece of wood

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A trip to Sablayan

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

No entry from my journal this day but I have some photos from the little trip we took up north to Sablayan. Our area was huge and so we decided to explore. Sitting in the house on P-Day with no power was too painful so we opted for riding on top of a jeep to Sablayan. The ride was about an hour but it was a lot of fun exploring a new place.

The Map of MIndoro up in Sablayan

Islands off of Sablayan

On the way back from sablayan again. A storm was rolling in.

Me at a scenic overlook in Sablayan

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Maybe I’ll learn patience from this storm

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

I wrote a two page letter to my parents today. They say that they’re really excited to send my package for Christmas and that it’s really big. I hope that they don’t’ send just a bunch of worthless stuff. For district meeting we didn’t have air-con because the power is still off. The apartment in San Jose has power because it’s right next to the Vice Governor or something. Elder Cox taught a lesson about love today for his attributes lesson. It was really good. This is one area that I’m really weak in. I get upset far too easily with people. I need to be much more loving toward all the people here. I get frustrated with them and complain about things way too much. Hopefully this brown-out will teach me patience and also teach me how to value my blessings.

We tried to go up and teach the Manzos a second lesson today but they were still out working so we just taught sister about prophets and the importance of studying the words of modern-day prophets. We also got to teach Bro Fernando a lesson today about prayer. He thought that it had to be memorized and so he couldn’t do it with his eyes being bad and all. We had a good lesson and he actually ended up giving the closing prayer. He also told us that Bro Burley did come last night and they read from the Book of Mormon.

Adam23 November, 201416 November, 2014 Calintaan No Comments

Checking up on people after the storm

Monday, November 22, 2004

Today was a long day and I’ not sure how effective it actually was. This morning we had our two hour planning session again. No power and it was really really hot. This morning we also went and visited Brother Fernando and arranged to lave Bro Burley go by tonight to read to him. Hopefully Bro Burly remembered. Bro Fernando didn’t do too badly in the typhoon. His house was already in fairly bad shape because he had a fire and he only lost a little bit more of his roof because of the storm. Hopefully we’ll be able to help him fix his house up.

This afternoon we went out and visited Nanay Cabanic. We tried to help her feel motivated to have her neighbor listen to the lessons. It went well and she should have a referral for us later on this week. We also visited Sis Espy Tenitali today. We just wanted to ask her if she could come with us later on in the week to visit Sergio Aldana. We ended up being there for a long time just talking to her daughter who is, by the way, half American and speaks very good English. Well we finally found out that she’s leaving again right away and wont’ be coming back until Sunday. We had a good lesson with Aris but he’s still hanging out with his bad friends. We taught him about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. The reaching was good but Bro Aris if kind of not wanting to give up his bisues[1] and his WoW[2] problems. Wow!! It’s so hot. I can hardly stay awake to finish writing. I think I’m going to have a hard time.

[1] Bisues = vices or bad habits.

[2] WoW = Word of Wisdom

Adam22 November, 201416 November, 2014 Calintaan No Comments