Memories of a Mission – Page 14 – "We will work for the glory of our Lord"

Learning to live with no power

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Today is our second day without power. We’re starting to settle into survival mode. I actually wish that we lived in a hut because at least then we would have wind. We were afraid that no one would show up to church but we still had 36 people show up. Not exactly the best attendance we’ve ever had but not bad for the day after a typhoon. I had to teach priesthood but that was okay. Most of the members did okay but a few aren’t well off at all. Hopefully we’ll be able to help them. We had a good discussion with Bro Aldana and gave him a baptismal date for the 18^th of December. Hopefully it’ll go through but probably it’ll be in January because of his word of wisdom problem. He is really a great guy and I feel that he really is truly seeking the truth and not just saying that he is. We also taught the Viloria family about the Ten Commandments today. It went well but Brother didn’t want to set a goal date. I’m not sure if he’s afraid because he doesn’t want to disappoint us or because of some other reason. He said that he doesn’t want to commit to a date until he’s already been able to come to church three times. Hopefully he’ll not miss another week and will also be able to be baptized on the 18^th of December.

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Typhoon Mufia

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Today has been a very interesting day. When we left this morning it was raining a bit so of course we took our umbrellas. Well the rain started to get harder. We went by the church first because we are supposed to teach English there but there wasn’t anybody there. We decided to go by Bro Burley’s house but by the time we got there he told us that the storm had reached a signal 1 typhoon. It was really blowing hard and when we went out on the beach to look, the rain stunk our faces like thousands of little bullets. It was crazy. We decided that we’d go out go Dagupan because we still had to teach a music lesson to Sis Pulido. It took a while to get a jeep and the wind was getting stronger and stronger all the time. In Dagupan trees had started to fall over. We ended up not teaching music because the storm was so bad. We just stayed at Pulidos house and waited. The storm got sores and worse. Trees were going everywhere. We decided that we’d better go home and so we left when it seemed to be slowing down. We caught a jeep but the storm picked up even worse than the first time. We watched roofs get torn off houses and trees and telephone poles just breaking and falling everywhere. The jeepney got stuck in Dagupan because so many trees had fallen. We waited until the storm calmed down a bit more and then left the jeep and started to walk. On the main road there were probably 10 huge trees that had fallen across the path and we were walking back most of the way in the rain and in strong wind. There was tons of stuff destroyed and almost all of the power lines were down. Basically we experienced a signal 3 typhoon today. Lots and lots of houses were knocked down and it is just not a good thing. We are being told that we’ll be without power for probably a month or almost until Christmas because of the storm! This is going to be a really long month.

Me standing out in the Typhoon

Elder Cox in the typhoon

This was Typhoon Mufia that we experienced. It actually wasn’t as strong when it hit us on Mindoro but it definitely went right over our area. The whole article on Wikipedia is actually pretty cool!

Map plotting the track and intensity of the storm.(“Muifa 2004 track” by See file upload history for details. – Created using Wikipedia:WikiProject Tropical cyclones/Tracks. The background image is from NASA. Tracking data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.[1]. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.)

Satellite image of the typhoon.(“Typhoon Muifa 2004” by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC – http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=6721. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.)

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Baptismal Interview

Friday, November 19, 2004

We had the baptismal interview for the Manzos today and it went well. They’ll be baptized on the 27^th. I’m happy for them but I really hope that they understand how big this covenant really is. While Elder Bledsoe was interviewing them, I had a good fun chat with Elder Cox and Elder Pack. I actually found out that Elder Pack went to Boys Nation the year before I did and so we were swapping stories. We had a good follow-up/lesson with Brother Sergio Aldana who lives down in Malitiquang. He wanted to know what was bawal to eat and so we taught him about the word of wisdom. We actually read all of D&C 89 and so that was good. He’s really going at his scripture reading and it’s great. I think he has some really good potential.

Hiking back down from Magsikap.

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Getting in late and baptismal interview questions

Thursday, November 18, 2004

The reason that I didn’t write last night is because we got in really late. We actually got into the apartment at 9:30, which was an hour and a half after we are supposed to get in. the reason we were late is because the bus that is supposed to leave San Jose at 6:30 just decided that it wouldn’t leave until 8:00. What a waste. We just sat on the bus waiting to leave from 6:00 until 8:00. Basically last night was bad because we rode on top of the bus all the way back and then it rained pa. Just to top it off when we got home, all filthy because of our trip, our landlord had decided to turn off the water pump. This meant that we had to take a bucket shower which was certainly less than desirable. We did have a cool experience though because when the rain started we prayed and “commanded” it to stop. Well it did!! When we got back, basically as soon as we got in the door a huts storm burst. Wow, the priesthood really has power. Wednesday, Elder Cox and I went knife shopping. I bought a whole arsenal of knives for p700. I’m not sure why I did it but they’re cool. We also had a zone activity and played volleyball on the beach. It was more fun than I expected.

Yeah, the one day we were late, we were coming from San Jose and the bus got caught in the rain

Today was a good day. We went up to Magsikap and taught the Manzos about the plan of salvation. We also went over the baptismal interview questions so that they’ll be ready for their interviews tomorrow. Hopefully that will go well and they’ll be able to be baptized on the 27^th. We also visited the Vilorias and hopefully they’ll finally go and start to get their wedding started. They’re just afraid of spending money because they are not very well off. We also visited Brother Fernando but he wasn’t there. We stood on the beach for a while and watched the waves. We saw one that was huge. It was probably 10’ tall! I’ve decided that I really like the ocean. When we made our nightly visit to Bro Andales, he was there but had had 2 shots of alcohol before he left work. He really wants to be baptized but he doesn’t want to take any action to make that happen. Elder Cox and I were talking about it and we said that all he needs to do is take one small step of faith. He’s afraid that he’ll lose his job if he doesn’t drink the alcohol that his boss gives him. I think that what needs to happen is he needs to lose that job and trust in the Lord that another job will come for him. I really felt the spirit when he gave the closing prayer and I’ll really keep work working with him.

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Writing letters home

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

We’re sleeping in San Jose again tonight because we have another zone activity tomorrow. We came in for District Meeting this morning and rode in the front seat of a Jeepney. It was a really slow jeep but surprisingly enough we didn’t get passed. For our skills lesson today, Elder Cox had us write letters to potential missionaries back at home and encourage them to go on missions. I decided to write to [a friends from my home ward] because of what Mom wrote last week about him, how he’s coming back to church and has shaved and is wearing a shirt. I really think that that would help him a lot if we went on a mission. After district meeting, we ate at P&P’s and I ate a bowl of tomato soup. It was great. We then headed out to Saligsig by Magsikap to teach the Manzos about the plan of salvation. They weren’t there so we weren’t able to teach them. We have their interview on Friday and we really wanted to have their review done before then. Hopefully we’ll teach them at least once more before then. We also had a great follow up with Sergio in Malitiquang. He read the introduction and the testimonies and he wanted to know that the “D at T[1]” was. We explained about the restoration of the priesthood and also about modern day revelation. He said that everything we said sounded right according to his study of the Bible. He gave a really heart-felt, spiritual prayer at the end of the discussion. I think he could be really good. After his follow-up we had to wait for almost 2 hours to catch a bus back to San Jose.

[1] D at T (Doktrina at mga Tipan) = Doctrine and Covenants

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Meeting our neighborhood “cannibal”

Monday, November 15, 2004

Well, just so you know, Brother Fernando didn’t come to church yesterday. Supposedly he had a headache or sore-eyes or something of that nature. Today we had our two hour long planning session for the week. I really like the new two hour way just because it makes me feel more organized and ready for the week. First thing this morning we went to the Municipial to get a pamphlet about Mount Iglit because we wanted to go and visit next week. Well the Municipial was closed because of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. We were a little nervous because of the mountain that’s full of terrorists outside of the city. We were going to call Elder Bledsoe but we decided not to. We ended up not having any trouble.

Playing the Piano with the Canibal watching!!

Playing the Piano with the Cannibal watching!!

We also had another interesting/scary experience later on. We went to Pulidos for lunch so that we could learn how to make pancit. When we first got there and were standing at the door we noticed that the cannibal was walking up! I was just a little afraid. We figured we’d be okay once we got inside but we were wrong. He followed us in!! We were getting more and more scared! We decided that we needed to get a picture of him and so, because he was sitting in a chair, I started playing the keyboard with him sitting behind me. Then Elder Cox took a picture of me with the cannibal behind. Sort of an interesting day[1].

[1] Now that I look back on this experience years later, I realize that we totally overreacted to this situation. There were rumors in the town that this man had eaten children in the past, but I don’t think he was anything like the cannibals you think of from the movies. It is much more likely that he was just severely mentally handicap and needed our help more than anything. I am ashamed to think now of the way that we treated him then.

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A piano lesson and my Tagalog struggles

Saturday, November 13, 2004

I’ve been really tired for the last few days and I don’t really understand it. This morning we taught English at the church. We taught a lesson about pronouns and a little bit about sentence structure. Elder Cox taught the bulk of the class while I worked one-on-one with Brother Burley. He really wants to learn about how to speak English but it’s really hard for him. I hope he learned a little bit at least this morning. After English lessons, we had to rush out to Dagupan to teach a music lesson. We taught a really basic lesson to Sis. Pulido and two of her friends. It went well other than the fact that I did a horrible job teaching and Elder Cox ended up doing most of it. I was really impressed with how quickly they caught on to what we taught. We had another showing of “On the Way Home” today. This time it was at the church. I still feel the spirit when I watch it and it strengthens both my testimony and my resolve to work hard as a missionary. I was really happy that Bro. Fernando came to the movie. Hopefully he’ll also come to church tomorrow. I’ve been having real trouble with my Tagalog for the last couple of days. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on but I’m struggling with pronouncing things and also getting them to connect from my brain to my mouth at the right speed. I guess on an up-note, my comprehension is getting better all the time.

Teaching Piano lessons to Sis Pulido

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Watching Daan Pauwi (On the way home)

Friday, November 12, 2004

Today was long. When I woke up this morning I didn’t really feel very rested and I was dreading the rest of the day. Our first appointment this morning was with Sister Pulido. We wanted to teach her a piano lesson but she didn’t have anybody there that we could work with for conversion hours. Hopefully tomorrow morning when we go back she’ll have somebody there so that we can do a piano lesson. Because we didn’t get to teach piano we were out of places to go and so we decided to go tracting. It wasn’t very effective I don’t think. We got into one brother’s house and then discovered that Inglacian and he was in a real big hurry to get us out. We came back in for lunch at about 11:00. For lunch we ate spam and cheese sandwiches. They weren’t the greatest but at least its food. We took a little nap, me only for about 5 minutes, and then I felt better. We went this afternoon out to Magsikap to watch “Daan Pauwi[1]” with the people from the mountains. We had a really good turnout again even though most of the people there were already members. It was good and we felt the spirit. We also went to Malitiquang today. We wanted to teach Sis. Anitas’ husband but he was off drinking and so we didn’t. We were surprised when sister told us that she was planning to go to Pampanga to work. People here are so unreasonable and irrational sometimes. They all think that they’ll make more money somewhere else but they don’t realize that they will have to pay to get wherever they’re going, pay for living there, and pay for coming back. In the long run it’s just as good if not better to just stay where they are and work. They just don’t get it sometimes.

Me on the beach north of Calintaan

[1] Daan Pauwi – On the way home

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An effective day

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Today was a really effective day. We got to visit almost all of our investigators today and so that was good. We first visited Bro Freddie Pacheco out in Panay. We were planning on teaching him a second out there but when we got there we saw that Bro Romell Gonzalez was already there. He was just baptized last month and he was there to invite his friend to come to church. What at stud!! We were really happy to see him and went ahead and taught a second lesson. It went well and Brother Romell gave a really strong testimony to help out. I really am gaining a testimony of the power of members doing missionary work. Later on this afternoon we watched “On the Way Home” in Dagupan. We were worried that nobody was going to come but we invited all of the people we could think of that lived in Dagupan. We had an awesome turnout. In fact everybody that we invited came and watched. It was great and really helped to strengthen our investigators, especially the Viloria family.

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A long, hot P-Day

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Today was a really long P-day. It browned out on Monday night and didn’t come back on until right now. We had to spend our whole P-day without fans and without music. We didn’t do much because it was so hot. We did take a little walk out to the beach and wrote letters out there. Then we decided that it was too hot and there were too many flies so we went back to the house. We just sat around and talked about how nice life is in the states until it was almost time to leave to work. We took another candle-light bucket shower and then got ready to leave. We went finding and did some good OYMing. We actually to teach a first lesson off of one of the OYM’s. It was a good discussion and the brother was really involved. We also taught a discussion to the Fernando family today about the plan of salvation. Hopefully they’ll come to church this week.

This is what our bedroom looked like during a brown-out. We had a stack of candles on the bed-side table so we could see a bit in the dark.

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