Today was another of those really big emotional rollercoasters. This morning we left the apartment at about 7:00 for our service project in the Sister’s area. We didn’t have . . .
(Yep that’s all there was on this day!)
We had a good discussion with a tatay that lives on Corazon de Jesus where we’ve been tracting and OYMing the last few days. His name is Filipe Ocampo and he is a Jehovah’s Witness. We were just finishing up our hour of tracting when we said hello to him and he invited us into his house, or shop, or whatever you want to call it. We talked a bit and he asked who we were and what we were doing so we answered. We told him that we’d like to share our beliefs with him. He consented but he first wanted us to explain our beliefs about Jehovah. Elder Sangco did a great job explaining it. He used the “Ang Gabay sa mga Banal na Kasulatan[1]” and explained from there. From there we just sort of developed into a first discussion. It was great. He was really smart and answered all our questions correctly. I think he is really seeking the truth and wants to find it. I hope that he will read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I felt the spirit really strongly while I was testifying of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. That was really a great boost.
An interesting experience is connected to our finding this brother. Today after follow-ups, when we got back to our apartment I had a blazing fever. I rested for a while and then went downstairs to eat. After I finished eating, I decided to rest some more. When I went upstairs though to sleep I couldn’t rest. The story of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball when they left for their mission to England and were deathly ill but they still went. I tried to justify just staying in bed because I still had a high fever but the thought wouldn’t leave me that I should go and work. I did go out and work. If I hadn’t gone we would never have found Brother Filipe. Maybe this is the beginning of my ability to really hear and follow the spirit. I hope I have more experiences like that. It was really a good experience. To add to the goodness of the experience I was reading the Ensign this morning an article about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” It talked about having trials to bring us close to Jesus. I am trying to let this sickness do that but it’s really hard. I really still hope that I’ll get over it. When tapos na! Magandang Gabi!
[1] Ang Gabay sa mga Banal na Kasulatan: The Guide to the Scriptures. This is included in the foreign language Book of Mormon copies instead of the index that is in the English scriptures.
I’ve officially been here for three weeks now. It sometimes feels like it’s been an eternity. I’ve been sick again today with a high temperature. I hate this sickness thing. It’s really hard to work and I can’t be very effective. I really want to overcome it so that I can go to work with full heart.
One good thing that did happen today was that I had my first personal OYM. I talked with a man on the jeepney coming back to our apartment. I talked with him about his job etc and then invited him to church. It felt great. I didn’t understand all of what he said but he understood me and was surprised that I’d only been here three weeks. I was really happy after that.
Downtown Manila waiting for a bus back to Greenhills
Tonight in our work we visited Judy and had a good talk with her. I’m really impressed at how strong she is. She fed us dinner and I ate a lot. This was a problem because when we went to visit Maple she fed us too. I was really really full. We ate piranha. It was very good tasting.
Well I was sick today again. We had to come back early this morning from proselyting because I couldn’t even see straight. We tried to visit Dondi and Joy this morning but they weren’t there. They supposedly want to be baptized but they haven’t done anything yet. It’s a bit discouraging.
After I had slept for about 2 hours because of my sickness. After I had rested I had a blessing from Elder Sangco and Elder Matthews. It was really powerful. As Elder Matthews was giving the blessing I really felt the spirit and during I could feel my fever leaving. I was able to work the rest of the day healthy but as soon as I got back to our apartment the sickness returned. Anyways it really strengthened my testimony of the power of the priesthood and the healing power that it has. I really hope that after a good night’s rest tonight I’ll feel better and be better capable of doing this work.
Tonight we visited Bro. Santeco. He is the first man to join the church here in the Philippines. He is now 94 years old and still doing well. It was a fun visit. We’re still leaving a message at every visit and I’m feeling more like a missionary because of it.
When I think of this experience this scripture comes to mind:
For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. — D&C 84:33
Well today, like always, had its ups and downs. We had to leave early again this morning for Zone Development meeting. Doon tumangap ako ng tatlong mga sulat mula sa aking pamilya[1]. It was really good to get them even though they are 3 weeks old. I have the greatest family in the world. They are all so supportive of me and it is great. In fact Sarah shared with me a good experience she had at a 4-H camp where she didn’t go to a dance because she didn’t want to be close to boys who would dance with girls who were dressed like the other girls were. I admire her courage a lot. She is a great sister. In fact I actually shared her experience in our family home evening tonight. It was great. At our zone meeting we got instructions about needing go keep our apartments cleaner and better managed. This is a real problem and even my apartment isn’t where it should be yet. I’ll work on it though. We had a mabuting lesson about stewardship from Elder Alongo. He’s really a great elder and I admire his leadership. After our zone meeting we went with the Sisters in our district to Burger King. It was a colossal waste of time and money. Truly we waste so much time here that it is amazing. We’re always taking a break or something. It drives me nuts.
Elder Sangco in the Jeepney
Anyhow, our actual proselyting went well. We went and OYM’ed an area that we’d never been to before. We found 4 new investigators and taught three people besides a first discussion. The discussion went well and I contributed more than before. I’m feeling more and more confident in my Tagalog every day. I still have a long way to go but it is improving.
Me inside a Jeepney
[1] “There I got three letters from my family”
Well I only have 10 minutes so this will be fast. This morning we finally got to teach Bro. Winnie Ramos. He is a police officer so we’ve had a hard time finding him home. We taught a good first to him. I really felt the spirit strongly while he was praying to finish our discussion. He seemed excited to read and learn more from Ang Aklat ni Mormon[1]. I think that he has real potential.
[1] Ang Aklat ni Mormon: The Book of Mormon
Today was the first “normal” day that I’ve had all week. We’ve had to leave early for everything every day this week so it was nice to not have to leave early. Today was also the first day this week that I’ve really been able to study and work on my certification. I finished up my study on the apostasy and started the “restoration.” Kind of a huge topic if you ask me but that’s the principle.
Nightly Planning and sweat session.
The work today was hard because none of our appointments worked out so we ended up walking around a lot. We tried to follow up on a referral that came from Salt Lake but the sister wasn’t there. She lives over in Pasedina so we ended up going and talking to Nanay Josey for a long time. We actually got into the gospel with here which made me feel a lot better about the work.
Tonight we had a really interesting discussion with a brother. It jumped all over but it was good and naramdaman ko ang Esperitu Santo[1].
[1] Naramdaman ko ang Esperitu Santo: I felt the spirit.
Well today has been really long. We had to leave really early, 7:00, for our service project with the zone. We’ve left early every day this week and I haven’t gotten any studying in at all. I’ve done Book of Mormon every day but not anything else. It’s really frustrating because I’m trying to work on my certification but I never have time to work on it.
For our service this morning we helped an elementary school. Elder Matthews and I, well mostly him, tried to teach a bit of English but it didn’t go very well. We also did some exercise with the kids and played tag sort of with them. They call it here touch and go but it’s exactly the same thing. After the work with the children, we went behind the school and picked up 45 bags of trash out of a really small area. There was trash everywhere and it was kadiri talaga[1]. We then just talked with the kids. They were all fascinated by my blue eyes because they never wee anything like that. I’m getting able more and more to understand what the kids are saying so I actually enjoyed being thronged by little kids who tried to talk to me.
Playing with the kids at school in Manila.
After our service, I went with Elders Sunnex and Catubag and Matthews to Elder Sunnex’s apartment. We ate a really good lunch before going in. I had rice, egg, chicken, and a mango shake. It was good. We took a rest at the apartment but Elder Matthews and I went to get him a haircut.
We went to MIR at 3:00 to meet elder Sangco again. We waited and waited and waited some more and they didn’t show until 6:00, three hours later. So basically we just sat and wasted three hours. I wasn’t in a very good mood. I read The Book of Mormon for a really long time today and my head hurts.
We didn’t accomplish anything today and it’s really depressing. The only thing we actually did is to go the Stake President’s house for a birthday party. Anyway, I’m really tired so I’m just going to stop.
[1] Kadiri talaga: really gross
Well I didn’t write yesterday because the whole day I didn’t get a chance to write to A. and I hadn’t written for a long time and I thought it was about time. So, a brief recap. I went to the temple yesterday. It was good. It’s only one floor so that was interesting. In the temple you wear a barong. It is a loose fitting shirt that you don’t tuck in and don’t wear a tie with. It was really comfortable. We did a session and some baptisms. For the baptisms we didn’t wear white at first because the worker said we didn’t need to just to witness and record. When we were about half done, one of the temple presidency came and in and fixed things. I really learned a good lesson about order.
Philippines Manila Temple
Last night we made a few visits. We made a goal this week to leave a message for every appointment. The Elders here don’t do that at all. They just visit and talk and leave with no spiritual message or anything. I’m going to try to fix that problem in all of my companionships.
This morning we went to MIR for follow-ups and zone meeting. It was good and we made some good goals. Elder Alongo is our Zone Leader and he does a really good job. I found out today that this mission is the lowest baptizing mission in the Philippines. I think that that is due to the over relaxed attitude of the Elders. I would like to be able to change that but I’m not sure what to do. Missionaries here are a lot different from how we were trained. Even though we’re supposed to use personal outlines to teach, most of the Elders still just use the discussions. I don’t understand it. Today I am on exchange with Elder Matthews and Catubag so I’ve gotten to see the way they work. They hardly OYM at all and seem to waste a lot of time. Elder Matthews feels bad about it and wants to change but he doesn’t have much power as a junior companion. He also still has language troubles, not much, but the people still laugh at him when he messes up and then he feels bad. I hope I can help him somehow.
Well this morning we had to get up early because we had interviews with Pres. Beck at 7:30 way over at the MIR. It takes almost, well more than, an hour to get there and so we left at 6:30. Luckily, I guess, He didn’t arrive until almost 8:00. Interviews were good. The APs were happy with our work on the area book and encouraged us to step it up even more. I’m really trying hard to keep it updated. I’m really impressed with the APs. They’re really friendly but they still get the job done and done right. I hope that I can learn to lead more like that, with love and correction instead of just correctness.
I also had a good long talk with Sister Beck about my family and a bit about Homeschooling etc. She asked me who my companion was in the MTC and I told her Elder Lewis. She asked me to write him a note so I did. I hope he doesn’t have hard feelings toward me because I certainly don’t have any towards him.
My interview with President was good but not exceptionally eventful. He asked if I had a temple recommend and if I was worthy of it and how my companion is etc. It was good. I really love President Beck even though I don’t really know him that well yet.
After a 2 hour pahinga[1], we went out again. We wanted to visit with J. but she wasn’t there so we left. We then decided to go and look for a police officer who we OYMed yesterday. We didn’t find him but we did get to teach a new man named Yuri. He was sort of receptive but didn’t really believe in prophets. He’s moving back to the province soon so we won’t get to follow up with him. After that we “tracted” it was utterly worthless. Now I know why other methods are more effective. We were followed by a ton of little kids who wanted “magic.” Lights out na.
[1] Pahinga: rest