Memories of a Mission – Page 6 – "We will work for the glory of our Lord"

Teaching about the Spirit World

Saturday, February 26, 2005

I guess today was a good day. We got to teach a couple of lessons and do some finding. I don’t know if I don’t feel satisfied because we didn’t do enough work or just because I have my expectations too high. We are still having trouble getting out on time and I’ve become a little lax on it. I don’t like having to tell Elder Cox about it because I always feel that he is upset at me for correcting him. I try to lead by when I make a decision I often feel resentment for it but when I try to ask his opinion I often just get the “why do you always ask?” response from him. I guess I just haven’t figured out how to lead in a loving enough manner yet.

Me and Elder Cox having dinner in our apartment.

We made “adobong sitaw” (green bean adobo). It over cooked ( a lot) and was super salty but we ate it anyway.

Today we got to have a good discussion about the Plan of Salvation with Lourdes Aldana. It was good even though we just reviewed it with Brother yesterday. She had a lot of questions. Some about the spirit world and others about work for the dead. We ended up teaching her about temples and sealing. It was a good lesson even though it went over an hour.

We had kind of a scary experience at the Pulido’s house today. We were just visiting with Sister when in walked our cannibal friend. He sat down and started talking gibberish; some English, some Tagalog, Ilocono, and “French.” He took out his shirt and there was something round tied up in it. Elder Cox and I were sure that it was going to be flesh of something and so we braced for the worst. It took five minutes for him to get all of the twine off his shirt to get into the ball and then inside farther he had a tightly wrapped plastic. When he finally pulled it out it turned out to just be money to the amount of about p300. So much for being scared.

The Andales children

Tonight we tried to go by Bro. Andales because this was our schedule with him. He was still gone to the mountains. I really, really hope that he will be able to come to church tomorrow. If he doesn’t come we have to start the count over and that will push his baptism until after I leave the island. I’ve been at that man’s house almost every night since I got here and I really, really want to see him be baptized.

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Gun battles in Calintaan

Friday, February 25, 2005

Well Wednesday’s entry got cut short by my falling asleep so we’ll see how things go tonight.

ZZZZZZZ

Well, things have been getting a little tense here in Calintaan because of the NPA. The NPA stands for New People’s Army. Basically they are a rebel militant group that hides here on Mindoro as well as down on Mindanao. I believe that they are Muslims and are probably connected to Al Qaida somehow. Anyway, they have been having gun fights with the Philippine Army and lots of people have died. They have taken control of some of Poy-Poy which is about 2 miles to the NNE of Calintaan proper. The army brings the dead NPA down to the plaza and displays them for all the people to see before they bury them. The war is way too close for comfort. There are always helicopters of all sorts flying back and forth, transports, scouts, and gun-boats. Also we have seen a lot of soldiers here in the city. We try to keep the faith and not be afraid but sometimes it is really hard. We went this afternoon down to Saligsig and on the way we were stopped by a squad of the Philippine Army. They were stopping everybody and checking all the men to see if they were NPA. They all had M16s and carried grenades. We got stopped both times but neither time did they say anything to us even though we had bags and they had no idea who we were. Either they were scared stiff about us or they had orders to not bother us. It didn’t help them any that they didn’t know we know how to speak Tagalog. I never thought I’d have to deal with this on my mission. I just hope and pray that we will be save because we are on the Lord’s errand.

Eating buko at the Villoria’s house

Elder Cox splitting wood for the Villoria’s

For work today we had service this morning. We took my itak[1] and helped Bro. Viloria to cut fire wood. It was a good work out. I found out how to keep the blade of my itak sharp and so I’m going to have it treated someday soon. This afternoon we had a good time. We found out that Bro Delfino came back, finally, and so we taught/reviewed with him a first and committed him to come to church. Hopefully his progress won’t be hindered by the harvest. Also yesterday the Pulidos all came back from Oriental. Maybe we’ll do some more cooking there.

[1] Itak = machete

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Trying to arrange music

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Today was a good relaxing P-day. I got a lot accomplished that needed to be done. This morning I got all the maps and things organized for the area book. I found a lot in the extra room and so I put them together and marked where the member’s houses and the church etc. are. It felt good to get it accomplished. I also started working on the song that I will be directing at district conference. I was asked by Pres Van Orman to lead a young men’s choir and sing “O’ making lahat ng bansa” or “Hark, all ye Nations.” I’m trying to do a good arrangement but discovering that my composition skills are sorely lacking. Hopefully it will still turn out well. I also wrote four letters today which is, I think, a record for me in one day. At about 2:30 I lay down to take a nap and slept until about 3:20 when the power went off. Well that meant no shower.

Elder Cox and I down by the beach

Work was good today. We had a good reading/discussion with the Zepata family. Brother has finally started reading again and they might actually be progressing. They are 7^th-day Adventists and so we talked a little about Jesus Christ fulfilling the Law of Moses. It went over well. We also [that’s all there was].

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Taglish

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Today was another good day that went really fast. Being Tuesday, we went into San Hose for district meeting. This was my first district meeting as district leader. It went well. I got to teach the skills lesson which was a good experience. I taught about extending commitment invitations and how we can strengthen them by testifying and promising blessings. For the practice, I tried doing it in English. It was hard but good because I got to use some words that I have never used before.

Our CR in calintaan

I’ve been trying to re-obtain an ability to speak correct English. I use way too much “Taglish” and I’d rather just speak one pure language than pollute both by mixing them. I realize that I’ll have to “taglish” when I go back to the city but I’ll deal with that when it comes. I also got to have a good talk in English with the Van Ormans. Elder Van Orman is a civil engineer and so we talked about school and engineering.

Another of my highlights today was that I got a valentines package from my family. They sent me a photo album which was really good. It is good to have some “character” pictures of them not just posed.

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Peace Through Being Forgiven

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Because today was Sunday, we obviously had church. Bro Andales decided not to come but to go to the mountain instead. Pres Isla and Elgie Tardio dropped by their home before church, however, and Bro Andales said that he will come to church next week. I hope that he’s overcoming his pride and being able to feel love and the spirit again.

I was assigned to be the concluding speaker in Sacrament Meeting today. I talked about finding peace through being forgiven of our sins. Also I talked mostly about repentance and how we should repent and that forgiveness and peace are the fruits of sincere repentance. It went well. I felt the spirit as I was speaking and I hope that those listening heard and felt the spirit also.

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Plans and Hopes Come Crashing Back Down

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Well these have been an exhausting last few days and I’ve been too dead tired to write. Here’s a few highlights. On Tuesday night we had Elder Miller and Campbell come out to do the interview for all of the three Andales children that wanted to get baptized! Prenan, Jerik, and Junible. They passed and so we were all really happy. We continued to have the plan to have the four of them baptized on Saturday.

Well yesterday night all the plans and hopes came crashing back down. After being able to stay away from alcohol for 4 weeks, passing his interview, and having all ready to go, he succumbed to the master of deceit, the devil, again and drank. When we went by their house yesterday night he was sprawled out on the bed unable to speak or get up, obviously very drunk. To verify even more, Jerik, the 11-year-old, told us that he was “lasing na lasing” or very very drunk. I don’t understand it, he was so strong. It really hurt last night to see it.

We worked so hard with Bro Andales.

The situation was only made worse this morning when we visited him in his bukid. We asked him right out if he drank last night and he said that he hadn’t. He flat out denied it and said that he hoped to still be baptized on Saturday. That hurt even more and obviously didn’t make it any better for him. We visited the family tonight and “reproved. . . with sharpness.” He felt bad and really discouraged. He wouldn’t even give the family prayer to close.

His three children still want to be baptized on Saturday and so we’ll continue with that. I really hope that Bro Andales will find the courage to still attend the baptism. It will be hard for him but he has to do it to help his faith and also his self-confidence. I’m also beginning to lose hope that I will see him baptized while I am here. His goal date as of now is the 19^th of March. I really hope he makes it.

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What I carry in my white book

Monday, February 14, 2004

Well, today is the day commonly called throughout the world “Valentine’s Day.” If translated into missionary language that means “day of heat & sweat.” Today was just a normal old great day. Actually I’m kind of at a loss of what to write about because today was so normal. I think I’ll take an idea from my English class last year and make a list of what I carry in my pocket in my “white book.”

Starting on the left leaf.

Ministerial certificate
½ of a 3×5 card with new vocabulary words
Calendar of 2005 with a picture of Captain Moroni on the back (laminated)
Line of authority (also laminated) with Jesus Christ on the back.
White card that lists all the medications that are dangerous because I have typhoid vaccine.
Utah driver’s license
Temple recommend in Manila Philippines Temple cover given to me by Pres Beck for Christmas.

Right Leaf.

Laminated family picture
Picture of my sister Rebekah
Picture of A__.
Picture of the Manila temple
Two “Smart Talk” super pay phone cards, each p100
BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) ATM card
UCCU ATM card to get personal money
p220 in cash, (about $4.50)

Hope that is entertaining.

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“One of the most powerful”

Sunday, February 13, 2005

I am feeling realy tired today. I guess you could say that there were two highlights to today. Both were lessons we taught. First with Bro Aldana. As we were walking along the pilapil[1] to his house today, I thought to myself that we really need to start teaching his children. Well when we went in, all of his children were there. We were going to teach them all but the two boys decided to do haircuts instead. We ended up teaching his second oldest, a daughter who is about 23 years old. It was an excellent discussion. At the end Brother bore his testimony and it was very, very powerful. He spoke about reading and comparing the teachings to the Bible. HE also told us about his prayer and being answered by a scripture in 1 Corinthians 14 that talks about teaching from people with a different language. He said that when he read that verse he thought of us and the spirit testified to him that the message is true. He was almost crying by the end and his daughter was amazed. The spirit that was there was one of the most powerful that I have felt in my whole life. I think it is such a great blessing to have been led to him on that day. Everything now is falling into place. All of his children are there now and his wife will be coming back from working abroad for 15 years just in time for his baptism. If that family could all be baptized it would just be a wonderful thing.

[1] A pilapil is the little dam between levels of a rice field.

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Some very interesting food

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Today was another long and interesting day. We had a “Family Home Afternoon” at the Siscar’s house up in Saligsig. They invited us to come up early and eat lunch up with them. We sacrificed out lunch break and ate there. They fed us well but it was definitely one of those missionary food experiences. They cooked goat for us . . . all of the goad. There were three dishes. First: goat meat with a red sauce, very tasty. Second: “kilawing kambing” which is really bitter goat skin cut up into little pieces. Third: “pinapaitan” which was all of the innards of the goad, intestines, liver, heart and other varied and assorted delicacies. Needless to say it was . . . different. After the FHE proper, for dessert, we had “kamoting kahoy” and soup. Kamoting kahoy is like a potato, or tuber, cooked and peeled and then pounded in a hold in a lot with another log until it is sticky and in one lump. Sugar and coconut is also added. It actually tastes really good. We also ate a soft of chicken soup, also really tasty. Anyhow, my stomach was feeling a little bit funny after that!

Me making kamoteng kahoy

The family home evening went well, Elder Cox and I taught about Jesus Christ. We read from Mosiah 3 and then played a CD while we showed pictures of Jesus. It was good. We also bore testimony. The spirit was really strong and we will probably repeat that lesson several times.

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Helping build a church . . . it’s not what you think

Friday, February 11, 2005

Today has been an interesting and very long day. I’ll just touch lightly on what was interesting. First of all this morning we went to help the Zepata family, all of whom are Seventh-day Adventists, build a church in their back yard. We worked with all of them but especially noteworthy was one ole man—the “foreman.” He thought that he had it all figured out how to do everything, from sawing wood, to fencing, to the “Bible.” In short, he was a very conceited man and full of his own skillfulness. He kept on telling us how to use the saw and that we needed to “take it slow and easy.” Well, anyways, his constant correction was less than appreciated. We worked on the roof for about 3 hours until 12:00 when they fed us lunch. Lunch consisted of an ulam of some strange bean-like plant that you scraped through your teeth to get out the meat, and also some fish. It tasted good but later turned out to be not the best friend of my stomach. We also got a picture of us working.

Elder Cox working on the 7th day church.

The brother’s house by the 7th day church we were helping with

Elder Arnesen and Elder Zack Cox on the roof of the church we helped to build.

Us on top of the church after a morning of work

When we finally got back to the house, Elder Baylon and Elder McCauley were already there waiting to do Bro Andales’s interview. We showered quick and went over to the church for that. It went well and Elder Baylon said he was good to go. He will be baptized on the 19^th of February.

Right after the interview we went out to Bro. Gregorio hoping to organize the program for the baptism. We found him at the long bridge working and also smoking a cigarette. Lazy Man! We decided not to do it and started throwing rocks and waiting for a jeep. We finally got a jeep back to Dagupan and visited with Brother Fantuyaw. We scheduled with him and he taught us some Mangyan words. Language #3 here I come. Joke lang! We also dropped by Bro. Pulido and he gave us some langka, jack-fruit, to eat. It was different but good. We had to wash our hands with cooking oil in order to get the stickiness off.

We did get to teach Jun-Jun Zepata today about prayer and scripture study. It was good but also really crazy because a lot of people kept walking in and out and making it crazy. We also had a good reading and testimony sharing with the Andales family. The spirit was really strong and we got to testify and also sing. I really do love singing.

Adam11 February, 20158 February, 2015 Calintaan No Comments