Hi family,
Hey,
you guys should just move here to the Philippines.. it's super warm and the beaches
are great. The people can just be naturally racist because they don't
see very many foreigners xD I'm of course saddened at the fact of some things going on, I wish that I could say a
little more than that is just a joke.... But you're right,
don't worry because things will all work out :) You guys are being
built and founded upon Christ, the foundation upon which we CANNOT fall
(Helaman 5:12)
Anyways,
it's so funny that you asked how that pastor is who we had been
teaching. (So one, that was in my last area... Tayug... but I
transferred to Dagupan so I haven't been teaching him) But last week,
Elder A emailed me and gave me an update on this pastor. I guess he
still comes to church and has ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE. I guess that
this pastor said that he will be baptized if the missionaries can answer
all of his questions. So I've been keeping him in my prayers :) I had
also gotten news from him that 3 of the investigators that I had taught
with him got baptized! So it was a pretty awesome news update!
You know, I've really not been worried about meeting people like
that because my gospel knowledge and my scriptural knowledge has really
increased so much since I came here!
That mini MTC idea sounds like it was SO FUN, I hope that that has inspired the youth to serve a mission :)
My week has been really tough but I've seen the rewards :) There
was one HUGE miracle this week in meeting a new investigator. We had a
really rough week this week in regards to total lessons and all those
other things, but this one miracle made the whole week worth it :) So on
Tuesday we were "punted" or what I mean is that we were pushed to a
point that we were walking around finding people and literally going to
every door! What happened is that we went and started talking to this
one sister who was pushing a baby in a wheelchair to help him sleep and
then we got to go to their home and meet her mother (who is 99 Years old
turning 100 in May!!) and very soon we find out that one of this Nanays
sons are an active member in the church... in Calasiao (An area
probably an hour away or something). And then AS we are talking to this
old Nanay, that brother shows up and we got to meet him... and it just
so turns out that he has someone he wants to refer to us and asked if we
could come back at 5pm to teach his referral! And then it turns out
that this referral is SUPER receptive and really wants to know about the
gospel! I couldn't believe it when all things played out because from a
simple "open your mouth" experience, we ended up meeting someone
totally different who has been being prepared to receive the gospel. I
was also shocked at his understanding of the lesson and the questions
that he was asking (He asked us on the second visit why it was Peter,
James, and John who gave the priesthood to Joseph Smith when there are
12 apostles)! I really have high hopes for this new investigator. So
that has really been a tender mercy for us so far this week, and
something else that has been really great is the simple fact that:
Tatay Tinte has FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON in like a month
of reading it! :D He's our most progressing investigator and should be
getting baptized this coming December 17th... it was such a wonderful
feeling to see that he has been reading and reading, and not just that
but really understanding the things he was reading. After he finished,
what he did was write basically a short book summary... and talked about
how the Book of Mormon is written to the convincing of the Jew and
Gentile that Jesus is the Christ and talked about the gospel of Jesus
Christ. I mean I was just shocked that he was so diligent in his
scripture studyk! :)
Overall, it has been a really great week and I learned a
lot... there is also a lot of Christmas things coming up, so that ought
to be fun to do! OH, and that reminded me of a service project we did at
the parade opening here in Dagupan where we had water stations all set
up and gave water to anyone who wanted it (from parade performers to
people in cars to random people on the streets) And it was SO HILARIOUS
because one of my jobs was to take cups of water and hand them out to
people... I guess some people are just really weird towards americans.
So the parade was like these schools doing like a parade and stuff so we
gave them water and the very start before the parade began.... long
story short, I got yelled at by a LOT of high school aged Filipinos. And
then a lot of people were all weird about taking water (Like I was
going to ask for their phone number or something) But it was just a
really great opportunity to have!
But
anyway, that has been my week and again... super fun!I hope that things
will keep looking up for you guys over the course of the coming weeks.
Keep enduring... life is hard! :) Love you guys,
PS-
We met this totally AWESOME dog who could like almost walk along the
bars of this one gate. He was SO funny! We also took a boat ride at
night to go to a Family Home Evening... it was super sketchy and I
almost fell in the water xD
And that one paper is what our investigator wrote about the Book of Mormon (He's WAY good at English too
11-28-2016
Magandang
Umaga po....wait... the AFTERNOON! It's really great to hear from you
guys and I can't believe that Katherine is home from her mission now! I
will be the 3rd RM in our family, which honestly makes me really happy
because Whitney and Katherine have really showed me a good example! It
sounds like you guys are really bunkering down for the winter and
bringing in wood! (Don't worry... this is the last time that I won't be
home to help with all that wood) And I got a little homesick looking at
the Christmas trees and huge Thanksgiving dinner!! But that's okay, I am
where I am supposed to be right now... and that's what is important! :)
I am kind of saddened by what's been going on .. but I also have the sure hope that things will work out one day.
But anyway, it sounds like a pretty good week overall :)
My
week was pretty crazy with all things said and done...So first things
first, I said that we would likely be going to the beach this week....
and from the pictures you can hopefully tell that WE DID go to the beach
which is only like 20 minutes away from our apartment! The view is
just absolutely stunning and I got some pretty cool pictures... we even
took a picture with all the Elders in my zone that for some reason looks
oddly like a boyband banner or something like that xD It was so much
fun and even though I couldn't go swimming... I took off my sandals and
got to step in the water some. (Yes, sandals... here in the Philippines
you don't see many people wearing shoes and if we can wear our
"Babylonian Clothes, we just wear sandals too) Basically the water here
is WARM. So if I ever EVER manage to save money one day vacation... I
think that I'll come to the Philippines! But anyway, that was super fun!
:)
Something
else that we did this week is apartment checks, and it wasn't too
boring because some missionaries need to clean up their apartments XD
However, this week I've been feeling a little more confident in my
responsibilities as a Zone Leader and have honestly been really liking
the fact that I get to know the missionaries here a little better! It's
super weird actually because I remember before my mission being really
shy around people I don't know. (You may not have noticed, but I used to
get really quiet around people I don't know) and now I remember
thinking to myself that the mission would basically force me to open up
and to become a "people person" and.... like my prediction. I HAVE. It's
been super fun to meet new people and I've really changed a lot!
But
anyways, we also had companionship exchanges with the Dagupan 3 ward
Elders and I worked with an Australian named Elder A (who is taller
than me and like over twice my weight... I mean he's huge!), and I
realized that there are always so many things to learn about missionary
work. It doesnt matter that he's kind of new in the mission, I learned a
lot from him. In fact, I've found that's basically the same with
everyone. By meeting new people and working with them, I have been
basically having my "vision broadened" and seeing how others teach and
how effective that is! :D
We
currently have an investigator who is progressing to baptism on the
coming Dec 17th, and we feel that he is pretty solid. Tatay T (The
same old man I have been talking about all the time) has come to church
plenty of times now and reads the Book of Mormon like crazy!! Currently
he is is 3rd Nephi 17 :D I mean this old Tatay literally has no job or
nothing so all he does is stay home and read... he's super cool! :D
We
also saw a tender mercy in this week as we were contacting someone that
other missionaries had talked to and gave us the adress. It turns out
that this guy wasn't even home and moved to Baguio for some reason. But
because of that we met their next door neighbors... the A family . They are super kind and we had a really spiritual lesson...
it was kind of weird though because all FOUR of their sons (Ages 2-8 or
so) were quiet and listened, looking at the pictures we brought!
Anyways,
it has overall been a super great week! And though at times I had been a
little homesick, I really enjoyed it :) I look forward to seein' y'all
this December in Skype!
~Elder Morris
PS-
In answer to your questions: The creepy head is a handmade skull from
wood that I found here... some active member from Baguio comes here and
sends all these different handmade wooden things. I chose the skull
because it looked cool xD
That
"floating roof" isn't a roof at all... it's basically a floating home.
Sometimes there are things like that because people have these fish
ponds and I'm guessing that it's kind of like an overnight home if for
some reason they are there at night. I'm not entire sure.PSS- You might see the one picture with like some sort of temple looking
thing in my other pictures. That is the church: Iglesia ni Cristo.
Basically a Mormon Apostate named Felix Manalo
wanted to be the next prophet but when he found out that that's not how
it works he left and started his own church.... where Christ is the "son
of man" not "Son of man" and the lower case s therefore means that
Jesus Christ was literally just a man...not a God xD
You don't even know how much that made Elder C and the other Elders laugh.... that ALL the animals come to the call
SHEEPIES COME ON SHEEPIES
