Monday, March 10, 2014

Settling in to Bonifacio

[sent late Feb./early Mar. 2014]


Feb. 24
I'm trying to write to a lot of people today. I don't even have time to read the emails you send me, I have to print them out and read them later. But I hope you like the pictures. If I sacrifice sending pictures next week then I'll have more time to write to you guys. I'm sorry about this week. I'm doing fine, but the work is hard. I still don't teach much of the lessons, but I guess I'm staring to understand what's going on. I'll be happy to read your letters and I hope everything's going great at home. I miss you guys. When did Elijah become a young man? I can't believe that he's growing up so fast. When's Amanda going to get married, and when's Kelvin going to get his papers in? I have an investigator that looks like William. He's 8 and his name is Mark. He might be my first baptism. :)


Mar. 3
I've discovered that I don't have time to email everyone that I want to. At least not individually. But I'll take the time to write a nice big letter today for all of you, especially my family. I'd like to remind each of you that I sent 6 letters last month so I expect to have lots of mail coming my way.
The mission is awesome, sometimes it's not, but the good times really outweigh the bad. My area is great. Elder Bustamante and I have found 7 people already that the Lord has been preparing to be baptized. I'm glad that my companion speaks Tagalog, because I still speak like a 2 year old.
I'm not struggling in many aspects of the mission work, but there is one area that I can't seem to deal with, and that's "change." Everyday we sit down and plan our day, and every week we sit down and plan our week, but our plans don't determine what happens, I wish they did. I wish planning 3 lessons meant we would have 3 lessons that day. I wish that when 11 of our investigators said they would come to church that 11 of them actually would. If things like that were more predictable then I really wouldn't have anything to stress about.
Anyway, I'm glad that people have agency and that things don't always go according to plan. It makes life stressful, but it makes life exciting. And you never know when a good surprise is coming.
I'm glad that I have the trials that I do in my life. I know that if my foundation is the gospel of Jesus Christ then my trials will truly make me stronger. I'm glad that among all of the things that are changing the gospel is always the same.
Thank you for everything, and keep writing/typing. :)


Mar. 10
I'm doing great. I'm not tired anymore. I'm not sick anymore. I have my first baptism on Saturday. I'm figuring out how to budget, and I've just figured out how to send pictures. I'm happy and the Lord is blessing me. I'm not getting as many bug bites as I used to. I'm learning how to teach in Tagalog little by little. I got to play Nearer My God To Thee in sacrament meeting yesterday. I'm happy, and healthy and I'm not homesick, which is good. I'm learning how to plan and use time wisely. I feel like I wasted the last 3 months before my mission. Besides underwater audio I did nothing, I was so unproductive that it makes me wonder what I did do for those 3 months. I was a squanderer. You'll be happy to know that I'm not a squanderer anymore. I'm very productive, everyday. 
I miss you and everyone else at home. I miss coming home to Trevor, and William and Jonah. I miss watching shows with Elijah, I miss playing basketball with Isaac, I miss driving Kelvin everywhere. I miss Amanda in general. And I miss you and Dad. I never appreciated how great you two are at parenting and how much you do for all of us kids. But I'm starting to now. :)

Daniel at the mission home with Mission President Stucki and Sister Stucki


Daniel's first area, Bonifacio, is about a runway’s distance from the Manila Airport. 

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