A Great Work to Perform

[sent July 8]
I've been trying recently to be more obedient and this is why: Elder Espano and I had a lesson last week with a family that had never heard the gospel before. I'll never forget what one of their daughters did when we gave them a Book of Mormon. It was about 6 pm and the sun was starting to go down, and they have no lights in their house. Anyway, she was sitting in a dark corner when gave her a Book of Mormon and explained to her what it was, and while we were finishing the lesson she stood up and walked across the room and sat right next to the window and began to read. I encouragingly said with a smile "Mabilis" (Hurry). She wanted to read and didn't want to wait a minute. I realized on that day that there needs to be an urgency in this work. The gospel is not about what we do tomorrow. This humble sister understood that and humbled me. I'm only going to be here for 2 years, and after that I have to live with all of the decisions that I made. I don't want to spend my whole life asking "What if I had given everything instead of going through the motions?" I'm not being an exactly obedient missionary because I want to be, but because I finally understand that I need to be. 

[sent July 13]

This area is great. The members here are humble and helpful and happy. The church building is just like a small American one, except there's no basketball court inside only outside. And like all the LDS Church buildings here in the Philippines there's bars on all of the windows.

My apartment is much nicer than many of the houses that we visit. Our floor is tile instead of dirt or cement, our walls are flat and painted, and made of concrete not bamboo. And our roof is made of metal and wood, not leaves.

I've had many interesting experiences in the last few weeks. About a week ago I ate dog. Everyone said it was pork, but when I found out it was dog I ate a little more. I baptized two children with a sprained ankle and an injured right hand. On Tuesday I left the SD card with all of my pictures in Puerto Princesa,(3 hours away) then, luckily, I got an infection in my right leg so I had to go back to Puerto on Saturday to do some blood work and buy medication, and retrieve my SD card. I got to play the piano at a funeral yesterday. And I just found out that no one from my area is getting transferred on Wednesday.

[sent July 21]

I'm allergic to Penicillin. Did you know that? I sure didn't. The antibiotics I was taking were giving me chest pain, and I took 9 pills before I found out that was because I'm allergic to them. I took some different antibiotics and now I'm back to full health and my infection is gone.

The typhoon that hit the Philippines this week resulted in 30 minutes of heavy rain here in Roxas, if I was in Manila like I was 6 weeks ago I would experienced much heavier rain and stronger winds and flooding, but luckily I was among the last batch that was transferred to Palawan before the typhoon. The typhoon actually delayed transfer day, but none of that affected me.

I've had a lot of interesting food since I arrived here in Palawan. There are red bananas and red pineapples here. The red bananas taste just like American bananas, but I've yet to taste of the red pineapples. (Both are just red on the outside.) I also had some green oranges the size of cantalopes. Those were interesting. Today I had dragon fruit for the first time. It was interesting, but I don't even know what to compare it to.

I saw a picture of sister Ramasima in an old issue of the Liahona. It was weird, I was like "wait, she looks familiar.." It's a small world.

I've gone on splits a few times now. It's weird to be the only full-time missionary when we teach a lesson. Of course the members that I work with are awesome, and preparing to serve missions themselves. I feel like I'm almost a real missionary, with the help of these members I even taught the Restoration to someone I've never met before.

I'm starting to learn that being a missionary is an individual decision that we make every day. I live in an apartment with some missionaries who don't always remember that they're not here just to enjoy themselves. Sometimes I fall into that trap as well, but I'm striving to take this work seriously more seriously, even if those around me aren't.

I'm blessed to have a great companion who knows the gospel inside and out and helps me to see where I need to improve. I want to be more like him. He makes it easier for me to be a diligent missionary.

I'm very happy to be here. I'm happy to see how proud you are of me, but I'm just a tool. Of course in the Lord's hand even a simple tool can be used to do great and marvelous things. We should all seek to become tools in the Lord's hands so that He can use us for His great and eternal purposes.

Love you and miss you all, hope you enjoy the pictures.

[sent July 27]

I feel greatly blessed. The missionary work here is new and exciting. I'm often surprised when people say that they've never heard of the church before. It's exciting but also a little bit overwhelming when I get to then explain the restoration to them, and answer all of their questions. I'm really glad that almost everyone here already believes in Jesus Christ. The Spaniards did some of the missionary work for us. Many people already believe that Jesus Christ is their savior and many have a desire to be close to Him. 

I write in my journal every 2 or 3 days. I should write more often, but time is a precious thing. We'll see if I can find more time for it. There's definitely a lot of noteworthy things that have happened so far.

I want to encourage each of you to practice your Tagalog for the next time we skype. When Mom said "Kumusta?" Mark said "Your Mom speaks Tagalog?" He was impressed and I was touched. Tagalog is a beautiful language. Each of you should learn how to say at least one sentence or phrase in Tagalog. I'll share the First Vision in Tagalog. It'll be fun, but only if you actually do it. 

Happy Birthday Trevor!!! I'm so glad that you will be 6 on Friday I only wish I could be there to watch you blow out the candles, and open your presents. Take lots of pictures. Love you Trevor.

We have an investigator named Kelvin. He's little, only 7 or 8, and he's very serious. I haven't seen him smile. But he's cute. He even looks a little bit like Kelvin.

I just found out that a girl I taught in Manila was baptized a month ago. I'm so happy for her. I wish I could have been there, but I'm still really happy for her.

Maraming salamat po sa inyong mga emails, mahal-mahal ko kayo. Makakita ko ng mga biyaya ng gawaing misyunero sa aking buhay at sa inyong mga buhay. Ingat po. [In Tagalog]

[sent Aug. 4]

Some of you have been better at communicating with me than others. I'll assume, for now, that that's because you're too busy writing me letters. Elijah's letter just arrived and it was awesome. I'll reply to it today. I slightly prefer hand written letters to emails. If you've received a hand written letter before you'd understand why.

One of the best ways to strengthen your relationship with anyone is to communicate with them. If you want someone to feel like they can trust you and if you ever want anyone to understand you or your feelings you must tell them. Use your God given ability to speak (Exodus 4:11-12) and write (Acts 15:23) to bless and strengthen those around you and your relationships with them.

Dad sent some great pictures of all of you boys all dressed up. I miss being one of the boys. Elijah, you're getting tall, don't stop. You guys better be having fun together. Don't wait for me to get home to have fun. :)

I heard that you're still praying for me consistently. Thank you. The Lord has been watching over me.

Keep doing what's right. You only receive blessings when you are obedient (D&C 130:21). If you're truly converted to Lord and His gospel then you will have no more desire to do evil (Mosiah 5:2).

I've been called by God as a special witness of the truth and divinity of this work, but don't take my word for it (Moroni 10:4).

[sent Aug. 11]

I was thrilled today when I opened my email today. I'm glad to hear from so many of you. Even if Mom or Dad were the ones that typed it. I'm very excited that I have so many letters and two packages on the way. I love receiving letters because I can take my time and just read them. I don't have to worry about having to quickly reply before time runs out. So the joy that comes from getting news from home is not accompanied by the stress of immediately responding. If you want to know more about letters and packages for missionaries I suggest you read the article in the March 2007 issue of the New Era.

It seems like you guys are having a lot of fun trips and such. I hope you had fun in Legoland. You are very blessed to get to go to fun places like that. I'm glad you're all getting so big. I love you all. I'm trying to be the best missionary I can be, in part because I know that many of you look up to me. I want to make you proud. You should know that deciding to go on a mission is not the easy part. I have to decide every day to be a missionary. Going on a mission is no great feat. Anyone can pack a suitcase and step on a plane. The part that makes a mission hard is that your family, your leaders, your friends, those that you teach and the Lord expect you to be a disciple of Christ and a righteous servant of His in every thought word and action. Oddly enough, if you have the Spirit with you even this strenuous feeling can be lifted. I've begun to see that with the Spirit I can bear this load with ease. The hardest thing for me right now is the language, but I know that if I truly dedicate myself to learning it, that the Spirit can help me overcome this hurdle as well.

I've been an Elder for 1 year and 364 days. Tuesday will be the two year mark. :) I've only been a missionary for a few months though. I know I have a lot left in store. I'll try to share with you all of the experiences that I have here on my mission. Either now or after I've returned home.

You should know that I love you, so I'll tell you: I love you!