Happy 4th of July!! I just got through writing to the sister and telling her that it's a bummer I can't celebrate 4th of July with you guys this year, but I promise you next year I will be SO patriotic. hahah. me and Elder C are looking for ways to celebrate this year, because we are both nearing the end of our missions (he goes home right before me, in August.)
Also, President Tobias goes home this week and come Sunday, we have a new Mission President, President Marlo O. Lopez. He was supposed to get here yesterday, but he got sick and President Tobias was asked to extend another week. :) That's good news to me, because then I get to say goodbye to President Tobias. I will really miss him. He is the absolute greatest ever. I have learned SO MUCH from him. It's hard to explain just how much! He also told me that he will give me his information so after the mission I can still write him. He suggested that I ask for his recommendation to teach at the MTC! I've been thinking about it a little, because just a few weeks ago, they opened up Ilonggo as a language at the MTC and all of the missionaries I knew here on the mission already have a job teaching there (because we are the only ones who know how to speak it, besides Ilo Ilo Mission. haha). Elder L, my trainer, is teaching there now! I will need a job when I go back to BYU, so I'm considering checking it out when I get back. NOT that I've started worrying about that kinda stuff, I'm just keeping it in the back of my mind. haha. I am still focused on the work here. Which, by the way, went pretty awesome this week. :)
It started with our Zone Leaders Council, where President Tobias gave his very last training. It was really good, because almost all the zone leaders are going to be leaving these next few transfers. The group ahead of me has almost 30 elders leaving, and they are all leaders. my group only has about 7 going home. haha. It was really inspiring and I learned a ton.
Then we had some pretty great lessons with less actives that we thought were hopeless in trying to help them come back (as in they always have excuses, try to hide from us, etc.). We saw them gain personal revelation right in front of our eyes and that was definitely not because of us. The spirit was totally there and guess what? This week they ALL rocked up to church! (they are sealed in the temple and have been less active for over 20 years so the ward was pretty excited to see them).
We also have been working on getting some of the recent converts ordained to the priesthood and get simple callings, which has been quite an adventure because our bishop has been in Manila for the past 6 months and the 1st counselor has no idea what he is doing. Of course, we (the missionaries) know what to do, but we don't have any authority there and there is only so much we can help with before crossing our stewardship lines. We spent some time reading in the church handbooks with him, helped him figure out what to do, but he is still way stressed out and overwhelmed so we have to constantly remind him about every little thing. haha. It's all a great learning experience. :)
We have some pretty awesome investigators at the moment, that came from working on the rescue and visiting less actives, H and X J. and they are a complete family that is way interested and progressing! When H was a kid, he used to go to church with his grandma who's a member and has those fond memories and feelings. We met them at the house of a less active family, started teaching, and now they love learning and reading and praying. This last week was their first time at church and they had a good time. I'm pretty sure they will be baptized soon.
This next week we have a lot to prepare for, because the stake president asked us to give a 15 minute report on the missionary's perspective of the stake in a meeting with all the high counselors. yikes! haha.
Well, I gotta go, because our P-day is cut short today because we have to go prepare a baptism for an 8 yr. old child of record that will happen later today. I hope everything goes well this week for you guys! Thanks for the updates! I love you guys and pray for you always!! Halong guid, kag palangga ta kamo!
-Elder Lee
From July 9, 2012:
Sounds like things are going great back home! The sister sent me some pictures of their family at 4th of July. OUR 4th
of July celebration consisted of making a bonfire in the back of our house to
burn some things that missionaries had left behind. Haha. So I guess
you could say we had our “fireworks”. Hahaha.
Other than that, this week was a pretty normal
one. We went on splits with the Elders in Sum-ag (one of the areas in out zone)
and spent the rest of the week trying to contact less actives that no one knows
about. All the ones that have actual addresses have already been contact, so
that is what we are left with. Haha. H A. and his family are really
progressing. The only problem right now is that H is deciding whether to
go work in Japan or Manila or stay here with his family. So we’re not sure how
long he’ll be here, but we’ll keep teaching him while he is and refer him to
the missionaries wherever he goes. We have another part member child, R
that will be baptized soon. He was taught before, but never got
baptized because of lack of support from the parents. But we have been working
on it and now the support is there. we also have another member that needs to be re-baptized because her
record was lost. Haha. She has been a member since 1986 and they are just now
getting around to her record. We went to review the baptismal interview
questions with her though, and it was surprising how much she had forgotten.
Even basic things. It really taught me how we need to be actively learning and
relearning the gospel. Just another reason why we need to read our scriptures
every day.
President Lopez is officially here now, but I haven’t
met him yet. They say he will be making surprise visits these next few weeks
though, so he can meet all the missionaries. I don’t know how he will find the
time to do that, though. Haha. Nonetheless, we took some time to organize ourselves
again, clean up things that have gotten really bad over the years (area book,
house, records, etc.). It feels really great and Elder C and I have already
felt more productive in our work and more led by the Spirit because of the organization.
We have seen a lot of promising things in our
ward this last week. Simply put, there have been a lot of things we have been
working on to help them get going (consistent meetings, home teaching,
priesthood ordinations, giving callings, etc.), but most of the time the ward
has a different plan. We have been very patient and tried to let them learn
things on their own, and this week it feels like they finally did. It was pretty
great to see how the Lord has his own timetable and his own way of doing
things, and if we just do our best and trust in him, somehow it all works out
for the best. As a result, we had 3 priesthood ordinations for recent converts
yesterday that we had been fighting for weeks to get, we had a ward council
meeting and discussed the things that were MOST important (for the most part),
set up correlations with other axillary leaders throughout the week, and got everyone
united and on the same page. This week we will be pretty busy with all the
plans we have, but it should be very productive. It’s just like President
Tobias always said, “We are building a foundation.”
We also have had a lot of freak baguios
(storms) lately. Haha.
Well, I think that’s about it for this week. I feel like I’m
running out of things to say… haha. Let me know I you guys have any questions,
ok? I hope this week treats you all well! You are all in my prayers.
Halong guid kamo! Palangga ta kamo!
-Elder Lee
From July 23rd, 2012:
Well, things did
NOT turn out like I expected this past week... Tuesday I found out that
I was getting transferred. Then I found out that not only was I getting
transferred, I was going to train and be a district
leader! THEN I found out not only was I going to train, I was going to
whitewash an area! THEN I found out the area I was going to whitewash
was the farthest in the mission - Hino-ba-an, on the very edge of our
mission boundaries. PHEW! hahaha.
So the new
missionaries came in on Friday, so we had two days to work in other
areas. I got the awesome chance to work in my old area, Bacolod 1st ward
(where I was assigned in the office) with Elder W, one of the
Elders that was my batch in the MTC who is also training! It was a way
good learning experience. I have always wanted to work with Elder
W, and even though it was only 2 days, I feel like we got a lot
done and were able to help a lot of people in small ways.
On
Friday, I met my bata (trainee), Elder S from Manila. He speaks
English like an Arabic person. hahaha it's way fun. The very first thing
he said to me, before I even knew he was going to be my companion, was,
"I want to be an Elder like you" (in his arabic/filipino accent). It
was very humbling! Then we set out right away for our new area, with
no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. I kinda felt
like Nephi when he was "led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the
things he should do." The ride to our area was over 8 HOURS. (blehhh)
and we ended up getting to our apartment late at night after asking
almost everyone in town where the Mormons lived. haha.
We
walked into our apartment, and in all honesty, I was very disappointed.
There was mold, rat poop, dirty dishes, and bugs EVERYWHERE. So we have
spent a lot of time lately organizing our house, buying cleaning
supplies, and cleaning everything so the Spirit can be there. It's still
not done yet, but it's a lot better than it was, and later today the
Bevans Couple (our couple missionaries) will be coming to hopefully give
us some relief supplies. haha.
We also spent a lot
of time meeting the leaders and members and getting to know the area.
The last missionaries left virtually no records, and the members didn't
really like them, so we were pretty much on our own finding our way and
trying to earn the trust of the members. It's been quite an adventure.
haha.
We are basically getting a fresh start here,
in Hinoba-an, because our branch president has only been called for a
month, our Elder's quorum president for 2 weeks, and just yesterday our
branch mission leader was called. At the same time, we have no idea what
we are doing. haha. Needless to say, we will be doing a lot of
correlating and praying these next few weeks to figure out what the Lord
wants us to do here. Our biggest challenge is just figuring out where
exactly to focus first. Luckily we have had some good experiences
already with referrals from members (they were waiting for the last
elders to leave) and a few promising new investigators. We had a good
experience last night with Elder S' first chance to extend a
baptismal invitation. Elder S is slowly learning the ways of the
missionary and learning how to speak Ilonggo also. I have no idea what I
am speaking anymore though, because He is Tagalog, President Lopez told
us to speak as much English to them as possible, and our area here is
very mixed Ilonggo and Cebuano. hahaha. crazy!
I
can tell that thew Lord gave me this area because He wants me to grow
and definitely not to get lazy my last few transfers here. I am excited
to learn and humbled by this huge responsibility. I am definitely
learning already how to rely more on the Lord and develop Christlike
attributes.
Well, I hope things continue to go well at home. I love you all and pray for you always. Halong guid, palangga ta kamo!!
-Elder Lee
From July 30th, 2012:
Hey All!!
We have spent a
whole bunch of time cleaning our apartment and I gotta say, I do have a
testimony of bleach and muriatic acid now. haha. we got the place
sparkling, exterminated the rats, (all 7 of them) put food in the
fridge, found out where they sell filtered water, and just time time for
the office to call us and tell us we will be moving apartments!! hahah.
This week or next week we will be moving to a bigger, nicer apartment
that actually has running water (until now we had been using a pump
well). It's just next door and is owned by the same owner, so it should
be easy enough. Maybe because of our hard work in cleaning the owner
finally decided to trust us with the "upgraded" house or something.
haha. works for us!
Anyways, there's a lot to
report this week and just a little bit of time, because we still have to
make the 4 hour trip back to Hinoba-an tonight. (I'm writing you from
Kabankalan because we needed to withdraw money and this is the closest
ATM). Anyways, we got a lot of work done this week. It kinda surprised
me how much got done, because we had barely any time to work. We have 2
extra hours of study every morning, so that cuts into our time, and this
week we had some killer storms (not literally "killer", don't be
scared, mom. hahah) in Hinoba-an and ended up being trapped in our house
for a couple days because of floods. Not really bad floods, just enough
where the tricycles and motors can't get through. We just had a little
water come in our house, but not much. It would have been really bad if
we didn't go out there and punch a hole in one of our walls with a
hammer for the water to drain out. haha. So that cut into our time a
bit.
But like I said, I was really happy with what
happened this week. we finally got some solid people to teach, a lot of
referrals from the branch actually. About 4 investigators and a few less
actives. Those 4 investigators are all potential priesthood though and
really promising. It makes it easier on me because its a lot easier to
study and plan when you have people to study and plan for. haha. The
branch is also really getting excited. They didn't like the last
missionaries, which is unfortunate, but we sat down and had a branch
council and got a lot planned and talked about, and we committed them to
go out and visit less actives this week. :) I feel like we will be
seeing some miracles these next few weeks. I don't mean big miracles,
but the small, simple ones. :)
Elder S is
great. He's still learning how to speak Ilonggo and be a "real"
missionary, and we have a great time together. his sense of humor is a lot like dad's. hahaha.
You are always in my prayers! I love you guys and hope
you have a great week! Halong guid, kag palangga ta ka!!
-Elder Lee
