February 2012

From February 6, 2012:

 

It is very weird to think that other friends my age are going to be coming home within the next few months. Time has FLOWN by! It seems like October will be creeping up on me too fast.

(SIDE NOTE: I just finished typing up this entire email, but then we had a small earthquake and it was all lost. So I'm going to try to remember what i was going to say. haha sorry!)  EDITOR'S NOTE:  The news said it was a 6.8 centered not far from where Adam is currently serving-glad he was emailing and we don't have to wonder if he is okay!

In other news... I got transferred again! I feel like the Lord really just likes to keep me outside of my comfort zone. haha.  I was kinda surprised, because I really didn't want to transfer, but now I've had a few days in my new area and a really like it. I know this is exactly where I need to be right now. I got moved back into a Cebuano area, called Bonifacio. It is a barangay (outskirts?) of a city called Escalante. My companion is Elder N, who is a native Filipino from Davao, but VERY much American in how he acts. haha. It's great. He goes home in April, so we probably have 2 transfers together. We are at the very tip top north of Negros Island. I asked people before I came here if Escalante was more of a city, or a bukid (mountainous) area, and they said it was a "city/bukid."Then I got here and saw exactly what they meant. Although we still have a city, we are far away from any luxury. haha. Our zone is all pretty close here, too. Very opposite of Kabankalan, where our zone was HUGE and way spread out.

I hope I stay here for a while, because I really like Cebuano. It's interesting relearning Cebuano again, but it's coming a lot faster than before. The only hard part is that our area is the boundary of Ilonggo and Cebuano areas, so it's very very mixed. Some are Ilonggo, some are Cebuano, and some just give up and speak Tagalog. haha. I have been way confused lately as to which language I am actually supposed to be speaking. I have literally had a few lessons already where I used 4 languages (ilonggo, cebuano, tagalog, and english) in one sentence! oh well. that's the life of a missionary in the philippines, I guess! pagsulay ra na! haha.

At the moment we have 2 part member children (MonMon Hernale and Jonler Jaud) that should both be getting baptized in this coming month, if we can get their parents reactivated. Other than that, we have one part member family (the N. Family) that is just like the N. family from Kabankalan - not yet married because they are very poor, but very humble and willing to be baptized and live the gospel. The wife is a member and the husband is not and they have 2 children. We did have one cool experience this week though, we met an older lady (Maria O), about 50 years old that had talked to missionaries before but forgot what they taught. So we taught her about the Restoration on Saturday night and invited her to come to church not really expecting her to, and then she showed up and had a great time. She participated in the classes and got along really well with the members. So we'll go back to her and see how she continues to progress. :)

Other than that, we have been spending a lot of time "organizing ourselves and preparing every needful thing". haha. Elder N has only been here one transfer, and the missionaries in the past (no offense to them) did a horrible job of keeping records and staying organized. We also decided that a big focus for our zone will be teaching the units how to use their MLS systems on their computers. The records here are a mess and it will really help to get things organized to help the "rescue" work move on. Updating records, lists, addresses, etc. We've got a lot of work ahead of us this transfer, but I'm pretty excited. :)

Well, I think that's about it. I love you all and you're always in my prayers! Gugma ta kamo! Amping mo jud!

-Elder Lee

From February 13th, 2012:

Hey Everybody!!

 

Sorry for the scare last week. haha. It felt like just a small tremor to us, so I didn't think anything of it, but apparently it was alot bigger in other places around Negros. The whole week we were hearing news about the earthquakes. You were right, the center was Guihulngan, where I was assigned before. It was crazy to see some of the pictures. On the news, it showed that a bridge right in front of my old apartment collapsed and the road was completely ruined, so cars couldn't make it through. Luckily, it's all over now. No more tsunami warnings, and everyone who was evacuated has been told they can go back. There's just the clean up effort now.

 

The Elders there are ok too. They were pulled out by the couple missionaries, the Bevans couple, who said that they (the Elders) really wanted to stay and help the members and investigators. Elder Bevans asked if they had kept their emergency water filters from the beginning of their mission and they said no, and then asked if they had 72 hr. emergency kits and they said no. Then Elder Bevans said "You cannot help others if you can't help yourself first", and pulled them out. The Elders really regretted the fact that they hadn't prepared for the emergency: "if only I had my filter, I could stay and help!" It was a tough lesson to learn for them, but I definitely realized how important it was to be prepared. There is no way we can help others in an emergency if we ourselves are not prepared. (both physical emergencies and spiritual emergencies). It reminds me alot of the parable of the 10 virgins.

 

And as far as MLS goes, even if it goes outdated in 5 years, it will still take a while for the people here to get a hang of the new technology. haha. Lots of people here (mainly the adults) don't even know how to type yet. We really are teaching them like the pinaka (most) basic things about MLS and computers. But it seems to be going well so far. Our branch's CMIS list is about 1/2 updated now, so that's good.

 

The investigators here are also doing well. Johnler (a part member 10 yr. old kid) passed his baptismal interview on Sunday so he will be getting baptized on Saturday. The challenge will be trying to get his dad to be the one to baptize him. He is still less-active, but our branch President said he will interview him right before the baptism and determine if he's worthy. It would be really great if the father can be the one to baptize, but, again, it kinda comes back down to his own personal preparation. (there's that parable again! haha.)

 

Sister O. (a relatively new investigator) is doing really well. She really understands the gospel and now has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith, and it really participating in the branches activities. We also just barely met her 19 yr. old son and were able to teach him, so things are looking really good there. Her baptism should be sometime in early or mid March..

 

Brother Rodolfo "Gaga" N. is a part member who is not yet married, but saved up their money to go to Escalante City this week and fill out their papers. They should be getting married on February 28. woot woot! haha, They are ready to be baptized.

 

I think that's about it this week. Next week we have a zone activity, we'll be going hiking and having games and a devotional, and I don't know whether it's going to be an all-day thing or not, so I apologize in advance if I can't get to an internet cafe to write you guys next week. but I will try. :)

 

Anyways, love you all! Amping mo gyud, ug gugma ta kamo!

 

-Elder Lee

From February 20, 2012:

This week has been quite the roller coaster for me, it definitely had its ups and downs, but I was definitely able to see the Lord's hand in His work. :D

 

First off, last week me and Elder N went on a Buko juice (coconut milk) excursion with some of the branch missionaries. They own a few coconut trees so we climbed them (ok not ME, mom. no need to worry. haha.) and made awesome fresh coconut milk with the juice, a little sugar and milk. YUM. the only problem was, I think there might have been some bacteria in what we drank because the next day was pretty miserable. haha. Luckily, it was only a one day sickness. I've had buko juice plenty of times before though, so I don't know if it was just this batch. And also, I don't know if I already told you guys, but our apartment is connected to our relief society president, a 60 yr. old widow named sister Adana ("nanay adana" (momma adana)) she is basically our mother out here (so you don't have to worry mom. haha) and she'll cook for us and help us out when we need. So she helped me out when i got sick. :)

 

Then on Wednesday I had just recovered in time for our exchanges with the elders in Mabini. Well, it had just rained the night before and Mabini is the most mountainous area in the whole mission. There is absolutely NOTHING out there and the Elders in that apartment have to hike a mountain every morning to fetch their water. I was assigned in Mabini for Wednesday. Everything was going fine, untill the end of the day when we were about to head home. We came up to a road (the only way back home) and it was CRAZY muddy. We were being careful, but me being my klutzy self, fell and got my shoes stuck in the mud that was up to my knees. hahah. it was hilarious, but really miserable. well I was able to get out eventually, but I was COVERED in mud and my shoes were like 10 pounds heavy, but I said in my head "I'll go where you want me to go!" and rolled up my pants and took off my shoes and walked barefoot the rest of the way home in mud that was up to my knees. hahaha. Well, at that point I was really tired, and hungry, and miserable, so on our way home we stopped by an inactive family that Elder Y (my companion) had met one time up there. They got me all cleaned up and then we asked if we could share a message with them. I think the fact that I was covered in mud softened their hearts, because Elder Y said that they tried to teach them before but they wouldn't even face the missionaries. So we were able to teach them and their teenage children who aren't yet members, and it was a really powerful lesson. :) I learned that Heavenly Father definitely has His purposes, and we just need to trust Him with His work.

From February 26, 2012:

Life just keeps moving! I can't even believe how fast the time has flown here. I feel like a just got here, but then I realized it's already been a month!

Well, this week has been a pretty good one for me. I didn't have to take any mud baths, and aside from a small cough that made me lose my voice for a day, I didn't get sick. On Wednesday I got to go on splits with Elder T (my old companion), so that was pretty fun. It was pretty nice because we already knew how each other teaches and stuff. Haha. Then at the end of our splits we got a call from some of our elders who had a small problem, so we went to their area to counsel with them and help them out. The cool thing, is that to get to their area, you have to ride on a small paddle boat! Haha. It was pretty exciting because, I mean, how many missionaries get to do that? Haha. We decided that next week we will go on splits with them to help them out as well. I hope I get to be the one who works in their area, because it is pretty beautiful. It is pretty untouched by man and very far away from any normal civilization. I took some pictures, but pictures just don't do it justice.

 

I gave a talk on Sunday in our branch, and I think it went pretty well. I decided to be a little more blunt with the branch this time, trying to follow the spirit at the same time and keeping it appropriate to say at the pulpit, of course. Haha. The topic was about loving our neighbors, and our branch seems to have a problem with that. There are a lot of politicians in our branch for some reason and it's about time for another election, so I decided to address that as well has helping the less actives to come back (as in, politics have no place in the church, we need to love everyone regardless of their position, forgive and forget, etc. etc.). I got a lot of compliments about how those things needed to be said though, so I think it was ok. haha

 

Anyway, the work went well in Bonifacio this week. Brother G, and his wife that is a member will be married tomorrow, be interviewed right after, and be baptized this Saturday. We are very excited for them, but realized this week that they still have a lot to learn as far as the Gospel goes. They know as much as they need to for baptism, and they are very humble and willing to repent, but we are going to have to continue to work with them after their baptism to help them prepare to go to the temple in a year. That's the ultimate goal, right? Right. Sister O. is also doing well. She is still progressing and keeping all her commitments to us. We had a good lesson with her son Jok-jok this week and he said that he wants to change his life and accepted the invitation to be baptized, so that was pretty exciting! The only problem is, that was about a week ago and we haven't been able to teach him since then he's never home! Haha. We did, however, meet his older brother, M, who is working in Bacolod and visited for the weekend. We taught him and referred him to the missionaries there, so hopefully that goes well too. The gospel is for families, not just individuals! Haha. We also have had a pretty good experience working with a less-active 19 yr. old named Bobby L. He actually wants to serve a mission but was huya (shy) because he hadn't gone to church in a while. He thought that he couldn't serve a mission anymore, but we told him he definitely could if he works at it, and we got him a white shirt and pants to wear to church, and he has started reading the Book of Mormon, so things are looking really good for him. We'll keep teaching him and helping him along.

 

By the way, I just found out this week that Mark M., the boy I taught and baptized in Bacolod, is also planning on serving a mission! And the B Family is going to be sealed in the temple in the next few months, and the R family is also planning on being sealed at the end of this year, and Juanito B, a man that I taught in Guihulngan, is now the teacher for Sunday school and 2^nd counselor to the branch president! There's more I'm sure, but I can't really think of it at the moment.  It really is crazy when I think about all that has happened since I've been out here. I can't believe it's been so long! It is very rewarding to see people continuing in the gospel.

 

We also got to meet with the District President of the Escalante District this week, so that was good to align our visions and discuss things that need to happen. The work is really progressing in our zone. Every week, more and more successes are happening and baptisms are really happening fast. The big focus here though is working with the ward and stake leaders, so we talked a lot about that and how to go about it. I am learning a TON about church leadership and working with them and teaching. We are also keeping up the work on MLS, so that's good. Well, I think that's about it.

 

I love you all, keep doing what you need to! You are always in my prayers. Halong guid kamo! Gugma ta kamo!

 

-Elder Lee