Where to begin, where to begin..... Oh! How about with last Monday?!!
We woke up extra early that day. That's the best time to catch frogs
:) One of the Members in our ward, Brother Allan Carpeso, offered to
teach us how if we wanted. We wanted :) We showed up at his place at
around 6. We thought that was the time we decided on, but apparently
he missed the memo :P We sat down and had Pandesal and Hot Choco while
we waited for him to get ready. At around 7, we headed out. He mixed
some laundry detergent in water and started pouring it on the ground.
I asked Elder Maestrado why, but didn't get an answer. So I stared at
the bubbling patch of dirt to see worms popping out of the ground like
daisies (why is that even an expression? Or am I just understanding it
wrong?). 'Cept the worms were lots faster than daisies. We got a nice
little cup full of 'em and went a fishin'. It was about 7:45 when we
actually started, but I think they retire to whatever they retire to
(are frogs nocturnal?) at 7:44, cause we heard 'em a'croakin, but as
soon as weez started to fishin, they beez quiet as a mouse (I
understand that expression. Those things are like delicious little
ninjas). Bouts 9 o'clock is when its came to quiten, and not one frog
was catched. Daggum. And that's how I a'came a hillbilly. 'Cept only
for that day.
Tuesday was much more sophisticated. I'm talking business/sells man
sophisticated. Or at least that's what John Robert Mactal thought when
we passed his house on our way to an appointment. He was in the middle
of his evening meal when he saw us passing by, and decided by natural
curiosity that he was going to follow us and find out what we had in
stock. SALVATION, THAT'S WHAT!! Thankfully, he was interested. I said
by natural curiosity, but I'm thinking it was more like "by divine
promptings." This kid's golden. Super focused and interested in our
lessons, asks wonderful questions, keeps up on commitments, and here's
the kicker. He came to church this Sunday. But he didn't come by
himself. He brought his cousin. And a Less Active. Our INVESTIGATOR
brought a MEMBER to church!! HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?? So now we are
teaching his cousin as well, and apparently I'm holding Neck-tie tying
lessons every Sunday five minutes before church starts. Anyway, we're
pretty much super excited to continue teaching this kid. He's awesome
:)
On Wednesday, I FINALLY got to bring up some personal concerns about
Mission-Wide Obedience issues, because we had Zone Interviews! Ya!...
ya. It was actually pretty great :) President and Sister Clark showed
up with their Assistants, we had opening remarks, and then had a
workshop offered by the Zone Leaders while President held Interviews.
After the workshop, we had Jollibee for lunch, which is basically the
nastiest burger joint in history, but has pretty good chicken. We had
chicken. After lunch, the Assistants gave a workshop and President
Clark continued with the interviews. I was called in, had my
interview, got some answers, and went on my way. All in all, it was an
enjoyable experience :)
On Thursday, we found another person who seems to be a pretty strong
investigator. It was actually a house I had tried to OYM a month
earlier, but my temporary companion, an RM even, hid. He literally
jumped behind a fence and hid. The contact didn't go well. Anyway, I
told Elder Maestrado I wanted to try again, so we did. Different
person answered the door, this time interested. Jessica Talana with a
squiggly above the n. She too asked good questions. Anyway time is
short so I'm going to skip boring old Friday and be very short. Sorry!
Saturday: We had another Service Project! We moved Rocks again!! There
was a flood at a school, so we basically just filled in the flooded
area with dirt and rocks. We had lunch and the sisters painted the
classrooms. After the CSP, we had a reactivation meeting. I thought it
went pretty well :)
On Sunday we had 4 investigators attend church! John Robert Mactal
being one of them. I sat next to him, and had the most incredible
experience. When he took the sacrament, even though it was just bread
and water to him, my heart flooded joy. It was incredible and
inspiring. I hope to be able to see him do it again next week :)
Well, gotta go. Love you all!! Thanks for all your support!!
Elder Syphus.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Week 14 (Oct. 13, 2014 San Leonardo Philippines)
Something hit me this week. I'm a Missionary. Of course, for the past
3 months I've woken up, got ready, and slipped on my name-tag. I've
told people, "Hey, we're missionaries. Wanna get baptized?" It wasn't
until this week, though, that the word "missionary" didn't bring
thoughts of The District, The Best Two Years, or even just the Elders
that would stop by our house back home every now and then. Instead, I
saw the same face I see when I look in the mirror each morning (I need
more gel. And another haircut). So ya. Guess what, ya'll? I'm a
missionary :)
And as a Missionary, I get to do fun stuff with fun people, fun stuff
with not fun people, not fun stuff with fun people, and not fun stuff
with not fun people, all week!! Let me tell you about it!
On Monday, we sort of had an appointment spent with a Recent
Convert/Less Active Return Family: The Carpesos! I say sort of because
they were under the illusion that our appointment was to attend their
now 11 year old sons birthday party, and since they ended up only
having enough extra money for Celebration Soup, they thought we
wouldn't come. Well they were WRONG. We did come, and we came bearing
gifts :) We bought the kid pizza and Sisig (basically deliciously
roasted pig face with peppers and onions. It's super wonderful and
such). You wanna know the best part?? After we said "Ho Ho Ho" and
walked in unannounced, we caught them reading their Scriptures as a
Family!! Woo!! (((On a very unrelated note (hence the triple
parentheses), there is a Security Guard across the street staring at
me right now who looks almost exactly like my brother-in-law,
Robert.))) They welcomed us in their home, we sat down, and let them
finish their Scripture Study. Oh happy day :) After that, we all sat
down for a dinner of Celebration Soup, Pizza, and Sisig. Of course, no
Family Home Evening is complete with out activities, and every
birthday needs a cake (*wink wink* *nod nod* (I'm poor)), so we
whipped out a bag of flour, a metal cup, and a cough drop. Pack the
flour in the cup. Dump it upside down on a plate. Top with Cough Drop.
Now cut the cake! We took turns cutting the cake, with the intent of
keeping the cough drop on top. Jam Jam, the birthday boy, is the one
who dropped the cough drop, and had to pick it up with just his mouth
amidst all the flour. His dad plays dirty, and shoved his face in it
:D
We had to pay our Electric bill again on Tuesday, so we went to the
office, pushed the little red button, and took our number, 1263. They
were helping number 27. I cried a little bit. But then a nice little
lady (They're all nice and little, especially the ladies) gave us her
ticket, saying she would just go up with her friend. We were now
number 85! We still had to wait 2 hours :P
In other news for the day, we were teaching an investigator, and
things were getting excited, so I started using hand gestures. I put
my hands forward, palms up, explaining that God will "give" (the hand
gesture meant "give") us gifts and blessings if we follow his
commandments. I got a gift too. From a bird. Right in my outstretched
hand. I cried a little bit. But then I composed myself, flung it away,
wiped it with my pocket hanky, and sanitized with 70% Isopropyl
Alcohol. She didn't notice a thing :) (((The Security Guard is still
staring at me )))
On Wednesday, we went a searchin'. We had dropped basically all of our
investigators, because none of them were progressing, and we needed to
find those Children of God that were ready for the truth. Imagine our
surprise when we found an unlisted Member in our group. They still
thought the nearest church was 20 miles away! The Sta. Maria Family
have been inactive for 12 years, and only the parents are members.
Their oldest is 19, but she's spatial, as the Filipino people say
(basically it just means she has a form of a mental handicap). She's
really sweet when she's smiling and happy, but most of the time she
just stares. Usually at me cause I'm white. It's a little unnerving.
Anyway, there next oldest is 14, and she's our main focus right now in
the family. The father and mother were ecstatic to learn that there
was an LDS Meetinghouse just a block away, and asked us to teach there
14 year old daughter, so that's what we're doing, as well as working
to bring the family back into activity :) It's actually crazy how
often we just find random people that happen to be members. I think
this is our fourth. There are no concrete records, because we're just
a group, and so we don't know how many members we actually even have
within our boundaries. It's always really exciting to find them :)
Thursday, we took the opportunity to teach Nanay Gelma. Her Daughter,
Arlie Conde is a Less Active Return (LAR), and her Granddaughter,
Juliana Conde, is a Recent Convert. She asked us about the Word of
Wisdom a few nights before, so we gave her a pamphlet, and set an
appointment :) She accepted what we taught, and agreed to strive to
live this Commandment of God :) Because, we hadn't gotten much of an
opportunity to get to know her yet, we sat down and helped her tie
newspapers and just talked :) She was thankful for the help, and I
think it helped her trust us more :)
Later that night, we were teaching a sister (sibling) of one of the
Members, when her daughter, about four years old, walked up to her and
whispered something in her ear. The Mom picked her daughter up, sat
her in her lap, and started breastfeeding. Uh..... ..... ......
..... Elder Maestrado didn't bat an eye, just kept teaching. I guess
that's normal here. Ya....
Friday! Friday was actually pretty rough, because most of our
appointments fell through, and no one we talked to was interested. We
only ended up teaching 3 Recent Converts that day :( The kicker
though, is that after we closed our last lesson of the night with a
prayer, the Sister offered us some Red Wine. We laughed, but then she
stood up, went into her room, and brought out a bottle of Red Wine. We
continued to smile but didn't completely understand. She offered
again, saying it wasn't really wine. She reinforced her case by saying
that some previous Elders tried it too. Elder Maestrado poured some in
the bottom of the glass, smelt it, and said "Ya, there's definitely
alcohol in this." :P Her husband took the bottle from her, smelt it
and agreed. Her nephew, also a member, took the glass we had poured,
and drank it. He agreed too. I still don't really even know what was
happening that night :P Needless to say, I didn't drink it :)
Saturday and Sunday- General Conference. So Incredible! :D We watched
it as an entire stake, with the Priesthood Session Saturday Morning,
and a one hour gap between each Session. It came and went So fast :(
My favorite talk was probably from Lynn G Robbins of the Seventy,
about Which Way Do You Face. I've become incredibly excited for the
Conference edition of the Liahona to come out so I can add to my only
very basic notes :P It's crazy to think that I only get to listen 3
more Conferences while on my Mission. The talks and music were so
uplifting and inspiring, and it's such a blessing that we all have to
hear and grow from living Prophets of God. All of our lessons those
days came directly from the talks. Just re accounting everything
brought the Spirit so strong :)
Anyway, that's my week! I Love you all, and am so thankful for all of
your continued love and support!! Until next time!!
Elder Syphus
.jpg)
Herons. Prolly my favorite Bird :)
These are hanging from Every Single Street Light. -.-
This is what a chapel in the Philippines looks like. Ya. They're small.
Jam Jam with flour :)
Time to wash the Bed Sheets, but a laundry load takes 3 days. So I used a blanket and T-Shirt in the mean time. Basically I just took this picture because I blue :P
Creepiest floating, glowing Santa in an unfinished cement building I've ever seen.
Yup. Still creepy. And out of season
This is a trike.
This is me inside of a trike :P
PS Linkon looks sharp, Liam's uber cute. And yes, GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!!! So sad it's over :( I didn't catch Elder Oaks talk though, because the English room hadn't been set
up yet when it started. I heard somethings about Peanuts, Charlie Brown, and Schultz, but that's about it :/ I'm just excited for the Conference Liahona to get here :)
Some other random things: Is there anyway you could get me some MoTab
music? Also, what's the Hymn that Greg told us to sing Stocatto? Or at
least the final verse. That's all :) Sorry, my mind is sort of Going
haywire right now. :P Tell Kratelet I love her, and the new babies
too! LOVE YOU MOM!! :D :)
Monday, October 6, 2014
Week 13 (Oct. 6, 2014 San Leonardo, Philippines)
So I have now officially been serving for 3 months. Wow. That's 1/8 of
my time out here. TOO FAST! In other random news before I spout off my
Day-by-Day, I have begun to collect Marbles. So far, I've found four.
I pick it up, dust it off, drop it in my pocket, then soak my hands
with alcohol. When I get home, I boil them. I've found 3 cat eyes and
a jaw breaker. I'm hoping for a Steelie before I go home. My very
first collection of anything, besides maybe video games :P
My emails are basically my Journal Entries for each day, but I wasn't
able to write in my Journal this week, so I'll try to pull some stuff
out of my memory. Don't expect much this week :/ Sorry!
Tuesday (I did last Monday last week. I'll do this Monday next
week): We got a referral from a family in our Group- the father's
sister. We met with her that night and taught her the Message of the
Restoration. She's really good at listening, and is one of the very,
VERY few parents that actually controls her Children. Ibig sabihin, we
can actually welcome in the Spirit :) It actually was a very spiritual
lesson :) She asked some wonderful questions, and my companion gave
some wonderful answers. I did a wonderful job pretending to understand
everything :)
Wednesday was not so wonderful. I woke up at about 5 AM about
ready to fall back asleep (but not so voluntarily) because of a
terrible pain in my stomach. I ran to the bathroom and coughed up
(that's saying it lightly, btw) Tuesday Night's Dinner. Thankfully, it
was just rice. I left the bathroom at around 7:30 AM, and got a
prescription from the Mission Presidents wife. A member bought the
drugs and kindly delivered it to us, as I wasn't feeling up to leaving
the Apartment. I spent the day in bed, reading the Scriptures, Church
Magazines, and the Teachings of President Joseph Fielding Smith.
THAT'S some good stuff. Anyway, I wasn't about to eat rice again for a
while, so our Member friend brought some fruits over with the
Medicine. Easily the most boring two meals I've ever had in my life.
Some of the hardest, as well. Eating Balot was easier. I was starting
to feel a lot better, though, by the end of the day, and retired early
for bed to grab an extra hour.
I needed that extra hour, because we had a Service Project
Thursday Morning. A Tatay in our ward had a pile of rocks next to his
house that he needed moved to behind his house. Don't ask me why.
Anyway, Elder Maestrado and I called up two other Companionships, and
we all got to work. 50 lbs is about the most I can lift off the
ground. I can do about 100 with my shoulders legs and back. Because of
this, I calculated that we moved about 2 tons of rock, dirt, and
gravel. It was rough work, but I've gotta say- The pile does look
better when it's behind the house, rather than on the side. We got
fresh hot Pandesal and Mountain Dew for Breakfast afterwards :)
Friday we went out to the Mall to withdraw our Monthly
Support. After the withdrawals, we stopped by McDonalds for Lunch. Imagine my
horror when I sat down across from my companion to hear "ELDER
SEE-PUSS!!" coming from the back of the Dining Area. Elder Murdock. I
flung into Ninja Mode and tried to hide, but it didn't really work.
Instead I just told Elder Maestrado to entertain him. It worked! :D
Don't worry, I still ended up saying hello to him :P
Saturday was probably this weeks highlight. No, it wasn't General
Conference. That's next week. Instead...HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER
MAESTRADO!! Celebrations began a bit after 8 when the Carpeso Family
showed up with a Leaf full of Sticky Rice. It was a big leaf :) Later,
we brought it over to a lesson for a lunch appointment with some
Roasted Chicken and Soda Pop. In a later lesson, Nanay Longalong, who
didn't even know it was Elder Maestrado's birthday, came out with a
bag of ties. We each got to choose two :D The night, we went to the
Carpeso's for a lesson and we're treated to Dinner (but that's not
really new :P ). After we got home that night, I pulled out some of
the nastiest fake vanilla Ice Cream ever and I made Oreo shakes for
the both of us. Oreo makes everything better :P
I don't really remember yesterday, plus I don't have anymore
time, so I'll just say that our Neighbor-child Dave insists on shaking
our hand as we go out to work every day, and that I the stray dog the
wanders around our alley is now named Charles. I asked Elder Maestrado
if he has rabies. He said probably. :D
Love you all!! Elder Syphus
my time out here. TOO FAST! In other random news before I spout off my
Day-by-Day, I have begun to collect Marbles. So far, I've found four.
I pick it up, dust it off, drop it in my pocket, then soak my hands
with alcohol. When I get home, I boil them. I've found 3 cat eyes and
a jaw breaker. I'm hoping for a Steelie before I go home. My very
first collection of anything, besides maybe video games :P
My emails are basically my Journal Entries for each day, but I wasn't
able to write in my Journal this week, so I'll try to pull some stuff
out of my memory. Don't expect much this week :/ Sorry!
Tuesday (I did last Monday last week. I'll do this Monday next
week): We got a referral from a family in our Group- the father's
sister. We met with her that night and taught her the Message of the
Restoration. She's really good at listening, and is one of the very,
VERY few parents that actually controls her Children. Ibig sabihin, we
can actually welcome in the Spirit :) It actually was a very spiritual
lesson :) She asked some wonderful questions, and my companion gave
some wonderful answers. I did a wonderful job pretending to understand
everything :)
Wednesday was not so wonderful. I woke up at about 5 AM about
ready to fall back asleep (but not so voluntarily) because of a
terrible pain in my stomach. I ran to the bathroom and coughed up
(that's saying it lightly, btw) Tuesday Night's Dinner. Thankfully, it
was just rice. I left the bathroom at around 7:30 AM, and got a
prescription from the Mission Presidents wife. A member bought the
drugs and kindly delivered it to us, as I wasn't feeling up to leaving
the Apartment. I spent the day in bed, reading the Scriptures, Church
Magazines, and the Teachings of President Joseph Fielding Smith.
THAT'S some good stuff. Anyway, I wasn't about to eat rice again for a
while, so our Member friend brought some fruits over with the
Medicine. Easily the most boring two meals I've ever had in my life.
Some of the hardest, as well. Eating Balot was easier. I was starting
to feel a lot better, though, by the end of the day, and retired early
for bed to grab an extra hour.
I needed that extra hour, because we had a Service Project
Thursday Morning. A Tatay in our ward had a pile of rocks next to his
house that he needed moved to behind his house. Don't ask me why.
Anyway, Elder Maestrado and I called up two other Companionships, and
we all got to work. 50 lbs is about the most I can lift off the
ground. I can do about 100 with my shoulders legs and back. Because of
this, I calculated that we moved about 2 tons of rock, dirt, and
gravel. It was rough work, but I've gotta say- The pile does look
better when it's behind the house, rather than on the side. We got
fresh hot Pandesal and Mountain Dew for Breakfast afterwards :)
Friday we went out to the Mall to withdraw our Monthly
Support. After the withdrawals, we stopped by McDonalds for Lunch. Imagine my
horror when I sat down across from my companion to hear "ELDER
SEE-PUSS!!" coming from the back of the Dining Area. Elder Murdock. I
flung into Ninja Mode and tried to hide, but it didn't really work.
Instead I just told Elder Maestrado to entertain him. It worked! :D
Don't worry, I still ended up saying hello to him :P
Saturday was probably this weeks highlight. No, it wasn't General
Conference. That's next week. Instead...HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER
MAESTRADO!! Celebrations began a bit after 8 when the Carpeso Family
showed up with a Leaf full of Sticky Rice. It was a big leaf :) Later,
we brought it over to a lesson for a lunch appointment with some
Roasted Chicken and Soda Pop. In a later lesson, Nanay Longalong, who
didn't even know it was Elder Maestrado's birthday, came out with a
bag of ties. We each got to choose two :D The night, we went to the
Carpeso's for a lesson and we're treated to Dinner (but that's not
really new :P ). After we got home that night, I pulled out some of
the nastiest fake vanilla Ice Cream ever and I made Oreo shakes for
the both of us. Oreo makes everything better :P
I don't really remember yesterday, plus I don't have anymore
time, so I'll just say that our Neighbor-child Dave insists on shaking
our hand as we go out to work every day, and that I the stray dog the
wanders around our alley is now named Charles. I asked Elder Maestrado
if he has rabies. He said probably. :D
Love you all!! Elder Syphus
Monday, September 29, 2014
Week 12 (Sept. 29, 2014 San Leonardo, Philippines)
Week 12....12?
Hello! Friends, Family, Acquaintances (That means I know you, but
we're not friends), and Random Strangers surfing BlogSpot that were
lucky enough to find this!!
It's Week <insert week number here> out in the Bukid, and life is
still just Handy Dandy Notebook. Yes. I'm on something right now. I
got a haircut earlier today and the place was full of fumes. I blame
that. Anyway, let's begin!
Monday was P-Day, just like every P-Day. We finished shopping, went
home, and taught a lesson to a recent convert. We taught her that we
belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. Not "The
Mormon Church." I blame the previous missionaries. I did get to eat a
Krill pancake for dinner though!! Soooooo many little heads. The
antennae are like needles though. It was a depressingly painful
meal....
(I had to look "Krill" up on the internet to see what he was talking about)
Tuesday!! We decided to rinse out our pool of non-progressing
investigators and started OYM-ing.... or maybe just OOM.
(From what I found on the internet, OYM means "open your mouth" and I'm assuming OOM is "open our mouths". You missionaries out there can correct me if I'm wrong, I'd like to know)
Anyway, we
found a family who were interested enough to let us in. At least, the
Nanay was. Her daughter and 3 granddaughters plus one boyfriend were
just hanging out. They decided it wasn't a very good idea after we
started asking them questions and inviting them to participate. One by
one, they would say "'Scuse Po," stand up, and walk into the back
room. After about 10 minutes, it was just us and the Nanay, but we
were no longer teaching. We were listening to her tell stories. I
don't know how it happened, but it did, so we said "Amen" and left.
Hmm..... -.- We saw the group of teenagers a little later while
walking down the street. They were more than a little embarrassed when
I waved to them and said hello. Haaawk-warrrrd.
Wednesday was a little bit more SUPER AMAZING o.O :D
We started off the day with a District Meeting and TRANSFER
ANNOUNCEMENTS!!! We're all staying.
After that was back to work. A lot of our Appointments were falling
through, though, and everyone either said "next time" or "not
interested." I said a little prayer to myself asking "Please just let
somebody come to us." I felt the urge to say it out loud, so I did. I
don't know why, and I don't know what would've been different if I
kept it to myself. But no more than five minutes later, a Nanay
stopped us and said "Do you speak Tagalog?"
Yup. She asked...... THE QUESTION.
So I said "Sort of."
Anyway, it's what she said -after- that the made the experience so
awesome. She simply told us "Come to my home tomorrow at 3 o'clock and
share with me your message. We will have snacks."
SNACKS!!
Also, my prayer was answered!!! It was such an incredible
feeling/experience. The spirit was SO strong within me, just because
of a few conversational sentences from an old lady on the street. We
gave her a pamphlet about The Restoration, and said we would see her
tomorrow. Gaahh!!! You can't tell how happy I was!! SOBRANG ASTIG!!
So Thursday, we went back at three to teach her, and the first think
she did when she saw us was hold up the pamphlet we gave her and say
"I read your Bible!"
Sure, she thought it was our bible, but at least she read it! Since I
got into the field, I've met maybe a total of 3 investigators who
actually read the pamphlet we gave to them. We taught her The Message
of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she answered all
of our questions, and seemed pretty interested. When we started
talking about Joseph Smith, she said "The Bible talks about a
Messenger of the Lord (Malachi 3:1?)... is this him?" Yes!! It's him!!
We confirmed her suspicion, and she looked me straight in the eye and
said "This is the man I've been looking for."
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
:D :D :D :D :D
Let the Smiles shine on me!
She accepted our baptismal invitation, and we scheduled another
appointment with her. So excited!!!
On Friday, we got to meet with another promising Investigator. This is
the one that I wrote about before, Miguel "Gil (Hill)"Garcia. He used
to smoke during every lesson, at least 2 cigarettes. We taught him
about the Word of Wisdom, and when we followed up with him Friday, he
said he'd gone down from more than a pack to a single cigarette a day!
Plus, his last cigarette had been the previous morning. More than 30
hours! He seemed a little cooky during the lesson, so I'm hoping he's
okay. We've yet to follow up again, but will be meeting with him again
tomorrow. The problem is that he insists on something warm in his
belly every morning, so he drinks coffee. He says Hot Chocolate is too
expensive, and Energen (sort of like a cereal drink) has too much
sugar and that it might give him diabetes. He smokes to get rid of the
smell of the Piggery nexy door (I've never smelt anything, and neither
has Elder Maestrado), and he doesn't come to church because he has a
"Kaaway." Basically an Arch-Nemesis that lives across the street from
the meeting house. That one is actually pretty serious. Apparently, he
carries the risk of getting shot if he's seen. They had an
"Eyeball-to-eyeball" the other day. Pretty intense stuff. Thankfully,
no one was armed. Anyway, we continue to pray for him, and hope
everything works out.
Saturday was a Reactivation Meeting for the Less-Actives. We were
supposed to meet at 3 at the meeting house, but no one else showed up.
So we taught the Lady that lives in the backyard. We waited after that
lesson for about another 30 minutes before we go a text from our Group
Leader saying he just got his Trike. It was 5 o'clock. At 5:30, he
showed up and we went and taught a few Less Active Families. We walked
in on one Brother as he was lighting his cigarette :( He had been
coming back to church lately as well, but didn't show up yesterday. It
can be tough sometimes, but we've just always got to do our best, and
hope they'll put in their part as well.
I think the fumes are wearing off.
Sunday was interesting, as always :P I still understand the lessons at
church, but there were pictures this time, so that helped :) I don't
know if it was taught like this, but this is what the pictures told
me. There was one with a man holding a single giant stone on his back,
struggling to stay standing. Another showed the same man, equally
exhausted, but he was now trying to keep multiple plates spinning on
sticks, so they wouldn't fall and break. It made me think that
sometimes, rather than a single huge trial in our lives, we're faced
with multiple smaller obstacles. Neither is necessarily more
difficult. Different trials try us in different ways, just as they're
supposed to. And, as we all know, they are for our benefit and
progression. I feel it important that we realize all of these trials
and tests in our lives as learning experiences because that's truly
what they are.
Well,that's all I have for you this week, and I love you all and wish
you the best!!
Merry Christmas!!
Elder Syphus
PS. Sorry... No pictures this week :(
(Extra tidbits)
:D I'm still a little under the weather, but it's not
too bad. I just have to interrupt a lesson every now and then to clear
my throat. I've been taking my multivitamins and exercising every
morning. I was actually a little sad when I woke up yesterday morning
and realized I couldn't exercise because it was Sunday. Surprised? So
was I :P
It's awesome that the temple is open again!! Ugh, I miss the
temple SO much. I'm hoping I'll get to go in December and attend the
sealing of some recent converts in our area :) I'm also happy to hear
that the TV still finds its home in a bathtub. That will never make
sense to me :P
Who do I have for Christmas this
year? And what is everybody's shoe size? I'm thinking of getting
everyone a pair of Authentic Chinese made Filipino Tsinelas, but I may
not be able to afford that :P Still let me know though, and we'll see.
Brayden and Brittney are leaving already?? That's crazy!! Remind
me where they're going again? They're both going to do SO awesome!! :D
THAT IS SO INCREDIBLE ABOUT PACKER!!!!!! So, same birthday as
Kylie, huh? :P Anybody happy about that? ;) Still though, awesome!!
Honestly, the first thing I though when I saw the picture of Kari
kissing his hand, was "Bless, peasant" (Sort of a Filipino/Sam Smith
joke). The next thing was "Babies look like aliens." .........
yup.......
I'M NOT WRONG!
Anyway, what's the news on Bjorn?? Ugh, this is so excited!!! I can't
believe I'm missing it all!!! :D :D I remember when Linkon was born. I
was still in intermediate school, Kambree and Kendyl were still in
Elementary, and when school got out, Kambree and Kendyl ran up to me
screaming "KARI HAD HER BABY! KARI HAD HER BAAAAAY -
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
:D :D :P THAT was an exciting day :P Friday the 13th :)
Anyway, just a few questions/requests. Could you send some recipes for
me? We don't have an oven, only a stove, and rice HAS to be a part of
it :P I've got a few from Sister Clark, but I never get the chance to
try them out. My comp won't let me cook :P I like what he makes
though, so not really any complaints. Also, I have a bag of cocoa
powder and nothing to use it on. Do you thing Shaun could get creative
and throw me some ideas? I haven't had a good desert since the MTC :P
Finally, how do you make home made rootbeer? I told Elder Maestrado
about it, and he wants some :P That's about it though!! Love you, and
I'll start the big letter now :D
Love you!!!
Elder Syphus
Hello! Friends, Family, Acquaintances (That means I know you, but
we're not friends), and Random Strangers surfing BlogSpot that were
lucky enough to find this!!
It's Week <insert week number here> out in the Bukid, and life is
still just Handy Dandy Notebook. Yes. I'm on something right now. I
got a haircut earlier today and the place was full of fumes. I blame
that. Anyway, let's begin!
Monday was P-Day, just like every P-Day. We finished shopping, went
home, and taught a lesson to a recent convert. We taught her that we
belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. Not "The
Mormon Church." I blame the previous missionaries. I did get to eat a
Krill pancake for dinner though!! Soooooo many little heads. The
antennae are like needles though. It was a depressingly painful
meal....
(I had to look "Krill" up on the internet to see what he was talking about)
Tuesday!! We decided to rinse out our pool of non-progressing
investigators and started OYM-ing.... or maybe just OOM.
(From what I found on the internet, OYM means "open your mouth" and I'm assuming OOM is "open our mouths". You missionaries out there can correct me if I'm wrong, I'd like to know)
Anyway, we
found a family who were interested enough to let us in. At least, the
Nanay was. Her daughter and 3 granddaughters plus one boyfriend were
just hanging out. They decided it wasn't a very good idea after we
started asking them questions and inviting them to participate. One by
one, they would say "'Scuse Po," stand up, and walk into the back
room. After about 10 minutes, it was just us and the Nanay, but we
were no longer teaching. We were listening to her tell stories. I
don't know how it happened, but it did, so we said "Amen" and left.
Hmm..... -.- We saw the group of teenagers a little later while
walking down the street. They were more than a little embarrassed when
I waved to them and said hello. Haaawk-warrrrd.
Wednesday was a little bit more SUPER AMAZING o.O :D
We started off the day with a District Meeting and TRANSFER
ANNOUNCEMENTS!!! We're all staying.
After that was back to work. A lot of our Appointments were falling
through, though, and everyone either said "next time" or "not
interested." I said a little prayer to myself asking "Please just let
somebody come to us." I felt the urge to say it out loud, so I did. I
don't know why, and I don't know what would've been different if I
kept it to myself. But no more than five minutes later, a Nanay
stopped us and said "Do you speak Tagalog?"
Yup. She asked...... THE QUESTION.
So I said "Sort of."
Anyway, it's what she said -after- that the made the experience so
awesome. She simply told us "Come to my home tomorrow at 3 o'clock and
share with me your message. We will have snacks."
SNACKS!!
Also, my prayer was answered!!! It was such an incredible
feeling/experience. The spirit was SO strong within me, just because
of a few conversational sentences from an old lady on the street. We
gave her a pamphlet about The Restoration, and said we would see her
tomorrow. Gaahh!!! You can't tell how happy I was!! SOBRANG ASTIG!!
So Thursday, we went back at three to teach her, and the first think
she did when she saw us was hold up the pamphlet we gave her and say
"I read your Bible!"
Sure, she thought it was our bible, but at least she read it! Since I
got into the field, I've met maybe a total of 3 investigators who
actually read the pamphlet we gave to them. We taught her The Message
of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she answered all
of our questions, and seemed pretty interested. When we started
talking about Joseph Smith, she said "The Bible talks about a
Messenger of the Lord (Malachi 3:1?)... is this him?" Yes!! It's him!!
We confirmed her suspicion, and she looked me straight in the eye and
said "This is the man I've been looking for."
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
:D :D :D :D :D
Let the Smiles shine on me!
She accepted our baptismal invitation, and we scheduled another
appointment with her. So excited!!!
On Friday, we got to meet with another promising Investigator. This is
the one that I wrote about before, Miguel "Gil (Hill)"Garcia. He used
to smoke during every lesson, at least 2 cigarettes. We taught him
about the Word of Wisdom, and when we followed up with him Friday, he
said he'd gone down from more than a pack to a single cigarette a day!
Plus, his last cigarette had been the previous morning. More than 30
hours! He seemed a little cooky during the lesson, so I'm hoping he's
okay. We've yet to follow up again, but will be meeting with him again
tomorrow. The problem is that he insists on something warm in his
belly every morning, so he drinks coffee. He says Hot Chocolate is too
expensive, and Energen (sort of like a cereal drink) has too much
sugar and that it might give him diabetes. He smokes to get rid of the
smell of the Piggery nexy door (I've never smelt anything, and neither
has Elder Maestrado), and he doesn't come to church because he has a
"Kaaway." Basically an Arch-Nemesis that lives across the street from
the meeting house. That one is actually pretty serious. Apparently, he
carries the risk of getting shot if he's seen. They had an
"Eyeball-to-eyeball" the other day. Pretty intense stuff. Thankfully,
no one was armed. Anyway, we continue to pray for him, and hope
everything works out.
Saturday was a Reactivation Meeting for the Less-Actives. We were
supposed to meet at 3 at the meeting house, but no one else showed up.
So we taught the Lady that lives in the backyard. We waited after that
lesson for about another 30 minutes before we go a text from our Group
Leader saying he just got his Trike. It was 5 o'clock. At 5:30, he
showed up and we went and taught a few Less Active Families. We walked
in on one Brother as he was lighting his cigarette :( He had been
coming back to church lately as well, but didn't show up yesterday. It
can be tough sometimes, but we've just always got to do our best, and
hope they'll put in their part as well.
I think the fumes are wearing off.
Sunday was interesting, as always :P I still understand the lessons at
church, but there were pictures this time, so that helped :) I don't
know if it was taught like this, but this is what the pictures told
me. There was one with a man holding a single giant stone on his back,
struggling to stay standing. Another showed the same man, equally
exhausted, but he was now trying to keep multiple plates spinning on
sticks, so they wouldn't fall and break. It made me think that
sometimes, rather than a single huge trial in our lives, we're faced
with multiple smaller obstacles. Neither is necessarily more
difficult. Different trials try us in different ways, just as they're
supposed to. And, as we all know, they are for our benefit and
progression. I feel it important that we realize all of these trials
and tests in our lives as learning experiences because that's truly
what they are.
Well,that's all I have for you this week, and I love you all and wish
you the best!!
Merry Christmas!!
Elder Syphus
PS. Sorry... No pictures this week :(
(Extra tidbits)
:D I'm still a little under the weather, but it's not
too bad. I just have to interrupt a lesson every now and then to clear
my throat. I've been taking my multivitamins and exercising every
morning. I was actually a little sad when I woke up yesterday morning
and realized I couldn't exercise because it was Sunday. Surprised? So
was I :P
It's awesome that the temple is open again!! Ugh, I miss the
temple SO much. I'm hoping I'll get to go in December and attend the
sealing of some recent converts in our area :) I'm also happy to hear
that the TV still finds its home in a bathtub. That will never make
sense to me :P
Who do I have for Christmas this
year? And what is everybody's shoe size? I'm thinking of getting
everyone a pair of Authentic Chinese made Filipino Tsinelas, but I may
not be able to afford that :P Still let me know though, and we'll see.
Brayden and Brittney are leaving already?? That's crazy!! Remind
me where they're going again? They're both going to do SO awesome!! :D
THAT IS SO INCREDIBLE ABOUT PACKER!!!!!! So, same birthday as
Kylie, huh? :P Anybody happy about that? ;) Still though, awesome!!
Honestly, the first thing I though when I saw the picture of Kari
kissing his hand, was "Bless, peasant" (Sort of a Filipino/Sam Smith
joke). The next thing was "Babies look like aliens." .........
yup.......
I'M NOT WRONG!
Anyway, what's the news on Bjorn?? Ugh, this is so excited!!! I can't
believe I'm missing it all!!! :D :D I remember when Linkon was born. I
was still in intermediate school, Kambree and Kendyl were still in
Elementary, and when school got out, Kambree and Kendyl ran up to me
screaming "KARI HAD HER BABY! KARI HAD HER BAAAAAY -
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
:D :D :P THAT was an exciting day :P Friday the 13th :)
Anyway, just a few questions/requests. Could you send some recipes for
me? We don't have an oven, only a stove, and rice HAS to be a part of
it :P I've got a few from Sister Clark, but I never get the chance to
try them out. My comp won't let me cook :P I like what he makes
though, so not really any complaints. Also, I have a bag of cocoa
powder and nothing to use it on. Do you thing Shaun could get creative
and throw me some ideas? I haven't had a good desert since the MTC :P
Finally, how do you make home made rootbeer? I told Elder Maestrado
about it, and he wants some :P That's about it though!! Love you, and
I'll start the big letter now :D
Love you!!!
Elder Syphus
Monday, September 22, 2014
Week 11 (Sept. 22, 2014 San Leonardo, Philippines)
Week 11 - Come What May, and Love It.
Hey all!
This week has been as exciting as the rest of them, with more rain and
floods throughout our little Pacific Island. Sadly, my Eccos aren't
all the water proof :) Anyway, let's get started!
Tuesday wasn't incredibly special in the sense that anything life
changing happened, but I did get to practice my hand stitching during
my lunch break! :D So far I've patched up a pair of socks, rebound a
rod on my umbrella, and had to re-hem a pair of my pants. It's not to
difficult, but takes FOREVER. I think I'll just pay the seamstress
next door from now on :)
Wednesday, we had our weekly District Meeting, but this once was a
little sad. One of the Elders, Elder Jacobs from Bountiful Utah, has
nearly completed his two years and will be returning home tomorrow.
He's fluent in 3 different dialects, and occasionally writes to me
with the Ancient Tagalog alphabet, because I studied it as well in his
early days in the field and likes to continue to use it. It's always
excited trying to decipher the code :)
Thursday was the Trainer/Trainees Meeting, and we got to hear from
President and Sister Clark. ALWAYS a treat :D They're both so
inspired, and I always love what they have to say. Sister Clark was
especially helpful, in my opinion.
Ever the mother, her topic of comment is usually about health or
safety. Because this meeting was to a bunch of Greenies, though, she
made sure to help us stay happy despite being separated from our loved
ones for a short time while serving the Lord. For me, the highlight of
her teaching was a Mormon Message featuring Elder Joseph B Wirthlin.
It was an excerpt from his final Conference Talk before he passed
away. "Come What May, and Love It." Having been one who suffered from
depression before my mission (self-diagnosed: I never felt it was
serious to seek a professional opinion :P ), and still occasionally
having those "pensive" moments, this was a HUGE help for me. I've sort
of turned that into my Mission Motto. Just "Come What May, and Love
It" :)
We had our second set of splits and Friday, this time with the Zone
Leaders. I was paired with Elder Magno in his zone, and we had quite the
enjoyable evening :) We were in the splash zone of another typhoon,
and the drainage systems aren't great out in the Philippines. You'd
think that'd be a priority for these people, huh? :P Anyway, we were
wading through the murky street water once again, and Elder Magno
wasn't to pleased with the situation. I shared with him "Come What
May, and Love It." He didn't like that :D The circumstances, however,
just made him that much more determined to get inside someones home,
and it worked! We ended up meeting a family in preparation for a
birthday and were given the privilege to taste test. Everything was
delicious :D We shared with them the Message of the Restoration, and
all 5 of them seemed pretty interested, but as we were walking out the
door we found out that only one of them was a resident. The others
were only in town for the party :/ Ah well; we still got food and at
least one new investigator :) We had to end the night early though
because of the flooding. So we went back to the apartment, planned for
the next day, turned on some music (approved, of course :) ), popped
open a big of Mini-Mallows, and roasted them with a candle. It was a
fun day :D
Saturday was a BAPTISM!!! :D :D Sister Juliana Alexis Salimbot Conde
is 10 years old and was baptized on September 20th by Elder Syphus
(that's me!). She was confirmed the following Sunday as a Member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the San Leonardo
Group. Elder Maestrado and I were able to teach her from the very
beginning, so we've all gotten pretty close :) Though definitely
spiritual, it was also a little stressful for Juliana. A lot of
Filipinos actually don't know how to swim, swimming pools are
uncommon, and bathing is done with a bucket over the head, not a tub.
This means that being completely submersed in water is a new
experience for a lot of new converts who don't live near the Ocean.
The first attempt freaked her out a little bit, and she came up
spluttering before she was completely immersed. We reassured her, gave
her a few more tips, and tried again. The witnesses approved it, and
she was gone. I don't know if she would've let us try again :P Anyway,
Elder Maestrado and I congratulated her with a Snickers Bar. American
candy is Heaven for Filipinos, but it's pretty pricey as well, so they
don't have many chances to indulge. We figured it was a special
occasion, so why not? :)
Juliana, Elder Maestrado and Me. Not in that order :P
Sister Conde and little Julianne. Julius had the flu :(
Group Picture!
attend a Ward Missionary Meeting rather than Gospel Doctrine class.
Thank goodness :) I also learned a lot more, because there were less
people, and the majority knew English or speak very clear Tagalog :)
After our Block Meeting, we went to the Zone Leaders Ward to get the
Bishops signature for Juliana's Baptism. We are apart of their ward,
but meet as a separate group because of the distance. Anyway, we were
able to sit in on the last 30 minutes of Sacrament Meeting, and enjoy
as much as I could understand of the Talks :P The actual church
buildings have Air Con, and the Members are happy to take advantage of
that. It was FREEZING!! And I loved every second of it :D
This morning (Monday), we met with some Members and other Missionaries
and played Basketball at the Church. They played full court rather
than just half though, so I stepped off to the side with another
missionary (I'm sort of a stickler for the rules), and we did our own
little workout. My personal fitness goal is to have a Six-Pack by
Christmas. I actually think I can make it happen :P
Anyway, that's all for this week! Love you all!!
Elder Syphus
PS. I also got to try Rat this week!! It's probably my favorite meat.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Delicious. The meat it actually super high
quality, but it has to be a field rat, not a house rat. That will kill
you :P
This isn't fuzzy camera quality. Those are bugs.
I LOVE SUNSETS!!!
I almost forget to tell you all about my super foods this week! This is called Kiti, or Day-Old. As the name suggests, it's a Day-Old chick that's killed and deep fried. I thought it sounded a bit inhumane too, until I remembered what eggs were.
You eat the head first, then the legs, then finish with the whole body. It's crunchy like a cheeto, not like a bag bones. :P
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Week 10 (Sept. 14, 2014 San Leonardo, Philippines)
Week .....10?
I'm actually not sure how long I've been out :P However, I DO know
that my release date is June 15, 2016. JSYK :)
This week, like all of them, definitely had its highs and lows. One of
the highest happened last Monday though. We got to have Family Home
Evening with the Carpeso Family! :D
After our P-Day ended around 6:30 PM, we headed over to their home.
Their 10 year old Jam-Jam conducted, and was very formal about all of
it :P We had an opening prayer and song, of course, and Sister Carpeso
shared with everybody a Spiritual Thought. Elder Maestrado and I
taught the lesson, using the science of vacuums to represent how the
Doctrine of Christ and the Atonement helps families return as one to
our Father in Heaven. It was pretty cool :P We then watched the John
Tanner story (INCREDIBLE), and played a couple of games. Elder
Maestrado taught the rules in Tagalog, so I didn't know how to play,
but I had a great time laughing and enjoying it all with the rest of
them :) Of course, they fed us Dinner after that :D
Tuesday was a bit slower than usual. We got our notice to pay the
Electric Bill Tuesday Morning, so we went off to the office at about
9. They were helping number 68, and we were number 351. yay.... So we
we sat outside for 3 three hours, practicing Tagalog, before it was
finally our turn. We got back home at around 12:30. The rest of the
day went smoothly enough :) As we were leaving the office, we saw one
of our Investigators there to pay his bill as well. We taught him
later that evening right after he got home at about 4 PM :P
Wednesday was a Zone Conference, so we got up early to catch the 7:30
bus so we would make it to Cabanatuan by 9:00. President and Sister
Clark both shared wonderful lessons, about how we need to be more
Diligent Disciples of Christ. That means it is expected of us to make
a Lesson Plan for each lesson, everyday, and ALWAYS (unless surely
prompted by the Spirit to do otherwise) extend a baptismal invitation
on the First Lesson. It was invigorating :) Because of the long travel
time, we didn't get much opportunity to apply it that night, but we
did get to use it a little bit later :)
Also, there is a Sister Knudsen in our mission. Relative of Dad's friend?
Thursday, both of our Morning appointments fell through, so we went
after a Referral we received from some other Elders. Brother Sebastian
Pangelan, but he just goes by Bobby. He explained to us that he had
been invited to be baptized in to a few other churches, but always
declined. He was happy being Catholic. The spirit was SO strong in our
lesson though, and when we extended the Baptismal Invitation, he
accepted! I felt prompted to testify of the Holy Ghost, which I did,
and the effect was immediate. There was Such a powerful feeling in the
room of Peace, Comfort, and Truth :) This incredible optimism stayed
with me throughout the day until we got home that night and saw
literally HUNDREDS of ants, devouring the remainder of my Oreos. I'll
admit that I was pretty ticked ' XD I went straight from planning to
bed. No journal, dinner, nothing. Grr....
I've decided I like flies and Spiders better than Ants now. I've
gotten pretty good at catching flies lately :) After I've got them, I
tear off a wing and toss it into a spider web. It's actually REALLY
cool how the spiders wrap them up. If I can't seem to get the fly to
stay in the web, I just grab the spider and coil up some web myself.
Spiders can be pretty fun :P
Friday, we had splits. I got to lead the area with our District
Leader, Elder Cancel. We got lost more than few times :P It's really
interesting how he OYMs people. He just walks up to a random person
and asks if they know another random person. I'm going to have to try
that sometime :P
While he was in our area, he interviewed Sister Juliana Conde for her
baptism next week and she passed! :P She still hasn't decided who she
wants to perform the ordinance, so no news on that yet. She continues
to progress though :)
We also taught one of our investigators the Word of Wisdom, which was
kind of awkward, because he listens to every lesson with a cigarette
in his mouth, and this time was no different :P He flicked the
cigarette away after we told him, but, like everyone here, asked why
we weren't allowed to drink tea and coffee. We've been counseled to
simply ask them to think on their Testimony of Joseph Smith as a
Prophet of God, and therefore as one entitled to receive revelation
such as the Word of Wisdom. He said he'll stop drinking coffee if we
buy him milk and cocoa every week... Let's just say he still needs a
bit of work :P
Saturday was Really fun :D We had another little down pour, and this
time we got to wade in flood water up past our shins :D The splashing
pretty much got us soaked up to our waists though :P I felt obliged to
carry around my sandals for the rest of the evening, because I felt
those were a better alternative than to entering homes with soggy
socks :)
.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*)
This was the aftermath of the storm. You can see the line near the top of my pants :P
It sort of blends, but just know it's not the lighting :)
Church on Sundays continues to be very political. There was another
argument yesterday, about whether the Atonement IS the Gospel, or is a
PART of the Gospel. I'm happy to just tune it all out and do some
personal study.
We had a Typhoon last night, continuing on to this morning, so
President told all Missionaries in our Zone to be inside by 5. It
would've turned out that way anyway, though, cause I was hit with a
pretty killer Bug Saturday Night. Cough and cold, complete with
Runny/Stuffy Nose, Headache, and a blazing chest fever. It hurts :P I
ended up sleeping most of the day yesterday, and throughout the night.
For some reason, though, I waited until this morning to take the
Drowsy Drug that would kick out my runny nose. The runny nose has
subsided, but I've been ready for a nap since I took it :P Hooray for
being too sick to think :D
To close off, I just want to share some stuff I've learned from the
Book of Alma this week.
In Chapter 47, Amalickiah sets forth his plan to become King of the
Lamanites. After Lehonti and his people descent from the Lamanites in
order to avoid war, Amalickiah tracks him down to take control. He
calls for Lehonti to come down from his Mountain camp to talk with
him. Lehonti refuses, knowing the obvious danger of this. Likewise, we
are often able to avoid the more obvious temptations of the Devil.
However, Amalickiah eventually offers to meet Lehonti half way, even
allowing him to bring his guards. This, Lehonti accepts. After they
talk, Lehonti eventually goes down with Amalickiah.
We need to be wise enough not to meet Satan halfway. Because when we
do, it's a lot easier for him to bring us all the way down. Some
things may not seem inherently evil. But that's how Satan plays. He's
cunning and patient, and, like Amalickiah, will "poison us by degrees"
if we allow it. The sooner we understand this, the better we'll be
able to recognize those things that equate to meeting Satan halfway.
Even if we don't follow him down, we will have to make the trek back
to the top. Instead, just Stay on top.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed my week! I sort of did :P I'd love to
hear from all of you, so WRITE ME!!! :D :D
-Elder Syphus
PS. Something quick I forgot to mention. I tried Chicken Feet this
week! :D The taste was fine, but the bones were a bit too crunchy for
my liking. Ah well. I guess it's not for everyone :)
.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*)
You can buy a glass bottle of Soda about every 10 feet, but if you don't want to drink it at the shop, they pour it into a little sandwich bag so they can recycle the bottle :)
We walk past this statue every few days. I don't really understand it, but it's fun to look at :P
Merry Christmas from the Conde Family!! Juliana, Julius, and Julianne, with Mom at the right :)
I'm actually not sure how long I've been out :P However, I DO know
that my release date is June 15, 2016. JSYK :)
This week, like all of them, definitely had its highs and lows. One of
the highest happened last Monday though. We got to have Family Home
Evening with the Carpeso Family! :D
After our P-Day ended around 6:30 PM, we headed over to their home.
Their 10 year old Jam-Jam conducted, and was very formal about all of
it :P We had an opening prayer and song, of course, and Sister Carpeso
shared with everybody a Spiritual Thought. Elder Maestrado and I
taught the lesson, using the science of vacuums to represent how the
Doctrine of Christ and the Atonement helps families return as one to
our Father in Heaven. It was pretty cool :P We then watched the John
Tanner story (INCREDIBLE), and played a couple of games. Elder
Maestrado taught the rules in Tagalog, so I didn't know how to play,
but I had a great time laughing and enjoying it all with the rest of
them :) Of course, they fed us Dinner after that :D
Tuesday was a bit slower than usual. We got our notice to pay the
Electric Bill Tuesday Morning, so we went off to the office at about
9. They were helping number 68, and we were number 351. yay.... So we
we sat outside for 3 three hours, practicing Tagalog, before it was
finally our turn. We got back home at around 12:30. The rest of the
day went smoothly enough :) As we were leaving the office, we saw one
of our Investigators there to pay his bill as well. We taught him
later that evening right after he got home at about 4 PM :P
Wednesday was a Zone Conference, so we got up early to catch the 7:30
bus so we would make it to Cabanatuan by 9:00. President and Sister
Clark both shared wonderful lessons, about how we need to be more
Diligent Disciples of Christ. That means it is expected of us to make
a Lesson Plan for each lesson, everyday, and ALWAYS (unless surely
prompted by the Spirit to do otherwise) extend a baptismal invitation
on the First Lesson. It was invigorating :) Because of the long travel
time, we didn't get much opportunity to apply it that night, but we
did get to use it a little bit later :)
Also, there is a Sister Knudsen in our mission. Relative of Dad's friend?
Thursday, both of our Morning appointments fell through, so we went
after a Referral we received from some other Elders. Brother Sebastian
Pangelan, but he just goes by Bobby. He explained to us that he had
been invited to be baptized in to a few other churches, but always
declined. He was happy being Catholic. The spirit was SO strong in our
lesson though, and when we extended the Baptismal Invitation, he
accepted! I felt prompted to testify of the Holy Ghost, which I did,
and the effect was immediate. There was Such a powerful feeling in the
room of Peace, Comfort, and Truth :) This incredible optimism stayed
with me throughout the day until we got home that night and saw
literally HUNDREDS of ants, devouring the remainder of my Oreos. I'll
admit that I was pretty ticked ' XD I went straight from planning to
bed. No journal, dinner, nothing. Grr....
I've decided I like flies and Spiders better than Ants now. I've
gotten pretty good at catching flies lately :) After I've got them, I
tear off a wing and toss it into a spider web. It's actually REALLY
cool how the spiders wrap them up. If I can't seem to get the fly to
stay in the web, I just grab the spider and coil up some web myself.
Spiders can be pretty fun :P
Friday, we had splits. I got to lead the area with our District
Leader, Elder Cancel. We got lost more than few times :P It's really
interesting how he OYMs people. He just walks up to a random person
and asks if they know another random person. I'm going to have to try
that sometime :P
While he was in our area, he interviewed Sister Juliana Conde for her
baptism next week and she passed! :P She still hasn't decided who she
wants to perform the ordinance, so no news on that yet. She continues
to progress though :)
We also taught one of our investigators the Word of Wisdom, which was
kind of awkward, because he listens to every lesson with a cigarette
in his mouth, and this time was no different :P He flicked the
cigarette away after we told him, but, like everyone here, asked why
we weren't allowed to drink tea and coffee. We've been counseled to
simply ask them to think on their Testimony of Joseph Smith as a
Prophet of God, and therefore as one entitled to receive revelation
such as the Word of Wisdom. He said he'll stop drinking coffee if we
buy him milk and cocoa every week... Let's just say he still needs a
bit of work :P
Saturday was Really fun :D We had another little down pour, and this
time we got to wade in flood water up past our shins :D The splashing
pretty much got us soaked up to our waists though :P I felt obliged to
carry around my sandals for the rest of the evening, because I felt
those were a better alternative than to entering homes with soggy
socks :)
This was the aftermath of the storm. You can see the line near the top of my pants :P
It sort of blends, but just know it's not the lighting :)
Church on Sundays continues to be very political. There was another
argument yesterday, about whether the Atonement IS the Gospel, or is a
PART of the Gospel. I'm happy to just tune it all out and do some
personal study.
We had a Typhoon last night, continuing on to this morning, so
President told all Missionaries in our Zone to be inside by 5. It
would've turned out that way anyway, though, cause I was hit with a
pretty killer Bug Saturday Night. Cough and cold, complete with
Runny/Stuffy Nose, Headache, and a blazing chest fever. It hurts :P I
ended up sleeping most of the day yesterday, and throughout the night.
For some reason, though, I waited until this morning to take the
Drowsy Drug that would kick out my runny nose. The runny nose has
subsided, but I've been ready for a nap since I took it :P Hooray for
being too sick to think :D
To close off, I just want to share some stuff I've learned from the
Book of Alma this week.
In Chapter 47, Amalickiah sets forth his plan to become King of the
Lamanites. After Lehonti and his people descent from the Lamanites in
order to avoid war, Amalickiah tracks him down to take control. He
calls for Lehonti to come down from his Mountain camp to talk with
him. Lehonti refuses, knowing the obvious danger of this. Likewise, we
are often able to avoid the more obvious temptations of the Devil.
However, Amalickiah eventually offers to meet Lehonti half way, even
allowing him to bring his guards. This, Lehonti accepts. After they
talk, Lehonti eventually goes down with Amalickiah.
We need to be wise enough not to meet Satan halfway. Because when we
do, it's a lot easier for him to bring us all the way down. Some
things may not seem inherently evil. But that's how Satan plays. He's
cunning and patient, and, like Amalickiah, will "poison us by degrees"
if we allow it. The sooner we understand this, the better we'll be
able to recognize those things that equate to meeting Satan halfway.
Even if we don't follow him down, we will have to make the trek back
to the top. Instead, just Stay on top.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed my week! I sort of did :P I'd love to
hear from all of you, so WRITE ME!!! :D :D
-Elder Syphus
PS. Something quick I forgot to mention. I tried Chicken Feet this
week! :D The taste was fine, but the bones were a bit too crunchy for
my liking. Ah well. I guess it's not for everyone :)
You can buy a glass bottle of Soda about every 10 feet, but if you don't want to drink it at the shop, they pour it into a little sandwich bag so they can recycle the bottle :)
We walk past this statue every few days. I don't really understand it, but it's fun to look at :P
Merry Christmas from the Conde Family!! Juliana, Julius, and Julianne, with Mom at the right :)
Monday, September 8, 2014
Week 9 (Sept. 7, 2014 San Leonardo, Philippines)
The "Ber" Months
Hello. From from the One and Only Scrooge the Philippines has ever
known. It's Christmas time out in the tropics, and my only reply is
"Stop it." Christmas is for December, and December alone. Take down
your decorations and turn off the music. IT'S TOO SOON!!
;) :P :D
In all honesty, it's not that bad :) Though celebrations truly do
start out here on September 1st, and go throughout the rest of the Ber
months. Really, I just can't help but laugh whenever I walk into home
and see a Christmas Tree and/or "MERRY CHRISTMAS _ HAPPY NEW YEAR"
banners, hung across the walls. My celebrations will be held off until
December, but I'll let everyone else have their fun :P
Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE WHO IS APART OF DIXIE'S PRODUCTION
OF TARZAN!!!!!!!!!!! I can already tell it's going to be amazing!!!!!
Shout outs to the leads!!
Zack Grob as Tarzan and the Father!! (of course :D )
Sara Glauser as Jane and the Mother!! (another obvious pick :D )
Cameron Holdaway as Young Tarzan!
Caleb Smith as Terk!
Alex Easson as Clayton!!
Stockton Meyers as Kerchak!
Kiarra Dalley as the Leopard!
and
Mailea Dalley as Kala!
So! Let's start from a week ago. Right after I left you all with my
previous letter. I went out and got my first haircut. But not just any
haircut! A 78 cent hair cut!! Things are ridiculously cheap here. As
missionaries, we get about $185 a month total to pay for food,
transportation, utilities, laundry, and personal care Items. I use
about $125 of that. McDonald's is one of the more expensive places to
eat out here, and the prices are pretty similar to America's. So,
uh... hooray for fluctuation? I don't really know...
Now for another jumble of thoughts and memories. Enjoy! :P
First off, this place is sort of like a death trap. Even when it's not
rainy season, we get "light showers" once or twice a week. Light
showers, as in the water is only up to my ankles, rather than my chest
:P The rain results in mud, so I've got to watch my step, but then I
can't watch my head. Since very few people have washing
machines/dryers out here, they wash by hand and then hang them out to
dry. But the drying lines are EVERYWHERE. They aren't much trouble for
your average Filipino, but I'm not your average Filipino, despite my
diet. I've literally been clothes lined over a dozen times this last
week. But if I focus on the sky, I lose a couple inches, and a shoe
once or twice. Every step is quick sand if it's not on a stone :P Even
when I'm lying flat in bed, I've got to keep an eye out. Mosquitoes
like to celebrate the Holiday Season just as much as the next guy (as
long as the next guy isn't me (sorry Amy Jensen :P )), and their main
course is the exotic white American. Really, my native companion has
NO problem with the bugs. A bunch of little racists.... ;) :P I'm
beginning to understand what Pleakly from Lilo and Stitch feels
like... minus the constant urges to cross dress, of course :D
Also, I was able to officially eat Balot this week!! It actually taste
pretty good, as long as you add plenty of salt and spicy vinegar :)
It's quite a fun and expensive story actually :)
Every few nights, Elder Maestrado and I go over to a Recent Converts
home, and have a group Scripture Study with them. Nanay and Tatay Diaz
were baptized last December, and are preparing to go through the
Temple at the end of this year! Anyway, they live with their Niece and
Her Husband, AJ (April Joy) and Gerald. All four of them are insistent
on making me try Balot, so at our most recent visit, they sort of
forced a little 7 year girl to stand outside for an hour and flag down
any Balot vendors passing by. To my obvious despair, they found one...
They ordered 8 servings of these creepy little Duck Embryos, and gave
me the honor of paying for them! Yay!... Again though, things are
cheap. It was like, $1.50.
***WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR READERS WITH
A WEAK STOMACHE AND/OR A VIVID IMAGINATION***
So I payed and we went inside. Nanay taught me how to eat it. You peel
off the very peak of the shell, add some salt, and drink the "soup"
inside. Take a bit more of the shell off, pull out the solid yolk
(they're boiled before sold), and eat that however you want. It's a
yolk. Next you remove more shell until it's just like a bowl, except
this bowl has a creepy little duck embryo inside staring at you. You
can make out the beak, eyes, wings, and feet, and since it hasn't been
fully formed, it's sort of translucent, so you can see the bones,
brain, and all the other insides too. Fun stuff!! You add a couple
splashes of spicy vinegar and slurp it down. It's literally a slurp. I
don't know how else to describe it :P The Embryo is the Climax to the
story with a gentle little resolution. At the very bottom of the egg
is what used to be the Egg white, but it's become very dense and hard.
It's still edible though, so you down that, just to say you ate it
all. And that's balot! :D :D
So obviously, after all that, the Diaz Family are one of my favorites
:) Another really popular family in the eyes of a missionary are the
Carpesos. Brother Carpeso was baptized January, and the Rest of his
family are marked as Less Active Returns. Every time we go and visit
them, they bring out treats and drinks, as I may have mentioned
before. Lately though, they've been allowing us to join them for
entire meals :P Few Filipino's actually use utensils, and the White
Bible says to accompany the Host in their use of utensils, so we ate
Rice and Fried Chicken/Fried Milkfish with our bare hands. The
Chicken/fish wasn't anything different, but eating rice with your
fingers is understandably pretty difficult :P
We stopped by their house at about 6 PM yesterday after we had closed
our fast, to drop off their son, Jam-Jam, who had been doing splits
with us. Before they let us leave though, we had to finish two pizzas
and a liter of Mountain Dew. I was more than happy to oblige :P
Because we get soda so often at members homes, I've decided to only
buy it on Christmas and my Birthday. It's still probably more Soda
than I had at home though :P
Anyway, we returned last night for an actual teaching appointment, and
they fed us again!! I feel sort of bad, but they're one of the more
wealthier families in the Philippines, so I doubt we're even putting a
dent in their bank account. After all, a whole pizza is only about $2
:)
Next is probably the weirdest part of my week. On Saturday, our Plans
A, B, and C all fell through, so we went tracting instead. We found
this little cluster of huts and OYMed the first person we saw. As we
were talking to her, more and more people started popping up to
listen. That's pretty common, but what made it weird was that they
were ALL sisters. Not necessarily siblings, just females... you
know... sisters. Anyway, we ended up teaching a group of about 13
girls the first part of The Restoration. It was a little hard to
concentrate though, because four or five of them kept pulling their
phones out to take pictures of me. And they weren't even trying to be
sneaky! One of them was literally no more than 3 feet from me, and she
held her phone up at eye level, pointed it directly at me, and I heard
the camera shutter noise. She didn't bother to turn the volume down.
Just took some more pictures. It was REALLY awkward :P That actually
hasn't happened to me yet, believe it or not. Being white can be
interesting in the Philippines ;)
A final tidbit before I move onto the spiritual part of my letters:
Nanay Pesita. We were Tracting and found a Nanay just sitting enjoying the day, so
we asked if we could share our message with her. She said okay and
pulled out some chairs. She seemed to listen well enough, but didn't
seem to be all there. At the end of the listen, we invited her to pray
for us, but she said she didn't know how. So we taught and she said
she'd do it if we helped her. Like a child bearing their Testimony in
Sacrament, she pretty much just repeated everything we said. Even
after we started her with "We thank the for..." she stopped, so we had
to ask her "What are you thankful for, Nanay?" but she didn't know, so
we told her. Same with blessings. It was interesting. I don't think
the's mentally here enough for us to continue the lessons. She was
nice though :)
And now for the more Spiritual part! Best for last! :D
First off, Fasting is SO powerful. Despite the extreme difficulty to
not drink for 24 hours in this kind of Humidity, it's absolutely worth
it. I know the Lord really is mindful of our needs and wants, and will
help us achieve them as long as we're willing to sacrifice something
in return :) Keeping those things and people you're fasting for
constantly somewhere in your thoughts, makes our purpose as
missionaries so much clearer. I'm personally grateful for the
opportunity we have each month to fast and grow closer to our Father
and Savior.
Also, we have two more Baptismal Dates! Ronald Garcia, and Hill
Garcia. No relation :) They both seem to be pretty interested in our
message, and have done well with their commitments. They've yet to try
and avoid us, so I think they'll make it :P They are both scheduled
for the end of October.
We also have some pretty promising Investigators without baptismal
Dates, but that should change within the week, so I'll keep you all
updated!!
I love you all!! Thank you so much for your support!!
Elder Syphus
"In the Philippines Angeles Mission, we Chastise and Rescue!"
(Just kidding. That's a Zone joke :P -we Baptize and Rescue!!)
They load in reverse for some reason so the top is the most recent picture :) JSYK
Lovely Rice fields :) I've yet to earn the privilege to actually work in one, but it sounds pretty exciting from Elder Zeirenberg's letters :)
Clouds and corn. The Sky is beautiful out here.
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"Ooh, fascinating.... AaaaAAAAAAaaahh!!!!" - Pleakly (Lilo and Stitch the Movie)
SO many bug bites out here, and sooooooooooooo itchy :P
My first sunset picture out in the Field.
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My original goal was to just get a picture of the cool Tree Tunnel, but the lighting makes it look like the entrance Doom and Despair.Field shot!
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This one is normal. The other one is zoomed in. JSYK
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Carn fields!!
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I'm not tall enough, but this is the best view I could get of over the top :)
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My Budget list :D I felt so proud when I completed it, then realized how inefficient it was. It has since been upgraded :) I have it split into Support Funds, Personal Funds, and leftover funds to return to the church.
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I hit the jackpot at Waltermart this week! I got Oeros for my peanut butter now, and some all Natural Grape Juice. Now if I could just find some Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar...
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My new jump rope. The only ones they had in the entire mall were for 5 year olds, but it's strangely still long enough for me. It's even got a fancy little defective jump counter! I ended up trashing the foam handle covers. They just slip off and the rope goes flying :P
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Here is San Leonardo.
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