Mon 12/2/2013 7:50 AM:
"Mission Tour"
Magandang hapon po! (Good Afternoon!)
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| Elder Thurber and Elder Echo Hawk |
The mission tour last Tuesday has strengthened my testimony
tenfold. It's changed my life, really. Elder Larry J Echo Hawk is inspiring as
they come. He changed my outlook on life and how God is in the middle of our
lives. It was one of the most spiritual meetings in my life.
He started out the meeting by taking the group picture, which
is usually done after the meeting. The reason being was he wanted to speak to
us before the meeting started, and asked us to not talk on the way over and
give him a handshake and speak with our eyes, and not our mouths, so that we
can be reverent. And it worked! The whole day was one big spiritual feast! I
loved every moment of it.
I could spend a lot of time talking about him, but my time here on the internet is short. It's 8:20 right now. I technically should be
proselyting right now, but earlier today, for the third straight Monday, the
power went out during email.
We gathered up the courage to ask President Stucki to give us
more time to email, because the internet worked so slow I couldn't even open up
my email until the power was shut off, and I lost a page and a half of my blog entry. :( The reason for the power being shut off (so I heard)
was the power company is doing a campaign to change the people’s minds about
the coal power plant by intentionally turning off the power, helping the people
understand that they need a coal power plant, as there are plenty of signs in
jumbled or "Caribou" English that they want to keep Aborlan clean by
not getting a power plant. I'm not sure I believe it, but if you want a reason
for why I sporadically send emails, it's because of this local struggle about
the power plant.
Usually the power outages do missionary work harm. But this
week, I'm pleased to announce that Elder Hart and I set a companionship record
for New Investigators! (Definition: people who we taught for the first time.)
We got 16! Our goal was 14, which was the Standard of Excellence given to us by
the mission president. Looking back, it makes me just smile and realize that
God is the one in control of everything, not me. I say that because, when doing
weekly planning last Friday, Elder Hart offered that suggestion. I didn't
really like the idea, because we had one less day to work because of the
mission tour, and our previous finding efforts have been significantly lacking.
Like, last week, we got only 3 new investigators. I hope that puts some
perspective on the success we had this week.
I asked Elder Hart, "How do you think we're going to be
able to reach this goal? We haven't been able to in the past, and now we have
even less time to complete it? Do you really think you can do this or do you
just want to set goals that fulfill the Standard of Excellence?" He
promptly replied, "I think we can do it." I decided not to think on
it further, and have this mumbly-grumbly compromising attitude about it all. Oh,
how my attitude has changed! Elder Hart's faith made up for mine, and we taught
many, many lessons this week. We had so many lessons we had to split on Sunday
to cover them all.
On Saturday we had exchanges and I got to go with the great
Elder Merrill once again. Two new foreign missionaries always make for a lot of
fun! His area is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. We were surrounded
by mountains and gardens and resorts. I wish I could go back there once again.
We had good lessons, too. One guy asked, "So what do I need to do to be
saved?" I wish every investigator would ask that. He accepted the
baptismal invitation and they say he went to church last Sunday.
So, unfortunately Jorald's dad didn't budge on his decision
to not sign the signature, even though we brought an old branch president by to
visit with him. *sigh* Oh, well! Jorald is as strong as they come, so I'm not
worried. He'll be baptized when he turns 18. I'm just happy to be a part of his
conversion and having him constantly work with us.
Marisa A. is progressing! Sunday I
taught her the Plan of Salvation. She has the most desire to be baptized of
anybody I've met, but she is so darn nervous. If you have an extra moment, pray
for her to feel comfortable, especially around us.
This
is my first time as a missionary eating Jollibee. We got to go to the mall
after mission tour, where I got some ties for the four of us, some exercise
equipment, belt and slacks, and a good Tagalog-English dictionary, along with
some chicken seen here which is better than what you can buy at Martins.
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We have a banana tree in the backyard, which we decided to
harvest. These bananas, while small, are a lot more delicious than the bananas
we eat in America! They're much sweeter and smell really good for some reason.
The picture at the end of this blog entry is a great example of how life sometimes works out in
the Philippines. "It's more fun in the Philippines." I apologize for
not getting Elder Wilkinson's head in this picture, but this lady with special
needs, while we were in the mission tour, opened up his package and ate all of
the chocolate here! Ahhh! He was pretty bummed, but he says it'll become one of
those things he'll laugh at later on in life.
God be with you until we meet again, my friends.
Elder Thurber
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