I'm Going to samoa! 3/9/14

March 9^th, 2014
Metro Manila: Pamplona District, Paranaque West East Zone

Good friends and family,

Yes, it's true I will be going to samoa, very soon! Ok, well, not really--but let me explain. Here's a little Tagalog lesson first. All these words--"on, in, by, at" can all be translated to the word "sa" in Tagalog. It's the most versatile word I know. So, if you were going to say “my house” in Tagalog, you would say "Sa house ko." It really just designates location. WELL, I'm going to sa moa later on today! And MOA is the Mall of Asia, one of the biggest malls in the entire world! I got permission today, and am going to take a bunch of pictures, so be prepared.

Since I finally have time, I'd like to share about my awesome recent convert, Brother Gabino! I can honestly say that I was the lucky harvester of a truly converted man. The other missionaries saw the previous Gabino, the one he always talks about, who constantly would argue with his wife and would smoke all the day long. I came in at the end of his conversion to the gospel. It's truly incredible! I remember meeting him as he would tentatively speak about his baptismal date, and his skepticism and questions about the gospel. Many of my most spiritual lessons have been within his very small house with his two kids and wife.

When we went to him last Saturday, we saw him reading his scriptures, with a highlighter in his hand, taking notes on the Tagalog triple-combination that we gave him. We didn't follow our lesson plan at all, rather, we spent our time answering his questions, unfolding, through the spirit, how we can "stand in holy places" here in Manila. He then gave us some great examples of how he has been doing missionary work while he is driving his jeepney. It's so darn inspiring!

Last Sunday he gave the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting. He also came with a tithing slip in his hand, not knowing that you don't need to pay tithing every week. What faith!!

From him, I have learned the raw power of missionary work, to change a person’s life. The change is so visible! Manila is a pretty gross place, to be honest. Everybody's got a cigarette in their mouth. Amidst all of it, here is Brother Gabino! He has strengthened my testimony that I am in the best two years of my life because I'm helping everybody for the rest of their life.

In other news, I'm getting a new companion, fresh from the MTC! All I know is his name is Elder Mullins, and he's an American. Seeing as I've trained before, I kind of know what's going on, but now I'm more prepared!

On top of that assignment, I'm going to be a district leader! I found out just maybe 20 minutes ago from looking at the zone leader's screen that has the transfer information email.

Yep! I just got a lot of responsibility really quickly. Oh, goodness!

That's all for now!

Elder Thurber

This is delicious Lechon Sisig at Chik-boy! It's a soft delicious meat with onions and peppers.

I want this house!

Our zone activity last week. (We watched "Frozen." No, we're not disobedient, we just rocked our numbers in January and President Stucki gave us permission to watch it.) I'm going to miss this Filipino, Elder Rafon! He's not going back to Tacloban, yet though. He'll just be transferred.