“I Wish I Had More Experience”

October 7, 2013, Aborlan, Palawan

Hello everybody, 

The subject of this blog post is a quote from Elder Hart today, while we were playing chess. We play every other day, and he is getting a lot better. I am always humbled by his humility and diligence, and I am learning a lot from him. It's nice to be able to teach in English! We love relating it back to the gospel. But frankly, that's what I've been thinking lately, too: I wish I had more experience! Yet I know I've come a long ways, not only with missionary work, but my work ethic and determination to get the job done, whatever the cost, rain or shine (literally).

Elder Hart is doing a great job as a district leader. This coming week is going to be a weird week for me personally. Right after email, we will be heading off to Narra for tomorrow's zone meeting and Mission President interviews. Then, I'll be staying in Narra for an exchange with Elder Delorino, who I have mentioned earlier I think. Thursday I'll be going with Elder Balonsong again on another exchange! It'll be a fun week to say the least!  The only real normal day I'll have will be on Friday, and that's weekly planning, which is three whopping hours. And obviously, on Saturday and Sunday, we'll be going to conference.  I have to say, in all probability, that I am the most excited person to see conference, especially since you guys have already seen it goshdarnit! So jealous.

This is the type deliciousness that Elder Balonsong often makes! I'm challenging myself to become a better cook before we part ways.

Elder Hart made a magnificent picture of the Manila Temple  for our investigators! Among others, he gave a copy to a recent convert, Tatay Ayade. (*sidenote* whenever somebody is about maybe 30+ years older than you, you usually call them tatay (dad) or nanay (mom) regardless of whether or not it is true. Also, when you shake their hand, you bring their hand to your forehead as a sign of respect, and you use "po" very often in your sentences, which doesn't really mean anything other than just giving respect.)

ANYWAYS Tatay is extremely poor. He's probably 70 years old. When we came there at eight o'clock, he said he was sick. When we asked if he had read his scriptures, he said he hadn't, because he's always tired, and always looks super depressed. In his defense, he should have retired already, but doesn't have the means to do so. His family has gone left and right, which is quite rare for Filipino families, which usually stick together.

We quickly shared the plan of salvation with them (Tatay and Nanay Ayade). And then we gave them the picture Elder Hart drew of the Manila Temple. It was an interesting situation, because there was currently a black out (which is very common) and we were teaching them by candle light. 

(*another sidenote*  There's a huge whole debate thing going on here as to whether or not they should build a power plant, which would be right next to the market, or "palenke." [pa-Lenk-ay  There! There's your Tagalog for the day.] The whole town is rather divided on the issue. While most people here don't know English, for some reason they have decided to make their posters in English, despite not really understanding the language.)

Right when we were showing him the picture of the temple, the power came back on! 'Twas awesome! Even better, he got excited! I could see it in his eyes! We committed him to prepare to enter the temple with his wife on July 23rd, 2014. Now, he has just a little bit more pep in his step. Mine too.

It rains all the time here. I use my umbrella more than my scriptures, it seems. Sometimes we walk for 45 minutes just to turn around and walk another 45 minutes back! These are all of our shoes. I need to clean them after everyday because they're always covered in mud, like my pants. I'm often walking through 2 inches of water, okay?

Case in point: This is a picture of  a river that we have to cross every once in a while. (I don't want to know what's in it, but I have a few ideas….)  Anyways, if it really rains, the river comes too high in the picture and then we can't jump cross it and get to our investigator, Jina Orkin.

Jina is distantly related to Tatay Ayade FYI. (I've found out that everybody is related to everybody here in Aborlan.) She’s living with a less-active member, Bini. He is R.I.P.P.E.D. Whenever we head down to their house, he always pulls down some coconuts for us to eat and drink, and guyabano which is another incredible fruit I have found out I love.  

Anyways, they came to church on Sunday, to our utter amazement! Yippee doo dah! Awwwww yeeeawww! I'm super happy for them in case you couldn't tell.  In the past, we've only been able to teach one full lesson to them because when we get there, they're often busy or gone or whatever. So, we usually just talk and encourage them to go to church. They actually said last Sunday that they would come if his mother (who lives close by) came as well. We kinda dismissed it, as we hear that every other hour from people. But miracles do happen!  And they happen to me. I'm lucky to be only in the beginning of them, and I know there's more to come.

Speaking of miracles... the language! I'm super glad that I bought the Beginning Tagalog book, because it teaches sentence patterns, which can vary quite dramatically in my opinion. I can usually communicate quite well in Tagalog now, regardless of the situation.

My confidence has definitely increased as I consider Elder Alex Merill’s (our new elder) stage in the language learning process. He's from Bountiful Utah, and knows my old roommate, Davis Hyer distantly. When he talked to me and found out I'm a new missionary too, he said very seriously "Do you know the language? Are you fluent?" in a hurried, anxious tone. I laughed, and said that it's a gradual process. He's obviously very unsure of the language, as would be expected. I know I shouldn't, but it made me feel a lot more confident knowing that I’ve already passed that beginning level of language understanding! Obviously, there's work for me to do still, but, seeing as I've been here for three months last Friday, I've done a lot already.

I definitely saw that in a lesson with a less active man. His name is Hiljan, but people call him "Astig" which is just a slang term kind of like "cool." Anyways, the member present said that what I said was really powerful! But I know it's only through the spirit that I've been able to learn the language as fast as I have. It hasn't been easy. If it was, it wouldn't be worth it. I remember Elder Bednar saying that the witness of the Spirit only comes in the middle and after the trial. I take that to mean that the Spirit I have been feeling now lately has been been because of all of the difficulties I've faced in the past. And the witness of the Spirit is magnificent, beautiful, sublime, and totally worth the difficulties that I have faced.

Elder Thurber

PS If you want to send me a Christmas package, now is the latest time you can do it and have it get here before Christmas.

The Spirit is the Most Powerful Influence in Missionary Work!

September 30, 2013, Aborlan, Palawan

Dear Everybody,

First, I will give you a new Tagalog lesson! In order to make something plural, you use "mga" or munga. So if you want to say "How are your kids?" You would say "How are your mga kid?" So, Yeah--I'll try using that in this email.

My companion, Elder Hart, just became district leader for the first time since the MTC! So that means he's going to be spending a lot of time on the phone with other missionaries. I totally believe in him that he will totally fulfill his calling, mainly because we have great mga missionary in our district, and Elder Hart's a great missionary as well, obviously. We have Elder Stephens, too, who was a high school quarterback, and joined the church just a year before serving a mission. He's a zone leader along with Elder Limocon, who is a total goofball, but has a strong testimony. The previous district leader has now left, and his trainee, Elder Delorino, is now training. Elder Delorino is learning English, and they say his companion is apparently American

Because of mga exchange, I'm going to be seeing a bunch of different mga way of seeing how missionary work is being done by these people! I can't wait for what's in store for me.

This guy is Elder Belnap. He's my hero. His Tagalog is impeccable. I've only seen him at zone conference, where this picture was taken, but I was with him in practice teaching. The scenario was street contacting. He was absolutely ridiculous-- both literally and figuratively. He just said what he wanted to, and said to me that's what gets people's attention out in the field. 

We had a ward party/variety show on Saturda. It was a well-organized event, and lasted from 10 to 5. Our responsibility as missionaries was to provide ice cream for everybody, which turned out to be pretty expensive. We said we would bring it if they gave us mga investigator.

 We also sang a rendition of the song "Ere You Left Your Room This Morning." Most of the people got the message, but some were still pretty confused.

Here it is:

“Did You Think to Ask”

Verse 1

Ere, you left your friends last e-vning

Did you think to ask?

Have you met our missionaries?

Have you read the Book of Mormon,

And prayed to know it's true?

Chorus

Oh, how referrals rest the weary

missionaries here for you!

So when you give us a referral

You will be blessed.

verse 2 

How was the ice cream?

Was it masarap?

Did you remember your commitment?

That you might refer another

who had crossed your way?

Chorus

verse 3

We have gone to door to door

seeking precious souls

but there is a better way

to teach and to be baptized

every other day.

Chorus

I also was asked to play piano, and so I played some good ol' Chopin (the Polonaise in A-flat Major). I am SO out of shape! But, I don't think they cared all that much, so oh well! It still felt good to play it again, even though it wasn't up to tempo.

This is what we sometimes get for breakfast when we're out of oatmeal or fruit or whatever. Minus the packaged stuff, each piece of bread there is only two pesos! Pretty cheap, right? Well, I try to avoid it as much as I can, because of how much hydrogenated junk they put in it. But sometimes it's unavoidable when you have the hectic schedule of a missionary. 

Interesting fact: Elder Gwilliams, the senior missionary serving here with his wife, served in Manila as a young elder many years ago, and got called to return to the same area. Turns out, it was an English speaking mission back then, because the Book of Mormon at that time had not yet been translated into Tagalog, AND because more people knew English at that time.  (This is because the Second World War resulted in close relations between the Americans and Filipinos.) The language now has reverted back to Tagalog, so the mission language has changed to Tagalog, too. So... like most 60+ people know English, but not the 50 year olds.

Our investigators are doing well, but it's so hard to get people to come to church, and people need to go to church four times in a row in order to be baptized. But Decila Corpuz, the woman I mentioned earlier, is quite on track with that! She will most likely be baptized on the 19 of October, if she continues to stay away from coffee. Her older sister is an investigator, also, and is actually married to a less active. But the BIG problem that we're facing with them is this: they need to be married first. It is a big deal here in the Philippines, because people are not legally allowed to be divorced. Weird, right? And divorce can be expensive. But I heard from Elder Balonsong, that there are ways to deal with it. Elder Hart and I will look into that. 

This is a picture of Jorald and Grandpa Pambungas, who is the father of our branch president.

Jorald has given us so many referrals, and loves to do missionary work. Thing is, he's not even a member! He wants to be baptized, but his dad won't sign the form-- yet. We'll see about that. We're planning on meeting with his dad this week to discuss things.

These are two of our future mga missionary!  I've worked with them once or twice each.

One of our other mga investigator is Jena Orkin. She lives out in the middle of nowhere, and it takes a good 45 minutes to walk to her house. We can't take a trike because there aren't any roads. This picture is an example of what it is like to get to her house. Her "husband" is a member, as well as his mga parent, but once again, they need to be married in order to be baptized. 

Just the other day, we met once again with Roger Dela Cruz. He was one of the first people I ever gave a lesson to. He has a family of five, and loves Mormons and the church, but with his health condition things are hard. The reason why I was able to visit him again was because our boundaries in Aborlan changed, so now he's in my area again. He knows a little bit of English, and tries to use it as much as he can, so that's nice. His wife is very supportive of his decision to be baptized despite his condition, which I'm not completely sure of. He's a great guy and if he just keeps to what he says he'll do, he will most certainly understand that joining the church is the right thing to do.

I love teaching him because he knows a lot of English, and I get to testify in English. And instead of focusing on the words, I can simply focus on him and the Spirit. And put quite simply, the Spirit is the most powerful influence in missionary work! Frankly, it's what keeps me going, when every part of my body says to stop walking, relax, and just go home for the evening. But once I sit down in a lesson and talk about prophets, the restoration, the atonement, the Spirit seeps in to me, and tells me it is true, once again. It fills me with purpose and with hope that I have never felt before in my life. I love doing work because of the Spirit. And the wonderful thing about it is the Spirit it always makes itself known to those who are willing to listen. I testify that it is real, and is the reason why the church is able to progress.

EARLY TRANSFER

September 23, 2013
Aborlan, Palawan

Hello, lahat po kayo! (hello, all of you!)

After district meeting last Tuesday, Pres. Stucki arranged an immediate transfer. But thankfully, it was just in our apartment, and was not for reasons having to do with my companionship with Elder Balonsong. Elder Hart is now my trainer. I have an American companion!  I really miss being Elder Balonsong's companion, because Elder Hart hasn't had experience in OYMing, or tracting. That's all we're doing. But we're both growing so much from this that I know the transfer is the right idea and was revelation from Heavenly Father. 

Wait! I want to teach you all some tagalog before I continue. So... when it comes to showing some possession, you use aking after the item, or ko right after, if it is yours. They both mean the word "my." For example: "That is aking (my) father." Or you can say "That is my father ko (my)." Tagalog is all about switching around word orders, as witnessed in the use of ko, and it constantly boggles aking brain! So I'm going to use that in the rest of email ko

Aking life here now is quite different that what it was when I was with Elder Balonsong. He knew the language very well, and speaking to whoever wasn't a problem for him. Elder Hart hasn't had any experience in door-to-door tracting in his mission, even though he has been on a mission for nine months. So I am forced to actively participate in speaking Tagalog because he isn't completely sure about how to do it either. 

So every day, every hour, every minute is quite the adventure, and while I thought I was already out of my comfort zone, I'm traveling farther and farther away from it every day. Thinking that aking language isn't sufficient is no longer an option. 90% of people don't know any English, and if they do it is rather scarce.

But, ray ko of hope is the members! They've seen brand new missionaries like me come out to the field, and know aking language difficulties, and are always trying to help me overcome them. 

So I'm finally able to get on a good enough computer to send pictures, so here are a bunch! 

This is where we go to email. The backroom is where the computers are.  The weather is actually very nice here most of the time. Honestly, I'm sweating more right now at this computer more than I have the entire week, just because the lady hasn't pointed the fan in my direction yet.

This is a picture of Bro Deo. He is ridiculously funny, and he is typically the key to opening the door to people's houses for us to teach. He seems to know everybody, and teaches the Gospel Principles class and sometimes priesthood. His English isn't the best, but it sure is better than most. Aking next picture is of our ward council meeting. It's in our temporary meeting house. 

What you see in this picture is about half of the size of our church building. It's small, but last Sunday we had 121 attend church, and the week before we set a record in Aborlan of having 129 people there!  

It was raining so hard one time we were  there that water started to pour in. On the right of this picture is the one piano I have been able to play out here in the field. It's out of tune and clanky. 

Interesting side-note: one of the sisters in the ward asked me if I wanted to create a ward choir in Aborlan and be it's first conductor! I graciously accepted, obviously. But, just from hearing people in the congregation sing on Sunday, it will be a challenge. Since nobody knows how to read music here (there are a few that can jot out a melody but not read music), many songs in the hymnbook have been tampered with. So when I'm playing piano on Sunday, the congregation starts singing something in a different rhythm or melody.

Anyways, that's not super important.  

Want to hear a funny story? Ok, well we have this investigator (that was planning on getting baptized on Saturday, but unfortunately cannot because of "kape" or coffee). I asked her how her scripture reading was going, and she said she just finished 1 Nephi. I asked her if she read chapter eight, which is about the the prophet Lehi's Tree of Life vision. Earlier as we were preparing to teach her, I looked up the word for iron, so I could say iron rod in Tagalog. The dictionary said "plantse" so I used that while we talked it about it with her. And I kept on using it, and kept on using it, and kept on using it. Every time I used it it seemed like she was getting more confused. Turns out, I totally forgot that iron has two different meanings! The metal, and the thing we use to iron clothes. Guess which one I used? Once I figured that out, I couldn't stop laughing, and I couldn't explain it to anybody, and aking companion couldn't either.

This lizard lives in our apartment. It makes the funniest sound at random times, but is especially prone to doing so in the night time when we're sleeping. It sounds like: TUUUuukaaaeeeuuu! It's surprisingly clear, so much so that you would expect coming from something else. We want to keep it there because it helps get rid of the bugs that come in.

The next picture shows where exactly it lives. It doesn't move but just stays there, waiting for bugs. And that's my companion. He's right next to our desks, just like the lizard.
 

This is most ko common form of transportation; The glorious, magnificent, sanitation-less, bumpy trike. Usually 5 people fit into it, not including the driver. I often hit aking head on the top when we travel around, because the roads are super rocky all the time.

This is a picture of Elder Hart, my companion, and aking typical lunch at the diner right next to my house. To the left is "baboy" or pig. It costs 35 pesos, or 80 cents. The rice is 16, and the "royal" is about 20. BTW, Royal is the exact same thing as Fanta. I have no idea why it's called that. The next picture is all of the other food that I could have bought for around the same price as baboy. Filipino food has a lot of sodium!

The above picture is of all of the missionaries in aking zone! In the middle is Elder and Sister Gwilliams. They are so sweet and remind me so much of Bro and Sis Patterson that used to live in the Mechanicsville ward. They're my district, so we get to see them at district meetings. Many people are going to be leaving this next transfer, because they will be training missionaries. I just learned that we will be getting 17 new missionaries in Manila this transfer! 

And the next picture is of where Elder Saclot baptized Bro Paller. It's a beautiful place, and I hope I can baptize there in these next six weeks because I probably won't be able to baptize in a river again in my entire mission.

The Lord's work is truly coming forth in these latter days, and proceeding here in the Philippines, and I'm a part of it. Pretty cool, right?

God Loves All of Us...The Work Continues...

Aborlan, Palawan, Philippines, September 16, 2013 

Hello, po lahat kayo!  (hello, all of you!)

GREAT NEWS! Elder Balonsong returned the morning after he left! The feeling I felt when he came in with the senior couple, Bro and Sis Gwilliam, was one of the best feelings I have ever felt in my life. We have not only gotten back to the relationship we had before, but our missionary work has improved. He has had such a great influence on me, and I will surely miss him after these quick twelve weeks will be over. When I was in a threesome with Elder Hart and Saclot, things weren't the same. I wasn't myself, and I missed him a lot.

Things have definitely changed for the better since he’s been back, mainly because I realized that there were many things that were going wrong in the first place. Mainly, I only followed, and didn't try to participate unless asked. I thought that it was just fine, since I was a new missionary, but that most certainly is not the case. Regardless of what part of the mission you’re in and how much you know the language, you’re a missionary and representative of the church.

We have three solid investigators who will be baptized in October! They are Mike, Romeo, and Anthony. I apologize that I do not have any pictures of them for you. But I will do my best to explain what they’re like here. Mike Sevellia is living with a less-active member, Christina. He got introduced to the church by helping build the temporary meetinghouse which we currently use. He has received all of the lessons well, as well as my Tagalog! He’s patient with me. He is a good example of what it means to be humble, because he has had a lot of difficulties in life. October 5^th, his baptismal date, will not only be the day of his baptism, but also of his marriage! He and Christina will be getting married the morning of the baptismal service. Elder Balonsong and I are planning on buying him a tie and shirt he can wear to church as a wedding gift.  Because the baptismal font in the meetinghouse that is currently being constructed is not available, we will be baptizing him in a river. What a rare opportunity! There is only one other area in the entire Manila mission that has that opportunity.

I actually got to see Elder Saclot baptize somebody in the river that Mike will be baptized in—and it is magandang maganda! (very beautiful). It is breathtaking.  I so wish I could go swimming there. But alas, the white handbook says not to.

 But, today for P-day we all went down there and played chess and cards (the white handbook doesn't say otherwise!) as well as skipped rocks.

On our way back, we got caught in a rainstorm, and stopped at a member’s house. They had a rambutan tree, and we had a ton of fun trying to get some rambutan down from the tree while we were getting soaked. It's so delicious it didn't really matter.  The next picture is how to get it off of the trees. Basically there's a little hook at the end of that pole that you can snag them down. But it's also fun to just whack the entire tree to get some rambutan.

 

 

Our other investigator is Romeo. He's 24, and lives in a very small humble, house. We haven't taught him as much as we want to, because he often works in the mountains and isn't home. But his brother served a mission and lives with him. So he is a very good influence on him. He's had a hard life. He's divorced and hasn't found direction in life. We try our best to encourage him, and really he just needs to trust in the Lord. It's hard for us to talk to him about those things because he has to sacrifice so much just get to church, which would be the equivalent of 50 cents.

Lastly, we have Anthony. Because we didn't know he was a member at first, we have had only one lesson with him.  He’s actually been attending church for the past five weeks with his member friend. We showed him the restoration DVD, and afterwards he said that he knew the church and the Book of Mormon are true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We promptly gave him a baptismal invitation for Oct 5th which he immediately accepted.

There! As you can see, the month of October will be very rewarding for us in Palawan. The work in the language and in the gospel is paying off more and more each day. I'm obviously not perfect in the language, but I can speak in the language pretty well, but it depends on the conversation.

My personal and companionship study have changed my view about how much I know about the gospel. Being one who was raised in the church, attended seminary and institute and BYU religion classes, and has read the scriptures regularly, I may know more about some things than others, but the more I learn about the gospel, the more I realize I don't know about the gospel. The best part about that realization is that it gets more and more exciting with every new thing that I learn. And I really mean that. The knowledge that I'm constantly gaining from everything about Haggai to Ezra Taft Benson's agricultural position and relationship to Dwight D Eisenhower is consistently solidifying my testimony that God loves all of us and has given his children many opportunities to learn about the gospel, in order for all of us to have that chance to receive eternal life in the presence of our loving Father in Heaven. The work continues that I've been studying. And I'm a part of it! How lucky am I? 

Small and Simple Things in Aborlan on the Island of Palawan

Mon 9/9/2013 4:48 AM

Hello, everybody!

This picture is just of the main area in Aborlan.  It’s not a very interesting picture, but that's because there's not a lot of specific or unique things to take pictures of.  I’ll try to do better next week.

I've realized in the past that I have done a terrible job in talking about the "Small and Simple" things that I promised I would do in my emails, and instead just about things that happen in my life that aren't that... well... unique to my mission. So here are a few observations:

1 Trikes are the way of travel to specific neighborhoods. Usually they cost about 20 pesos (50 cents) per person for maybe one or two miles. We often ride with people we don't know, and it's often very crowded. If we need to go a farther distance, then we take a Jeepney or a UV. Jeepneys are pretty crummy, but UVs are excellent. Depending on the distance it can be from 20-40 pesos per person. If we're going a really long distance, we go in a bus. But missionaries don't like it cuz there's often extremely inappropriate (and out of date) music playing.

2 Brown outs are extremely common. Everybody has candles ready for them.

3 I've gotten used to seeing frogs and lizards around my house. And I hear pigs all the time getting slaughtered. Interesting fact: they sound EXACTLY like zombies.

4 I love the fruits they have here, but all of them are a little bit different. Like, the bananas are usually a third of the size of regular bananas in America. Also, I've come to love their green oranges, jackfruit, mangos, and guavas

5 Filipinos have no idea of food storage. You buy everything you need for your day, and just anticipate you'll do the same tomorrow. So, it's very common to buy things like mints or small pieces of candy (i.e. "fun size") individually.

6 80% of the time, people accept us into their house to hear our message, and they're very nice. But, on the opposite end, sometimes when they see us coming they literally run away. Like, we see them run away. Tumawa kami! (We laugh)

7 People often ask about America. The most common question is "Does it rain in America?" I think it's funny, but I try to be nice.

8 They don't have traditional medicine. Like, they have never heard of Pepto Bismol, and if you want to buy Tylenol, you have to buy them individually, which stinks.

9 I've gotten used to going over rickety bridges. Filipinos seem to just prance over them, but I fear for my life. But it's getting better.

10 Houses don't have individual addresses, but are just on the street. So to find a specific house on a street you have to ask the neighbors, which naturally opens up a conversation about who we are and our church, which is wonderful.

11 Filipino brands are always super duper cheap, but American brands are the same price. Exclusion: soda.

12 Filipinos are very conservative. For example, if you want a soda, the person behind the counter opens up the bottle and pours it into a plastic bag and gives you a straw, and then recycles the bottle.

13 That goes for money, as well. In other words, they never have correct change for their customers, which is really unfortunate for us because missionaries get only 1000 peso bills, and most purchases are only about 50 pesos or so.

14 The houses are far off of the ground, so that rain can run underneath the house, not through it. I think that is found only in Palawan, though, and not Manila.

15 Sometimes, the language here is very tedious. Sometimes there are three times as many syllables in Tagalog to give the equivalent in English. But, other times, it's quite the opposite. For example, words like "ganon" means something like “that.” Or "daw" means “So they say.”

16 People have no concept of safety. I'm ashamed to admit this seems normal to me now, too.  Everybody walks carefree while trikes and jeepneys are passing right by. It's not uncommon for a car to pass you going at 50 mph and you're only 5 feet away from it.

17 Palawan is beautiful. I especially love the nights, cuz there's not a lot of pollution, and I'm surrounded by palm trees and natural wildlife, that has been, up to this point, friendly.  :D

18 Out of all the animals Filipinos are fond of, what would you think it would be? Well, it's the squirrel. It's a big deal when you find a squirrel. Yeah, I can't believe it.

So there's just a few things about Life in the Philippines!

My week has gone really well, and I've made a lot of progress in the language. I find that reading the Book of Mormon is my most helpful language study. I really enjoy reading it in Tagalog, cuz I can feel the Spirit and learn the language at the same time. People here are telling me one missionary was able to become fluent in the language by two months cuz he read the BoM in Tagalog, so I'm convinced.

My companion and I bonded quite well.  But I am very sorry to say that my companion/trainer, who I looked so much up to in this time, decided to leave his mission today, and is gone. It's a very sad day today.  Your prayers for him would be nice.  So now I'm in a threesome companionship with the other two missionaries here. It's not certain when I'll be getting my next trainer, or if I will get one at all, or just continue in this threesome companionship.

But you should know that I'm pushing through! I'm in love with the work I'm doing. Really, the trials are here to make me grow. Many of the missionaries who are having the hardest time here on the mission seem to be struggling because they constantly think about their life back home. I've found that if I just continue to focus on the job at hand, and not heed the devil on my left shoulder, life becomes easier. So really, besides the heartbreaking event that happened today, my week has been the best week of my life because I wanted it to be. There is so much more of me that I have given that I did not know I had.

With love,

Elder Thurber

"Every day I feel more and more comfortable with the language."

9/2/2013 Aborlan, Palawan

Hello!

I have felt especially lucky that when I was at the MTC, I got to know some absolutely fantastic and inspiring people, who really have strengthened my testimony and determination here in Palawan. For this reason, I was so excited to see them at zone conference! It was the closest I have felt, lately, to being close to home. But, the only issue is that they all looked super stressed. There isn't any easy way to get around the adjustment of speaking in a new language.

After zone conference, I got to go to the mall, which is a special opportunity for me because there isn't any mall close by me at all. I splurged and spent 1250 pesos (about 30 bucks) on "Beginning Tagalog: For Non-Tagalogs and Foreigners." It has been a great help! It showed me so much stuff that I wasn't able to learn at the MTC, and that my tatay (companion) can't confidently explain to me.  Every day I feel more and more comfortable with the language. That's been my motto here.

But it doesn't mean that life is getting any easier. You would think that because I've been out here for almost two months now, I would kind of get used to the program, but that is not the case. There's so much I always need to do. But at the same time, I have experienced greater rewards as time has gone on here.

 It's always fun to go proselyting next to schools, because everybody just stops and stares at me, and when I try to go up and talk to them, they just continue to stare shamelessly. I suppose I'm the first young American they have ever seen. (There are a few ex-pats here, but they usually seem a bit odd).

Additionally, when I go proselyting, people are sometimes quite amazed to hear an American speaking Tagalog (in the middle of nowhere). But it often leads into a great conversation that allows me to practice my conversational (i.e. non- teaching) skills, which is nice. That's definitely one of the more rewarding parts of my mission.

I'm not only getting used to the language here, but also to how people say things. Like, if I ask somebody to repeat a specific word in the sentence, they will repeat the entire sentence, regardless of how long the sentence is. They never give a “yes” or “no” answer, but try to explain things more clearly. They're always nervous at first to meet me, but physical touch seems to really help them connect with me. But sometimes, they're very upfront about things. Like, on Saturday, this member-lady told me I was getting fat. I wasn't talking to her before. She just came up to me, and just said it!

And yes, it is sligggghtly true. Frankly, it's cuz of the bread. It's ridiculously cheap, and has a TON of yeast and usually stuffed with something like cream or cheese. And it's delicious. And when I say cheap, I mean realllly cheap. Most pieces of the bread are from like 1 to 5 pesos. 

My companion rarely speaks to me in English, and a lot of times I don't know where we're going, or what we're teaching, or who we're teaching. GAAHH I wish I could just learn this darn language! But, I know it's coming, and I can start putting more focus on other things, like the people.

Hey, I changed my mind. Would you please continue to send DearElder stuff? I really do like it after all.

Elder Thurber

8/26/2013 Banal na baka! (Holy Cow!)

Monday, 8/26/2013

Aborlan, Palawan

Banal na baka!

Hey! 

Sorry for the weird title. I've just been saying it a lot. Translated, it means holy cow. But obviously that's not a saying in Tagalog. But I still say it and it makes the people laugh a lot, so why not give them a taste of America?  But seriously, I've noticed since I've been here that there are so many colloquialisms in English! It makes translation sometimes a struggle. Lately, I've been noticing that my thought patterns are becoming much more simple so I can translate them into Tagalog pretty easily. 

I've also noticed that the people here aren't any different from the people in America. The only difference is their wealth, the language, and the environment. There are still deacon’s collars here. There are ward activities here. There are knowledgeable saints here and uneducated saints here. Time and time again I notice similarities between people I meet and people I know back home. 

Oh yeah--one other difference. The rain. It's always muddy here, and my umbrella saves me. Thankfully, I bought some rubber shoes for the equivalent of 4 dollars or so. What a deal! I'm wearing them right now. I'm always walking through dirt. I have to wash my shoes every day after I use them. 

I'm not progressing as much as I want to in listening to the language. I'm learning plenty of words and can often speak clearly for the Filipinos to understand me, but it's so hard to understand them. They talk so fast! I have my hypothesis why. Here's my premise: regardless of the language, people stream a certain amount of thoughts into their language at a certain rate. Because Tagalog requires more syllables than English does, they need to speak faster to keep up with their train of thought. I constantly ask people to help me with the language and to speak slowly. People are naturally helpful I've found out. 

There are plenty of remarkable things that happen here. For one, my companion and I tracted this one house that belonged to the "Simbahan Ni Cristo" church. Do you remember last week when I talked about Eglecian ni Cristo church? Well, it started in the Filippines, even though it has a Spanish name. Well, the “Simbahan ni Cristo” is the exact same name, only in Tagalog! It's only five years old. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. 

I gave a talk in church on Sunday. Lemme say... if you think writing a talk in English is hard, try writing one in another language you've been learning for only a month in a half. That's all. Oh, and Mike Sibellia came to church on Sunday, along with many of our other investigators! They all seem to be right on track. We actually hit two birds with one stone by teaching Mike; most of the rest of his family are inactive, and they came to church too! 

The people in our branch are great. We have a few RMs, and a lot of less-actives. About a third of all of our lessons are to less-actives. One of them lives literally 50 feet from the church, whereas some of the ward members have to travel 30 minutes by jeepney to get to church in the morning, which is quite a lot of money for them. 

My companion is an inspiration to me. He paid for his mission by himself. Additionally, he lived on his own when he was 15, and supported himself from that time on because his parents said they couldn't support him. He ALWAYS works hard. He has a good attitude. He constantly goes door to door with a smile on his face is and is bold enough to ask if people (who seem disinterested in us) if they want to hear the message. He's invited at least 30 people to church this past Sunday. He always tells them that I'm speaking, and they laugh a little bit. Sometimes they don't listen to him, but they often do because they realize that he is a caring person and stuff. 

A lot of people do not care about modesty, at least as American’s view modesty! Multiple times the women we’ve been teaching just out of the blue start breast feeding! Ahhhh! Culture-shock! On top of that, basically all of the kids under 4 years old don't wear pants, and go to the bathroom whenever they want, and wherever they want. 

I went on my very first exchange last Thursday with District Leader Elder Vang, who is "Mong," which is a race somewhere in Asia. He looks like Psy. He was really cool and taught good lessons, but it made me miss my tatay (dad) Elder Balonsong, because he is just so inspiring and fluent when talking and connecting with people. 

I hope to achieve that. It'll take a lot of time, though! Elder Hart, who is the other trainer in our house, says that he still doesn't feel fluent, and he's been out for 9 months. He can understand what people are saying most of the time, but when it comes to conversing he doesn't have the confidence that Elder Balonsong has to talk and joke with whoever he wants to approach. 

So, I'd like to say that I really do have the best trainer and companion in the mission. People said it at the mission home, and I believe it. 

I also am very lucky to be in Palawan right now because, in case you keep up with Filipino news, Manila is currently flooded right now, and missionaries there are supposed to either serve or stay inside the apartment.  I got an email just now from President Stucki saying that one missionary companionship got severely shocked while trying to serve. So again, I'm lucky to be where I am right now.

My companion and I are having a lot of success right now. About 8 people or so have accepted baptismal dates! It's always wonderful to hear their "opo" (yes) after some thought, because I know they're that much closer to returning to God!

Zone conference is tomorrow. Words cannot express my excitement to see my fellow batch-mates once again, even if there are only two of them. Also, I can't wait for good, American food! Here in Aborlan, there's walang (zero) fast food places. I think there's only one other mission that doesn't have any. It will be a great day. 

Yeah. I'm in the middle of nowhere. It's a good life! It's all very green and humid, but not as much as Virginia. Palm trees, natural wildlife, and a people who love the life they're living is the scene of Aborlan.

I love talking about my family and friends back home to the people here, even though I usually have to speak in broken Tagalog. It makes things always just a little more bearable thinking about the wonderful life I've had before coming on the mission. But it doesn't compare being on my mission! I'm certain I'm starting the best two years here. 

Mahal ko po kayo, kaibigan ko sa America! (I love you, friends in America!)

Elder Thurber 

P.S. here is my address for my LETTERS

Elder Matthew John Thurber

Philippines Manila Mission

PO Box 1997

Makati Central PO, Makati City

1200 Metro Manila

Philippines

.... and my address for my PACKAGES

Elder Matthew John Thurber

Philippines Manila Mission

19 H.V. Dela Costa Street

Makati City

1222 Metro Manila

Philippines

Please, oh please, oh please send me stuff!