What a Year Has Taught Me; Mabuhay, Kaibigan!; Malapit Na

What a Year Has Taught Me

Mon 6/30/2014

Dear Everybody,

Saturday I performed my first baptism personally! Mark Castillon said he felt like I would be best because I'm like the only person taller than him. It was such a sweet experience. I was so nervous! I gave him a big hug right afterwards. And just yesterday he worked with us and bore such a heartfelt testimony to investigators of learning of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon just like he, himself, was doing only 2 weeks ago.

I can't believe this Saturday is my one year mark since I left American soil to teach the gospel. I wish I could just share with you what I've learned over the years, in three main points. 

1st: God lives and loves you more than you know. 

That may sound a little stereotypical, but goes a little deeper when you understand what kind of love He gives to you. He trusts you enough to give you trials. He has pointed us to the map to return back to him. You don't need to guess. It's the scriptures. For me, I've learned that to realize how applicable scriptures are, you just need be willing to believe. That belief turns you to Him, and to start loving Him. You find yourself praying because you realize how close He actually is to you and you understand He will guide you.  

How could I learn this from serving a mission? It's because I get to see people who are going through these things just as much as I am. I've also noticed the people who understand that God is loving are the happiest. That love they feel then turns into action and repentance. We invite our investigators to pray the very first lesson. Often times they're muddled and awkward, just as I was when I first started speaking Tagalog!

2nd: Families need the gospel and the priesthood to stay intact. 

Above you see several pictures I took of the Lovendino couple, who just got married this Saturday! It was a small wedding, but it was sweet and joyful. They're getting their lives straight. 

 I interviewed a man for baptism for the second time, right after the baptism. I felt he wasn't ready for baptism, even though there weren't completely clear markers for why he shouldn't be baptized. The sisters were a little puzzled and maybe angry at me, because they were planning on getting him married then baptized right afterwards. I slowed down the process. But when I called them on Monday night to follow-up a little bit, they said that me failing him was the best thing I could've done for him, for several reasons. The rest of his family has slowly all been getting baptized, except for him. He, who should set the example, was the last one. He got very discouraged about everything, but he started taking the lessons more seriously and prayed for spiritual confirmation. And he got it! It didn't take me long to pass him in the follow-up interview, because the spirit was so strong. He's going to be the priesthood holder who can bless his family! 

3rd: God will strengthen you as you try your best

It's made possible through the enabling power of Jesus Christ. He took upon us our trials in the Garden of Gethsemane. This power is available to everybody, at any time. This past week, we set a goal for 30 new investigators, and tried talking to everybody, and just using every moment wisely. We fell short, only getting 14. But, I felt like I tried my hardest, and we taught many people. One, in particular, stood out to me. We had to wait for Mark, (the one who got baptized on Saturday) and we could've just waited for a few minutes for him to finish up showering, but I said "Hey, Elder Vaivai, have you walked down that area before? Let's go see what's down there." And then we met a very nice taxi-driver who doesn't have any religion who wants to get closer to God. If I had set a lower goal, would have I had the motivation to do such thing? If you don't try your best, do you think you would find such miracles in your life? 

I've just been experiencing these types of things in the past year, and I know that they're true. It makes my vision more clear and more focused as a missionary. I just can't wait to get moving, because I know God will strengthen me, because He loves me. And He loves each person I talk to as much as He loves me. 

Love,

Elder Thurber

P.S. Virginia hotdogs? C'mon! What a disgrace! :)

Mabuhay, Kaibigan! 

(Link following is for an article in the Liahona about the Philppines)

http://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/liahona-april-2014/2014-04-09-the-philippines-spiritual-strength-upon-the-isles-of-the-sea-eng.pdf

If you've read the April 2014 Liahona issue which featured the Philippines, you would know that means "Hello, friend!" Obviously, nobody says that in the US, but there's your Tagalog for the day. For me, I am discovering, in this area more than others, that I am quite the sensation: Whoa.... Americano..... He has blond hair and he's super white. I get to hear such things as that all day long going to and from appointments, and have good full share of high fives from kids playing outside, and the classic "Hey, Joe!" from construction workers here. 

On the other hand, people are usually very surprised to realize that Elder Vaivai (it sounds like bye-bye) is Samoan, and usually start talking to him, asking if I'm good in English. My companion's the man! I found out the other day that his dad is the stake patriarch, and they share almost everything in the Samoa. I like it. In fact, we're wearing each other's tie, and we just split the cost for groceries! Why can't we adopt that? 

At the Temple

Elder Thurber and Elder Vaivai at the temple

The Temple

Market Market

Market Market

Some of the pictures I've included are of Market-Market, the mega-store here in the Philippines. After we went to the temple, we went there to pick up groceries only go to outside and see a line to get in a jeepney that was literally a quarter of a mile. The worst part it wasn't even moving. We eventually, out of pure frustration, decided to walk home. I'll admit, I was frustrated that such a thing would happen.

Walking home

And then I read in PMG about patience, which says:

"Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious."

I'd be kidding myself to say I had scored a perfect score on that. I'm sure most of us have had situations in our lives where we think "Oh, what? This is not my fault, and now I have to do this?" When we started walking home, it started raining, all the while we were carrying our groceries home. 

Then on Thursday, I went to the "Specialized Leadership Training," with Elder Merrill. Afterwards, we took a taxi and then all got dropped off at Elder Merrill's area, which is right next to Market Market. Once again we got stuck in the line at Market Market. I was just about to blow up! We had scheduled important appointments to go to, that would all flop. And then I decided to ask my companion what to do, and he just said we should wait in line. I grudgingly did so, and realized it was the best decision. It is usually the best decision to wait with a smile, and then you never know what good may come out of it. Turns out, we met a man in the line at Market Market that we got to teach a few days ago. It turned my day around.

All I'm really trying to say, is that patience brings many,  many blessings to those who do it right by being happy! 

Bye! 

Elder Thurber

Tue 6/17/2014

Malapit Na

What a week! 

I got to attend Mark-Joseph's baptism on Thursday, which is Independence Day in the Philippines. I forgot my camera, but I'm asking for a picture from some members.  He said at the end that he's decided to serve a mission! Woop! What faith! 

On top of that, our investigator, Mark Castillon, said, after the baptism, that he isn't far away! He actually said "Malapit na" which, translated, is something like "It's close now.  And just yesterday I was speechless when he said that his baptism will be on the 28th! There will actually be 5 people baptized that day. 

Love ya'll!

Pictures:

We splurged and went all American at Sbarro! 

What.... is.... this??? Market-Market has everything 

This is Brother Tagpuno and Kacey, who lives on a pole. They're both friendly, and Kacey loves to eat dead skin off of Brother Tagpuno's hair.

This is our "euro-style" apartment. We're on the third floor, and right above is a small basketball court we exercise at every morning. 

The usual urban streets here. 

 

I don't think I've mentioned before how many types of rice you can buy in the Philippines! Some are more expensive just because they have a certain aroma. I'm not even sure they truly is anything different about any of them, I think people just love having their own brand. 

Mon 6/9/2014 

Walang Oras!

That means no time in Tagalog!

My companion's awesome! He's from Samoa, and cracks me up. 

We go to church in a "meetinghouse" which is three stories high, and is right above a clothing store.

The best part is that there's an enormous catholic church across the street which you can see outside of Sunday School. But it's okay, because all these members are awesome!

There are only 6 people in my District. Sisters Jones, Romero, Burce, and Dissanayaka (from the United Arab Emirates). I know them all. 

Adios!

Will Be Transferred Wednesday; 3 Day Mission; Prelude Music for 2 Hours!

Hi!

This, I just found out, is my last week here in the Pamplona Ward. I'm going to go be transferred over to Bonifacio 3rd Ward on Wednesday. I don't really know too much about this area, so we'll see how it goes. 

I s'pose I had the best time of my life in Pamplona! We had what is called a "3 Day Mission." (Do we have those kind of things in America? We should!) I got to spend Wednesday and Thursday with about 3 ward missionaries who dove into missionary work, trying to invite everybody who would respond to us to the open house! On Sunday, most of the youth bore their testimonies! The missionary spirit has simply sky-rocketed in this ward. 

And it'll continue to go on after I leave! Elder Saclot (from my first area) is going to become district leader and the follow-up trainer to Elder Mullins! I laughed so hard when I heard that. Also, Elder Limocon will be the next AP! He's been my zone leader for literally all of my mission except for 1 transfer! 

I won't be here to see the baptism of Josephine unfortunately. She has been a golden investigator from the beginning, and now says she wants to serve a mission! She's already memorized the 13 Articles of Faith, and takes notes from her reading. Maybe she'll even leave on her mission before I come home! 

On top of all of this craziness that's been happening, we were privileged to hear from Elder Christensen on Friday. It started at 3, but Pres Stucki wanted us to be there at 2:30. Sister Stucki called me and said that I would be playing piano, so we had to get there early. But, it turns out we got there at 1, along with basically the whole mission. So I played prelude for literally two hours, straight. Thankfully I used the prelude book my mom gave me. 

Six Blog Posts from Elder Thurber (April 21st- May 26th, 2014)

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

May 26th, 2014

Dr. Doom goes to Mall of Asia

Dear everybody!

Well, we taught a whole dang lot this week! As Elder Mullins' training is coming to an end, we're sprinting to the finish, so to speak. 

MOA, obviously, was just fantastic. We got to see extraordinary things in normal clothes. I forgot how comfortable jeans can be. I got a bunch of souvenirs I hopefully can send out back to you all sometime soon if you're lucky.

My parents decided to send me a Dr. Doom action figure a while ago, so I decided to put him to use. He had a great time in MOA! (Mall of Asia)

Shoot... I lost track of time. I'll talk more about our teaching next week! 

Bye!

Elder Thurber 

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

May 19th, 2014

"September 21, 1923"

Friends and Family,

As you can see from the first picture, I was pretty excited to go down to zone conference in Buendia chapel this past Wednesday! It was President Stucki's last Zone Conference to all of us, and he emphasized Elder Ballard's talk on Following-up

So... I guess I needa ask you all some questions. Hopefully I won't scare the very few viewers of my blog away. 

1st: Do you have a copy of Preach My Gospel? 

2nd: Will you try to share the gospel at least 4 times a year? 

3rd: From the missionary experiences you've had, do you feel like you've adequately followed up? 

I'm not trying to criticize you for anything. Rather, I'm just excited about missionary work! I don't care if it's in my area or the other side of the world. To tell you the truth, I'm fed up with the wickedness of the world, and we need to do everything we can in our power to bring people unto Christ! It amazes me what I can do. Just earlier today, Elder Mullins and I got a pleasantly surprising text from our investigator who just needs to get married. She said (in the English language): 

“Have you ever wonder why you’re still on earth? 

It's to help other people.”

It's a good point right? I feel it more and more every day that the gospel is the only thing that'll help people the most.

It's amazing how some people just recognize it, and others take their time. We taught this lady "Nanay Esperanza" for the second time last Friday. When we started teaching the restoration she interrupted and said, “I know that what happened in September 21, 1923 is true! Because it happened!"

I was kind of dumbfounded, and assumed she was talking about the first vision, so I dumbly said that "Uhhh... it says here it happened in 1820." Little did I know she read the introduction to the B.o.M, three times, and has already prayed and received an answer that it's all true. Not surprisingly, she accepted the baptismal date. Before we left, she remarked, "It's not important whether or not you believe it's true or not,  if it's true." Ha! I couldn't have said it better myself (especially in Tagalog).

And then there's people like me. Looking back, it took me a whole long time to gain a spiritual testimony of what we teach all day long is true. And I decided to put my testimony into motion towards conversion by serving a mission. 

Sorry I'll get off of my soap-box right now and tell you about my week.

On Monday, after emailing, Elder Mullins and I went to this mall and got customized t-shirts! It's the third picture. It says "Hindi ko alam. Basta, totoo and Aklat ni Mormon." Translated, it means "I don't know. Anyways, The Book of Mormon is true." That's what we're wearing right now, as we're going out bowling in the Mall of Asia! We have already got some people asking about it. 

Shoot now I'm out of time! See you all next week!

Elder Thurber

 Gwuapo, for those unfamiliar with Spanish, just means handsome.

The check mark I did with my hand in picture 3 is just a sign to say "guapo" 

 These are centimos, that are practically worthless, unless they're together! We've been saving them for quite some time now, and we'll maybe be able to buy lunch with it before me and Elder Mullins get torn apart!

 I got my hymnbook "leathered" by this lady who does stuff like that for the all the missionaries. It was about 10 bucks.

 I thought I could be adventurous and buy a bunch of quail eggs, but it turns out they're just like regular eggs.... 

Elder Thurber

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

May 12th, 2014

"The Four Minute Mile and Our Life on Earth"

Maaaaagandang araw sa inyong lahat! (beautiful to you all!)

My week has been so fabulous. My Tagalog has really been clicking, and, as my family can protest, [attest] my English is failing me, so I apologize if the rest of my blog entries seem to be written by... well... a Filipino. :D 

I feel like I could write a book, with the blog entry title being its title. I love being a runner, and find great joy out of being fit and running half-marathons. Obviously, I'm not quite to a full-marathon yet, but I would love to get there. It's inspired by somebody told me just yesterday while we were walking to an appointment. "Oh, it's those Mormonizers again!"

In a sense, us missionaries are like running recruiters. We want everybody to become runners, to help others see the joy running [or the gospel] can bring to the people we meet. I always say to the people we meet that "We have a message that will be able to help you.” And I truthfully believe that it can. Hopefully, they'll listen. They'll maybe even believe that it will help them. 

But that is nothing more than watching a show about marathoners. While you may be inspired, you have work to do, that nobody else can do for you except yourself. So we give commitments, small at first (i.e. "will you please read the introduction to the Book of Mormon before we return?" or "will you run one lap around the block before tomorrow?") causing them to exercise their muscles, previously unused. They most definitely don't feel the pleasure out of running, do they? They're just testing the waters.

Sadly, most people don't take the advice of the recruiters. They go back to their lives, and sadly, we put them in the "former investigators" section. But, there are those who take our word for it. When we return, we hear they ran 10 laps! Or they read the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon! They come to church! They know it's true. They get the support of those who enjoy running (or the church members) and sign up for.... the marathon of baptism. 

There's obviously a wait from the time people sign up for a marathon and then run the race. In the same sense, there's a time period from when an investigator accepts a baptismal date and gets baptized. It's a time of great discovery of one's own capabilities, and to discover true happiness! There comes a point where the missionaries say "Where did you read in the Book of Mormon?" Rather than "iid you read the Book of Mormon?" 

And then the marathon begins, and, unfortunately, some fall off the path. In the Manila Phillippines mission, we have a goal of 92% retention. People have their reasons, and lose the chance to reap the rewards of finishing. 

I'm still in this marathon. In fact, I'm not even close to finishing! But it's great! 

So why is this the four minute mile? Well, you have to look at everything in its correct view. Compared to eternal life, our life on earth is just... four minutes. That's something we could all consider once in a while. It's tough, but, wouldn't you agree it's worth it? 

I testify it is! It's a great feeling, and I am soooo thankful I'm a missionary and gospel recruiter, and am helping people see the joy I do. 

Have a great week!

Elder Thurber

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

May 5, 2014 

Proper prior preparation precedes power

Dear Americans, 

It's funny to think that I'm coming up on my one-year mark, being out here in the Philippines. It’s still a few months away, but hey! Let's review what's gone on:

July 5: Elder Thurber entered the Manila Philippines Airport at 1 AM, tired, exhausted, and so confused, as everybody tried to speak to him in Tagalog

July 6: Entered the MTC, and spent six weeks there with Elder Langi, my Tongan companion. I tried to learn Tagalog, and thought I was pretty good by the time I got out. 

August 15: Got trained by Elder Balonsong down in Aborlan, Palawan, and quickly learned I didn't know Tagalog at all! I got worked to the bone, and forgot what being in the comfort zone feels like. Gained a great appreciation for my "tatay," and we achieved great numbers. 

About September 20th: Got a new trainer, Elder Hart, and switched areas. Was with him for two transfers, and started to "get" Tagalog, but still had a hard time. 

December 18th: Much to my surprise, I would finish up training an.... American! Elder Chong was his name. I prayed a lot about why on earth I was asked to train an American, because I was far from perfect in Tagalog. Turns out,it was perfect, and Tagalog started coming quickly, and I was able to help him progress, too! It wasn't perfect, but I learned a lot. 

January 29th I got transferred back to the city of Manila, and became companions with Elder Rafon, who would be returning to Tacloban after the transfer was over. I basically didn't speak English the entire transfer, except in the apartment, because he didn't know too much English. 

March 12th I was asked, once again, to train another American, and become a district leader. I get to see first hand everything I went through. 

So.... what did I learn? It's been a while! Well, from the numbers that we're achieving, I have grown to understand the importance of.... 

[Guess?]

Christ-like attributes. 

Just like any commandment, principle, or doctrine, we experience and gain a testimony of the truth of the thing by doing it! Would you like to know the church is true, the gospel is true, and that it will change your life? Read John 7:17. There is no substitute for knowing the gospel is true is by doing it. 

That's my testimony to everybody, anywhere. That I have found for myself that all of what I'm teaching is true because I have I done it. Christ's church is a church of proactivity, which is a word I just made up. Sorry. I'm losing my English. 

Picture 1: Nestor Sedon's baptism. He's Pamplona B's new recent convert. (was that redundant?) We had a great turn out at the ward, and I had the opportunity to interview him. 

Picture 2: Brother Nestor ready to get baptized by Brother Areiola, with Sister Murray and Sister Riddle. Sister Riddle actually never taught him, but both of their companions were sick on Saturday, so they went on exchanges. Interesting fact: I had to write Sister Wells on the baptismal record because he's her investigator, but, because of the transfers that happened this week, and her being sick, she never got a chance to meet him until he got confirmed on Sunday! 

Picture 3: President Stucki wanted all of the district leaders at Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) on Wednesday, so I got to see all of my batchmates here :) 

....As well as my trainer, Elder Hart. 

Picture 5: And this is the official 
MLC, consisting of the Stucki couple, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. They all wore crazy glasses because President Stucki wants us to see the "vision" he has for us, that we just can't see yet. 

Picture 6: This is me and Elder Zook, who used to be companions with Elder Chong. True story: the tie I'm wearing right then is the tie he gave Elder Chong, who then gave it to me. 

I love you all!

Elder Thurber

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

Mon, Apr 28, 2014 

"Is That Me?"

Good day!

A lot of good things happened this week. We welcomed in the arrival of Sister Wells and Sister Ordiz, who just came back from shotgunning their previous area, to shotgunning this area! We basically split our area in half and gave it to them. Sister Wells is from Mesa, Arizona, and is relatively new and is always smiling. Sister Ordiz, on the other hand, has only 2 months left here before she heads back to Mindanao. She was a Sister Training Leader before, and is super diligent.

Our coordination meeting took forever this Sunday with the new sisters and all. We did it with Denver Dacanay, a RM, who is fluent in English. One of the things we discussed was the "new and returning member form," because we got two just this past week. After I asked him if he knew what we were talking about he said, "Oh, is that me?" He actually had a point because he's LA! I really wanted to say him "No, you're next week." But I just kept silent.

We have a great progressing investigator now who comes from a returning member family! Her name is Judelyn, and she's a katulong. Alright time for a quite Tagalog lesson: “tulong” means help. If you put “ka” at the beginning of a word usually, it means something like "to be with." For example, kahouse would be "of the same house." or kamission would mean "of the same mission." So, katulong means something like "helper." In the Philippines, everything inside is kept spotless. I've never taught in a dirty house. So, if you're well off (i.e. not in poverty or your house has an address on the map) you usually have a katulong, which basically means maid.

Anyways, Judelyn is great! She went to church this past Sunday with the Pada family, learned about the church in their province. She isn't completely fluent in Tagalog (like most people in the Philippines) because she speaks Cebuano. Just like I did with Marisa Aton, I now want to learn Cebuano.  :D

I'm going to the temple right after this, which explains why I'm emailing on Tuesday. I read the "getting ready to enter the temple" booklet we give recent converts. Reading over it made me think about how important going to the temple really is. Suddenly, once you enter, you're entering God's house! You step into a new frame of mind, where you can take your problems and trials that are in your life with new vision. Our perception of God's plan is polished. We understand what we must do. What a great blessing! What a great god to give us such things.

I love you all! I'll take pictures this week.

Elder Thurber

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

Mon, Apr 21, 2014 

Record-breaking Week Ito!!

Tagalog lesson: Tagalog switches up the verb and the noun and adds words like "is, are" and so on. Ito=it. So in English it would be: this is a record breaking week!!

Truth be told, we met almost all of our Key Indicators this week, and we're pushing along.

On Friday, there was a huge parade, where we saw enormous statues of Jesus and Mother Mary, with people crunched together, holding candles. Sorry, no pictures! I can't while proselyting.

I absolutely LOOOOVEEE being a missionary! I've never been this happy in my life. It came to me the other day, when I mentioned Bro Gabino to a Less Active member. There is absolutely no comparison to the joy I feel when I'm able to bring people into the gospel. Nothing! Don't believe anybody who says they don't have time for a mission. Here's my challenge to you: go watch Mission Impossible. Missionary work is like that, only souls are at stake, not money.

pictures:

1.  Chicken feet! The Inocencio family gave us it last Family Home Evening. Get this: we found this guy named Mark who wants to come back to church, and his friend, Mark, who wants to join the church, all in the same lesson! FHE rocks!

2. This is the Mormon Batallion, coming on to church two Sundays ago! Woo!!














3. This is me, getting ready to spread the gospel.

4. Introduce yourself to Sara, the brand new Caverte family member! Brother Gabino called us at 3:00 AM on Saturday morning, telling us if we could come by and give Sister Rose Caverte a blessing after the procedure. Unfortunately, we slept through the text, but thankfully got to visit him the next night and give them our congratulations (and a small cake).

5. Us before the priesthood session, lookin' guapo (handsome).

6. This bishop (far left) and his family decided to take us our to some suuuuper expensive restaurant, Cecil's, the night before conference. It rocked, bigtime!

7. My zone leaders,  shining with power.

8. The sisters in my district. From left: Sister Riddle, Romero, Garcia, Murray. Sister Garcia makes clothes, hence, the matching clothes.

9. Mary-Ann Inocencio cutting up some mangos or "mangga." They're unripe, but that's how they like it. They dip it in this fish sauce, too.

10. Me and Elder Mullins going home after a long day of soul-saving. I thought the jeepney looked so posh, I had to take a picture.

11. Termite infestation! Ahhh!!! Don't worry, mom, it's fixed.
















12. Simon, ready for church. For being so young, he's got a bright future in the church! He's going to go on a mission, for sure.

13. Translation: It's not allowed to pee here. Poop? Try it.  

Elder Thurber

The 12 week program and 10 hours of conference AND The Power of Fasting

Mon 4/14/2014

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

The 12 week program and 10 hours of conference

Dear Friends, Family and Followers,

This week has been crazy, obviously, since I'm a missionary. We're going to be getting two new Elders in the Pamplona ward this upcoming transfer, so we're trying to split the area, and most likely, we'll have to give Brother Gabino to them.   :'(   It's alright, though; we've got so many good investigators who are progressing in our area, I remain a happy missionary.

On top of that, we're getting ready for Holy Week, which isn't exactly a good thing. Point being: people go out on the street, drunk, waving around things symbolizing palm leaves. Apparently, they do these things to show “respect” for the sacrifice of good. This is the point where I need to vent. Let's be honest, who do they think Jesus Christ really, truly is? It's so very disgraceful, mixing in blatant sin with the sacrifice of our Savior and Redeemer. How could something like this get so mixed up!! Frankly, this upcoming week for me will just have to be an example to me of how Satan uses the most ridiculous tactics upon Gods children-- and they accept it. Honestly, he just plants seeds, and then BAM! Cultural acceptance sets in, destroying people's common sense to actually read the Bible and understand its message, rather than glorifying him in vain ways.

So… this week we're using our Word of Wisdom pamphlets to try to destroy his baleful tactics. I'm slowly learning as a missionary that I've just got to live the truth!

My title just kind of describes this week. We basically got one lesson in the whole Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully, we had a full tank of people in Brother Gabino's jeepney which hauled them off to church, including the Pascual family* and their two neighbors who we're teaching: Marisa and Mary-Ann! WOOOO! They all had the wonderful experience of watching General Conference. I, obviously, enjoyed it immensely.

I thought Elder Ballard's talk was particularly touching. And I distinctly remember Elder Packer's statement: "I know God." Can you imagine? His spiritual level? When we sing Follow the Prophet, do we get it? This is important! These men are the men God uses to talk to us! What a great, great blessing! What an opportunity to listen to them for 10 hours! It stinks that people may think two hours is good enough.

On the flipside, I got a cold because of the air-con. But it was worth it cuz I got to hear prophets!

I'm sorry, but once again this computer, like the ones next to it, won't accept my USB for some reason, so no pictures this week, either.

Hey! Do you know what'd totally make me happy? Send me some letters! They're like the WD40 on the machine of missionary work.

I love you all and I know this church is true!

Elder Thurber

*minus the dad. He was called in to work.

Mon 4/7/2014

Las Pinas Village, Manila, Philippines

The Power of Fasting

This week has been delightfully.... exhausting. I don't think I've talked to so many people in my life about the gospel, trying to plant seeds and give out pamphlets, return appointments, ask for referrals, and get their number. On the bright side, I'm getting better at learning names because I constantly have to remember them!

I suppose I have two great experiences I'd like to share today. First, is with Edwin, who has about 8 kids, who are mostly grown up. He opened up to us last week and talked frankly about his cigarette problem. And this week, when we returned, we found out he usually smokes 15 cigarettes a day. Even more surprising, though,  is his willingness to change. But, obviously, that won't happen overnight. In fact, we passed by his house the other day and saw him smoking and drinking with his oldest son. I asked him how he's doing, and he simply said "I'm not good at all." This was only last Saturday.

So why do I think this is a great experience? Well, he accomplished his goals. We started using our Word of Wisdom pamphlet, and there's a goal section, and he's been accomplishing his goals! His most recent one he accomplished is going to church. Out of about 8 missionaries who have taught him previously, I had the awesome privilege of seeing him come through the doors of the church and to see members coming by and shaking his, and his son's, hands (who, incidentally, is not a member. Hmmm...). I truly feel he is going to overcome this problem, and brings me back to the 'ol faithful scripture: Ether 12:27

Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Cesan is second. She has been getting a lot of chiz miz or gossip from the neighbors, who talk bad about her switching religions. Also, she and her husband are struggling financially lately, and can't pay for the necessary procedures to get married for her to be baptized. We suggested to her that we could all fast for her. When we came over on Saturday night to start the fast for her, she looked pretty sad, and said we couldn't teach her tonight, because she has somebody to talk to, and was helping her out. But she still said she would fast, thankfully.

Sunday night finally rolled around with all of us fasting, including Brother Gabino. She didn't come to church earlier that day b/c she didn't have any strength in her-- but she did fast! And she said she received a calm reassurance the night before, telling her that she needed to be baptized. She also gave me a great insight. She said that from one degree or another, we will face adversity just as Jesus Christ did to be able to come back to heaven. I never thought of it that way! She's following Christ through overcoming these problems! I also got to talk to the RS president, who said she would be more than willing to talk to Cesan personally to help them get enough money to get married! 

Once again, this computer doesn't like my camera usb, so I'll just have to send pictures next week.

Love, 

Elder Thurber