We Baptize, We Retain, We Reactivate, We Marry People 3/17/14

March 17^th, 2014

Metro Manila: Pamplona District, Paranaque West East Zone

(Note from Matthew's mom:
Today I posted five blog updates for Matthew's blog.  The first post is the "Starting Over--In Manila; Feb. 3rd & 16th."  I recommend you scroll down and start with that post so you'll understand his story better.)

HAPPY SAINT PATTYS DAY EVERYBODY!

Ok, I included the last part of the Manila mission motto and modified it a bit just because this describes my experience.

On the 29th, we're going to have a baptism of Cesan Dela Cruz. But before that, we're going to get her married. And our next baptism, Arlyn Ceran, is in the same situation. That'll be on April 12th, hopefully, if everything goes as planned. We constantly have to go over the Law of Chastity and help people understand that when they are cohabitating, they're sinning. It's hard to teach this because we know how easily offended Filipinos can be.

I think I want to dedicate an entire paragraph to this, because it has become more and more apparent to me as time has gone on. I’ve learned that you must not raise your voice to a Filipino for a second, or they will get offended. You can't reject the food they give you, or they think "Oh, this Americanos too good for me, ah?" But, seriously it's actually practically impossible to tell if you really do offend them, because they won't acknowledge it or anything. On the flipside, I can imagine a Filipinio coming to America and saying how easily Americans get offended. It's also just common nature for them to say "Oh, my goodness--you're getting fat! You probably should go on a diet." What's worse is when it comes to the language. When a lesson is over, they love going over how you did in the language. I.E. how *YOU*  did-- if they thought it was understandable. And they are blunt. blunt. blunt.  

But they're also so nice! We have a good new investigator, Sister Chi Ann. We taught her yesterday, and she said she would come to church this Sunday before we even got the chance to ask her! Ladies and gentleman, that's what I love to hear! We taught a good lesson, and we got a good new investigator who went to church last Sunday without us noticing her!

We have a sweet new chapel, where I got to lead my first district meeting. I gave a little lesson on being obedient and how we're "instruments" of the Lord. I talked about the new piano that's coming to BYU, and how important it is to have great instruments, especially when the Spirit of God is the one using us! I made four bullet points, or "strings" in the lesson.

1. Be exactly obedient.

2. Sound understanding. (get it? Sound? Music?)

3. Charity and love.

4. Testimony.

I chose these bullet points because I feel missionaries need to be worthy conduits, or instruments of the spirit!

That's all for today,

Elder Thurber

PS Sorry, my camera isn't registering on this computer right now, so no pictures this week.

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.  

No... time... uggggg.... March 2nd, 2014

March 2^nd, 2014
Metro Manila: Pamplona District, Paranaque West East Zone
Just three things I have time for are:

1.     I think I want to be a religion teacher at BYU when I grow up. All I want to do is write about the church and learn about everything!

2.     Rose Caverte FINALLY said the prayer this week! She's a returning LA, and the wife of Bro Gabino. It's literally taken since I've been here to get this to happen. We gave her a blessing because she was sick earlier that day, and when we asked her to pray, like we usually do, she bowed her head and a heartfelt prayer came forth! It was awesome.

3.     The Ceran family came to church yesterday! Edwin is the nephew of our ward mission leader, and is always away from home when we teach his wife, Arlyn.

Have a great week!

Elder Thurber

Here are a few pics:

This is a very popular religion here. Directly translated, it means the earlier way, but, in a deeper Tagalog viewpoint, could mean the true way. It's very industrialized, as you can see by this picture!

This is halo-halo, which, translated, means a big mix. It has a lot of tasty things in it like ice cream and cookies, but at the same time corn and beans! Pretty delicious

A very friendly member family who feeds us good food.

February 23rd, 2014

February 23^rd, 2014
Metro Manila: Pamplona District, Paranaque West East Zone

Everyone,

Ok I have like five minutes, so I'll make this quick.

I had a great zone conference, which focused on faith. Truly inspiring. I'm surrounded by those willing to step into the darkness and exercise great faith in the Lord. But, at that time, I still had my doubts in my head. Then, in church, five minutes before Sacrament Meeting started, I was asked to give a talk. Yikes! Well, I rushed to put together a talk, and decided faith would be a good subject for me. Knowing how much Filipinos love jokes, and how bad I am at making them laugh, I asked my companion, Elder Rafon, for a joke I could give. His response shocked me. He said "Whenever I get asked to speak, I get nervous, and my butt gets realllly big." That sounds totally inapproriate in English, right? Well, not so in Tagalog! The audience cracked up. Filipinos are so chill!

In my talk, I asked a question: “When do we exercise faith in Jesus Christ?” For me personally, I understand that exercising faith is doing something you know is right but is hard. When have you exercised faith? Not to make us feel guilty, but when haven't you exercised faith? I'll leave you to answer that for yourself personally. 

Two pictures of the Great Gabino on that great day with me and Elder Rafon and a member!

The cake we bought brother Gabino. He deserves it. He was smiling before I took this picture, but I one thing I still don't understand about this culture is how they don't like to smile during pictures.

Still not smiling. This is actually my tie and polo! I gave it to him. He said it's the first time he's ever worn a tie.

This is the Robles family. Their son, Lehi, often works with us. As you can see, they are quite nice, and love to feed us American food whenever possible!

This is siopmao (show-pow). I got it at 7-11 which is ABUNDANT here. It's this doughey goodness with teriyaki.

This is me at Jollybee, a huge food chain here in the Philippines. I bought a float.

This is a great example of how unreal this city is. This guy is selling homemade baskets, pulling it along using a cow, in the busiest city in the world! What the freak!

Me and my companion chilling at the great and spacious building (our church) before Sacrament Meeting starts.

GAAHH my time is up! I have much more to write. Bye!

Elder Thurber 

Starting Over--In Manila; Feb. 3rd & 16th

February 3^rd
Metro Manila: Pamplona District, Paranaque West East Zone

Hello po!

Well, of all the weeks that I've spent on my mission, this was certainly one of them! Straight up, Manila is a chaotic mess. On one hand, you have these great luxurious houses and stores, swarming with American goods. I basically could get anything I want here if I have the money. With the missionary budget, that doesn't seem too possible, unfortunately. I actually went to this place called "Hyper Market" when I got down here. It is essentially Costco, but the people speak Tagalog. 

My companion. Elder Rafon, reminds me of an ewok sometimes because he's kinda short and has this evil, mischievous face all of the time, and wants to do good. He works incredibly hard. I would love to be his companion for the rest of my mission, but unfortunately, he is initially from the Tacloban mission. If you know anything about church news lately, the missionaries from the Tacloban mission were all evacuated after the typhoon. Turns out, they are now slowly going to be putting all of the missionaries back there. One of my sisters in the Pamplona district just returned back to Tacloban. By my thinking, it'll be maybe just two more weeks and Elder Rafon will return. 

Time is running short, but I'll just say that we have two great investigators that are most likely going to be baptized in February! Gabino Caverte, and Richard Tapar. More on them later. 

Love, 

Elder Thurber! :D

February 16, 2014

This past week's been good! I'm starting to know the area and enjoy the work.

I know this next week will be a great week, as well. We have zone conference, and I get to meet a bunch of people. For now, though, my blog needs to be on the back burner, but here are some pictures.

Picture Isa: My awesome companion, Elder Rafon.

Picture Dalawa: This is me with the Caverte family! Sophia, the 10 year old, just got baptized this past January, and Brother Gabino will be coming up just this Saturday! And Rose, the pregnant woman, is going to be a recently reactivated member!

Picture Tatlo: At the Pelotes household. The man on the right seriously likes Winnie the Pooh teddy bears for some reason. I'm way too shy to ask. He's super nice and fed us mounds and mounds of food, and made us laugh our missionary tags off.

Oh, and those are the other two sisters in our ward; Sister Garcia (the American) and Sister Alberto. They're the dream team. They make us look bad, with all of the work that they're able to do.)

Picture Apat: No, this isn't the temple. This is the Pamplona temporary meeting house. It's a cathedral. Two floors. There are four wards that meet here every Sunday. Our actual meeting house is being renovated, and will be finished in the middle of March.  

I hope you enjoyed learning the Tagalog numbers 1-4!

Til' next time!
Elder Thurber

Jan. 20th, 27th, & Dec. 29th Blog updates (Goin' back to Manilla!)

January 20th, 2014, Aborlan, Palawan

Kumusta sa inyong lahat!

Just look it up on google translator. Should work.

So... I apologize for not sending blog entries lately. I never have enough time to do what I want!

Let me boil down to the business quickly: E Saclot has left and Elder Tekanene has been added to the apartment. He is from Karibiti, a small, small island south of Hawaii, where the church is blossoming LIKE CRAZY! a tenth of the population are members! You should all look it up on google maps and mormonnewsroom.org. He is the kindest missionary I've met, and is super funny. I broke my camera so I can't send any pictures

Also, we get a baptism (in a river) this coming Friday.  Pictures will be coming your way.

I'm also learning how to cook. When I get back, I'm going to make all of you (who want it) Bicol Express.

Adios!

January 27th, 2014, Aborlan, Palawan

"Goin' Back to Manilla!"

Yep! It's true! Elder Thurber is finally going to be going to the most crowded city in the world and preach the gospel.  I'm not sure where I'm going in Manila. I found out right before coming here to email for the last time. I'm crying a little on the inside, knowing how much I have changed, and how I have changed the lives around me.

The baptism of Marissa Aton went very well! Eric, one of the priests in the branch who frequently works with us, baptized her in the Liska River. While it took about 8 tries to get her fully in the water and for Eric to say the prayer, salvation was reached in the end! :) All of the speakers spoke in Tagbanua, so I didn't understand squat. But it didn't matter. I was just happy for the baptism.

(Matthew's Mom's note:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagbanwa_people) 

A typical Tagbanwa hut

This week was full of miracles! We have tried our best to visit members lately, (something me and Elder Hart hadn't done in the past) trying to strengthen members and ask for referrals. We went to one last Wednesday. The dad, Jimmy Somblaceno (Sohm-blah-sen-yo) is less active, but is always too tired from fishing to join in on the lesson. After talking for 15 minutes at the door, we were about to leave when one of the back doors started to open. We stood in silence. And then it closed. And then it opened and the great Jimmy came out! It was the first time I had even seen the guy, and we quickly became great friends. He told of his desire to attend church and be an example to his family, but his shyness and smoking problem are keeping him at bay.

I'm happy to say that I saw him come in at the middle of priesthood mtg. yesterday! While he was in a plain white t, he got a bunch of welcomes from the branch. And before sacrament meeting started, we got to see Joel Tico come in! The branch flooded him just like Jimmy. And when we taught him later on, he got up the courage to say the closing prayer in the lesson, something he was too shy to do previously.

Frankly, it was one of the most spiritual lessons I have been in. We talked about faith, and how it leads to action, and how Christ didn't eliminate our responsibility by completing the atonement. What he did eliminate, however, is the consequences of sin and death, to those who comprehend that they need Jesus Christ. By that I mean that they understand that faith and repentance is necessary. Looking into my own personal path, there are so many things that have hampered my progression towards that understanding. I think English needs a stronger word than understanding to express what I'm trying to say.

Elder Thurber

Dec. 29th, 2013
Aborlan, Palawan

Dear everybody on the opposite side of the world,

I hope you all had a wonderful merry Christmas and that you have kept the true spirit of Christmas as the great Thurber/Chong companionship have tried to do! By the true spirt of Christmas I mean eating a little more than needed at lunchtime, and then going to a member's house later on, and then seriously overeating. I felt like a king at Christmastime! I think it sufficeth me to say that I’m a happy elder here in Palawan. Even though I’ve been sick even until today, I’ve been able to push through.

So, we got ten new investigators this week which we tried to get. Nine out of the ten said before we even started out with the prayer, that they would be willing to hear our message, but that they’re catholic and they won’t change religions. You may ask, “What about the other one?” Well, that’s just one of the tender mercies of God that I’ve been blessed with this week.

Like everything that has meant anything in my mission, I met him after we got a bunch of tough experiences! It was 8:30 and we were walking on the national highway back to our house, which is about maybe a 15 minute walk. I had tried to meet with the people in his house before, and so I didn’t really think too much to try it. I saw a shirtless guy my age working on his motorcycle. He reminded me of Moguli, the main character of the Jungle Book. Trying to be friendly, I said, "Hi." Much to my surprise, he responded energetically, asking a bunch of questions as Filipinos love to do. We started talking to him and he asked bluntly “what does it take to become a member of your religion?” My response: “Uhhh…” He continued, “Is it okay that I’m catholic right now? Can I still change religions?” I tried my best to respond to such an energetic response! We taught him quickly the message of the restoration and how we need to be baptized. He didn’t even hesitate to accept the baptismal invitation, even though he said he wouldn’t be able to come to church this next Sunday, he expressed his desire to go to church like his family used to do at the catholic church, and that he missed it terribly.

I hope to tell you more about him in future emails.

Marcia Aton is on her way to baptism! We’re planning on January 25^th. And unless something terrible happens, I’m pretty sure it’ll work out . She’s steadily getting more willing to answer questions and to pray. We taught her on Friday and Sunday. We had 4 returned-missionaries as member presents on Sunday! One of them spoke Tagbanua, her native language. We had no idea what he was teaching, but at the end of the lesson, I got to learn 10 words in Tagbanua! So maybe we’ll gain a little bit of her trust by speaking in the language she best understands.

Roger… oh Roger. He’s the man. He came to church this Sunday! He actually got to church before we did! He came up in a trike with two of his kids! And he said he’s off of the cigarettes! I hoping with all of my heart that January 25^th will be the day all of the prayers and fasting will finally pay off. If you, whoever you are, would please keep him in your prayers so that he’ll be able to keep of the cigarettes and attend church every week, that’d be greatly appreciated by me, personally. 

You'll be thankful you did. I know a lot of people are already praying for us, and it is definitely making a difference. One thing me and Elder Chong are constantly talking about is how we want to do missionary work when we get back to the states. By helping us through prayer, you are hastening the work of salvation that has been commanded of us to do. I love the work, however tiring it may be sometimes! I love seeing the look of understanding on people's faces when we teach them the gospel and learn true, unchanging principles that god has given us in these latter days through prophets who live in our day and know, through revelation, what god wants of us.

Elder Thurber

I'm Training an American; and Merry Christmas!

Dec 23 2013

Hey ya'll!

Elder Thurber and Elder Healey

I got the call from the Zone Leaders telling me I'll be training Elder Chong, a Hawaiian missionary who has been out for 6 weeks, being previously trained by Elder Healey, the great missionary I admire (see picture 1). They were in a threesome previously, with Elder Zook, who is funnier than his name sounds!

Quite frankly, our companionship has really been the topic of elders here in Palawan, because it's so unusual for Americans to be training Americans, especially right after the American has just finished his training by another American, who got trained by an American!

It is makes it even worse when the American who is training an American isn't fluent in Tagalog at all, just like the American who is currently being trained by him! It's pretty... kwan. Oh yeah, that's the Tagalog lesson for the day. It's the best word in Tagalog. It means, quite literally "um." If you don't know what to say, you just say “kwan!”  It's perfectly appropriate to say “kwan” whenever you want.  Me and E Echano use it quite often, even when speaking in English. Like, if we're going to the lesson he'll ask, "What's the name of this man, again?" I'll just say "kwan!" And it's alright.

So.... this week has obviously started off a little slow, with the transfers and all, but it'll be just fine! The same thing happens in every area. Improvement will come as sure as Christmas will! Elder Chong is a wonderful, obedient, and relaxed missionary. I'm barely training him. He's always willing to come with me to do the extra mile. For example, we got home a little earlier than expected from the missionary party for all of the missionaries last Thursday (more on that later), and, when I suggested we work for an hour or so, he jumped at the opportunity! While we weren't able to teach any lessons, he didn't think of it as a waste of time, just like I didn't.

While we don't have too much in common, we love sharing with each other different aspects of our lives! He would go surfing every day before his mission, and went to a private school, and has taught me a little about Hawaii and the Hawaiian language, even though he knows very little about it. We always have something to talk about when we're walking from lesson to lesson.

His Tagalog is OK, but he has openly admitted to me it's not his favorite. But he spends the full hour doing language study and will teach anything he needs to.

We had quite the time at the Christmas party! We had a pretty fun gift exchange, and I ended up with a bunch of Spongebob craft supplies (?????) and he got an alarm clock, which he doesn't need either.

But I got to participate in his old district's presentation later on in the day! They said they had a hilarious Primary Program a few weeks ago, so we all imitated them.  I was the kid who doesn't really know what's going on, and had my shirt untucked and mumbled when I spoke. I said “kwan” a few times in it.

Elder Thurber and Elder Echano

Aborlan gained another new missionary this past transfer! His name is Elder Echano, and he's our new district leader! Get this: he's amazing at chess! While he hasn't beaten me yet, he got relatively close two games ago! I really have to think, whereas I'm basically teaching all of the other elders how to play when I play chess with them.  Elder Echano is only one transfer ahead of me, and is very optimistic and hardworking. He's one of the few missionaries that is humble enough to ask for help in English when he's not sure about things!  I'm excited to know him better, as our personalities are very much alike.

As for the work this week... we weren't able to teach too many lessons, and many investigators haven't been able to come to church, unfortunately clearing out any January prospects for baptism. But it will go on, kind of like what is says in D&C 123, last verse.

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us ^acheerfully ^bdo all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the ^csalvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

Sometimes as members of the church, we expect the Lord to suddenly come into our lives and then have something to bear our testimony about in fast and testimony meeting. With few exceptions, only the opposite is true. We need to do everything in our power to have the arm of God revealed to us. People are lost from conversion to the Lord because they think that because they were baptized and they did go to church, that they did enough as members of the church. But they failed to do "all things that lie in [their] power." What does that mean? It means to do everything our modern-day prophets have commanded of us! And the blessings far outweigh the time and effort needed to do gain them. That is the pattern of the Lord, and it takes daily, consistent effort to cultivate and mature.

One last insight: it says to do everything "cheerfully." Come to think of it, I've never regretted doing anything that has been commanded to me, even when it seemed really tedious or hard at first. I hope it's been the same for you!

Here's my example: on Wednesday night we had to go up to the District President's house (he's like a Stake President, but Narra hasn't become a stake yet) and we had a little time. It had been a long day and we wanted to relax and talk with them, as they fed us mounds of food. But we decided to proselyte in his Barangy, or neighborhood, in order to be exactly obedient. And almost immediately, we found this family at the side of the road who had been working for 5 straight hours trying to haul off this gravel to make their porch. It was so evident that they needed help, and we were there for them.   Now we have a appointment set up for tonight! I hope it goes well! Pray for us! And maybe the "Lord's hand will be revealed."

That's I guess all I have to share this week.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Elder Thurber