First of all, CONGRATS MARY ANNA!! So surprising and exciting! Nobody even told me you were going on a mission until last week. (Cousin Mary Anna received a call to serve in the Singapore Mission, speaking Mandarin Chinese. YAY!!)
Happy Halloween! People here celebrate Halloween a little bit weird. This is my first Halloween in the Philippines so I'll tell you a little about it. I'm pretty sure their tradition or celebration is just about the same in the Spanish parts of the world. First of all there is little or none of the dressing up and giving out candy. If there is a pumpkin, they chop it up and eat it. So no jack-o-lanterns. Actually Oct. 31 isn't really the big celebration. The Holiday is November 1, Saints day. On October 30th and 31st, everybody goes to the graveyard and starts setting up (idk what they are setting up, that's just what everybody says they are doing "Setting up" or "Getting ready"). Honestly I don't know much about what will be happening. All I know is that tons of people are at the graveyard, and on Nov 1st, almost everybody will be there. I guess I'll find out on Tuesday what it's like.
APs
aka: small, medium, and large :)
So this last week was a really good, busy one. But busy in a good way. We weren't in meetings all week or orienting all the new missionaries. We actually were out on the streets going to work. Finding, teaching, reactivating, contacting. It was really nice. After splitting our area last week, we had a lot of work to do in finding and adding people to our teaching pool. So on Wednesday and Thursday we took advantage of being on exchanges with the ZLs in our area, and being able to split, and just went to work.
On Wednesday we found a lady out barbecuing in the front of her home, selling what she was cooking (lots of people do this). We talked to her and she told us to come back on Saturday. When we came back on Saturday, she told us to come in and sat us down, then called in her husband and family to listen to us. We taught The Restoration to them, and the spirit was really strong. The best part was how close they were listening and understanding. Out of the year I have been in the Philippines, they understood the Restoration better than anybody I have ever taught. They understood the Priesthood Authority, Apostasy and the Restoration. Then they realized that this is the only church on earth that had the Authority of God. They understood immediately that their baptism in another church was not valid because it wasn't done with the proper priesthood authority, and then asked "What time is your church service tomorrow?" Sooo receptive. There is a member that lives close to them and we told them that they will drop by before church so they can go together. On Sunday morning, this family was the one who went to the member's house and picked them up haha. The husband wasn't able to make it because of work, but when I talked to wife at church she said, "I'm telling my whole family that Sunday is rest day and we will all go to church from now on." We and the ward are very excited for them and their progression.
These last few weeks I have been studying Ilokano really hard, trying to get a hold of the language. It's a lot of fun seeing progress in a whole 'nother language again, not to mention, the people love it when I speak Ilokano to them. It just shocks them, first of all that an American can speak Tagalog, and then also speak some Ilokano. It's their mother tongue, so it's what they want to speak. I'm glad I've started to learn it too, because there are some people and some of our investigators that kinda struggle to speak Tagalog and would really rather speak Ilokano.
One thing that I realized I will definitely miss after the mission are the Carinderias here. A carinderia is a little eatery that you can find in almost every Barangay (neighborhood). The meal you can order is always rice and then you can choose from like 3 or 4 different ulams (sides) and then there's some gulay (vegetable) too. The best part about it is that I can get full off of 50 pesos eating there. Haha there is no where in American where I can get full on a dollar. I will definitely miss that.
Well after a good week of work, I am so thankful and humbled by the power of the spirit. We can do our absolute best at teaching, but when there is no spirit, the people will not understand. I am also so grateful for how much the Lord has prepared the people we teach, even before we have taught them. And more than anything I am so grateful for the Atonement and how merciful the Savior is. What a blessing it is to be able to repent and not be in a cloud of darkness all our lives. It is such a blessing to live in a time where the Gospel has been Restored!
Love you all, have a good week! :)
-Elder Jenkins
ps. won't be emailing again til next Wednesday. (MLC, Exchanges)
name that tune...
APs and office elders after a Stake baptism
moving day (a couple of weeks ago)
No comments:
Post a Comment