April 2, 2012 - Re: Hello There Elder Froude!

I'm so glad to hear that you all are doing great!  And especially Laney.  She looks so big and so maganda! (beautiful)  Ang ganda sya!  (she’s beautiful!)  Haha!  I'm glad the family was able to come and see Laney as well.  And I'm glad you've been there for Lauren, Mom ^_^.  I feel like I can't do much here from the Philippines for Laney and the Dye's but I'll serve harder with them in mind.  It's really interesting how Laney came the day I left for the Philippines.  So, however old Laney is is how long I've been out in the Field.  And every time I see here I'll remember she came into the world when I started my adventure as a missionary ^_^.

In front of the Manila Temple...

Sounds like the weekend's been a blast for you all!  And yes, General Conference is a week late for us. We all get to watch it at the stake center with less-actives and investigators that we invite. I can't wait to hear the prophet and other General Authorities speak again!  And in English :) YES!!!  We also sing in church in English too.  Go figure.  Priesthood session is at 8 am for us and then 10:00 is general session then 2 pm is next after that.  After the sessions on Saturday we, as a zone, are going to eat at Mang Inasal’s.  Lol!

Inihaw na baboy, itlog tsaka rice for lunch!  Yummm!!!

Now to start on my week...  It will be all jumbled because I just wrote down what I wanted to talk about so here it goes…

First off, I've gotten an email from the mission president saying that the hardest weeks are now over and I can start getting into the groove of things, which is true!  I've been really great this whole week in serving and not being homesick.  Although literally, Not a day goes by that I do not tell someone about your story, Dad.  Everyone asks, why is your name Froude?  Fil-Am ba kayo? (Are you Filipino-American?) And so I go into how you and Mom are from San Pedro, Laguna and how you've been adopted by James Froude, you went to America, joined the Air Force.  You and mom were neighbors, wrote each other for 3 years, you married her, took her to America, I was born in California and now I'm serving a mission in the PHI and learning their language.

This process usually takes 20 minutes or so and everyone loves the story!  One member's house we eat at every Wednesday (Brother George) says you should write it down and sell that story to a movie maker or TV producer in the Philippines and the Filipinos would love it!  You'd get rich!  Hahaha! Cause it's a once in a lifetime story, diba? (right?)  So I've been able to build a lot of trust from members and investigators with just my name and your life story ^_^.  Which works out for me!  It only makes me more "Froude" of my name and I wear it proudly every day. Then, from there I can share about the other great name on my tag, Jesus Christ.  And things just work out from there.  Yun! (So there!)

Also at Brother George's house, I saw a poster in their dining room. When I saw it, I had a flash back to when I opened my mission call.  Later that night I was able to see a few images of the PHI and that was one of them, it was a really neat experience so I've written it down in my journal.

So, Saturday we went around town looking for a referral.  All day, we've been walking, we only had 2 lessons so far and 4 people not home or busy.  So, we've been walking a lot. I was feeling sore and tired, and Elder Peralta's back was hurting.  When we got to Sister Jenine's house we were hoping she'd be there cause they always give us a snack and so we went there in hopes to teach her. Now when we got there with such hope and about to collapse, she wasn't home... T_T Sad day...  So, we sat down thinking about what to do.  We sat for a good while to rest and we decided that no matter what we needed to press forward.  So, I told Elder Peralta, you know that it is when we are at our peak of exhaustion and then we go a little further that the Lord blesses us the most, right?  And so we pressed on.  As we left and went up the hill, surely here comes Sister Jenine in a trike!  Yay! We taught her and all was well.

Remember that “Miracles are the natural result of correctly applied true eternal principles.” ^_^  I love it! Okay, so I need to go now and do shopping.

Sorry I'm emailing late… everyone wanted to go to the mall before email >.<   Usually we email first but it's okay.  I'll cya next week and we can chat then, okay?

Love you all!!!

Doing you Proud,

-Elder Froude