I've only had
enough time so far to read a few of the emails, it's been kinda hard adjusting
from getting awesome letters of encouragement and love every day to once a
week. Haha! It makes the week long if I
think about it too much. haha! Actually, this week has gone by pretty fast... now to answer your questions (haven't
started the long email yet).
 |
| Me and my companion, Elder Peralta in our tiny apartment. |
I have
adjusted to the humidity and fortunately the weather has been so kind to us;
not too hot except for Friday when it suddenly rained SUPER HARD!!! I was
laughing the whole time because I’ve never seen such hard rain before. Pasig, luckily, has a good sewer system so not
too much flooding to impair the work. And I only carry a little bit of money
with me at a time, and in the front pocket in a coin bag so I can pay for
jeepneys and such. Speaking of which, some Jeepneys look super nice with a cool
paint job and nice seats and others are super ghetto haha!
 |
| Bro. & Sis. Arduo...my nanay and tatay here in PI. |
Cont’d..
Dear Mom,
Dad, Ryan, and whoever may be reading,
Well, what
can I say...it's been an intense week. Just trying to get used to everything now,
luckily, I’ve gotten used to the weather. Actually, the weather has been kind
to us as of late. Not too hot at all. Well except for Thursday it was ready hot
but that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then Friday it rained so
hard!! Harder than any time I’ve ever been in the rain! My shoes and socks and
pants got so soaked!!! haha But I enjoyed it so much XD Everything else has
been just me trying to remember where everything is, We've had about 27 lessons
this week to less actives and recent converts this week. So, that's been good.
Working hard makes the time pass by like, "wait how did it get dark so
fast?" And I haven't had to worry about sleeping or jetlag because once I
get home, as soon as I hit the pillow I’m out. XD I'm
always exhausted it's great! ^_^ But sometimes I don't want to get up in the
morning cause I want to sleep more. LOL!
Without a
doubt this mission has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my entire
life. At the apartment, when I’m not doing much is when I feel the
homesickness. It's pretty hard here cause everything here reminds me of you
all! From the humidity, to the Abba
playing in someone's karaoke, or Journey in a jeepney or sometimes even,
walking through a ghettto part of town and suddenly hearing “Jar of Hearts”
playing. haha! One time at a restaurant I heard “King and Queen
of Hearts” playing and it reminded me of all of our family road trips. Haha! Normally, I just enjoy the song and it inspires
me to work harder but then Journey played on a jeepney on the way to church on Sunday
and I had to play the air drums to “Faithfully.” Haha! It was an emotional experience.
But don't
worry!!! I found out a way to overcome it! You see, now that I’m about almost 2
weeks in, I know the people and have a relation with them! Now instead of
waiting for 2 years to go by, I can't wait till our next appointment with them
because I’m seeing how they are growing so much!!!! I look forward to each and
every new day. Which helps me overcome homesickness. If I focus on the people
and not myself, then time moves by so fast and I accomplish much. ^_^ So don't
worry about me, now that I know and love the people I can overcome my homesickness.
It's just the adversary trying to ruin my work here but I won't let him win!
Right now we
visit a lot of less actives and try to get them to come to church, many of them
can't because they work on Sunday, and some can’t afford transportation. Can you help me figure out how to get them to
church or convince them to attend church? Right now we use promised blessing to support
our cause to get them to church and remind them of the atonement of the Lord
and how important it is to partake of the sacrament to become clean every
week. So if you could help me find
scriptures and stories or such to help them come to church I would be grateful.
Although at the end of the day it is their choice to go or not, I just need to
have them desire to go to church. That is my concern for now, so I’m putting all
of my study and time into resolving their concerns and at least have them
consistently read the scriptures. Cause then their faith will build from that.
Oh about our
potential investigators…Sister Donita and Sister Jenine and hopefully Sister
Alice. So, when I first heard these names I expected women with children and
such right? That's the impression I get with the title sister. Cause Brother Valeriano was about 60 yrs. oldwhen
we baptized him. Pero, Sister Jenine is
19 ,Sister Donita is 15, and Sister Alice is 25. Haha! I
was shocked that they were so young and we were teaching them. LOL! Hopefully,
they'll be able to make their dates which are this Saturday. Except Sister Alice.
But Sister Jenine is reluctant because she hasn't told her parents she was
taking lessons and she is worried they won't accept her. So, I told her to pray
with real intent and sincerely to God if this church is true then to make her
decision. (cause she's been reading the Book of Mormon) ^_^ I don't know, I just have this great love for
the people here; it makes me realize that I am needed here and I need to be the
one to make a difference.
Well, that's
all that I have this week; we need to go out and buy food before we play Rugby
with an investigator. Btw, for us, we get PDays all day according to the
mission president; much needed. (usually you go out and work after 6pm) pero
our Pdays are all day. Yay!
Well, I need
to get going preparing haha ^_^ I love you all and I serve my hardest everyday
so that you can gain many blessings from the Lord. When I got super homesick
one time, I referred to the scriptures which I used to comfort people in
college and in the MTC. So, I took my
own counsel and read D&C 100:1 and D&C 100:12 for comfort and strength.
^_^ I hope you are all well. I love you all. Please keep yourselves healthy and
don't do anything dangerous. Miss Kita!!!
Doing you Proud,
-Elder Froude
^_^
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