Dear Mom, Dad, Ryan, and of course, you,
I’ve just been having some thoughts lately that I would
like to share with you.
Should I go to
school as soon as I can after my mission? It’s something I’ve been praying about lately
to find an answer for. Well, we got a
notice from President that everyone who are scheduled to go home after the
January 3, 2013 will be extended 2 weeks in order to synchronize with the new
MTC schedule to accommodate for the surge of new missionaries. So, this means my release date which used to
be Jan. 16, 2014 is now going to be move to Jan. 30, 2014. This means I’ll be even farther from when BYU
winter semester starts. So I’m thinking
maybe I should stay home, get a job, and go to community college until Spring
and Summer semester. Most of my friends
are going to be on their missions still anyway like Stacy, Megan, Mariah, Chad,
Morgan. Although most of my mission
friends like Elder Waite, Herr, Barrow, Rhodes, (missionaries going to BYU after
their mission like me…except Elder Waite…he hasn’t decided if he’s going to go
or not. Haha! He should!) are going to be there for winter term because
they are 6 months older than me in the mission and were asking me to room with
them… shoot! That would be the best day ever! Anyway, so it looks like that might be my
answer. I’ll stay home with the
family!!! Yay! I just hope I can find enough things to do or
I’ll go crazy!!! Haha!!!
Spiritual Gifts: I was reading President Eyring’s talk
about how he as a father could see the spiritual gifts that his children had
and he made them all a wooden carving about their spiritual gifts that he saw
in them. So I was wondering, Dad, what
spiritual gift(s) do you see in me?
Small town vs. big
city: To be honest I’ve actually
been thinking of what kind of environment I want to raise my family in. I’ve been in the talagang (real) province of the Philippines
and in the city so it’s a really good experience to see what I like most. The
thing is I’m kind of torn between the big city and a small town. When I was in
Mindoro I loved the fact that after like 4 months when I walk down the street
people know who I am, when I go to the one store in the town I know all the
cash registers and I can say hi to them whenever. I enjoy the closeness that comes
from living in a small community. But then again, I love the city life, like
LOVE! I enjoy having super huge mega
malls nearby, all of the lights, the sounds, the tons and tons of people, the
great secret places to eat! It’s like an
adventure every night. Always something
to do, always something to explore. I’m
going to need a good job cause I love exploring places to eat. I hate traffic though… that’s the only thing
living in the city; maybe a nice suburb outside of the city would be nice. But I love how everything I need is so close.
I’ve seen some “I’m a Mormon” videos and all of the New Yorkers love New York,
love the city kind of a thing. Anyway, just a few thoughts about it.
What I’ve learned
from companions (so far): I am an
extremely lively person, apparently. I love life and I love to show it. For some people, shyer people, it makes them
feel uncomfortable how lively I am, that’s what I learned from some of my
companions. I also learned that my zeal for the gospel makes people who are
somewhat struggling uncomfortable around me too. Most of the time, I get along well with
people. I’ve noticed I get along really
well with my kabahay (housemates) but not so much with some of my past
companions. That’s because my kabahay are usually fireball missionaries (Elder Herr,
Elder Duenas, Elder Hilbert, Elder Waite, Rhodes, Stoddard, the AP’s) and some
companions I’ve had are more like candle-light missionaries. In most cases though, through learning about
them and learning about myself I’ve been able to help them shine brighter which
is good and I enjoy learning about that, even if I don’t see it immediately. I’ve been spoiled having Elder Barrow as a
companion for a transfer, he totally gets what being a missionary is all about
and is a total fireball! Okay, my
companions haven’t been the most pasaway disobedient) missionaries…no that’s not it. They just haven’t given it their all yet. They
haven’t given their whole selves to the Lord and that’s what the difference is.
They’re still holding on to something
temporal and that’s what noticeably impairs the Spirit. Mark well my words,
people can tell if you don’t have the Spirit with you. There is a noticeable
difference between the sincerity/charity in a missionary and just working for
numbers.
Oh, I just remembered, Lauren! What was the name of the song that you
listened to when you were a youth…it goes something like, “my soul like a river
runs deep” or something like that? I don’t remember it too well but I
remembered that we listened to it in Mexico and I liked it. Is it from EFY? We have every single song from every single
EFY in the office computers. Haha? Anyway, I was just wondering because I want to
hear it again. Maybe you can you email
it to me? Thanks! Love you!
Hey Ryan! How come you haven’t written me in a while? I need to know what’s been up with you, bro! All I heard was that you got a job at Target! You should be the one telling me these things >.< and keeping me updated on things
going on!
Spiritual thought: This Sunday I was working with Sam Vibal,
he just got his mission call to Bacolod.
Anyway, it was extremely depressing the first few doors we went to (Okay
that might be a bit of an exaggeration) but we had a few strong no’s or
"go away we don't want to listen to you." So after a while I started
to wonder how all of the great missionaries found the "ripe fruit."
Then I remembered that Jesus Christ is the Lord of this vineyard. He's been working in this area long before we
got here so He knows where all of the ripe fruits are. So I decided to ask Him. We kept walking and I seemed to be led to a
certain neighborhood. It was nothing special on the outside but you know, I
decided to start at the beginning of the street and knock my way until I find
someone.
1st door: Nothing. 2nd door: A resounding NO. 3rd door: A man came out and started to talk
to us. He was fluent in English and decided to let us in after a little bit of
BRT (building relationships through trust). Once inside we started to talk about all of
the interesting decorations he had in his house which eventually led to a
discussion about families. He was really
prepared to listen to the Gospel; he is an intelligent yet humble man who loves
his family and is seeking for the truth and he loves the work we do as
missionaries. This man was so prepared
it shocked me how easy and even natural everything came. One thing led to another and now he wants us
to come back. This is a potential strong
family for the church and I was glad to have been an instrument in the Lord's
hand to find this man and his family. The
work certainly is true; all I needed to do was show a little Faith and Desire. I know the Church is true!
This week, we've spent the last three days doing a ton of
driving for the mission. Wednesday, Zone Leader Council. Elder Herr and Elder Duenas came up to the mainland
and they brought Sister Weller with them. Sister Weller is probably the most astig (tough) sister
missionary I know and was a great blessing to Mindoro but had to come to the
mainland to deal with an ear infection on her last transfer. We took her to Taguig to her new area...she
was heartbroken to leave. Sigh... I
would be too.
Thursday, mail run in Pasig City and then we had to help
move people for an ET (emergency transfer). So we picked up an elder from Taguig, went to Antipolo
for the halfway switch, came back to Taguig, dropped the elder off and picked
up Sister Weller’s replacement and brought her to the mission home. This whole
day we were in the car from 2:30-10:00 pm so we were exhausted! Then, we woke up at 3:00 am to take the Mindoro-bound
missionaries to the airport. Friday, we
spent all day helping sister missionaries in Taytay move to their new apartment
on the 10th floor of a building. All
together we've been in the car for maybe, 20 hours or something this week...it's
a lot of driving! Haha!!!!!! I'm exhausted but it's great. I love the work!
By the way, please tell Bro. Shiels that I say Hi and
that being his home teaching companion has been one of the best trainings for
me as a missionary. I'll write him a
letter but I want to make sure he knows.
YES, I GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!! It's so big! AHHH!!!!!
I can't even look at it. I keep it in the office so I don't accidentally open
it! Haha! Your Mama Mary stickers make
me laugh every time. Everyone else just
cuts out pictures from the Ensign and tape it to the packages. But don't worry, it's how I can tell it's
mine. Haha!
Thanks, Mom, for staying up with me. It really means a lot to me. I tried to come earlier but this was the
earliest I could make it. I love you so
much! I hope you know that. I really needed to talk to you today too ^_^
so thank you!
Doing you Proud,
Elder Froude ^_^
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| It's only November and we already got tons of Christmas packages! |
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| At the office |
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| Picking up mail with Elder Wilde |
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| Do you see me at the bottom? |
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| With Branch missionaries |
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