March 25, 2013

Dear Mom, Dad, Ryan, and everyone who still accidentally writes 2012 instead of 2013,

It’s only Thursday and so much has already gone on. On Sunday, Elder Peralta and I had the opportunity again to cook for the DeLaMare’s and their family that came to visit over. We made Pineapple Chicken, which was soo good. Ang sarap naman! I think I’ll try making it sometime when I get back…if I can remember how to make it. I just watched my companion do it and I peeled the carrots and potatoes.  Haha!  So that was a good experience. On Monday though, it was so funny, we just got done with doing mail run and head to the office after about 2 hours of travelling, and then we get a call from our kabahays (housemates), the Assistants. They, you know, start things off pretty nonchalantly(probably the biggest word I’ve used in a while) and then after the greetings I find out that they had locked themselves out of the car with the key in the ignition. And they were borrowing President’s car! Ay Naku! (Oh my goodness!) So we have to go get in touch with president and meet him at the Mission Home to get his extra set of keys, then drive all the way to Pateros (near Pasig so it’s about 40 minutes away) and get them the keys before their car, which was already almost empty, eats up all of the gas! What an adventure that was!  Haha!  It was all good though.  We got there in good time and they were able to find a gas station.

Speaking of adventures, we had the great opportunity to go out to Rizal province on Wednesday. We took a missionary from the MRC (missionary recovery center) back out to his area in Teresa, in Morong Zone.  It’s now the zone with the most missionaries and is about as province as you can get in our mission. It’s so beautiful out there!  To get there you have to go past a mountain and on the way down you can see all of the area! It feels like it goes on forever and is full of small towns and bukids and so much green! We’re talking banana and coconut trees everywhere and rice fields! It’s a nice break from the city, especially, since we went there at sundown.  Yes, I do have pictures.  But it was pretty great.  I’d like to be able to go out to the province when I transfer out of the office so that I have to walk all of the time and so I can get dark and lose weight. People keep telling me I’m getting chunky.  >.<   But besides that, that wasn’t the best part of the adventure.  The best part was trying to get home. It was my first time going to Morong Zone so getting back was a little tricky. Halfway back, at a turn that I was supposed to make, it was taken up entirely by a large truck so there was no way for me to take that road back.  *Note:  roads out to the province are only two lanes wide, two very, very skinny lanes*  So, we had to try to find our way back another way.  After making a few turns that eventually lead us into a circle, I decided to go down a road that was parallel to the road I was supposed to take.  After about 10 minutes of driving I was getting pretty worried. It was dark, I didn’t know where I was, and we’re going down this street to who knows where!  I then decided to pray.  Of course not with my eyes closed because I was driving but a nice silent prayer asking for a way to return home in safety. I kid you not, not 3 minutes passed by when I saw a sign.  Yes, a literal sign was given to me as to where I was to go. We came up on a T intersection after I said Amen, and there was a sign to the left with an arrow pointing to Cubao, and another one pointing to the right toward Teresa (where we came from).  Needless to say, I was flabbergasted by the prompt timeliness of the answer to my prayer; proceeded to turn left and made it safely home about 30 minutes later.

That was my spiritual thought of the day. I hope you enjoyed it! I do warn you, however, that not all answers to prayers come as fast or as obvious as a literal sign. I would say that is one of the least, if not the least, likely way to receive revelation (For more information, Preach My Gospel, pg. 96-97 and all of chapter 4.)

In other news, we are planning on moving apartments very soon.  We’ve already found a place and are just working on the contract with the landlord to finalize the deal.  Sunday was probably the most effective day of work we’ve had in a while because we didn’t get punted and we had members working with us all day. It worked out really well and we taught many people that day.  Hopefully, our investigators will start progressing.

You know, I’ve been anxious lately about transfer day because I feel like I’m going to transfer. Then, President emailed me and told me in part of his letter that my replacement will come to the office a week before transfer day so that I can train him fully in my position. I guess that means I’ll be transferring then.  I’ll be going back to the field!  And I might even start getting dark again and lose weight!  Haha! I’m kind of having mixed emotions about it, but I’ll do what the Lord wants me to do.  Of course, I’m going to miss the perks of being in the office, and all of the wonderful people I’ve met in Cubao, and knowing everyone in the mission but, you know, there’s a time and a season for all things and my time is slowly coming to a close in the office.

We’ll just have to see what happens next, won’t we?

Well, I hope you are all having a wonderful week.  Remember the true meaning of Easter; it is about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is about how He loved us so much that He died for us. It is about the knowledge that death is not the end of life. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22.)

Doing you Proud,

Elder Froude ^_^