March 10, 2012 - Last email from MTC

Magandang Umaga sa pamilia ko!!!  (Good morning to my family!)  So this is the last email you will receive from me where I only have 30 minutes to reply!!!  Yes!  Astig! (Cool!)  Anyway, so I’ve decided that if you all do dearelder.com me in the PHI or send me letters, it'll be quicker if I could just email you rather than wait 10-15 days for you to get a letter....unless it was important okay?  So how's everything going?  Thank you so much for the wonderful cookies: they were delicious and I loved them.  I have been sharing so don't worry ;) but I still have like 5 cookies left haha.  I did also love the candies that you sent me as well.  I love goldfish and sour gummie worms.  Masarap! (So good!)  Oh and I got your phone and tie package on Thursday and I’m so excited to use it.  I asked my branch president if it's okay so I’ll get back to you on Sunday, just to let you know if it's legal or not for him.  But I have faith it will be.  But if not I’ll email you and send it back.

So guess what dad?  I now for the last few weeks have found me love for pepper.  It adds so much taste to rather tasteless food.  I do now appreciate it.  

Saying goodbye to my companion and friend,
Elder McCoy.  He has to stay another 3 weeks because of his leg.

Okay so things are crazy here now, we are leaving on Tuesday and everyone's getting ready to pack and go.  I’m doing laundry right now and packing everything that I don't need in the PHI and putting it in a box.  We have a lot of big boxes.  I'll see how much it'll cost.  But I think I should bring with me dad's raincoat because I know it'll rain a lot there right?  Right now we've just been doing a lot of teaching in Tagalog so I think I’m okay in that area, and I feel natural talking about just normal get to know you stuff in Tagalog too.  So we'll see how it goes.  I think I just need to focus on listening and understanding for these next few days and ask my teachers to speak way faster.  SO that I 'm not shocked when I get there (too much) oh gosh.  Hindi ko alam kung handa ako!  Mabilis ang MTC stay ko! (I don't know if I'm ready.  My MTC stay was too short.)  Oh well, i'll just go and hit the ground running and pray that I get a great trainer!  Pray for me too please!  I know that you already do, haha.

Kumusta ang eskuwela na trabajo ni Ryan? Mabuti? or Hindi Mabuti?  (How's Ryan doing with his school work? Good or not good?) Have you been reading the book of Mormon at school and taking it where ever you go, Ryan?  It's never too early to start missionary work, Ryan.  But it is scary and I know that.  I have a friend in mind that I wish I was able to share the gospel with but didn’t.  It'll be like cliff jumping though my brother.  It’s scary before you do it, but once you take that leap of faith and actually do it, then you won’t' be able to help it but do it again and again and again!  Alam ko po na totoo it dahil naranasan ako ito araw-araw!  o Sige. (I know this is true because I experience this everyday.  Okay.)

Anyway, so infield orientation has been really great! We learned how to pass out Mormon .org cards and exercise faith and we've been taught cool object lessons and such. It's been cool. There were many famous Mormon missionaries that came and taught us.  Like the people from "The District" videos I’ve watched.  Anyway, it's all been nice and such. I've learned a lot, oh especially that miracles are… "the natural result of correctly applying true eternal principles." Now I understand so much because of it!

Okay I’m almost out of time, I’ll be able to call you all on Tuesday, probably around 5:00-7:00pm is when I’ll call, and stay on the phone till the minutes run out. XD  I have a 7 hour layover so I don't leave till 1am. XD  Lots of time to talk. Okay so I’m going to email Mama now so Ingat! Mahal Kita! Kita kits!!!

Doing you proud,

-Elder Froude

March 2, 2012 - An email of amazement!!!

Guess what?!?

I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!!!!! 

Okay so here is what my travel plans say:

Leave Salt Lake City at 4:49pm - SanFran at 5:56pm

Then, I have a 7 hour layover till my flight from SanFran to Hong Kong at1:05am 14th of March till 6:45am 15th of March then from Hong Kong at 9:05am-Manila at 11:10am :)

It's so awesome they are finally here; I’m so stoked to finally be getting to the PHI in about 11 days.

Because I have a 7 hour layover that means I have 7 hours to talk to you all on the phone!!! haha jk Idk how long I can talk yet but I will talk to President Stott about the disposable phone on Sunday; if it’s not tama then I’ll just get phone card k? Either way, I can't wait to finally be able to talk to you all again!!!

Thanks, dad, for the testimony you sent me and the race analogy. I shared it with my companion and he loved it. Haha!  Every time I go to type up an email everyone comments on how fast I type! lol It's cause I just type so fast because of the 30 minute time limit. LOL Anyway "now back to the good part." So, about you all helping me with Lesson 4 of preach my gospel, I’m sorry I should have been more specific. What you sent to me mom was great! But what I wanted, and didn't specify was that I wanted you all to help me find scriptures and stories and questions I can ask to keep the investigator engaged in what I was saying. 

I’m so glad that you all got my Epistle to Ryan ^_^ I had a lot of fun writing it. You know it all started with me praying about what I should write to Ryan, and it turned into that. To be honest I don't remember all that I wrote in it, but I knew I was being led by the spirit when I wrote it so treasure it well my brother and heed its warnings and promises.

Guess what? So my teacher brother Lopez is the son of Marlo Lopez. And guess what else? Marlo Lopez just got called to be a mission President in Bacolod!!! ahhh!!! Thought I should share that with you.

Could you share what I said about my favorite scripture now to the rest of the family as well? 2 Corinthians 1... thank you.

No no no!!! I loved the Tagalog letter!!! It helped me realize how much I need to learn, and how much I do know, it was fun trying to translate and understand it all. I probably got 70% of it without looking words up or asking my teacher. The rest was deductive reasoning haha!!! Oh guess what else? This week has been great cause on Tuesday Elder Holland came!!!! He's like my favorite speaker, with Elder Bednar as a close 2nd (apostle speaker) the prophet speaks with a different spirit than the Apostles if you know what I mean. Anyway it was a great talk on our purpose as a missionary of course, and how the PMG (Preach My Gospel) was the result of President Hinckley’s concern that people were going on missions and falling away from the church. He said it was unacceptable and so they created the PMG to convert the missionary before they went out into the field. Then they would know that the missionary was less likely to fall away if the messenger was converted. They figured that if the messenger was taught the message, then they could have an easier time teaching it to others. The brethren now do not tell us what to teach or how to teach it. They teach us who to be. The PMG is not a book or just paper, it’s what you should become, it is what kind of person you need to be a great missionary. And tell all the YM that. But the thing is, they won't understand what it means until they get out into the field (if they do). It's a very interesting concept and I love it. The brethren only ask for one convert to the church on your mission....just one... you. If you become converted to the Gospel then you'll be a much better member of the church and can have the ability to build up Zion. I understand completely what he's saying. I've been a member all of my life but in just the last 9 months have I become fully converted to this Gospel, the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And it came through much trial and suffering, prayer with a purpose and studying the scriptures with real intent. But not only that, I had developed the Faith, and gained the knowledge and testimony that I needed, but what truly converted me was action. The act of using all that I had learned and prayed to be true in my life to serve others. As I learned to serve others with the gospel and address their needs with scripture through the power of the Holy Ghost, I found who I am and what my purpose is on this Earth. I know that I say this to you and you've heard it all before, but once you've actually been through it then you'll understand what it is that I mean when I say pray, study the scripture and become converted to this Gospel. Practice what you preach has a whole new meaning to me. I say that I have been truly converted to this gospel just within the year, but I know I will be come more converted once I start my work in the PHI and serve my Filipino brothers and Sisters. The Church is true, I promise because I have seen the miracles and have felt the peace that comes from doing what is right and striving to become like Christ. And I know you can too in the name of Jesus Christ, He who suffered so much for our sins because of his unfeigned love, amen.

Wow I didn't see myself writing all that when I planned this out, but it was what the spirit wanted me to say so there you go. I'm way out of time now so I’ll have to go, enjoy my email!!! Write back soon!!!! Ingat!!!!

 Doing you proud,

Elder Froude ^_^

Feb. 24, 2012 - Mission Mail of the week!!! Tons of new news!!!

Wow, it barely feels like I’ve been here for 6 weeks but looking back I’m much farther along than I was on day 1, I can tell you that.

News of the week!!! Balita ng lingo (i think that's right):

So, in great news our district unity has been up this week. It's been a great time with them as of late. Last Saturday Elder Alofa'ae got a package, a big one! and in it were lava lavas for everyone in our district I was like O.o oh wow... So we all got a ton of pictures in our lava lavas and we wear them in the residence. haha all of the time. I have pictures and I’m sending them to you this coming week. Anyway, then Elder A taught us all the haka to perform for the leaving districts. All of the older districts had left on Monday and we (my district) performed the haka to them before they went on the bus. It caused somewhat of a crowd to gather haha. I have a video for it that I’ll send with my card. You'll love it :)

Lava-lavas from Elder Alofa'ae

Unfortunately, I can't use the recording function to send videos of me to you on my camera because it's against mission rules. However, there is a sister in my zone who has her family send her a tape recorder or recording device and she can hear her family talking to her, then she records her own message on it and sends it back to them. Neat huh!?! Can we try that? I want you all to hear my Tagalog! Well you'll hear it in about 2 weeks when I go to the airport. Btw I should probably get a phone card soon...unless you want to get me a disposable phone! but make sure it's approved. I do really like the idea :) So yeah, maybe we can do the tape recorder thing in the PHI huh? Oh and mom, please continue to write me every day, it doesn't have to be just about your day, but something nice you found in the scriptures or a missionary moment or anything :) I love each and every letter and appreciate it much :) Congratulations, Ryan, for passing your test! Where's your helmet? haha joke lang.  Don’t abuse your driving powers or Kira, or I will come back and arm bar you!!!  

Good news! This Thursday I get my travel plans!!! It'll have all of the details so then we can plan a time for me to call you all up!!! I'm so excited :)

In other news We got 3 new districts this Wednesday in our zone, oh btw I’ve now been assigned to be a Zone Leader :D  It's not as intense as out in the field but I will do my best nonetheless. We had a tour with the new missionaries and we had an orientation where we told them all the rules. They all seem like great people so I’ll look forward to working with them. Our teachers said that we cannot speak English to them on their first week so I’ve been speaking Tagalog to them and it makes me feel good about how much I’ve learned, and seeing in them me from day 1 haha. I really have progressed far.  This week has been an exciting week for investigators; we have two of our investigators commit to baptism!!! YAY!!! But now the hard part is teaching them everything they need to do before baptism so that they can be cleared and such haha. Lesson 4 is hard in Tagalog. BTW can you all help me with something? The MTC president President Brown said that it is good to be able to have your family involved with what you are learning and what you are teaching so could you help me with something? I'm doing skeleton lessons plans for all of the lessons in chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel and I'm having a hard time finding good scriptures and stories to help me teach lesson 4.  Could you study it with me and send me your input? I'll write you mine as well :) 

Fresh meat!

An honor to carry the Philippine flag...

Representing the Philippines!

With Sister Curtis

This is our Zone.  We are all going to various parts of the Philippines.

Okay now to spiritual experiences (karanasan na espiritu):

We had watched a nice devotional by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" and here are the great points:

"If you look for yourself, you’ll find it, but if you lose yourself in others then you'll find yourself and not have to look for it."

"If it weren't for the character of Christ there could be no Atonement" - Neil A. Maxwell

When Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4 by the devil 3 times, in ways it’s not 3 temptations but 1 temptation at the root: "If thou be the son of God" he was not tempted by hunger, but more he was tempted to turn from who he was and turn inward. The character of Christ is always turned outward to other people rather than inward (natural man).  If you study the New Testament you can see that everything that Christ does is outward and Satan tempted him to use his powers for himself.  Diba? gets po ba ninyo? 

Then a great worldwide leadership conference by Elder Holland on Teaching was great!!! Here are the greatness:

First off everyone has the ability to teach, there is not a calling in this church that is not a teacher. Diba?

Everyone has the ability to teach - Moroni 10:17

Deny not that ye can have the ability to teach - Moroni 10: 8

Matthew 7:7

Fear not to open your mouth and speak, for the Lord will guide your tongue.  Exodus 4:12

PS… I hate the 30 minute time limit (I’m over already)

When you know not what to say turn to the scriptures - Alma 31:5 (great scripture)

…Cause the word of God heals the soul (Jacob 2:8)

Pinaka mahalaga ang Aklat Ni Mormon at ang Biblia!!!

Ah sige, walang time ko. I need to go now, I’ll write a letter tho and send it in today so yay!!! hahah I love you all!  Please stay healthy and take care of yourselves. I'm fine here.  I have the Lord and the Spirit with me ^_^ as long as I am obedient.  Sige na… INGAT!!! 

Doing you proud,

Elder Froude 

Feb. 17, 2012

Dear Mom, Dad, Ryan, and Lauren, and all other readers.

First off I want to say that I did receive your package mom and dad. :) Actually I got the cookies on Saturday and the letter on Tuesday so it was weird haha!

Anyway, so it's been about 5 and a half weeks since I’ve been at the MTC and it's going great! Some of the older districts are leaving on Monday and we're getting 3 new districts in our zone by Wednesday. It's exciting :) FRESH MEAT!!! Haha!  It'll make the other guys feel good about their Tagalog when the new people come. So, on my progress with Tagalog, we'll be finishing the rest of the verb conjugation rules today, mang- verbs and Ipa- Verbs. It's been very interesting how they taught us. We learn the structure, they give us a few important verbs and terms, and then we figure out for ourselves how else to fill in the blanks. :) VAOL structure.  Oh and tomorrow we'll be learning how to properly use na/pa. So I’m excited for that. 

So in order to learn more vocabulary could you guys send me the song lyrics to Filipino songs like Nandito ako or Ha? so that I can learn the more conversational Tagalog as well?

Okay so I’ll send another email in a bit so that you can receive this one. The next one will have awesome stories.

Okay, so yesterday was the best and worst day ever!!! It was the best day ever because Elder McCoy and I were teaching some volunteers at TRC, Teaching Resource Center. And we were teaching Filipino RMs (returned missionaries) about some lessons. Anyway, what happened was we felt really good about our lesson…we were feeling the spirit and we taught them well about the importance of church attendance. And so afterwards the teacher, Brother Langer, (sub) asked us about how we do our lesson planning. I showed him my notebook with skeleton lesson plans about each principle in the 1st and half of the 2nd lesson. It has scriptures and questions I can use to apply to investigators needs and it came to pass that the teacher, guro, was impressed with what I had. Then he asked Elder McCoy and he pulled out 2 notebooks of ideas for teaching, then we told him how we pray about our investigator and what their needs are and we go with the spirit about what we need to teach. Then we figure out the need, think of a commitment to give them to help address that need then form the lesson around that. He saw how excited we were about teaching, and he asked us why we were so excited. He said, “I personally think that you guys are doing everything right with teaching, and you guys look so happy about teaching, how can I take what you guys are doing and pass it on to the other missionaries? I want them to be as excited as you are.” I told him that it’s because I know why I’m here. I don't think many of the missionaries realize just how important the work is. But we do, we love the people and we want them to be able to receive this message the best way we can. What it basically came down to was that we love the people in the PHI and for that reason we work hard all of the time. When we teach, we have love for them and we want to be able to help them receive this message. (I said it a lot more profound) but long story short, he wrote down what we said and is going to share it with the other teachers. There are plenty of missionaries who say, "Well when I get out into the field... I’ll start doing this... or I'll start being obedient, or I’ll start planning well." And I personally hate that so much. Because your mission has already started…the MTC is your field right now. The habits you make in the MTC will set you off for the rest of your mission. If you are obedient and develop the good habits they teach you, you bring that to the PHI. If you are lazy and don't plan and break rules...guess what they'll do in the PHI. So Elder McCoy and I decided to do what we can here at the MTC, our mission has started and we will not waste any of the Lord's Time.

I’m out of time, but I care not right now because there is more I want you to know and I don’t want to wait 5 days for you guys to get it. Pasensya...

Anyway, so after that, the other companionship came in to the room. Apparently, they didn't get to teach TRC because of companionship issues. Elder Wilde and Elder Alofa'ae are two different magnetic poles and Elder Rakuro feels like he's getting pulled between them both. There was basically a big argument. And they had a harsh companionship inventory. As district leader, I pulled them all aside one by one and talked to them in different rooms about what happened and gave them my counsel. It was the more stressful part of this mission so far. But all I did was let them talk; the only time I even talked to them was at the end. But because I did that, each one of them said how great of a district leader I was, and I didn't even realize how much they watch what I do. So I have had humbling experience learning about how influential I actually am. But I just let them talk. All I did was promise them blessings of obedience as the Spirit directed and gave them scriptures of comfort. All they really needed was someone to talk to so I was that person. I think it's the first time I’ve felt like district leader. But I promised them I would make sure they got to the PHI. And they appreciated that. Anyway, I’m way over time and I have more to say so I'll write a letter and it’ll get to you eventually. grrr... postal system... >.<  Anyway, I love you all…everything is now way better with the district.  Thanks for all of the emails and letters and dear elders!!! Love you… Ingat!!! Kita kits ;)

There’s my letter, I only had time to write half of what I wanted.  Anyway, ingat !!!!  Love you, take care! Please stay healthy you all!

Doing you Proud,

Elder Froude ^_^

Feb. 10, 2012 - So much to say so little time...

Wow, email day already? This week has just zoomed by. After the first 3 weeks it feels like everything is going into overdrive. SOO FAST!!!  Madali ang buhay ko!

Hahaha (joke lang) Anyway, so it's officially been past my month mark and things are starting to become easier and easier to comprehend. What I need to do now is focus A LOT on vocab. It's all good ^_^ Oh gosh, I’m getting to the point where I don't even need to look at my notes now to teach a lesson; I just need to work on asking questions to make sure that I know that they understand what I'm taking about.

Yay!  Letters from home!!!

Anyway.... thanks for sending me all of the dear elders this week!!! It's been great to read about Dad's 50th Birthday. Wow!  I wish I was there ha-ha!  It sounded like much fun and the food looked so good!!! Sooooo goooood!!! I loved reading the stories of Dad back at the PHI haha, especially Tito Pepe's letter tungkol sa the movie Melody and such. Haha!  Why haven’t I ever watched it? I have this strange desire to watch it now. XD  You holding out on me Dad?  Joke lang! I also really loved Anton's message about you Dad. It did make me shed a few tears. And I agree with it 100% ^_^  I probably should have written more sentimental stuff in my letter to you. Thanks, Mom, for sending me all of those and the very detailed letter about Dad's party. I felt like I was there.. haha! Oh btw, Could you guys thank Tita Jona for me for setting up the collection of money to help with my mission fund and all of the people who contributed? I'll write the cards when I can, but I’ve been so busy with the language and gospel as of late. Just wanted to let her know before I forget.

Congratulations, Ryan, for finishing your A.A!!! Glad that you're doing great so far in school. Keep it up! Remember that this is the time when you develop study habits, which have helped me so much in the MTC. My study habits from school. Just know that if it's worth Doing, Then do it with gusto! It's my personal Philosophy ^_^

Oh hey Ryan! I want you to read all of Ephesians chapter 6 and write in detail in your journal about each of the important points. Then tell me about it and I’ll give you my thoughts ^_^ I think it'll help you much!

Lauren! Thanks for the Dear Elder! Haha I love it. You know I truly have a strong testimony on the power of prayer and revelation through scripture. The weird thing was, I didn't even remember which scripture it was that I sent you until I looked back in my planner to find it haha. That’s how I know that I was led by the spirit when I was writing you because it fit so perfectly with you. Remember I wrote down that letter like 2 days before it really applied haha. But I’m glad I was able to be a medium by which the Lord wanted to communicate with you his wisdom. My testimony has been strengthened because of it ^_^

Okay so now to my stories!!!

We had a devotional on Tuesday that I really liked. One parable went like this.

"There once was a native American grandfather teaching wisdom to his grandson. The grandpa told the story around the fire about how in each and every one of us there are two wolves. One wolf represents all of the Evil in us; it holds all of the anger, prejudice, jealousy, lust that is in us. The other wolf represents all of the good within us, all of the peace, love, charity, serenity within us. These wolves are constantly fat war with one another inside us for control. The grandson looking frightened asked his grandpa, 'grandpa, which one will win?' and the grandpa wisely replied, 'the one that will win, is the one you feed,' " I thought that was a great story, cause it's so true that if we feed our anger and hate by dwelling on it, then it will overcome the good wolf, but if we are charitable and loving then that wolf will overcome the bad wolf.

 Now for quotes of the week!

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain" (Megan sent this to me ^_^)

"When times get hard, we pray harder" (president Stott talked about this when a missionary in the PHI wrote to him.)

Oh btw dad! That video I sent you the story for is called Flakes of gold in Mormon messages on LDS.org It's better than how I wrote it ha-ha!!!

TAGALOG TIME!!!

Alam ko po na Mapagmahal ang Diyos. Alam ko po na mapagmahal Siya dahil tayo and mga anak Niya. Dahil mapagmahal ang Diyos, tumawag ang Diyos ng mga propeta para sa atin. Nagturo ang mga propeta ng ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo. Nang nagturo si Jesucristo ng mga tao sa mundo, binasbas ng ebanghelyo ang mga tao.

Ay nako!!! Wala nang time. I'll send more Tagalog in my letter. Mahal ko kayo!!! Gotta go!

Doing you Proud,

Elder Froude

February 3, 2012 - I forgot how many emails I’ve sent so this will be the title haha!

Hey guys!

It's so great to hear from you all. I love all of the love and letters you've been saving me. It's too bad my package came in a day late. It was supposed to come in the same day as the letter, since I sent them at the same time but oh well... kawawa naman si Daddy. LOL okay so now time to answer all of your questions and letters.

So about the Samoan elder encounter. I've learned much from it, reading your letters has helped me realize that I have much more to learn from it than I had originally realized. Now to answer Dad's questions.

1. Though my actions were in the defense of the name of Christ, my actions were emotionally driven.

2. I was not the most Christ like in my demeanor towards him, but I was bold and clear in my words and deeds, and for Samoan’s...no more subtle way would reach their ears. Considering the end result I believe that what I did was not the most righteous action, but it did gain me his respect. In the halls now he says hi, gives me a firm handshake and treats me like he does the other Islanders. My bold method did gain me his respect.

3. If it happens again I probably would not act the same way. It was situational and only effective because I prayed much about my actions after the fact. Little did I expect a miracle to come out of it. I would handle it next time with more charity, but with the same boldness. (I'm working on being simple, powerful, and clear with my words when I teach)  (Explanation later)

This is a great experience for me to learn from. And I think the Lord is preparing me to talk to 

Elder A. about his habit of breaking the rules. Sigh... it’s okay I have a plan to talk to him with charity and boldness.

Now to the good stuff...

The 50th anniversary of the MTC. No, the Prophet didn't come, but Elder Holland and Elder Nelson did!!! Elder Holland is my favorite apostle speaker. The spirit they bring is so strong; I could barely control my joy! I joined the choir so that I could have a reserved seat in the same room as them ^_^!!! Elder Holland bore his testimony of missionary work because Elder Nelson was the speaker. Anyway, it was a great and powerful testimony. He basically said what I said to the Samoan elder. "You hold with you at all times the name of Christ. Be worthy of that name and the office you hold. Be the missionary the world expects you to be and the missionary that the prophet wants you to be. ^_^ I loved that.

Elder Nelson gave an account of many of the early and very successful missionaries like Samuel H. Smith (baptized thousands) Dan Jones, who in wales baptized 500 people his first year and thousands more from his bold methods of advertising that he would convert the town...weeks in advance. Because of the example of these and many other missionaries and the words of Elder Holland. I've decided I need to practice being bold in my work as a missionary. There isn't enough time to beat around the bush. Be bold and full of charity and have faith enough to know when the Spirit wants you to speak on what. That is the kind of missionary I want to be and am constantly working at. Even now.

I've been taking pictures but I’m impatient so I printed some out and I am going to send them to you through mail ^_^ it was cheap so don't worry about it. I just want you guys to have some actual pictures to hold in your hand. I'm becoming very old school. LOL (story later)

I've been praying for Ryan to get better and you too mom. I wanted to put your names on the temple prayer roll today but I couldn’t go. Elder McCoy just came back from his surgery last night on his ACL that he re-tore at the MTC. So, we've been going around Provo getting MRI's Doctors opinions, surgery, and medication. And I needed to stay with him this morning, so I couldn't go to the temple this week. Its okay he’ll recover in 8 weeks, but he'll be at the MTC the whole time. Kawawa naman si Elder McCoy, he'll be here 3 weeks longer than us. Pray for his fast recovery please.

Tagalog is coming along really well. I barely have to write down what I say anymore. Yesterday I did a 40 minute lesson with Elder Alofa'ae and Elder Rakuro and all I had written down were two scriptures and the word pagpapala (blessing). I can form sentences off the top of my head now and teach with the spirit and say most of what I want to say. And if I don't know it then I write it down and look it up later ^_^ the best way I learn the language is by teaching. I'm really inspired to learn this language because it’s the language of my people, and my parents and it’s a tool of conversion. So I’m working as hard as I can to get the language. Oh!!! To translate some of what you guys sent me. Dad said" How are you? I want to try to speak to you in Tagalog. See if you can understand me; Try to also reply in Tagalog for your learning." ^_^ it took my a few minutes to get it on Monday but by now I can translate much faster, with a wider vocabulary. Mom Said, “Okay, I’m going to bed because I’m tired. Take care and don't forget to pray to God." ha-ha!!!

My turn now: Miss Kita talega!!! ! Alam ko po na pwuede magdasal sa Diyos at tatanggap mga sagot sa pamamagitan ng Espirtu Santo. Alam ko po na totoo ang ito dahil naramdaman ko maraming pagpala at aliw ^_^

Sige na, mayroon ako isang minuto.

Mahal Kita!!!!  Love you!

Doing you Proud,

Elder Froude ^_^ 

Jan. 27, 2012 - Mission Email #3

Dear Mom, Dad, Ryan, and whoever else may be reading. (and Lauren... ;p)

It's been over 2 weeks since I’ve started here at the MTC and things are just as Crazy, I'm almost to the middle of my 3rd week here and I have plenty to type about. So I’ll get right into it.

First off, thank you guys so much for the package!!! It's been keeping me warm and comfortable since it got here. I was so happy to have the jacket and scarf and gloves when I went up to the temple this morning when it was frigid cold.... Brrrr.... can't wait for the PHI Sun!!!! Some of the older missionaries were reading my shirt and were trying to tell me what it said after trying to figure it out for a minute... haha Then I told them I was Filipino and that I knew what it said LOL they were jealous of my "actual" Filipino shirts. One guy even had the audacity to tell me that the shirt was phrased incorrectly and that I should get it fixed. Then I told him I’m sorry that the actual Filipino language did not meet up to the standards of his MTC education. I politely told him though that I had 19 years of experience over him and I could assure him it was correct. LOL

With Elder Ben Treadway

I've been learning a lot over here, I'll write about in an actual letter so I can save time. I've been meeting plenty of people I know here too. I sit next to Ron Howell's table every meal. I see Ben Treadway in the halls. I sat next to Simi one time at devotional. He's changed a lot.  Oh my gosh!  Quite reverent and humble…at least from our encounter. I also saw a friend from BYU that I didn’t know got him mission call ahaha!!! And I saw Brandon Treadway too... he was volunteering for TRC, where we talk to return missionaries. He was with the Cebuano elders though.

With Elder Ron Howell, my buddy from BYU

So now to the good story, I've been feeling pretty down earlier this week. A few of the older guys find joy in mocking me and putting me down. There was this one Samoan elder who, whenever he walks by me, calls me a Bakla. I always reply with my own Tagalog insults like Sira Ulu ka (sp) and such but he doesn’t know what I’m saying so he keeps laughing cause he thinks I don't know anything. Anyway so I was waiting in line at the devotional and was studying when that same Samoan elder came, was singing with Elder A. (as poly elders always do) and then he started messing with me again. Same thing, but this time he was playing with my tag and tie as I kept moving away from him telling him to knock it off. They were being loud and irreverent when an announcer was telling us what was going on, and then he was trying to put me down again so I grabbed his nametag, and asked him, “Whose name is on your Badge? Jesus Christ...Now act like it!!!" Then The Samoan elder shoved me out of the way, got in my face and started threatening me. Telling me that I should respect him because he's from the Islands, I told him that respect isn't where you come from, it's how you act. And he got even more upset, and was threatening me cause I touched his badge, and that I was going to fall right here right now. Then Elder A. pulled me away before anything else happened.

I don't know what came over me, I was really mad cause he was disrespecting his calling and the name of our Lord that he has on his badge with him at all times. I thought of how hard I've been working so that I can help the people in the PHIL and I just reacted. I was angry that he wasn't taking this mission seriously and that many people were depending on how good of a missionary he'd be. I was upset that he was treating this MTC like it was high school, picking on the smaller people. When he got in my face, I didn’t back down an inch, and I stared him down with all my might. Elder A. later said I should apologize but I didn't know if I should. I wondered about it and was going to. I felt so down cause of everything that was happening and I went to bed early feeling depressed. As I read the scriptures I read Alma 37:37 which is basically about “counsel with the Lord in all thy doings...” so I prayed and I prayed intently and with a sincere heart for some help and comfort from God. I asked what I should do or if I should do anything and why fellow missionaries were putting me down. Then as I said Amen, my companion Elder McCoy came up to me and asked me what was wrong. I told him of what has been happening the past few days and he gave me the scripture 3 Nephi 12: 10-12 (look it up I don't have time to type it) and I felt like that was the answer to my prayers. That in my pursuit to be righteous I will suffer, but the Lord would be with me and that I should not fear. I'm so grateful for my companion and the Lord for listening to my prayers and inspiring me to work harder. Elder McCoy is a great missionary. When we do English role plays in class he is great with words and such. :)

That's not the best part of the story. It's been 3 days since that encounter with the Samoan missionary and because I stood up for myself he has not said another word to me since. I see him usually at meals and at the bookstore but even then, not a word from him. I felt okay about it. Then a miracle happened. The Samoan elder came up to me when we were in the book store yesterday…he shook my hand and apologized for his action, in Spanish (he's only speaking Spanish till he leaves next week).  I told him that I was sorry too in Spanish, letting him know that I could speak enough to have this conversation with him. I feel humbled now to know that this Samoan elder, who I thought was an immature, non-mannered kid, ended up being man enough to apologize to me. Many great and wonderful things happen to people on their mission. Through coming closer to the Lord, many hearts become converted and change for the better. I'm excited to see how I can change for the better as well ^_^

Well I'm out of time I'll write more in a letter to you. Thank you dad for sending me your talk.  I love it! Lauren, I’ll get you a scripture ASAP. I'm deciding which one I want to use ;) Thank you Mom, for all the love and support you send me. I love you all!  I read D&C 100:1 when I think or worry about you guys. Ryan, keep up the grades!!!

Got to go now,

Mahal Kita,

-Elder Froude

~Doing you Proud