MERRY (late) CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well... last week we didn't have a lot of time to email, so I never sent an email home. I got to talk to my family which was definitely the highlight of my whole week. But, other than that, it finally rained again. It really started to get hot. And then a storm came in and we spent a couple of evenings biking home in the rain.

The biggest update at this point is that I got transferred. I am now actually up in Baguio city. It is awesome, but definitely has it's ups and downs. One big plus is that we have heated water, and a shower head. I get to trade the cold bucket shower for a warm shower with a shower head. I don't have a bike anymore which is kind of sad. I actually liked biking. Now we just walk up and down stairs pretty much all day. Baguio is way up in the mountains and there are hills everywhere. Basically everyone just lives on the side of the mountain. 

Leaving my last area was super sad. I loved the ward and all of my investigators. I was hoping that I would be able to spend at least one more transfer there. But, there must be work for me to do up here in Baguio. I am super excited to get started. I love the mission, and the chance that I have to share the gospel. Especially at this time of year when we can really focus on the life of Christ and all that he did for us. I love you all and wish you a happy holiday season.

-Elder Thomas

 

Anong carne ba yan?

Well, this week, I officially became a Filipino. I have gotten pretty used to sitting down to a dinner and just eating everything that is in front of me. I really haven't had a lot of food that I really didn't like. The meals are almost all the same. There is rice, and then some kind of meat or vegetable that goes on top. Sometimes the texture is pretty bad, but you just add more rice and put it down. That is kind of how it goes.

But, this last week, I sat down and I looked at the meal. It looked like any other meal that I had eaten. So, I ate. It was really good. Then, as I was finishing, I asked, "Anong carne ba yan?" which means 'what kind of meat is that?." They asked me if I really wanted to know... and then I knew that it was something different. They told me that it was DOG. It is actually kind of illegal to cook dog. But they said, it is only illegal if you get caught. I guess that lots of people cook dogs because it is not really enforced. So, that was wild. 

One of the coolest experiences this week, was while we were talking to an investigator at her little tindihan. Another dude came up to us and I started talking to him. I asked him if he knew any missionaries and he told me that he used to be a member. Before I could say anything else, he asked me if we could go to his house and teach his family. We went over the next day and taught his wife and 6 kids. It was super cool. It will be hard to get them to go to church, because they live super far away and they are super poor. But, they are super interested, so hopefully they will start progressing.

I learned a lot this week about where true happiness comes from. We went to a house that was no bigger than 10 ft by 10 ft. I could take 2 steps and completely cross the house. In the house, there are 4 kids and a mom and a dad. They have a little tiny broken down table that they eat at, and usually, the kids sleep under it. Their bathroom is nothing more than a little lean-to made of bamboo just outside of their house. All that being said, they are some of the happiest people that I have ever met. Our material wealth really doesn't determine how happy we are, even though that is how a lot of people think. 

The Christmas season is an awesome time to "turn outward" and look for those that we can serve. We can focus on the life of Christ and learn to live as he lived. Learn to serve like he served. 

I love the Christmas season. I love you all and wish you all the best.  

Love Elder Thomas

-I can't send pictures because the internet is really slow. More to come next week :)

Christmas Conference + Baptism

This week was awesome. There were two real highlights. One was Christmas conference. And one was our baptism.

Christmas conference was awesome. It was with half the mission. Our president came and we had all sorts of games and food and then a little devotional. It was super fun to be able to catch up with Elder Maddox, and some other friends from the mission. The devotional was awesome. All of the missionaries that are going home in the next transfer bore their testimonies. All of them said that the mission went by wayyy to fast. I know that will be true. I am nearing 6 months and it is crazy. I can't believe it. 

This week there were lots of changes in our district. One of the kids who was at my house got transferred to baguio. He had a hard time adjusting to the weather and stuff here. And another kid from my batch went home. That was super sad. The mission is hard, but it is worth every second of it. 

Our baptism last Saturday was awesome. It was a part member named Miko. He is 9 years old. Me and Elder Maddox found his family and got them to start coming back to church. His mom is active now and brings him and his older brother who was baptized just a few years ago. I was kind of sad when they split our area when they added 2 more missionaries because Miko was in the other area. So, the other companionship got to finish teaching him. But, I got to attend his baptism which was super cool. The youth in our ward are awesome and he has a lot of friends at church. I think that he is kind of the reason that his mom is active again which is awesome. His dad is not a member, but that will hopefully change here soon ;)

This week was awesome for me. The language is definitely improving and I am learning more everyday. I love the mission and the time that I have to teach the gospel here to the people of the Philippines. 

Love Elder Thomas

 

We made it

Well... I am not sure exactly how we did it, but we made it through another week!! I learned a lot this week. I learned that we definitely receive a lot of help from the other side of the veil. There is no way that we could have gotten through the week by ourselves. I also realized that I know a lot more Tagalog than I thought. When I had to be the one to really take the lead in everything with very minimal help, I realized that I could do it. I am still definitely below conversational, but, I almost always understand what people are trying to say and I can generally manage to get my point across.

The highlight this week was the baptism of Chrissel. She was the very first investigator that I taught in the mission field. My very first day here, we went and taught her and in my very, very broken Tagalog, I extended a baptismal date to her. Her original date was Oct 6. She wasn't ready though. So, we changed it to Nov. 10. But she was not quite solid with her testimony and still wasn't quite ready to "not be Catholic." We taught her 2 or 3 times a week. We gave her a list of our favorite scriptures and told her that if she would read every day for 2 weeks that she would know that the church is true. She read everyday and after 2 weeks said that she wanted to be interviewed for baptism. She is technically not in my area, but they called the morning of the baptism and asked if I would baptize her. I was super excited. It was soo cool to see her whole conversion process from start to finish. The gospel really changes lives.

We also spent a lot of time this week out finding new investigators. It is definitely scary sometimes to just start talking to a group of people. I am far from perfect in the language, so it was a little bit hard this week. But, I learned so much this week. We now have a lot of progressing investigators and I am really excited to start working again next week. 

I love the mission. The ups and downs, the good and bad, and all that comes because of the time that I have out here. I am grateful for all of the examples that I have back home and I send lots of prayers your way. 

Love Elder Thomas