frogs, forgiveness, and flickering

Monday, October 17, 2011

Sibunag, Guimaras Island, The Philippines

To protect privacy, the names of most people in this blog have been changed.

Our district leader, Elder Matthews, is from New Zealand.  He's pretty cool.  In most districts, meetings are just reading Preach My Gospel and then practicing teaching.  He’s done them differently. He (when he's here) gives the best lessons.  Last week was no different.  It was a good week, and I think it started at last district meeting.  I left that meeting super pumped to work, and that's what we did.

I got my shoes fixed, too.  The guy who fixed them was pretty much crazy.  He speaks crazy English at us.  He has long hair, and sits on a stool in a crowded, third-world pool hall.  I like him though.  A lot of missionaries have gone to him through the years, and he calls us "his friends."  He fixed them for 250 pesos (about $6.25). (I got the "friend" discount.)  They look brand new, but feel a little funky - not too bad though.  I got to watch him fix them.  By watching him tear it apart, I got to see how close to torn apart they already were.

Elder Workman and I are running in the morning, we're doing pushups and weight lifting and crunches in the evening.  I've been sore, but sleeping well.  I outrun Workman, he out-muscles me. 

I've started reading the Book of Mormon again.  I'm taking it super slow.  It's kind of fun taking it this slow.  In a week's worth of personal studies, I'm only in 1st Nephi 15. 

A couple of days this week, I've found frogs in my running shoes.  I'm paranoid about even putting on sandals now. 

We have a member, Sister Maria, who was formerly less active.  She just recently got active, and this week we went and shared with her about sharing the gospel with others.  We talked about the tree of life, and how Lehi wanted others to eat it too.  It was a good lesson, and afterwards she came with us to some neighbors of hers.  We got punted, but it was way cool that she came with us to work. 

We did a CSP at Rosario’s on Friday.  We helped her weave stuff.  It took three hours to do half a piece of weaving.  She's way cool, and we kept up conversation for about two hours.  The last hour she cooked us some stuff.  It was a very relaxing CSP, and I really got a greater understanding of how hard her life is.  After we did service, we got to eat at her house.  She and her husband had cooked us pork and boney fish.  We ate it and loved it. 

On Friday, Sister Merced joined us for a few lessons. We got punted pretty hard, so we decided to go tracting.  It's really effective to go tracting with a member because the people feel more comfortable letting us in.  Plus, Merced is pretty well known in the community.  Our tracting went so bad!  We first contacted a crazy Baptist old man who made no sense.  We tried to find common ground with him and explain the restoration, but he would just yell out bible verses at us that had nothing to do with what we were talking about, then he’d recite them from memory.  We were happy to leave that lesson. 

Then we tracted into two old, senile ladies.  One had previously tried to poison me with her version of "candy."  I recognized her, and realized we were in for a treat.  It was one of the funniest lessons ever.  When sister Merced went to pray, one of the old ladies went and sat by her.  I didn't realize why at first.  But when Sister Merced started the prayer, the old lady said every word that she said.  We tried to explain to her that she didn't need to do that.  Then Sister Merced tried again.  The old lady followed again.  We were dying, laughing so hard.  We pretty much bore our testimonies and left a pamphlet with them.  We didn't think much would come of it.

We taught Sister Johnson tithing on Saturday.  Sister Merced met us there.  Ann, Sister Johnson’s daughter, was there again.  We went over some things we had previously taught her, and she remembered them very well.  We then moved onto tithing.  We did it by an object lesson.  That seemed to go very well.  Sister Merced’s testimony about it sealed the deal.  It was an amazing lesson.  Sister Johnson was so excited when she learned that the money didn't go to any pastor or somebody.  When she read what tithing was used for in the pamphlet, she said something like "well of course, you need that."  We also explained about if you don't pay tithing, you're not in trouble, but you just forfeit blessings.  She was surprised at that remark.  It was such new idea for her, I think.  You don't account to man, you account to God.  So many people here have been to church their entire life but never thought that way.

We taught Sister Belinda later that evening.  We taught her about repentance.  We mentioned a little bit about forgiving someone and she looked like she had a question.  Elder Workman asked her if she had a question.  She said no, so we went on, but we could tell she had a question.  It really seemed to be on her mind.  So we asked her what her question was.  She said "no, no, go on."  We did, and finally we said "Sister, what's on your mind?"  The spirit was telling us that we had to get that question out of her.  She finally asked.  "Do I have to forgive my husband?"  Elder said "Let’s turn to Matthew."  I knew exactly where he was going.  I said "It's in the sermon on the mount."  We turned to Matthew 5:44.  As soon as we read it, that spirit came in like a tidal wave.  She was almost in tears.

Sunday at Chruch

So that brings us to Sunday.  Let me say this.  I had no idea what was going to happen.  The highest number of investigators that I've seen at church here in Sibunag is two.  That was, until yesterday.  There were seven investigators there!  Belinda and her two kids, Rosario, Sister Johnson, and get this - those two old senile ladies!  WHAT THE HECK!?!?  There were 20 people there!!!  More than a third were investigators!  Our minds were blown.  All the members more or less panicked, but we managed to get through it.  Sacrament meeting was just about worthless - it was super hot, and the speakers weren't prepared, and they spoke in slow, soft voices.  Sunday school was way good though.  Some lady from the stake was there.  Her lesson was "perfecting the saints," but for the sake of the 7 investigators changed it to "perfecting the families."  She saved the day.  

Something funnyhappened.  Brother John still hasn't fixed the wiring in the church, and the wire to the one light started smoking, and the light started flickering.  It was one of the moments that you will either cry or laugh.  I chose laugh. 

I got some way good news from Tangalan, my last area.  Fred, gay Fred, got baptized!  That makes me so happy.  I got so much grief about wanting to teach him.  Also, that family we were teaching before I left got baptized, plus a few other people I knew.  Pretty cool. 

It's been a cool week.  Sister Johnson is getting baptized this Thursday!  She wants to do it down at the beach.  We went down yesterday to talk with the owner of a resort to make sure it was okay to do it there.  He was more than supportive.  We also messed around a little too long down there, but I've got some great pictures.  We have four others with baptismal dates.  We may give Sister Rosario one as well.

P-day at the Beach

This morning we went down to a prime beach.  We had a good time.  We got star fish, and played ultimate frisbee with a ball on the beach.  We ate delicious shrimp, and went exploring in the shallow water and sand.  It was one of the best P-days of my mission.  It was also probably my last P-day with Elder Light.  He'll most likely be transferred this week.  It's possible I am too, but I don't think so.

a few pictures



Eder Workman and a boy we had given a blessing



on the dock in Sabaste



a rice field in our area

chokeholds and conference

Monday, October 10, 2011

Sibunag, Guimaras Island, The Philippines

Please note: to ensure privacy, most names in this blog are changed or omitted.

To start off, this week we had one of the most bizarre experiences of my mission.  We were working in a remote area, and after finishing a lesson, we received word that Sister X did not want us to come by.  We love her but she had not been progressing, so earlier in the day we had prepared a lesson in detail just for her.  We asked the messenger why, and were told that her husband was home.  That was a little alarming because we had been told that her husband was out of the picture.  He had cheated on her, and also chased her around with a machete.  She really hates him, and just judging from what we’ve heard, he sounds to be real shmuck.

We told the messenger that we were going anyway.  I wanted to meet her husband.  As we went over there, I filled in Elder Workman about his guy.  When we arrived, the husband was rummaging violently through the house.  I asked if he could step outside, and if we could meet him, and he semi-yelled stuff at is.  Neither Elder Workman nor I understood what he said.  We stood there talking to their 14 year old son.  Sister X arrived from some other neighbor’s at that point, and was concerned that we were there.  She said that it was not a good place to be, and we had to leave before things got out of hand.  We wanted to make sure everything was going to be ok, but she just wanted us to leave.  

We asked her to come out to the road where she could talk with us more freely.  On the road, just a ways off, she told us that her husband was looking for a card of some sort, was acting like a demon, and she wasn't afraid to die.  She tried her hardest to get us to leave, but we refused.  In fact, I felt the spirit saying to stay.  She really wanted us to go, but both Elder and I knew we were supposed to stick around.  We reached an agreement with her that we'd stay on the road, about 30 feet away, unless it got out of control.

It quickly got out of control.  We had only been waiting about two minutes when we heard a ruckus.  We heard the husband and Sister X screaming at each other.  Elder ran to the side of the road to get a better look.  He then put his bag down and ran down to her house.  I dropped my bag and followed.  A male neighbor yelled at me to not get involved, but the other neighbors were yelling at Elder Workman for help.  When I got there, the husband had Sister X in a chokehold, and Elder Workman had the husband in a chokehold.  Another neighbor came running and yelling at us.  I got distracted by her because I couldn't understand what she was saying.  (Yelling in Hiligaynon is hard to understand.)  Next look I got was of Elder Workman setting the husband down on the ground.  He had choked him just enough to make him snooze.  Sister X yelled at us to leave before he got up.  

I stopped a motor that was passing, and we hopped on.  On the way, I called the police.  We intercepted them on the road, had a brief conversation with them, and then they sped off again.  We went home and called the AP’s, and then president called us.  It was taken care of very nicely.  Our landlord called the Mayor, President said that we did the right thing, and it really hasn't been much of a problem.  The police let the husband go that night, which was a bummer, but they say they got it all worked out.  Sister X has even told us how thankful she was for us being there.  I really hate the way some husbands treat their wives here, and it was kind of cool to have done something about it.

Elder Workman was very cool headed through it, too.  He was ready enough to get involved without a second thought, but at the same time was measured in his response.  I think Elder Workman showed great restraint by not responding too strongly.  I don't know how clear it is from the earlier paragraph, but the husband was hitting Sister X before Elder Workman laid hands on him.  So, that was quite an event. 

on the way to General Conference broadcast

This week we also had General Conference.  That was great.  It also meant that I got to catch up with Elder Lowry.  We talked multiple times.  He even lent me a blues gospel CD.  I loved the conference.  It means so much more while you're on a mission.  Everything is clearer here on a mission.  Like the idea that “if you follow the commandments you get blessings” wasn't so clear before.  I knew I had blessings, but I didn't recognize what was a blessing and what wasn’t, and I didn't know which blessings were a result of following the commandments.  As a missionary, it's so darn clear.  Not only in my own life, but also in the lives of our investigators.  

I was listening to the prophet and apostles, and when they were talking, I was thinking "yeah, that's so true."  One of my favorite things said was "though this time may be like the times of Noah in sin, it has one major difference, there are those in this time who are willing to uphold the word of God."  Cool. 

During Priesthood there was some excess talking going on, so I sat with Elders Light and Matthews to get away from it.  Priesthood was so good.  Watching it alone was weird, but made me feel grown up.  I felt like I was dad kind of.  Anyway, all the talks were excellent.  One person told a story about a man who had only converted one person on his mission and what that meant for that one person and his family.  It made me get kind of teary eyed, and that doesn't happen much.  I thought of the folks that I've taught and helped on their way to conversion during my mission.  After conference, I was so happy, and we all were. We went to a burger place called "crave burger."  After Elder Light and I ordered, we went and got some ice cream together.  His dad does that too.

That night we had a big sleep over at the Molo apartment.  We played UNO and other stuff.  It was fun.  Elder Workman and I had previously made up a song about teaching a monkey.  The highlight of the song is the monkey sounds that I do.  I do them way loud.  We sand it to all the elders, and they just about died of laughter. 

Sister Johnson came to conference!  Let me tell you how hard it is to save seats in the Philippines!  It's hard, but we did.  Sister Johnson came with the church members from our Group, and they arrived pretty late.  They were timid about walking all the way up to the front to sit down, but I pretty much made them.  In the back of the cultural hall there was a lot of talking, but in the front of the chapel everyone was listening.  Sister Johnson seemed to have a good time, although I don't think she understood much.  (The broadcast was in English.)  In the second session, she even kept Elder Workman awake.  We introduced her to President and Sister Pagaduan.  We introduced Sister Johnson as "our mom in Sibunag," and Sister Pagaduan as "the mother of all the missionaries."  

On the way home, Sister Johnson joined all the missionaries.  It was funny because she kept running off, and all the missionaries would get on a boat and be like "Where is she?" and we'd have to tell the boat guys to wait until Sister Johnson came running on.  Sister Johnson's daughter is committed to baptism too, but hasn't been able to go to church for two weeks now.  She did get this next Sunday off though!  Whoo!!  We are way excited about them!       

We actually had a great lesson with Sister Johnson and her husband this week.  We taught them the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom.  We taught them in a cool way.  We talked of course about the blessings of the Word of Wisdom, but the blessing we focused on was having a clear head.  We talked about how that would bless their marriage.  When we taught law of chastity, we talked about the family that God had approved. We talked about how two people can improve their marriage through dates, spending time together, working together, and going to church together, and then talked about what things can ruin a marriage: pornography, drunkenness, and adultery.  Elder Workman and I sometimes have lesson that are a train wreck, but other times they are way great.  What’s great is that when a lesson is a train wreck, we talk about how to improve it. 

One thing really ticked me off this week.  Our Group Leader said that he didn't like that we had gotten involved with Sister X's husband.  He told us "You guys move area every so often, but this is my Group and I have to live here.  You should have thought before you got involved.  What if people think badly of Mormons?" I actually rolled my eyes, and I didn't even realize it.  He asked me what my problem was.  I gave him our Mission President’s number and told him to call it if he had a concern.  Elder Workman was kind of appalled at the Group Leader’s reaction.  He was like, "This is what my dad taught me, and I won't let a man beat a woman."  I did apologize to Brother John. 

I have a bulge in my throat.  I've already talked with Sister Pagaduan about it.  She told me to take vitamin C pills.  We'll give it a week or two.  I can feel it when I swallow.  It's not too bad, but if it gets worse, I'll do something about it. 

There's a lot of extra stuff happening this month.  We already traveled to general conference, and I have to get my shoes repaired again.  Also, it's a five Monday month, so that means that I have to budget for five weeks.  We have a two day Stake Conference in Iloilo.  Also, we are hoping to go to the island in our area next week and eat at the resort there.  Apparently there is awesome seafood there.  

the road peed on us

Monday, October 3, 2011

Sibunag, Guimaras Island, The Philippines

It's been a good week out here, but which one isn't nowadays?  I really enjoy working with Elder Workman.

Sad Sad Waterfalls

Last week on Monday, it was storming really hard.  So, we of course went hiking to some waterfalls.  The falls are called “Sad Sad” waterfalls, and they are huge.  It was a fun hike to them.  We got a tric first, and then the tric driver gave some brief directions to Elder Workman.  He only heard those directions, and we went on our way.  We walked the way he said to go until we had walked a long time, and still had not come to anything.  We finally caught some folks hauling charcoal through the woods on the back of carrabou.  They told us that we had gone way too far and pointed where we should go.  We walked back and got on the right path.  We reached the falls in maybe five minutes after getting on the right trial.  The waterfalls were just raging, and we had a good time taking pictures and jumping from rock to rock in the river.  The waterfall was maybe as high as a four story building.  Not the kind you canoe off of.

Last week at district meeting, Elder Matthews did not show up. He was feeling real sick.  He had a swollen tongue.  Elder Workman filled in and did a really good job.  He talked about goals and how they relate to faith.  We had a good discussion about it.  I have a really great district and each district meeting is a real recharge for the week.  It's never just regular.

Elder Waggoner in rain gear

It's been a really rainy week here on the island.  Last week we had to ride on the inside of the L3 van back to Sibunag. It was raining, and man just so stuffy in the van.  I was crammed pretty much in the same seat as the driver.  Elder Workman and I had a small lady in between us, and then he was by the window.  We asked if we could roll down the windows because we could hardly breathe.  The driver agreed.  This meant that the rain would get Elder Workman and the driver, and it really wasn't raining too hard at that point.  Little did we know, the rain was not the biggest problem.  The mud on the dirt road was.  We hit a puddle the size of Lake Erie, and that sent mud hurdling into the van through the driver’s window at the driver and me.  We both just got covered in mud.  The driver let out an expression of disgust, and I helped him clean it up with a rag he had while he was still driving.  I was pretty certain that the whole L3 had their attention on me cleaning up the driver, so took the chance to be funny.  I said "nagihi and karsado sa amon."  (The road peed on us.)  Everyone just about died from laughter.  Everyone was quoting it the rest of the drive until we got out.

We were going to have a sweet FHE at the Johnson’s, but it didn't happen because of the rain.  We still went there at the set time, but only one member came, Sister Meyda Rose. So, we just had a lesson about the Sabbath day with a member present.  After, Sister Johnson fed us a billion and a half avocados.  It's not bad, but it was a little much to handle.

We had interviews with President on Wednesday.  They were interviews, not much else.

Elder Workman at beach

Last Wednesday we found ourselves at five o’clock with no place to go.  The circumstances just worked that way.  We decided to try out down by the beach.  We took pamphlets down there, and wanted to try and see what things were like down there.  We only did one lesson, and it was to like twenty people at once.  It was cool, but not the most productive.  We talked to a lot of folks down there, and we figured out how to go out to the islands we have in our area.  We ate at some hole-in-the-wall down there.  I had pancit.

Sister Rita's preacher is kind of giving us some trouble.  He told Sister Rita that if she goes out to our church, then she cannot go back to his.  We decided to pay him a visit.  We talked about how each having the right to choose.  I told the story about how President Horlacher offered to take me to other churches so I could see them.  I added the zinger "The true church doesn't have anything to hide."  He agreed.  It wasn't a very confrontational visit at all, and we have a return appointment.  We even got into him changing churches.  We explained that our purpose is to get people to ask God what the truth is.  Elder Workman asked him "Brother, if you get an answer from God that this church is his true church, will you move to ours?"  He actually said he couldn't because his church is just a smaller part of another one, and they have a mother church that calls the shots for them.  Maybe he was just avoiding the question- we'll get to it next time.

Do you guys remember the deJoya family?  The one with a billion kids that pee on me?  Well, they haven't been progressing, and we haven’t really been visiting them much, but we decided to again.  The lesson wasn't great, but we did get to do some service chopping some wood, and we gave their kid Roberto a blessing.  He's got a nasty infection on his head.

Belinda hasn't been to church yet.  We visited her on Friday and Saturday.  We always have great lessons with her, but she just isn’t keeping commitments.  These two visits were kind of our last attempts with her.  We love her, really, and it's so sad, but she just isn't reading or coming to church.  She has the desire to, and she tells us that all the time, but she just isn't doing it.  Her situation is terrible.  She’s poor, her husband cheated on her, her kids are young teenagers and starting to have some real bad influences.  If anyone needs the gospel, it's her and her family.  We were so sad when we came back Saturday and she hadn't done her reading assignment, and on Sunday, though she promised, did not go to church.  Ouch.

We've been having brown outs all week.  It's been throwing off our sleep schedules.  It's been so hot at night that we just couldn't sleep.  We have made good use of our candles, though.

Saturday was a way productive day.  We had four lessons, which is not a ton, but they were all productive and with a member, Sister Merced.  She's a pal.

First we visited Rita, and Sister helped a lot there.  Then we went to the Johnson family.  The husband joined the lesson, and was pretty quiet most of it until the end when we asked if he had any questions.  Man, he just went off.  It was like he was drunk, but he wasn't.  He was saying the craziest stuff.  One thing was pointed at Sister Merced "You used to be catholic, how could you change?"  He said it in an attacking way.  Then he said another thing along the lines of "I can't be catholic and my wife be another religion."  My response was "O.K., come to church tomorrow too."  He even started going off on Elder Workman and I a little bit, and that got Sister Johnson crying.  Then he said "There is no divorce here, if she joins another church, what can I do?!"  That made Sister Johnson burst into tears.  Sister Merced took over and stuck it to him.  She said "If you love your wife, then this is the church for her" and "You don't go to church anyway, so it means nothing if she goes to another church."  He couldn't really argue with that.  I would never be that bold with someone, but because Sister Merced is local, she can.

Later that night, we went out to Sister Rosario.  She made your Christmas presents.  You're going to flip, they are so cool.  I spent my goat money on them.  I'll send it early November or so. It's way cool.

That’s it for this week.  We went to Iloilo earlier.  The waves were pretty fun in the rain.  Elder Workman and I are doing well.  I give him history lessons as we try and fall asleep.  He hates it.

the kind of lesson I've always wanted

Monday, September 26, 2011

Sibunag, Guimaras Island, the Philippines

(Please Note: To protect privacy, the names of investigators in this blog have been changed.)

It's been a pretty interesting week.  I guess every week is, though.  I feel like I'm in the groove.  In fact we both are.

I feel like Monday is my Saturday, and my Tuesday is the real first day of the week.  This last "week" started with a funny thing.  Our district leader and his comp didn't come to district meeting.  They just didn't show.  Elder Bono has back problems, and goes to Iloilo to get his back treated about three times each week.  His comp, the DL, goes too.  They didn't tell anyone that they weren't going to be at district meeting.  It was kind of funny.  Elder Andrews led us in a discussion about our area.  It was still a good meeting.

Last Wednesday we went tracting.  A lot of our investigators have moved away, so we are back to finding folks to teach.  I've told you about a lot of investigators.  It seems that every time we get someone really going, they fall off the face of the earth.  They move away because their husband beats them, or because they need work and there isn’t any in Sibunag, or they go live with their parents while they are pregnant, or their husband doesn't want them listening, etc.  We have had a lot of investigators that really were going places but never got there.  They are in the area book though, and in the future when their situation changes up, maybe they’ll progress.  

Anyway, last Wednesday we went tracting.  We found one new investigator and that was it.  Then we started walking on this dirt road, and it led downhill, so we didn't have the desire to walk back up it.  We reached a point where we were so far away that it was unlikely that anyone there would be able to get to church.  We decided that we'd just walk until we reached somewhere, and then try and hitch a ride.  We almost walked all the way down to the ocean.  We did get someone to give us a ride, but first we had them swing us by the dock.  It was my first time going to the ocean in our own area here in Sibunag.  I had been to the ocean on the other side of the island, but not on the east side.  We chilled there for a few minutes, and talked to some people about how to get to the islands in our area.  We are positive that missionaries have never been there before, so it might be a good P-day activity.  We might try it week after next.  People say there are prime beaches over there.

We had a pretty ok FHE at a less-active family this week.  The less active family is shy, and it was a little awkward when we showed up on time.  The other members didn't show up until at least an hour later.  MST (Mormon Standard Time) has nothing on (FST) Filipino Standard Time.  Elder Workman directed the FHE, the lesson, and games.  At one point he used a machete as an object in one of the games.  The game was each people had a two syllable fruit.  One end of the machete was the first syllable, and the other end was the 2nd syllable.  He’d point the machete at you, and then change up the person he was pointing at.  It's pretty funny.  The next day Brother John brought it up in Coordination Meeting, saying that he didn't like the fact that Elder Workman was using a machete.  No one else had a problem with it, though.

 
We have some super sweet investigators, the Johnsons.  The daughter Ann is back for a while from Manila, and her mother Sue has been an investigator for a way long time.  We've been having some way good lessons with them.  We did The Plan of Salvation with them last Saturday.  Elder Workman made cards and would flip a new card at each part.  For the most part, they held off their questions until the end, but we could tell they had a ton that they were aching to ask.  A couple times we asked "Do you want to ask a question?" and they said "No, continue, I want you to finish it."  We did, and then they let loose on us.  They asked questions like "Can you sin in heaven?"  "Why don't I just wait to be baptized in the spirit world?"  We even got a little into ghosts, but that was just how deep they were getting.  We talked about how death will not change our desires, and that there is no sin in the celestial kingdom because there is no desire for it.  We explained that repentance changes our desires.  We explained that if someone still had the desire to sin they wouldn't feel comfortable in the celestial kingdom.  We talked about not being able to prove ourselves if we were in the presence of God, and why we need good and evil on earth.  It was the kind of lesson I've always wanted to do with the plan of salvation, but we’ve never had the investigators who had the interest for it.  It was a blast.  It was so much fun.  We used a ton of scriptures too.  In a couple cases they asked a question and we said "Let’s open our scriptures" and had them read it.  It was so much fun.

Sister Rita came to church last week, but not this week. She had visitors, so she'll go next week.  Her understanding is very low.  We had a lesson with her on Saturday about authority.  We just went around in circles for like twenty minutes.  Elder Workman used a lot of object examples, but she just wasn't getting it.  Finally Elder Workman read a scripture in the Book of Mormon.  She didn't get it at first, but then she read it to herself like five times, and then it clicked!  She said "So you’re saying all the other churches teach the gospel, but only one church has the authority to baptize.  And I can know that your church is true through prayer and going to church?"  I literally said "It's a Christmas miracle!"  She already believes the Book of Mormon is true - she tells us that all the time.  But until now, she hadn't made the connection that only our church has the Book of Mormon, and only our church has the authority!  We'll see what happens there.

We made awesome pork adobo last night.  It was so awesome. Elder put in vegetables, I did the meat, we slow cooked it in soy sauce, vinegar, water, salt and sugar.  It was intoxicating.  We were writing in our journals, and thinking "Oh man, I'm dying here!"  We ate it so fast!  It was a good way to end our week.  We had been fasting for Sister Martha, the lady whose husband drove off when Elder Conjelado and I tried to talk to him.  We did at least do a lesson with her this week.  Her desire is still way good.

Also, watermelons are back.  I thought April and May was watermelon season, but maybe watermelons go twice a year here?  So yeah, I ate an entire watermelon by myself.  I did it back porch style, like Sarah and I used to do in Sycamore, IL.  You cannot complain while eating a watermelon.  No, you cannot.

I'm still doing work outs with Elder Workman.  I can do more push-ups now.  Yes, they still suck.  Elder Workman has lost so much weight since he was here in the Philippines.

We had two at church, Sister Johnson and her daughter Ann.  They arrived forty minutes late.  They had left home late, and they almost didn't come, but we texted them and told them to come anyways.  They arrived only two minutes after half of our members arrived.  We then proceeded with sacrament meeting.  That was basically lousy.  The speakers were talking heads, and I was really concerned about what the investigators were getting out of it.  Sister Angie then saved it during Sunday School.  She talked about the Sacrament and the Sabbath Day.  She kind of veered off into her personal views like "you can't watch TV on Sunday" or "you have to wear church clothes the whole day," but for the most part it was super awesome.  She was interactive and taught clearly.

After church we gave a member a blessing, and I talked with Brother John a little bit.  I let the members fellowship our investigators.  They did the best job ever.  It was thirty minutes of talking after church, and now this week's FHE is at the Johnson's house.  We were walking on air the rest of the day.

Elder Workman and I are getting along really well.  Our nightly jams aren’t that often, but we've been doing other stuff. We even took turns reading Jesus the Christ, and last night I helped him write a mission article.  It's weird, but I'm better at grammar than him?!

It's raining pretty hard right now, and the computer shop is like steamy.  We had plans to go see waterfalls today, but that seems less likely now.  We'll see.

I love you all so much. I miss you, but not too bad.

Good Prayer, Bogus Journey, and No Goat

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sibunag, Guimaras Island, The Philippines

(Please note: to protect privacy, the names of many in this blog have been changed.)

It's been in interesting week.  I'll follow up on some stuff.

Remember Sister Johnson?  Well, we gave her, her daughter, and her friend baptismal dates.  Before, they used to be pretty scared of Elder Workman.  Now they love us.  For some reason they didn't go to church, so that was a bummer.  They said for sure next week, and that they had some place to go.  We had some darn good lessons with them this week.  We taught them three times this week.

We only had Sister Rita at church.  She's the one whose preacher told her not to go.  She came anyways.  I like her a lot.  Previously she let me ride her carrabou.  We actually have a few older ladies in the group.  We've never really done much with them, because they are old, but yesterday they fellowshipped Sister Rita like champs.  Apparently they go way back - as in back before I was born. She showed up late, but the group re-arranged so she could sit by some of her peers.

Elder Workman has got me on a workout program.  I have done it every day since Tuesday except Sunday.  I'm pretty sore.  I previously had the desire to  work out, in hopes to one look like Scott Avett, but man I’ve got to tell you . . . working out is no fun.  Zero fun, sir.  All my workout activities are names weird things.  Like "goat pushups" or the "dying cockroach" or "bok-choy curls."  It makes it a little bit more fun.

We've really been trying to get members to work with us. We tried to get people to work with us almost every day, but they only pulled through on Friday and Saturday.  Both those days we got punted way bad, and only taught three discussions.  On Saturday, we worked from 10 until 7 and only got three!  For five of those hours we had a member with us!  

By the end of the day, we were super pooped.  I'm sure you know what that's like.  Coming home, tearing off your polo and tie, and running to turn on the electric fan.  Well on my trot over to the fan, I stepped in something.  I looked down and the entire floor was wet!  I surveyed the damage, and then Elder Workman steps in it too.  We were thinking "what the heck?"  So, I had left the water on.  We have a filter on our faucet, and it works very slowly, so you don’t notice it when it’s on.  Well, I left it on and the container filled up, and then started leaking all over the floor.  Nothing important got wet - most everything is up on the table or desk, and nothing of value was on the floor.  The tile is slanted in the middle so the water did not reach the walls.  That's good because we had our luggage against the walls.  

Elder Workman's skating injury

We swept the water down the drain in the CR (comfort room) and we were getting out the mop.  Then we realized how much fun it was the slide across the tile floor.  We had a lot of fun doing that.  We took some fun videos of sliding across the floor, and then Elder Workman took an ill fated ride and got a chunk of his toe taken out.  He bled pretty a lot.  It really hasn’t stopped truly bleeding since Saturday night.  He's been walking on it quite a bit, though.  He's got it all wrapped up in band-aids and then electrical tape.

You remember how we did that lesson with the two member girls accompanying us?  Well, Jenny went to our FHE last Tuesday.  We had it at the church!  So technically she kind of came to church.  She seemed relaxed and laughed with everyone.  Sometimes people don't need the gospel as much as they need a friend.  Or maybe those are the same thing.  She said she was going to come to church on Sunday.  Sister Meyda Rose swung by there Sunday morning, but I guess she was still asleep. After church, Elder Workman and I decided it was better if we didn't visit her.  Instead, we sent the two girls her age over there to "chit-chat."  They wanted to know why we weren’t going to come too.  We explained if we went too, the girls could not chit-chat to the full potential.  So we told them to share like five minutes worth from the scriptures and then chit-chat until they had to leave.  Jenny knows all the stuff we could teach her, she just needs gal pals.  That is something Elder Workman and I cannot be.  I don't know how their visit went, but I do know they went over there.

Elder Workman and I have been having some real success.  A lot of our investigators are reading and praying and growing in faith.  For some reason, only one person came to church, so we'll work on that.  Elder Workman and I are really going at it here in Sibunag.  We are actually doing really well.  We are getting organized and the members have really taken him in.  I think if Sibunag is ever going to get going, it's now.

Sister Mary has a teenage neighbor girl who has always sat in the lessons.  She has always been squeamish about praying.  Whenever we ask her to pray, or try to get her to pray, it ruins the spirit of the lesson - she just doesn't want to.  So last Tuesday evening, we went over there to teach, but had no plan. We started asking questions to try and figure where to teach.  From our questions, we found out that Sister Mary was for sure going to Manila on Saturday, and then on to the middle east.  We really couldn't decide what to teach to Sister Mary as a last lesson.  We kind of floated around until we got on the subject of prayer.  Then it just clicked, and we got in the groove.  We both bore testimony and read a verse or two from the scriptures. I told about praying for James Templo, and Elder Workman talked about the peace that comes from prayer.  Man, the spirit was there.  We asked her to pray.  She did.  Sister Mary helped her out a little, but she did it.  Elder Conjelado tried to get her to pray every time we visited, but she never did.  Man, I know this is kind of sappy, but the spirit makes a difference.  We had been teaching Mary and Ellen for at least two months now, that was the first time Ellen prayed!  We were so stoked.  

We got invited to eat there.  As we sat down to eat, we got a text saying "Elders, Diin Kamo haw?"  That's means.  "Where are you at huh?"  We were late for our FHE!!  We had forgotten about it.  We ended up being about an hour late - which is just fine if you're Filipino, but as the missionaries, it was kind of bad.  We were the last to show up actually. We got from Mary's house to the church in Dasal mostly by foot.  At night there are no motors to hitch.  We ended up just asking someone who had a motor to drive us.

Last Friday I went on splits with Elder Andrews.  He's really cool.  He's the zone leader.  He's not stuck up at all.  I really think a lot of him.  We did get punted pretty badly, but we tracted into some crazy folks.  I guess their religion is classified as "Jesus Miracle Crusade."  The lesson was all over the place.  We did our best to control it, but by the end of it, we were thinking "let’s pray and get out of here."  The whole lesson they were talking about how it's against the commandments to wear jewelry and pants.  They just wore skirts.  So I made the mistake of asking them to pray.  They gave us the craziest prayer ever.  We all kneeled down, they raised their hands in the air and said the oddest, most exaggerated prayer ever!  It took every ounce of grown-upness in me not to laugh. I controlled it until we left.  Then Elder Andrews and I had a good laugh.

Now that there are two Americans out here in Sibunag, we've been getting ripped off left on right.  The thing is, I know the prices too!  Last Tuesday on the way to district meeting, it was the worst!  We hitched a ride with this one hothead.  He agreed to 80 pesos, that's the normal price we I usually pay to get to Alibhon.  He was driving way slow, and being a punk and complaining about how big Elder Workman is.  His motor was fine!  I've see him fit 6 Filipinos on his motor, and Elder Workman and I don't equal six Filipinos.  So, we told him to just keep going.  He said he would if we added another twenty pesos.  I argued with him a little bit.  He had already agreed to 80.  He said his motor couldn't do it!  That was a load of crap.  His motor was fine.  I said to him "Your motor can't do it for 80, but it can for 100?"  He said yes.  We asked for all of our money back.  We weren’t even halfway there, and in a spot that we could not get a ride.  He only gave us 37 pesos back, and we stuck in the middle of nowhere.  We ended up hitching a ride on a moped all the way to Alibhon from there!  We were pretty late to district meeting.  We talked to some other people who drive motors for money about it.  It turns out that this hothead's nickname is "Bumper," and he always pulls crap like this.

Mary left for Manila on Saturday.  We tried to visit her on Friday, but apparently she was out getting good and drunk.  So that's that.  She's going to send us her address when she knows what it is.

Magic Show

Elder Workman is a lot of fun.  I like him a lot.  He does magic for the kids!  The other day, he was in front of about 30 kids for fifteen minutes.  We had to leave for an appointment, so for the last trick he told them to close their eyes and then we ran away.  They all chased us.  It was like a scene from "A Hard Day's Night."  It was so much fun.  We would run and jump behind bushes and stuff.  I have a good video of running away from them.

You know that hint I gave?  The hint was that I was planning on buying a goat.  I wanted to name it mud.  We've been looking at some goats, and it seems like goats are out of season?  What?!?  The cheapest we have found is 1000 pesos for a female, super ugly goat.  We might cook it when I transfer, or just give it to some members that raise goats.  We looked at some goats earlier this morning, but there was no go there.  I don't want to waste money on goats, but goats are so sick.  We'll see what happens here, but right now it’s looking like it won't happen.  I hope it does though.  It's not technically a pet because it's for the grass in our yard.  If I can't get a goat here, I'll get one when I go to college.