Frasier's Email from 11/26/17
I'll just start off by saying this. I hope my emails haven't scared anyone. I feel like they maybe are too negative. Missions are awesome! I feel like it is better to be honest though. I was talking to Elder Temple and he said that before his mission one thing that was more or less holding him back is that he felt like missionaries are just too fake. They aren't real people when they are on their mission. I feel like that is so true and it is better to be honest. Hopefully I haven't been too honest is the thing.
Missions really are awesome. And from everything I have heard, I am still in the not so awesome part of my mission right now. In ways, I wish I could just skip or fast-forward past this part and get to the awesome part of my mission. But, I am learning so many things right now and gaining so many experiences that I know this is all part of the plan to go through what I am right now. I think that is something that we all go through in life. We want to get past the "sucky" parts and go straight to the good parts. That sounds good and all until you actually think about it. The good wouldn't be so good without the bad. An Ironman medal wouldn't really mean very much without the training and the actual race itself. A 4-minute mile wouldn't mean very much if it was easy. College degrees wouldn't mean very much (and you wouldn't know very much) if you didn't have to go to class to earn the degree. That is also part of Ang Plano ng kaligtasan. That is a huge part of life is to have struggles, trials, hard times. That way we can enjoy the good times, and enjoy life after this one.
(Added by Alayna: Translation of Ang Plano ng kaligtasan is The Plan of Salvation)
I have a new companion now. His name is Elder Nolasco. It is weird to say this, but apparently, it is a thing to call your trainer your "Dad", or your trainee your "Son". So meet my Step-dad! haha
He is awesome. We are still working on getting to know each other. It is hard getting used to new people and getting to know them, especially when you aren't expecting it. Our companionship is going to be really good though. He is a hard worker, very patient, and just an all around good missionary. It breaks my heart that I couldn't have made things work out with my other companion. I honestly wish it could have worked out. I feel slightly like I gave up or quit. I have made it a goal now to do all I can to become friends with all of my companions the rest of my mission. If we aren't friends, it is not going to be my fault!
I still love and respect Elder Idorot, but we just got to the point that our ineffectiveness was outweighing what we were learning from each other. President Hiatt finally decided that it was time to split us. Elder Nolasco has been very patient though. President Hiatt decided to bless me enough to keep me here in the Cauayan area. I should have payed attention more, but it has been very rough finding our way around. I should know more of my way around, but obviously didn't. We have been figuring it out together.
My stresses for the week have included the fact that I am leading the area now. That is not easy because I don't know the area. I was also stressing because I still can't speak Tagolog, I don't know the doctrine, and I don't know how to teach very well. It was all weighing on me very heavily and I was getting super stressed. We had a Kabahay council a few days ago and disccussed how I can work on my stress. The main thing was just be patient. That is easier said than done, but since we met, things have been a lot better. Stress kind of sucks, but if you can use it the right way, it can make you a lot better person or missionary. The trick is channelling the emotions the right way to use them as motivation.
I also had a talk with Elder Temple last night. Amongst the things we talked about, one was about having fun or enjoying the mission. I have had a lot of great experiences and fun times, but I feel like I havn't really been enjoying the mission like I should. Elder Temple told me that he went through the exact same thing, and then he went and got his journal to read me something that he wrote way back when. Basically it shouldn't be about me. Think of how many times I have said the word I or been focused on myself. He said that all of my studies, should be focused on how I can learn the doctrine better to teach it to others, or how I can learn the language to speak it to others. He used a lot of references to back up what he was saying. Preach my Gospel and the scriptures are filled with stuff about that subject.
Another thing that we talked about was motivation. Everyone has a deep down desire/motivation for why they are serving a mission. Why they left their family, why they get up at 6:30 every morning, why they go out and work and sweat every day, etc. If you have a reason or a motivation, that is what is going to keep you going and give you the motivation to do your best. If you don't have a reason, you are first of all not going to try and be any better, and second, you are going to probably be disobedient. Every disobedient missionary doesn't have a reason. I am still praying and searching for my deep down reason, but Elder Temple said his reason was honestly life-changing for him. It is what got him on the mission in the first place. I would encourage anyone going on a mission to find your reason. It will make things a lot easier.
Here are some good things that have happened this past week:
I went on splits with Elder Temple on Tuesday. He showed me a lot of the ways and things that I still need to work on. It stresses me out a little bit, but also gives me motivation because I wan't to be the best missionary possible. I just need to channel it the right way. We also had a good time because as we were driving aroung (the assistants have a car) we talked about movies and other teenage boy stuff, so it was nice to shift our focus for just a minute.
We had two Thanksgiving dinners this past week. As a kabahay we planned and made a Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves, or at least as close as we could get it. We had rice (of course), lechon menok (chiken, looks kindof like a turkey) and pan de sal (rolls). It was pretty good. Not real Thanksgiving dinner, but it was fairly close. The next day we are at home getting ready to cook dinner and then the assistants arrived home. They had a bunch of food with them. President and Sister Hiatt and the Senior couples had an actual Thanksgiving dinner, and then they gave the assisstants a bunch of the left overs (including a whole pumkin pie, and part of an apple pie, along with turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing). It was pretty darn awesome. Elder Temple and I were about ready to cry because of the pie. So happy!
Kill Jerry, Hurt Tom:
We have had multiple mice/rats at our house. Our apartment is really nice, but there are still mice/rats. We have taken the liberty of calling them "Jerry". We bought some of those sticky sheets as mouse traps. As we were setting them up Elder Uy came up with the ingenious plan. Once we catch Jerry we will then move on to phase two. Phase two was that we were going to move this sticky trap outside after the rat was on it. And then it would be out there for Tom. (There is a cat that gets into our garbage that we call Tom.) Elder UY's plan was that Tom would try to eat Jerry, and when he puts his face down to eat Jerry, the sticky pad would get stuck on his face. Then he would be running around with this thing stuck to his face not being able to see. The way Elder Uy acted the plan out was also very funny. Phase 1 worked. We caught the rat. We moved it outside and then started eating dinner. We look outside later and sure enough, the trap was gone. We all hurried and got our shoes on real quick to see if we can find Tom. Sure enough, there is this cat just a little bit down the street who is freaking out and running around with this bright yellow mouse trap stuck to its face. Elder Uy celebrating and the cat running around, and the fact that the plan actually worked made the whole situation so funny! We were laughing so hard that when we would try and talk, we would just laugh harder. It was awesome!
Investigators:
The work has been really good all things considered. The Abad family is really moving along. Brother Abad doesn't want to get baptized until the rest of his family is ready, so now we are starting to shift our focus more towards the rest of his family. His two sons are really awesome. They are so interested that they asked us if they could each have their own Book of Mormon. They have also been to church several times now. The trick is that was are having a little bit of a harder time with Sister Abad. Because she is supporting the family right now she is gone a lot and it is harder to get her to keep commitments. This family is really golden though, so we are working with them a lot.
(Added by Alayna: This is the man with the hurt foot/leg. I'll ask Frasier next week if that is getting any better.)
It is crazy to think about what is going on at home. Thanksgiving, football, family stuff, and the fact that it is actually getting cold at home. It is so hot here. One of our investigators showed me pictures on his phone from Facebook. He is apparetnly now facebook friends with me and my family. He saved a bunch of pictures to his phone, and was showing me posts from home. It was really cool. I miss home a lot and everything involed with the word "home", but I know I am doing what I should be.
--
Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
No comments:
Post a Comment