(Added by Alayna: We are 9-months down! Here are the April updates.)
4/2/18
Holy Week
Just another week in the office. Just kidding.
This week was a little bit different. It was Holy Week. Filipinos don't celebrate Easter. Instead, they celebrate Holy Week which is pretty much the same thing as far as I can tell. It was weird though. They take it super seriously. The city was all shut down over a few of the days because of the traditions of what you are and are not supposed to do on Holy Week.
Tuguegarao is usually a pretty buzzing city, but it was almost like a ghost town. Even the giant mall was completely closed. Work was also a little bit difficult. Everyone was either gone or inside watching the Bible movies that they were playing on TV. There was nobody outside. We had to get from one end of our area to basically the other end. We had to walk the whole way because there were no tricycle drivers and there was almost nobody that we saw the whole time that we were walking. It took a few hours overall (we made a few stops along the way). There were some benefits to it though. All the members that we would walk past, or even investigators, would tell us to come and eat. They all make this rice cake thing and then other drinks and desserts. It was awesome because we ate a ton over those few days. I got to the point where I didn't even want to eat anymore.
On Friday we had to go to the city to drop off our old key real quick, so after that, we had lunch at a restaurant. I had my whole big meal and then ordered a really good dessert that they sell there. As I was halfway done eating a waiter walked up to us with 3 more halo-halos (dessert) saying that someone had bought them for us but he couldn’t say who. I felt so fat after that, but I had to eat it just in case the person was watching us. That honestly made our day though. It is amazing how someone doing something as simple as buying a desert for 3 missionaries can make your day that much better!
As I said though, I feel like our work was a little bit down just given the holiday that happened.
Also, within our area, we have one of the most awesome member families I’ve ever met! President Amistad was a mission president and also a temple president. They love us. They will feed us all the time and give us rides if we need them.
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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
4/9/18
General Conference
This past week has been kind of a crazy week for us. My companions had to do apartment checks this past week so of course, I had to go with them. We spent a big chunk of the day just traveling around. By the time we got back to our apartment, we were super tired, but that’s the life of a missionary.
The next day we had to travel to Cauayan for MLC. Because my companions are leaders in the mission, they attend this meeting once a month. It kind of stunk just because we had to get up at 3:30 to get ready and be on a bus in time to be to their meeting on time. I slept on the whole bus ride there (as good as you can sleep on a bus). It was kind of fun though just because the bus station and traveling reminded me of all the traveling that I did before my mission. I made me miss it a little bit, but brought back good memories. When I got to Cauayan, I went on splits while my companions were in that meeting.
I worked with Elder Burke. Our work was about as good as can be expected for working for only a few hours in the afternoon on fiesta day. It was cool though because Elder Burke and I were in the same grade and went to the same high school. We had some good talks about the good old days. haha
It was also cool because I know almost all of the leaders in our mission pretty well so being around them for a few minutes before and after the meeting was fun to be around all my friends. It is kind of funny that I am friends with all them though. It is like the freshman being friends with all the big tough seniors at the school or something.
On Saturday and Sunday, we got to watch the re-broadcasts of General Conference. That was awesome! I will just say a few of the highlights that I picked out because there was too much to write about all of it. First of all, President Nelson is the best! All those announcements he made were awesome! He has so many great-grand-children that was crazy when he was talking about that! I bet their family parties are awesome!
Also, did you notice how he was running circles around everyone else on the stand? He literally out walked President Eyring as they would enter the Conference Center. I don't remember who said it, but I could see President Nelson being alive for 10 to 20 more years! The only thing about his announcements was that he didn't reinstate beards. They need to get rid of the mustache rule and just go full beard again. Some of those guys singing in the choir look really creepy with just a mustache!
I loved Elder Holland’s talk! First of all, his joke about President Nelson was pretty awesome! I was laughing pretty good! Also, among the whole talk, one part really stuck out to me. I don't really ever cry, but when Elder Holland was telling the story and said the words "GET TO MY HOUSE NOW!", I was closer than I have ever been to crying during a talk. That was a very powerful talk!
The Solemn Assembly was awesome! You could definitely feel the spirit as that was going on, even if it was a week delayed. I don’t remember the last time that happened so it was really cool for me to experience the Solemn Assembly for the first time. I loved how President Nelson was just filled with emotion, and it was also pretty funny how some of the general authorities had no idea when to raise their hand or when to stand up.
Another funny thing about conference was this: We were watching the YSA choirs that sang at conference and Elder Eriksson and I both looked at each other and said. "I am not excited to go home to Utah and be a YSA."
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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
4/16/18
Its Getting Hot Out Here, So Put on Your Church Clothes
This week has been just as crazy as any other week. My companions had splits with the assistants this past week, so I spent some time with some other Elders in our zone. That was as good as can be expected when I am working with two Filipinos in an area other than my own, while I’m staying in an apartment other than my own. I am actually not the biggest fan of splits in the world, but that’s part of life.
It made it a little bit harder though to get in a full amount of work in our area. We were out of our area for 2.5 days. We do have some pretty exciting things going on in our area though. We have a baptism coming up on Saturday. Her name is Sister Mansuetta. She is 50+ years old and lives with a member. Apparently, she had been going to church for about a year before the missionaries even realized that she wasn't baptized. She would always just go with the lady she lives with. She has been being taught since about October because she has a little bit harder time understanding things. She is really excited and very ready for her baptism though. I haven't been part of most of her teaching, but I am still just as excited for her. She also gets us a snack literally every time we teach her so that is not a bad thing. Haha
We also had the opportunity to teach a whole barangay council. I guess a barangay council is kind of like the city council equivalent in the U.S. The head of the barangay was referred to us by a member, but when we went there to teach her she invited the rest of the barangay council to sit in on the lesson as well. It was really good, and most of them seemed like they were fairly interested too. The only problem is that the member that referred her to us came to the lesson as well. Of course, we have to ask her to share her testimony at the end of the lesson. The only problem is that when we said testimony, she thought that we meant her entire knowledge about everything about the Gospel.
She STOOD UP and talked for about 10-15 minutes about anything from the Plan of Salvation- Spiritual Revelation- Celestial Kingdom- Word of Wisdom- and on and on. We kind of lost control of her, but we couldn’t just cut her off! The good thing is she is kind of old and most of the people there seemed to realize that, so it really didn't faze anyone too much.
Other than that it is just getting really hot here. Like really hot! The other day it was 41 degrees Celsius, plus the humidity. I won't say anything other than I have never sweated that much while sitting down in the shade. It is all part of the experience though. The good part is it would be impossible to get fat in this weather. Another good thing about it is that multiple times yesterday we went to people’s houses and they gave us a bowl of cold watermelon to eat!
(Added by Alayna: Frasier LOVES watermelon!)
The thing about here in Tuguegarao is that you have to eat a snack at someone’s house and if you don't they will actually get mad at you. In other circumstances, I would be getting super fat, but with all the snacks and juice and food they give us, that is what keeps me going throughout the day because it is SO HOT!
Another example of how hot it is. I washed one shirt this morning because I need it tomorrow and that isn't enough time for our lady to wash our clothes. I literally left my shirt soaking wet and hung it up outside. We left our apartment for about an hour, and when we got back, the shirt was already perfectly dry. No joke, we were all super amazed at that!
Another good thing about yesterday was we stopped by Sister Mansuetta. She was one of the ones that gave us watermelon even though we weren’t even teaching her a lesson. While we were there, her friend who is a member's husband was sitting on the couch watching boxing on the TV. He doesn't give a care, so he didn't say hi, or get up, or turn off the TV. So, I got to kind of watch a boxing match yesterday. That was fun! haha
I sent a picture of a bat, which I also explained in the video that wouldn’t send. We had a bat that came into our house on two different nights. It was just flying around in circles freaking out because it couldn’t find out how to get out. You have never seen three 20-plus-year-old guys so freaked out though. I was holding a broom while one of my companions was holding a plastic chair. It was actually pretty funny as we were trying to catch it so that we could get it out of the house. I would have filmed it other than someone wasn't wearing clothes all the way when the bat came in. It was really funny though, and then, of course, we started coming up with all these batman quotes afterward!
Spiritual thought of the day:
The Parable of the Guy Sitting by the Door
By Elder Williamson
At a broadcast of General Conference, there was a man who was sitting by the door. He was somewhat a hotshot of a man. A former Bishop and Mission President among other callings. He knew that he was kind of a hotshot, so he kind of walked around like it and acted like it as well.
At General Conference, he was sitting in the very front row, next to the glass door.
Of course, General Conference is a little bit boring for kids, especially when they don't speak English and it lasts all day. These kids took to playing in the hallways - which is no sin at all.
This man that was sitting by the door could see them and hear them just a little bit, but not enough that it should have been a problem. This man wanted peace and order though, he wanted to have a spiritual experience watching Conference. The way he decided to solve this problem was by going out into the hallway and yelling at the kids.
There were three problems with this though: 1) The door would shine the light from outside onto the screen that was showing the Conference 2) Everyone could see him stand up and go outside 3) Everyone could hear him yell as well.
It was disrupting for him as well as everyone else.
Moral of the story…If you don't want to be bothered by things that don't matter, don’t sit by the door.
Mahal ko kayo!
(Added by Alayna: Translation is “I love you all”)
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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
The bat that came into our apartment two different times.
Just a few pictures of our area. Our whole area is along the highway, which is along this big river. All the fields are corn fields, but the corn is all kind of dead right now, but it still looks pretty.
Picture of the lady that is getting baptized on Saturday, Sister Mansuetta
Bacon wrapped burger that I bought on P-day.
The one-legged monkey that I was telling you about.
4/23/18
WOW Tuguegarao!
This week has been good. We had a baptism, which you can’t ever complain about that. We were happy because a lot of members actually came even though we didn't think very many were going to come. She is a really good baptism. She had been going to church for almost 2 years before the missionaries started teaching her. She lives with a member and just always went with her. She is a little bit slow at understanding things, but she has a great desire and I feel she is really converted to the gospel. The funny thing was when she gave her testimony at her baptism, she just stood up and gave a prayer. We were all shocked when she started because it was a testimony, but she was bearing her testimony to God I guess. Everyone that was there just kind of accepted it and bowed their heads until she was done. He name is Sister Mansuetta Tuaray by the way. (She also gives us a snack and a drink literally every time we visit her; not complaining J.)
The hard part was that it actually took a lot of work to get it set up though. On Friday after weekly planning, we had to go and get clothes, and then invite as many members as we could so that it would be special for her. On Saturday we were littered with multiple baptismal interviews, my companions had a meeting with the stake, we had our baptismal service, and some sisters needed a blessing. Then when we finally got back home, everyone was already asleep in our neighborhood, except for our landlord and some neighbors trying to put out a fire that they accidentally started in our backyard. They were burning their trash, but apparently, they didn't put the fire all the way out and it lit a dry corn field on fire. Luckily they caught it before anything bad happened though.
Here is one good part, and also a bad part, about the mission. It never stops, and we are always expected to do more. We just had our zone conferences last week. If I was to give a title to that zone conference it would be this "You are doing good work, but you aren't doing great work". I honestly need to do better with sustaining and supporting my leaders, but that is basically what zone conference was. It was a lot about what our mission is at right now and what people are doing, and then about what we should, could, or are expected to be doing. Sometimes it is a little frustrating because it doesn't always feel like the love or recognition we deserve is always there, but it just shows how important this work is, and how much is expected of us.
To be honest the work is just kind of going along right now. I’ve kind of gotten bored in a sense of a lot of things. We would eat the same food every day for a few weeks, so I got bored of that. I work out the same each day and that is kind of boring. We listen to the same 15 EFY songs over and over again, we only have a few Mormon Messages so I have those all memorized, my clothes are always the same, blah blah blah. I’m not really complaining, but I feel like that is part of the trick of missionary work is making it exciting or fun (while of course following the rules). If anyone has any tips that would be great, as well as if you are preparing for a mission that is a tip for you is to always make it fun and not get bored. (By the way, my flash drive doesn't work on the DVD player we have, so that is why we only listen to the same music.)
It is transfer day so that is always exciting. I don't want to transfer already, but I have a feeling I might. I’ll let you know next week. It is also extra exciting because Elder Uy is going home, which means that there will be a new assistant. That doesn't really affect me that much, but it still is kind of just the anticipation of waiting for who it is going to be.
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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
This is the baptismal invitation that we made, as well as this is a picture of a primary manual that I saw. Do you recognize those people? haha
(Added by Alayna: That is a picture of some people that live by us. The dad is actually the AD at Weber State University.)
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4/30/18
So this happened. I got transferred again.
I am now assigned in an area called San Pedro which is in the Roxas district. You could probably look it up on Google maps just to get a feel for where I am at. Our area was described to me by a member as a shotgun area. It is not all along one road or anything, it is all spread out and all over the place. It is basically just a bunch of batches of houses randomly spaced out through miles of rice fields in every direction. I would send you pictures, except Roxas city is on an all-day blackout, so we are at a small little net shop in the middle of our area that has generator electricity, and I don't really trust to plug my camera into this computer. Sorry, you are going to have to wait until next week.
I’m not going to lie. I was really loving it in Tuguegarao the last cycle. It was a lot of fun, and I felt really comfortable in that area. That is probably the exact reason why I was not kept in that area another cycle. I was a little bit bummed out when I finally found out I was transferring (even though I was pretty sure I would be).
Just in the past week, it has gone in a whole 180 turn. It has been rough, hard, stressful, and uncomfortable. I have already been blessed with realizing what some of the reasons are that I have been put in this area. With everything, I could just complain or be upset, but I am just going to do my best. Hopefully what I do in this upcoming cycle will be enough for the Lord to consecrate my efforts.
My companion is another American, but this time it is just us without another Filipino to be with us. He is only one cycle ahead of me in the mission, so we are not very fluent in Tagalog…either of us. He also was only in this area one cycle before I came here, and his companion didn't really show him around most of the area. I feels like I am opening an area right now. That is not really a combination for what my dream area would have been like, but we are going to do our best.
I could have a very bad attitude about things right now given the situation I am in, but I have been blessed enough to realize the blessings that can come this cycle. I was still kind of in the attitude where I wasn't feeling too confident about my Tagalog skills. After I got transferred it hit me like a jeepney that I am going to start having to take care of things myself instead of just let my companions do everything.
[Added by Alayna: This is a picture (just off of Google images) of a jeepney. J]
I had no problem relying on my companions for most of my language and communicating. They would also take the lead in planning the day and the lessons. All I would have to do is share the part they told me or read the scripture they asked me to. That was really nice, but I was also sitting nice and pretty in the comfort zone. Now I am walking on nails in the growth zone.
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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
