June Letters

6/3/18

I will start off with some pictures and some of the crazy things that I have seen in the past few weeks. 

This is my fresh fruit selection for the week. 

Just a picture of me and Rupp hanging out in the Philippines.

I was trying to get a little bit creative with the modes on my camera. This is a picture of the full moon last week. 

A picture of all of us at branch council yesterday.

So, I was at the baptism of my zone leader’s investigator a few weeks ago. This kid was the child of a returning member family. The kid that got baptized was about 11 years old I think. He really doesn't have a ton of attention or manners, but he’s still great. At the baptism, when he came up out of the water, he smiled, and then dove back into the water and started swimming underwater to the other end of the font. We all just kind of stood there a little bit shocked, but laughed at the same time because it was pretty funny. 

This one is PG-13

Me and my companion were walking down the road to enter into one of our barangays (neighborhoods). As we were entering the neighborhood we heard a pig screaming. You hear that all the time when pigs are eating and whatnot, but this one was different. As we got to the house where the noise was coming from (and where a little crowd of people was standing) we could see this giant pig with a rope tied to one of his legs, and then like 5 guys trying to hold it down. There was another guy holding a big long machete that was covered in blood. I won’t tell you what happened exactly, but apparently, the way to kill a pig is to stab it in the artery in its neck until it bleeds out. They definitely did hit the artery and that is about the time that I couldn't handle anymore and left. 

This is transfer week again. This, in a lot of ways, has been the hardest cycle I have had in my mission, but I have also learned the most. Among language and a million other things, I chose one thing today.  I don't know how many other people feel like this, but I know I am definitely like this way more than I should be. Sometimes we go into things with the whole world against us. It could be a job interview, school, work, sports, and even missions. I came into this area with a little bit of that attitude. I just came in and wanted to conquer the world. That attitude combined with the fact of a struggling area, and an imperfect branch, and an imperfect apartment, and a companion that is very different from me doesn't necessarily make a recipe for high success. In just the past week, I have realized how bad that attitude is.

I have come to have a great love for the Branch President here in this area. He is very nice, friendly and loving, and he has an amazing testimony of missionary work. Our neighbor always uses our water and other stuff. At first, I was frustrated with him as well. As I have gotten to know him, I have developed a great love for him.  He is just this cute, 78-year-old Filipino, who is awesome. We gave him a visit this past week and I think it made his day. He was telling us all about his life and his family, and all his church callings and whatnot. His wife is basically out of it, but he is as happy as can be.  I will get a picture with him next week.  [Added by Alayna: Here is the picture. :)]

As different as me and my companion are, I still have developed a great love for him. I hope when I get a new companion that we can get along as me and my current companion have, and that he can be as patient with me as well. As hard as this area is, I have developed a slight warmth to it as well. I think that the lesson learned here is that you have to go into things looking for the good and not every little thing that needs to be fixed. The sooner you can figure that out, the sooner you can start to enjoy things, and not have to wait till the end of a cycle to love the things you have. 

I was able to finish the Book of Mormon for the first time in my mission this past week. I probably should have been a little bit more diligent on reading it, it is an amazing book. All the stories and everything are just pure awesomeness. It is also the first time I have ever read the Book of Mormon and actually tried to really understand it and study what it is saying. It is different for everyone, but once you can develop a passion for the Book of Mormon, the whole book changes. 

One thing that I still don't have very much of a testimony in is fasting. I guess I should have been better at it before my mission, but I still don't look forward to it now. I can't really say that I have had an AKO AY NAKAKITA NG ISANG HALIGI NG LIWANAG (Added by Alayna:  Translation is “I have seen the light”) moment from fasting ever before in my life. Now in the mission that hasn't changed. I do know that it invites the spirit, it is a commandment, you donate money, and all the other points of doctrine that go along with it, but you also need to have faith as well. I think I am just not able to look past the natural man and realize that fasting is good for you. 

Times up…more next week.

--Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

6/11/18

This is a list of all the baptisms I have had.  President Hiatt asked us all to send them. Pictures will be in the following emails. 

1: Reynante Dollente. Cauayan 3rd branch. Elder Nolasco. From what I have heard, he is less active now. 

2-5: Faustino Abad, Vivian Abad, Vince Abad, Jr. Abad. Cauayan 3rd branch. Elder Nolasco. They are doing great. The kids went to the temple a few weeks ago. The Abad family was baptized with 2 other people as well.

6: Judy Ann Celeste, Cauayan 3rd branch. Elder Nolasco. From what I know she is still active. Judy Ann's boyfriend baptized her.

7: Mansuetta Tuaray, Gosi Branch (Tug south). Elder Santillan and Eriksson. She was active even before she got baptized.

8-11: Ramirez Family (I dont remember their names). San Pedro (Roxas). Elder Stevens. I was only there the week before they got baptized. They went on summer vacation out of town, but they are still active. The mother and her 3 kids.

12-13: Lydia and Jarra Valdez. Gosi Branch (Tug South). Elder Santillan and Eriksson. I was out of the area before they got baptized, but I still count them as one of my baptisms because I taught them a lot. 

14-15: Dionisio and Perlita Franada. Mallig (Roxas). Elder Tuwai. They just got baptized. I was only here for a few days before they got baptized. They are both 70+ but super awesome. 

-- Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

The guy with the beard is a member who baptized the Franada family last Saturday. (He kind of reminds me of Grandpa Skip)

 The only picture I have with the Ramirez family with me in it.

Pictures of me burning my old shoes. They were on fire for like half an hour, so that was cool!

This was my letter to the president. I’m sorry I didn't send you a big long good letter. I'm honestly doing good. I hope I didn't end my email on a bad note. I’m learning a lot and gaining experiences. I like my companion and the area has potential. Love you all!

I am going to try and do a lot better this cycle. I feel like I underperformed or had a bad attitude in my last area. I will try and do a lot better in this area. There are a few hard things that are not so easy about this area though. First of all the apartment is not the best, especially with the water, but I’m not going to let that affect me. The main concern is that what I have gathered from the days that I have worked in this area on splits and now being here, there has been a lack of urgency in this area. I already accounted all the concerns with my file leaders, so I won’t list them here.

I was talking to Elder Jayme this morning and this is what he told me. His last companion wasn't the most motivated either. He said while it does take you down from where you could be, but you also learn a lot about yourself and how to handle things, as well as can potentially help them along the way. I am not going to let what he does affect my attitude, but I am trying to figure where to draw the line so that I don't cause arguments or any more trouble. That’s the problem…is that we are good friends and get along with each other, so I don't want to ruin that if I don't have to. 

6/18/18

Here is another letter to the Mission President:

Hello President. I know that we have interviews tomorrow, so I wanted to try and send an email a little different to you so that maybe our interview could be more effective. 

These are the good things that have been going on this week: 

We are really close with the members. Elder Tuwai is very friendly and gets along with them really well. I sometimes struggle with being as open or social with members. To me there is a fine balance between meeting with members and investigators. I would rather meet with investigators. I think Elder Tuwai is more inclined towards members though. 

Elder Tuwai and I get along really well and are good friends. I just hope it is for the right reasons.  I want to be a consecrated missionary and do everything I can. Sometimes I think I let that get to me because I don't know if I am doing everything right or what I can. 

Concerns: 

Our lessons are really long (close to an hour sometimes).

We don't contact much at all. I know that should be more on me. Sometimes it is hard to find motivation to contact when your companion doesn’t have any.

My mind has been drifting and at home more lately. About family and friends and different things. It is hard because I want to be focused on the mission more than just about anything else. 

I have also been a little bit stressed because I feel like my language and teaching skills have gone backwards lately. 

The thing I have noticed here in the mission is that when I get stressed or have problems, I tend to text or call someone else before I try to solve it myself.  I wrote this down while I was in the MTC. I wanted to come into the mission and be remembered.  I, of course, wanted to be remembered for being a great missionary and being obedient and all that. I had the mindset that I was going to come into the mission and it was going to be great and easy for me. Everything had come pretty naturally for me before the mission. Once I came here, everything hit me like a ton of bricks though.

All in all, I am doing really good right now. At least to the point that I am not stressed all the time.

(Added by Alayna.  Here is his letter to us.)

This is a story that happened this past week. We went to the house of our recent converts. The two old people that had just gotten baptized like 2 days earlier.  When we got there the Tatay wasn't there, so we just taught the Nanay. At about the end of the lesson, the Tatay finally gets home. He kind of gave a chuckle and then comes and gives us both big handshakes. As he came to me, my heart skipped a beat because I smelt a little bit of alcohol. He wasn’t too drunk when he first came in, but he must have gotten done drinking because he got really drunk really quick. To translate the conversation from Tagalog this is how it went:

"Tay, where are you coming from?” 

“I was just drinking with my friends. But, I wasn't drinking. I only drank water...with a little bit of alcohol in it.”

“Do you remember The Word of Wisdom?” 

“Of course I remember, (as he starts uncoordinatedly counting on his fingers) coffee, tea, alcohol, ummmm illegal drugs and cigarettes.” 

“So you know that alcohol is against The Word of Wisdom?”

“NO. Only coffee, tea, alcohol...Oh! I didn't drink very much though (as he starts giving drunk laughs).”

The conversation goes on and on until we leave and tell him we will come back when he isn't drunk. We get him in his bed, and then leave, and then he gets up and tries to walk us to the street, but we make him get back in bed again. 

It was actually kind of funny (the whole situation, other than his sweet little wife in her Tagalog was about to start crying). We made sure to let them know everything would be ok. And then, a few days later, we went back and taught them The Word of Wisdom again. GOOD TIMES HERE IN ROXAS!

--Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

6/24/18

My companion and I bought dragon fruit last week. It is tasty but a little bit different. Tell Sloane it looks like it is coming from outer space or something. I also made a new best friend when we had dinner with some members a couple of nights ago. She is half Filipino and half Portuguese. She is only six years old. I stole her note pad and drew a picture of her, but it was just a stick figure. She thought it was super funny though. 

I hate the number 30! 

We had interviews with President and Sister Hiatt this past week. While I was with Sister Hiatt she reassured to me why I hate the number 30.  Everything in my life revolves around 30’s right now.  Get up at 6:30.  Work out for at least 30 minutes.  Be ready at 8:30.  Plan for 30 minutes. Read the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes.  Study the PMG (Added by Alayna: “Preach My Gospel”) for 30 minutes.  Eat lunch in 30 minutes.  Get 30 contacts every day.  Have 30 minute lessons.  Get 30 referrals.  And my goal for baptisms, that Sister Hiatt more or less set for me, is 30 baptisms. With all these 30’s…I think I might die before I am 30 years old!

This was the scripture that came to my mind when I left my interviews: 1 Nephi 16:1

(Added by Alayna: The scripture reads: (“And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold they said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.”)

Everything that was spoken to me is hard things to me. If you read my email last week, you would know that I am going through my mid-life slump right now. I’m still doing good, but I’m just a little bit out of it. I went into interviews and wanted to just get a big pat on the back and be told that I am doing great and to not worry. What I felt like I got instead was that I need to be doing better. After that, I have been trying to take a look into myself and see the areas I need to improve on the most. I think the reason a lot of people get stressed, and the reason I get stressed, is because we try to fix everything at one time. I know that I am not perfect, but it is impossible to fix everything at once. I think everybody in some way, shape, or form, can work on their faith or humility or diligence or this and that.  But, you also have to give yourself a pat on your own back for doing what you are doing and that you keep on going. 

This past week has been pretty good. I bought some fresh dragon fruit that is grown in our front yard. It is pretty tasty. I found some new work outs that I can do, so I have had some extra motivation to work out in the mornings. Elder Tuwai and I have a pet lizard of considerable size that has decided to spend time in our apartment from time to time. Elder Tuwai went to sleep one night early. I went into the restroom, and then all of the sudden while I am in the restroom I hear him hitting pillows and smacking stuff with a broom.  Apparently, the lizard started crawling in his pillow. We haven’t caught it yet, but we set up some mouse traps at its favorite entrance and exit points.  Maybe tonight Elder Tuwai and I will be eating fried lizard. Masarap! (Added by Alayna: Translation is “Delicious”)

We had dinner at a member’s house and there was a little girl there. The little girl automatically became my new best friend. We were drawing pictures of each other and whatnot. She wasn't very impressed with my stick figure picture of here. She is half Filipino and half Portuguese, which makes her even cuter! She speaks English which is funny because she talks to me in 6 year old Finglish (Fililpino-English).

Other good things that are happening is that we are working with our investigators. There is a lot of potential here if everything falls into place. One guy just needs to get married. Another lady just needs to get taught (she is married into a family of really awesome members). One girls goes to church every week with her grandma for the past few years. She is 13 years old and already knows everything we are teaching her. She almost had the whole first vision memorized. 

Thanks for all the love and support you give me. Kita kits.  (Added by Alayna:  Translation “See you”).

--Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!