For those of you who don't pay attention to my life outside of these weekly emails, I'll give you a quick update: due to civil unrest caused by the coronavirus pandemic, my mission to the Philippines Cauayan Mission that was supposed to be 24 months long was cut short just before 21 months. I and countless other missionaries assigned in foreign countries have been sent home, some of whom will be reassigned to missions in their home countries, but that seems pretty darn unlikely for me, just based on how close I was to going home anyway.
It started on Monday night, when we got word that we'd be under house-arrest until further notice. I was armed with my Old Testament, a bootleg copy of Monopoly, and a winning attitude to get me through what I thought was going to be the most boring time of my life. I thought wrong.
We got halfway through our first game of monopoly when the big guys called and told us all to pack up in case we had to "mobilize." They claimed to was more for precaution than anything, but it hurt really bad to get that call. The Philippines had become my home over the past 21 months, and I felt like I was being kicked out. Those feelings only intensified a few hours later when they told us that all missionaries from foreign countries were being sent home. I sat in disbelief and tried to get some sleep later that night, but that was hard mostly because I was waiting to get the call that we needed to leave, but in a more real way it was because I was ridiculously congested and had a nice little cough, which had turned into me sounding like I had smoked 2 packs a day for both decades of my existence. It was bad, but I didn't have a fever, which was nice.
Wednesday morning rolls around and they told us to "mobilize" and get to Cauayan so that we could get on busses heading to Manila to get on a plane and go home. What could go wrong? Not a whole lot, it just took longer than expected and was very boooooring.
That's a picture of the roommates and I as we waited for a very nice member to pick us up and take us to a stake center to meet up with more missionaries in the area who were all going to Cauayan.
That's a picture of (mostly) all the foreign missionaries from Cauayan mission all chillin' in the Manila MTC, waiting for ANYTHING to happen. It was a boring few days waiting for the flights out of Manila to get all finalized, although, they eventually did, and on Sunday, I flew home, and Monday morning I was greeted with this sight for sore eyes:
So that pretty much catches you up to my current situation. I'm back in the great state of Massachusetts, out of the Philippines for the foreseeable future, and it's very bittersweet. Anyone who's come home from a mission can testify to the joy of seeing your family again, and being home, but it does feel like I left a bit of myself in the Philippines. In the Manila MTC, while we were waiting to go home, we had a bit of an impromptu testimony meeting about the Book of Mormon, and for some reason Mosiah 18:30 just popped into my head and wouldn't get out:
30 And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.
I thought about that verse in my head and felt like I should stand up and share it, but I had no idea why. It's a fine verse, but how is this gonna help a bunch of missionaries who are getting sent home? I stood up, shared the verse, and then repeated it, with some minor adjustments:
30 And now it came to pass that all this was done in [Cauayan], yea, by the [SM* of Cauayan], in the [Mission Home] that was near the [SM of Cauayan]; yea, the place of [Cauayan], the [SM of Cauayan], the [Mission Home of Cauayan], how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.
This might seem pretty dumb to those of you reading this, but I mean this with my whole heart. I testify to all of you that in Cauayan I came to a greater knowledge of my Redeemer. I had the opportunity to help others come to the same knowledge of our perfect Saviour. For this reason the Cauayan Mission is beautiful to my eyes. I don't know any other way to describe it. I feel blessed for this time that I've had to serve Jesus Christ in that way. I miss it so much. I've seen God's power as he's changed me and those around me through his Son. Now that I'm home and that period of my life is over, I still feel the obligation to "sing his praise forever." I love the Philippines, I love the Cauayan mission, and I miss them terribly, but they're in the hands of the Lord of the Harvest. The mission has done a weird thing to me in that now I associate the strong spiritual feelings of "[coming] to the knowledge of [the] Redeemer," and "[Singing] his praise forever," with a geographic location. when I read about the Waters of Mormon, or the Land of Ishmael where King Lamoni lived and was converted, when I imagine the great city of Zarahemla where Alma the Younger spoke, or Jerusalem where Christ himself ministered, I'll remember my time in the Philippines Cauayan Mission, when those stories became a part of me, because in some small way, I got to see them play out before my eyes over the course of these 21 months.
Love,
Elder Menzie
*SM is a chain of malls in the Philippines and there's one right next to the mission home in Cauayan
