Week 7: I'm in Heaven!

Right off the bat I've gotta apologize about the sporadic emails. I didn't know my P-day was going to be today until yesterday, and I don't think I'm going to have another one until the Monday after next, but I've been wrong many times before, and I expect to be wrong many more times.

So many things have happened this week and I don't know where to start, but I'm just gonna go for it.

First of all, the Philippines is so beautiful! I love it here. We got to go through the temple last week after I emailed, and it's a really small temple, but it's so beautiful. I don't know if it's sacrilegious to say, but sa Pilipinas, in the temple they wear these really cool silk white shirts without ties. Today, my companion and I went to reserve a temple session for our district, but when we got there, there was a massive line of Filipino people waiting to get into the temple. It was a 45 minute wait for us to get to the front desk to ask about reservations, when they informed us it was a Filipino holiday, and they couldn't make any reservations for missionaries.

While we were waiting in line, I saw several vans pull up to the curb and people pour out of them in their sunday best. There were men, women, children, and elderly people crammed into these vans that probably drove hours to they could get to the Lord's house on their precious day off. I saw a man walk right by us with a fat stack of family names, and just the idea of this man, and his ancestors waiting so long for him to get them to the temple brought tears of joy to my eyes. These people are so humble, and I can learn so much from their zeal on coming to the house of the Lord. I'm honestly glad my district isn't going to get the opportunity to go through the temple today, even though it's probably the last time in two years that I'll have the chance to go, if it means that that many more of these blessed people can remember their ancestors, or preform their own saving ordinances, in such a sacred way.

In my own personal study, I'm in Alma chapter 32, where Alma is talking to those people who have been cast out of their synagogues by those with more than them. Alma says:

"16. Therefore, Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humbled; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe."

These people may be in humble circumstances, but they are 100% humble of their own accord as well. They are hard working, charitable, and above all some of the most christlike people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Love,
Elder Menzie

Wheel of TAGALOG:
Siyok: the frightened cry of a chicken
(pronounced like: Shoke)

Manila Temple

My District at the Manila Temple

Me, Elder Heslop, Elder Debry and Elder Heminway

The Cauayan Crew at the Temple

Week 6: Swimming Through the Air

Hey, So I'm in the Philippines now. We left the Provo MTC at 1:00 PM on Monday the 13th. We landed in Manila at 6:00 AM on Wednesday the 16th. I am exceedingly jet-lagged, so I apologize if this email goes off the rails a little bit.

Flight info from LAX to Manila

They gave us these comfy tube socks for the 14 hour plane flight to Manila, and I guess they made it so my ankles didn't swell up, because everyone else had swollen ankles, but I just had comfy blue socks on.

At the Manila Airport

When we got out of the Airport in Manila (none of my bags got lost) we got herded onto a bus where the MTC president, President Carlos, started listing off the ways that the Philippines MTC is better than the one in Provo. The list is extensive. It is sooooo beautiful here. It's set up like a rectangle of buildings, and in the middle there's this courtyard that is sobrang magandang. Also the food is MUCH better here. We had liver for dinner yesterday! Apparently they're going to serve us Balut before we leave, which is basically a fertilized hard boiled egg. I'm looking forward to that.


Also, the city of Manila is CRAZY. We were driving through it and it looked like the city from Blade Runner, except more humid, and slightly cleaner air. The drivers here are CRAZY. There are all these Jeepnees driving around, which are basically little school bus looking things that just drive around and people get on. They've got this fast food restaurant here called Jollibee that serves spaghetti and meatballs, burgers, hot dogs, and fried chicken, among other things. It's about as common as McDonalds in America. There were stray dogs everywhere. There was this little kid just taking a nap on top of this shelf on the side of the road. Manila is crazy.

When I was in LAX, waiting to call my parents on the payphone, I decided to get Panda Express as my last American meal. I opened up the fortune cookie and it said:

"You are exactly where you're supposed to be."

I started laughing, and put it into my wallet for safe keeping. I went to call my parents on the payphone and all I got was voicemail. I figured my dad might be in Germany, so I used the international instructions, and still nothing. I tried the domestic instructions again and for the last time, I got nothing. I don't know whether it was the exhaustion, the craziness of what happened earlier when we first got to LAX (long story short, we lost Elder Finau, a 6'4" 350 lbs Tongan), or the fact that I just really wanted to talk to my mom, but I kinda just lost it. I went into the bathroom so the other missionaries waiting wouldn't see, but there was a janitor cleaning in there, so I walked back out and just stood alone for a little bit. I took out my wallet, and just looked at my fortune, and just started to wonder for a hot minute. We went back to our gate, and I just kinda sat alone for a while. I went to go read the Book of Mormon, looking for some sort of comfort. I was reading in Alma chapter 5, where Alma the Younger is chastising the people of Zarahemla. what really stuck out to me was in verse 43, where Alma says:

"... for behold, I have spoken unto you plainly that ye cannot err,"

God had already given me the comfort I was looking for.

It was so plain that I couldn't miss it if I tried. 

"You are exactly where you're supposed to be."

I really wanted to talk to my family, and I did get to, thanks to a kind elder and the burner phone his parents sent him, but I know that even if I didn't get to talk to my parents for two years, I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Love,
Elder Menzie

JOLLIBEE!

Jeepnees in Manila

All of the missionaries currently at the Manila MTC.
I'm approximately 4th row from the back and 4th from left side.

Week 5: Three Days Left Until Elder Menzie Takes the Philippines!!!!!!!

Sorry for the lack of a witty and hilarious subject line today, but I am happy to announce that on Monday, I will be flying to LA, and then to the Philippines! It's going to be about 24 hours of travel, which I am SO excited for. WOOHOO!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, It's time for another update in the weekly segment: Things we Broke in our Residency!

This week it's a little bit of a story, so buckle in. On Thursday, Elder Heslop got a mysterious package from an anonymous donor. Our district leader had picked it up for him (which you're not supposed to do) and had it waiting back at the residency. I grabbed it and threw it to Elder Heslop, who wasn't ready for my great throw and dropped said package. He wasn't super happy about that, but everything was fine. Then I told him to open it because I wanted to see what was inside. He refused. I took my key and threatened to open it for him. He gave me a swift punch to the pec for my troubles.

I went and told Elder Montague (Elder Heslop's friend from Mesa that is also in our zone) that Elder Heslop had a package that he wasn't opening. Word spread around about the package, and a couple more punches were dolled out to those who touched the package. then Elder Beck came in the room and asked about the package. We explained it to him, and then he grabbed it and sprinted down the hall to his room. Elder Montague and I held Elder Heslop back for a second so he wouldn't catch him.

He got free and chased Elder Beck down right as he was closing the door to his room. Elder Heslop slammed into the door as Elder Beck was trying to close it. The door ended up closed, and Elder Heslop was pounding on it for them to open up. That's when we hear Elder Beck, from inside the room yell, "The door's broken!"

We got his roommate, Elder Dawson to come try and open it with his key, but the door was jammed shut. They finally opened the door, after a whole lot of convincing, except the doorknob on the inside had fallen off and it was stuck unlocked. It's all better now though.

It was my Tagalog teacher, Brother Gilliat's birthday yesterday, so the district threw him a little surprise party before class. We sang happy birthday in Tagalog, and then I read Alma 23:13 :

13 And these are the names of the cities of the Lamanites which were converted unto the Lord; and these are they that laid down the weapons of their rebellion, yea, all their weapons of war; and they were all Lamanites.

And then, all the Elders took out their skinny floral ties from their desks and put them around his neck as he came around the classroom.

There are some commandments and mission rules that seem really stupid to me. I don't really know why my floral tie is too distracting, and I don't know why the MTC barber decided to cut off all my hair after I asked for a trim. I do, however, know that for the next two years, the lord is going to need me 100%. I bet Samson thought it was pretty stupid that he had to grow his hair out, wasn't able to drink wine, or touch dead stuff. But Samson died blind, in a prison because he didn't live up to his covenants. I doubt that's going to happen to me, but I know that consecrating my time, as well as my wardrobe, and my hair to the lord will only bring forth good things.

Love,
Elder Menzie


Hot Shot of Tagalog with Elder Menzie:

Pinakamakapangyarihan - Almighty

Elder Heslop reading from Sister Randall's notebook very intently

The District with Brother Gilliat on his Birthday

Brother Gilliat reading from our card with all of the floral ties on

Week 4? I Hardly Know Her!

Right off the bat, yes, there was more damage done to MTC property done in the residency this week, but if I'm being honest, it was a lot more tame than usual. All that happened was all three hundred and fifty pounds of Elder Finau Jumped up to "dunk" on another elder, except I guess elder Finau forgot how tall he was, or how high he could jump, because his hand went through the drop ceiling tile and snapped it in two. We taped it back together though so it's all good as new, except now we've got a cracked tile ruining our pristine ceiling.

All the older districts in our zone left this week, which was kinda sad because the residency is kind of empty now, but also good, because now I don't have to wait for someone to be finished with the big shower, I can just walk it! Also, I swiped a MUCH softer blanket from an empty room, so I think it's been a net positive for me. But it's also really weird, because now we're the older missionaries, even though we just got here. I haven't met all of the new missionaries yet, so hopefully they're not too ~different~.

Speaking of, I found out one of the sisters in my district loves Fantastic Mr. Fox almost as much as my family does, so we quoted that babylonian picture for a hot minute. The sisters are really great but I've got to be sure not to flirt with any of them, or else I'd be violating page 33 of the missionary handbook. In our zone, we do this little gesture that looks like this:👌 but tilted to the side so the three fingers are more visible, and then we swing it back and forth so you see the three fingers twice, to remind elders of page 33. We mostly do it as a joke because nobody is really interested in flirting here. It confuses me as to why anyone would try to flirt with the sisters here, because if we're being honest here, the sisters are more obedient than the elders by far. If I wanted to get rejected by girls that were better than me, I would've just stayed home.

All jokes aside, being obedient to rules like that really help me to focus on the work way more than my ADD self would be able to on my own.

Elder Heslop and I were teaching Mary Grace, our "investigator," and she informed us she didn't go to church because she had a secret husband she hadn't told us about, who doesn't like the church. We shared a scripture from my personal study that I thought would help her:

Mosiah 2:5-6
5 And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another.

6 And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;

We asked her to read the rest of the chapter with her husband and testified that he would feel thetruth if she did. It went super well, and it feels super weird to say that about someone who I know is faking, but I really hope the husband she doesn't have feels the spirit as he reads king Benjamin's speech, and about the families that went to hear it together.

The more I think about it, the more I know that we're not the ones teaching. It's so hard to go into a lesson without notes and hope that you can speak tagalog with someone who knows so much more than I do. But even if I knew every word of Tagalog, and had every conjugation for every verb type down pat, I wouldn't teach anyone if the spirit wasn't testifying the truth to them. Humility is something I really struggle with, but it's one of those commandments that even though I suck at it, I can see just how vital it is for missionary work, as well as just being a disciple of Christ. It's so hard to give the credit to God for some of these accomplishments that I feel really good about, but as it says in Proverbs 28:25:

25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.

I wanna be real fat by the time I come home.

Love,
Elder Menzie

Weekly Tagalog Morsel:
Ano po ang naramdaman ninyo -- How did that make you feel
(I use this one a lot)

Smeagal returned this week

We got a giant Rice Krispie treat from an anonymous donor

Elder Haslop studying photogenically again

Our MTC District at the Provo MTC temple

Elder Montague, Elder Heslop, me, Elder Mattheson at the temple

I'M LEAVING THE 13TH

I'M LEAVING FOR THE PHILIPPINES ON THE 13TH

I'm going to the Manila MTC for a week! I need shoe polish before I leave though. And probably other things. This is crazy. See ya next week!

Love,
Elder Menzie