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 |
