Week 30: Do you Feel the Love? I Feel the Love

This week has been a pretty interesting one to live through. In the moment, not gonna lie, there were some pretty crummy moments, but now that I'm taking a step back and looking at the whole week, I can really see that the Lord has blessed us with so many tender mercies in this work

Sort of a headliner for this week is that Sister Grace Garonita got baptized on Saturday! It was great. Her husband, son, and daughter are all already members, and their family was made complete this Saturday, which was such a humbling experience for me to be a part of. They're such a strong, hardworking family, and I love the fact that I've been able to share my testimony with them, and be even a little part of their conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also after the baptism we had pancit (sorta like a filipino lo mein kinda deal) and Royal (literally just better-tasting Fanta with a different label) which was really good, and also a very humbling experience to be a part of.

After the baptism, we got to teach this old 'nay, who doesn't speak Tagalog, and cannot understand our Tagalog, which, If you could believe it, was another very humbling experience for me. It was fine though, because we had a fellowshiper who could translate for us.

Something that has stood out to me this week is that miracles from God can only be manifest if we are sufficiently humble. Otherwise, we could take credit for the accomplishments. This is the lesson that Gideon learned when he was trying to build up an army to defend Israel against the Midianites, but the Lord kept telling him to whittle down his numbers. In Judges 7:2, he gives his reason:

2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

This is why I'm so grateful for humbling experiences, because they really allow you to see the Lord's hand in your life, and teach me, that even with all my inadequacies, I can still be a servant of God.

Love,
Elder Menzie

P.S. Just a reminder to keep those affected by the recent attacks in Mindanao in your constant prayers. Intolerance of any kind has no place on these beautiful islands, or on this earth, for that matter.

The Deathly Tagalogs: Part 1:
Nanay (or 'nay) -- literally means mom, but also what you call call elderly women here

It's Picture, It's Picture TIME:

Elder Adams and I with Garonita Family

The Garonita Family and I with members of the branch

Me and a vvvv good boye

Week 29: Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Hello again, friends and family, from one half of the elders assigned in Gosi, Tuguegarao. It's been quite a week this week. I saw a monkey. and, as you can probably guess by the subject, it's been kinda rainy. But I can tell you right now, that does NOT mean my eyes'll soon be turning red. Because when it rains here, that means it's not blistering hot, so as far as I'm concerned, the rain is welcome.

This week was a freaking rewarding week for us here in Gosi. We're still working our tail ends off, and not even district leader splits is gonna stop us from getting to all the people that we need to. Speaking of, we had splits with our District leader and his companion this week on Friday, but we've got a sister that we're prepping for baptism this next week who we needed to go to, so we asked if we could do splits some other time, to which our district leader replied no. but he did say that we could keep Elder Adams in our area to work with him, while I went to his area to work with his companion, Elder Stevens, who is from Ohio and super cool. I saw the monkey while I was with him, had to hit a 16 year-old girl with my umbrella for texting during the prayer, and one of his investigators thought we were prophets, which took a little bit of time to explain to him.

It was great.

Then I came back to Gosi, found out some ants had gotten into my rasins, and got right back to work, because as the famous saying goes: there ain't no rest for the righteous missionaries who don't know when to quit.

You've never felt the sweet comfort of a bed until you've been out on the hard streets of Gosi from 10 AM to 9 PM running all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off from person to person to teach. Sufficeth to say: It's very comfortable, and no matter how much sleep you get, it's never enough.

Love,
Elder Menzie

The Order of the Tagalog:
basa .... tuloy -- read .... continue

Pictures come and pictures go:

The Monkey

The District (and Elder Afoa in the corner, with the sisters)

Us and John Paul, this super cool kid who you'll probably hear more about next month ;)

Week 28: It's Been A Hard Day's Night

Hey all you party people, this is Elder Menzie, calling in to report on a week that was less crazy than last week, but was honestly one of the most rewarding weeks of my whole mission.

First of all, a kind of crazy thing happened. So Jeffrey R. Holland is in the Philippines for the groundbreaking of a temple in Urdeneta, and while he's here, he went ahead and did an area-wide broadcast on Sunday, which was super freaking cool. It was awesome to hear him talk about the Philippines with such affection, and it really reminded me that even though we're on the other side of the world from Salt Lake City, The Philippines are still in the minds of the brethren who lead this church. Also Jeffrey R. Holland said he was jealous he didn't get to serve his mission here, which was pretty gratifying for me.

As you can probably tell from the subject line, we worked our freaking butts off this week. I've been working like a dog, and if I'm being honest I really could be sleeping like a log right now if I wasn't sitting in a teal plastic chair in a netshop right now. I swear, I'm gonna look freaking pogi after this area because of just how much we're walking everywhere. It's hard work, but we're seeing some breathtaking results. This area is awesome, and there are some straight up miracles taking place here that I am so humbled to have been able to witness. I love this work, and this week has been a testament to me that God blesses those who consecrate their whole lives to him.

Love,
Elder Menzie

The Half Blood Tagalog:
Pogi -- good looking, often accompanied with a check-mark looking hand gesture right under the chin

Me, Elder Adams and 2 of our fellowshippers

Week 27: From Ang Probinsyano back to a City Kid

So, I know I start a lot of these out by saying it's been a pretty crazy week, but I'm really serious this time, it's at least in the top 27 craziest weeks I've had on my mission.

It all started on Tuesday, when Elder Anderton and I got word that he would be transferring (to the area right next to ours) and I would be staying in Aurora for at least one more transfer, but probably more, because my new companion, Elder Guancia was on his last cycle.

Anyway, Elder Anderton said his goodbyes, and if it was a different week, I might tell you about some of the stuff we did that day, but we've got more pressing matters to deal with.

Wednesday came, Elder Anderton left, and I picked up Elder Guancia, and I was super excited! Finally, I've got a filipino companion, I bet my Tagalog is really going to improve this cycle! We worked in Aurora all Thursday and I could tell we were going to get along super well. Everything was pretty much prefect.

I was doing some laundry right before bed, and Elder Guancia tells me to turn it all off. I'm a little confused, but I do it anyway. He hands me the phone and it's actually President Hiatt. He informed us that there was and emergency transfer taking place (not because of anything that we'd done) and I'd be transferred to Tuguegarao, which is one of the three big cities in our mission, and Elder Guancia would stay in Aurora.

Long story short, I stayed up till 1AM packing, and my body just got super mad at me for it. I felt like a freaking old man. my whole body was aching! Anyway, I finally got to bed, and I woke up, finished packing, and got packed into a van like a sardine to head over to Tugue, which was one of the worse travel experiences I've had in my life. I didn't even know I could get carsick, but this van did the trick.

But that's the long and short of it. Now I'm here in the big city, and I've got another American companion, it's okay though, cause Elder Adams (my new companion) is great, I can already tell we're gonna do a lot of good work, even if all my clothes smell a little mildewy now.

Love,
Elder Menzie

The Goblet of Tagalog:
Ang Probinsyano -- Somebody from the province, basically like a filipino redneck. Also the name of the most popular show here, which is kinda like 24, except a LOT more filipino

What do we want? Pictures! When do we want 'em? Now:

 Pic 1 & 2: At the Roxas terminal getting ready to leave for Tugue

Elder Adams and I at a baptism that I arrived just in time for