So last p-day, after emailing in the morning, all four of us elders headed to Aparri to withdraw our money for the month. Usually, we just go to Allacapan, the next city over, to withdraw money, but this time we went around 2 hours to Aparri. We had never been to Aparri before this time, but it's more of a bigger "city" there. So it had a more legit grocery store. It definitely wasn't anything like what you'd find in America, but I was able to buy actual stick deodorant which is rare elsewhere. Also, I think elder Vaea wanted to buy some "D'sleeks" which are some pants that are popular among missionaries but you can only get them tailored in Aparri. Despite the fact that it had more stores and products and things in Aparri, it still was very garbage ridden and dirty. We also ate at Jollibee's for the first time. It's supposed to be kind of a Filipino fast food place. It being Filipino means it's menu is not similar to other fast food restaurants you know and most of the items were "unavailable." I did get the "Ultimate Aloha Yumburger" though and it was alright. Unfortunately for Elder Butler he ordered fried chicken and spaghetti for some reason. As you can imagine, it didn't exactly please his palate. Also on the jeepney ride back from Aparri Elder Butler got stuck sitting by a VERY manly bakla on a several hour packed ride.
Tuesday -
It was New Years day here and it seems like people really were excited here. Everyone seemed to make a big deal out of it and they all celebrated by eating food. In the morning we ended up going to the home of President Guillermo (a member of our branch but also the 1st Counselor of President Petersen in this mission). We stayed there for a long portion of the morning and ate lots of food. After that, at about 12:30 we headed back to the apartment to do some of our normal things, but Elder Perez decided to sleep until like 3:30... After he finally got up we went to the church because our usual fellowshipper Dan Solis was being set apart as a missionary. He was super awesome and a great fellowshipper to have. It's too bad he's leaving but I know he'll actually be a great missionary. We ended up eating after that and I did lots of scripture study and things in the apartment.
Wednesday -
In the morning Elder Butler and I did our laundry. We were intending on having district council afterword at 9:00 but Elder Vaea said it was cancelled for whatever reason.. After that nothing happened the entire time because of laziness. We ended up having our interviews with President Petersen at 5:30. I ended up making President Petersen very aware of the situation that the Ballesteros elders are in and kind of told him about the relationship between Elder Perez and I. He gave me some advice and told be to keep trying with him, and kind of gave me "Kill him with love" piece of advice. Also later after we all returned home after the interviews we went to sleep. But both Elder Butler, Vaea and I all woke up in the middle of the night at the same time super sick. Elder Butler and I kinda threw up and all 3 of us needed to go to the bathroom. I think the place we ate at with President made us all sick.
Thursday -
Thursday was also a moderately useless day. Luckily though, we did have our district council. In the morning we had it and I had been assigned to teach. I taught about teaching by the spirit and how if you're not teaching by the spirit, it's not of God. After that, the APs swang by our house and gave us a new washer because the other one was broken and for some reason our apartment had an old beaten washer when all the other apartments got new ones.
Later in the day all four of us elders headed to Allacapan to stay the night with other missionaries. Our zone conference was on Friday in Aparri and we needed to get a little closer so when we woke up the next morning we wouldn't be late because Aparri is far away.
Friday -
The next day we woke up at 4:00 in the morning. There was one shower and eight elders in the same building, so we needed to wake up early enough for everyone to shower, but also early enough to leave early in the morning to travel to Aparri and get to zone conference on time. We ended up getting there on time and early enough to also go to Jollibees again. After that we had our zone conference. It consisted of two main topics. Number one, a long, well deserved may I say, chastisement from President Petersen about obedience in the mission. After that, Sister Petersen talked a lot about budgeting and not wasting your money on things and what the mission funds should be used for. The conference seemed very applicable.
After conference, we had an usually long painful trip back home. The trip actually took so long that we couldn't make it all the way back home and had to stay in Allacapan another night.
Saturday -
In the morning, we headed home from Allacapan. Another fairly unproductive day except for we did end up going and giving one lesson. We shared one lesson with my recent convert Roldan Gaoat and some other investigators in Fugu. It went pretty well. After that, not much work was done again. We ended up going back to Ballesteros and hanging around the church for a while and talking to some members and things. I can actually slowly feel my Tagalog improving. I can more fully communicate with people than previously. By no means am I fluent but I can definitely feel the Gift of Tongues kicking in a little more. It took LOTS of prayer really. Also I've felt the companionship of Elder Perez and I slightly improve as well. It's also by no means near perfect, but it's slowly improving which is nice. Hopefully it continues that way.
Sunday -
We had our first 2 hour session of church on Sunday. It was kinda weird but I really could see the benefit of study at home. I'm sure it's a little more applicable when you're actually with your family and can read and discuss scriptures and doctrine together, but I really like to have personal study anyways, so I learned a lot from Come Follow Me. Also, after church we taught a lesson to the girlfriend of some member who leaves on a mission in February which went alright as well. After that we ended up going to the home of a less active family and teaching a lesson as well. That's the most work we've done in a while. At 4:30 we ended up going back to the chapel to watch the Philippines Area broadcast. It was basically an hour and a half of three members of the Seventy speaking in English to people that don't understand it that well. It was kind of funny actually too because it had some really scripted sounding "conversations" where they asked Filipino families how they felt about the area plan and the Come Follow Me program, then the families responded with exact memorized responses with perfectly put together English grammar with their accents. It was kind of humorous really. After that, we headed back to the apartment. I ended up doing my Come Follow Me Sunday studies and then my personal study as well. That
was the gist of the day. Also during all my studying I found a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that Heber J. Grant quoted frequently. I've heard it before but it was awesome to here it again. The quote says "That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased."
In my mission so far I've learned many things, but one thing that I have a great testimony of so far is that of scripture study. When I say scripture study, I mean study of both modern and ancient scripture. Sometimes when things get difficult scripture study is a source of a kind of outlet and peace. As I continue to read scripture I continue to learn things that I didn't even recognize before. As I read, I find answers to concerns of investigators, myself, and I also find answers to problems that I didn't even know I had. I know that scripture study along with the influence of the Holy Ghost can be one of our most valuable resources. I invite all of you to more fully study the word of God and I know that it will draw you closer to Christ. In 1 Nephi 10:19 it says "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." I know that this scripture is true and that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can know all things that are expedient in God if we have sincere faith in Him and His Son. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Pictures -
the appetizing meal of Elder Butler at Jollibee's, the New Year's celebration at President Guillermo's house, a picture of me preparing to fight the militant NPA group, a picture of how you feel when you express concern to the mission president but he only responds with "don't worry you'll be blessed" (the picture of me committing Seppuku), and then a picture of how I used the cardboard box I got as a shelf to organize my stuff.
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