Tuesday -
We had our zone conference from 9:00 until 3:30. The whole zone conference was mostly about explaining our new approach on finding people called OYM or open your mouth. After some in depth explanation about what OYM really means and how we'll be reporting our numbers to mission leadership we had a guest speaker Elder McOmber. He was a psychologist and now he and his wife are serving a senior mission. He talked a lot to us about stress, how to manage it as a missionary, and why having stress is actually beneficial. Once zone conference ended I went to the district leaders meeting which took another 30 minutes or so. I also received a package from the mission office. Thanks to my family I now have some fruit snacks, Mike and Ike's, and protein powder. I'm glad that these three things go very well together when it comes to being health conscious. After zone conference we headed home and had to return to our apartments early once again because of potential post-voting day violence.
Wednesday -
We went to the mission office in the morning for Elder Fuller to get some of business taken care of. After that, we ate some McDonalds since we were in the area (and it didn't require us to cross areas) and then I bought and umbrella. The last few days it had been raining and I didn't have one because I mistakenly allowed my companion in my last area to borrow my last umbrella. Unfortunately, since I've bought this umbrella I haven't even had the opportunity to use it yet. It seemed to stop raining right as I bought it.
After we returned to our area we did some work. After a while of work with limited success we then hung around the barangay hall and watched part of a basketball game. It was almost humorous to watch. Basketball is so different here and on on some level unrecognizable because of the quality of play. It is definitely a different style of play for sure.
Thursday -
We did our studies in the morning and then went out to work later. We tried to contact a few people we previously have met or taught and we ended up teaching a lesson and getting one new investigator. We also OYMed and talked to around 10 new people. After our work we met with the other two elders and went to the chapel and went to part of the wedding reception of some members. That was pretty much the whole day.
Friday -
We had weekly planning and other than that, it wasn't a super productive day. We also went to a birthday party of a member in hopes of finding new people since lots of people congregate at peoples birthdays here.
Saturday -
The whole day we seemed to do service. In the morning we started with a small project organized by the Elders quorum. Our job was basically to mix and place some cement on part of a bridge that was in bad condition. I think the reason it was in such poor condition in the first place was probably because they allowed unqualified people such as our selves to do projects like this previously. Anyways I think it turned out okay in the end, but what do I know? I don't really have any past experience in this sort of thing. After that, we returned to our apartment, showered, did studies, and then did some more service by finishing the day cleaning the church building.
Sunday -
We had church and stuff. There was also a huge discussion in Sunday school about marriage or something. I don't really understand all that was said because it was mostly in Ilokano but one lady said "We don't have homosexual marriage here in the Philippines because we're a 'pure country'" which kind of made me laugh. A lot of the time I don't really know what's going on in Sunday school here because it's in Ilokano instead of Tagalog, but there seems to be moderately heated discussion frequently. After church we were invited to a ward leadership meeting thing for some reason. We then headed back to our apartment, studied, then did our work, and then ended the day at the house of a member named Donna Ortega.
Note -
So despite not having an abundance of lessons this week during our work I have gained a stronger testimony of how important it is to just simply be nice to others. We haven't' taught a ton of specific principles but simply becoming friends with others is a great way to leave a good influence on them and be a greater representative of Christ. We've talked to lots of people, got to know them, and have made them feel loved and, in the end, if they're not super interested in the gospel I know we have at least left a positive influence on them which is also very important.
Pictures -
Some cool tropical flowers, Elder Fuller's face, a video from sesame street that they showed at our zone conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment