I've officially been here three weeks! There are times when it seems like it's been two years already and times when I feel like times are a flying by.
Also, I can't thank you enough dad for sending that note, and mom for the cookies which are on their way. The other night, as our District Leader was passing out mail, Elder Tamale started to tear up because he knew he wasn't going to get an email. Then our District Leader said hey, Elder Tamale you've got a letter! Everyone just stopped, and I thought Elder Tamale was going to have a heart attack!! He was SOOOOOOO excited. Dad, you were literally the highlight of his week! It's still been very tough because his family won't write him. We're writing right now and I've lost about 5 minutes because he's been crying....
It's been a busy week but time has really flown by! The days are starting to fly by more than ever. We picked up two new progressive investigators this week. Brother Day and Sister Sorensen, two of our teachers are respectively John and Salva. They are both VERY tough. What makes it even more difficult is appointments can only be 20 minutes long so we're forced to split the lessons in half. On Wednesday we taught John. He was very uninterested and even fell asleep a few times. I even had to tell him to stop texting. I feel like I'm starting to pick the language up more and more. It's amazing that three weeks in we can teach the first two lessons! Anyways, I felt prompted to start talking about the Atonement and Jesus Christ, right as I did, he perked up and just got so excited. I asked him if he had a testimony of Christ and he started bearing his testimony! I felt like we were on a roll, and then ET, whose language and listening skills are still behind just jumped in and said,"God calls prophets for us". Oh no! The entire focus just kind of started to drain! I was frustrated, and our teacher gave me a wry smile and a wink because he knew how close we were! Our first lesson with Sister Sorensen went very similarly. She purposefully uses words we have absolutely no idea of knowing. It makes things quite awkward as we repeatedly say "Paki-ulit!" (Please repeat). So after that lesson we were pretty down. We had the TRC later that evening and boy did that go different. It was our first time teaching ang Plano ng Kaligtasan (Plan of Salvation). It went to so well!!! I know the Spirit blessed us with the things to say. We really needed a morale booster. We asked the right questions, shared the right scriptures, and when the prompting came to extend the baptismal commitment, there was no way we would hesitate! She agreed to be baptized!! Even though we were teaching a returned missionary, just that feeling we got was indescribable. We may not have baptized a non-member, but I know we had fulfilled our purpose in "Inviting others to come unto Christ..."
I think often times we forget what that missionary work is not just about baptizing. While this is a major focus, our purpose is helping ALL people draw nearer to him through the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31). We got to go to the temple today, one of the temple workers asked me if I was related to a Paul Yost from the USCG. His last name was Austin and he was from Concord California. Ring a bell? Anyways, I have 6:30 left to type.
Thirty minutes just isn't enough time! Anyways, I ran across some really awesome scriptures this week. In Jeremiah Chapter 1, I felt like the Lord was talking directly to me. Read it! I've also been flying through the Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ. I'm 150 pages into Jesus the Christ and have read about 250 pages of the book of Mormon since I got here. I just finished 3 Nephi. What a feast! I can't help but hope that we'll get that opportunity one day.
So what's gonna happen with this debt ceiling? I tell you what, if the President doesn't get this figured out, he'll take the bulk of the hit. Talk about ineffective leadership. I think this is a bigger issue than people think. This could set the stage and draw the line in the sand for the battle over the deficit. Have no fear, follow the Prophet's advise on keeping a budget and living within our means. I'll take his side every time :)
Love,
Alex
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Challenges and Strength
Hello!!
Hard to believe this is my third time writing! It seems like the days are just starting to fly by. The first four days seemed like they took FOREVER, but after that things just seem to be flying. And we have a new district coming in this Wednesday! It's been a good week with a rough start. When I sent my last email I was incredibly discouraged about my companion situation. Sunday was kind a the culminating point and I was on the brink of just kind of losing it. I prayed for patience though and amazingly my attitude turned 360 degrees. The same things were happening, but I was able to endure them with love and patience.
Thanks for all the packages and mail!! You don't know how much of a boost it is. We aren't allowed to open it until 9:30 at night, so it's something to look forward to all day long.Thanks for the package mom! I've taken some more pictures so I may send that today with a letter I'll write...
My timing coming to the MTC was kind of poor in that the Temple is closed pretty much all month and they were re-doing the gym floor and it just re-opened. It's so cool to see so many friends though! Elder Hills is in the field, and I got a letter from Julia saying his first week, maybe first day he blew both tires on his bike, fell off, and needs a root canal and a crown. Ouch!! Tough way to start... Elder Leydsman is counting down the days as well!!
I've been lucky to have such a great district, but everyone has had their fair share of struggles. As I've told you we have mock investigators which are our teachers. Both our teachers are awesome, but one of them is more of a tough love kinda a person. He dropped two of the three companionships, and showed one of the other companionships his "investigators journal" which was straight up brutal!! It later put one of the Elders into tears because he said everything in his life has come so easy up until this. There's another Elder in our district who is struggling with the language. The funny thing about it is he's not struggling nearly as much as he thinks he is. Anyways he's so frustrated that he thinks it's because he doesn't have enough faith. Consequently, he's started to doubt his testimony. We were talking one day, and I felt prompted to share D&C 121. As you probably remember this is where Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail. He starts out saying something to the effect of "O Lord where art thou?" He asks why the faithful are being driven from state to state and killed in some cases. Just by reading it, you can feel the pain and grief in his voice. This had to be his lowest moment. But in that time of darkness and despair, the Lord said unto him, " My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." I told him the story about our family and our financial struggles over the past few years. We struggled not because of wickedness, but because the Lord wanted to test our family. We all learned lessons in those times that we could not have learned anywhere else.
I've been reading Jesus the Christ, and I've been completely blown away! James Talmage takes a look at the Savior like I've never seen before!! I just read a chapter about Christ role in the Old Testament. I been thinking a lot about Christ this past week. Particularly about his childhood. How amazing is it that the scriptures only tell is about roughly 10% of his life? I've been wondering, what was Christ like growing up, how did he learn of his mission, what was the effect of the veil on him. I know that Christ was instructed on high by his father, and was taught so many precious and pure doctrines that they probably aren't included in the scriptures. An Elder said to me this week, "The written word has it's limits, and can't even touch the simplicity and pureness of divinity." Running out of time. I know this Church is true, Christ truly does direct this church. I love you all! In the name of Christ, Amen.
Hard to believe this is my third time writing! It seems like the days are just starting to fly by. The first four days seemed like they took FOREVER, but after that things just seem to be flying. And we have a new district coming in this Wednesday! It's been a good week with a rough start. When I sent my last email I was incredibly discouraged about my companion situation. Sunday was kind a the culminating point and I was on the brink of just kind of losing it. I prayed for patience though and amazingly my attitude turned 360 degrees. The same things were happening, but I was able to endure them with love and patience.
Thanks for all the packages and mail!! You don't know how much of a boost it is. We aren't allowed to open it until 9:30 at night, so it's something to look forward to all day long.Thanks for the package mom! I've taken some more pictures so I may send that today with a letter I'll write...
My timing coming to the MTC was kind of poor in that the Temple is closed pretty much all month and they were re-doing the gym floor and it just re-opened. It's so cool to see so many friends though! Elder Hills is in the field, and I got a letter from Julia saying his first week, maybe first day he blew both tires on his bike, fell off, and needs a root canal and a crown. Ouch!! Tough way to start... Elder Leydsman is counting down the days as well!!
I've been lucky to have such a great district, but everyone has had their fair share of struggles. As I've told you we have mock investigators which are our teachers. Both our teachers are awesome, but one of them is more of a tough love kinda a person. He dropped two of the three companionships, and showed one of the other companionships his "investigators journal" which was straight up brutal!! It later put one of the Elders into tears because he said everything in his life has come so easy up until this. There's another Elder in our district who is struggling with the language. The funny thing about it is he's not struggling nearly as much as he thinks he is. Anyways he's so frustrated that he thinks it's because he doesn't have enough faith. Consequently, he's started to doubt his testimony. We were talking one day, and I felt prompted to share D&C 121. As you probably remember this is where Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail. He starts out saying something to the effect of "O Lord where art thou?" He asks why the faithful are being driven from state to state and killed in some cases. Just by reading it, you can feel the pain and grief in his voice. This had to be his lowest moment. But in that time of darkness and despair, the Lord said unto him, " My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." I told him the story about our family and our financial struggles over the past few years. We struggled not because of wickedness, but because the Lord wanted to test our family. We all learned lessons in those times that we could not have learned anywhere else.
I've been reading Jesus the Christ, and I've been completely blown away! James Talmage takes a look at the Savior like I've never seen before!! I just read a chapter about Christ role in the Old Testament. I been thinking a lot about Christ this past week. Particularly about his childhood. How amazing is it that the scriptures only tell is about roughly 10% of his life? I've been wondering, what was Christ like growing up, how did he learn of his mission, what was the effect of the veil on him. I know that Christ was instructed on high by his father, and was taught so many precious and pure doctrines that they probably aren't included in the scriptures. An Elder said to me this week, "The written word has it's limits, and can't even touch the simplicity and pureness of divinity." Running out of time. I know this Church is true, Christ truly does direct this church. I love you all! In the name of Christ, Amen.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Learning the Language
Hello!!! Friday, July 15, 2011
Hope all is well in Virginia! My first full week in the MTC has gone by a lot faster (thank goodness) than the last one. It's nice to finally be setting into a routine here. The language is going better, but can still be very discouraging at times. They've changed a lot of the language classes here so missionaries are teaching in their mission language from day one. We're part of the first batch to do it so we'll be a good litmus test. So far I've taught three lessons in Tagalog (Crazy!). It's very tough and my grammar is by no means good, I just try to use the words I know and piece them together into a sentence the best I can. It's really cool here because we're always teaching progressive investigators (our instructors). Our investigators are real people our teachers taught on their missions, so they act the way they did and have the same issues. Our investigator right now is a man named Rusty. Rusty is a father of one and has a wife named Maria. Rusty is very receptive, but has a hard time understanding the scriptures. This is hard because we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it but he was just so confused. So, I bought a children's version of the Book of Mormon which summarizes the stories and has pictures so hopefully he'll understand and be able to pray about it.
Last night we went to the Training Resource Center (TRC), where we teach mock investigators. Usually you'll teach volunteer returned missionaries, but because we were short on investigators we taught members of another Tagolog class. I was so nervous going into it!! Almost more nervous than I am before playing in a big game or taking a test! But the Spirit helped us get through it and teach the message of the restoration. Elder Tamale and I rotated off different parts of the lessons, but he's really struggling with the language so I had to give most of the lesson. Anyways, I was reading from a pamphlet about the First Vision. At this point I felt kind of dumb because I felt like what I was trying to say wasn't making sense and I had so many things to say but just didn't know how to. I came to the page about the first vision, and immediately just felt the Spirit take over. My heart stopped pounding, I spoke slower and more clearly. And then I came to the end, and I read, "Ito ang aking Pinakamamahal na Anak. Pakinggan Siya!" (This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!) Wow! As I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith, I was overcome with the Spirit, and used words and phrases I knew I didn't remember coming in. The most important language for missionaries to learn is not French, Spanish, English, or Tagalog. It's the Spirit. The language of the Spirit teaches us things and others that we have no possible way of communicating through the spoken or written word. What an important principle for all of us to learn, that as we have the Spirit in our lives, we will be able to do things and know truths we would have never been able to attain. While I miss my Fox News, Taylor Swift, and Facebook, not having things to distract from the promptings of the Spirit has allowed me to tap into things I had never imagined. Another experience this week for devotional we had Elder Winkel of the Seventy. He and his wife shared a presentation that was made for the Quorum of the Twelve about the Majesty of Christ using movie clips, pictures, and commentary. Going into it, I wasn't looking forward to it as much because I wanted to hear from Elder Holland. But as the presentation went on, I was struck by the enormity of my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ. The Savior of the World, the only Begotten of the Father who died for all of us. Even if it had just been one person, he would have done it. That's the Christ-like love I want to emulate, and what I believe is the true definition of Charity. To give all that you have, even if just for the one. He lives, He is Risen. This is my testimony, sa pangalan ni Jesu Cristo, Amen.
Hope all is well in Virginia! My first full week in the MTC has gone by a lot faster (thank goodness) than the last one. It's nice to finally be setting into a routine here. The language is going better, but can still be very discouraging at times. They've changed a lot of the language classes here so missionaries are teaching in their mission language from day one. We're part of the first batch to do it so we'll be a good litmus test. So far I've taught three lessons in Tagalog (Crazy!). It's very tough and my grammar is by no means good, I just try to use the words I know and piece them together into a sentence the best I can. It's really cool here because we're always teaching progressive investigators (our instructors). Our investigators are real people our teachers taught on their missions, so they act the way they did and have the same issues. Our investigator right now is a man named Rusty. Rusty is a father of one and has a wife named Maria. Rusty is very receptive, but has a hard time understanding the scriptures. This is hard because we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it but he was just so confused. So, I bought a children's version of the Book of Mormon which summarizes the stories and has pictures so hopefully he'll understand and be able to pray about it.
Last night we went to the Training Resource Center (TRC), where we teach mock investigators. Usually you'll teach volunteer returned missionaries, but because we were short on investigators we taught members of another Tagolog class. I was so nervous going into it!! Almost more nervous than I am before playing in a big game or taking a test! But the Spirit helped us get through it and teach the message of the restoration. Elder Tamale and I rotated off different parts of the lessons, but he's really struggling with the language so I had to give most of the lesson. Anyways, I was reading from a pamphlet about the First Vision. At this point I felt kind of dumb because I felt like what I was trying to say wasn't making sense and I had so many things to say but just didn't know how to. I came to the page about the first vision, and immediately just felt the Spirit take over. My heart stopped pounding, I spoke slower and more clearly. And then I came to the end, and I read, "Ito ang aking Pinakamamahal na Anak. Pakinggan Siya!" (This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!) Wow! As I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith, I was overcome with the Spirit, and used words and phrases I knew I didn't remember coming in. The most important language for missionaries to learn is not French, Spanish, English, or Tagalog. It's the Spirit. The language of the Spirit teaches us things and others that we have no possible way of communicating through the spoken or written word. What an important principle for all of us to learn, that as we have the Spirit in our lives, we will be able to do things and know truths we would have never been able to attain. While I miss my Fox News, Taylor Swift, and Facebook, not having things to distract from the promptings of the Spirit has allowed me to tap into things I had never imagined. Another experience this week for devotional we had Elder Winkel of the Seventy. He and his wife shared a presentation that was made for the Quorum of the Twelve about the Majesty of Christ using movie clips, pictures, and commentary. Going into it, I wasn't looking forward to it as much because I wanted to hear from Elder Holland. But as the presentation went on, I was struck by the enormity of my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ. The Savior of the World, the only Begotten of the Father who died for all of us. Even if it had just been one person, he would have done it. That's the Christ-like love I want to emulate, and what I believe is the true definition of Charity. To give all that you have, even if just for the one. He lives, He is Risen. This is my testimony, sa pangalan ni Jesu Cristo, Amen.
MTC - First Email!
First Missionary Letter from Alex – July 9, 2011
Hello!!
How are things? Things are going well here. My P-Day is usually on Fridays, but because it's the first week we only have a half P-day and it's today. Thanks for the letters!
My companion is Elder Tamale. I love him! He's from Tonga, and speaks very little english. It's definitely a challenge because it's hard to communicate. We had interviews with the Branch President on Thursday and he told me that I had a big challenge in front of me. He told me that companionships are made by the Missionary Committee through inspiration and that I was put with Elder Tamale for a reason. He's such a trooper. I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be for him to have everything in English. He's only been a member for three years, and is 24 years old. He's the only member of his family. What tremendous faith he has. Yesterday we were working on the first discussion. Because his English is limited, he was teaching in Tongan and I in English. The spirit was so strong! I had no idea what he was saying but I could feel the Spirit testifying of its truthfulness. One of the blessings of this experience is the simplicity of the principles we're teaching. I have to really boil these concepts down to one or two words that are simple to explain them. I've found that that's truly the best way to teach!
I've seen a ton of people here! It truly is the Mini BYU. I've seen Elders Heap, Abutaa, Leydsman, Mika, Needs (He's in my District), Bell, and others. Still looking for Elders Forrest and Scurr...
We've learned how to testify, set up an appointment and learn about someone in Tagalog. Alam ko po na totoo ang Aklat ni Mormon. Alam ko po na buhay si Jesu Kristo at propeta si Thomas S. Monson. Alam ko po ito dahil nagdasal po ako at naramdaman ko. Alam ko po ito dahil sa mng biyaya na natanggap ko at nagtonong po ako sa Diyos na totoo ito. Alam ko po na mahal tayo ni Jesu Kristo. Sa pangalan ni Jesu Kristo, Amen.
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