Alright, Alright. Alright-Alright-Alright. Hey! (Props to anyone that got that!)
So you know how last week was great? Well this week was like pretty much the opposite...
juuust kidding! This week was great too of course!
haha I must share this experience from last Monday. So we went out to the shore to try and see the sunset at the end of p-day and it was fairly anti-climatic, I only got like one decent picture. But as we were leaving, I was walking with Elder Osumo and this high school girl tries to discretely take a picture of me with her phone. She turned around and took it and then went back to talking with her friend. Osumo was like "You saw that right?" I was like "yep." It was pretty hilarious. And I'm ridiculously good looking.
So on Tuesday we had our District Meeting. I'll just pretty much copy what I wrote in my journal for Tuesday. "In District Meeting this morning, we learned about listening (From Preach My Gospel). Elder Bagahansol said that this lesson was especially for Elder Robbins and I, which, quite frankly, I wasn't too happy when he said that cuz I don't like being singled out like that. I thought 'One, obviously I'm trying my best to listen, but its kinda hard when you can't understand what's going on sometimes. And two, if I'm not constantly planning out what I should say in my head, I won't have anything to say.' But by the end I, slightly grudgingly, said to myself, 'Alright, whatever. I'll try it. I'm going to just listen to our investigators, pray I understand, and pray I have something halfway intelligent/correct to say.' So somewhat begrudgingly, I decided to test the Lord on His promise that my mouth will be filled, and I won't be confounded before men. So we went about our day. At the Maanyo's we were informed that Coron has received reports of an aswang (means mythical creature, in this case a vampire and I was informed yesterday by Ivy that the aswang likes to feed on Pregnant ladies) and there has already been two victims. In relation to "aswang," I related Elder Robbins' story about his district at the MTC always saying "May aswang po ba kayo? (Do you have a monster?" instead of "May asawa po ba kayo? (Do you have a spouse?) And they thought that was hilarous. Later, I learned some Cuyonon! The dialect they have here in Coron/Palawan. It's not too common, but plenty of people here know at least some." So yeah that was Tuesday!
Wednesday was the mark of 8 weeks now in the Philippines! And Sunday meant two months out here! and 4 months into my mission! That's crazy! Also, on Wednesday I finally smartened up a bit. Elder Robbins is a big time runner. But Elder Osumo is not a runner at all, so Robbins has been kinda dying being out here unable to run so finally I decided I should start running with him so we started on Wednesday.
On Thursday we had exchanges because we had 5 people in need on baptismal interviews by Elder Osumo on Thursday. So pretty much the whole day he was interviewing while I was chilling outside or wherever else with the kids or whoever else. So I got a bunch of Tagalog practice! An experiece I wrote in my journal "While interviewing the Lucerianos, the rest of us were chillin at the Durans. Now that was hard core practice. I had the young kids competing for my attention, Ivy and Arliza talking to me about music and whatever else, and then more like a regular conversation with Alriza cuz she does not stop talking (She even told me that herself haha). But I did pretty good! I focused on listening and understanding and I didn't do too bad!"
But Friday was where its at! I'm just copying the journal for this one. "Well first things first, I got up to go run like a good person when...Pala! May palaka so aking sapatos! (That's right you have to look that up). Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that. Kasi it's like 6:30, so I'm like barely conscious and I go to put on my shoe and felt something weird. I saw what it was, was fairly startled, and threw my shoe on the ground. The thing was huge! Like the size of a Ding Dong Hostess cake (ask Yocum about Hostess cakes). After I macho-ly removed the thing from my shoe by thrusting my shoe to the ground and it was all good. Later we went to Stephanies. So we get there and Josaphine is doing this ladies nails and the ladies' husband is there too. So we couldnt really teach but that's ok cuz we mostly needed to get info from Stephanie for her BCR. Well Bogs, was doing that so I was left to pretty much fend for myself, great.... So the husband starts talking to me. At first he didn't think I knew Tagalog, then he thught I didn't know very much because I had only been here for 2 months, and by the end he was very impressed! We talked for like 25 minutes! He said he was a born-again christian and he was a missionary like on a boat for 12 years. He told me he got to travel much of Asia. I told him that my dad served a mission in Korea. So he asked if my family were members of the church, too. He asked a little about my family. I told him about us. He said that like they used music for his mission and for church. He asked if we had music for church. I said we do but just piano. He asked if I played. I said no but I wish I did (fact.). But I do play trombone. He told me his favorite was piano but he also taught himself guitar, accordian, drums, and I think a couple other things, I forgot. I was impressed. He let me in on the 'secret' to learning anything like that. He said 'If you want to learn to ride a bike, first get a bike. If you want to learn to play basketball, buy a ball. So if you want to learn guitar, you've gotta get a guitar first; then practice for 20min-1hr a day and you'll learn it.' That wasn't all our conversation, pretty much the highlights. But it was legit. The Lord rocks! This guy originally thought my Tagalog would be minimal and funny/entertaining, then we ended up having a cool conversation! D&C 100:5! It wasn't a gospel conversation, but I was still not confounded before men. That experience gave me confidence for the rest of the day. The Durans had offered to make all 4 of us dinner that night so we get there and they still had a little while until it was ready so we hung outand Robbins and I were having Tagalog conversations, our comps were impressed. And yeah pretty much Tagalog was fun today."
Then Saturday we had 5 baptisms (Edna, JJ, Aurora, Stephanie, and RJ)! Four of them were our investigators (should've been 5 but Keith was sick and couldn't make it with his mom and brother). We now have a font at the church. They constructed it in less than a week, definitely with some help from the Lord. They had to get up at 5 Saturday morning to finish it, and we were still filling it up with water until like 9:30. The service was supposed to start at 9..haha We had to fill it up by dumping bucket after bucket after bucket of water into the font it was pretty classic. The water was like barely past my knees and I was supposed to baptize 2 full grown adults (one of them pregnant!) Yeah that was hard..haha Of our 4 investigators being baptized I got the honor of doing 3 of the baptisms. It was sweet! But later we visted Edna because E-Kay (my "best friend" haha) had a really bad fever. We gave her a blessing but Sunday she ended up going to the hospital, I think she's okay now but I haven't heard anything new. The hospital here is definitely different..haha Ok so unlike E-Kay cuz she was sick she didn't say like anything, but when she was at the hospital and they were putting on IV in her to keep her hydrated she got a little more like E-Kay. She shouted at the nurse and everyone else there "Mamatay kayo lahat!" Keep in mind that she's like 3..haha But that means "You will all die!" hahaha So yeah she wasn't happy with that IV but after that was done she went back to her depressing self. Also, on Sunday I heard the song that we Cha-Chaed to allll the time in Social Dance, and so I, of course, had to cha-cha for Stephanie and Josaphine is was pretty funny.
So yeah that was really long too, sorry! But that was pretty much my week. I would like to give any faithful readers the opportunity to ask me any questions that they might be curious about. So if you read this and have a question for me. Email it to my parents and they'll email me any questions in their next email.
Love you all!
Elder Michael Gadberry
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Coron Island: September 19, 2011
The latest, greatest (and long!) e-mail from Michael! He has a new companion, still on Coron and still loving it. Hopefully there are pictures above this post that are referenced in his e-mail below. Also, as a point of reference, Michael's right eye is pretty weak. That will mean something in a few paragraphs.
Ayos!
Got you all some more pics on the way. My parents asked about the bird in the picture on the last one, and that is a dissected Balut. I bought Elder Hopkins balut the night before he left cuz he said he wanted to try it but hadn't tried it yet. So Elder Osumo and I went on a snack run for everyone and I had to pick up some balut. We bought 2 Hopkins (barely) ate on, he had lots of trouble. And he culdnt do another so smartly, we decided to dissect it and that is what the inside of a balut looks like.
This time I brought my journal with me so I have a better idea of what went down this week. Get pumped! haha So lets start with Tuesday, that night we had a lesson with Dante. My companion followed up and then turned the time over to me. I knew what we planned on sharing but I had no idea like how to do it in Tagalog or where to start and what not. But then I just had an idea of where to go with it and I followed that thought and I was able to teach much of the lesson in
good Tagalog. I know that the Spirit helped me out there cuz well I taught in Tagalog and I dont know Tagalog haha, but also because of how smooth and powerful the lesson was too. Kind of like Nephi being led by the Spirit not knowing before hand what he should do. Or in D&C take no thought before hand what ye shall say but it will be granted you in the very moment that portion that is meted unto every man. Or something close to that. Also on Tuesday, I saw a Filipino squirrel And its like half the size of squirrels in America.
So on Thursday, I got to play Filipino style pool. Its pretty legit! I've got pictures of it that I sent. The cue ball is actually a wooden black puck, and the balls are smaller red, plastic pucks with papers with numbers on them taped on top. Its legit. I actually think its easier than regular style pool. Pool is huge here. Which is kinda cool but not when you're a missionary and you gotta teach people that gambling is bad..haha Also that little crab you see in the pictures....Yeah not a fan. My companion hoped down in the mud when it was low tide and caught him, then proceeded to torture me with him for like ten minutes! Much to the entertainment of him and Aurora Albuera the sister we were teaching at the moment. But it was pretty funny. At some point during the day I did something to mess with Robbins (I've forgotten what now...haha) but then I came back home and I found my desk in the bathroom. It was pretty hilarious. We took
some fun pictures with that.
Alright! Friday was pretty eventful, too. It was an exciting day cuz we got our support for the second half of the month! And the ATM gave us our support in all 100 peso bills...so that was fairly entertaining. By the way "Skater Boi" just came on on the radio here in the internet shop and me Robbins and Osumo just looked at each other and laughed. Classic song. (Osumo is totally American. More fluent in english than some Americans. Knows all the slang. Only listens to American music. And will not watch a movie or show if its not in english). Back to Friday. (cue Rebecca Black) First of all during Weekly Planning, for whatever reason, my comp was getting on my nerves and I have no idea why...So when he went to the bathroom I said a quick prayer, looked back at my scriptures and saw Alma 34:29, it says "If ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under the foot of men." I read that, chuckled to myself, tried to remember that, and had a great rest of plannning and rest of the day.
Later that night, we were getting in Mark Velasquez's (Jelyn's husband) tricycle. It was dark and I turned to go around to the back and Bam!I ran right into the corner of a really low tin roof thingy. It didnt hurt but of course it bled a fair amount. Luckily, Mark and Bogs were there right away to clean it up. Bogs had alcohol so we got it really clean (SO DON'T WORRY!). I had three thoughts come into my head. First, crap if this is bad, I'm going to get sent back to Manila and not be able to come back here... Second, Since Jesus suffered all out pains and afflictions, I might need to repent of this cuz this is a really dumb thing to make him suffer. And third and mostly overall, I was grateful that it didnt actually get my eye cuz that was my left eye and if it gets damaged we may have issues. And so yeah that was eventful. Whenever someone asks me what happened I tell them "Nagustohan ko maging kagaya ni Pacquio. (I wanted to be like Pacquio)." But that night Mark gave us some bad news. He said that there's been a lot of talk on his side of the family about Jelyn going to our church and being baptized, and his parents are devout Catholics and were not happy about it. So he told us we'd be welcome to still come and share and what not but she probably won't be going to church anymore. So yeah either tonight or tomorrow night we're going over there to sort all of that out. Hopefully it works out.
So I know that the Lord's definitely been helping out my Tagalog cuz Saturday we visited the Lagrosas and when me and Hopkins visited there they pretty much just laughed through the entire lessons, but still went to church on Sunday, much to our surprise...haha They laughed not because our Tagalog was wrong they just thought it was hilarious that a couple Americans were speaking Tagalog I guess...haha But Saturday we stopped by and I was hoping to speak minimally. But Elder Bagahansol told me to teach her about sacrament. So I was like uhh ok I'll try (this isn't going to go well...). Plus this was pretty much the first time I taught it like myself usually I just have a couple inputs. So I tried and she understand and it went good and she didn't laugh at my Tagalog at all! It was awesome!
So yeah that's the highlights of my week pretty much. Yesterday at church we had 56 people there, and Elder Bagahansol and I had 17 investigators at church it was a good Sunday.
The dirt road pics: We went out there with Bro and Sis Duran to meet some lost members and it was pretty tight. The tiny kitten we saw in the streets. To be blunt, it probably won't live very long. There are a ton of dogs and cats in the streets. The snowman was created by Elder Robbins in our little freezer.
So yep, wow that was long. I love everyone that actually reads this whole thing. And if you dont actually read this I still love you, but not as much.
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Ayos!
Got you all some more pics on the way. My parents asked about the bird in the picture on the last one, and that is a dissected Balut. I bought Elder Hopkins balut the night before he left cuz he said he wanted to try it but hadn't tried it yet. So Elder Osumo and I went on a snack run for everyone and I had to pick up some balut. We bought 2 Hopkins (barely) ate on, he had lots of trouble. And he culdnt do another so smartly, we decided to dissect it and that is what the inside of a balut looks like.
This time I brought my journal with me so I have a better idea of what went down this week. Get pumped! haha So lets start with Tuesday, that night we had a lesson with Dante. My companion followed up and then turned the time over to me. I knew what we planned on sharing but I had no idea like how to do it in Tagalog or where to start and what not. But then I just had an idea of where to go with it and I followed that thought and I was able to teach much of the lesson in
good Tagalog. I know that the Spirit helped me out there cuz well I taught in Tagalog and I dont know Tagalog haha, but also because of how smooth and powerful the lesson was too. Kind of like Nephi being led by the Spirit not knowing before hand what he should do. Or in D&C take no thought before hand what ye shall say but it will be granted you in the very moment that portion that is meted unto every man. Or something close to that. Also on Tuesday, I saw a Filipino squirrel And its like half the size of squirrels in America.
So on Thursday, I got to play Filipino style pool. Its pretty legit! I've got pictures of it that I sent. The cue ball is actually a wooden black puck, and the balls are smaller red, plastic pucks with papers with numbers on them taped on top. Its legit. I actually think its easier than regular style pool. Pool is huge here. Which is kinda cool but not when you're a missionary and you gotta teach people that gambling is bad..haha Also that little crab you see in the pictures....Yeah not a fan. My companion hoped down in the mud when it was low tide and caught him, then proceeded to torture me with him for like ten minutes! Much to the entertainment of him and Aurora Albuera the sister we were teaching at the moment. But it was pretty funny. At some point during the day I did something to mess with Robbins (I've forgotten what now...haha) but then I came back home and I found my desk in the bathroom. It was pretty hilarious. We took
some fun pictures with that.
Alright! Friday was pretty eventful, too. It was an exciting day cuz we got our support for the second half of the month! And the ATM gave us our support in all 100 peso bills...so that was fairly entertaining. By the way "Skater Boi" just came on on the radio here in the internet shop and me Robbins and Osumo just looked at each other and laughed. Classic song. (Osumo is totally American. More fluent in english than some Americans. Knows all the slang. Only listens to American music. And will not watch a movie or show if its not in english). Back to Friday. (cue Rebecca Black) First of all during Weekly Planning, for whatever reason, my comp was getting on my nerves and I have no idea why...So when he went to the bathroom I said a quick prayer, looked back at my scriptures and saw Alma 34:29, it says "If ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under the foot of men." I read that, chuckled to myself, tried to remember that, and had a great rest of plannning and rest of the day.
Later that night, we were getting in Mark Velasquez's (Jelyn's husband) tricycle. It was dark and I turned to go around to the back and Bam!I ran right into the corner of a really low tin roof thingy. It didnt hurt but of course it bled a fair amount. Luckily, Mark and Bogs were there right away to clean it up. Bogs had alcohol so we got it really clean (SO DON'T WORRY!). I had three thoughts come into my head. First, crap if this is bad, I'm going to get sent back to Manila and not be able to come back here... Second, Since Jesus suffered all out pains and afflictions, I might need to repent of this cuz this is a really dumb thing to make him suffer. And third and mostly overall, I was grateful that it didnt actually get my eye cuz that was my left eye and if it gets damaged we may have issues. And so yeah that was eventful. Whenever someone asks me what happened I tell them "Nagustohan ko maging kagaya ni Pacquio. (I wanted to be like Pacquio)." But that night Mark gave us some bad news. He said that there's been a lot of talk on his side of the family about Jelyn going to our church and being baptized, and his parents are devout Catholics and were not happy about it. So he told us we'd be welcome to still come and share and what not but she probably won't be going to church anymore. So yeah either tonight or tomorrow night we're going over there to sort all of that out. Hopefully it works out.
So I know that the Lord's definitely been helping out my Tagalog cuz Saturday we visited the Lagrosas and when me and Hopkins visited there they pretty much just laughed through the entire lessons, but still went to church on Sunday, much to our surprise...haha They laughed not because our Tagalog was wrong they just thought it was hilarious that a couple Americans were speaking Tagalog I guess...haha But Saturday we stopped by and I was hoping to speak minimally. But Elder Bagahansol told me to teach her about sacrament. So I was like uhh ok I'll try (this isn't going to go well...). Plus this was pretty much the first time I taught it like myself usually I just have a couple inputs. So I tried and she understand and it went good and she didn't laugh at my Tagalog at all! It was awesome!
So yeah that's the highlights of my week pretty much. Yesterday at church we had 56 people there, and Elder Bagahansol and I had 17 investigators at church it was a good Sunday.
The dirt road pics: We went out there with Bro and Sis Duran to meet some lost members and it was pretty tight. The tiny kitten we saw in the streets. To be blunt, it probably won't live very long. There are a ton of dogs and cats in the streets. The snowman was created by Elder Robbins in our little freezer.
So yep, wow that was long. I love everyone that actually reads this whole thing. And if you dont actually read this I still love you, but not as much.
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
September 12, 2011
Ayos! So I'm just going to send my usual novel this week because I dont trust internet cafe computers with my camera... Elder Hopkins said that once his camera got a virus from an internet cafe computer so yeah!
Whats up everyone! Its been a while it feels like! So hmm yeah what to say... I wish I could just bring my journal here so I could just pretty much copy that down but I dont wanna carry that around, lazy me.
Tagalog is coming frustratingly well. When I speak its generally fairly mistake free but theres still sooooooooooooooo much I don't know and I want to say ughhhhh. So yeah, Elder Hopkins left on Sunday to go back to Manila so Sunday, Mopnday and Tuesday and today (Wednesday) I'm kinda companionless. During the day I work with Elder Osumo and Elder Robbins and then I night I go out just with Brother Arnold, the Group Leader here in Coron. So he wants me to lead cuz its my area and my investigators. Which is so intimidating cuz I can't talk!! So when I'm out with the other two elders the same applies when its my area or my investigator. Which is hard but definitely a good learning experience, but I did I say that that's hard? Its like Caleb with his superb Spanish skills being expected to walk into the home of a Spanish speaking family and being expected to hold a 20-30 minute discussion. Last night brother Arnold and I visited the Maanyo's and it actually went really well I was pumped! And then it poured on us on the way home...haha Dad asked if I had to learn the lessons and then pass it off with a DL or ZL. And the answer is nope. I just have to teach and hope it goes well haha We practice teaching a lot with our companions and stuff in companionship study and what not.
So last Saturday we had the first baptisms in the history of Coron! Pretty legit huh? The candidates were Sara (15), Daryl (13), and Maribeth (11) Maanyo. They're the kids of Marilyn who is an endowed member but they haven't had the opportunity to be baptized yet. So we still taught them all like we would anyone else, and they were prepared and ready to be baptized last Saturday! We took a boat out to CYC Beach and baptized in the Sea! Prettyyyyy amazing! I had the opportunity to baptize Daryl so that was way cool. I have some awesome pictures that hopefully I can send soon. We have like 12 investigators with a baptismal date here in the next couple months, how crazy is that?? I'm going to get to do most all of those its awesome! I'm so blessed/lucky!
The growth here is crazy!! So two Sundays ago we had 75 people attend sacrament meeting! That's pretty much the same amount of people that go to church in Effingham! Then this past Sunday we dropped down to a mere 68...haha We've gone from 5 members and the missionaries to about 70ish people at sacrament meeting every Sunday! This past Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. And it was one of the best sacrament meetings I've ever been to. The Spirit was so strong! There were a bunch of people with tears in their eyes, it was really powerful. I love these people, I can't imagine ever transferring out of here! Oh and by the way, the week that we had 75 people at sacrament meeting, Elder Hopkins and I had to do zero finding/tracting that week because we worked through the members. We asked for and received and bunch of referrals from our members and families we're teaching and taught them as well as kept up with our progressing investigators. So Effingham Branch! Work with the missionaries. Cuz Coron is catching up to you. =) You'll be blessed haha
So p-day is today, which is Wednesday because its transfer time. And the people haven't really told us anything about whats going down with my new companion. Finally this morning we got a call saying that he'd be here tomorrow so yeah. That's pretty much all I know. I've heard like 3 names of who it could be. I guess it was probably going to be Elder Vince Labinpuno. Which would have been crazy/awesome! Cuz Elder Labinpuno was in my ward at BYU first semester and he's an awesome guy. Plus he's in my batch so we went into the MTC the same day and will leave the same day. But he was only in the MTC for 3 weeks cuz he already knows Tagalog. But this morning they said that that changed and its not going to be him but this other Filipino but I forgot his name. I still hold out hope that they're messing with me because we've heard a ton of different stuff about whats going to happen here.
Hmm I don't know what else to say...so yeah..sorry! Miss you all but it rocks here!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Whats up everyone! Its been a while it feels like! So hmm yeah what to say... I wish I could just bring my journal here so I could just pretty much copy that down but I dont wanna carry that around, lazy me.
Tagalog is coming frustratingly well. When I speak its generally fairly mistake free but theres still sooooooooooooooo much I don't know and I want to say ughhhhh. So yeah, Elder Hopkins left on Sunday to go back to Manila so Sunday, Mopnday and Tuesday and today (Wednesday) I'm kinda companionless. During the day I work with Elder Osumo and Elder Robbins and then I night I go out just with Brother Arnold, the Group Leader here in Coron. So he wants me to lead cuz its my area and my investigators. Which is so intimidating cuz I can't talk!! So when I'm out with the other two elders the same applies when its my area or my investigator. Which is hard but definitely a good learning experience, but I did I say that that's hard? Its like Caleb with his superb Spanish skills being expected to walk into the home of a Spanish speaking family and being expected to hold a 20-30 minute discussion. Last night brother Arnold and I visited the Maanyo's and it actually went really well I was pumped! And then it poured on us on the way home...haha Dad asked if I had to learn the lessons and then pass it off with a DL or ZL. And the answer is nope. I just have to teach and hope it goes well haha We practice teaching a lot with our companions and stuff in companionship study and what not.
So last Saturday we had the first baptisms in the history of Coron! Pretty legit huh? The candidates were Sara (15), Daryl (13), and Maribeth (11) Maanyo. They're the kids of Marilyn who is an endowed member but they haven't had the opportunity to be baptized yet. So we still taught them all like we would anyone else, and they were prepared and ready to be baptized last Saturday! We took a boat out to CYC Beach and baptized in the Sea! Prettyyyyy amazing! I had the opportunity to baptize Daryl so that was way cool. I have some awesome pictures that hopefully I can send soon. We have like 12 investigators with a baptismal date here in the next couple months, how crazy is that?? I'm going to get to do most all of those its awesome! I'm so blessed/lucky!
The growth here is crazy!! So two Sundays ago we had 75 people attend sacrament meeting! That's pretty much the same amount of people that go to church in Effingham! Then this past Sunday we dropped down to a mere 68...haha We've gone from 5 members and the missionaries to about 70ish people at sacrament meeting every Sunday! This past Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. And it was one of the best sacrament meetings I've ever been to. The Spirit was so strong! There were a bunch of people with tears in their eyes, it was really powerful. I love these people, I can't imagine ever transferring out of here! Oh and by the way, the week that we had 75 people at sacrament meeting, Elder Hopkins and I had to do zero finding/tracting that week because we worked through the members. We asked for and received and bunch of referrals from our members and families we're teaching and taught them as well as kept up with our progressing investigators. So Effingham Branch! Work with the missionaries. Cuz Coron is catching up to you. =) You'll be blessed haha
So p-day is today, which is Wednesday because its transfer time. And the people haven't really told us anything about whats going down with my new companion. Finally this morning we got a call saying that he'd be here tomorrow so yeah. That's pretty much all I know. I've heard like 3 names of who it could be. I guess it was probably going to be Elder Vince Labinpuno. Which would have been crazy/awesome! Cuz Elder Labinpuno was in my ward at BYU first semester and he's an awesome guy. Plus he's in my batch so we went into the MTC the same day and will leave the same day. But he was only in the MTC for 3 weeks cuz he already knows Tagalog. But this morning they said that that changed and its not going to be him but this other Filipino but I forgot his name. I still hold out hope that they're messing with me because we've heard a ton of different stuff about whats going to happen here.
Hmm I don't know what else to say...so yeah..sorry! Miss you all but it rocks here!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Spetember 6, 2011
Ayos! So I'm just going to send my usual novel this week because I dont trust internet cafe computers with my camera... Elder Hopkins said that once his camera got a virus from an internet cafe computer so yeah!
Whats up everyone! Its been a while it feels like! So hmm yeah what to say... I wish I could just bring my journal here so I could just pretty much copy that down but I dont wanna carry that around, lazy me.
Tagalog is coming frustratingly well. When I speak its generally fairly mistake free but theres still sooooooooooooooo much I don't know and I want to say ughhhhh. So yeah, Elder Hopkins left on Sunday to go back to Manila so Sunday, Mopnday and Tuesday and today (Wednesday) I'm kinda companionless. During the day I work with Elder Osumo and Elder Robbins and then I night I go out just with Brother Arnold, the Group Leader here in Coron. So he wants me to lead cuz its my area and my investigators. Which is so intimidating cuz I can't talk!! So when I'm out with the other two elders the same applies when its my area or my investigator. Which is hard but definitely a good learning experience, but I did I say that that's hard? Its like Caleb with his superb Spanish skills being expected to walk into the home of a Spanish speaking family and being expected to hold a 20-30 minute discussion. Last night brother Arnold and I visited the Maanyo's and it actually went really well I was pumped! And then it poured on us on the way home...haha Dad asked if I had to learn the lessons and then pass it off with a DL or ZL. And the answer is nope. I just have to teach and hope it goes well haha We practice teaching a lot with our companions and stuff in companionship study and what not.
So last Saturday we had the first baptisms in the history of Coron! Pretty legit huh? The candidates were Sara (15), Daryl (13), and Maribeth (11) Maanyo. They're the kids of Marilyn who is a member but they haven't had the opportunity to be baptized yet. So we still taught them all like we would anyone else, and they were prepared and ready to be baptized last Saturday! We took a boat out to CYC Beach and baptized in the Sea! Prettyyyyy amazing! I had the opportunity to baptize Daryl so that was way cool. I have some awesome pictures that hopefully I can send soon. We have like 12 investigators with a baptismal date here in the next couple months, how crazy is that?? I'm going to get to do most all of those its awesome! I'm so blessed/lucky!
The growth here is crazy!! So two Sundays ago we had 75 people attend sacrament meeting! That's pretty much the same amount of people that go to church in Effingham! Then this past Sunday we dropped down to a mere 68...haha We've gone from 5 members and the missionaries to about 70ish people at sacrament meeting every Sunday! This past Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. And it was one of the best sacrament meetings I've ever been to. The Spirit was so strong! There were a bunch of people with tears in their eyes, it was really powerful. I love these people, I can't imagine ever transferring out of here! Oh and by the way, the week that we had 75 people at sacrament meeting, Elder Hopkins and I had to do zero finding/tracting that week because we worked through the members. We asked for and received and bunch of referrals from our members and families we're teaching and taught them as well as kept up with our progressing investigators. So Effingham Branch! Work with the missionaries. Cuz Coron is catching up to you. =) You'll be blessed haha
So p-day is today, which is Wednesday because its transfer time. And the people haven't really told us anything about whats going down with my new companion. Finally this morning we got a call saying that he'd be here tomorrow so yeah. That's pretty much all I know. I've heard like 3 names of who it could be. I guess it was probably going to be Elder Vince Labinpuno. Which would have been crazy/awesome! Cuz Elder Labinpuno was in my ward at BYU first semester and he's an awesome guy. Plus he's in my batch so we went into the MTC the same day and will leave the same day. But he was only in the MTC for 3 weeks cuz he already knows Tagalog. But this morning they said that that changed and its not going to be him but this other Filipino but I forgot his name. I still hold out hope that they're messing with me because we've heard a ton of different stuff about whats going to happen here.
Hmm I don't know what else to say...so yeah..sorry! Miss you all but it rocks here!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Whats up everyone! Its been a while it feels like! So hmm yeah what to say... I wish I could just bring my journal here so I could just pretty much copy that down but I dont wanna carry that around, lazy me.
Tagalog is coming frustratingly well. When I speak its generally fairly mistake free but theres still sooooooooooooooo much I don't know and I want to say ughhhhh. So yeah, Elder Hopkins left on Sunday to go back to Manila so Sunday, Mopnday and Tuesday and today (Wednesday) I'm kinda companionless. During the day I work with Elder Osumo and Elder Robbins and then I night I go out just with Brother Arnold, the Group Leader here in Coron. So he wants me to lead cuz its my area and my investigators. Which is so intimidating cuz I can't talk!! So when I'm out with the other two elders the same applies when its my area or my investigator. Which is hard but definitely a good learning experience, but I did I say that that's hard? Its like Caleb with his superb Spanish skills being expected to walk into the home of a Spanish speaking family and being expected to hold a 20-30 minute discussion. Last night brother Arnold and I visited the Maanyo's and it actually went really well I was pumped! And then it poured on us on the way home...haha Dad asked if I had to learn the lessons and then pass it off with a DL or ZL. And the answer is nope. I just have to teach and hope it goes well haha We practice teaching a lot with our companions and stuff in companionship study and what not.
So last Saturday we had the first baptisms in the history of Coron! Pretty legit huh? The candidates were Sara (15), Daryl (13), and Maribeth (11) Maanyo. They're the kids of Marilyn who is a member but they haven't had the opportunity to be baptized yet. So we still taught them all like we would anyone else, and they were prepared and ready to be baptized last Saturday! We took a boat out to CYC Beach and baptized in the Sea! Prettyyyyy amazing! I had the opportunity to baptize Daryl so that was way cool. I have some awesome pictures that hopefully I can send soon. We have like 12 investigators with a baptismal date here in the next couple months, how crazy is that?? I'm going to get to do most all of those its awesome! I'm so blessed/lucky!
The growth here is crazy!! So two Sundays ago we had 75 people attend sacrament meeting! That's pretty much the same amount of people that go to church in Effingham! Then this past Sunday we dropped down to a mere 68...haha We've gone from 5 members and the missionaries to about 70ish people at sacrament meeting every Sunday! This past Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. And it was one of the best sacrament meetings I've ever been to. The Spirit was so strong! There were a bunch of people with tears in their eyes, it was really powerful. I love these people, I can't imagine ever transferring out of here! Oh and by the way, the week that we had 75 people at sacrament meeting, Elder Hopkins and I had to do zero finding/tracting that week because we worked through the members. We asked for and received and bunch of referrals from our members and families we're teaching and taught them as well as kept up with our progressing investigators. So Effingham Branch! Work with the missionaries. Cuz Coron is catching up to you. =) You'll be blessed haha
So p-day is today, which is Wednesday because its transfer time. And the people haven't really told us anything about whats going down with my new companion. Finally this morning we got a call saying that he'd be here tomorrow so yeah. That's pretty much all I know. I've heard like 3 names of who it could be. I guess it was probably going to be Elder Vince Labinpuno. Which would have been crazy/awesome! Cuz Elder Labinpuno was in my ward at BYU first semester and he's an awesome guy. Plus he's in my batch so we went into the MTC the same day and will leave the same day. But he was only in the MTC for 3 weeks cuz he already knows Tagalog. But this morning they said that that changed and its not going to be him but this other Filipino but I forgot his name. I still hold out hope that they're messing with me because we've heard a ton of different stuff about whats going to happen here.
Hmm I don't know what else to say...so yeah..sorry! Miss you all but it rocks here!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
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