Once again I've gotten behind on posting Michael's emails! Here is the latest...
What's up people!
This week has been awesome, but terrible, but frustrating, and I love it!
First things first, it was terrible because shortly after I got done emailing, last Monday, I got a haircut. By. Far. The. Worst. Haircut. I've. Ever. Gotten...................UGH. It was so bad, but you can kinda see it in my pictures. Robbins got his haircut first and it was super short so I told her to go longer and she said okay, and still cut it as short as Robbins's. I even stopped her and was like is that right? She said that she was just starting with that and would fix it later...so yeah not happy about my hair. Many people here say it still looks good, but that's just cuz I'm white...haha
This week was awesome and frustrating cuz I felt like we worked really hard and even focused more on getting more new investigators (people interested in their message) but the progress in that area is minimal. But I feel like the new investigators we have are good and our finding was effective for the most part. It's awesome cuz we had a great week, but frustrating cuz we didn't achieve the things we had hoped for. We still have the same problem that we have very little time for finding because of all the investigators we're visiting frequently to prepare for baptism. So yeah, its awesome but frustrating but mostly awesome, of course!
So as for more specific things that happened this week it goes like this: Well first of all I forgot my journal so I just have to go off my planner. But in my planner I always make a NtJ (Notes to Journal) little section for each day so I can keep track of cool stuff that happened to write it in my journal.
So Monday, I got that terrible haircut. The end. haha pretty much but this week I decided to buy apples and bananas rather than chocolate and cookies (that's how I really survive here hahaha). But yeah I made an attempt to go more healthy this week, but I don't like the fact that I can get 10 Choco-Moochos for about the same price as 3 apples... =( So we'll see how long going healthy lasts..haha I'll try to keep it up
Tuesday, nothing too exciting happened. Taught a bunch of lessons, received some referrals, you know the normal missionary stuff haha Oh and I saw huuuuge crabs, like the size of a frying pan it was legit!
Wednesday was pretty tight, though. It rained allll day! We got soaked but it made it a lot of fun haha People would inform us that it was raining but we would cheerfully respond that there was indeed no rain haha Or others would tell us that there was a storm (there was supposed to be a storm at 3 but it really just rained all day) and we would inform those people that Kami ay ang Bagyo (We are the storm!) haha it was fun. We had dinner at the Luceriano's and of course the ulam (in english ulam means "anything you eat with or on rice" good thing its just one word in Tagalog) was fish. They made sure I tried this one fish that was just little small fish like the length of a digital camera (I say that cuz I see my camera right here) that were caught and then, simply just dried in the sun (I'm pretty sure that's actually how it happens). They were tough and salty and fairly weird but not that bad. It was just weird cuz it was like the whole fish, head, tail, skin, the whole thing. Then later that night we had a lesson at the Jucaban's. It was a great lesson and towards the end I felt that I should share something (I've forgotten what it was) but I didn't know how to say most of the stuff or the story in Tagalog so I asked if it was okay that I tell it in English then my companion would translate. It was legit cuz I knew the Spirit had prompted me to share that, and even helped them understand cuz they understood completely the part of the lesson I shared in English, legit!
Thursday was pretty solid. When we got to the Luceriano's to share with them, they told us that Ekay could now read. So apparently what she does is every time she sees a book she picks it up and looks at it like she's reading and "reads" "Ang Aklat ni Mormon." It was pretty hilarious. Also, ever since my falling through that one tulay, every time we leave somewhere in parting it is customary to say ingot kayo or whoever. Ingot literally means like be careful but here its just like take care/cya later/bye. So for me they always say, "Bye Elder, Ingot sa tulay!" Its actually pretty funny.
Friday was Elder Bagahansol's birthday! Woo! It's legit cuz when you're companion has a birthday its practically your birthday too cuz everyone like gives them food and what not and that includes you too haha. For service we cleaned the cement outside our apartment mostly on the road outside our apartment as well as the cement outside the church. We did this for three hours with little brushes (see my hand in one of the pictures). I think it was an old school punishment/threat to like clean the sidewalk or floor or somethin with a toothbrush, well that's pretty much what we did haha. But it was actually pretty fun/cool/not too bad. While I was scrubbing I thought of what I thought was a cool analogy that I will proceed to share with you if that's okay. Okay, great. (If you don't wanna read it skip some lines and continue). So we're scrubbing the cement to get rid of the moss and gunk on the cement that had formed making it really slick, especially when wet. To clean the cement you first dump a little bit of water on the cement, then you scrub and scrub and scrub, and then you dump more water on it to wash away the dirt and stuff that you just scrubbed off. The connection I made was with the Atonement and repentance. The first thing you need to repent is faith in Jesus Christ and His Atoning sacrifice. You have to believe that he atoned for our sins and can make us clean again. That is the initial bit of water. Next you have to scrub and scrub and scrub; you gotta do your part. You have to do your part to get the dirt off and remove ourselves from sin. Then after you've done all you need to, you simply wash it away, gain through Jesus Christ. When I started the quest to clean the cement, it felt somewhat worthless, and I knew it was going to be a lot of work. But wow, grey never looked so good to me as I would dump water on the nasty brownish/green and it would reveal a fresh cement, beautiful grey. And so it is with repentance. I couldn't have done it without the water, and it would've been worthless to expect it to be clean without work on my part. The two go hand in hand, faith and works. The Savior is ever ready to cleanse of sin, no matter how hopeless it seems, but we must always remember to do our part and take the necessary action to forget and forsake the sin in order for it to qualify as true repentance and to achieve true forgiveness. THE END (for those of you that skipped that) So yeah I thought it was a kinda cool analogy, so I shared it to you, my captive audience. After service, we went to the Duran's for lunch cuz they wanted us to eat there cuz it was Bogs's birthday. Upon leaving, Robbins fell through the tulay! Woo it was me! So yeah that was exciting, he too stayed dry but it was funny nonetheless. We also received mail on Friday! I got some mail and I loved it! Shout out to all you that wrote me/are writing me! I heart you! And I plan on writing you back, but I can't do that until someone leaves Coron to go to Manila. So yeah, Friday rocked!
Saturday was legit too of course. Earlier this week I made the mistake of introducing that primary Latter-Day Prophets song to Aurora's kids and the other Manggahan kids cuz now everyyyyy time I go there I'm expected to sing that song, I don't even know why! It's not like like a vocally impressive song or anything like that but I'm forced to sing it every visit. Also, for anyone that cares the stars out here are amazinggg! At night I sometimes/somewhat frequently walk along the road just looking up at the stars, yeah its legit. You're totes jelly right? I knew you were.
Sunday, I not only heard a conference talk about the tender mercies of the Lord but I witnessed it first hand! So we were watching conference at 3, but Bogs and I had an appointment at 1 that didn't actually happen till like 1:30. Then we needed to go and invite people to conference/Group FHE on Monday. I thought it was worthless cuz by the time we got to Aurora's it was already 3, and I wasn't very happy about missing some conference. So we invited them and Edna's family too which is another trip before we could go to the church. So we finally got there at like 3:30 and what had happened is for whatever reason the people at the church had started watching the Sunday Afternoon Session of April's General Conference...so we walked in during the prayer of this conference's Sunday Afternoon Session. So we didn't really miss anything! I was pumped! And then later, Sister Aurora even showed up to watch even though she was late. So it was a successful trip and I didn't miss conference. =D Aurora's little kid, Renz gave me a quail egg to eat, so that was a first, nothing too special though. That night we went to the Jucaban's again and it was another awesome lesson! Everything just flowed so well, and when it was my turn my mouth was filled with the words that I felt I needed to say. Then at the end of the lesson I thought of another analogy that I felt I should share, and kinda tried in Tagalog but I had no idea how to say half the stuff so I just did it in English, and they understood it just fine again. It was awesome.
So yeah, that was my week its been great! As far as transfers go, I think I'm safe! The ZLs told us that we're all staying here! So we're pumped but of course that could change last second. As far as eating goes, the fish and stuff here isn't too bad, but I still am American in that I don't like taking time to make food and what not. So if we're just eating at the apartment its usually just like these noodles that are the same as Raman Noodles, plus its cheaper that way. But I'm yet to eat something that tastes horrible here. The gift of tongues? Maybe the Lord has blessed my tongue as far as food goes, and that's why the language is still frustrating and annoying that I can't say all that I want to say. Mostly its just frustrating that I'm not comfortable enough to say things how I want to say them. I can work my way to say most everything I need to say, but its annoying that I can't say things how I want to or how everyone else does, still learning and adapting, but I'm learning a lot and its coming along really well still. I'll stop talking now. Oh and the Sunday Afternoon Session was AWESOME too. I just didn't expound on it, sorry!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Pictures
1074-1077 -- Service!
1081-1086 -- Yep, that's my Firebolt. I'm legit.
1091-1095 -- The restaurant, Manneken Pis, for Bogs's birthday. We go there fairly often and the people there love us. So they decked it out for his birthday it was legit.
1096 -- Awww! Little kittens! hahaha These are my friends at the Maanyo's house. Me and Rafael play with them when we go there. Well its more like I hold them and try to protect them from the hands of a heartless two-year old. haha
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