Well how's it goin over there??
My parents said that you're appreciating all the details I'm giving, especially in the last couple emails. So that's good, hopefully they're not the only ones and I'm just boring all of you guys. If so, just go read the Book of Mormon. Now that's good stuff right there! haha =D
I'll now open the floor to questions.
Q. Um yes, Elder Gadberry. First of all thanks so much for allowing me to ask you a question, you're so cool.
A. Yes.
Q. Oh geez. Well my question was actually two questions....Is, um, that okay with you..?
A. Yes, dad. Go ahead.
Q. Okay, okay good. If I woulda only had to choose one, I don't know what I would have done.
A. Okay, come on now. What's the question?
Q. "Do you know how long you will be financial secretary? How long has Elder Stirland been in?"
A. Well, you see that's a great question. Elder Stirland has been here since I came into the mission. He came in July 26 and will leave Feb 22. So chances are it'll be similar for me, too. Probably five transfers or so.
*Okay moving on. Next question please*
Me - Oh geez, dad again?? What is it this time?
Q. Thanks again Elder Gadberry for allowing me to steal a quick second of your ever so valuable time, to ask you another question. You're soooo cool!
A. Yes.
Q. Umm.....I forgot.
A. Ugh! Okay moving on...
Q. Wait. Wait. Wait! I remember it!
A. Okay....
Q. "Did you know the Super Bowl is on right now?"
A. Well as a matter of fact I did not know that. But I'm sure it's over now. Moving on.
Q. Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me!
A. What is it mother?
Q. Oh golly gee! Thanks Elder Gadberry for picking me! You're ridiculously cool!
A. I think I've kinda begun to notice that, but thanks.
Q. "So what is your new ward (congregation) like? How many missionary companionships are there? Are there very many people you are teaching that come to church?"
A. Oh geez! Take it easy! But I'll try to get those answered for ya. The new ward is pretty cool! The ward/area is called Mandaluyong 2nd. We're actually one of the stronger wards in Mandaluyong from what I've heard. We're gettin about 150 at church on average if I remember right, so that's great! On Sunday actually, our Assistant Ward Mission Leader challenged me to get to know everyone in the ward in a month. That's goin be hard! But I'm goin do it cuz I'm goin be here for a while so I decided I'm goin get to know the ward really well, so my stay here will be awesome. There's actually two companionships in our ward. Us three and our ZLs (zone leaders-missionaries who oversee the work of several companion sets). I'm not too sure how many investigators they're gettin at church, but we usually don't have too many cuz we aren't in our area too much and when we are we really focus on our Less-Active families there. So this last Sunday was awesome! Cuz we had one less-active family there for the first time, we went and brought another less-active mother and her non-member/investigator daughter via Jeepney! (it was pretty legit...except we were pretty late cuz Stirland hopped on the wrong Jeepney), and then our less-active RM guy there too for the third time! He got an interview with the bishop and is now pretty much back in the church! WOO! But thank you mom. What a great question. Moving on.
Q. Me! Pick me!
A. Oh geez..mom again. Yes, mom?
Q. "Is your P-day going to get changed? Dad says it was hard for them to get appointments on Sat. afternoons, how is it for you guys?"
A. Well, yeah it's pretty much switched to Saturday now for us as office elders. It's just more efficient for our work if we can work in the office on Mondays. With preparation day on Monday for us. It's pretty much just like an office day cuz Elder Spencer especially has a lot of office things he has to get done on Monday for Tuesday. The sad thing is that Saturdays have been our best working days for the most part. But we'll just have to work extra hard during the week and then hit a lot of people on Sunday too. As far as this week goes, President told us to kinda try and do like a half day today and then another half on Saturday and then just do Saturdays from now on. So you'll probably be gettin a short email Saturday just to let you know what happened this week. Another great question mother! Moving on.
Q. Umm.. I've got another thing..
A. Hit me.
Q. "We talked about Nephi's "can do" attitude in Sunday School today. How that was his answer every time he was asked to do something. He didn't wait for the Lord to give him stuff, he figured out what he should do and took action and then let the Lord guide him. It reminded me of you and your fabulous attitude regarding what you are asked to do on your mission."
A. Umm..is that even a question?
Q. Well...no. But I thought you might have a comment.
A. Well as a matter of fact I do! I love Nephi!! Probably, some of that is due to Sister Demers at the start, but since then he's been such an AWESOME example to me! His attitude is awesome! And it's because of his faith. I especially have grown to like a couple stories about his attitude past 1 Nephi 3:7. One of them is when Nephi broke his bow. That's in 1 Nephi 16. He broke his super nice "fine steel" bow, and everyone got mad at him! It was even on accident! Of course he didn't do it on purpose! But even his father was complaining. But what did Nephi do? He went and acted. He replaced his "fine steel" bow by making from scratch a wooden bow. To arm himself he made himself one arrow, just one arrow. But he had the faith to go to the Lord through his father, the prophet, receive that council, and then go and do. And of course, he was blessed with success. He was able to fetch food for not only him and his family, but for everyone. Story two. Nephi is commanded to build a ship. He was visited by the Spirit and was told to go up into the mountain (there's some cool things about that too but we'll save that for another time), so he gets up and goes. There he prays to the Lord and is commanded to build a ship. Oh geez, a ship?? I don't even know how I would respond to that, but what's Nephi do? He doesn't say, "I don't know how to do that! We're doin just good here in Bountiful. Can't we just stay here?" He doesn't even say, "Okay, I'll try. How do I make a boat?" First thing he says is "where can I go to get the materials so I can make tools to build a boat." What faith! What attitude! He's soooo awesome! Read about it! 1 Nephi 16 and 17. Next question.
A. Well geez, mom you're just full of questions aren't you?
Q. Well, favorite son, I miss you soooo much! And I just wanna know everything!
A. Okay, what's your next question? Last one huh??
Q. Fine, fine. "I imagine the friendliness of the people in Manila and the pace of life is quite different than the island. Is it hard to adjust?"
A. Nah. I haven't found it terribly different. The people here still rock! The main difference is just that there's about 20 billion times more people..haha. They're still super nice for the most part, and love the westerners that can speak their language. haha
*And it came to pass, that thus ended this week's interview. Please feel free to join us again next week. And ask any questions that you may have. Fine print: Actual conversations, may not exactly be accurate and if you submit a question, similar side-effects may occur. Thanks! <3*
So that kinda took a lot of time, but I definitely enjoyed it so hopefully you guys did to to some extent. So I'll hit you with the highlights of this past week.
Oh geez, I'm lookin back and I remember Tuesday. It was great! Us three and President Stucki met with some people at the Area Office about some cell phone issues. So we got there and were waiting for President Stucki, and Elder Ardern (responsible for the church in the Philippines and elsewhere) just walks up the stairs, comes over greets us, shakes our hands, jokes a little bit, and then heads to his office to work for the day. So yeah, that was like the first thing we did that morning, have a little chat with a General Authority..haha But our meeting went well, we think we fixed our issues that we had. So yeah! Oh and I got to drive in the rain for the first time, which was weird cuz normally you'd think it rains a lot more than it has recently. But that was fun! And I'm still alive, so it was even successful!
So over the past week, Elder Stirland is startin to hand a lot of stuff over to me. It's gettin a little more stressful, but good nonetheless. I've been superrr busy in the office this week. I've definitely screwed up a lot, but nothing major.....yet. I got to send the Narra elders their support on Wednesday via like a money transfer place thingy. So that was kinda cool. And that went pretty well. For the most part I've spent a lot of this week working on apartment contracts for all the apartments here in the mission. Most of the apartment contracts need renewing, so I had to go through and find those. Tweak some stuff on the contracts, print them all out, get them signed by President, and then get them to all the Zone Leaders. It's taking forever. But I've got them all finished, I just have some more to give to President and then to Zone Leaders. I got to go pay bills, and do stuff with senior couple funds and what not. Been pretty busyyy! But all good. Friday we had Zone Leaders Conference. And Elder Stirland kinda left me on my own to fend for myself against all the zone leaders and their wants for reimbursements and what not. But it went pretty well!
Random news for the week! I have a new food creation that's probably just as healthy as all my other ones! But it's great! You make hot chocolate, and then you put ice cream in it! For me it's been cookie's n cream ice cream and it's been awesome! GUESS WHAT! I heard Rebecca Black!!! Too bad it was on Thrusday and not Friday, but it was AWESOME! hahaha I was the only one with us that knew about her, so I had to explain why it's a big deal. But yeah, if you're reading this Rebecca, you've made it to the Philippines. haha Also, I got Fro-yo! That's right, fro-yo in the Philippines. It was definitely legit. But kinda expensive...so we'll have to limit that...haha Also, I got to touch a soccer ball once! A kid was kicking around in the street and I was like pass it here! And he did! So yeah, that made my day.
I've also had some really cool spiritual experiences too. From a talk given by Elder Holland in the MTC about the verses about "feeding his sheep." And it was really cool to realize even more that if I love Christ, I will leave everything behind (like how Peter left his nets, boat, friends, etc.) and feed his sheep. And when I leave that stuff to feed His sheep I should never go back to that old lifestyle. It's not like I'm completely changing me, but I can never turn my back on the gospel. I'm going to be (cuz I'm awesome =D), but serving in His work should change me into a better, more Christ-like person, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve. I also loved reading in 3 Nephi 8 and 9. You should read it for the full effect, but I really loved imagining how great it would be to hear Christ's voice in the midst of all that turmoil, saying "Come unto me, and be healed." These people were in complete darkness, many families separated, friends and family died, and then out of the darkness you here his kind, loving voice. Simply asking you to, "Repent, and return unto me. So I can heal you." (or something like that). It's awesome!
Okay Elder Stirland really needs the computer now. Gotta go! Have a great week!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Pictures
Working, McDonalds, Basketball, etc.
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