Howdy ya'll!
Look at me, I still got some MidWest in me! haha
So this week was crazy! It was transfer week...so yeah. Usually I write stuff down in my planner like what happened and what not so I can tell you all buuuttt so much was going on alllll the time that I got like nothing written down...so I'm sure I'll end up forgetting most of it. Sorry! I'll answer questions first so maybe that'll help me remember stuff.
So are you on your own now? Nervous? Did Elder Stirland get sent out of the city?
Yep. "I'm all aloneeee...there's no one here beeeeside meee! .....But you've gotta have friends!" Well of course I'm not all alone cuz that's kinda bawal (against the rules). I've got my trustee 'ol companion Elder Spencer! But as far as Finances go, I'm pretty much on my own. I've got Sister Venus up at the Area Office that can help me. And if I have any quick questions I just text or call Elder Stirland..haha Am I nervous? I little bit. I've actually adjusted pretty well. I'm gettin most everything that I need to get done, done. I have realized one thing that I'm definitely going to learn from working in here. I'm goin learn how to focus on one thing and prioritize. Cuz like the first couple days I was by myself, I'd start on something and then I'd remember something else that needed to get done, and then I'd think of another one! And soon enough I've got four projects going on my desk/computer, and I've forgotten the first thing I was doing...and it's super confusing...So yeah, I'll figure that out! It's a great learning experience! =D And well Elder Stirland got transferred to Manila. The San Juan area and was a district leader there (he was actually a district leader as well in the office for our Mandaluyong District). However...just earlier today some stuff went down and he got emergency transferred to Naic to be one of their Zone Leaders. Which is cool cuz Naic is like the most provincial area here on the mainland so that's good.
So working out somewhat again? Good for you!
Mommm....You wake up at 6:30 every morning and exercise! I'm obedient nga! hahaha (The "nga" is my Tagalog why of emphasizing that I'm obedient! haha). My favorite is to do sit-ups cuz I can close my eyes and pretend that I'm still sleeping.. =D
How is the teaching going? Do you do much tracting or is it mostly from referrals? Maybe you should start singing David Archaletta songs to get your foot in the door.
Well....that's another thing about transfer week....we have yet been able to make it to our area to do any work this week. Transfer week is super hectic cuz at the beginning of the week you have the Going-Home missionaries and their activities Mon-Wed and then transfer day on Wednesday and then New Missionary Orientation on Thursday and then Friday you're trying to get every thing straightened out that just happened. And for me it was even more busy cuz I have to re-deposit any money that I've withdrawn for various expenses over the past month and that has to happen on the 24th of each month...And so I have to make sure the amount that what I have equals the amount that the website says I have. If it doesn't....well that's definitely not good...haha But last month we actually missed the deadline to "close the month" So Venus (our Area Office helper) fixed it so that we just have to close both Jan and Feb on the 24th of Feb so that made it a little harder to get everything set-up and ready, but I got it done! And it's all good! As far as tracting goes, the Area Presidency/President Stucki have pretty much done away with it. They're stressing that our focus is on the less-active/in-actives and we don't need to spend all our time looking for new people. So the ideal work is to visit those less-active families, help re-activate them, ask for referrals from them, and work on completing part-member families. Which this way is a highly more effective way of missionary work because with tracting....you don't really have a whole lot of success. Well here in the Philippines it's not hard to have people to teach but it's more difficult to have true success. Kinda like what dad told me (though he meant it in a different realm) being busy isn't necessarily being successful. So our focus here is on the less-active, their families, and part-member families. But of course if you don't have a ton of less-active's in your area you'll have to tract still a little and do that jazz. So yeah. I've realized it's kinda hard to put into words how we work out here, so you guys should just come out here and work with us! =D
Did you ever get new shoes and new pants? Did you get a package yet?
Well I was actually going to tell you guys about the shoes! So thanks mom for the inspired question! You'd be a great missionary! Well I maybe I never mentioned this way back when but the shoes I always wear for working are these beat up brown ones that Elder Hopkins left for me (he's had them for two years. And I've decided that I like to rock the brown cuz I used to always rock the khaki but that's too light colored for missionaries so now my go-to is brown) But anyways, I've got his brown shoes (I've got a nice pair of brown shoes too that I love, so I only wear them in the office, to church, and to like mission events to keep them nice) and they're beat up but since those are the only ones I have I have to wear them even if I'm wearing black, grey, or blue pants....It kinda drives me nuts..haha But Elder Belarmino just went home and left a pair of shoes behind and they were black and so I inherited those as well. So my shoe problem is solved! It's funny cuz now the two pairs shoes I've inherited have both come from former APs (Assistant to the President), so I've got some big shoes to fill....haha get it?? I'm hilarious! The pants are another great story! Elder Stirland had had some fabric passed down to him and didn't want it anymore so I got it, and now all I have to do is take it to someone to get it made into pants and it'll cost me like ten bucks or somethin =D Nope, no package yet!
ps - It's really more difficult to write on a Friday night as opposed to Sunday
Oh geez....look at my parents murmuring...please feel free to chastise them! =D
So this week was great! Transfer week actually went super smoothly! Well for me it seemed it went smoothly and the other guys did say it went really good compared to other transfers, so that's great! Tuesday I literally spent alllll day and into the night getting all the apartment rent payments ready. Remember the 60 some odd checks I had to sign for last time? Yeah I had to get those into envelopes, addressed to their landlords, with acknowledgment receipts, and tax documents. It was crazyyy! But I got it done! Wooo!
So Wednesday was transfer day. We got up at about 3:30 in the morning to take all the Palawan bound missionaries to the airport....NOT FUN! Made it back to the office grabbed a donut from 7-Eleven across the street and prepared for war! haha All in all the day went well! It was a little stressful, but I don't feel stress so no worries =) I actually enjoyed it. It's kinda fun, it's like game-time! I got to see Elder Bagahansol (he's now a Zone Leader in Manila) and here about everyone in Coron! They're doing great! I missssssss them! He every brought with him a letter for me from the Durans!!! =D I MISSSS THEM!!! =( I'mma write them ASAP probably after I get done emailing you all if I've got time. Then after the chaos of transfer day, we were kinda hanging out in the office catching our breath, and this fairly sketchy lookin guy came into the office and just started talking with Sister Dietrich...He said he was a member the church from Hong Kong but has been other places as well. He wanted to know when church was on Sunday. He knows a bunch of languages and just got his masters in like being a Spy or whatever you should take to do that cuz that's what he wanted to do be a intelligence agent. So he seemed nice enough, eventually left and like an hour later some cop and army guy show up at the office (as I'm trying to pay this delivery boy for some office supplies...awkward...haha) with the sketchy dude! They asked us if he had been here like he said and that he just seemed sketchy. We were confused and he offered to show us his temple recommend so we looked at it and vouched for him. And they kinda took him outside and let him go I guess. Who woulda thought that the temple recommend would also serve as a "get out of jail free" card? haha =)
Thursday was pretty much my first full day on my own! It was kinda crazy but okay. We had new missionary orientation and I gotta give my spiel on finances and what not so we were there for that. But while we were sittin there I get a text and apparently there's missionaries at the mission office that need me to come reimburse them cuz they just got back from the hospital and they dont have enough money to get home (at least that's what they said). So that was annoying/frustrating cuz I had to make them wait there for like 2 hours cuz I couldn't leave the orientation. They're actually supposed to set up an appointment to come to the office and get reimbursed so we can make sure that we're there, so if they woulda done that we wouldn't have had issues, but that didn't happen so there were issues..ugh. But it worked out fine, they just had to wait a long time..haha But we had another missionary that had some issues and I was able to get it all worked out for them and they were super grateful and it like made my day! I loveee making people happy. =D But then I had to tell some other missionaries that I couldn't drive them to their area with all their luggage.....I hate saying no...haha But I'm so proud of my batch! (Batch means people you either came into the field with or going home with) I love them! There's only 5 new missionaries and 3 of them are being trained by my batch! My batch is so good! We're all actually doing super well! I love it! Also, for all of you following my favorite music...I've got another recommendation! My new favorite is a group called Eclipse. It has nothing to do with Twilight.......unfortunately....haha. But it's like a synthesized a Capella group. They have some cool stuff! Some of their songs are a little too much but I love most of them! Like All Creatures of Our God and King, For the Beauty of the Earth, Go with Me, I Believe in Christ, and Be Still My Soul is pretty good too. Check it out!
Friday was the wind-down-ish day. I got pretty much caught up on most of my work to go back to normal starting next week. On top of having to close my account I had to get everyone's support ready by Sunday...so I had lot's of stuff to do but I think it's all good! It seems like there's a billion apartment problems so I'll have to figure out that stuff...ugh. That part probably scares me the most about my job..oh well. Wish me luck! haha We had "survival lunch" again! This time it was even worse! We went to Outback Steakhouse (once again, another American place that the first time I've gone to it is in the Philippines..haha) but we get there and they have UEFA Champions League (soccer!) up on their TV! UGH! It was Chelsea and Napoli. But luckily like ten minutes later the worker, of course, got bored of soccer and changed it to a basketball game, like any other Filipino would do, and I lost interest cuz it was like the Hawks or something...haha
So yeah..that was kinda this week! Sorry for the lame week..just super busy. It was one of the those weeks where you feel like a missionary but not necessarily as much as you normally would. But it is pretty cool to see the Lord help me and direct me in this kind of work and still help me even though I'm not being like the "normal" missionary. Cuz even though I'm in the office, I can still feel the help and direction of the Spirit, and it's great! I'm starting to try and read like a conference talk a day from the last conference and I started earlier this morning. I love conference! It's so good. I tried to prayerfully select what talk I should start with and I really felt I should read "Missionaries Are a Treasure of the Church" by Elder Kazukiko Yamashita. So I did, and it was great! Also, as I was flipping through trying to decide where to start I saw one of my friends from BYU pictured in there, that was random but legit! I was like hey! I know you! Cool stuff. Well that was my week! Please stay tuned for next week!
Love you!!
Elder Michael Gadberry
Pictures--Just a couple cuz I was BUSY! haha
It's my batch! at the mission home for new missionary orientation! They're pretty legit. Sister Stonick on the far-left is already on her second round training. She trained on her third transfer here. Sister Packard next to me, was in my district at the MTC and is taring it up as well! And Elder Christie is from Australia! Well even better, from Tazmania! How legit is that? And his "anak" is 6'5", game-over. My batch wins. The end.
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