Hey great friends read this...
(Hey that is pretty good.) <-- (See Julian Smith's Racist Coffee on youtube, it's a good 'un)
So guess what! This week has been another good one here in the Philippines! It's been super hot, it's evening raining today, even got some lightning and thunder!, and we only had one trip to the hospital and just all around a grand 'ol time! haha So let's cut the fluff and get right down to it.
Maybe the Blues will win their first Stanley Cup???
They shall because I'm serving the Lord. hahaha
BTW, when is the next transfer?
Be tee dubs, it's this upcoming April 4th. Pretty close! It's goin start to get hectic real soon! I actually felt that this week was pretty slow in the office so I just did my best to get stuff prepared and ready for end of the month end stuff and transfer week stuff.
It's nice that you are realizing the importance of daily prayer and scripture study, any chance you could put a bug in your brothers' ears?
Well I could try, but it probably wouldn't work too well. Especially when I don't get emails from them... =/ Called out! Boom! haha juuuust kidding....ish. =)
Do you hear much about the people you left in Coron? The ones you were teaching?
I only get news from Coron when people come from Coron so it's only every once and a while. But the other week with that specialized training Elder Anderson, currently serving in Coron, came down for that, and we gave him a ride to the airport. So like the whole time there I was just asking about everyone out there. It sounds like things are going really well! The best news for me was Brother Jucaban. If you remember him, he's the husband of a member out there and he has two little boys. He's been trying and trying to prepare for baptism but from like the beginning of my last transfer until the time I left he had gotten himself down to 2 cigarettes a day, but just couldn't give it up completely. But the news was that he finally stopped! I was pumped! So I would guess that he's getting baptized soon (I think Elder Anderson may have said today was his baptismal date..or maybe end of April...I don't know). And then Aurora's husband also has embraced the gospel and has a baptismal date in early April I believe. It's good stuff out there! Miss it!
Dad and Caleb are getting ready to go to Utah in a few weeks to see your old stomping grounds. Any requests?
Hmm...when they're in Provo they should def find time to go to J-Dawgs cuz it's where it's at! Say hi to my friends out there! (all my guy friends are out servin wherever...haha) I kinda don't really know who will still out there the semester might be over by then, but if Erin or Maddie or Wes! Oh yeah! (I heard thru the grapeline that he had to go home cuz of medical issues so if you see my old roomie say hi too!), so if you happen to see them say hi! And say hi to anyone else you run into that may read this!...so if you're reading this and are out there and see a guy that looks pretty similar to me but a little taller (ugh...I know. Don't say anything.) find him and say HI! Especially if he's with an old bald guy named Kirk. haha =D I miss BYU, it's the best!
Well this week was great! We made the resolve at the beginning of the week to get out to our area everyday cuz sometimes it's really hard when you have stuff that kinda just pop up or just have a ton of stuff to get done before the next day, but we did a good job this week! It was hard but it worked out! We only couldn't make it one day, next week will be even better. So let's start my journal shall we? Yeah this is pretty much my journal cuz I've gotten really bad at writing in my real one, that's why these kinda tend to be super long. It'll come back to haunt me, not writing in my journal, but hey for now just enjoy my journal via electronic mail.. haha
So this past Sunday was sweet! The Dietrich's had like an Office Dinner with us and the Assistants and guess what I got to eat! ......Oh come on...stop reading for half a second. Close your eyes. Guess a food. and then continue reading. . . . . . . . . . . I got to eat mashed taters! (I heart all of you who actually stopped and made a guess no matter how far off, and am very disappointed in the majority of you who did not.) I was PUMPED! They were legit! Like she bought potatoes, chopped them up, and then did whatever you do to make them mashed potatoes, I guess one of those steps would include, mashing the chopped potatoes. Our work that day was really cool as well. We got a few lessons in, one of them being with the Advincula family! It was a great lesson and directed by the Spirit! We went in there expecting to teach about scripture study and the Book of Mormon. Well we started and just the way things went it totally flowed into a lesson about prayer and praying as a family. We walked out of that lesson feeling good about it and I looked over at Elder Spencer and was like "weren't we planning on teaching scripture study..?" It was pretty cool, it's just good that we were able to kinda yield and go the direction that the Spirit was taking the lesson. But before the Advincula family we got punted and didn't really know where to go so we're just standing on the side of the road when this barber waves us over and tells us to sit down. He was always nice to us for some reason but we never sat down and talked with him. So we sat down in front of his shop on the side of the road and just started talking to him. We ended talking to him for like 40 minutes and even committed him to praying and trying to go to church. Cuz it turns out that he went to church down in Mindanao for like a year cuz one of his friends was a member but he eventually stopped going to church cuz his friend moved away. He had some great experiences but was never baptized. He's pretty busy working but we'll hopefully get to start teaching him soon.
Let's skip on down to Monday. Skippity, skip, skip. We're here! Woo! So nothin too exciting went down on Monday. However, on Monday I did learn that the Philippines had over 7800 members return to activation in just January and February and then another 2000+ baptisms after that! The work here in the Philippines is really just rollin right along it's pretty awesome! I love it! That night we got out and got to teach the favored Locanlale family! We shared a message from 2 Nephi 9:18, kinda about Enduring and the prize therein. And it was great! They even fed us afterwards! I got to talk to Nanay (ie. Mom) for a while and it turns out her and her husband are going to a marriage counselling like retreat thing this weekend so I'm thinkin it'll be a great experience for them (even though they're probably goin miss Sunday...) and then we'll be able to get Tatay (ie. Dad) more involved in teaching and the coming back to church thing. After we were out in our area we went back home and the Dietrich's were so kind as to let us borrow their washer and dryer. So while we were up there we talked to them for a while it was great! I loveee talking to them! They're so Midwest and are totes like my grandparents out here. So good!
Tuesday was pretty busy. First I had to prepare for district meeting. I had the great honor of giving the Christ-like Attribute lesson from Preach My Gospel at our District Meeting later that day. I gave it on patience. It was great! It's a really interesting attribute, one that we all can use a little bit more of at times but at the same time one that I feel that I've developed well over the past however many years. For me, it's always hardest to be patient with myself...haha It's really easy to get frustrated with my own self but I gotta stay patient and accept things as they come. I think it was an old soccer or basketball saying "to be quick, but don't hurry." So it's like that with personal progress (no not the YW thingy). I wanna progress quickly, but not rush things. I gotta enjoy where I'm at and how far I've come. And learn as much as I can from each step rather than trying to double step it like I always did walking up the stairs from the back-side of the RB after playin basketball or racquetball or whatever else there. (Yeahhh! That's right you Provo peeps know what I mean! haha) Well after we got everything done we made it out to our area again and our big lesson that night was with Ponce! We decided to start teaching him again the Plan of Salvation and it was perfect! Cuz he said that he had actually forgotten a lot of it. So we taught about Pre-Earth life and everything that happened there and why it's important and what not. It was great!
Wednesday was interesting...haha First of all, I broke the finance record (well as far as I know for me and Elder Stirland) for most actual cash carried out the bank, so that was kinda funny. But none of it's for me of course, it just goes through me to get to like the Senior Couples and whoever else I need to get it to. Like Senior Couples generally work through Working Funds, which are funds that I give them and then they spend it on the things they're doing for the mission (like apartment furnishings, taking people to the hospital, etc.) and then turn in all their receipts to me at the end of the month and based off those receipts, that's how much I give them for the next month to replenish their Working Fund. So I had two Working Funds, a check I had to cash to furnish an apartment, and another Senior Couple reimbursement all with me, so that's why I had so much. I told Elder Spencer to make sure I don't get mugged cuz that would be bad..haha I also noted that I love the feeling of things working out! The Forinashs got the money and things they needed for their new apartment and were super-grateful and thanked me for all the stuff I did for them and even commented on my eyelashes....again. Ugh. In other news, UCPB (The United Coconut Planters Bank) <-- (I know right?! Apparently thats the bank the church works through here though). But anyways...UCPB was totes playin like an Eminem CD or somethin as their like background/lobby music. It wasn't very loud but I could recognize it...haha They probably don't know how bad Eminem really is...haha But it was like Eminem after Eminem when I was there, it was funny.
Now Thursday was where it was at! We had exchanges with our District Leader, Elder Koochin. Meaning we weren't in the office at all! It was me and Elder Koochin in his area, and then Elder Victorio and Elder Spencer in ours. It started Wednesday night, so it was like a full day of being a regular missionary again! It was def cool. But I had a pretty cool Personal Study Thursday morning. Towards the end, I studied a talk from last conference by Barbara Thomson cuz she's kinda legit I decided. It was called Personal Revelation and Testimony. And I learned a lot from it! And I also learned that my Personal Revelation from that Personal Study was how to receive Personal Revelation. I thought that was kinda ironic/funny but awesome nonetheless! After Elder Koochin had our studies and had lunch, we hit the road! We even got to take a jeepney. Buuut...that was problem number one of the day...We got on that jeepney and it was sooooo bad! It had music and it was so bad! The sound system on the jeepney was actually impressive, but the music choice...not good. Like literally every other word was a swear word..Like at there was one verse by Lil Wayne...and it turned out to be like the cleanest verse...hahaha But finally, we got off the Satan jeepney and got to work! After the day I wrote down a list of "I got to:"s. So first, I got to sit on the floor of people's little houses and teach them! I loved it! I don't know why I miss that so much. I got to deal with drunk people that were like super drunk and were just dying for the two white people to talk to them. I even got to talk to one for like 5 minutes, and I couldn't understand a word he said...it was that bad. I got to get wet! We worked in the raid and got soaked! Classic. We actually had one umbrella and it was a little one that could barely fit one person. Well, we had one of the members in the area working with us so there was three of us and we all tried to squeeze under that little umbrella and it was pretty hilarious.
I got to work with my batch! I love my batch, all of them, 'nuff said. I got to give two blessings! I got to have a cold shower! Oh geez...I probably didn't mention this but our shower kinda has hot water so we're like super spoiled, but on Thursday I got a nice 'ol super cold one! It was great! haha I got to walk around allll day! Yay for exercise! I got to not worry about finance stuff! And I didn't really have any one bother me or anything the whole day. And lastly, I got to help people come unto Chrirst! =D It was a great day! I enjoyed it and learned a lot!
On Friday, I had a great personal study in Mormon! Chapter 2 to be specific. I really enjoyed how great Mormon was even in his youth! He's like 15 and 16 and recognizing the fulfilling of the prophecies of the prophets before him. And you could really tell that he studied the scriptures cuz when he was just 16 he was called upon to be the military leader for the Nephites. So he's the head of this army and is charge of telling them what to do. If you notice, the strategies that he tries are all ones that had been used and been successful with other Nephite military leaders and recorded in the scriptures. And the guys only like 16! I know I was def not good at the scriptures at 16, I'm still not that good....haha But before that! We were supposed to go to the ground-breaking of the new chapel in Mandaluyong (our city where we proselyte). Well we had to get up at like 4:45 to do that...not fun! But I was excited. So my alarm goes off and I actually get up! Look at me go! I try to wake Elder Spencer up, and he is like passed out and was not waking up at all....so I had to just go back to the couch and sleep till 6:30....it was sad but whatev. Later that afternoon, our walk-in blessing father and daughter returned! It was cool! and surprising! The operation they were going to have got postponed because his daughter had a cough, so he wanted a blessing for that so of course we did. Elder Dietrich actually gave them a ride home-ish so they wouldn't have to walk so far but like they were almost there and just ended up taking the daughter to the hospital cuz she suddenly got a fever, probably cuz of walking out in the super hot sun all day...so it's a good thing Elder Dietrich took them. So hopefully things work out for them. That evening was cool! kinda. I got an email from Venus at like 4-ish and she had some stuff I needed to look over and review and figure out. It required me like literally searching all the records I had back like like 2008 cuz like none of this stuff is on the computer and that's why she needed me to do it. But I actually was able to find all the things I needed to find and I felt cool! I felt like I was doing like detective work...hahaha It probably feels kinda like that too doing Family History work, well this was a more finance version of that..haha
Today was kinda like crazy but awesome p-day! First thing, the Dietrich's made us pancakes and bacon and spam for breakfast! I really only cared about the pancakes..haha But they made a ton so it was like all-you-can-eat pancakes we joked. After that we went to an awesome baptism for a couple missionaries in our district. It was like picture perfect! It was an awesomely done service, and the family was great! The mother was inactive and father wasn't a member. The missionaries came along and boom! Mom's trying to come back to church and dad's baptized and the entire service was like focused on enduring and going to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. It was cool! Afterwards, our district went to Mang-Inasal for lunch where it's unlimited rice...haha So we ate a lot. After that we tried to go shopping...then we got a call saying that we needed to go to the hospital and bring some stuff to some elders there. So there went our p-day but it was great! Cuz I got to see Elder Osumo, and it was way great to see him again. We even brought them McDonalds and it was pretty funny cuz we walked across the street from the HUGE hospital to the McDonald's that is right next to the Jaguar/Land Rover dealership...haha We thought it was pretty funny, maybe you had to be there.
So yeah. That was my great week! I better get goin now cuz it's taken me a while to write this...haha Go figure. Once I get back in the field, I'm sure my emails will shorten...haha cuz then I have to start paying for internet...haha Well, bye! I hope you all have an awesome week!
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Pictures
0047 -- This was our shopping cart...we didn't have a whole lot to buy...just little of this and little of that...haha
0049 -- Awww! It's a cute little puppy and Sister Lopez and Sister Terano gave me!
0050 -- NOT! Is that not creepy?? It's eyes turn green! hahaha This should definitely go on the list of toys that would give toddlers nightmares...hahaha
0056/0058 -- Okay, I was like starving and was like begging Elder Spencer to make me a sandwich. But he just kept talking to Sister Dietrich for like EVER! haha So I would come up with somethin on a sticky note walk over and stick it on his screen then sit down. It went on for a little and then I just decided to get up and make sandwiches for the two of us. Look at me go! haha Various notes include: Fuel gauge of my stomach, "SAND-WICH! please.", an adorable heart full of my love for Elder Spencer, "Please feed the finance. Thank you.", "Kakainin kita! Rawr!" (I will eat you! Rawr!), "Welcome to Hungerville. Population: me.", a diagram of myself and thoughts, "If you're hungry and you know it clap your hands. Clap! Clap!", and a simple 4-step instruction of how to make a sandwich and give it to me.
0059/0060 - We hit 10000 kilometers in the van! Woo!
0061 - The one night we were talkin to the Dietrich's, Elder Spencer fell asleep...haha
0062-0067 -- This is where Ponce lives and works and where we teach him! There's tonsss of cardboard!
0068 -- Don't smoke.
0070 -- I've always had a special affinity for signs like this. We park on Basement level 4 or we park on before.
0072 -- Exchanges! Look at him go. That's a big knife...
0073 -- I hadn't taken a picture of that yet.
0075 -- The baptism this afternoon (note that you can actually see the faces of everyone this time)
0076 -- Spence is a model.
0078/0079 -- Aww poor Elder Osumo is in the hospital...haha
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