Hello!
I'm tired... haha And I don't really know what to write so I'mma just
get started and we'll see what comes out.. haha That sounded kinda
negative.. so just know that I'm still doing awesome na awesome just
tired today cuz we went to the temple early this morning and it took
us 3 hours to get back home.. haha
So its Wednesday and I'm emailing you guys cuz they switched it to
whenever we have temple day, we don't have preparation day on Monday
instead we have it on Wendesday with our temple day. So its different,
but alright, but tiring cuz we lose a lot of the day in traveling. But
the weeks been pretty great! Lets see what I can tell about it....
Everyday here has been a blast for the most part.. Elder Tenny and I
are having a lot of fun together and doing some really good work. I'm
excited for those that we're teaching and then the Lord's really
helped us find some starting points with the reactivation work.
So we'll start with a couple funny stories.. cuz we've got them pretty
much everyday.. haha This has been a bahay favorite recently.. haha
Hopefully its as funny in english as it is in Tagalog and in person..
haha So we're teaching this awesome less-active family that we love
and we're closing the lesson. So I ask the 10 yr old son to pray. Now
the 10 yr old son looks essentially just like a asian version of the
kid from "Up" and he's super cute. So in his little kid voice he goes,
"Okay po ba kung maiksi lang po siya? (Okay? If short just it?
hahaha)" Of course we respond, "Siempre! Okay na okay yan. (Of course!
Very okay that)." So he follows it up with a, "Okay po ba kung walang
boses (okay? If no voice)" With that we respond.. "Umm.. di pwede..
dapat may boses (Umm.. no can.. should have voice)" So now the kid is
faced with a big problem and takes a second to think about it. You can
see the wheels a churnin in his head.. So he comes up with his
solution. "Okay. Walang boses na lang. (Okay. No voice just.)" Then he
quickly bows his head and folds his arms. We proceed to do the same.
So we're sitting there for a while and then we here a quiet, "Amen."
And we all chime in with an agreeing amen. hahaha Probably one of my
favorite prayers my whole mission.. haha
Okay! Funny story number two! This one is actually really hilarious
but maybe you guys might think so so much cuz you havent experienced
it. So here in the Philippines white people get called "Joe" ALLLLLLLL
the time.. haha In fact most of us "Joe"s get pretty sick of it
because of how frequent it is. I know Elder Tenny isn't a big fan of
it and it made the story all the better.. haha So my first Sunday here
we are invited to attend the funeral service of our Branch Mission
Leader's grandma. So we go and its packed! They have us in a room and
its soooo full! And they even ended up setting up about 20-30 chairs
outside the room that got filled too. So the service was really
impressive. It was a real uplifting experience with testimonies shared
and spiritual thoughts and talks and what not. So at the end they
opened the floor for a little bit for whoever wanted to get up and
share a little bit. So it started going great. And then the last guy
got up. He was the last guy cuz he took forever! And made sure
everyone knew that he wasn't a member of the church and
da-da-da-da-da-da.. Which is fine and all but please focus your
comments on the deceased person and things like that rather than
yourself, your beliefs, your money, etc.. So yeah he's finally
wrapping up when he notices my companion sitting in the crowd. He
goes, "Hey Joe! Why you here now?! Okay that I speak in Tagalog?" Or
something similar to that. So in perfect Tagalog, my companion informs
him that "That he in fact does not know how to speak Tagalog." All the
members in the room laugh, and the guy goes, "Joe can speak the
Tagalog!" And sits down. And then we sang and prayed and the program
ended. hahaha It was pretty hilarious.
PS-I'm not a Joe =) Some people ask if I'm Fil-Am... #safe
Alright! So those were hilarious.. it least to us.. haha I'm going to
go back home and have no sense of humor at all... haha So on the other
side of things I'll try and share a couple really uplifting
experiences. So we have this one investigator that was actually a
Baptist missionary at one point and she's super cool. So she loves the
Book of Mormon and believes the church and everything is true but is
hesitant on baptism because of the position she holds in her church
and all that stuff. So she's praying on it still. So we go over there
one night and we notice that she's kind of down. Obviously something
was bothering her. So over the course of talking with her she tells us
"You know that feeling when you're praying and praying but you feel
that no one is listening or you don't know if you're getting answers?
Thats what I feel like right now when I pray." So we share with her a
few really powerful scriptures about prayer from the Book of Mormon,
we shared our testimonies, and we even shared the "Footprints in the
sand" story that she actually already knew. So we did all we could and
left hoping that we helped her. So when we go back she's sooo excited
to see us! She tells us all about her experience and that she got such
a powerful answer and that the Lord answered her prayers, and she knew
completely that the Book of Mormon was true and that she knew the
church was true and that he blessed her in all these other problems
that she had also. It was such a powerful lesson probably one of the
most spirit-filled ones I've had thus far here in Biñan and all we
essentially had to do was to testify that we know that God answered
her prayers, that the Book of Mormon is true, that the church is true,
and most importantly that God loves her and knows her personally.
Cool story number two! So this happened.. Monday! But started on
Sunday. So Sunday we went and talked to our Branch President (newly
called District President this past Sunday) and we got the branch's
list of fifteen names of less active persons that the branch is
focusing on. So Monday, without a preparation day, we decided to
contact a few of those people. So we wandered around looking a lot on
Monday but it was actually really successful. We stopped and talked to
one of the families on the list. They were SUPER nice but Sister was
just heading out the door to go to work and brother was taking her
there. So sister excused herself to go get ready and we talked to
brother for a while. Like I said he was way nice and I really enjoyed
getting to know him a little. So then sister comes back out and
brother leaves to go get the motorcycle ready. Sister sits down and
starts to talk with us and then just starts crying... We were like
what? Why? Whats wrong?? She tells us, "Elders, I really wanna go back
to church. I really miss it. I don't want to go by myself though. I
want my husband to go. I need him to take the lead." We were able to
set up a return appointment with them and we're pumped to go back and
share with them. So this was another really cool experience where we
had the wonderful experience of being the answer to someones prayer.
Like usual, we didn't even know her situation...but the Lord did. Its
just another testimony to me that whenever you do what you're supposed
to and you're obedient, you will be lead by the spirit. It's kinda
like I've heard Elder Bednar teach before that we shouldn't worry
about whether its the Spirit or not. If its a good thought/good thing,
just do it because "all good things come from God."
So yeah, I'm lovin it here, even if its not as pretty as Coron or
Ternate... haha My kabahays are jealous of my mission experience, and
I'm incredibly grateful to have opportunity to serve the Lord in the
ways I've been blessed to do so and I'm so excited to continue going
forth doing the work of the Lord! So I'll hit you guys up again in a
few days! haha
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
Sorry! No pictures! I couldn't find my memory card reader... #UhOh
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