A Week in the Philippines

Monday:  We had FHE with the Resuma family.  It was pretty fun.  The food was gross, but oh well!  I'm learning to just deal with rice and whatever we are eating with it that day!  It got me really excited for doing family home evenings with my family when I have one!

Tuesday:  We had our first district meeting.  Our entire district lives in our apartment--a whopping four people!  Elder Lozada is the district leader.  His companion is Elder Sobrevega and then Elder Esteves and me.

Wednesday:  We didn't get a lot of work in today.  We left the umbrellas at the apartment because it was sunny, then out of nowhere the biggest rainstorm ever came.  The raindrops were the size of ping pong balls.  That continued the entire day.  We were at a member's hut for about two hours. We are teaching a boy named Nolito Jean right now.  He is so awesome.  He is 11 and reminds me so much of Logan--same smile, same personality, same laugh.  He looks like a Filipino version of Logan! Anyways, I get a little homesick when we visit him, but it's alright.  His baptism is next Saturday.

Thursday:  Today was hotter than Hell!  (Not a swear word--I'm referring to the place!) We taught a lot of less active members.  That seems to be all we do, but it's okay.  We need to bring people back to the gospel as much as we need new members.  I also had coconut milk fresh off the tree!

Friday:  This day was pretty much of the same--visiting less active members and such.

Saturday:  More lessons with less active members.  We only have three investigators right now, so not too many actual lessons.  I thought I was going to come on my mission and baptize tons of people, but I feel like it's going to be a lot more bringing people back to the gospel.  Which is just as good I guess.  Most of the time people don't come to church because they need to work so their families can eat. . . it is so hard to watch!

Sunday:  Filipinos aren't very reverent in church!  I don't understand anything that is said, but I am trying so hopefully soon I will start to get something out of the meetings.  Later, I had an interesting experience.  We visited a family who had been inactive for 10 years.  I got the feeling they were waiting for us. I felt that I needed to tell the God loved them, so I did and they were very happy to hear it!!!!

First Email From the Philippines

We received our first email from the Philippines (not counting the one that told us he arrived safely).  Here is a copy of it:

Oh my goodness. This is pretty crazy. It is like nothing I have ever experienced nor will ever experience again in my life. If you guys could see this place you wouldn't believe it. I have yet to be in a house that is bigger than the piano room.  No joke. Most of them don't even have a floor, just dirt. Some of them are literally made out of bamboo. I will never take things for granted when I get back, that is for sure. Our apartment shocked me when I first got here, and it is one of the nicest ones in the whole mission. I have a shower, but it cuts in and out every couple of minutes and the water is cold. Oh well!! It feels good because it's so hot here!

I have already lost a lot of weight. I can see my abs! I am not eating a ton, because I don't really like rice but I am learning. It is tough to speak the language.  I don't understand anyone! It's okay, I will learn. We are so busy all the time and I am tired all the time. It's hard to wake up in the mornings, but I have to do work if I want to help people and that is the goal.

Everywhere I go I hear, hey joe, or CANO (short for americano) but it is fun. Little kids will always run up to me and compare their skin to mine. It is hard for me because I feel so prideful and selfish all the time. These people are so happy with their lives and everything they have and I complain about the stupidest things. I need to be more grateful and forget about myself.

My companion is awesome. He is very helpful and good at English, so he helps me a lot. He is so humble and loves missionary work, so that is good. I lean on him a lot so I am glad that he is so comfortable with everything!

Now for the best part! I have a baptism on Saturday.  A 14 year old girl named Regine Mae Mani!  I'm new, but she said she "has a good feeling about me" and wants me to do it! It is probably because I'm an American, but oh well!!!!

He Made It

Cole made it to the Philippines!  It was great getting to talk to him on the phone when he was waiting at the airport, but the time went by way too quickly.  His mission president is awesome.  He had Cole email us as soon as he got there so we would know he arrived safely.  He also told him to have us "friend" him on facebook.  When I got onto facebook I was excited to see that he had posted photos of Cole at the airport, at dinner, and even with his new companion. Technology is great!

New missionaries arriving at the Bacalod Airport

Dinner at a local restaurant

Lunch in the Mission Home

 Jollibee's spaghetti, palabok and Champ hamburger 

Cole and his new companion/trainer, Elder Estevez

Cole with President and Sister Lopez

Thinking Like a Missionary

Here is part of Cole's letter this week:

"I am loving being a missionary. It's so great. I miss you guys so much, but I don't know if I would rather be anywhere else. I know a mission is exactly where I am supposed to be and I cannot wait for it to start really counting. The language is coming well.  I feel comfortable teaching lessons in it, but if I am doing anything other than that I am completely lost! I seriously cannot wait to get to the Philippines. I already have my favorite lesson to teach.  It is by far the plan of salvation. I know the investigators I practice on now are fake; but still, it is the coolest thing to feel the spirit when I tell them they can live with their families forever. I can't wait to tell people in the Philippines that very same thing and watch how they react to that knowledge."

A Letter Home

Just thought I'd share part of Cole's letter this week.  It is awesome to see the growth in him.

"We had to lay down the law to some of the districts this week.  I was going in there thinking I would give dad a run for his money on the greatest freakouts ever (Snow Canyon talk).  Elder Doane noticed this and decided we needed to pray before going in there. It was a good idea because I was furious, but after the prayer I was calm and knew what had to be said.  I pulled some scriptures out of nowhere.  Ones that I have only read maybe once or twice and I was quoting them word for word.  It was crazy!  It seriously turned out totally different than I thought it would. It actually ended up being very spiritual and very awesome."

"I got a letter from Coach Hosner this week,  It was really cool.  He gave me a great quote.  One that I have shared a bunch of times already.  He said (and I felt like we were in the locker room before a game), 'Forget about yourself. Forget about everything you are leaving behind and all of the things you THINK you miss.  Forget about all of that, because what you miss you don't even know yet.  The first time you see a grown man cry because he feels the spirit, or when you baptize a man and change the lives of his entire family for eternity, or when you use your priesthood to bless the sick and work miracles. Those are the things you will miss, and you don't even know it yet.'  I'm telling you what . . . I don't know of a lot more things that have gotten me more pumped up to do missionary work.  I love that man to death!"

A Day in the MTC

We asked Cole what a typical day at the MTC was like for him.  This was the schedule that he sent:

6:30 a.m.      Wake up/Prepare
7:00 a.m.      Planning with Elder Doane
8:00 a.m.      Breakfast
8:30 a.m.      Gym (His favorite time--no surprise there!)
9:30 a.m.      Personal Study
10:30 a.m.    Additional study
11:00 a.m.    Language study
12:20 p.m.    Lunch
1:00 p.m.      Companion study/Additional study
2:00 p.m.      Classroom instruction
5:00 p.m.      Dinner
5:30 p.m.      Classroom instruction
8:30 p.m.      Meetings
9:30 p.m.      Back to the room
10:30 p.m.    Check our zone's rooms
11:00 p.m.    Go to bed

He said that all of the classroom instruction was spoken completely in Hiligaynon, which makes for some really long days when you don't understand much of what is being said.

One Week and Counting

Cole has been in the MTC for one week now.  When he arrived, he was told that instead of learning Tagalog, he would be one of the first missionaries to learn Hiligaynon.

His companion is Elder Doane from Mesa, Arizona.  He threw the shot put for BYU Track & Field this past year.  Cole said he is a big teddy bear.  Elder Doane and he were called to be Zone Leaders yesterday, which puts them in charge of about 48 missionaries.

He has been feeling homesick, but Sunday they had a fireside that really helped.  Here is part of an email that he sent.

"Last night we had a fireside about the life of Joseph Smith and all the things he went through to bring forth this gospel.  Then the spirit hit me as strong as it ever has before and it was kinda like, 'how dare you pity yourself when Joseph went through the things he went through.  This is your time to do your part in this work and you can leave those things for two years.'  Needless to say, I was very humbled and apologetic in my prayers.  It was an experience that in about a year from now I will look back and say, wow, that changed everything!"