Feb. 9, 2009
Kumusta po kayo?
Wow! The days are flying by. At least. . .the first four. I've loved it here. After I said good-bye to you all, and tripped across the room, . . . and cried a little-- All the new elders got a workout walking around, following big "NEW ELDER" signs. The atmosphere was electric, and I met a lot of amazing new missionaries standing in line. Everyone was smiling and excited. We got papers in order, another tag with a pin on it, our card signed by President Monson (I wish I could read it). I found out our tags are in English because in the Philippines there are so many dialects that . . .its just not worth it to put it in Tagalog, I guess.
The church was started there in English, apparently they sing and say sacrament prayers and hymns in English. We sing in Tagalog for practice, many times a day. The first time was, well, it wasn't exactly mabuti (good, fine) but we are getting better. When we are in class we sing and pray in Tagalog. Most of us still need notes when we pray but it amazes me how fast things are coming. Prayer is Panalangin (Pon-a-long-en). Our classroom is tiny! There are 10 of us in our district, which is also our class. Our district leader is a roommate of mine, named Elder Whihongi-Richie (Wee-hong-gi) from New Zealand. Or, more appropriately, NeZeelan. He has an awesome accent, it's exactly like the accents on "The Other Side of Heaven." He is a quiet, good guy, and buff, he used to play rugby.
When I arrived with my armload of new materials to my room, my companion, Elder Thorn from Apple Valley, CA was there to greet me. I had no time that first day to unpack--the day was SO busy! Meetings and interviews and singing, "Called to Serve", in Tagalog, and meeting the zone leaders. The zone leaders are great! There are 3, in a three-some, and they've been here 3 weeks. They are good at Tagalog, and great leaders.
Rachel, I learned that to say "good-night" it's Magandang Ga-BI (accent on the bi). If you say Magandang GA-bi, (accent on the ga) it means "beautiful yam." This place is great--walking around I hear so many languages. Talk about the gift of tongues. The goal is to speak everything possible in Tagalog, all the time. There are some things I hardly say in English anymore -- like yes, no, how are you, fine, great, me too, thank-you, my name is, sorry, and the list grows daily. Guess what? I learned what mahal kita means! Mahal kita rin (I love you too), Rachel and pamilya ko (family mine). The secret to this language --pronunciation, at least-- is the vowels.
Feb. 16, 2009
I got Elder Thorn to go with me today to go find a piano in the Wilford Woodruff building. I spent half and hour playing hymns and just playing anything. It felt so good. I can sign up for practice time here.
The first few times we practiced teaching was a real wake-up call for me. After I really buckled down and asked for the Lord's help, the lessons started coming together. Plus, teaching with a companion was weird at first. Elder Thorn and I have very different teaching styles. But since then, we've become a strength to each other, and when one of us pulls a blank, the other steps right in. We have a language task every Thursday, which usually takes 15 minutes, followed by a lesson in English (35 min.) It is a scary thing for me! But when we finish I'm so glad we did it.
Elder Thorn and I enjoy going to the referral center as well. I felt like a tele-marketer at first, with the headset and the on-screen prompts, but I think I'm moving out of that stage. My first call I was supposed to confirm the delivery of a Bible to a lady on the East Coast, and offer to send missionaries with a Book of Mormon. But the lady picked up the phone and said in a thick Irish accent, "Do ya want me to send back the Bible?" And I couldn't figure out where that was on the script. She told me how she'd enjoyed the Bible, but was tired of the phone calls and wasn't interested. In fact, I couldn't get a word in edge-wise. After the conversation was over, I couldn't figure out how to take her off the call list, so in a few months I'm pretty sure she'll be called again. Poor missionary.
I got answering machines for the rest of the day. I did have one really good experience though. A few days ago Elder Thorn and I had ten minutes before lunch, so we ducked into the referral center to make a few calls. Surprisingly, we both were answered on the first call, and things went well. I talked to a lady from Alabama about a Bible she'd received. She said she enjoyed it, and told me some of the things she'd read. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony of the Bible, and then explain and testify of the Book of Mormon. I stumbled over words and was obviously nervous, but to my surprise when I asked if I could send some missionaries to give her a copy of the Book at her house she said she'd be happy to have them. She gave me a referral and I thanked her for her time and told her the missionaries would contact her.
In Alma 16:16, it says, "the Lord did pour out His Spirit. . .to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word. . ." I know the spirit of the Lord is working. It's the Lord that is guiding missionary work and preparing the hearts of the people. I'm so grateful that He lets us participate with Him in the harvest of souls. Like Ammon said, "as to my strength, I am weak, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things."
I'm so grateful for this experience and the numerous others I have here. It really is a refiner's fire-- it's tough. But I am learning and growing from these small and simple experiences and great things are beginning to happen!
I love you all--
Elder Peck
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