Dear Family,
Yeah, thanksgiving!
The actual Thanksgiving day was one of the best of the week. I was on a split with Elder Amundsen and Elder Cobacha, and we had an average day in the field. Even a little on the rough side, a lot of our appointments fell through and we spent some time tracting and talking to people on the street, which wasn't hard in downtown Angeles. We got into some homes and taught some people for the first time. I love Elder Cobacha's approach to finding people just as much now as I did a year ago. It was great to talk with him and we talked a lot about what we'd learned and how the past year had gone for each of us. Every time we spend time like that in the field, I feel that it just doesn't get better than that. I couldn't have spent a happier Thanksgiving in any other place, doing any other thing. It was hard, but it was so satisfying. There's just something about proselyting and teaching that is better than anything else. On Saturday we went on a companionship exchange in Victoria Tarlac.
On Sunday we got away from the office for about 4 hours to go contact a referral close to the mission home, and it was the best! On our way to contact them, we talked with people, and the third time we stopped to ask directions and talk to people on the side of the road, a father welcomed us into his home. Just to set the scene, we're up in the mountains around 8 miles away from Mount Pinatubo. We'd driven as far as we could and then set off on foot. We'd crossed a river by way of hanging bridge and were walking on a dirt path on the side of a mountain. On the banks of the river and the hillsides on both sides were houses, it's a relatively poor area. Upon entering the home, we found some of the father's relatives. There were two seats. They told us they'd stand, but we couldn't do it and still be comfortable. Two of them sat and the rest of the group stood. We had an honest, almost solemn lesson about the Savior, and talked about baptism and a little about the Restoration. The father spent the week farming there on the mountain, but the amazing thing is, he reads the bible and loves it. The Philippines is an amazing place, religiously. It was a really spiritual half an hour, and it didn't even seem strange that we were all standing in a circle. Elder Landingin is an incredible teacher, and I've learned so much in the two years about how to be honest and how to communicate the gospel to people. Teaching has become a pleasure, especially these past two months. We got a return appointment next Sunday. We later contacted the referral and they were very very open to us. At our last appointment we met Brother Sibal's parents and got to teach them as well. They are very Catholic, but we made some progress and had a good meeting. It was a great night. We found ourselves at about 7 PM on the side of the mountain, with lights of hundreds of small houses gleaming on both sides of the hanging bridge. With what little light was left, we could make out the outline of the palm trees on the tops of the foothills.
I'm glad your Thanksgiving went so well, everyone looks happy, and that pork looks awful tasty. Wow, are ya'll cold there? I can't stand the cold anymore! I get chilled sometimes with just an electric fan at night. This week we'll be all over the mission for "zone training" part of the new mission schedule from Salt Lake City. Interviews with the President will only happen once every 3 months now. We'll be on companionship exchanges all week. I'll attach some of our hiking pictures, as well as the one with my very first biscuits. Success! I was so confident in my cooking skills that I doubled the recipe, and I'll say, they're pretty good. I made banana pancakes as well. I tasted pineapple pancakes this week... but that's still beyond my skill level. I love you family! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Loren Peck
No comments:
Post a Comment