Hey fam
Elder Mitchell and I had a good week with zone conference probably being the highlight. All missionaries on the mainland combined into one meeting so it was extra exciting to see everyone!
We tried a few new things in the area as well which brought some new results as well! President always says that if you want the same results then just keep on doing the same things, but if you want a new result you’re going to have to make some changes. I’ve realized that these changes for me are sometimes inconvenient, uncomfortable, or at first they seem like no good will come but oftentimes it all works out. If it doesn’t then at least we’re able to have that learning experience and better know what aspects are positive and what parts we don’t need to try again haha.
Anyways the main thing we’ve tried differently these past few weeks is really getting the members involved- both active and less-active. We’re having fun experiences as well as spiritual experiences with them then trying to help them give out a Book of Mormon within a time frame they feel is possible (usually a week.) We then follow that up and see how it went. As a result, we’ve gotten some new people to teach who are more ready than someone we meet while tracting. In the past I don’t think I’ve worked with members as much as I should have. Sometimes it feels like the time we spend with them doesn’t bring results. It is true though at first not much is seen from our visit, but we’ve noticed in the longer run of the past few weeks things have really started going because of it. I mentioned Nanay Angie last week haha- yeah she still has been working with us. She showed us to a few more less actives and some members who have lived here a long time have also helped us out with finding prospective-elders in the ward.
Remember the Lobo fam that I mentioned last week? We were able to keep working with them this week. We noticed that CJ (14) was kinda holding them back a little bit. Even though we were trying to joke with him he kept sitting on his phone while we taught him, his sister, and his mom. We knew he liked basketball and video games- yes you could consider himself a gamer. He sleeps all day and plays computer all night since the computer shop is cheaper at night. He agreed on playing basketball with us every morning though! That way he wouldn’t game all night too haha. About every day last week we went and picked him up at 5:30 then went and played. He finally started opening up more! Then Thursday we had a family home evening with them where the two kids were gonna teach us how to cook sisig. We got up at 4:30 to grab the meat and stuff from the market since people buy the face of the pig (the part we needed) really early. Later that night at the FHE we cooked it up and had a good lesson where CJ finally participated! Sunday they showed up at church for the first time in over a year! His brother Lee came back from their province Friday and was able to be at church as well. Then Monday in the morning we took the two of them to play basketball at the chapel with the priesthood of the ward. That all happened because one active member let us know who they were and where they live. We had no idea they were even in our area haha.
One thing Elder Mitchell is super good at is setting goals and making plans to reach those. Every hour we take a second to check our planners to evaluate how we are with the goals we’ve set for the day. It’s helped me remember how there’s a good, better, best and we’ve been able to be more effective. It’s funny because my whole mission I’ve kinda felt like goals are pointless and I didn’t do my part in giving them time and thought. I’ve noticed I feel a lot more organized lately and I’m learning how much they help you track progress.
Elder Burdeos had an aunt, uncle, and cousins from Honolulu come visit the Philippines since his aunt is from here. He got permission from President for us to head to their apartment one night to eat dinner and share a quick message. That was super awesome! They cooked up some pro Mexican food which is definitely something we don’t eat much of here. They’re pretty wealthy and while we were parking in the parking garage we saw a few Ferraris, porches, lamborginis, mclarens, and maserattis. We had to park next to a maseratti and did so extra careful so we wouldn’t scratch our sick Starex van ;) They were a really cool fam.
That about sums up the week! Got to conduct a funeral for the first time- actually I’d say it’s way easier than trying to be the pianist on a broken electric keyboard on a rocky table haha. On Pday we were walking through the city part of our area called BGC and they had tons of Philippine Army stuff set up to celebrate their reunion/anniversary thing. We saw some cool trucks and tanks as well as got to learn some new stuff about the history here! I’m thankful for the time I have to serve in such a great country with such great people.
Til next week!
Elder Reber
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