Magandang
Hapon po!
Kamusta!
I will have to be quick today because we went on a hike this
morning and don't have much time to email because we still have to wash our
clothes (by hand of course) and be ready to work in less than 2 hours. The hike
wasn't anything too long or strenuous (at least for me and my Nay legs haha),
it was just up a "mountain" (really a big hill), but it did have a
really beautiful view. We got up at about 4:30 in the morning so we got to
see the sun rise above the mountains and saw beautiful sun rays coming out of
the clouds on the valley floor below us. It felt good to get out and go on a
little hike again and see some nature. On the top of the hill there are some
really primitive houses probably smaller than our food storage room. We had a
little barbeque up at one of the houses and then we had to go down a steep hill to
the stream to fetch some water to use to wash plates and stuff. Glad I don't
have to do that every day. Haha. We even saw 2 little kids leaving to walk down
the huge hill to make it to elementary school. Quite the hike just to go to
elementary school. One of the most memorable parts though is I can officially
say I have ridden in the back of a big dump truck Haha there were 12
of us waiting on the side of a rural highway forever so we could flag something
down and the dump truck with no load in the back was the first thing
that stopped. It was pretty awesome. I am getting quite professional at
hitchhiking because we have to do it several times a week just to get back at
night. We just stand out on the side of hi ways with our thumbs out
waiting for someone to have pity on us.
I think the highlight of
our week was on Saturday, when we spent the entire day doing a baptism
interview, witnessing our own baptism, and training the Stake leaders and
bishoprics. We probably spent 20-30 minutes training them about the importance
of hanging on to the recent converts and the importance of keeping them
involved. Several years ago, I would have just laughed at the idea of
presenting training to a bunch of church leaders for that amount of time. But,
everything turned out well and I never even seemed nervous about doing it, and
we wished we even had more time to train them even more. I suppose that is one
of the extra blessings of serving a mission-makes you a lot more self
confident. It was definitely a day where we both couldn’t help but go to
bed a few minutes early because of such a mentally and physically exhausting
day running from place to place. We were able to have a very spiritual
experience as we witnessed how prepared this individual was and the strong
testimony he has. I had the privilege of performing the interview while
Elder Lasay just sat in the room, but during the interview his desire to become
a member was made very apparent by his testimony he shared of each principle in
the baptismal interview questions. There was no doubt in my mind that he was
ready to be baptized. The Spirit was definitely in the room to confirm it, and
even Elder Lasay could feel it. Being the one entrusted with the responsibility
of determining this person’s readiness for baptism makes me appreciate my own
baptismal covenants and desire to fulfill them better.
It was very rewarding to
see that the Tatay of these 2 primary girls (ages 9 and 11) made the commitment
to make himself worthy and prepared to perform the baptism on his children.
Elder Lasay and I had to practice with him several times the process of the
baptism and helped him memorize the baptism prayer, but it was super awesome to
see him come from being less active, quitting his smoking, and making the extra
sacrifice to come to church. This family is very poor and it is a big sacrifice
for them to make it to church each week. Whenever I think or hear of an excuse
of not being able to make it to church, I will always remember the Pader
family.
Well, sorry I don't have time to write more. Maraming salamat po
for your emails and support. Not going to lie though, that is kind of cool mom
got to cut open dead people and practice amputations-because I'm sure that is a
skill she will use often... Haha. Makes the term Graveyard Grace sound even
more fitting. :)
Mahal ko kayo,
Elder Nay
P.S. be thinking about
which time and day you want me to skype
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