Magandang
Hapon!
Kamusta!?
It must be a good year for snow if it is still snowing and
freezing cold. I tell people here that it is still snowing back at home and try
to give them an estimate of how thick it could be, but they are just shocked
and have no idea how to comprehend such things. How could anyone survive in
temperatures as low as 20 degrees? Haha.
I don't suppose I can talk you into postponing your
Cambodia/Vietnam trip for a couple months until I get home? Haha that sounds
pretty awesome. I will be able to appreciate and understand 3rd world living
conditions so much better after living in the Philippines for over a year and a
half. We truly are blessed back home.
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| Elder Arden with mission leaders |
What a privilege it was this week to be with Elder Ardern of the
Quorum of the Seventy! At first we were all pretty bummed because after we all
went to Cauayan on Friday to be taught by him, we found out that he wasn't able
to make it because after flying all the way to Cauayan from Manila, the pilot
couldn't land because of fog and had to fly back to Manila. So instead of
having a training meeting with Elder Ardern, President and Sister Carlos
continued the training and of course they did a great job. During the training,
it soon became apparent that as missionaries, we need to do a better job at
holding members more responsible about being more involved in missionary work
and referrals. After their training, we were excited to find out that we were
invited to come back to Cauayan on Saturday instead for the training with Elder
Ardern-after spending a day driving to get here. Because many missionaries had
other obligations such as baptisms, it only ended up being just over 30 of us
in the mission home with Elder Ardern. For over 2 hours, I was literally a
couple feet away from a General Authority. It was a spiritual feast as he
taught from the scriptures and gave great words of advice applicable as a
missionary and for the rest of my life. Then he reminded us that we didn't have
to wait for a General Authority to come talk to us in order to have a spiritual
feast, as we have all the same tools they do-prayer, scriptures, and the Gift
of the Holy Ghost to help us listen to promptings of the Spirit. The more we
follow those promptings, we will be more entrusted with promptings we will
receive in the future. We literally spent almost an hour just talking about
1Nephi 7:1-13 and the leadership qualities that are found there. He also
reminded us that as missionaries or with any other calling in the Church,
everything will go a lot easier once we start seeing it as a calling and not a
job. We fulfill our callings out of a love for God and our fellow beings, not
because we are obligated to. This week will be just as exciting because we have
Elder Teh (Quorum of 70/Area President), and Elder Hallstrom (Presidency of the
70) coming to visit and conduct a special missionary meeting. How cool is that
to have 3 General Authorities visit in less than a week?! What a great time to
be serving the Philippines Cauayan Mission, or in any other place in the
world-especially with the announcement of 58 new missions. The work is
hastening. The sooner we put our hearts to being involved in it, the sooner we
will receive the blessings for doing so. The work is true. Being a missionary
is just as important for me than it is for all the people I have taught or
baptized, or will teach and baptize in the next 5 months. I was surprised when
I noticed in the mission office that my name is on the list for people going
home soon. It is insane to think that the end of 2 years is coming to an end
soon.
Mahal ko kayo!
Elder Nay
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