One Impressive President! - Week 75. Serving in Laoag

We had an exchange with President B on Saturday. We were really wondering what it would be like to work with him and it was a really fun experience. He's very perceptive. We only got two appointments in because we had a ward activity to go to at 6. We were teaching a young less active guy. He's 17 and is very shy and quiet. We taught him about the priesthood. Before we were finished a tricycle pulled up outside and a man got out and started moving stuff around and we heard some pigs screaming, which is a pretty usual thing so we didn't pay much attention. Then out of nowhere President stops the lesson and says, "Is that your tatay outside?" and the young man says yes. Then he asks, "Are you supposed to feed the pigs?" and he kind of nodded awkwardly. Then President said we should end the lesson. So we committed him to come to church and help a new deacon to learn to pass the sacrament and we left. As we were leaving we saw the boy rushing outside to the pig pen. President told us that the son is expected to help the tatay feed the pigs and that the young man was just too shy to mention that to us. I was way impressed that President picked up on it.

We found out that S (P's wife) really likes stories. So we gave her 1 Nephi 4 to read. When we went back we asked her how her reading went and she said, "Oh it was really good." We asked what happened and she says, "Well, Nephi took Laban's own sword and cut off his head with it." We asked if she had any questions about that (EVERYONE asks about that one) and she said no. We said, "Really? Usually we are asked why he killed someone when the commandment is 'Thou shalt not kill'." But she just very plainly says, "Well it's because God told him to do it. And, "..it's better that one man should perish than a whole nation should perish in unbelief'."  I was very impressed with her.

There is a 14 year old less active girl who is in the same class as E. E has been concerned for her because she saw her drinking and smoking. Then we went to teach the M family and this less active girl joined in, as she and her siblings live right behind the M family's house. The M's are a really active and an awesome family who also live the furthest from the chapel but go every Sunday.

We did an object lesson on agency - when you pick up one end of a stick you are also picking up the other end. We weren't sure if it helped her at all. She came to church a couple times and then didn't a few times. Then on Saturday we had a ward activity. We found out it was a fellowshipping activity and when we got there everyone asked us why we didn't bring any investigators. We had just barely found out about it. It was funny - they seemed to think we have a harem of investigators at all times.

Anyway, this young woman came and she was chatting with President B. She told him her life story. She and all of her siblings were abandoned by their parents. They now live with their Grandma. While she was telling her story, we chatted with her neighbour a girl from the M family who is the same age. She's a really cute little girl. She is kind of shy but still very confident and she goes to seminary and never misses a class (three nights a week for them). Then after seminary she stays up late and does all of her school work. When we got to the chapel she was doing family history work! How cool is that!? This girl mentioned that her less active friend has changed a lot lately. She dropped all of her bad friends at school and is no longer drinking or smoking. It was a really good thing to hear.

We explored a bit of a new area on Sunday and found this one house where they have a little fish pond in their back yard. The family was squatting over some bins and gutting dozens and dozens of fish. Then we came across a house which looked like a house from back home. It had shingles and a porch, and a pick-up truck outside in an actual driveway, and a nice fence and real windows. The field beside it wasn't a rice bukid but a dirt field with some sort of vegetables growing in it. It felt so weird - this little area just seemed like a hole in time and we could walk back into North America and see a farm house. No one was home though.

We taught Tatay P. He was too sick to go to church (a member is now dropping by on Sunday mornings to pick him up when he is up to it). He showed us a letter he got from the missionary who baptised him a LONG time ago. The elder was from Texas and the letter was written in pure Ilocano! He was so excited about it too. I'm planning on writing this guy a letter. It's crazy that he was fluent in Tagalog and Ilocano. I just started learning Ilocano. It's very difficult.

In our office meeting Sunday night, President told us about some changes in the office. We used to be in the office 8am-6pm but now President has changed it so everyone goes out to work at 3pm. President said, "Go out at three. You are missionaries commissioned to invite others to come unto Christ. You need to be out working as much as possible." I'm excited about it. This week, though has had all kinds of random events and errands that weren't planned for, so we have yet to enjoy a full week of 6 hour work days. He also changed our P-day to Monday! Used to be that we were in the office all Monday in case someone called but President asked the area presidency and they said, "Even we are not in the office Monday -  it's P-day!"

President asked me if I am happy here in the office. I told him I would be happy wherever he sends me. He asked me if I will be grumpy if he keeps me here next transfer. I told him as long as he doesn't send me home I'll be fine.  (I think I would die if I stayed here the rest of my mission. I don't want to spend my short time in the Philippines trying to live like a North American). So I think I will likely be staying here another transfer. Elder Smith goes home next week. That's my second companion to go home.

P has started up his Buko Juice stand. Buko is just young coconut. He mixes it with some other stuff including corn and blends it. It pretty much tastes like real milk - it was the first time I've tasted it. Can't taste the corn though. We went to his house yesterday with the missionary couple serving in Laoag Centro. They are very nice people. Elder E was an accountant so he talked to P about his business and it was really helpful. We were the first people to buy at his buko juice place. He also has some appetizer type things that are really good.

 Anyway, that's pretty much our week. We have to move missionaries into a new apartment next week as well as help coordinate transfers and have 16 new missionaries come in! Busy week.

There's a parade going by right now (basically a dump truck or bus loaded with a bunch of drummers with huge drums, a few xylophone players and some tricycle drivers with balloons attached to their vehicles). It's the third one this morning! There is seriously a parade every day here. I love this place!

Anyways, thats all I've got. I miss you guys lots. Enjoy conference!!! I'll be watching it next week on the re-broadcast.
Elder Dustan

My Mansion to Prepare - Week 74. Serving in Laoag

This week has been a really good one. After I emailed and P-day'd (yeah, I just verbed that word) last week, we went and taught M and E and then the A family. The A's pigs are getting big, and I couldn't help it so I pet one. They are pretty cute.

Saturday was a great day. We were all excited for it because, for once, we had nothing else to disturb our work so we were to get a solid 5 hours of work in. Right off the bat we got punted over and over. But we met lots of people that we could teach other times. We spent 10 minutes just explaining to a group of people near the house of one of our less active families, who we are and what we do . Turns out one of them is their cousin and we are going back tomorrow.

We went out to Gabu, the farthest barangay west in our area. It's right out by the ocean and is where the airport is. We get yelled at a lot in Gabu.  It's kind of a scary place. We then found out that the member we went to visit there moved to Cagayan (farther than Camalaniugan). Our next plan was to visit a less active member. Brother T is an returned missionary and served in stake callings before. He has a really nice little family and he does fairly well for himself. He served in Quezon City.

Brother T is very kind to us but never ever opens up about what's really bothering him. We went out and just chatted at first. I found a talk here in the office from Elder Clayton M. Christensen from a YSA Summit on August 6, 2011 at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion. It really changed the way I see things in the church. He talks about establishing the church and that a religion that doesn't require the sacrifice of all things can't produce the power sufficient to provoke and provide the faith necessary to gain salvation. He talks about how often we tell people, "You need the church. You need it to be happy" etc., when really it is more effective and  also very true that the
church needs them.

He gives examples, like when his dad was assigned as home teacher to a man who would never let him in and would always kick him out of his yard. But every month he went back and tried to home teach him. Then one day a storm hit and blew the roof off of a local church building. This guy was a roofer, so the home teacher went to him and (before he could get kicked off  the front step) said, "We just need your help."
 He invited him to supervise a group of members and help them fix the roof. Paul agreed and afterwards said that he hadn't felt that good in years and he came back to church. Now Elder Christensen thinks, "How can I help the church need this person?" That hit me so hard.

So when we went to the T's, where in the past we have tried to get them to prepare to go to the temple (again, because they NEED the blessings of the temple), we just said, "Brother, we need you to help inspire the youth to serve missions. They don't realize that the blessings of a mission are a reality to Filipinos too - not just foreigners. Then we asked if his wife could help the young women too. They were taken aback a little but also a little flattered, I think. Brother T didn't come to church. But he did tell us exactly what has been stopping him - which is a HUGE step, and all because we, through the spirit, showed him how needed he is by the church in a very specific way. That was the only lesson we got in during those 5 hours of work - a day which would be called a failure if you look at the key indicators but that one lesson was such a huge step.

We found a new part of our area that is where the really rich people live. It's kind of hidden, but just off the highway is a huge neighbourhood full of mansions. MANSIONS. There was one guy with a house that is at least 3 mission homes big and he has a porsche!!!! He couldn't talk because he was on his way to a meeting with the mayor.

We gave out 11 copies of the Book of Mormon on Saturday. We also found the house of the governor of Ilocos Norte! She was in Manila so we chatted and shared with her three security guards! We gave them each copies of the Book of Mormon and left a copy for the governor as well. Her guards were really nice guys.

Our ward is doing well. The numbers are going up, people are progressing and we have 2 young men about to send in their mission papers. We had a half-day mission on Sunday after church. A bunch of members met at the mission office. We shared a quick thought (which came from that same talk I just told you about) and we split into groups. I went with the M family and we taught a recent convert about the priesthood and committed him to pass the sacrament this Sunday and then we taught a less active family and found a few other less actives. It was a great day.

When we got back to the mission home, President and Sister B had made spaghetti for everyone and had them all go inside and eat. President watched the kids while we all went and worked and I think he enjoyed it even though he was exhausted. It was really touching to see how excited everyone was about missionary work. They all said, "We should do this every month!" There were about twenty members that showed up for it.

We got caught in a HUGE thunder storm on Tuesday. We can see the storms on Google Earth and it was the tail of typhoon Jelawat which was a super typhoon that barely missed us and is now going to smash into Okinawa. It did hit Cagayan though).

We knocked at one house and a 30-40 year old guy came out and, in pure English, chatted with us. He was way nice and invited us to come back some other day at an earlier time because he was just going to bed... but then he didn't stop chatting. Then finally he said, "Do you guys want to come in?" So we taught him about the Book of Mormon. Turns out he lived in LA since 1998 and then came back last year. He is now the chief nurse at the hospital down the road from us.

We went to a bakery yesterday and got some bread and after I ate it, I found a bugs leg stuck in my teeth! The bread was good though.

 Anyways, that's my week. Really good week, and very rewarding. Take care everyone. Love you!
Elder Dustan

RiGht yOr MiShoNaRy in the PhiloPiNe - WeEk 73. sErVInG In LAwOGg

I'm emailing a little late today as we had a driving safety training meeting earlier. Those are supposed to happen every 6 months. This week has been pretty good - some good lessons, a few unique experiences and a good zone conference.

M and E are doing well too. They came with us last Saturday and taught the A family with us. It was pretty good too. On Saturday I felt sick when I woke up and ended up resting a bit and not eating. It sucked. Elder T got sick too and then the other Elder T did as well so I think it was from something we ate. We only got to work for about 2 hours on Saturday but got to teach S again (third time this week! Usually she goes home to Dingras for the week and we only get to teach her once).

The stake president and his wife called all the missionaries into his office on Sunday and fed us some snacks and chatted for a bit. He's a nice guy. He has driven all across the states and used to work in California. Really nice man... just loves to talk about cars, which really bores me. Elder M loves it though. Only on a mission could I have learned to really love a companion who takes pride in being a redneck, loves cars more than life, and relates everything he hears to a country song. It's amazing how great we get along!

Our assistant ward mission leader worked with us after church. We got punted everywhere but he was all smiles even though we walked all over the place and it was incredibly hot out. We ended up at Tatay P's house and he was sooooo excited to chat with the assistant WLM who is an Ilocano. He served his mission in Hawaii. Dang it, I can't concentrate right now! Elder M has decided to listen to J. Golden Kimball nice and loud, I can't even hear myself think!

Anyways, P gave us a referral this week. Problem was he couldn't remember the husband's last name or the wife's first name and they don't have the same last name. So we are now going to look for a man named J and a woman named Mrs. G. All we know about him is that he is a butcher. So we are going to his barangay and ask for "J the Butcher". Sounds like "The Man Who Knew Too Little".... or even "Fiddler on the Roof".

We've been punted quite a bit this week and haven't had any success in finding. It's tough when you only work late at night. Anyone we meet tells us that it's late and that we can come back but it needs to be earlier.... but we can only come back at the same time.

The mail just came in (that’s twice this week!) and there was a letter with no missionary name on it. All it had on it was a first name and “Kingston”. So I opened it and it said this:
"Dear Elder Harrison,
My NaMe is A, I'M 11 year olD. I now your SiSter. She is are primary LeaDer. ToDay in PRIMARY we aRe RiGhting LetteR to The MiShoNaRy's. I Choose To RIGHt you Because YOUR NaMe is SUPER close to Mine (awesome picture of the Book of Mormon).
I Hope you LiKe this LetteR.
FRom
A. H.
PS- I Have an aNt FroM The PhiloPiNe

That made my day, what a flippin' sweet letter. Now that I look again, I see the address says, "Kingston Branch Primary".  I'll try to write the little wiener back.

Elder Nielson of the Seventy came and did our zone conference. His wife spoke about getting along with your companions and about her family. It was so good... only we all felt homesick afterwards because of the way she talked about certain things her family does and how they get along, but it was a great talk. Then Elder Nielson talked and it was sweet. There was a question and answer period where we could ask anything at all. I didn't ask any questions - I didn't think I had any to ask, but then as he shared things, most of what he shared answered questions I forgot I had about certain scriptures! He really simplified everything so well and got us all hyped up to get out and work.

He talked about revelation and we read 1 Nephi 11-13, part of 15 and 2 Nephi 31. I wrote down a bunch of stuff in my notes about scriptures that he explained. I'll share them when I get home. Then he came to the office and met each of us and checked our apartment (which was spotless). It was a good experience to meet him.

There was a crazy thunder storm that rolled in yesterday and scared the heck out of us again while we were walking. I never realized how terrifying lighting is until I came to the Philippines!

Anyways, that's pretty much our week. I am doing really well and having a great time. Sometimes it hits me that I only have 7 months left and it freaks me out. I just booked and finalized the travel plans for the sisters from my incoming batch - crazy! If I am here for two more transfers, I will be booking my own flight home!
I miss you guys lots and love you more.
-Elder Dustan

When It's Okay to Cast Your Pearls... - Week 72. Serving in Laoag

Hey guys. Thanks for the emails. It was really good to hear from you.
We had a Zone Training Meeting this week. It really got me excited about making some more progress in our ward. Our Ward Mission Leader got a new job a few transfers ago and now works every Sunday. He works at Wilcon which is a new appliance and materials store just a minutes walk from the mission home. It's like a big box store from back home. But now we have had no progress with member support. The ZTM was all about working with the ward council and it was awesome. We realized that even if they aren't able to go to church we should still try to involve them in the work as often as possible. So our new thing is that we bring any reports we have for them to Wilcon and give it to them there, and then we text or call them every second day minimum to keep them in the loop. We visit them at home too once a week. They also have a scheduled time to work with each companionship once a week.

It was cool to see how motivated all four of us missionaries got from this ZTM and how excited our Ward Mission Leader and his assistant got about it too. So we are starting to see a little progress which is really exciting.

We went and taught the A family this week. They are the returning less active members who are preparing to go to the temple. They own a little piggery which is IN their house! Tatay was sick and it was a little late but they still really wanted us to teach them. We talked about repentance and it was a really sweet lesson. We discussed ways to repent - of course you need to stop what you were doing and pray for forgiveness. But there are other things to do as well, such as doing good things for others. After the lesson Tatay ran over and started up his old tricycle to drive us home. We tried to talk him out of it - he was sick and needed to sleep but he argued saying, "No Elders, I need this to repent".
He was so sweet - a big smile on his face, sick but still driving us home. On Sunday we had a lot of people at church that aren't usually there. The one tatay who went to the hospital last week was there. It was good to see that he was humbled and not angered by his health issues.

During sacrament meeting, M was asked to stand and it was proposed that he receive the priesthood. He had been interviewed by the branch president. It is really great to see him progress. After church he was given the priesthood by another young man of about his age who is preparing to go on a mission. It was a sweet day.

We didn't get to visit Tatay P. We dropped by the other day though and he came out and said, "Why did you not come on Sunday?" He was so sad, poor guy. But we were able to tell him that we contacted his daughter in another barangay and had an appointment to teach her and her family (she is a less active member with two kids and a husband) and Tatay P just lit up.

We have a member of the Seventy, Elder Brent Nielsen, who is in our area presidency coming to tour the mission next week. He arrives on Sunday and stays until the following Saturday. Elder Ardern is also coming but just for today and tomorrow for a cluster meeting. Remember him? It's been a year since I had lunch with him here!

We taught M and E about baptisms for the dead and family history (this old nanay who is a family history consultant in the ward came into the youth class on Sunday and pretty much condemned the youth for not doing family history... M had no idea what she was talking about and was a little worried about it). For the next three nights he had a recurring dream. He was with his father and his two great grandparents, they were walking but there was a big gap between each of them and it made him feel bad. He said he was praying to know what it meant and will tell us when he receives an answer. That kid is so blessed with spiritual gifts. He also asked us how to prepare to serve a mission. He started his Duty to God program and E is doing her Personal Progress program which really impressed me.

P's wife is really starting to understand things. She asked us yesterday how and why Joseph Smith died. We asked her first where she read about that and she said she read it in the Teachings of George Albert Smith! It was a good lesson. She is a really sweet woman.

This next transfer there are 16 new missionaries coming and then in November, the same again! 32 new missionaries in two months! So there will be a lot of changes in the mission. I have a feeling that I will be leaving the office soon. I am kind of excited for it but I would really miss the people I teach here.

The past few days I have been reading nothing but the Book of Mormon and talks by President Monson. I searched his name in LDS.org and it lists everything about him chronologically so I started with the most recent and am just reading everything from him. I am pretty sure he is my favourite prophet (probably not supposed to have a
favourite). I remember when I was little; falling asleep during General Conference but the only speaker that would draw my interest was him. He always made me perk up and listen. I love his stories, he has tons of them. And I realized he has all of those because he is always going about doing good. So I have been reading his talks and trying to live like him.

Anyways, that's pretty much my week. I feel like I grew quite a bit this week. I love you guys.
-Elder Dustan

How to Clean a Fish - Filipino Style! - Week 71. Serving in Laoag

Hey guys! This week went by so fast I can't even remember what happened! Elder M pointed out to me this morning that after this transfer I will be counting my transfers left on one hand! So weird.

I don't think anything really crazy has happened this week. I have actually been pretty busy in the office lately. Every one of us in the office has a binder which outlines what they need to do. I haven't read the other binders but my travel binder is pretty organized. It says what needs to be done week by week for the whole transfer. The thing that I am noticing now is that about 80% of that has changed with President B. So after I finish all the stuff I need to do (bookings, letting parents, bishops and stake presidents of missionaries know about their missionary's travel schedule etc.), I will be entirely re-doing and starting over with the travel binder. It's a good challenge.

We had a small earthquake here last week. It was really weak and could only shake our computer chairs a bit. When we were on Google Earth (which we use to keep track of where apartments are etc.), we found a thing which shows all the recorded earthquakes of the past and their exact location and size. It was really cool. I looked at the ones around Ottawa and could pinpoint which two I had felt before.

We went to one of our less active families and they were at their house unloading the fish they hadn't yet sold at the market. They wanted to give us some fish to eat for dinner and wouldn't let us say no. They were too kind. Tatay took a few fish and started cleaning them. It was really sweet to see how they do it. First he scaled them, but the way he gutted them was nuts. He put his thumb in one gill and his finger in the other and broke some stuff and then pulled the gills stuff out. Then he took a knife and cut the butt out and pinching it between his knife and finger he pulled out the intestines from the butt! Then he stuck his finger through the gill and into the stomach and pulled all the other guts out of the gill! Then he just ran a little water through the fish and it was ready to go. We fried them and had them for breakfast the next day. It was pretty good. It's pretty sweet to not waste any of the fish. The cheeks are especially good.

 I don't think I mentioned that Elder T is the new assistant to the president so now my whole MTC batch is here in the mission office. It's pretty fun.

We taught E and M yesterday. They  seem to be settling into church just fine. She asks to read during class and puts up her hand to answer questions and she is making friends.

I love you guys!
Elder Dustan