Takin' Some Cues From the Old Man - Week 97. Serving in Sarrat

Hey guys. Thanks for the emails and the birthday wishes. Nothing really big planned today. An older couple in the branch invited us over for dinner but we have appointments and we also will be in Laoag getting food. So we'll just go out to eat. This week was great - well, actually we got punted from almost every lesson that we had planned this week, but when we were punted we were great at finding people to teach. For reals, we found some of the coolest people today.

One is a guy who speaks English fluently and worked abroad in Saudi Arabia but came back because he got sick. While he's here, he's just relaxing and recovering. On our first visit, he had a ton of questions but he was a little difficult to deal with. On the second visit, he had questions too but he was just really excited to learn. Turns out that he had prayed to find out why he had gotten sick, ("why me?") and then it hit him - God planned it so that he could receive the message we are bringing him that he would have never received in Saudi Arabia. He understood the first lesson really well and said he believes it but wants to read the Book of Mormon to be sure (perfect!). He is fun to teach and is a family guy too.

We also met a guy who is way prepared and smart and really good at English too. He used to give seminars at universities. Also, once when we got punted this week, we had a few minutes left and didn't know where to go, so we went up to a house and when they opened the door we just acted WAY excited and outgoing and really happy and when they let us in, it was like they didn't know what hit them. They were a beautiful family too! We actually have about 4 or 5 families we are teaching now which is amazing since it's usually hard to get complete families here. I feel really good about our work this week.

We taught this one girl that has a baptismal date now. We taught her about the Holy Ghost and she explained it back to us so well. She said that sometimes she wakes up in the morning just really happy and excited about the day and she is thankful for all that she has. Other times she wakes up and is annoyed and grumpy. She can tell when the spirit is with her. We are both feeling that now - we wake up every morning just so happy and excited to get to studies and to get out to work. I am so happy I didn't get transferred.

We heard that the southern-most stake/zone in our mission is going to be part of the Baguio mission, so Santa Maria will no longer be a Laoag mission area.

We worked with a couple of newer missionaries this week as they were in Laoag for transfers. It was really fun. They bring a lot of energy to the mission. Crazy to see just how outgoing and talkative these young guys are when they really can't even speak the language. It was also really weird to notice how they all look to me. Not that I am great or anything, it's just that they found out how long I have been out. In the last lesson, the four of us were teaching together and these two were just looking to me to see what I do. I remember being like that too - looking up so much to the veterans and the assistants. It feels like yesterday.

We have two areas in our zone that have been really struggling lately. We have been talking with the missionaries there about it and then discussed what they can do to improve things. Then this week they just went out and applied it all - all the things we said, all the trainings they received - and their work went WAY up. It's such a good feeling to see that, and know that they are feeling that sense of complete happiness and accomplishment. It's cool that my patriarchal blessing says that I will get joy from this work that I will not be able to get in any other way. It's so true - I am really feeling it.

Anyways, I gotta bounce. We have a lot to do. I love you guys and miss you lots.
Elder Dustan

Jesus Must Have Been Tired - Week 96. Serving in Sarrat

Hey guys. Not too much to tell you this week. We just went to work. We're really happy with our work this week too. We have four new people we are working towards baptism with. On Monday we went to teach one of our baptismal candidates. His whole family was being prepared but then his wife got pregnant and is quite sick so she can't come out and listen anymore because she’s too sick. So we are just teaching her husband now. He didn't go to church last week and that was all that was stopping him from being baptized as he is really ready other than that. He also lives a minute away from the church.

We didn't want to teach about Sabbath day observance the day after he didn't go to church because we didn't want him to think we were chastising him. When we got to his house, Elder O started the lesson and then the thought came to my mind,” You should teach about the Sabbath day" and I got that feeling you get in a testimony meeting when you know there's something you should get up and say and you get anxious and your heart beats fast. But before this, we had really decided on not teaching that principle at that time. I didn't want to interrupt Elder O, but still it bothered me and I knew that we were to teach about the Sabbath day. Elder O continued on with the lesson, and then just as I was about to speak up, he paused and said, "Actually, we are going to talk about the Sabbath day." So cool how the spirit told us the exact same thing, yet before the lesson we were both set on not teaching it. It was one of the best lessons I have ever taught too. We felt really good after that one.

I went on exchange in Piddig this week. I remember going there on exchange back when I was in Vintar and hating it. I felt claustrophobic there and felt like the people didn't care. This time I was with Elder M (I was with his brother in the MRC). It was my best exchange yet and I left thinking, "How can I make Sarrat more like Piddig?"

 Elder M goes home on Tuesday as he is done his mission. His goal before he leaves was to get into this HUGE house in Piddig - a mansion that overlooks the valley and the river. The gate was open so we went in. We spoke English to the people there and they let us in and we met the owner. He is a businessman who lives in Las Vegas but was born in Piddig. He said all his associates and doctors and lawyers are Mormon. Then he told us to teach the people who lived on his compound (he was going out) so we did and taught a really cool family the whole message of the Restoration. It was one of the best lessons I ever taught. I will always remember these people. They were so attentive and were so amazed that we gave them something they can analyze to know if what we are teaching is true.

It was a great week of work. Then Sunday, most of the branch wasn't at church. We had branch conference and there was a lot of people but only because of all the stake leaders that were there.  Sunday school was full but we only had eight members there - actually that includes investigators. So we were a little disappointed (and that guy we taught sabbath day observance to and then reviewed it with him throughout the week, and committed him to church attendance like 5 times... didn't go again). So yeah, we are loving our work and getting a lot done and then not seeing many fruits of our labours as of yet. It's exhausting. It's more tiring when you give everything you got to people and then get little response in return. Jesus Christ must have been tired. But we are happy and still feel good about our work. We have at least 6 more weeks here as neither of us was transferred. Our plan this transfer, since we worked like crazy last transfer, is to go balls crazy with the work this transfer and get some FRUIT.

Anyways, I am learning a lot here. Learning how to deal with people, how to love them, how to keep a relationship going, how to go long periods of time without water (our apartment runs out of water often), how to cook sweet food, how to feel and follow the spirit always - lots of stuff. Too bad I only have two more transfers. This is Elder S's (my trainer) last transfer!!! Weird.

Anyways, thanks for your emails guys. I love you lots!! Hope you have a great week.
Elder Dustan

Who Wants Chocolate Covered Meat? - Week 95. Serving in Sarrat

I have the worst sun burn EVER right now! Hurts way bad. All that stuff I said about not getting sun burns in the Philippines doesn't apply I guess, when being out in the fun Laoag summer sun on a beach for three hours. Oh yeah, we went to the beach. We had our Laoag zone activity today and it was great. We played Ultimate Frisbee and one of the rules was that your touchdown didn't count unless you passed it to a sister (of which there are five) to make it fair. It was way fun. Then we played some Filipino games which always include sitting in a circle and having one person lose and mocking them mercilessly - fun too though.  We all brought food and after we ate, we played football on the beach. It was so much fun but too bad our time was limited.

Our week started out with punts - lots of them. We still felt good about the plans we made and about our efforts so it wasn't too bad. On Tuesday we went and watered Tatay R's crops again and got lost in service. Soon we realized we had worked too long and accidentally punted our fellowshipper who had biked to the farthest barangay in the area to work with us. He was pretty upset. We felt awful but it was just pure accident. We committed after that to keep our service to 45 minutes at each visit to the R's so that nothing like that happens again.

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the assistants. I worked with Elder A. He's the filipino elder that was Elder T's companion in Camalaniugan when I was there. I have worked with him tons of times already and it was still fun. He's hilarious. We taught an amazing lesson to a 25 year old guy. he asked amazing questions about the Book of Mormon. He thinks about the stuff we teach and tries to understand. It's marvelous.

 We also went back to this one guy's house that we had tried to contact before but he hadn't been home - only his house help was. This guy has a way nice house ("modern contemporary design") and also a couple of cars. When we walked up to his house that evening, he came out and was so excited to talk with us. He says he is being taught by some other churches and that they all tell him that they are the true church and if he doesn't join then he will be damned. So we went in and shared simply the whole first lesson. We asked, "Do you believe God loves you?"
"Yes", he said. Then we asked, "Do you believe he wants you to return to him?" The answer was yes again.
"Then don't you think that he would TELL you what exactly you must do to get back to him?" Then we shared the restoration and it was awesome. He invited us back. I will always remember sitting there outside his modern contemporary house, a line of bonsai trees behind me, and a nice warm breeze coming in and just feeling so calm and easy with the things we were teaching -  pure fruits of the spirit being manifest. He is such a cool guy too. He does all kinds of things with his son who is 14. They go biking together from here to Vintar, through Laoag and back! It's so great to see a tatay share interests with his son.

We also met a couple from Manila that is staying in Sarrat to help their nanay who is old. They saw us in a jeep a couple of weeks ago after we got some food (from Tacos del Norte, the only "real" Mexican food in the mission!) and were contemplating eating it on the jeep. We opened the styrofoam box and went to eat it but noticed all the people on the jeep watching so we put it away for later. When we met this couple, they were laughing so hard as they told us how it looked from their point of view.

We taught them, and the sister had a book out and was taking notes in the lesson. They gave us some dinuguan which is pigs meat cooked in pigs blood. We ate it last night and it's so good. It looks like chocolate covered meat.

We had a bunch of baptismal interviews this week and were all over the place trying to get to them and also get our own work in. Those interviews are always cool experiences.

Anyway, this was a pretty good week. I learned a lot and feel good about the work though there is not as much progress as I hoped. It would be so cool to show you guys around this place some time in the future and have you try all the awesome foods here. Ninety percent of the stuff that sounds or looks gross is actually awesome. We got two new missionaries in our zone (it's cool that I recognized them from when their profiles came into the office way back). One is a young kid from Utah and on his fourth day in the Philippines he got to go with his whole zone in a rented jeep to a nice beach. That's got to be such a great experience for him. The activity really helped me love our missionaries more - they are really awesome. I get mixed emotions between thinking of me leaving this place on a plane and wanting to cry and getting to the Ottawa airport and seeing you guys and being way happy. But I will be ready. Anyways, love you guys lots.
Elder Dustan

Thought He Was Golden But Turns Out He's a Gold Digger - Week 94. Serving in Sarrat

We had only one study session of time to prepare for for training our zone on what was covered at the zone leader conference. We were up until 1am getting it all done and then up at 5:30 to get to Laoag on time. It went well though. We got revelation relatively easy for our training. Fasting really helped.

Everyone was shocked by the new announcements but took it pretty well. Missionaries (like most people) don't seem to like change. The new schedule gives us a lot more planning time for lessons. We have already seen the difference in being totally prepared for lessons.

We broke our fast at McDonalds and as usual got more than we could eat - your eyes seem to get bigger when you fast.

We have lots of people to teach but we keep getting punted. We had no success in finding this week. We did go to Vintar to interview a couple for baptism though. I couldn't do the interview since I had taught them before, so I sat with Elder C and chatted.

We are still working on getting the R family ready for baptism. The father is way cool and could be baptised now if he wanted to but his wife is not quite ready.  We taught the word of wisdom. The tatay had already quit smoking but the doctor told him to keep smoking at least one a day to "stay healthy"! One of the neighbour kids has started coming into the lessons and is really interested. He asked me TONS of questions about the Book of Mormon and when you answer him he has the look of being completely absorbed by the answer.

We went back to see a really friendly guy we met before. As we are about to start teaching him, he says, "Yeah,I really need your help. I am not actually from here but the province south of llocos Sur. One day I found out someone was hiding gold under a tree near my house so I dug it up and took it and now they are after me. I need you to teach me." Well that was deflating - kind of crazy and funny, and way unexpected. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read it. We won't be going back though. Either he is crazy or a wanted man. Funny how great the missionaries are at finding these people and how bad the police are at it. Can't even count how many people we have found who have killed people and gotten away with it.

We had a great time teaching M, as usual. He is the coolest member - 67 years old and way active. He speaks great Tagalog for an old fogie. He's way funny too and loves his family so much. He was beaming two Sundays ago when, for the first time in years, his whole family was at church. He's the one we help by watering his crops.

Thanks for everything guys. I love you so much and still am very much enjoying every minute here.
Elder Dustan

Just One Last Cast Elder... - Week 93. Serving in Sarrat

Hey guys! We just got back from Zone Leader Conference. It was great. They will be held on the first Monday of every month from now on. We had to be in Laoag at 7am Monday morning but we also had to attend our Stake Council meeting on Sunday night so we just stayed at the Laoag-2 missionaries' apartment. Monday we had all the training and then had lunch. Then we went and played games. We played rugby first, then baseball. We ended with football, which was the best part by far. we played "wrap ups" (where you have to bear hug to stop the play) but it quickly turned to border-line tackle.

This week has been so packed with stuff that it's hard to know what to write. Maybe I will just start with ZLC. The new thing is a new schedule which allows missionaries to prepare for lessons better. We also focused on chapter 2 of Preach My Gospel. We learned that there is a new dress code in place. The instruction from the area presidency is to find the learned and the well established people who can become leaders in the church. It's harder to do when you show up at their houses with ratty clothes and looking like a teenager, so back packs, vigan bags and "camel backs" (fancy word for fanny pack) are no longer allowed. Back packs - because we honestly look like high school students instead of missionaries. So to follow the instruction, Elder O and I went out this morning and got shoulder bags and I will look into getting a fancier watch and maybe a couple of shirts made. We also have some plans on how to find people who are more educated. We had some success with that in Laoag but here it's been more difficult, although we have had some success.

On Saturday we were walking after having been punted for most of the day - one that we had thought would be full of sure appointments. We were feeling a little down and then,  just as I was doing all I could to stave off pessimism and anger, we stopped and met a guy. He had been taught by the missionaries before and was happy to have us teach him again.

On Sunday we had the highest attendance at church that this place has seen in a long time. Awesome thing was that the members got way excited and kept saying "ELDERS! There are so many people here!" Then after church, a number of members asked to work with us and this week looks like it will be the week where the investigators really start progressing.

So often, our last lesson will end at around 7:30pm and then we are back near the apartment at around 7:45 with no one to visit. Finding at that time is really not productive. But we decided to stay out. I told Elder O about the last cast rule (how you often catch a big fish when you take one last cast - especially Dad at the pike quarry). He also shared some similar experiences. As we were deciding where we would go to find, we walked by a house, so we knocked at the door and a woman came out and told us to come in (unheard of at night here, EVERYONE says,  "It's late! You should have come earlier."). Turns out she was almost baptised in a different province but her husband died and the missionaries were moved out so it never happened. She asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked if she could come to church. She was so excited for us to come back. It was such a direct blessing from God and such a strong confirming witness of faith that I almost couldn't take it all in.

We taught another guy for the second time. He was a little different this time and he started arguing with us. We reviewed what we had taught about apostasy and restoration and he seemed to get it really well. Then we asked if he believed the apostasy was real and he said no. So we asked, "Do you believe God calls prophets?
"Yes" he said.
"Do you believe so and so was a prophet in Old Testament times and that this prophet came after
him and this one after him?"
"Yes", he responded to all three questions.
"Then do you believe that Christ came to the earth and taught the people and established a church?"
"Yes."
 Then we asked, "Do you believe that God doesn't change and that he loves us and that's why he calls prophets?"
"Yes." So we asked, "Then who came after Christ and the apostles?"
 He said "....I don't know.....no one I guess." We asked, "Why do you think that is?" He replied "Well... I guess because of apostasy." Then the "TA-DA!" moment arrived when he realized he did believe what we taught him. It was great.

We also found a couple of sweet families. We taught them about the Holy Ghost and how it feels. It was the single most powerful lesson I have been in and the doctrine was so simple.

Elder T reminded me that we have only 3 fast Sundays left! I almost fell over with shock. Guys, I love you but I DON"T want to go home anymore! I am finally getting how to do this work and I don't want to stop.

Anyways, I love you guys tons and I miss you.
Elder Dustan

PS - yes Mum, I would eat balut again. It's less scary than bungee jumping!

Checking Up on the Vintar Gang - Week 92. Serving in Sarrat

Hey family. This week we got some great work in. The mission standard is to teach 30 lessons a week and as a leader area, we are supposed to.... well, lead. We haven't quite gotten there yet - we are one lesson short. We got punted all yesterday and just wanted that last lesson to hit the standard, as that was our goal (not number chasing but c'mon, one lesson away?). We got punted over and over again though and never got to teach that last lesson.

We did have an awesome week of finding though. It was like the old Vintar days! We found some really awesome people that seem really prepared. We also found some that are less so... Saturday we were punted and walked by a house with an older man sitting on the floor in the doorway. We approached him and introduced ourselves and explained what we do. Then we asked his name and he said "Saddam", so obviously I asked his last name and he said "Hussein", so I laughed. Then he asked angrily, "Why would you asks me my name if you were just going to laugh at me?". I was sure he was joking.

We are teaching the R family. Tatay is old but still full of energy. He's the one that has three teeth - one of which moves when he talks. He's so cool, he wants to go to the temple so bad. When we offer to do service for people, they usually say no because they are too shy but he said, "Sure, you can water my crops." Awesome! He has a little river that goes through his property and a bunch of buckets so we changed (we had planned for it and brought some clothes) and filled the buckets and watered his crops (papaya trees, tomatoes, peppers, corn etc.). It was a good work out. He said we could come back next week and do it again. He said it's a good thing we offered to help because he hadn't been able to water them for a while and they were about to die - poor guy.

Yesterday we set up to go with he and his wife to the house of another couple who are around their age who have been sealed in the temple. We talked about what to do to prepare and then started teaching the temple preparation lessons to them (we have been instructed to teach them).

Our teaching has been really great. We feel way relaxed -  just really comfortable with the doctrine and the
language. We went on exchange with the Vintar elders. I worked in Vintar! I caught up on all the people I taught and baptised when I was there. It was so great to see them.  All the Vintar converts are active and doing well, which was a load off my mind.

Sarrat is still tough. The members are stuck in a rut. The high councilor spoke on Sunday and mentioned that he met the original Sarrat missionary in Manila - the first one to serve here. He asked how Sarrat was and the councilor said, "Sarrat pa rin (still the same. It's still a branch). The RM was surprise and then the talk ended with, "Brothers and Sisters, this will become a ward when you do something about it. Amen". We love this place but we think they need some tough love.

 I love you guys.
Elder Dustan

Committed To Be Siyam Siyam Missionaries - Week 91. Serving in Sarrat

This has been a really tough week work  wise, although we have had some great success too. Our investigator family didn't come to church but earlier in the week they were all way excited about accepting a baptismal date for February. Then they punted us this week. Not too sure what's up with them yet.

I hate the feeling of walking to a progressing investigator's house and feeling all tensed, praying that they are not involved in things that will set back their progress. When I walk up to their house I am just hoping they still want to listen, that they don't hide or that they aren't drinking, etc.  My companion and I talked about it yesterday. This really is the most physically and spiritually taxing work that we have ever experienced. Constant worry about a huge group of people - like having 200 kids to worry about and you can almost feel the peoples' salvation on your shoulders.

We are teaching Tatay R to prepare he and his wife to go to the temple. He is possibly the coolest old man ever. He has like 3 teeth and sparse long white whiskers - like an old Chinese wiseman. He said he only has a few crops that he can afford to plant but because he follows the commandments, for some reason those plants give more and more every time he harvests! How cool is that? Now we are teaching his son's girlfriend as well.

We were walking home the other night and saw two young people walking and felt inspired to give out a Law of Chastity pamphlet! We carry one each and hope for hilarious but inspired opportunities to give them out. He was about 22 and she's around 17. We didn't know how to explain the pamphlet so we said that it's to help us in our families - which is true. They actually loved it though and we are going back to the guy's house (they don't live together).

We had our zone training meeting this week where we pass on the training from President B to the rest o the zone. It was all about chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel. At the end of the training we gave the kicker - a parable about a jeepney. When you get on a jeep there is a hired conductor at the back who takes the money and tells people to push down. He also helps if people have baggage. When there is little space left they are the ones who yell for everyone to squish in. They are often hated for it because they try to fit 9 people on each side of the jeep which is too tight but it's the standard. So when there are eight on each side, they bang the side of the jeep and yell "SIYAM-SIYAM!!"  (pronounced Sham-Sham), which is Tagalog for "nine and nine!" They also call to anyone passing by to get into the jeep to try to get as many passengers as possible.

This became our parable - that the jeep is running and ready to go and the jeep is the kingdom of heaven. These are the last days and the work is being hastened which is why there is a 300% increase in missionaries (which means a minimum of a 300% increase in people who are being prepared to listen to those missionaries!). We are the conductors. We need to be the ones that yell "Siyam siyam!!" and can always squeeze in one more. We should yell to everyone to get aboard and not miss any chance. At the end of the day the conductor gets wages according to the amount who rode in the jeep - as will we to an extent. Then we committed them all to be Siyam-Siyam missionaries! It was sweet.

We got punted all over this week and worked at finding a lot but we mostly got told to go away. We were guided to meet this one girl from Manila. She's 26 and has three kids but we don't know where her husband is. She's possibly the most down to earth person here though. We met her after we got punted and were walking aimlessly. For some reason she drew both our attention. We set up an appointment for the next day and she was really excited to have us over. We also dropped by this one house with two young guys, the older of the two was around 18. We gave them a Book of Mormon and left but felt impressed that we needed to go back there soon. Funny thing is, when we went to K's house (the Manila girl I just mentioned), it was the same house! So it all worked out perfectly. We are going back this week.

 I slapped a cow's neck fat this week too... a sort of challenge we have had for a while now.

I got to go back to Vintar to do a baptismal interview this week!!!! I loved being back there. They have a new meeting house being built. The neighbours of the missionaries gave their house to the church to convert into a meeting house and they moved to this tiny section in the back. They are so awesome!

 We also met a way cool old couple in their 70's who are sealed and endowed and very active. Way back when they met the missionaries, they told them to go away. Then the missionaries came back and were told to go away again - then they came back a third time and finally were able to teach them. Eventually they were baptized in the river. Nanay spins her own clothes so she made their baptismal clothes!

 I gave a talk yesterday on the apostasy in church. Things are progressing here slowly but surely.
I love you guys. Take care!
Elder Dustan