Wow. What a week. I've learned SO much about people.. missionary work.. the gospel.. companionships.. life in general basically. First note.. when you work hard.. you will reap the rewards. That goes for anything in life. Sports, jobs, school, family, scripture study, relationships, etc! Elder Wilstead and I have done our absolute best to be exactly obedient. From being up at exactly 6:30, to doing the 4 hours of studies a day (as a trainee you have 2 hours of companionship study so it adds an hour than what a normal mission study schedule is), to continuing to teach lessons even after we have been punted (thats our phrase for when you just get kicked out when you expected to teach, or when they arent home... it happens quite often unfortunately, and it usually follows with me acting like a football announcer.. "They were right there on 3rd and 1 but somehow fumbled the snap and its now 4th and 27, looks like they will have to punt. Blue 42, blue 42 hut hut... Punt." thats usually how it goes. hahaha. Story of the Philippines for some reason. But yes, obedience brings forth blessing. We had 8 investigators at church on sunday, and a lot of our less-active members who we teach weekly, at church. What a great feeling. We have a baptism this week of a little 9 year old boy. Thats exciting! Plus more in the near future. Our mission vision is to baptize every week and we are trying to make that happen. We have a baptismal commitment extended for every week from now until middle of July.
Now for some funny stories. Oh my word. I had a handful of experiences this week that were just unreal to say the least. ahah. So first one that was nuts was on Saturday night. It was our last lesson of the night, we were teaching a wonderful family about the restoration. When we were almost wrapping up, the husband came stumbling in... absolutely plastered. And plastered is the understatement of a lifetime. He ended up telling us how Elder Wilstead and I could find a wife in any country, japan and singapore, to be exact. ahaha. and he kept pointing at me and yelling gwapo ka! which is.. you are handsome. it was hilarious. He was yelling about how i was going to get stolen away and kidnapped cause im attractive. it was the most awkward hilarious experience ever. BUT, i learned something in that chaos. I had an unmistakable impression of love for this man. And that our father in heaven loves him as well.. Heavenly Father truly loves everyone and sees them for their FULL potential. We committed him to not drink on monday so that we can teach him. hopefully he remembers! haha. Yesterday was hilarious too, because of time constraints on sundays we only had about 2 hours to proselyte. We walked an hour to a hopeful investigator, only to have him not be home. bummer and a half. Our next appointment was with a couple who are about 80 years old and speak decent english. we actually taught them in English which was super awesome. hahah. BUT, oh my word. It was the weirdest teaching experience ever. It took him about 7 minutes to say one sentence, and then when you were trying to respond he would cut you off. He at one point was telling me a story about how our words are heard by others that took, no joke, 15 minutes to tell. Totally irelevant to anything we were teaching. They had no desire to listen to us and it was gettting quite frustrating. At one point he asked, "does your church believe if Jesus Christ knew how to read and write?" in my head.. i was going nuts. we are sitting here trying to talk about the great apostasy and hes asking if Jesus Christ knew how to read or write. Its lucky i am a missionary and have the Spirit with them, cause if not.. it could have been a mess. The lesson ended with us saying, "All your questions boil down to the question, is Joseph Smith a prophet of God?" we testified and left. I cant do justice to this story over email. It was unbelievable. I learned something big from this experience though, thats really what it comes down to. A strong testimony in Joseph Smith. If you believe that... you know Christ lives, you know this is his true church, you know he leads it today, you know the plan of salvation is real, everything. So that's my challenge to you... if your testimony is struggling.. read the first 20 verses of Joseph Smith History and pray about it. pray sincerely for a witness and you will receive it.
I learned this week that missionary work is work. I 100% testify of that... but its an amazingly rewarding work. I am grateful for this opportunity to be here, i really am. Something i learned this week is so simple, but so profound. The "seminary answers"; prayer, scripture study, and church attendance... really make or break our belief and testimony. If you feel like something is missing in your life, analyze if you do those 3 things daily (church weekly). You shouldnt be surprised by what you see. The Lord blesses those who do their best. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I testify of that. I also testify that we must use his Atonement EVERY day of our lives. Its the only way to progress and improve. I love you all. Be grateful for what you have.. because some people don't even have enough money for rice. I know that doesn't mean much to you when i say that, but it means so much to me. I love you all. Push along and move forward in the goodness of God.
Palangga,
Elder Stagg
these first 5 are of elder wilstead and mine's adventure to make an emergency bathroom break for him in the sugar cane fields.
this is each of us on the back of a tricycle. tricycles are a common form of transportation. its a motorcycle with a side car basically. they are a circus. haha
a cool pic of elder wilstead and one of myself.
scenery pics and what not.. the one that doesnt look like much (its kind of hard to see and i will get a better picture eventually is of a carabau (water buffalo) they are ginormous. and people ride them places but they are mostly used for field work.
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