So I got paired up with Elder Canaya. He is a Filipino that has been serving for just over a year now! He was super nice and spoke good English so he could answer all my questions I had while we were out there. It was so much fun to get out of the MTC and meet some people. I know what Parker means when he says you feel like a celebrity here haha! Everyone was yelling Joe and Kano at me it was funny!
So I got to ride on 2 trike rides while we were proselyting. The first one I just realized that I am wayyy tall. Then the second one Elder Canaya told me to jump in the back seat by a random lady so I did, but then a Dad and his son got in the seats in front of me and our trike took off!! I thought I was driving away alone without my companion but then I realized he was just outside sitting behind the driver.
Anyway, I started talking Kristine Florento, the girl in the back. I introduced myself and told her I was a missionary. I asked her a bunch of questions about her family and work, and she was super nice! She understood some English so I could get away with my Taglish haha. It was so cool though, I started feeling the spirit a ton when I told her why I was there and why I wanted to serve a mission. She was super impressed that we leave our loved ones for two years to try and help other people. I started asking her more questions like if she believed in God and if she went to church, and I found out she was Catholic. That was super nice to know because then I could just build on common beliefs we have! So I talked about how we believe in the Bible too, but also in the Book of Mormon. We talked about the Great Apostasy after Christ died and how the church needed to be restored. It was so cool because the spirit was so strong even with all the noise. She was listening to everything and sounded interested so I got her address for the missionaries to go teach her later this week! I also invited her to read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon:) It was a super cool first teaching experience and Elder Canaya was super impressed when we got off the 25 min trike ride and found out I had taught someone so much haha!
We talked to tons of people and handed out 7 pamphlets to potential investigators that they were going to return to try and teach more! My Tagalog still has a long way to go, but I was able to bare my simple testimony to people at their doorways and my companion said it actually was super powerful. He thinks people are a little more receptive and willing to listen to foreigners because they feel our love for them as we try our best to speak Tagalog. It was overall just such an amazing experience and it makes me super excited for what lies ahead of me!
I love this gospel and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be serving a mission! One thing I heard this week in a devotional with a member of the Quorum of the 70 was "You are leaving your families for a short amount of time in order to help other families be together forever." That really stood out to me. I know the people here are so prepared to hear the gospel, and I can't wait to get out and start teaching them about this gospel that brings me so much joy!One other thing is that we started celebrating Christmas this week! Haha the Philippines start their Christmas season on September 1st so that has been weird for all of us! Also I got a sick ring that says Philippines Quezon City North on the outside, and "Return with Honor" on the engraved on the inside. I think it is pretty dope:) Anyway hope everything is going good back home!
Love you guys:)
-Elder Reber
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| Who says September 1st is too early to start celebrating Christmas?? |
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