Dear Family and Friends,
This week we Elders in Malasiqui welcomed two new Elders (Elder Makabenta, and Elder Serion), and said good bye to two Elders (Elder Tomas, and Elder Badoy). So my new companion is Elder Makabenta! He is from the Philippines, and he is way cool! Been on his mission for 13 months, so he is a very well seasoned missionary. We also had a bunch of changes in our zone, so now we are the smallest zonbe in the mission with only 14 Elders, our district only has 6 Elders. Kinda weird not having a ton of missionaries (picture of old batch in the attachments), but kinda excited for the change.
This week my companion, found me taking a nap in a very weird position. If you look at the picture, there is a lot going on. In the picture I have managed to balance a water bottle on my eye (a feat I am still confused/concerned about), I have a sock monkey chillin' on my body (thanks Jess, love it!), I'm watching something on the DVD player, and I have my Super Rubiks cube at my side. I still don't remember exactly what happened, or what was going on in my mind, but it sure made for a funny picture!
This week my thoughts have been turned to Faith. Mainly on how people show and act on their faith. For our investigators, they show their faith through keeping commitments diligently, and willingly. For missionaries we show our faith by being exactly obedient to the rules. For members, we show our faith by keeping the commandments, and magnifying our callings. But yesterday I was especially touched by the faith of a 71 year old man. We had the opportunity to give the sacrament to a housebound Tatay (father in Tagalog). He is missing a leg, suffers being blind and partly deaf, but what he did when we arrived will be in my mind forever. We offered to bring the sacrament to his room, but he refused and wanted to take it in the living room where it was more formal. He wanted to walk to the living room himself, so with his wife's assistance he hobbled into the living room. It was a hot day outside, so he had a hat on, but as the prayers were given he quietly and reverently removed his hat, he may not have understood the words we said, but you could tell he felt the words we said. It may not be a huge event to others, it may not be parting the red sea, but to me it was a miracle of faith. For us, we sometimes allow outside circumstances affect our faith. What I saw in this tatay, was that though he had hard circumstances that may shake his livelihood, the trials could not shake his faith. As mentioned in conference, do we focus more on our phones, then on Sacrament meeting? Do we substitute the blessings of eternity with those of minutes-worth? Do we sometimes allow the outside appearance determine what we find inside? If I may, I encourage that we all make better effort to focus on the workings of the spirit in each of our lives. And I know that if we can, there is so much we will be able to see.
All in all this week was good for me, and yes mom, I finally got your package today! I love the Mac and Cheese! Needed it!
Mahal ko kayo lahat!
Elder Trevor Kent Johnson (TWMYK)
This week we Elders in Malasiqui welcomed two new Elders (Elder Makabenta, and Elder Serion), and said good bye to two Elders (Elder Tomas, and Elder Badoy). So my new companion is Elder Makabenta! He is from the Philippines, and he is way cool! Been on his mission for 13 months, so he is a very well seasoned missionary. We also had a bunch of changes in our zone, so now we are the smallest zonbe in the mission with only 14 Elders, our district only has 6 Elders. Kinda weird not having a ton of missionaries (picture of old batch in the attachments), but kinda excited for the change.
This week my companion, found me taking a nap in a very weird position. If you look at the picture, there is a lot going on. In the picture I have managed to balance a water bottle on my eye (a feat I am still confused/concerned about), I have a sock monkey chillin' on my body (thanks Jess, love it!), I'm watching something on the DVD player, and I have my Super Rubiks cube at my side. I still don't remember exactly what happened, or what was going on in my mind, but it sure made for a funny picture!
This week my thoughts have been turned to Faith. Mainly on how people show and act on their faith. For our investigators, they show their faith through keeping commitments diligently, and willingly. For missionaries we show our faith by being exactly obedient to the rules. For members, we show our faith by keeping the commandments, and magnifying our callings. But yesterday I was especially touched by the faith of a 71 year old man. We had the opportunity to give the sacrament to a housebound Tatay (father in Tagalog). He is missing a leg, suffers being blind and partly deaf, but what he did when we arrived will be in my mind forever. We offered to bring the sacrament to his room, but he refused and wanted to take it in the living room where it was more formal. He wanted to walk to the living room himself, so with his wife's assistance he hobbled into the living room. It was a hot day outside, so he had a hat on, but as the prayers were given he quietly and reverently removed his hat, he may not have understood the words we said, but you could tell he felt the words we said. It may not be a huge event to others, it may not be parting the red sea, but to me it was a miracle of faith. For us, we sometimes allow outside circumstances affect our faith. What I saw in this tatay, was that though he had hard circumstances that may shake his livelihood, the trials could not shake his faith. As mentioned in conference, do we focus more on our phones, then on Sacrament meeting? Do we substitute the blessings of eternity with those of minutes-worth? Do we sometimes allow the outside appearance determine what we find inside? If I may, I encourage that we all make better effort to focus on the workings of the spirit in each of our lives. And I know that if we can, there is so much we will be able to see.
All in all this week was good for me, and yes mom, I finally got your package today! I love the Mac and Cheese! Needed it!
Mahal ko kayo lahat!
Elder Trevor Kent Johnson (TWMYK)