A Missionary's Work: An Interesting Week

10/10/2016

So this week has been interesting for sure. We started with family home evening with the Ramonez family and I ate eggplant cooked with egg and fried (tortang talong) with rice. It was a blast, with a game called cocheta at tinador (spoon and fork). Someone starts with the spoon and someone else with the fork. The person who ends with them both loses and has to drink a glass of water. So the people with the spoon and fork must ask the next person in the circle what is this (ano its?) and the person will answer either cocheta or tinador. The hard part is you have to ask twice with the spoon and once for the fork, so the fork chases the spoon. It's actually really fun!

The next day we had a hard day and virtually no lessons taught because they all fell through, so on our way to lunch I decided as we walked by someone to say Hi, next thing I know we are invited in and we teach their entire family. Apparently they had been taking lessons before but they moved and a huge flood ruined all their stuff. So they were eager to learn and were excited that they actually argued on who could hold the copy of the Aklat Ni Mormon we gave them. They are such an awesome family and read the Bible and Book of Mormon all the time and ask lots of questions we are glad to answer.

That night out block had a power outage and we don't have AC so it's just us and our fans. Luckily it came back on when we came back home that night.

By the way, for culture- The area I am in is the "trike capital of the Philippines", honestly I would say the world, but maybe someone can look that up. So we also witnessed a spider fight in our lesson with Johndel and his brother Hubert. It's what kids like to do here, spider fight, I have a video. I finally rode in a jeepney, though I didn't take a picture, sorry.

So for the spiritual thought, I have an invitation if you have time (try to find time, please) look up a video talk by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient". It is so good! Do you know what grace is or how it came to be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLXr9it_pbY
Think of these questions when you watch it:
1-Have you been changed by grace?
2-How is there mercy and justice in God's plan?
3-How can we continue to grow in Christ?

Lastly, we had an amazing experience with our bishop this week. Our bishop is old and is having a hard time in his calling because of some health issues. Without him being active in the ward, there is little ward unity. So in General Conference (a televised conference for the leaders of the church to speak to all its members over the world) there was a talk about callings by Elder Cook. So we ate at bishops house and had a make or break lesson with the bishop. We could either really offend him or help lift his burdens and fulfill his calling. We ended up really helping the bishop and it's so good because we really need him, the ward needs him. So I think he is now counting his blessings instead of his weariness and pains. He's a great man and we love him and want to help him, and so should we help others. This scripture will help Mosiah 18:8-9:

8)And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;
9)Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life-

Essentially help bear the burdens of those with heavy burdens, comfort those in need of comfort. When we serve we show the love we have for others and build relationships and really help someone in need.

You guys are all amazing people and I am blessed to have you in my life!
Love,
Elder Peterson

A Missionary's Work: My First FHE

 10/3/2016

So my last preparation day (P-day), we had family home evening, which is family time complete with game, dessert/food, a spiritual lesson and songs. So the Portugal family invited us over. We ate only authentic Philippines food, they made sure I knew that. We had a blast, this family is so nice and loving and always shares their food with us. My favorite things here besides the work and people is the food. Some of the weirdest things you could ever eat, but also some of the best! My favorite is the fresh bread here with weird ingredients but mmmm. Also this meat dish with garlic, liver, steak of some sort, and onion and of course on top of the rice.

My favorite moment this week was having my first baptism. Her name is Lheeia and she's ten, but probably one of the most spiritually filled people I have met (kids anyway). We also had exchanges this week with zone leaders. So exchanges are when you separate from your companion and teach with another companion, which is a cool change. The zone leaders are over all of the districts, which are areas, and district leaders are over each individual one which holds about 6 missionaries including them.
Mom Note: Missionaries are always in pairs (companions), they report to district leaders, which for Morgan's area consists of about 6 missionaries. The district leaders report to zone leaders, which are over multiple districts. The zone leaders report to the Mission President's assistants - who report directly to the Mission President.

So I taught with Elder Hymus who has had a crazy mission. He started in California, waiting for his visa to India, then in India, his visa expired after a year so now he's here in the Philippines and goes home this month. Super cool guy, I learned a lot from him.

Today we also played basketball. My ankle is much better from last week when I rolled it playing basketball.

So my message this week: Three things have really stuck out to me this week. One, listening is sobrung mahalaga (very important), self conversion and unity. When you talk to someone, you listen then respond, right? So what's the difference in teaching? We should teach to someone's needs, so listen. But not only that, we need to listen to the spirit and it's hard to do either of these when you don't listen and you are preparing something to say. That's hard especially if you are learning a new language, but that is where faith comes in.

Next: self conversion. Self conversion is truly knowing for yourself that something is true and you know from learning, seeking/searching, and working continually. We need to want something then go for it and when we feel those moments you think maybe I don't really want this or maybe you say to yourself, it's okay if I don't do it this time, then You need to remember why you started, what was the purpose? What have you learned and has it been worth it? This can be applied to anything like the Finish Strong principle. So keep these steps in mind and do them always: Seek/search, learn and work.

Lastly, unity. In our ward here, there is little unity so people don't have self-conversion because they don't feel welcomed or befriended. Nobody should feel like that. So my goal for you guys is to befriend new people and make sure that those you are around are there because they want to be, because they have a friend.

Oh! Almost forgot culture time!
So all the dogs here want to bark at you, and if they're tied up, they want to kill you.
If you have 6 people, you'll figure out how to all get on a trike. We fit 4 missionaries (one being Samoan), a driver, and 2 Filipinos today, but I've seen 10 Filipinos fitting on one before.

Love you guys and see ya next week!
Elder Peterson

Mom Note: Morgan doesn't see the blog so if you would like to send him an email (he loves it!), you can email him directly at: rodney.peterson@myldsmail.net. He gets his email every Monday (they are 12 hours ahead of EST)

A Missionary's Work: Loving the Culture

Cavs represented in the Philippines

9/26/2017

So this week was cool. I finally understand the majority of what is said, though I can't really speak. The people (mga tao) are amazing and I absolutely love them. We have a brother who is a trike driver, who is always there if we need him, for rides, for advice, for everything. Today he told us that if he makes enough money today, he wants to treat us to dinner, then after we got home and I was talking with kasama ko, he told me how his electircity was turned off. Dahil, he is the lone provider for the three households as a trike driver. He is an amazing person, he was willing to give to us though his family needs, now this is a truly selfless person that we could all learn from. We had another binyag (baptism). Brother Hubert and his brother will be binyag this Saturday. They are amazing too.

Baptism - Binyag

 
So for culture time. Always shake the right hand because they don't use toilet paper here... and carry hand sanitizer. The food is a variety from bulot (mostly developed chick), to chocolate, to chicken, to chicken blood. Also rice is part of every meal. I haven't had a meal without rice yet. Though on the subject of food, I had the best hamburger that I've ever had, surprisingly. Today I found out that you need to look at the trike a little before you take one. We were on our way to email and I saw a little (big) friend in the corner with us. Also, spiders are used as gambling here, they put them on a stick and have them fight.

Trikes

The spiritual thought today is about family. The family is so important to society and God. A family should be united and loving. God gave us families. A home should be a place of love, peace and beauty. It's a place to take cover from the world and refill spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I love my family and know that they will support me in all things.

See ya next week, stay Ayos!

p.s. Families are important to missionary work (service too)

It's the wet season in the Philippines

Trike Spider

Fighting Spiders

A Missionary's Work: Week 1 in the Philippines

9/19/2016

We should now get regular Monday emails.

My first week has been pretty tough. The Philippines is awesome, the hard part is not knowing Tagalog so understanding everyone is hard. The culture I'll just have to get used to. Some fun things from this week: we had a baptism, I confirmed, we gave many blessings, the first person I talked to we set up a lesson with, I ate chicken blood, and I was really sick from dehydration then over hydration. Overall I know that God has a plan for us and that he doesn't give us trials that we can't handle. Something that I have started to learn is that sometimes when we are feeling bad for ourselves, like "I can't do this" or "this is so hard", think of others. If we love others and serve others, our problems pretty much vanish and we find joy in doing so. So when I feel bad, I think of the people I am here to help and how I can help them and I find peace, joy and love.

I will see ya next week!

A Missionary's Work: Travel

9/8/16-9/9/16

Mom Note: We were able to talk to him for a good long time while he was at the airport before he flew to Los Angeles. He traveled to LA, then Hong Kong, then Manila. He was in great spirits and so excited to finally serve in the Philippines. He left 1 week earlier from Utah than we thought because he had 1 week in the training center in the Philippines. 

Email 1:
Hey, I just got in about a half-hour ago. I can't call home, it's $8 a minute. The flight was long. I made friends with a taiwanese lady and we talked aobut everything, including God; she was a Jehovas witness, so she didn't want a card or number. She was really nice though. I wish we were in the city-city, the airport is a little bit aways. I'll probably email/call when I get to Manila. It's 7am here. Love you guys!

Mom p.s. No call from Manila but the Utah call was so good... I was okay. :)

 Elder Ibarra: My cousin's son who is also in the MTC.

Email 2:

I got to the MTC safely, though traffic is rough (not quite DR traffic but really close, especially the bikers weaving in traffic). The area is beautiful. So much greenery and everyone smiles when you wave. It's so weird that people will wave and be happy from your own waving, you almost think that they are making fun of you but generally not. I already love the area. The people are really cool!

A Missionaries Work: Leaving for the Philippines

9/6/2016

Kamusta! This is the week I am shipping out to the Philippines! Just 15 hours of flying and a few hours of layover and the time zone change being a whole day ahead of the USA. Pretty much leaving the 7th and getting there the 9th. I can't wait though! This past week was awesome, I saw a friend I haven't seen in 8 years, when we lived in UT. He's an awesome guy and going to serve in Pittsburgh! It was a tender mercy to see my long lost friend that I truly thought I would never see again.

Anyway, Yesterday was our last day teaching Francisco and Thelma (our teacher's bro. Spencer and his sis. Aitkan). Great teachers and I am very happy (masaya) about having them teach us. Funny part about our trip is that when we get to the Philippines, one elder has his b-day so we celebrated it early.

So here's something I heard and liked from a talk this week. We practice/do what we know, how do we know? We know from experience, how do we have experience? It starts with a thought and a feeling in your heart. When we put something in our mind then put our heart into it, then practice it, it becomes part of us and who we are. Like with the attribute of service. We have to continually think about it and truly want to do it, put your heart into it then go and do. You will gain so much more from it then others will and you will learn so much more. That's my thought for the week. See ya next week... in the Philippines!

Elder Peterson

P.S. Think this week on some kind of attribute you want to make a part of you , then apply the following
1-Think
2- feel/use your heart
3-Do!

A Missionaries Work: Getting ready for the Philippines!

This week we got a new teacher, Sister Atkine, she's from the Philippines so we get to learn a lot better. Like with the language speed, accent, and little helpers like instead of pronouncing "T"ta, they pronounce it as a da. She's pretty cool and direct which helps us out. I have also been learning to handstand and we have competitions with it all the time. Funny thing is I can do a handstand on a chair but not a regular one, ha! Also, we are all pumped to finally go to the Philippines next Wednesday. We leave the 7th and get there the 9th. They are a day ahead of us plus we have about 20-ish hours of flying/layovers. So we get there on my friend's birthday. 

 

I have been learning and getting better at forgiving and not judging others. For example if you get in a heated argument, learn to put pride away and apologize even if you know you're right. Isn't peace more important? For me, it hurts relationshiops with people and I can't learn and grow if there has been a bad argument. So I usually start pondering a few questions. Do either of us feel happy? What would it be like in their shoes? and Would I want my family (siblings or children or parents depending on you) to hold that anger in? I end up humbling myself and apologizing or finding an understanding that puts the fire away. 

 

Anyway, spiritual thought this week about the plan of salvation. A lot of things happen in our life, some crappy, some are worse, and some are above joyful. My biggest testimony on the plano ng kaligtasan is that families can be together forever. I have seen a lot of people who lose loved ones and are very sorrowful because they don't know that they will be with them again. I have had some personal experience (karanasan) with this as mos of you know I lost my dad when I was younger and as I grew up in this gospel I learned more and more. Now I know I will see him again. Through Jesucristo and his atonement (Pagbabayad-sala) we can be forgiven (nagtatawad) of our sins and live with Diyos again (ulit). Sa pangalan si Jesucristo amen.

P.S. - Remember you're a child of God and he loves you and helps you to grow. 

--

Elder Peterson