This week went by pretty quickly, last week I was able to go up to a waterfall, I uploaded all the pictures, I hope you were all able to see them!
This last saturday I had the brilliant idea to make french toast. I don't know why it never occurred to me before, but it's one thing that you can actually do here. The hard thing was finding cinnamon. My kabahay or roomate, is from fiji and he had never had it, or his companion who is filipino. They seemed to like it, but me and Elder Abel were just stoked to be having it!
I found out this morning that I will be staying here in Binangonan with Elder Abel, so I am really excited about that!!! And this last week we had 2 baptisms!!!! It was so great because they were both part of families that were members, hopefully I can get pictures up. It was so awesome to see them be baptized and have their families there! I can seriously already see the difference in them, It is the craziest and best thing to see, and I feel as a missionary it is easier to see.
This week was full of little blessings here and there that really touched me. The first was that we were eating at our favorite little shop and when we went to pay the man said that it was already paid for. We asked by who and he said the man that was sitting over there, which was just a few tables across from us, he said you guys were his brothers. The man wasn't there, he didn't even say hi to us or anything, I barely remember what he looked like, but maybe he was a member visiting here, or a less active, or had been visited by missionaries in the past. I thought that was really sweet. Then another day we hopped on a jeepney and passed our money up and the driver waved his hand to refuse the bayad and let us ride for free! I thought that was just super cool! Usually they will try to get us to pay more cause we are foreigners!
The other one was something I didn't realize til yesterday. When I first got here, me and elder masula would walk by this one area a lot at usually the same time of day. There would be the same 3 little kids and they would always talk to me, and I haven't been back in a while, at least the same time of day. The other day me and Elder Abel were walking and they said HI ELDER ROCK!!! And said hi, and then at night we were walking home and one of the girls finished buying something at a tindahan and she said HI ELDER ROCK, and I thought we should go talk to her family. I told elder abel and he came back, and the girl kind of ran ahead up a hill and I kind of lost her, but went up anyway, and there was a house with a family watching tv and I just went up and said hi thinking it was the girl's house, but it wasn't. They looked at me amazed an american was there. I just left because it was the wrong house and couldn't find where the girl went, and just figured we could talk to this family, so they let us in and we taught them and the dad said at the end, it's weird I just feel happy.
I ALWAYS here cool stories about how missionaries found someone and were guided to go to a house or it was a miracle they found someone and they were so prepared. I want one of those stories so bad, but when thinking about this story, I think it kind of was. almost 12 weeks ago these children were talking to me and remembered my name, and then I just figured that we should teach the one's family, and ended up at this other house. I don't know how things will turn out, but they just seem like a sweet family, and were so gracious to us.
This week was just great, we had two baptisms, and found out I am staying. On sunday in Elders quorum the topic was on the message in the Liahonna this month, "The best time to plant a tree" and I have been reflecting on that. The saying goes that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is now. If we all had planted a tree 20 years ago, it is most likely to be big and strong, and maybe finished growing. It is a finished product, with more growth of course, but not dramastic, and maybe producing fruit. A tree takes effort to grow, but not a whole lot. Very simply you put the seed in the ground, and water it and nuture it, but that's about it. It takes an everyday effort to water, but not 100% attention every day. Maybe some days more than others, but overall simple. Sometimes I wish I had done things, like, ugh I can't believe I'm saying this, Practicing the piano. If I had practiced everyday for just 10 minutes, I would be a lot better than I am now. So if we want something, a trait, just start now, so in 20 years we will have this great talent or product. All goals don't need to be done in a short amount of time, but like a tree, can be done over little by little every day, with constant care. If you neglect the tree for a week, it may die. If you neglect the thing you are working on, you will be more inclined to not continue. If we start now, we will look back on our progress, on our tree in 20 years, and realize that sometimes it took more effort, but really it was pretty simple, it was just constant.
I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for all of your emails, and don't be afraid to send pictures!!!
-Elder Roc
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