This week was quiet... Too quiet. Word is that Mount Mayon is planning a surprise party for the Bicol region, but we really don't know when that's going to happen. The volcano is currently at Signal 3 of 5, and if it ramps up to a 4, we'll be evacuated.
On Saturday the other two Elders in the branch had a baptism, and the branch had what they called "Family Day" which was pretty much a big Branch-wide Family Home Evening with a talent show and a showing of The Testaments.
In my Tagalog Book of Mormon reading, I recently arrived at the Isaiah chapters. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little bit worried about the Isaiah chapters, because I don't always understand what he's trying to say in English, much less Tagalog. Once I started them, however, I was surprised to find that I actually understood Isaiah better when reading it in Tagalog. I realized that reading it in two different languages at the same time is like having two perspectives when looking at an object. It makes it easier to understand what you're reading/looking at.
My teaching moment for the week was with our first lesson with a brother. He was short on time, so we only taught the core basics about God's love for us and the eternal nature of families. When we finished teaching, we asked him if he had any questions. Most people we teach those basics to just take them for granted, and don't have any questions. His response was that he had a few, which surprised me. His first was "what do you guys get out of this? With salesmen, (This mans background is in business, so that's what he relates to) they generally have a salary or receive recompense when they sell their product, and he wanted to know what we get. My companion and I looked at each other, and the one word that came to my mind was, "uh... No?" We told him that we don't receive any salary or monetary recompense when we "sell" people on what we teach. He then asked how much we receive when we finish. We again told him that we don't get a penny, and we don't "rank up" when we finish our mission. (a common misconception here is that missionary is just a rank in the heirarchy of Mormon clergy) He kind of looked at us at a loss and asked what we get out of this. A quote came to mind I heard in the MTC that goes "Missionaries are those who leave their families for two years so others can spend eternity with theirs." This led right into his second question. He asked, "How can you claim families are number one in your religion if you guys can't work or raise families?" Both me and my companion laughed and explained that the whole missionary thing is only for two years. I think he was both satisfied and impressed with our answers and with the missionary program in general. It's apparent by his questions that he's a very intelligent man, but is humble enough to learn. I'm really looking forward to teaching him more.
The world is beautiful, God is loving, life is worth living. Take care :)
Elder English
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