Personally life is fantastic! I've been following some of your advice and here's what I've found. We work hardest whenever we always remember our purpose. When we are reminded of why we are here, when we are reminded of our purpose, when we are reminded of our personal conviction to serve, we are most effective and efficient. And the best way to do that is to look at something so close to our heart: our nametags. On all of our nametags we often forget that there are two names there. Ours and Jesus Christ. A lot of times as missionaries, we act for ourselves (oh that's MY baptism, I want a dinner appointment instead). So many "me, myself, and I's" that we forget what really matters, that we are here for Him. To do His will, to do what's right, and most importantly to invite others to come unto Christ. For the past few weeks personally I've been a bit distracted, and I don't think it's because I was arrogant or I didn't lock my heart or anything like that, but it happened simply because I didn't focus on the right person. Let's not forget in Matt 14: 20-25 (somewhere there I'm pretty sure) when Jesus invited Peter to walk on the water, and it was only when Peter looked away did he begin to sink. I believe that if we constantly remember Him, specifically in these latter days, we will never feel lost, we will never fall, and we will never be alone. I know that after the mission I won't have a nametag to remind me, but I hope and pray that at that point, I won't need it to remind me. I'm not saying it's easy because it's not, I'm asking you to put your faith and trust in Him rather than in yourself. And that's asking for a lot. But I promise that if we do that, we will come closer to our families and to Him. Because I know that no matter I well or how bad I do, He will always be greater than me.
Now some fun stories
Do you remember last week how we wanted Madueke (a less active South African in Marulas ward) to go to church? Well We've been praying extra hard that it would happen and last sunday as we were about to go inside the sacrament hall, we saw him. In the front row, was an African man, and I looked at Elder Lowery....
"is that Madueke? no....."
"thats an Black guy! dadgummit is that him?!"
"fetch, did our passalong card work?"
"Elder Villanueva talk to him!"
"okay okay okay"
I slowly walked over and talked to him. His name is Timotheo, an investigator from Tanzania. And from my knowledge of Tanzania from that one time when I got bored when I was 14 and watched a documentary about it in Natl Geo, I used this knowledge to well talk to him and be friends.
"oh wow, are you near Unguja or Arusha? I heard it's a bit colder over there right? I'm Elder Villanueva by the way, I'm from California but I'm fluent in Tagalog too"
And then the funniest thing happened, Elder Lowery's English skills died.
"Hi I'm Florida and I speak Lowery, I mean uhhh I'm Elder Lowery and uhh I'm from Florida yeah, sorry i can't english, I'm filipino"
"You alright Elder?"
"I'll just go, yeah, talk later"
And the funny thing is, it kept going!!!!
In Valenzuela ward we have french family. Fluent in French, English and Tagalog, and before sacrament started we decided to greet them. You know to build trust and be friendly and I decided to say hi.
"Good Morning Bro. Salve!"
" ha hgbhjnm"
Right when Elder Lowery was about to say hi, he ends up saying a half hi and a strange grunt like Tim Allen from Home Improvement. Needless to say, I think we're going to practice our English a little bit more this week hahaha
As companions we also love to push other beyond our comfort zones. 2 weeks ago, he took me fishing, but this week it was my turn and I took him to a Korean BBQ place. It was $12 total for the both of us and it was pretty good but here's what happened
"Barbeque? I'm always into Barbeque!" -E. Lowery
"No no, I mean Korean BBQ" -E. Villanueva
"What in the world is that!" -E. Lowery
" well lemme show you" -E. Villanueva
We ate and got the unli beef and pork and it tasted pretty good. I liked it a lot, but I decided to ask Elder Lowery because he started making weird faces
"You're tellin me I gotta pay them money, for me to cook my own food? What kind of BBQ is this?!" -E. Lowery
"It's korean BBQ, so we can control when you want it" - E. Villanueva
"well no wonder it's a buffet, these little cups can't fill a baby up!" - E. Lowery
Then Elder Lowery decided to take a big bite of Kimchee thinking it was pulled pork
"careful! that's kimchee Elder" - E. Villanueva
"This ain't barbeque!" -E. Lowery
Anywho we had a few fun experiences and it's a weird but nice mix.
hmmmm anything else... We beat our record this week and had 22 investigators at church with 10 of them having strong baptismal dates, now for the mission record of 26, then to the area record.... Almost there! We also went to Norzagaray for a baptismal interview, taught a lot, mapped a few weird places, hiked, got Krispie Kreme, and we have another baptism this saturday. We also have dorky matching ties that ought to have died during the 70's #companionshipunity. Life is okay.
-Elder Villanueva
Urdaneta Philippines Mission
Quezon City North Philippines Mission
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