We all thought I was
headed out of this area, instead Elder Tagal ended up moving out of the area. This
is a very interesting thing because he has only been here 6 weeks. Normally,
when someone moves into an area – their companion almost always moves out
before them. This happens because their companion (Who was already in the area)
has been their much longer. For example. I have been here 4 months and Elder
Tagal has only been here 6 weeks. You would think that I would move, because I
have been here longer, but sometimes God works differently than we think.
So with that we come to
the fact that I am still here. This is what is happening on transfer day: Elder
Tagal will move to Novaliches, Elder Krifi will get on a plane and head back to
New Zealand, and Elder Stephens and I will be waiting for our new companions.
Slight problem, only one person is being sent to replace two people. To solve
this, Elder Oronos will come to Sapang Palay, and I will be working in a trio
of elders. Before this, there were two areas in Sapang Palay and I was only in
one of them; now I will be responsible over an area that is about twice as
large as my old one. This also means that I will be legitimate companions with
my MTC companion in the field. This is not a thing that really ever happens.
I am running out of time
here so I will probably keep this short, but I do want to talk about
conversion. After being a missionary for 8 months, I have a much better
understanding of how the process of conversion works: As we trust God, He gives
us a better understanding and we begin to be changed. It is a process fueled by
the mercy of Jesus Christ and repentance. As we rely on God to change us, we
change. This has very little to do with our willpower to change, and everything
to do with our divine potential and His divine power to change.
Culture: Giving feedback.
Insults go a long way here. You have to be very VERY careful how you speak to
people and how you give them advice and feedback. A lot of things are connected
here: Work, Family, School. If you insult someone, they take it as an insult to
their Family, intelligence, and their work. People here are very sensitive so
it is important to say all words with love and make all criticizing remarks
constructive and gentle. No sarcasm.
Tagalesson: Nga. This is a
word that can be very hard to pronounce and use. The word "Nga" is
used to either increase the politeness of a sentence or emphasize the truth in
the sentence. It is very hard to explain. There is a very obscure grammar rule when
it comes to where exactly you should place this word, and when it should come
into play when speaking. Just know a couple things. You can emphasize that something
is especially true by saying "O nga". It equates roughly to
"Yeah, really". You can also use it after commands as the word
"please". For example: "Basahin mo nga ang aklat" or
"Please read the book".
That is pretty much all I
got for you today. I will be in Sapang Palay for at least 6 more weeks (we will
see how that goes). Hopefully we will see some of the people that we are
teaching make steps towards baptism. I will update you more on that in the
coming weeks.
Keep on keeping on.
P.S. Sorry there are no
pictures. I am um... working on it kind of.
Love
Elder Faulkner
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