Elders tend to get 4 calls home in their missions: 2
Christmases and 2 Mother's Days. My first call home happened in the MTC (Christmas);
it feels like it happened so long ago, but also it feels like the time has
passed in an instant. This next week will be my last call for Mother's Day. It
will be the last time I get to talk to my parents before I see them in person.
It is very weird to think that this whole thing will be coming to an end. I try
not to think of that; I just keep myself busy enough that I do not have to
worry about it. I love the Philippines and I love the people. I have seen a lot
of miracles. I have met so many people. We are keeping strong over here and not
giving up anytime soon.
Calls like this normally divide your mission into 4
parts, this being my last part. I have heard it said that the last part is the
best because you can just apply all the things that you learned and work a lot
more effectively than you had before. I look forward to that. In some ways I
have already started that portion of my mission. Of course, there will still be
a lot to learn; but I will not have much that held me back before.
On a completely different note, there is a person
welding literally 10 feet away from me right now. It is kind of distracting. Welding
is a specialized skill that can get you more money than most normal jobs here.
This week we have been struggling to push our area to
progress – mostly because we have been mapping and working in the other Elder's
area. We still need to teach the progressing investigators that we do have, and
add to the teaching pool. Because of the mapping, I now know every single
active and less active member in my area on the membership records. If they
have moved in and not transferred their membership records, we do not know
about them yet.
Dehydration is a real thing! Don’t let it get you. I
just found out this last week that during fasting (members of our church go without
food or water for 24 hours on the first Sunday of the month, just like Jesus
did in the Bible) we are
allowed to drink water in this mission. I didn’t know my whole mission! I will
still try to go without. Water is so important in this country because it is
just constant sweating and humidity. But we are getting into the rainy season
so it will probably be a little bit easier to make it through those challenges
of dehydration.
Elder Kauffman and I are doing alright. He has been struggling
and we have been able to talk about the reasons a mission is difficult; hopefully
we will continue to see good progress together. He has a lot of potential, but everyone
gets tested on the mission. We are still seeing how he is going to deal with
this trial. I think that every single missionary goes through specific
individual trials that really push them.
Welp thanks for listening have a wonderful week and
keep on keeping on.
Love
Elder faulkner
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