First transfer: done. Training: half over. Things are falling into place, it
seems. If you are unaware, a mission is broken up into 6 week-long time periods
called transfers. At the end of every 6 weeks, we get in a room with our zone
(around 20 missionaries), and we get the announcements of who will be going
where. My training lasts 3 months, or two transfers. Then, chances are, I will
be follow-up-trained – by someone who is not my current companion – for one
transfer. I will see some people go, including one of my roommates; but my
current companion will stay with me for the next 6 weeks to continue to train
me. We only get a 2-day advance notice if we are going to move, so it is a big
deal when the announcements come in.
Transfers are pretty
important to missionary work. Sometimes you are in an area for 1 transfer (or 6
weeks) and other times it could be 6 (which is 9 months). It changes a lot and
depends on you, God, and your mission president. You never really know if you
will move to a new place and teach new people or if you will continue to teach
the same people. Sometimes it will be really hard to leave investigators. Of
this I am sure.
You get pretty
attached to the people you teach because you have helped them change their
lives. The way transfers work makes that a pretty heart wrenching experience
sometimes. I hope to stay in this area for a while, but I have no idea how soon
I will leave.
Whenever we have
transfers our P-Day changes. So, just know that every 6 weeks I will email on
Tuesday and not on Monday. For most of you: Monday night instead of Sunday
night.
I find myself
wanting to use the phrase "I am learning a lot" every other sentence.
Just know that I learn new stuff every day, and when it is hardest – I learn
more. I keep working on constant improvement and changing my perspective. I am
getting much better at talking to people conversationally. Honestly, right now
that is the biggest hurdle.
Conversation in
Tagalog is much MUCH different than it is in English. This is also a huge
culture thing. I will use this to explain a little more about culture. Last
week, I talked about how important language is to the people of the
Philippines. The thing about their conversation is it has to do mostly with HOW
you say something, and much less about the words you use. For example: in
English there are about a million ways that you can ask someone if they will
come back. In Tagalog there is only one word. And they use that word for every
single translation you might think of: return, come back, give back, return an
item, etc… It really matters how they say the word and the context it is in.
Tagalog conversation also tends to be much simpler. They hardly ever talk in
complete sentences when asking for something or telling you to do something.
You only tend to find full sentences when you have an extended conversation,
and it is kind of hard to explain.
Tagalesson: Going along with the
above segment about how people speak I will talk about teaching. There won’t be
much of anything to learn here word wise; but I have learned a lot about
communication from being here. In order to connect with someone, one of the
first things you need is to teach using inflection that allows them to
understand what parts are more important and why they are important. For
example, I was teaching a family about the importance of family strength in the
gospel. Honestly, I was speaking so simply that it didn't matter what I was
saying. But when I made eye contact with the mother, and told her why it was
important that Christ is the center of her family – she agreed. You have to
talk to people openly here, not just in the words you use but more so in how
you say them. People know when your words and your tone are different from each
other. I will try to follow this up with examples in later weeks but I have
rambled far too long.
Wow I totally did
not mean to do that, I just kept going and going. I apologize.
Just know that the
work is good and there is always room for improvement. I strive every day to
become a better missionary, but it is a long road, with the best reward. It
will be a long time before I am an effective teacher, but for now I am teaching
people as openly as I can.
Love,
Elder Faulkner
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