Trio No More

Alright, first things first: Elder Dingal moved into the house and is now companions with Elder Stephens. Now Elder Oronos and I are companions for real and there is no more super weird teaching situations in a trio. Teaching in a trio can be very difficult because you are never sure when to switch, who is teaching, or who needs to share what piece of the lesson. Now that we are back to the normal two by two, we can focus on how we teach and who gets to share what – without a third person to factor in. Elder Oronos is a very good missionary. I am learning a lot about doing missionary work from him and I think that we have a very strong unity going right now. This allows us to better teach and explain. Sometimes our teaching wanders a bit and gets a bit too deep for the people we are teaching; but we are good at bringing it back to their understanding, usually...

      

I am still in Sapang Palay and I won’t be moving until at least September 6^th. This is a fun ward and a fun area. Most missionaries will tell you that being in one area for more than 4 months can be a little bit too much stress mentally; you feel like you have visited and gone everywhere and it is hard to keep up a good attitude sometimes. Fortunately, having had 3 different companions – it really hasn’t gotten old. I still like the area and look forward to working here more.

     

We had many good experiences this week. We got to take part in service on a house that had been partially destroyed by a storm. We also had a good Fast and Testimony meeting in church.

      

Missionary work is a very interesting thing: you become very concerned with the people around you and stop worrying much about yourself. One of my friends back home brought up an interesting point: when people return from their missions, they lack in the drive they felt while they were out. Their study is not as effective because they don’t have other people to worry about; they forget to study for their own personal benefits. We can learn a lot from studying the scriptures, but when we lack purpose – our study tends to take a big toll as well.

Culture: Pamasahe: This word is the equivalent of the word "Fare" in Tagalog. It describes the amount you pay for your travels. Most people here do not have cars, which leads to everyone taking public transit to get around. The public transit here is very organized. When budgeting, people need to plan for pamasahe as well. They need to plan how much it takes them to get to work and back or to school – every day. Because public transit is so big here, pamasahe tends to be a big culture thing; if people don’t have money for pamasahe, they also don’t have the money to get to their job.

Tagalesson: Words about traveling,

Biyahe: Travel

Pamasahe: Fare

Sakay: transportation (like the actual vehicle)

Sakayan: terminal like for loading buses or jeeps

Those 4 words will get you pretty far here

Welp anyways I hope that your week wasn’t too stressful. I am learning to deal with stress a lot better and the stress isn’t as overwhelming right now as it was last transfer. I have learned a lot and I am really grateful for all of your support.

Thank you muchly,

Love

Elder Faulkner