Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A Rooster and a Shower!
This week Sam said he met a rooster named "Kin Kin" who responds to his name! He thought that was pretty amazing and something that Dad could relate to! :) Sam also reports that they moved to a new house that has 2 bathrooms and a shower. He is excited to have a shower, which is rare, even though it is cold water. He said that at least it motivates him to exercise in the morning and work up a sweat so it feels a little better. He loves the area that he is in right now--yummy mangos are in season and the best there is! He has a baptism scheduled for Saturday and another one getting ready. He had the opportunity to help harvest peanuts--he didn't know they grew under ground! (What are they teaching these kids in school?) :) He says he still loves his mission--I think he will until the very end!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Some experiences worth sharing:
Feb. 28th, 2011, from his email:
"We had a couple of interesting experiences this week that I thought I'd share. The first was not very happy. We went to Brother N one day and when we got there we were told by his granddaughter that he was at the hospital where one of the kids of the area (a son of a recent convert, about 15) was just taken into the hospital for a burn. We asked her if the burn was serious and she said it was just a small one and it was fine. So a couple days later we returned to try to catch Nonoy again and met him driving down the road, where he picked us up and took us to the hospital with him to visit the boy. I flinched when we walked in his room. His entire stomach and chest, from waist to head, was covered in third degree burns. We talked with him and a couple other kids we knew that were there taking care of him for a while. The burns were still wet and hadn't started healing yet. So before we left we gave him a blessing. On our return two days later his burns had shown progress and he should recover well. But he'll definitely never be the same. Apparently he poured gasoline on a fire, and the container exploded. He didn’t have a shirt on, but luckily he was right next to the fishpond and jumped in it in less than 5 seconds, otherwise he probably wouldn't have survived. A little wake up calls on fire safety! We are very thankful that he wasn't hurt any more than he was, and that he should fully recover aside from the scars.
Another experience we had yesterday. We went to visit a member that lives really far out of town. When we got there 2 of the little kids (9 and 5, grandkids of the member) were working with their rice. I am guessing they and their grandma harvested the stalks of grain themselves, and now they were in the process of getting the individual rice grains from the stalks and putting them into a bag. It was just such an eye-opener for me about how different the life style of different people are. As kids at home we mow the lawn, wash the car, vacuum the house, and clean our room. These kids were putting stalks of rice in piles, and then with their feet mixing them up, and smashing them together, to cause the grains of rice to fall from the stalks. Then they would throw the empty stalks in a pile, and grab another handful and repeat. And that was their food! I am not even sure how they got the rice out of the shells, I didn’t witness that process. Elder C and I jumped in and helped them finish for a while before we shared with them.
Monday, February 21, 2011
February 21, 2011
Sam is doing wonderfully well in his new area. His new companion is from Cedar City, Utah, named Elder C. Sam says he is very enthusiastic about the work. They recently had a baptism and are looking forward to several more! He says it is getting hot again--I think it is all relative! I don't think it ever really "cooled" down. Here are some photos he recently sent.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sam's First Transfer!
Sam has been made the district leader and has been transferred to the island of Guimaras. He is part of the Buena Vista Area. His district conisists of 6 elders. This area is huge compared to his first area, and he says he is finally away from the fish smell! There is a gentleman there who brought 40 investigators to be taught by the missionaries! They are working on following up on all those people, and finding more investigators. He is loving his mission. The island he is on now is known for the mangos, but they are not in season yet. The photos I am attaching to the slideshow show you what a beautiful area it is!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Christmas in the Philippines!
Here is how Sam described his Christmas in Estancia:
(After our telephone conversation…) we headed to our branch Christmas party at the
church. we got to watch a few of the little dances/performances, ate,
then watched them play a few games before leaving, including one where
the younger kids danced boy/girl with a ball about the size of a golf
ball held between their heads, and whoever kept it there the longest
one! then an apple eating contest with the same kids, where there were
apples hanging from strings and they had to eat them as fast as they
could w/o hands. it was very fun to watch, and so fun for the kids.
Then they had a Filipino piñata! They had clay pots with a little bit
of candy that they hung and swung at blindfolded ha-ha I have some
pictures I’ll send hopefully next week. I didn’t bring my camera
because we just got back from roxas, at 6 at night! and we are in a
super rush to get our laundry and everything done tonight! After the
Christmas party was a normal day of work! We taught a couple lessons
and tried to focus on the Savior and His birth. We visited a part
member family that didn’t go to the party, because they said they were
embarrassed because they didn’t have any money so they couldn’t
contribute to the food like they should have. It was a very down mood
when we arrived, but we shared about Christ and it lightened up a
little bit. It makes me realize how blessed I have been in my life.
For this family, and many others, Christmas was a normal day of work,
maybe even a little worse than normal knowing that so many other
people were enjoying celebrating the holiday. I was glad that we could
help lift their spirits a little bit talking about the true spirit of
Christmas, but I still wish there was more we could have done. We have
been so blessed with the lives we've grown up in! We had a couple
other lessons then had dinner together with the other missionaries. It
was a very eye-opening Christmas for me.
(After our telephone conversation…) we headed to our branch Christmas party at the
church. we got to watch a few of the little dances/performances, ate,
then watched them play a few games before leaving, including one where
the younger kids danced boy/girl with a ball about the size of a golf
ball held between their heads, and whoever kept it there the longest
one! then an apple eating contest with the same kids, where there were
apples hanging from strings and they had to eat them as fast as they
could w/o hands. it was very fun to watch, and so fun for the kids.
Then they had a Filipino piñata! They had clay pots with a little bit
of candy that they hung and swung at blindfolded ha-ha I have some
pictures I’ll send hopefully next week. I didn’t bring my camera
because we just got back from roxas, at 6 at night! and we are in a
super rush to get our laundry and everything done tonight! After the
Christmas party was a normal day of work! We taught a couple lessons
and tried to focus on the Savior and His birth. We visited a part
member family that didn’t go to the party, because they said they were
embarrassed because they didn’t have any money so they couldn’t
contribute to the food like they should have. It was a very down mood
when we arrived, but we shared about Christ and it lightened up a
little bit. It makes me realize how blessed I have been in my life.
For this family, and many others, Christmas was a normal day of work,
maybe even a little worse than normal knowing that so many other
people were enjoying celebrating the holiday. I was glad that we could
help lift their spirits a little bit talking about the true spirit of
Christmas, but I still wish there was more we could have done. We have
been so blessed with the lives we've grown up in! We had a couple
other lessons then had dinner together with the other missionaries. It
was a very eye-opening Christmas for me.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Waiting for the Phone Call!
We are anxiously waiting the phone call from Sam on Christmas Eve at about 7:30 p.m. That is their Christmas day, about 10:00 a.m. We get to talk to him on Skype, without the video, but we are so anxious to just hear his voice. He is doing very well! He says they are working on finding more investigators that will progress along in the gospel. But, they feel fortunate because they usually have 11 investigators at church which is really quite remarkable. Sam has a Filipino companion now. Sam has negotiated with him to do the cooking--he likes the food he has fixed so far! His companion wants Sam to also cook some American dishes--ha! Sam never was one to spend "time in the kitchen." He is trying to learn the language well as his companion doesn't speak English much better than Sam speaks Ilonggo. So we will keep you updated on the progress!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Cats and Rats and Laundry!
I'm glad you liked the photos! they were great huh? :) I actually have a present coming soon to you! I got all the pictures I’ve taken so far put on a cd and I’ll send it probably tomorrow. so if it makes it safe, you can have those saved and see all of them! the coconut day we did service at the lady's house, digging a trench around it so it didn’t get wet inside and to control the mud outside when it rained hard ;) super fun!! But super sweaty. its funny here, I can hardly get dressed in the morning without sweating. not because I am unfit! its just SO HOT! just MOVING makes the body want to sweat!! and, guess what/? its not even hot season yet !!! wow I’m excited for it! haha
For other service, we've been struggling finding things. we deep cleaned our house for our service day this last week. that was fun! its nice and shiny clean. for the most part. but I can really feel a difference now. it was... pretty messy in some areas. but now I feel like it is a better place for the spirit to reside! the other service, one time we went to a less active's house and tried to help them build a house. but, they didn’t have enough materials, so the guy pretty much threw up, very sloppily, 1 and a half out of 4 walls and called it good! other than that, I can’t recall our other ones. We've weeded a couple times. if you thought weeding was a chore at home...... think again! haha but its always a great feeling to serve the people. And they think its hilarious to see Americans working, especially weeding haha
for laundry, we have 2 buckets. We soak clothes in one w/ some soap for a couple hours or half a day. Then, scrub scrub scrub with our hands! just scrub the clothing against themselves all over, focusing on the sweatiest areas! then, ring out, put in a bucket of clean water. rinse and ring out, repeated 2 or 3 times, then hang up! Fairly time consuming, and not very entertaining, but, it must be done! can only wear a church shirt 2 days max here with all the sweat and rain combined with the dust sticking to you.
I have not yet received the birthday package! But hopefully soon. Elder Adams got a package that arrived a couple days ago and only took 13 days, when Elder Andrews was sent in mid September and got it the same day! guess it just depends. elder Andrews' was full of ants. haha. But a lot of it was salvageable. For my birthday we're going to make home made ice cream to celebrate, and probably go to dinner somewhere close by one of these nights. Exciting! And I’m very excited for the Christmas package :)
We had a great testimony meeting this month. Probably the most spiritual sacrament meetings I’ve had here. The YSA group had an activity the weekend previous, and apparently it was a huge success! There were multiple less-active single adults there, and they all shared very powerful testimonies and desires to become more active in the church again! We had a low turn out on investigators at church. BUT there were lots of less actives, which is pretty much just as good! The testimonies were so strong. It was so great to here these testimonies here, and feel, even though we're on the opposite side of the world, holding church in just a small church house with no piano and a small tape player for the microphone, that the testimonies and doctrines and members of the church are strong here as well and have great spiritual experiences. Priesthood class was great. It felt so full with just a couple of 21 yr old men there that normally weren't. We talked about baptism and confirmation and the priesthood, and they were so excited about knowing they could perform baptisms that they all got out paper and wrote down the proper way to do it and the prayer for it and how to confirm people as members! I felt the spirit so strong as I watched these men so excited to become active and ready to use their priesthood. Hopefully 2 of them will be able to be ordained as Elders soon, and have the desire to serve missions! Rey, the 77 yr old that just got baptized, should be ordained to a priest in the next couple of weeks! Our branch president, President Alajar, baptized him.
This week we tried something new with some of our lessons. We took around the 20-minute restoration video about Joseph smith and showed it to multiple families. What a great movie! I felt the spirit so strong each time we watched it. And I really felt like it helped investigators understand Joseph smith's story better. We also had a very powerful lesson with John about baptism and its importance, and committed him to pray about it because he's not quite sure if he wants to be baptized yet, but he said he'll prepare to be ready for November 27!
This weekend we had zone conference where the whole zone gathers and the mission president comes and teaches and then the APs teach as well. I love president pagaduan. Such a great man. He talked about understanding our purpose as missionaries, and then being unified as missionaries. Then the APs had a great lesson on the power of the Spirit and it's importance in conversion. Great great conference!
I shook a 111-year-old ladies hand! That was cool. I did a respectful handshake where you bend down slightly and touch their hand to your forehead, and she thanked me for it haha
there are rats and cats playing in our ceiling. One of them fell thru the ceiling in the middle of the night last night. haha. we need to set up our traps again!
Well that’s about all I got this week! I love you so much. thank you so much for the emails and the thoughts. I love hearing from you each week and about how the family is doing. more to come next week!
love
Elder Pettit
Sam
For other service, we've been struggling finding things. we deep cleaned our house for our service day this last week. that was fun! its nice and shiny clean. for the most part. but I can really feel a difference now. it was... pretty messy in some areas. but now I feel like it is a better place for the spirit to reside! the other service, one time we went to a less active's house and tried to help them build a house. but, they didn’t have enough materials, so the guy pretty much threw up, very sloppily, 1 and a half out of 4 walls and called it good! other than that, I can’t recall our other ones. We've weeded a couple times. if you thought weeding was a chore at home...... think again! haha but its always a great feeling to serve the people. And they think its hilarious to see Americans working, especially weeding haha
for laundry, we have 2 buckets. We soak clothes in one w/ some soap for a couple hours or half a day. Then, scrub scrub scrub with our hands! just scrub the clothing against themselves all over, focusing on the sweatiest areas! then, ring out, put in a bucket of clean water. rinse and ring out, repeated 2 or 3 times, then hang up! Fairly time consuming, and not very entertaining, but, it must be done! can only wear a church shirt 2 days max here with all the sweat and rain combined with the dust sticking to you.
I have not yet received the birthday package! But hopefully soon. Elder Adams got a package that arrived a couple days ago and only took 13 days, when Elder Andrews was sent in mid September and got it the same day! guess it just depends. elder Andrews' was full of ants. haha. But a lot of it was salvageable. For my birthday we're going to make home made ice cream to celebrate, and probably go to dinner somewhere close by one of these nights. Exciting! And I’m very excited for the Christmas package :)
We had a great testimony meeting this month. Probably the most spiritual sacrament meetings I’ve had here. The YSA group had an activity the weekend previous, and apparently it was a huge success! There were multiple less-active single adults there, and they all shared very powerful testimonies and desires to become more active in the church again! We had a low turn out on investigators at church. BUT there were lots of less actives, which is pretty much just as good! The testimonies were so strong. It was so great to here these testimonies here, and feel, even though we're on the opposite side of the world, holding church in just a small church house with no piano and a small tape player for the microphone, that the testimonies and doctrines and members of the church are strong here as well and have great spiritual experiences. Priesthood class was great. It felt so full with just a couple of 21 yr old men there that normally weren't. We talked about baptism and confirmation and the priesthood, and they were so excited about knowing they could perform baptisms that they all got out paper and wrote down the proper way to do it and the prayer for it and how to confirm people as members! I felt the spirit so strong as I watched these men so excited to become active and ready to use their priesthood. Hopefully 2 of them will be able to be ordained as Elders soon, and have the desire to serve missions! Rey, the 77 yr old that just got baptized, should be ordained to a priest in the next couple of weeks! Our branch president, President Alajar, baptized him.
This week we tried something new with some of our lessons. We took around the 20-minute restoration video about Joseph smith and showed it to multiple families. What a great movie! I felt the spirit so strong each time we watched it. And I really felt like it helped investigators understand Joseph smith's story better. We also had a very powerful lesson with John about baptism and its importance, and committed him to pray about it because he's not quite sure if he wants to be baptized yet, but he said he'll prepare to be ready for November 27!
This weekend we had zone conference where the whole zone gathers and the mission president comes and teaches and then the APs teach as well. I love president pagaduan. Such a great man. He talked about understanding our purpose as missionaries, and then being unified as missionaries. Then the APs had a great lesson on the power of the Spirit and it's importance in conversion. Great great conference!
I shook a 111-year-old ladies hand! That was cool. I did a respectful handshake where you bend down slightly and touch their hand to your forehead, and she thanked me for it haha
there are rats and cats playing in our ceiling. One of them fell thru the ceiling in the middle of the night last night. haha. we need to set up our traps again!
Well that’s about all I got this week! I love you so much. thank you so much for the emails and the thoughts. I love hearing from you each week and about how the family is doing. more to come next week!
love
Elder Pettit
Sam
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