Time to Sing and Dance!

Hello everyone :)

 

Okay, I will have to set a couple of rules before you read this email. First, after you read the second paragraph (the one after this one) you will have to sing and dance before you are permitted to go on. Second, if you really love me you will follow the rules and regulations. There is not a time limit to the amount of time you can dance, or a particular style in which you must dance, but try to get to bed on time, and not go too long without food.

 

This last week had a couple ups and downs, but the ups are always better, so we will focus on the ups. This week we gave a goal baptismal date to the Piedad family, and they accepted! We still have a lot to do, given that the Dad still does not feel like he needs to be baptized, but he went from hiding from the missionaries, to sleeping in every lesson, to staying awake without listening, to listening a little bit, to listening, to being active in the lessons, to smiling, and finally to accepting a baptismal date! (Start your dance here).

 

There are a few other things that happened this week but I feel like I would like to share my testimony, because that is why I am here, not cause my parents said they wanted me too, not for a woman, not for myself, but because I believe one hundred percent that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ of the earth, and I believe I can be an instrument in helping others come closer to Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. I am definitely not a perfect person, I as myself alone am not able to learn how to speak a language fluently in 7 months, 2 years in high school French got me less than the first day in the mission field, of course I am working harder with a purpose other than receiving a good grade, a purpose that means a lot more to me. Really the most important thing I have ever done in my life, and I have the wonderful opportunity to do this for two years. I know Heavenly Father expects a lot out of everyone, he has things for all of us to do everyday, whether it be of really high importance, or something simple, we have the chance to help our Heavenly Father answer the prayers of others, and we more often than we should ignore those feelings we get to help others because we are either lazy, busy, or scared to follow the promptings that we receive. There is nothing wrong with trying to help others, especially when it is something we feel prompted to do, if we do not, we are missing out on blessings, and more than that we could have been exactly what that person needed, and now they are without it. It could be something life changing for them, or it could be something that is of less importance, but we will never really know if we do not do anything. I also know that our prayers are answered in the scriptures, and by the Lord's living servants the Prophets and Apostles. There is always something close that can help us, or that we can use to help others near by. I know that Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet, and the Lord restored his church on the earth through this Prophet and seer. Thomas S. Monson is the current Prophet on the earth and is receiving revelation always for the church and he has a responsibility for the whole world.  Every single person. The is nothing that the Lord cannot do, except that which is contrary to good, or to the free agency of man. He cannot make you change, turn you into the better person you wish you could be, but he most definitely can and is helping you. There is no point in dwelling on things of the past, learn from them and move on, revelation is based on knowledge, if you do your small part, which may be insignificant to the world, if it is the best that you are able to do Heavenly Father will fill in the rest, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And his part is way more than we are able to do, so do not be brought down by the trials and hardships of life, because first off life is good, second, it has potential to continually get better. I leave this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

I have one more thing to mention real quick, never limit yourself, I have noticed that people see the average as others, and seem to be satisfied with just barely making the average. You are all capable of doing so much better. The average really is low, do not set your goals low, and even if your goals are high, do not let that be the limit shoot past it :)

 

Love, Elder Munk 

 

A New Perspective of the World

Hello po! Life is going really well, and I am loving my area, we are hoping to see a really big improvement in the area, we are working hard and seeing things happening. I will keep you updated with the people we are teaching, especially the Piedad family, because they are still my favorite. We are hoping to give them a baptismal date sometime this week, we need to wait for one of the girls to get better, because Tatay Piedad's focus is on his daughters health, which is a good thing. :)

 

At the store today and man randomly put 1000 pesos in Elder Vail's hand and said it was for us, he is not a member and does not know a ton about the church, he just felt like he should make a contribution, he does not live in our area but we will have other missionaries go to him and visit, hopefully his inspiration to help us out will lead him to where he is supposed to be in his life.

 

I will hopefully be sending some pictures home soon, I am not sure though, I have not really taken much in the last week or so, but maybe something exciting will happen when I have my camera with me. If not, I will send you a picture of me and my pikachu.

 

Brother Rudy Ibay our ward missionary has been working with us a lot, almost everyday and is a stud, he is a little bit old, weights 93 pounds and only has three teeth, but he has a powerful testimony and a drive to always work with us. He says he does because he thinks me and Elder Vail are awesome, I hope that is not the only thing, because the next missionaries could really benefit from him going out and helping with the work.

 

We taught a lesson a few days ago and there were 17 people who ended up coming in and joining us, it was really awesome. They could not come to church yesterday because there was a big party, which was basically all of Manila, all the Adults get drunk and the kids play in the street, and the old ladies play bingo. It was interesting, when Asians get drunk they turn bright red, and we ended up going through a gauntlet of drunk people, who were all pulling each others pants down and spanking each other... So that was what my weekend was like, I hope yours was just as lively. Some things you experience change your perception on the world. That was one of those things that changed my perception.

 

This is not for sure yet, but my Zone leader made it sound pretty sure that I will be transferring soon, because I have been in Pasay for a while, he says it is long enough, he has been in Pasay for 18 months of his mission, out of 21 so far. He loves it here, but he is hoping to go out and explore the rest of the world also. He also made it sound like I would become a Senior next transfer, which kind of made me nervous a bit, I like just being a little Jr, with no extra responsibilities, but I guess we will see what happens, if that's what I am called to do, Heavenly Father will provide a way for it to be accomplished. Nephi told me so :)

 

I love you all, hope everything is going almost as good for you as it is for me, but its impossible to be 100% unless you are Elder Galbraith or Elder Crandall, because they are studs, and have the same pagkakataon that I do, minus the spankin gauntlet, that probably does not happen in Canada, maybe in Brazil though..

 

Love you,

 

Elder Munk

May 4th Letter

I do not know exactly know where to start, but there is a lot of good stuff going on right now. Today was the transfer meeting and it was good to see a lot of familiar faces again, one of my roommates has been out on Palawan the whole time, so I saw him for the first time in 4 months, which was pretty awesome. Even though it did not seem that long it was good to see him.

 

I have been thinking, studying, and praying a lot the past 6 months, but I have seen some bigger changes in myself in the last few weeks. There is a family that I am teaching right now, I have mentioned them before, the Piedad family! Nanay (Mom) is a member, but the Tatay (you guessed it, Father) is not, and he does not want to have his children baptized until they are 18, because he wants them to be sure in their decision. 18 is still a long ways away for those 3 girls. I find myself on me knees a lot praying for them, and I had a thought come into my mind that I would serve a full 2 years here just for their family. Then I kind of thought about my thought , well that's a long time, 4 baptisms in 2 years is not a lot. But without hesitation I would do that for this family. I am still trying to get myself to the point where I could easily say that for anyone. And I am getting closer to that point where I would, even for people I have never met before, or who might be seen by the world as of less importance. When I have been studying in the scriptures I have learned a lot about love and teaching and realizing even more how those go hand in hand, if you love someone you will serve them, if you do not love someone enough to help with dishes, or to even smile at them you have some things you need to change in your life. From my recent studies in the scriptures I have noticed a remarkable similarity between Paul in the New Testament, and Joseph Smith. After focusing on their similarities I noticed their striking similarity to the way that my Dad writes, and the way that I think he thinks, but I am not quite a mind reader. If you read from his blog about Devin's accident and study the scriptures you will see it also. Maybe you need to know him as well as I do. Well anyways, this led me to different things and ways of thinking about teaching people, and realizing the differences and similarities between people, and which Prophets or teachings they will connect the best with. I am guessing my Dad connects best with Paul and Joseph Smith. Which is what I seem to be growing closer too. But you can tell me if I am wrong.

 

I have also noticed that sometimes life is really hard, and I have noticed that sometimes you just plow through the tough times with such happiness and enthusiasm that you do not even notice how hard something was until it was already over. Then you look back and say "Holy Cow! I actually did that!" Sometimes you need to slow down enough to realize how much Heavenly Father is actually helping you, and be more thankful for what he is doing for you, because it is probably a lot more than you are doing for yourself.

 

I had an exciting day today, last night I spent the night at the Zone Leaders apartment, they are awesome, we got some pizza and stayed up a little late... and Elder Taylor played the Ukulele and we all sang along (Taylor Swift). It was quite fun. We made it over to the meeting and I confirmed that my next housemate is Elder Ward, my MTC companion, I was so excited! This is going to be the best transfer ever! I hope :) I received some letters, some dating back to March 14th,  some were more recent, I think one was from April18th, I think they just send them whenever they get enough letters going to the Philippines from the US. I do not really know, but they take their time sometimes. And I am sorry if I neglect you a little bit in writing back, the past few transfers have been rough in terms of extra money, so I had to pick between eating and mailing. :) I ate.

 

I will try to do a little bit better at keeping you up to date with some of the people that I am teaching, and I will probably buy a new camera in the next few weeks, I do not have a ton of extra money, so I may beat anyone who comes near it with Elder Vail's Filipino fighting sticks. Joke lang!

 

Oh yes cannot forget this, I will be calling home on Sunday, I am going to be getting up early just for you and I am going to call sometime around 6-7 am my time, which means you should just all be home Saturday if that is alright with all of you. It will be in the early afternoon most likely, if we do not get to talk for long, or if something does not work I will try again on Sunday night, which will be Sunday morning for you, and hopefully everything will work alright. If not, I will be calling on Christmas, that is only like 8 months away, not even that far. :) I love all of you, some of you more than others. ;)

 

Love, Elder Munk