Tanay Area- Philippines: Week 7

 What's good!

Happy Thanksgiving OGs!!!

Word of the week: bakla (gay)

I've had a lot of gay people hitting on me which Is pretty uncomfortable. They say the most outrageous things when I walk by.

ESPN Top 10 Highlights of the Week:

10. We were so broke this week. We ran out of money on like Monday. And our new money didn't come Until Thursday so we had to walk everywhere. One struggle meal we ate was a can of corn, that's legit it, and then the next night was oatmeal, oats and water. It was rough.

9. We took a really sketchy path to get to an appointment. It was pitch black and next to a rice field, there was so much mud everywhere you step. Apparently there's tons of robbers on that route, so we speed walked the whole way and I had my knife ready but no one wanted the smoke so we were fine.

8. We had this pig face meal called sisig at a member's house and it was not good. Holy it was nasty, it was all fat and guts. It was just all chewy and really spicy because she added like 100 peppers to it. I had to just eat a ton of rice to cover the taste and the member called me out on it It was nice of them. I appreciate it.

7. We fell asleep on the jeep and ended up pretty far out of our boundary. When we woke, we were like... where are we? It was really funny except there were no trikes so we just had to walk like super far back to our appointment and we were like 30 minutes late.

6. One thing that's insane here is there's no Mexican food. People don't know what a taco is, and they don't know what Mexico is it's crazy. Last night I cooked tacos for us which were decent but they don't have good ingredients. Like the only beans they have are baked beans It was fine though, but nothing too crazy

5. We saw a little kid in the middle of the street spinning around peeing in a circle which was really funny

4. Our neighbor is actually so fire. I’ve never met the guy but every time we walk by his house he’s playing some heat music. Might have to stop by that dude's house and teach him just so I can request some songs after. But he's played Mariah Carey, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Bruno Mars, it's crazy. He keeps me going.

3. I taught a really bad lesson but it was actually funny. I was teaching the law of chastity to kids, unprepared because my comp just told me, and teaching about modesty. I just said some weird stuff like “we should go outside naked”. They were trying to be serious and not laugh but it was REALLY bad. Because idk any vocab for that, so I was struggling. My comp just told me to stop and retaught the whole thing 

2. We had a Thanksgiving Feast  on the 28th. It was pretty expensive but so worth it. We bought a whole chicken, a bunch of rolls, I made mashed potatoes (which my Filipino companion had never eaten before), and a small cake because there's no pie here and then pineapple just because. We balled out and I ate a ton, but it was fire.

1. This week I had my first baptism!!! It was really exciting, and I did it in Tagalog which was a bit sketchy but I made it. I baptized 2 girls we've been teaching for a while. Seeing them come out in all white was crazy idk, I just felt really proud and happy. After I baptized one, and while she was climbing out of the font she turned back to me, started clapping and thanked me, I couldn’t stop smiling. I am really happy for them, it was a super special experience.

Espiritual na isip (Spiritual Thought):

Mosiah 4:9

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

Here on Earth, even with the Gospel, we don’t have all the answers. There are many questions that we might have that have no right answer yet...and that can be frustrating and hard to understand. 

But we can know that there is someone with all the answers and with a perfect knowledge of all things. God created everything: all of us, the heavens, the Earth, our brains, the animals, etc. Although we don’t have this full knowledge now, we can trust in He who does. We can trust that His ways are better than our ways, because His scope of view is much larger than our Earthly, mortal scope.

Trust in God’s commandments, trust in His gospel, trust in His Prophets, trust in His words, Trust Him! He has given us many things here on Earth to impart some of His knowledge to us, so we should utilize all of it to our advantage. Read, pray, go to church, listen to the Prophet, these are things He has entrusted to us. 

Follow and trust in God, because He knows all things, He has a plan for you, and His ways will lead to greater happiness, greater peace, and greater blessings, than our own path.

___________________________

Appreciate you all, Love you!

Elder Tyson Smith