Hello Family,
It sure was good to Skype last week, but I think for Christmas I
would rather talk to you one at a time haha it was kind of crazy.
So right after we stopped talking on Skype, me and Elder James got a text
from the APs and It said that I was going to be transferred!
So now I am in Ilagan, Elder Galang is my companion and he is 1/4 American (his grandpappy is a GI) we share an apartment with the Zone
Leaders, and my companion is a District leader, I guess president Carlos is
trying to get me to shape up haha
You are in luck this week because I have kept a list of things that I
want to tell you so that I wouldn't forget!
So here is my list of cool things
Brother Pete, He is this American that lives in Tuguegarao and he loves
the missionaries, he also used to be a cook on a NAVY ship so he shows his
love to the missionaries by cooking delicious food in mass quantities. He also
has really cool fishing stories.
In my new ward there is this member that actually lives in downtown Salt
Lake! He just spent his vacation here and now he is bringing his whole family
to America. I got to talk to him for a little bit and he told me about all the
cool things happening in Utah.
Now I would like to tell you more about the people, I hope you dont mind
that I keep up this list form thing, it helps me write more.
The people are incredibly nice
They are super easy to talk to, a lot of the times I can just go up and
ask them their name, age, how big is their family, and then talk about the
gospel
They are friendly, they always say hi, and good morning, day,
evening.
When they see Americans they Shout out "Hey Joe" or "Americano" sometimes
its annoying
When we share the Restoration with them and ask if we can teach them more
they usually say "Next time" but it usually means they don't want to. they are
just to polite to tell us that they aren't interested
There is also what I like to call the "Ambitious Drunk." its common for
the older men here to come home from work and just get hammered, and then they
see us and tell us how they want to change their evil ways and
just completely turn around, but then we go and visit them when they
are sober and they don't want anything to do with us, but that's agency for
ya
There are also the people that invite us in to teach them just because I
am American, haha in my last area we were in this lesson and I was in the
middle of bearing my testimony about Joseph Smith and the Lady we were
teaching just pulls out a camera and snaps a picture of me haha she said she
wanted to tell her friends that an American visits her haha
So now about my new area, out neighbors are members and they have a
washing machine and they let us use it! no more raw knuckles for a little
while haha, Also our apartment is above a motorcycle dealership! Talk
about tender mercies of the Lord haha And Remember how we share the apartment
with the ZLs? well good, one of them is Elder Gloria, who was also my trainer!
and a super cool kid and the other is Elder Oliver from Filmore Utah and is
also a super cool kid...so yeah that's about it (oscar from the office)
So now I want to talk about this analogy that I thought of, although I
wouldn't be surprised if it has been used by an apostle before because we tend
to think alike hahaha
So Imagine that we are back in the day where if you wanted travel
somewhere you had to take trip on a ship. The place we are coming from in this
little analogy is of course the preexistence and our destination is the
Celestial kingdom, and so our life here on earth is the journey on the ship
from on place to another. As members of the one and only true church we are
aboard a unsinkable, Iron clad vessel. Captained by the Savior him self, and
our prophet is the navigator. This vessel is also fitted with a rudder, a
keel, and sails so that It can make it to our destination. Now as for the
people that are not on this ship of ours, we might find them on a ship with no
sails, or one missing a rudder, some of their ships have holes in the hull and
will eventually sink, we might also find them clinging onto a life raft, or
life preserver, and unfortunately we can also find these people swimming
relying on their own strength to make to there destination.
Now back to our great unsinkable vessel, everyone on the ship is a member
of the crew, and all of us have a job to do(callings) and we must all do our
part, in fact that's all that the Captain asks of us. And no matter what our
job is, it is important to the whole crew.
As for us missionaries, they are the dive and rescue team! just like
Kevin Cosner ahah they dive into the depths to rescue people and bring them on
board.
The greatest thing about this ship is that its destination is sure, no
matter what storms come it remains on course, we just need to stay on the
ship, and do our best, and when those storms come we need to make sure we don't
fall off back into the depths.
I love this gospel and I love this Church, I love the Book of Mormon. I
am so grateful to have a knowledge of this gospel. I know it is true, every
bit of it!
I love you all and Thank you again for your love and support.
Elder Proctor
