Well, ladies and gentlemen... I have made it one year! That seems so crazy to me... I feel new still. In celebration of this event, I put on a new shirt. That's all. I had been saving it for a year to wear on that very day. It was nice to have a new shirt. It was also nice to see what all of my shirts used to look like haha.
We had a miracle baptism this week. For a few weeks, J-------- was telling us that her father wasn't going to let her get baptized. She had already brought it up with him, but he said,"No. I am catholic, your grandfather was catholic - we are catholic." I for some reason never doubted my feeling that she would be baptized. When we first invited her to baptism, I made a promise that she would be baptized on June 27 if she had the true desire to do so. I felt a lot more strength behind that promise than normal which helped me realize that it was an impression. Everything eventually came down to this Thursday. Her father had still not given her permission. We had tried everything we could think of... So then we went and visited him. I don't know what I said to that man, but whatever it was, he gave her permission to be baptized. It was amazing to hear her pray after her father left. She said that she had been praying for weeks every night that she would be allowed to be baptized. Finally, her prayer was answered. We pulled together a quick interview the next day and she was baptized on Saturday. What a wonderful experience. She has shown so much faith the whole way through. Even though she had people with her everytime we taught, she was the only one that would come to church on Sunday. Alone. She didn't have a skirt either, which made her super uncomfortable because everyone else had one. She came anyway. It was so great to finally see her baptized.
We are still trying to figure out the most efficient way to work in this area. We have three major areas that we are focusing on right now and are considering bridging two together. We tried it out the other day and we were EXHAUSTED by the time we got home. We walked so much that day. Poor Elder Sabio was not used to that much walking so he essentially walked in the door and fell asleep. We will keep trying to see if we can make the area more efficient. We just have to walk SO much. I imagine it's probably around 10 or so miles everyday, if not more. Maybe not. I'll find out.
About the transfer, mother; I had a great realization from my trip there. I hope you all learn the same thing that I learned from this. Here is my journal entry(with some notes to fill in the gaps):
On the way to Bacolod at 3:00am, I was not a happy camper... I was stuck in the middle seat of a small car(taxi because it's cheaper than the bus), traveling way too fast with too many twists and turns and curves, and probably even loop-de-loops. Not only that, but I was car-sick too because the driver hung too much stuff on the rear-view mirror, so I couldn't even see the road! In my thoughts at the time, I was thinking, "Okay...Whichever MORON made this piece of junk road is gonna have to be dealt with..." SOOO bumpy, uneven, and just plain miserable. I was lucky to have been able to survive. I was not looking forward to the ride home.
The ride home was worse. Now there were FOUR men made to sit in a space meant for three Filipinos, which converts to the American standard of two grown men comfortably. It was stuffy and cramped in addition to the two packages I was carrying in my lap the whole way AND everything else I experienced on the way up! The road was the same, miserable road, just in reverse!
As we approached Sipalay Zone, we came right along the coastline. As we came out of the trees and fields, it opened up into one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Snset-beach show with calm, slow, rolling waves lapping up on the beach. I almost completely forgot about my dreadful circumstances in the middle seat, feet on the hump. Suddenly I thought, "Ya know...... who needs a good road if you can look at this!" I then realized that I no longer felt in pain, but rather privileged. The road was the same, the situation in the car was worse, but my attitude was completely changed. I thought, "had I not only been able to see that 14 hours ago on the ride up, maybe my ride would have been more enjoyable!" I had no idea that I had just completely missed the joy of the journey just because of the lack of light earlier that morning. It's interesting how in life we also tend to miss the joy in the journey. But looking back, with more light, we often see the beauty that we already missed.
If only there had been light that first time. We will most likely never understand our trials while we are going through them, but perhaps we are missing the bigger picture. Our eternal destination cannot quite yet be seen because it's still "dark," but we are most likely going through something that we will later on view as being "beautiful." Maybe the next time I am on a horrible road, I will stop and think, "Perhaps this road is going by a beautiful beach-sunset scene that I just can't quite yet see."
I wish I could explain to everyone the things I am learning on my mission, but I can't even give a small portion of it all. Just like Elder Bednar says at the beginning of every talk, I hope and pray that the Spirit will fill my words with the ideas I am trying to share.
Have a great week!!
Elder Welton
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