This week was great! We taught a lot of people, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Cicon, and it was just an adventurous week!
I would like to share my journal entry from earlier this week. with a few edits so it makes more sense for ya'll. It was pretty fun.
July 21, 2015
So, yesterday(I am writing this on the 22nd, actually), we went to Hinoba-an to do exchanges with the Zone Leaders and so my companion is Elder Cicon from my MTC group! Yay! It was super fun meeting up with him and just talking for a little bit. We got there around 6:30, so around seven at night we went to go get on a tricycle because we found out that there were no more buses leaving from Hinoba-an to Sipalay. When we asked the driver how much it would be to take us there, he asked for about five times the normal price because, 1) we're just two Americans trompin' around, which apparently looks like two walking ATM's to them, and 2) it was too late for him to get passengers coming back... So, of course we refused, purely out of the principle of it and then just admitted that we were stranded here in Hinoba-an... In our defeat, we bought a whole roasted chicken to eat. The guy said, "chop?" so we said yes. Boy, he sure did chop it. Pulverized. It was wonderful. Then we went to the Hinoba-an Elder's apartment and just slept on their floor. It was gonna be horrible, we just knew it, so we just slept until 2:00am and caught the earliest bus going to Sipalay so we could sleep in beds. We got there around 3:30 - couldn't sleep. So we just talked and laughed until 5:00am when we finally succumbed to our fatigue. We then woke up at 6:30 am and went straight to work from 9:00 until seven or eight because of the way our schedule works... We were so tired. Wonderful.
That was a very fun day haha. Weird stuff always happens on exchanges...
I love my email time because it really helps me to tie together all of the things that happened during the week to tell you guys. I realized just barely what all of my study has related to this week.
Lately, I have been studying about the life of Jesus Christ more intensely. Ever since I started doing so, there has been a TREMENDOUS change in my mission. I wish I could explain the difference, but it is great. I was reading in Matthew chapter 20 about the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. It's really a great lesson to learn.
1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
So here, Jesus calls laborers in to work at different times of the day. The first, he gives a set wage for the day and they are satisfied with that! They say, "Sweet! We have work today! We're gonna get a penny!" and they probably looked at the other sore-fellows "standing idle in the marketplace," waiting for someone to hire them, thinking, "man good luck to those guys!" The poor workers that had not yet been hired must have been worrying that they may never get a job. "How am I gonna feed my family later tonight? Am I gonna have work? What do I do if nobody has work for me today??", are probably the type of questions they were asking themselves... Eventually, the householder returns a few more times throughout the day and offers more chances to work. Those workers must have been SO relieved to finally get some work. They weren't even promised a specific wage! But they were so desperate, they just took the opportunity. They all worked until the end of the day.
8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house,
12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
How unfair would that seem to you?? You had just worked ALL day. HOURS. And the guy who worked for only an hour get just as much as you, probably for only a tenth or less of the work you did!? I would be upset. But as I read this scripture, I realized how well this truly represents the kingdom of heaven. When we first look at it, we think the laborers that were hired in the morning were the losers, but in reality, it was those who came last. Anyone who has ever picked berries for an extended period of time knows EXACTLY how the process goes - pick one. eat one. pick one. eat one - and so on and so forth. Those that who had been hired in the morning has SO many more blessings than those later in the day. Not only were they saved the pain and of worry and concern for getting hired to feed their families, but, most likely, they were also able to partake of the fruits that they were harvesting. To me, it sounds like most of the laborers were just general workers who would take any type of work regardless of the proficiency in the task at hand, seeing as they were just hanging around the market waiting to get hired. Those called in the morning had time to learn how to harvest, if they had not known beforehand. They probably learned which types of grapes were the best to get and which were not. They probably even learned the different stages of development in the growth of grapes and many things like that which require experience and observation over a period of time. When those last workers showed up, YES they received the same pay as those who came before them, but were the as efficient as those who were hired earlier that morning? Did they get to taste nearly as many grapes as those who had been working for hours beforehand? No. They pay was the same, but they did not come out of it with the same understanding or appreciation of harvesting grapes.
14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Heavenly Father is good to all of us. He promises us all the SAME exact reward; eternal life. But those who labor longer and harder, have much more gained when they finally reach the promised reward. I always wonder why I was blessed with as much as I was - I was born into a Gospel-centered family, I was raised in the church, I was born in America, the land of the free, and I have been given almost any worldly thing I have ever need. Even still, I sometimes think, "Man, those who join the church late really are blessed because they get to see the difference of life before and life after the church. I was born into it. I can't see the difference..." But I realize know how much pain I have NOT had to go through because I'm "born of the covenant." I have not had to worry about things that most do worry about, just as the laborers hired later in the day had to worry about. I have been able to taste of the fruit since the early morning and I have already harvested a lot of "grapes" or blessings in my life because of that. So, for those of us that have already been hired; we have a work to do. At the end of the day, we will all get a penny - we will all get eternal life - but we can gain an even BETTER version of eternal life if we work diligently. Hence, "many are called, but few chosen."
I hope everyone has a GREAT week!
Elder Welton
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