I am so excited to Skype you next week! That was quick... We have the options of calling you any time from December 24-26, and so I think I will plan on calling you on the 26th there so it'll be Christmas for you all. That's not sure yet, I will let you know next week, but I will be Skyping and make sure you're prepared. :) I realized that I will have a LOT to talk to you all about. I think the most EXCITING parts of my mission have happened just within those few months since Mother's Day. I have to include Sipalay and the crazy things that have happened in the office since then. WOW. And also, just something to ponder, because of the changes made to the MTC programs, I will actually be coming home a week LATER than I expected - June 22. So plans such as schooling will either have to change or I will have to come home just a little bit early, which President Barredo understands and will review with me after we have come to a decision as a family. So we can talk about that next week, but think about what you would recommend before then! It's honestly so weird to be making plans like this already. I just barely left!
This week was AWESOME, though! We had to go up north to Sagay and Cadiz to do deliveries and to "procure" a house that will be used in the next transfer (good word, right? thanks mom). The owner of the house is a member and actually one of the wealthiest members in all of Negros. They started "Grace Pharmacy" and own a lot of stuff. They love the missionaries and said, "We have a house in Cadiz that we haven't lived in in years! We will let the missionaries stay there if you need it!" We actually did, so we went and looked at it. We decided with President beforehand that we should probably just give them like 2,000 pesos ($50 per month), even though she said it was free, just so that we were paying them something at least! We got to the apartment and it was MASSIVE. It had two floors and this one little chandelier and bedrooms galore and air-conditioning and it was bigger than the mission home! The whole time I was thinking, "Did Elder Cicon really say that this place was only $2000 pesos? Maybe he was talking about, like, just TWO of the rooms..?" Then I asked him and he said, "That's what I was thinking! This TOTALLY isn't 2,000 pesos..." We decided that we needed to pay her close to the maximum we are allowed to pay for a house, because it was SO nice. I'm pretty sure what we are paying is still thousands of pesos off of what it is actually worth, but I am so excited for those next missionaries that will stay there. They will love it. Maybe a little frightened, actually...
We will be travelling to the entire island this week to give everyone their packages. Basically, we get to play Santa Claus for the next few weeks. It's so cool! I will get to go back down to Sipalay and see all the beautiful views down there again. Yes! We are gonna be so tired doing all that driving though, man. It'll be worth it, though!
I have been thinking a lot lately about questions and answers and Elder Cicon and I have been having some interesting discussions about it as well. We had a deep discussion about answers to prayers and how God actually answers our prayers while still fulfilling HIS plan for us. It's hard for our human minds to understand the idea of a perfect plan that allows for requests from imperfect humans. Elder Cicon shared how he felt that EVERY prayer is answered, just not always how or WHEN we may want the answer. We talked more about it and thought about how hard that must be for Heavenly Father; wanting to give everything to us, yet knowing that we need to learn and be patient sometimes. Sometimes our requests come immediately, but sometimes we must wait a LONG time. Elder Fraire popped into the conversation mid-way through and contributed to the conversation. The topic eventually came up regarding the interrogative, "Why?" and how important it is for our Heavenly Father. I think God has provided the answers to EVERY SINGLE interrogative (Who, What, When, Where) except for WHY. And I think that's why we are all here on Earth! We need to figure out WHY God has done all things. We need to understand WHY following the commandments are important. And we need to understand WHY Jesus atoned for our sins. I think this single question is what separates a lot of people from living the gospel or from continuing on with their lives in the midst of trials - we just don't understand the "why" of all things. I've come to know a lot of the basic doctrines and principles and concepts contained in the gospel, but I find them deepened every time I seek to understand why we need these things. I know WHAT faith is, I know HOW our salvation is possible, yet I don't fully understand WHY these are so necessary... I know what Jesus did for us, but I don't know if I will ever completely understand WHY he would do that for such a person like me. We can learn all of the who's, what's, where's, and when's at church and by reading the scriptures and all of those things, but ONLY through the Spirit can we understand why. All of those things mentioned are FANTASTIC ways to invite the Spirit and we should always strive to do them, but if we only have him with us when we are doing those things, we will miss out on a lot of learning experiences. Whenever we have difficult trials we will always understand, through our own observation and deductive reasoning skills, what happened, how it happened, when it happened, and where it happened, but we will never understand the reason or the why if we don't have the Spirit next to our side, teaching us every step of the way. We probably didn't understand why we were going to be sent to Earth when we were in the Pre-mortal Life, we just knew that the Lord promised us exactly what he promised Joseph Smith; "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." What a comforting promise to remember when we don't understand why.
I hope everyone is having a a WONDERFUL Christmas season!
Elder Welton
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Tanner!
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