Little Growth In Comfort

I definitely felt like I went through a good amount of growth this week! Lots of great things happened and lots of growth through them! 

In the Philippines Laoag mission, turns out we were the only mission who had different proselyting hours which were proselyte 8-12, study 1-4 or 5, and proselyte from 5-9. 

This last zone meeting, we were told that our proselyting hours are changing to what it says in the missionary handbook. There were some complaints from other missionaries but there is nothing we can do about it! I am completely fine with the change, that means less missionaries can nap during study haha. It might be hot during proselyting but it's alright! Whatever the Lord wants is what I will do.

So something random that happened this week. One morning we went out proselyting and it was my first appointment. I noticed mud on my shoe, so I just wanted to wash it off real quick. Our first appointment lives along a canal so I was just going to dip the tip of my shoe in. Turns out it was a lot slipperier than I thought, so I fell in. I didn't fall in too much and I was fine. Got a little bruised but it hurt my dignity more. Luckily Elder Daclag didn't know what that word meant.  

We had a family home evening and it was all good. Everyone is super loud though and sometimes it's hard to get everyone's attention, but I just take it as how well you can teach a spiritual thought while there are a lot of distractions. The hardest part of that FHE for me though is that we had barbecue which included pork (which was gone right away) so what was left was chicken head, intestines or feet. Choosing the least of the 3 evils I attempted to eat a chicken foot. It didn't really work out for me. I couldn't bear eating the whole thing, it was just mostly bone and cartilege which was a struggle. 

A similar experience happened on Sunday, when the YSA asked me to choreograph a dance for them. Surprisingly  it was a little stressful for me, because I had nothing prepared. 

We ended up getting a pretty good amount done, after a lot of time where they were just talking to each other and me stressing out a little bit. Especially when they told me to just teach in Tagalog. I don't know why I was frustrated though. I got to teach something I love. I guess I was just used to my experiences on a team where if you weren't paying attention the coach and everyone would get mad, and I am just used to a different level and atmosphere for dance. But I realized, they are just normal people who don't have any background experience, and they were actually pretty good. It was just for fun too. It taught me that not everyone is the same. 

Last Thursday for Zone Meeting everyone said what their Christlike attribute that they needed to work on. I said mine was patience. That Sunday was an excellent way to help my patience grow. I am not used to people not listening as intently, but the culture is just different here, and it definitely helped my patience. I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to help them, even if it was in a little different way.

There was another day this week where 6 out of the 8 appointments failed again, but I was totally okay with it! I just felt like I was in such a good mood that day even though lots of things fell through. I realized that day the power of how the scriptures can really affect your day. I really studied well that day and tried to remember all of the things I learned and it really helped my day out, even through bad days. My testimony of the power of scripture study grew.

I had an exchange with Elder Arzaga this last Wednesday to Thursday, and through his help and the Lord I gained confidence and grew. All of the other exchanges I have had are pretty relaxed and laid back. Not that it was bad, but everyone else I went with just helped in other ways. But Elder Arzaga wanted to push me past my comfort zone. He kept pushing me in good ways that day. He pushed me to lead more in discussions. I felt bad because we had to teach Chastity for the first time, and I didn't know anything to say. So the teaching didn't start off super well. But as we went through the rest of the teaching, he kept pushing me to talk more and it helped a lot. 

I say this all the time but it's going to be like this for awhile, while I stumble over myself in the language. He lived in America for 5 years so he spoke really good English so I kept speaking English to him. After a couple lessons we were talking in English walking back he said to me "Elder, speak Tagalog to me, don't speak English." 

He pushed me to keep just using the language. It actually ended up boosting my confidence a little. I realized even though I am new, I have a pretty good amount and basic knowledge for 2 months in the field. He told me that too, and just told me to push myself out of my comfort zone.

It reminds me of a quote I really like "There is little growth in comfort, and there is little comfort in growth." Even though it can hurt or be really uncomfortable to grow in some way, once it's over, you'll be glad it happened. 

We had an evaluation later that night and we told each other what could be improved. I didn't really have anything for him because I am new. I just told him how I noticed how he was much more bold than other missionaries in a good way. He told me that my speaking skills weren't bad, but just to listen more. I did realize that sometimes when I don't know what's going on or if they speak for a while I just zone out. So that is definitely something we can work on.

We all have things that we can work on and sometimes it might be uncomfortable to do. But we always have to push yourself to stretch and that is when we grow the most. So I hope that we can all stretch past our limits! It may be hard, but it is all worth it in the end! Hope all is well with everyone! Mahal ko kayong lahat!

-Elder Espiritu

P.S. I have realized that my weekly emails are pretty long. I hope you all have the patience to read them! Thank you for everyone who does read them! So if you ever have the time to tell me that you read them, email me! :)  

**Elder Espiritu's email is joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net

First time trying Chicken feet (it wasn't very pleasant)

I'm not sure how we ended up deciding to take this

The rice field and I

Sometimes in life you just gotta climb :P

Exchanges with one of my zone leaders Elder Arzaga 

The best picture we could get together as a zone