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| Somewhere out there in the vast Philippines horizon, a wallet was lost . . . but somehow key contents found and returned |
Well...I guess I don't have to tell you the story of how
my wallet was found, but I'm glad that you found out earlier in the week than
now. I'll tell you the story anyway, but
from my perspective. After I emailed you
guys again, I was really feeling down about it, so I went through a lot of
praying and begging to Heavenly Father that someone honest would return my
wallet and all of the contents. I was
surprised to get a text the next day from our zone leaders that said that my
credit card and ATM card were found, but the wallet itself was gone. I was just so relieved and grateful that I
got those back, because I had very little money to last the rest of the
month. I guess the story is that a
mother saw her child playing with my cards.
They ended up all the way in Camaling (a long way from where I left the
wallet). She took the cards from him and
saw the American name on the cards and the only Americans she saw walking
around were the missionaries, so she gave it to a member. Then the member saw that my zone leaders were
also at Camaling, so he gave the cards to them.
Not only am I grateful to Heavenly Father for having received my cards
back, but that they were in fact found by an honest person. Even though I lost my wallet with my cash and
temple recommend :(, I'm so grateful that I was able to withdraw my support. God really does watch over me. Awesome miracle story of the week. (There was only 400 pesos in the wallet,
which translates to less than $10.00 US.)
(And Dad, I didn’t lose my driver’s license. We turned those in at the mission home upon
our arrival. So, good news there.)
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| Jordan is grateful to have his debit/credit cards back |
Even though that was a great miracle, the rest of the
week didn't go by so well. It all
started when we visited our good ol' recent convert, Jerome. He was sick, so we gave him a blessing. A couple of days later, I started having a
really bad sore throat, which then turned into a cold. I wasn't able to do much all this weekend
(Friday, Saturday, Sunday). It was
really rough. Our work in the beginning
of the week wasn't going well either, so we weren't able to accomplish all that
much this week :(. Being sick and not
being able to work is just a terrible feeling.
I kept thinking about our investigators that we were supposed to be
teaching all weekend. Ugh. Felt helpless. However, I went to church yesterday and
stayed for all of the three hours, but then went home because I was feeling
dizzy and had a slight fever. We had a
good sacrament meeting though and our lesson with Bessie still went great! Even though my nose was all stuffed up. Her Baptismal Goal Date (BGD) is scheduled
for September 1, but she thinks that's a little soon. True.
It does seem pretty fast, but I'm not the one who picked the date. That was the Spirit all the way. We told her that it's just a goal and that
she doesn't have to be baptized right on that date, but we told her that she'll
be ready by that date if she continues to do the things we ask her. We're only able to teach her once a week,
which might be a little bit of a disadvantage, but she's a strong investigator. Our other investigators, Ruben and Rechelle,
came to church as well. They're BGD is a
week before Bessie's, but we weren't able to teach them at all this week,
because I was sick on the days on the only days that they're available. But, I guess the moral of the story is that
I'm better now and that the Church is/always will be true.
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| Two things: 1) There's a hole in the shoe; 2) It needs shining |
It was Elder iLayat's last full week this week, which was
a bitter-sweet moment. We became really
close this transfer. All of us in our
house were close. Even though he was
only here for one transfer, the Mayantoc members became really close to him,
too. They threw him a Farewell Party on
Saturday. Everyone really appreciated
all of the work that Elder iLayat did. I
could definitely see that. He is a
dedicated, hard working missionary that is an inspiration to everyone around him. I want to have that kind of lasting impact on
the people that I serve. I want them to
always remember my name and think: "That Elder Royal sure helped out
with the Ward" or "Elder Royal was a great missionary." I hear things like that all the time from
members talking about certain missionaries that were in their area a year ago
or 10 years ago. Missionaries should
always strive to "leave the area better than [they] found it"
(Preach My Gospel). That reminds me of a
lesson that our MTC teacher gave about Nehor and his evil affects on so many
generations. The acts of one person
impacts generations. Elder ilayat (and
also Elder McCormack) gave great acts of service to everyone that they came in
contact with. They will be missed for
sure.
Even though our transfer announcements aren't until
Wednesday, I already know that I am being called to serve as the new District
Leader here. The President sent his
weekly letter with all of the "newly called" on it. Elder Biggs is also now a new zone leader. (haha Typical Elder Biggs - always leading
the way.) That's awesome for him. Unfortunately for him, that means he is being
transferred from Baler - the most coveted area in the mission (by the
ocean). Poor guy. He was only able to enjoy being in Baler for
only one transfer (haha). The good news
for me is that I am guaranteed to be here for at least one more transfer,
perhaps longer, so I will get to see some of the fruits of our labors. I have really come to love it here.
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| From back left: Jordan , E. iLayat, E. Dela Paz, E. Retaga - with family that came to see E. iLayat before his departure |
Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!
Like I said, I'm glad you got my birthday letter already :). I'm sure it was awesome! I love you so much!! :)
Mahal ko kayo lahat! Ingat
Elder Jordan "Masakit Noon" Royal
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