Arrived in Manila

WEEK 6

This has been quite the week for Bradyn.  He began his travel to the Philippines very early Thursday morning with some time in between for him to be able to call us from the Portland airport.  What a cherished moment that was for our family!  Dan, Kyra and I were all able to talk to him.  It was fun to combine all of our individual conversations and feel as though we had more time with him.  He spoke of everything he could think of in the short precious minutes we had.  How grateful we were to hear that same sweet voice, but with greater confidence, purpose and eagerness to continue on his journey.

We learned from Bradyn that they were initially going to the Manila MTC and staying for a few days.  Then they would be transported to their respective missions.  Last October, I had the opportunity to meet a missionary couple from Springville currently serving in the Manila MTC (she as a nurse).  She was so thoughtful to send me a couple of quick reports of the missionaries upon their arrival and the following day.  She and her husband stayed up late to welcome them.  She even sent photos!  These are her notes below, along with Bradyn's, the next day letting us know of his safe arrival.

I had asked her to also look out for Nicholas Scoffield....

"Your son and Elder Scoffield are here.  Elder Scoffield came on the first plane that arrived at 1130pm to the MTC, and was asleep  by the time I am writing this.  I will get a picture tomorrow.  

Elder English arrived at 1215 am and we just took them to their room to get to sleep.  They are tired but so excited.  They will go out proselyting on splits tomorrow afternoon.  

We'll take good care of them!  They look great!" -Sis. Eves

"Here are two great missionaries who were sent out proselyting this afternoon.  They will be great and are doing well." -Sis. Eves

Elders Scoffield and English

(Manila MTC)

Hey Mom!

     They just wanted us to email you really quick to let you know that we arrived safely.  We are in the Manila MTC now and things are moving really fast.  After lunch today we are going to go on splits with native missionaries in downtown Manila.  They gave us one extra hour of sleep to accommodate for 14 hours of jet lag, so we are all really out of it.  I already met with Sister Eves and she took a picture of me.  They have our schedule packed here so I need to go soon.  They said we are the first group of a pilot program called the "post-graduate program".  Apparently, we should know Tagalog now, so we are doing some pretty intense stuff.  They also said we are here mainly to get everything in order for our work visas and switching our passports over.  I guess in the past, missionaries had to leave their area and fly back to Manila to finish up their paperwork.  We won't have to do that.  Anyway, everything is going great and they cooked a special American breakfast for us.  Egg and sausage sandwiches.  (He mentioned in our phone call that he was looking forward to eating a Filipino breakfast his first morning there.)  So I actually haven't eaten any Filipino food yet.  Talk to you soon!  Ingat! - take care

Last P-day in the MTC

P-day is short for "preparation day."  This is when they usually attend the temple, read and write e-mails, do laundry and of course continue to study.  

WEEK 5
Family and Friends,

     I can't believe that my time in the MTC is done.  It is really weird not to be heading off to school.  Instead, I'm going to the Philippines for two years.  There really isn't much to report this week.  Basically the same thing that we have done every day for the past month.  We did go to this thing called In-field orientation.  It was yesterday and it was 8 hours long.  It is held every week and it is for all of the missionaries that are leaving the following week.  They basically teach us all of the stuff that we don't learn in the classroom.  We learned how to relate the gospel to someone that you just meet on the street, use key indicators to set goals, and about three hours just on working with members.  We practiced how to get referrals, and how to invite members to lessons, and how to utilize every aspect of the church organization for our investigators.  They kept saying over and over that the only way to do missionary work today is to use the members.  I never realized how important members are in the conversion process.

     Other than that, same routine every day.  I'm definitely ready for a change.  This week I learned that the Tagalog word for conversion is pagbabalik-loob.  It actually translates into English as "return inside".  My teacher used it to show us that when we teach the gospel, we are helping people discover who they really are and how they can return to that.  It just made me more excited to get to the Philippines.  It just barely hit me yesterday that next Sunday, I will be introducing myself to people at church in the Philippines.  It is a little scary to think about, but I know that I'm as ready as I'm going to get.

     I really wish that I had more to say, but I'm sure that I will have a massive email next week.  Thanks for everything and for all of your support!

-Elder English

"We turned our suits inside-out like the Fresh Prince.  We goof around sometimes."

One Month Gone!

WEEK 4
Family and Friends,

     I got my travel plans yesterday!  I leave on August 21 at 4:30 in the morning.  I go to Portland, then a 5 hour layover, then I go to Tokyo, then a 2 hour layover, then I go to Manila, then a bus ride to San Pablo.  I have two weeks left in the MTC and so much to learn still, but I just want to get to the Philippines.  The other day, we all went on Google Earth and looked at pictures of our mission.  We decided that we needed to stop because we were all freaking out and wanting to leave right then.  We made a rule that we can only look at pictures every other day so that we can stay focused.  

     Everything is still going well in the MTC.  I loved the package that I got with letters from all the cousins.  It really helped a lot!  I only have 12 days left in the MTC which makes me realize how much more I still need to learn.  The other day, the MTC president (Pres. Nally) came and took me out of class.  I was really scared until he told me that his daughter (Jessica Davis) was in my ward.  He took a picture with me and everyone in my district is super jealous now.  The MTC presidency really is like royalty around here.  

     One funny story that happened this week.  One elder in our district started talking about some things that probably weren't missionary appropriate.  Nothing too crazy though.  He was leaning against the board and the framed picture of our missionary purpose fell down and smacked him in the head.  We were all laughing because he literally got hit with his purpose when he was getting distracted.  Just a little reminder that the Lord really is watching all of us, and sometimes we need a little reminder or smack on the head. 

     Also, all of our investigators are progressing really well.  We got Gemma to go to church. We basically told her that there were blessings waiting for her and her family.  We said that she will have to make sacrifices, but the Lord will bless her........in our broken Tagalog, so it took about 15 minutes.  We are now actually able to ask open-ended questions and answer them.  We are still trying to get the sentence structure down though.  It's just a different way of thinking.  It can be kind of hard to break an 18-year habit.

     I'm almost out of time so I just wanted to say hey to all of the cousins, family, and friends. I'm working my hardest and can't wait to get to the Philippines.

                                                                       

-Elder English

*For those of you who remember the Scoffields (Lance and Cherie), their son Nicholas, ended up in the same district as Bradyn.  He is going to the Quezon City Mission.  So exciting!!

Photos courtesy of Elder Scoffield

Companion - Elder Erickson

Elder Nicholas Scoffield

MTC Halfway Mark

WEEK 3
Dear Friends and Family,

     Things are going great in the MTC.  I'm not going to lie, every day is really hard, but when you think about why you are here, everything else seems to not matter.  We have a teacher named Brother Kaka.  He's from New Zealand.  It's really weird to hear Tagalog with a New Zealand accent, but he is an amazing teacher.  He asked us the other day, "Why do you want to learn Tagalog?"  We gave him the generic answers of teaching better and to change people's lives.  Then he told us, "I don't think you realize what you are saying.  I don't think that you guys are learning Tagalog so you can go impart your wisdom on people.  I think you are learning Tagalog to help people be happy."  It helped us to realize that if you learn with that purpose in mind, you want to study every minute possible and learn everything that you can.

     We got three more investigators this week!  It is getting really crazy.  We were all stressing out and then one of our teachers told us that he taught 13 lessons a day in some areas.  We were all blown away.  We also received an email from our mission president that laid out our goals in numbers for the San Pablo mission.  It said we needed to have at least 20 discussions and 7 new investigators a week.  According to our teachers, if we are good missionaries, it will be really hard to keep track of how many baptisms we have.  It just makes us more and more excited to get over to the Philippines and share our message.

     We have one investigator that is in a really tough situation. It's actually just one of the teachers, but they use investigators that they taught in the mission. She is an inactive member with 8 kids.  She said that her husband works every day but Sunday and she has to wash his uniforms on Sunday.  If she doesn't, he will lose his job and she can't do it any other day because she has 8 kids.  Our teacher said that sometimes you have to tell people that their excuses are never going to be good enough to miss out on the sacrament.  They might have to make sacrifices, but the Lord will bless them.  It's a really hard situation, and one that we don't really understand because we are still teenagers.  

     Anyway, I am getting pretty good at the MTC lifestyle.  I have the meal schedule memorized and I have found out which foods upset my stomach the least.  Our building has filled up with new missionaries and we feel like veterans now.  We make fun of ourselves and brag that we are three weeks old.  

     We also had an amazing devotional this week.  Brother Groberg spoke to us.  For all of you who have seen "The Other Side of Heaven," you might know that it was a true story. Brother Groberg was the real missionary in that movie.  He actually lived that exact story!  It was just really incredible to think about.  Our mission president said, "Not to take anything away from him, but you will have stories just like that to share with your families."

     So things are going well.  I am halfway through the MTC and every day I see friends arrive who I went to high school with.  Some of them have arrived and left while I have been here. It's a little discouraging, but I know that it will all be worth it when I get to the Philippines. Thanks for all your support and prayers.  

-Elder English    

Going to the temple.

(Provo Utah Temple)

More Learning and Teaching......and Photos!

WEEK 2
Dear Family and Friends,

     

     I have been in the MTC for 17 days now.  It seems like such a long time ago when I first got here.  Only four more days and I will be halfway done with the MTC.  It is discouraging to see the English speaking elders get here and then leave 10 days later, but I know that I am going to need every second I can get to grow and learn the language.  A lot has happened with our investigator since we last talked.  My companion and I started studying all the different question forms because we realized that we were spending most of our lesson time answering a question that she asked right at the beginning.  This really paid off because our lessons went to a whole other level.  We finally answered all of her questions about the Holy Ghost and Priesthood Authority. Then we actually committed her to be baptized.  We just decided that we were going to ask her and then she said, "Oo, gusto ako. Ngayon?"  Which is, "Yes I want to.  Can we do it now?"  We were blown away by her response and had to respectfully decline and tell her that we would give her a date.  

     Our next few lessons consisted of us trying to explain tithing, the word of wisdom, and even the law of chastity.  We thought it would be a little awkward, and it was.  She even asked us what our mga karanasang (experiences) were with the law of chastity.  You could say that there was more than a few moments of silent thinking during that lesson.  But it all turned out great in the end.  Joane had to go back to the Philippines, and now we have two new investigators.  Their names are Ace and Ernesto.  We start teaching them on Monday.  

     Now, every Tuesday, we go to something called TRC.  You go to the main building, and they assign you a room.  You go to that room and there are one or two people inside who speak Tagalog.  You just sit down, get to know them, and talk about whatever they need to hear about the gospel for about twenty minutes.  Then you go to another room and do the same thing.  It is really nice because you realize that you are teaching real people, and they have real stories.  Everyone's needs are different, and all you are there to do is to help them draw closer to Christ.  

     I don't have much more time, but I just wanted to say how grateful I am for the MTC and the way that the program is designed to help you focus on what is the most important, which is Jesus Christ.  Every day, our teachers tell us,  "All you do is invite, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost take care of the rest."

     Thanks for all of your support and all of your prayers.  I am finally getting accustomed to the MTC lifestyle and the MTC food.  There is a joke here that everyone says that you feel the spirit all the time, but it is actually just the food.  I have learned that you really do feel the Spirit all of the time, as long as you try your hardest and follow the rules exactly.  Shout out to all of the cousins and all of my amazing family and friends!

-Elder English

                                                                          

                                                                                        

With his companion, Elder Erickson

The Filipinos

 "Kweba ng pato" 
(I believe this is a room for studying and coordinating referred to in last week's letter.)

First Week in the MTC

Family and Friends,

     I survived my first week in the MTC!  It felt like a year.  Now I have two investigators and the days are flying by.  We committed Joane to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  We tried to teach her about the Plan of Salvation yesterday, but we spent the whole time trying to answer her questions about the pre-mortal world in Taglish (english and tagalog).  

     I actually just realized that we were put into a brand new building.  The building we are in had been closed for a year while they were remodeling and is actually a model for what they plan to do with all of the buildings in the MTC.  Our district is the only one using the bathroom on our floor.  It is really nice.  The language classes are getting more intense.  Now we are getting into clauses and verb conjugations.  In Tagalog, the verb alone says what tense the sentence is in, what the sentence is focusing on, and how many objects are in the sentence just by adding a few letters onto the beginning or end of it.  It has kind of made me realize how weird English is. Whenever we start to complain in class, our teachers say, "It could be worse. You could be learning English." Everyone has also taken to calling me Elder Tagalog instead of Elder English.  It really doesn't make much sense but they all get a good laugh out of it.

     We also have a space in our residence with a bunch of chairs and tables where we can go study or plan with our district.  All of the workers call it the "ponder zone".  We started calling it the "bat cave" but we mixed up the words for duck and bat.  Instead of changing the name, we just call it the "kuwebe ng pato"(duck cave).  I finally found out where the rice is in the cafeteria!  The Samoans and Polys all sit in the corner by the rice container and basically control who can get rice.  Me and the three other Filipinos in my district are able to get rice, but most people just get a stare down when they go to get rice.  I think it is mostly a joke for them, but they basically have a monopoly on the rice cooker.  

     Anyway, everything else is going well.  It is mandatory in our zone that we go to the choir practices and sing in the choir at the devotionals.  This has actually been one of my favorite experiences at the MTC so far.  I actually sang and followed the bass line in "Faith of our Fathers."  The devotionals are at the Marriott Center and they are amazing.  It is amazing to see all the missionaries in the MTC spread out across the parking lot as we walk over to the devotional.  Our district has grown really close and it seems like we've known each other for years.  I have been looking for all of my friends who are speaking Spanish, but someone told me that there is a whole separate campus just for Spanish-speaking elders.  So the MTC is even bigger than I thought it was.  

     I am loving the language, even though it is amazingly confusing.  Our teachers have to make us stand up for about half of the lesson or else we start falling asleep.  They have also started incorporating more of a gospel structure to our language lessons and relating everything back to our missionary purpose.  Our teachers are amazing and one of them just got engaged.  Whenever we ask him questions about it he just says "hindi mahalaga" (not important).  He is probably right, but we just want to hear things about the outside world.  The MTC really is like living on another planet.  

     I was also really excited to hear that Germany won the world cup.  You guys are probably sick of hearing it but I'll say it again, I have been calling it for four years now.  I have been getting all my soccer jerseys in packages and I love wearing them whenever I can.  By the way mom, no, I did not bring my Real jersey but I would love to have it.  Just wanted to say hey to all the cousins and friends.  Thank you for your prayers and your support.  I'm doing my best!

                                                                                     -Elder English   

First letter from the MTC (Missionary Training Center - Provo, UT)

Family and Friends,

        I finally have some free time to check my email while I'm waiting for my laundry.  These last few days have been the most stressful of my life.  But they have also been the most rewarding.  After I was rushed through the doors, they gave me my name badge, ID card, and a huge yellow bag of books for learning Tagalog. Then you walk into a classroom where they speak nothing but Tagalog.  We went through an orientation with all 680 new missionaries that had gotten there that day.  It really is amazing how many people work at the MTC.  

        I learned on Thursday that I would be teaching my first investigator on Friday after only six or seven hours with the new language.  I completely thought that she would be an actor who could speak English and would help us along if we got stuck.  It was the most nerve-racking experience of my life.  I realized when I walked in that Joane was not an actor and didn't speak a word of English.  She had been in the US for about a week.  We had her read some scriptures and asked her how her family was doing.  We think that her mom and grandma are inactive and she takes care of her younger siblings on her own.  I honestly had no idea what she was saying 99 percent of the time.  She kept asking a question about a tanong (question) and diyos (god).  I had a prompting to ask her to write it down, then i pointed at it and said bukas (tomorrow) and she got the biggest smile on her face. I later learned that she was 18 and it was a little weird teaching someone my own age.  We spent half an hour translating her question and I was so worried that we had completely failed.  Then I figured out what the question said.  It said, " If I have a question, can I ask God?"  I got the biggest smile on my face and my teacher started shouting opo! and mabuti!  Which mean yes! and good!  We teach her every day for the next two weeks and I am so excited to tell her about prayer, the Holy Ghost, and show her how to pray.

        My companion's name is Elder Erickson and I think I actually got put with the one person in the MTC who is quieter than me.  I have slowly gotten to know him and we have gotten a lot closer after our first discussion together.  He struggles with the language, but he prays a lot and I know the Spirit will help him with the "koloob ng mga wika" (the gift of tongues).  That is currently my favorite thing to pray for in Tagalog.  We did learn how to pray in Tagalog and it is so much fun to pray in another language.  I have discovered how tiring it is to feel the Spirit this much.  I now realize that working on the tree farm is much easier than working with the Spirit all day long in a different language.  But it is much more rewarding.  I heard one quote that I have been trying to take to heart.  It says "Little growth occurs in a comfort zone, and there is little comfort in a growth zone."  I have definitely been out of my comfort zone all week, but I have grown so much.  High school seems like nothing now.  I feel like my head is going to explode after every language lesson, but I am more happy than I have ever been in my life.  There are three other hapas in my district and one full Filipino.  His name is Elder De Dios and he really is a male version of one of my aunties.  Which is not a bad thing at all. It actually makes me feel a little at home.  I would love to get some world cup updates and it would be awesome if you could send me a few of my soccer jerseys.  Thanks for everything! Hello to all the cousins and all of my friends.  Thank you for all of your support and prayers.  It really does help a lot to know that the whole church is praying for us.  I have to go change my laundry now. You will hear from me again next week!

                                                                                      - Elder English