Hello Family!
Along with just about
every other missionary, I'm sure I've said this several times - I can't believe
it's already Pday! And so here I am, writing to you once again from a
strange (hot, humid) land, several thousand miles away. I'll never be
able to fully (or properly) describe the Philippines or my life IN the
Philippines, but here's another attempt at a
some-what interesting letter:
Thursday night was my
mother/grandmother's worst nightmare come true. We had an awesome
morning/afternoon being interviewed for the last time by our mission president
before the mission splits and he goes home (July 1st). We got home that
night (long travel) and had to get to an appointment. We stopped by the
apartment first. In our rush, we neglected to turn off the light as we
left - Enter the nightmare. We got home an hour later... Hatch was
grabbing the key from his bag and fearfully utters, "Oh no." I
look through our glass door to see... THOUSANDS of dead bugs.
Everywhere! Keep in mind, there were none of these when
we left. Not a hint of them. Within an hour of us being gone, they
had magically crawled through our glass windows, started a thriving
civilization, then died - all of our floor, desks, beds, curtains, counters,
etc. They were everywhere. The duration of the night was spent
sweeping them... Yet another evidence that serving in a 3rd world country
actually includes living there. Hmmmm....
And now a story with a
significantly happier ending: Two weeks ago we were riding on top of a
jeep going to the big city to Pday. I had the chance to talk to a man
named Ding we said we could visit him. We did, it was amazing. We
had planned to just share a small introduction lesson with him then go into the
Restoration (Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon) the following visit.
Something (the spirit - duh) told me to skip to the Book of Mormon.
I pulled it out and Ding straight-away says, "Is that a Book of
Mormon? Hold on!" He ran into his room then came out with the
most beaten looking Book of Mormon I've ever seen. To be short, he found
it years ago while searching the wreckage of a house long-since destroyed by a
storm. He's read it every night since then, "solving his
life problems." "Okay - this church is true, and miracles still
exist," was the first thing that popped into my head. Is not this
golden? How great!
Along with Ding, we have
other amazing and truly progressing investigators. I imagine that seeing
their spiritual journey is much like a joy-filled parent cheering on their
child who is just learning to walk. Truly amazing. Truly the best.
I'm doing great!
Hope you are too! Love, Elder Shane Scully Brown
Pictures -
1. THE BUG ATTACK!
(this picture downplays the sheer amount..)
2-3. Service
Project
4-8. Some views of
rain and my rubbish umbrella
9-10. Standing up
on my feet
11-12. Two
pictures of the road
13. My new
umbrella!
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