Mystic Knights...Drink Eggnogg

Commentary from Mom--I have no idea what the title refers to. Kyle said to ask Trevor about it. So when Trevor gets home I will and then let you know!

Will Someone just laugh at me?-

So, I’ve learned that my sense of humor is a lot different than that of most others. Many times this cycle my jokes have been analytically rejected because it’s impractical. It’s cool though. I still laugh on the inside because it reminds me of college. I would tell jokes all the time, but no one ever knew I was joking. So I would keep on dragging it out, on and on until Sean finally blurted out “Will someone just laugh at him?! He’s telling a joke.” Guess I should work on delivery.Caroling-So caroling here is different. The group caroling will give you a invitation weeks in advance, along with an envelope to put in their pay. Then they show up in uniforms with a full band, do a couple songs in front of your house, and then get their money and go. Our Bishop from Tuguegarao was so excited when he shared the revolutionary idea with us to have the youth carol, and give the people the food. Of course, the street children pick up on this idea, and have been singing Christmas songs to us for the past couple weeks, while holding their hands out. So we kindof have our own little Christmas entourage. Except they don’t really know the words.

Blunt-

So descriptions are everything here. If you wanted to point out someone in a crowd it wouldn’t be rude at all to say the matanda(old) or the puti(white) or the calbo(bald). So we tracted into this one couple last week and we swung by a member later that night who was friends with them. Apparently the couple had told them that they had been taught by the Elders. Specifically, Elder Anderson, and the mataba (fat). So, I mark that as a victory in all of my self discipline since early high school days when I was the mataba.

So my companion is getting transferred tomorrow, so I might get my Christmas package. Also, I’m taking over the area. It’s all right. Almost all of our investigators we’ve found since I’ve been here, so I know where everyone is, and would probably feel bummed if I were the one to go. Most of them I myself found on splits, because my companion has a severe dislike for tracting. I feel like the area has progressed well since I’ve been here. I’ve also learned a lot in the past days about leadership. Sometimes you have to make a stand, even if it means people won’t like you. Even people who should be supporting you, especially other Elders or local leaders. It hasn’t happened to me, but my companion has made a stand on a lot of rules lately, and I’ve been able to see a lot of things. It actually kind of made me worried about getting any kind of a leadership role. But I’m glad I had his example, to follow the rules exactly and not bend, even if some people dislike you. I made a lot of decisions about what I personally will strive to do, even if it means taking hits in relationships with members, or even lower numbers to report. I know the rules are there for a reason, and even if we can’t see any rewards outwardly by numbers, even if the numbers drop, we will be blessed and the quality will improve.

So I have one more lesson I would like us all to pay heed to. There is a story in the book of Alma, chapter 24 about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s. So Ammon and the sons of Mosiah had done a really awesome job among the Lamanites. I mean, really awesome. I read about it and the whole time it was just a big cool success story. Then it talked about the converts, and how none of them EVER fell away. That’s awesome. They even let themselves be killed rather than pick up their old habits, return to their former ways. It was way awesome, especially because here we are working with a lot of recent converts that have unfortunately also fallen into the less active category. So that’s what I decided I wanted for all my converts. They wouldn’t start selling on Sunday again just for some extra money. Or start gambling again to fit in with friends, but they would rather the friends hated them and even killed them before they would gamble. Okay, so maybe that’s a little extreme, but that’s what I want out of my converts. Then I went on and read that the ones doing the killing were members who had fallen away (vs.30). So I guess the lesson of this story is: don’t let recent converts hang out with the inactives.

Note: If you couldn’t catch the tone, I was once again telling a joke. Inactive members could probably be benefited very much by interaction with recent converts.