GRATITUDES
I'm thankful for food and that it can taste so good. I'm thankful to be living in a period of time that is technologically advanced. I'm thankful that I continue to wake up everyday, and have a healthy body.
EARTHQUAKE
One morning during a service project, we got notifications on our phones that there had been another earthquake on an island not too far from here. It was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that came with tsunami warnings. Luckily it wasn't too bad here. We only felt a little shaking. Apparently there was a third one as well. One elder said he got a notification, and I felt a little shaking, but I don’t have proof of it, so I don't know if I can count it or not. Then I was sleeping, and got woken up at one in the morning to a 6.0 magnitude earthquake 40 miles away. And I'm a deep sleeper. It takes a lot to wake me up. I asked if it was normal to have this many earthquakes, and was told no, so that's great.
BIRTHDAY TRAGEDY
First off, thank you all so much for all the birthday messages. I really felt the love. My birthday was pretty good. We did the service project I had mentioned, and it was honestly a normal day. Until I had done laundry the previous day, and washed all my pants. We had a zone meeting to go to, and my pants apparently were not fully dry, and I don't know if they started to mold or what, but they smelt so bad. I got on the jeepney to ride over to the stake center, and everyone on the jeepney covered their noses. I felt so bad. I have never been more self conscious in my life. Safe to say, I'm glad that I got a second chance the next day since it was my birthday in the Philippines, but not back home. But my STL's bought me a cake and some birthday gifts, so it was great.
FUN MOMENTS
Since I can't really participate in lessons, mixed with my adhd, a lot of the time I find whatever I can to stay entertained and not fall asleep. If there are kids, I will always mess around with them. One time, it was raining pretty hard, and my comp was teaching a lesson (next to a dead body, I’m not joking.) There were these kids, they didn't really speak English, but with the little bit they knew, and the little bit of bisaya I knew, we made it work. They had a water gun, and sitting like 10 feet in front of us was this girl on her phone. Well, they kept shooting her with it, and she thought it was the rain. The missionary in me was trying so hard not to laugh. They handed me the gun at one point and told me to do it, and I just started shooting them with it. It was super fun. We were laughing, and then I turned and realized that my comp was in the middle of a prayer. Another fun thing that I've been doing, is that there is this girl band in the Philippines called Bini, and they have a partnership with this noodle brand. So each pack comes with a surprise sticker of one of the members. I bought enough to last me the week, but ended up eating all of them just trying to get the sticker of one girl named Colet, who I think is the prettiest. Fun fact, she's from Bohol, and some missionaries have met her mom. So pray for me to get lucky enough to meet her. I am not giving up until I get her sticker though, so expect a google photo of the sticker when I get it.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
The weeks are flying by, knock on wood. I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable talking to people, both randomly saying maayong buntag, hapon and gabii to people, and also praying and talking to people in lessons. I'm also starting to understand more, which feels so great. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a long while away from being able to hold a conversation, but progress is progress.
SOMETHING COOL
I've been thinking a lot about what my life is going to be like when I get back home. What car I’ll drive, what clothes I'll wear, what job will I get, where will I live, since some of my family lives in Texas now. Will I go to school? Will I try and find a girl (of course I will?) Just thinking about everything regarding my future. I got told by my therapist before I left that I spend a lot of time in the past and the future. And I feel like a ton of people have told me that I need to not worry or think about the future, that I need to focus on the now and live in the moment. And while I think that carries some truth with it, I don't think that it is entirely true. Here's why I think that. Jeffery R. Holland said in a BYU devotional in 2004 that, "He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future—to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities. God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe." Highlighting that part where he said that God can't answer your prayers, or fulfill your dreams if you don't dream in the first place. I just think that is such a cool perspective. Like I said before, a lot of people have told me not to think about the future, but if you don't think and dream about your future, how do you expect to live the life you want to live? The other thing that stuck out to me was praying for those dreams. I've never really thought to do that. I’m known in my family for having SUPER big dreams and ideas of things I want to do in my life. And I used to think it was a bad thing because then it is embarrassing if I don't accomplish them, but now I realize that all I need to do is involve the Lord in those dreams, and He will gladly bless me with them as long as I have faith that he will, and it aligns with his will.
Dreaming big,
Elder Lewis
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