2:21 AM
Dear Mom,
These past few days since the last time I emailed you have been incredible. On Friday we had zone conference, Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference, and then today we had our zone activity. We haven't been able to work, but the experiences we've all had these past few days have built us up ready to work even more whole-heartedly with a fresh look at the world.
A few fun side-notes to begin with:
I just received a letter from Spencer Tingey, a great friend of mine in Mexico on his mission. It took his letter five months to travel. He has inspired me to fashion my emails and letters after his style of writing. We'll see what that actually results in.
My companion will kill me for this, but will love it in the future. This week, (as the whole transfer) we've really been working on Tagalog and helping him better get his point across. He has really struggled learning the language so I've done my best to help him piece by piece. This week we focused on stopping him from this horrible habit and idea that he created in making up his own Tagalog words when he didn't know what the word was in Tagalog. He does this in such a way that the words don't even come out Tagalog - they actually come out as English with a Spanish suffix. For example, the other day he wanted to say "sports" but didn't know the Tagalog word, which is "laro." So what did good ol' Elder Jolley do? He made up his own - "esport-tantes." Other good ones I've favored: investigatordads (investigator), expectantes (expectations), and many, many more. He's a funny kid - hopefully we'll have another transfer together.
Anyhow, this week has been just an incredible week of personal revelation, if you will. There are a couple things I'd like to share - all of which, are about things we like to coin as "problems."
First let's think of our own personal definitions of the word, "problem." Whatever your definition may be - it has a negative connotation. It has and should.
This past week, Elder Jolley and I discovered a new great place to eat called "Hungry Haven," that is clean, cheap, and comes equipped with it's own prophet-test. It's owner is one of the nicest ladies I've ever met in her life. She's a Christian lady with great values and always has something great to share with us about life. One of things that she shared with us last week, I feel, should be scripture.
She told us about what "problem" means to her. She tells us that whenever she hears her husband say that they have so many "problems," she stops him and tells him to take a deep breath, then tells him that we don't have problems in life - we have situations. When we refer to these situations as problems, we lack trust in God.
Now how profound is that? When she told us that, it really made us look at life a little differently.
Problems. No. Situations.
Furthermore, I feel like I made a break-through discovery for myself last week about these, so-called "problems" that we seem to bless ourselves with in this life. It kind of all occurred to me while watching a profile on mormon.org this past week. It was about a guy who owns a restaurant and talks about how in life, there is a finite amount of bites that we will take, so we should make each bite great. After pondering about this, and applying this principle to the rest of my life, this is what I got out:
The amount of tests and trials that we receive in this life is a finite amount. Ergo, each trial that we are given, is one less trial that we are expected to endure through; thus, we are given both the comfort in knowing that one day we will soon rest, but concurrently, the positive pressure to motivate us to take the best of every trial and not waste the granted opportunity for us to grow.
I thought about this the other day when I pondered about how everything in this life is indeed finite - at least almost everything. In thinking about the number of bites we will take, times we will use the restroom, or times we will cry, we can conclude that someday, these things will all come to an end. The best part is that the things that are finite, are the things that are of lesser worth to us. An obvious examination of the things of great worth in our lives, be it family, or happiness, can give us the greatest amount of relief in knowing that the things that matter most to us are not finite, but infinite and eternal.
For us now, it's a long week ahead! With transfers next week, we'll be doing our best to prepare our area for whoever will be here next transfer. I'm crossing my fingers to be able to get just one more transfer here. Elder Jolley's birthday is also on Wednesday, so I'll give him your love on behalf.
Concluding, looking at life this way and remembering these things, along with the great lift that the conferences we've sat through this weekend, and the fun we had going to Wawa at Montalban earlier, has changed my eyes a bit. Life all of a sudden loses it's sting when we realize God in the details of our lives and recognize that He gives us everything that we love. All in all, to think we're going to live a life without challenges is unrealistic, so rather than avoid challenges, we should embrace them.
Love,
Elder Corpuz
These past few days since the last time I emailed you have been incredible. On Friday we had zone conference, Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference, and then today we had our zone activity. We haven't been able to work, but the experiences we've all had these past few days have built us up ready to work even more whole-heartedly with a fresh look at the world.
A few fun side-notes to begin with:
I just received a letter from Spencer Tingey, a great friend of mine in Mexico on his mission. It took his letter five months to travel. He has inspired me to fashion my emails and letters after his style of writing. We'll see what that actually results in.
My companion will kill me for this, but will love it in the future. This week, (as the whole transfer) we've really been working on Tagalog and helping him better get his point across. He has really struggled learning the language so I've done my best to help him piece by piece. This week we focused on stopping him from this horrible habit and idea that he created in making up his own Tagalog words when he didn't know what the word was in Tagalog. He does this in such a way that the words don't even come out Tagalog - they actually come out as English with a Spanish suffix. For example, the other day he wanted to say "sports" but didn't know the Tagalog word, which is "laro." So what did good ol' Elder Jolley do? He made up his own - "esport-tantes." Other good ones I've favored: investigatordads (investigator), expectantes (expectations), and many, many more. He's a funny kid - hopefully we'll have another transfer together.
Anyhow, this week has been just an incredible week of personal revelation, if you will. There are a couple things I'd like to share - all of which, are about things we like to coin as "problems."
First let's think of our own personal definitions of the word, "problem." Whatever your definition may be - it has a negative connotation. It has and should.
This past week, Elder Jolley and I discovered a new great place to eat called "Hungry Haven," that is clean, cheap, and comes equipped with it's own prophet-test. It's owner is one of the nicest ladies I've ever met in her life. She's a Christian lady with great values and always has something great to share with us about life. One of things that she shared with us last week, I feel, should be scripture.
She told us about what "problem" means to her. She tells us that whenever she hears her husband say that they have so many "problems," she stops him and tells him to take a deep breath, then tells him that we don't have problems in life - we have situations. When we refer to these situations as problems, we lack trust in God.
Now how profound is that? When she told us that, it really made us look at life a little differently.
Problems. No. Situations.
Furthermore, I feel like I made a break-through discovery for myself last week about these, so-called "problems" that we seem to bless ourselves with in this life. It kind of all occurred to me while watching a profile on mormon.org this past week. It was about a guy who owns a restaurant and talks about how in life, there is a finite amount of bites that we will take, so we should make each bite great. After pondering about this, and applying this principle to the rest of my life, this is what I got out:
The amount of tests and trials that we receive in this life is a finite amount. Ergo, each trial that we are given, is one less trial that we are expected to endure through; thus, we are given both the comfort in knowing that one day we will soon rest, but concurrently, the positive pressure to motivate us to take the best of every trial and not waste the granted opportunity for us to grow.
I thought about this the other day when I pondered about how everything in this life is indeed finite - at least almost everything. In thinking about the number of bites we will take, times we will use the restroom, or times we will cry, we can conclude that someday, these things will all come to an end. The best part is that the things that are finite, are the things that are of lesser worth to us. An obvious examination of the things of great worth in our lives, be it family, or happiness, can give us the greatest amount of relief in knowing that the things that matter most to us are not finite, but infinite and eternal.
For us now, it's a long week ahead! With transfers next week, we'll be doing our best to prepare our area for whoever will be here next transfer. I'm crossing my fingers to be able to get just one more transfer here. Elder Jolley's birthday is also on Wednesday, so I'll give him your love on behalf.
Concluding, looking at life this way and remembering these things, along with the great lift that the conferences we've sat through this weekend, and the fun we had going to Wawa at Montalban earlier, has changed my eyes a bit. Life all of a sudden loses it's sting when we realize God in the details of our lives and recognize that He gives us everything that we love. All in all, to think we're going to live a life without challenges is unrealistic, so rather than avoid challenges, we should embrace them.
Love,
Elder Corpuz
P.S. - Attached some pictures that Sister Lubrido forwarded to me from zone conference and earlier today. Realized I look a little older? You think so?
