Lonely and forgotten. || Elder Eric Ray Corpuz

Dear Mom,
Can you believe it? Transfers... again? I just don't understand; each transfer is six weeks, but each one seems to get shorter and shorter.

Haha yeah dad, Jason going to Australia to pet Kangaroos and me here in the Philippines going to hug monkeys. What on earth are you sons doing? The zoo was in Montalban dad, and is supposed to be the largest zoo in Asia... all I'm going to say is that if that's true, then I would not like to see any other zoos in Asia.

This week was a really quick week. It was pretty different because Marcie wasn't working with us anymore, but it was a growing experience for me. I didn't have an amazing returned missionary to fall back on or read my mind during lessons - it was just me and my junior. It was a great time to measure to see how far I've come from Marcie's help and pointers though. I'm no where near perfect at Tagalog or teaching, but I've seen progress and I can't ask for much more.

This week, I thought about something that Elder Holland said about how everyone comes to a point in life where they just need to know that things are going to get better, and something I've learned this week, is that that is very, very true. There was something I realized this week that gave me a lot of hope though.

Over the past few days, I've had one phrase pretty much pounded into my head on several different occasions by several different people: God is mindful of you.

That seems to be one of the greatest things I've realized and seen over my mission. The comforting knowledge that although sometimes we feel like no one is thinking of us or that we're not important to anyone, Someone is always thinking of us and we will always be important to Someone. And that Someone happens to be the greatest being in the universe.

In seeing God's hand in my life, I know He's definitely mindful of me - whether through situations or through the people He sends me. The best part though, is being to able be that person that God sends to help or to answer prayers of others.

Last week was a rainy and depressing week. On Tuesday, we were punted from a lot of appointments and caught out in the rain. As we walked from appointment to appointment, we were continuously disappointed in the lack of good excuses that these people had to opt out of letting us share with them. Then finally we were let into Sister Sales' home, and Carla, her oldest daughter, to our surprise was there. Carla rarely gets to attend church and is never home because she is so busy with school, so I was really happy to see her. She usually isn't to excited to see us, but when we walked in that time, she beamed. She was so anxious for us to share, and instigated the beginning of the lesson. I was pretty confused why she was so excited for us to be there, but then it started to make sense.

Carla shared with us how she had been having a really hard day. How she felt lonely and unimportant, so she came downstairs to login to facebook to hopefully find someone to talk to but couldn't find anyone. She felt forgotten. So she said she went upstairs and said a prayer in tears and came back down stairs to be with her mother. Not much longer after, there was a knock on the door, and it was us with Joemark, someone she grew up with but had somewhat lost contact with in the church. She was so happy that we were there that it brought it her to tears, because she knew that God didn't forget her. No matter what kind of monster we can manage to turn ourselves into, it never fails that God always reaches back when we reach out to Him.

It's true that sometimes in life, we just need to feel loved. I think sometimes we just lack to see the love that God shows us and puts right in front of us everyday. Sometimes we do just need to know that things will get better. When trials and change and clouds and tears are overpowering never-ending, I know that if we reach out to God in prayer and ask Him with love to rescue us, He will rescue us.

God will never forget you.

Love,
Elder Corpuz

"You are not invisible to Heavenly Father. He loves you."
-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

P.S. Here are some pictures from the zoo some from office life last week!