Day by Day, Month by Month, 2 years. Done

Even through trials, adversity, and hardships, making the days go by slower, the weeks still seem just to fly by! Every Sunday I think oh my gosh its Sunday again! tomorrow is P-day! woohoo! I get to clean, wash dishes, clothes, and buy groceries all day!! hahaha sometimes I imagine myself being a Dad! which is the weirdest thing to think about! It helps me get everything done though because it motivates me thinking one day I am gong to have little kids running around screaming, the wife is trying to take care of them, and what do I get to do? wash the dishes, do the laundry, clean the house.... hahah is that weird? I am so flippin excited!

For example, As I was sitting in Sacrament there was the cutest girl sitting in front of me, and I don't care what anyone says but little Filipino kids are the cutest things ever haha, freak I don't even sound like my old self anymore! would anyone catch me saying that before my mission!? the mission truly changes you. anyways... I just wanted one! she was probably three! As I was kind of playing with her during sacrament I just thought to myself, one day I am going to have one of these, maybe many, and I just thought that when that opportunity comes that little kid better be darn sure that I am there for them, and everything will be taken care of for them, and they don't have to worry about anything. Knowing they can trust their dad. haha this is kind of weirding me out! but its true! Its hard to explain, it hit me pretty hard, I even got a little teary eyed thinking about it! it kind of threw a loop cause I never thought I would find myself thinking such things so early in life!

Also, this last week I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Nielson that I mentioned in my last e-mail. That was like that best day I have had in my mission for the last 3 months! We were both just so excited to get some work done! Our focus for the day was to improve on our "Oyms" (Open Your Mouth). An OYM is when you talk with someone about a few principles of the Gospel and invite them to do something about it, or commit them like a return appt. or read the book of mormon stuff like that. Its harder then you think to actually approach people and talk about all that. I mean imagine if your sitting down eating a burger and 2 random dudes walk up to you and start talking about religion I know I would think: " get out of here man! I'm eating a burger!" haha it actually takes skills to get some solid OYMs. We use different tactics, and clues to get ourselves into a conversation. So that is what Elder Nielson and I practiced that day, and it went great! We set a goal for 30! the average companionship will set a goal for 10 a day. We really wanted to exercise some faith. We ended up getting 17 which is still a lot in one day, but almost all of them were really good and resulted in return appts. Ha, one OYM we did was hilarious, I will tell you about it..

One thing that is really popular in the Philippines is "Videoke" its exactly like chareookie for us, I have no idea how to spell that, my spelling went out the window about 3 montsh into the mission haha. anyways... When ever there is a birthday or special event like that, or just even a party. They always have a videoke set! So we were walking down the street, and we heard a videoke going on in a house, and we looked inside to see what was going on, and almost instantly that guy singing stopped and wanted us to sing! Elder Nielson and I do not like singing in front of people but we took one for the team to get the oym, because there was a lot of people there, so we sang... in tagalog... hahah it was hilarious because we actually got into it, and those Filipinos were just loving it, two white guys singing in Tagalog! There was a few people who stopped to watch us and stuff, it was hilarious but we ended up getting some good oyms out of it, friends, and a return appt! So hey it worked! its all about the purpose!

Thats pretty much is folks! other then that nothing much else has changed. Remember everyone, we all have our trials, up and downs, weaknesses, and things we struggle with, but the Lord never gives up on us, so we shouldn't give up on him either! It may take some time, but we just need to be patient with ourselves and work things out line upon line, precept upon precept, thats how the lord works! I have learned that in a very personal way. We can all do it! Dont give up! Stop Trying, and DO!

I love you all!



--
Elder Kikel

-on the Lord's errand-

San Pablo Philippines Mission