HELLO!
This week was a BLAST. Elder Duero and I got rained on, experienced wet shoes how many times, and actually had the time of our lives. As the past weeks, we had many opportunities to teach lessons and walk super far. But one of the most notable moments this week was the fact that Elder Duero and I got the chance to hitchhike on trucks to get to our area. So one of the barangays (or neighborhoods) in our area is SUPER super far, but every day trucks go to and from delivering sand from there. So this week Elder Duero and I had the thrifty idea of asking the truck drivers if we could hitch a ride. I mean it's free and well... the worst they could say was no. So we asked, and of course got a free ride to our area. We pretty much just stand on the back of these trucks and hold on for dear life. It's like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but without rails and like the 80% chance that you'll get whacked in the face by a tree branch.
But other than that, something that I learned this week was how to deal with rejection and to keep pressing forward. Of course, as missionaries, we're obligated to share the message of the Gospel to each and every single person we meet. Obviously, and most often, people say they're busy or that they don't really have time for us. But there was one instant this week that helped me think a lot. We went to one of our potential investigators. We greeted his wife who was super willing to listen to what we had to share. Anyway, when the husband arrived he said something to this effect. "I'm going to be straightforward with the two of you. Don't come back. We don't have time for people like you." We could hear in his voice not only that he wasn't interested, but that there was truly something planted in his heart before that made him express his true disdain for missionaries. He then continued on doing what he was doing and stopped speaking to us. That was it. We left. Elder Duero expressed to me that he was hurt and I totally felt it. It was like everything that we'd worked for and all the hope we'd mustered up was crushed into a little ball and thrown away. But this is what I shared with him. In missionary work, and in life in general, as much as we want to help and love others, there will be times where we will just be rejected. Despite our hardest efforts, we end up hitting this brick wall. We blame ourselves and begin focus on the negative. But as I have shared in other posts, no matter how hard it gets no matter how many times people say no, I can truly say with my whole heart that I'm still happy. I know that my companion and I are doing our best to help others come unto Christ. However, it is up to those we meet to accept that message that we have to share. I know that we're doing our part. So that's what I have to share for this week. Sometimes, matters get out of our control. As long as we can say that we've done our best, we have absolutely nothing to regret. I love being a missionary and am as happy as ever. Missions are a cool thing. I hope your week was fantastic. I'll talk to you all again next week.
-Elder Bondoc
Just another day at work.
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