Elder Ben Bondoc: I Can Cook! ... Well... Sort of.

So this week has been a pretty busy one. On Tuesday, we took a four hour bus ride to get to Naga for a workshop by President Reeder and the assistants. Then on the same day we took that same four hour ride back. Then we had exchanges two days ago with the Zone Leaders in Daet, the neighboring city of Labo. SO the past couple of days has been full of travelling and learning, which is the best. I love it, as much as it hurts my puwit to sit for four hours, it's worth it to learn and grow as a missionary. This morning I cooked... well not really cooked, but made this Filipino food called kinilaw for lunch. It's raw tuna soaked in vinegar with calamansi (small lime-lemon type fruits), ginger, salt, pepper, and onions. My companion and I woke up and 6 to go to the public market just to buy this fish. It took about two hours to prepare, but was SO worth it. It's like a Filipino version of sushi or ceviche. It. Was. Delicious. And on top of that, we found a whole bunch of new progressing investigators that are so interested in the gospel. I'm so excited to help them in their progress in the Gospel.

So this week I learned how important it is to..well.. learn. Of all the things that happened this week, I've found out more about my weaknesses and the things that I can improve in myself as a missionary and person. I don't think we value knowledge and life skills enough. We get comfortable with what we have and, most frequently, aren't willing to learn, change, and grow; to stretch ourselves. It's hard to say that we're wrong, especially when we KNOW (or knew) that we were right, but doing such is part of the learning process and becoming better people and, most importantly, children of our Heavenly Father. I love learning and won't stop until I die. That's all for this week everyone. Hope you had a good one and can't wait to talk to you next week!

-Elder Bondoc