Mga Mag-Anak

Hello all!

So this week was probably one of the best weeks I've ever experienced and probably once of the most hilarious. Let me explain..

So for the time that I've been here on my mission, I've had a bit of a problem with umbrellas. Each umbrella that I've acquired has lasted shorter than the last. The last umbrella that I bought lasted not even two hours. So Elder Valdez and I were walking on what the call here the FC or flood control. It's essentially this big wall that protects the town from the lake when storms come.  When the sun isn't ridiculously hot, people of all ages hang out here. It offers us some great opportunities to talk and meet new people. Anyway, here we are walking. I had just bought a new umbrella earlier that afternoon, just beading with excitement to use it. As we walking, this huge gust of wind followed by super heavy rain just starts. Elder Valdez and I were so startled. We booked it. We ran down the flood control. He made it down alright. I on the other hand tripped and broke my umbrella. Dang it. It hadn't even lasted one day. So far I've gone through about four umbrellas here. I guess I should take more care of them.

But this week has been an incredible week. One of the harder ones, but I have truly seen what a blessing families are. Almost all our appointments this week were directed towards families. It was amazing to see what kind of impact parents have on their children and the even greater impact children have on their parents. When we went to these families, the parents told us about stories and struggles their families faced and how they overcame them through unity and faith in God. The picture below shows what a blessing it is to be part of a family and the support that they bring into our lives. 

So life here is still hard, but it's looking more promising than ever and I know that I'm growing because of it! I'm so thankful for all of you as always. Tomorrow, I will have been on my mission for five months! That absolutely blows my mind! See you all in the next post! Love you always!

-Elder Bondoc

​The Camposano Family

To All the Mothers

Hello world!

It's me again. Thanks for the emails this week. It was so nice to hear from all of you. This week was spectacular. We met more people than ever this week and the coming weeks look very optimistic. We've made it a companionship goal to talk to as many people as we can to share. It's hot. I'm still kinda blind in my left eye, but that's okay. It could be worse right? This week, we had the chance to watch General Conference. To those of you who don't know what that is, let me explain. In the simplest of terms, members of the church worldwide congregate to watch and listen to the words of the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for counsel and instruction for the progression of the faith of members. Before I left on my mission, some described General Conference to this effect: "It's essentially like TED Talks for Mormons." I cherish the few hours that we had. 

But one talk inspired me so much that it almost brought me to tears. It was a talk given by Jeffery R. Holland about that divine power of a mother's love. So let me start off with the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In Elder Holland's talk he says these four words:

"Bear, borne, carry, deliver." 

These are four words that we relate to Jesus Christ and His Atonement. He BORE our sins and DELIVERS us out of bondage. I don't mean to get preachy, but I am a missionary after all. So let me share this insight. Christ suffered for all people that have ever existed on Earth, that they might return to God's presence as an eternal family. He suffered. You know who else suffered for you? Your mother CARRIED you and because of that, you were BORNe. My mom sacrificed everything for me that I could become the young man that I am today. Every day, until now, in fact, she keeps up with me and loves me unconditionally. Despite my faults, despite my shortcomings, she's there. And for that I could not express enough how much I truly love her. Her love for me is the closest thing to Christ's love that we can comprehend on this earth. Christ gave up everything for us and so did our mothers, that we might have the happiest of lives on this earth. 

So this week everyone, even though Mother's Day is months away, express gratitude for your mom. She did everything for you, some things you might not even understand. To my own mother: Mom I love and miss you. But thank you. For everything. 

That's my week and what really stood out. I hope your week was absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to hear again from you all next week. 

-Elder Bondoc

Back to the Daily Grind

Hello everyone!

So this week has been a pretty busy week. I got back from Manila on Wednesday, had a zone training on Friday, and then had a district community service project yesterday! Busy, busy, busy! To say that I'm tired would be an understatement! But I'm doing great, as always. Keeping my head up and continuing to press forward. So let me update you all on my eye. The doctor said that the swelling on my macula has reduced considerably and that I shouldn't have to worry. So that was very comforting to hear. My vision is still kinda messed up, but over the next couple of weeks I sure hope it will improve. Oh here's something you'll all absolutely LOVE to hear. We had air conditioning installed in the room that we sleep in, compliments of our SUPER nice landlord. Man, we're lucky. I think we're the only apartment in the whole Naga mission with air conditioning. It's been weird to adjust to, let me tell you. Every night, I've been sleeping next to an electric fan (which, don't get me wrong, is absolutely awesome.) But sleeping with cold air... whoa. 

So training my new companion has been an absolute blast. Elder Valdez is a stellar missionary. So two days ago we were both kinda sick with congestion and runny noses. But that didn't stop us from working. I know, we PROBABLY should have rested, but we're feeling great now! So don't worry! We know our limits, I promise. 

The reason we were sick, either the aircon or the weather. I'd put my money on the weather. Over these past couple of days, we had some pretty intense rain. Our electricity in our apartment went out for a night, so we didn't have the luxury of aircon or electric fans... But despite the really sweaty and sleepless nights, we've seen so many blessings come from the rain.All the families that we planned to teach were in their homes. So we were able to fulfill ALL of our appointments! WOW!  What a blessing it was to be able to teach. I am feeling a lot better now physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I can't wait to see where this next couple of months takes us. Thank you all for the emails! I hope to hear from you all! OH yeah I heard that BYU beat UConn in football! Go Cougs!!! Have a great week everyone!!! 

-Elder Bondoc

​Just because we're missionaries doesn't mean we can't be silly. 

First Week of Training and Manila! (For three days)

Hello hello hello everyone! SO let me explain briefly why the title of this blogpost is what it is. So As you all know, I got dengue fever a couple of weeks ago. I'm all better now except for one little, tiny, super super small thing... literally. After having dengue, the sixth or seventh day, the vision in the center of my eye went blind. NOW HOLD ON. DON'T PANIC ANYONE. I'm absolutely fine. I have medicine and my vision has improved considerably since then. But just to be safe, I'm getting my eye checked here in Manila.

So as far as this week goes, training has been absolutely incredible. Meet Elder Valdez. He's from the Philippines and let me tell you. This guy is pre-trained. I'm super lucky. He's super willing to work and do his part as a missionary. It's hard, sure. But he's willing to just take the mission head on. I know that I have a lot to learn from him and I will do my best to teach him everything that I know... which isn't much. I'm super excited and can't wait to see where these next three months will take us. This week was awesome, to say the least. I can't really say that anything new or exciting happened other than this whole training thing. I'll let you all know how this following week is. Take care as always! I am so thankful for everything you all have done for me! Until next week!

-Elder Bondoc

​Me and Elder Valdez!

Big News!

FAMILY! FRIENDS! WHOEVER ELSE IS READING THIS!

Hello hello hello! It's that time of the week again. How are you all? Good I'm hoping. So this week flew by once again. So I didn't trip down any muddy hills this week nor did I acquire nearly as many mosquito bites as I did in the past weeks. Let me tell you that I'm having a great time here. My trainer has been awesome and everyone that I've met here in Bato is absolutely amazing. So this week I finally began to feel comfortable. Everything is beginning to sink in and become routine. But then this morning we received a call from the zone leaders. Guess what everyone...

I'M BECOMING A TRAINER!

That's right! You read that correctly. Right after my training, I will become a trainer and train a missionary fresh out of the MTC for three months. Holy cow holy cow holy cow. I can't tell you how I'm feeling right now because honestly, I don't even know how I'm feeling. I'm excited, anxious, nervous, pumped... and whatever other synonym you can throw in there. 

Something that I am bound to learn from this experience: God knows things about us that we don't even know about ourselves. He knows we're strong even if we don't believe so ourselves. Honestly, that's how I'm feeling right now. I don't know if I can do it. But if Heavenly Father thinks I can, I have absolutely no reason to worry. I'm super excited to meet my trainee and show him the ropes.. like all three. I'm new here but I'll do my best. Time to take this challenge head on. There's no room to get comfortable. That's the nature of God, right? Right when we get comfortable, another challenge comes our way. He's testing us and trying us. He wants us to learn and grow from good and bad experiences. 

Well that's the exciting news for this week everyone. Hope your week was just as good as mine. I'm so thankful for all of you.

-Elder Bondoc

Recovery and Right Back to Work!

Hello hello hello!

Thank you all so much for all your emails and support! I have all my energy now and am right back to work. Your emails definitely kept my hopes and spirits up. I truly felt the blessings of your prayers. I'm truly blessed! 

So this week was a great week. Yesterday it rained super hard again, so I pulled out my flip flops and tracted again just as I had a couple of weeks ago. Later we went to visit a recent convert family. As we were walking down the muddy path, I tripped and my butt was just covered in mud. It was absolutely hilarious. You should have heard me "wowoahoaogaohaoh." Not a single discernible word came out of my mouth. Just me sliding down this muddy hill on my butt. The best! After not being able to work for a whole week, we were able to go back to all the families that we hadn't visited the past week. It was so nice to see all of them and visit again. As a missionary, it's awful being stuck at home when all you can do is think about the people you're supposed to be visiting. 

So this upcoming week is my last week of my training. For the past three months since July 2, I've been trained by Elder Marquez, a missionary who's been here in the field for a whopping 22 months now! He's such a dedicated missionary, as I've mentioned in other emails. That's the highlight of this week. My trainer. He's shown me the ropes and taught me what it truly means to love the people we meet here on the mission. But that's all for this week. Training flew by and now it's time for another transfer next week. So I'll let you know if I'm transferred or if a new companion arrives in Bato.

 Anyway. Thank you so all so much again for all of your prayers. Getting sick stinks. But I'm glad I got to learn from that experience. But it's so nice to be working again. :) Love you all and I'll catch you again next week! 

   

So we wore our companionship ties yesterday. I thought it was pretty sweet, but it doesn't really take much to make a missionary happy, so... 

-Elder Bondoc

Dengue It!

So remember last week, how I said I was super lucky that I hadn't gotten sick? Well my words caught up with me this past week and now I too am sick with none other than the viscous dengue fever. It's absolutely dreadful. Pray that you never get this disease because it just takes a huge toll on the body. Let me explain what my experience was and still continues to be. 

Well it all started Monday night. As I was lying in bed, I realized that I couldn't fall asleep. My body ached and I realized that I had a body temperature of 39.9 degrees Celsius, which is about 103 degrees Fahrenheit. So the fever continued for about 5-6 days. Just throw in excruciating joint pain, rashes on the palms of my hands and bottoms of my feet, and loss of appetite to top off the cake. I've drunk about 12 bottles of gatorade in the past 6 days to keep myself hydrated.

It's been awful. Really. I've never experienced something more dreadful in my entire life. But let me say this. President David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave great insight on this sort of matter. He said "...you and I have the power to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation..." Though it may not directly apply, it still has some connection. There are two ways I can react to this sickness. A. I could lie down and give up. I could be angry and frustrated. or B. I could accept that it's happened, learn from it, and wait for it to pass. I would much rather prefer the second. We all have the choice to react to certain stimuli in different ways. So my take on the current situation, why get mad or angry? I mean I can't say that I haven't been frustrated a little bit, but I'm trying to learn and grow from this experience rather than dwell in self-pity. I know that this isn't my fault and I know that the Lord has placed this obstacle in my path for me to learn and grow from. This is probably one of the most trying times of my life and prayers from all of you sure would help. I can't wait to recuperate and get right back to serving the Lord. That's all for now everyone. Take care always :) 

-Elder Bondoc