Week of January 25, 2016

Dear friends and family,

This last week went very well! Every week I feel more grateful for the many blessings in my life. This last week, I felt prompted to visit a recent convert of ours, who needed a lesson. Dexter (the recent convert) is a tricycle driver and works all day in order to support his young family. Unfortunately however, his tricycle had a problem and needed to be fixed, which was going to cost him 1300 pesos, or about 25 dollars. This 25 dollars though was going to mean that his family would not be able to buy food to eat. Needless to say, he was very worried about the situation. During the discussion/lesson with him, he asked me how my life was before the mission, in terms of wealth. I simply said that I was very blessed. After my response, he told me of his childhood, wherein he was forced to work starting at the age of 6 in order for him to eat. Dexter recounted his feelings as he saw other children playing with toys that he desperately wanted, but instead had to spend his time selling fish house to house. Elder Vicente then told him that he understood, as his childhood was very much the same, and how he has gone days without eating because there was no money to do so. It was a very humbling experience for me, but because of my background, I was fully able to testify to him that happiness is not equated to the amount of money that is sitting in our checking account. One of my weaknesses in my life has been that I am too concerned about money. When I would make a comment that would indicate such, my father would always tell me that "happiness does not come from money." I now fully feel and appreciate the words from my father, and know that because of experiences like this, that I am changed forever. Thankfully, in regards to Dexter, perhaps in result of Elder Vicente and I's prayers, his tricycle miraculously was fixed without a costly repair. Miracles really do occur.

We are continually being blessed with many lessons, and it is easy to find people to teach here, as the people are so humble and willing to talk about religion. Our problem is not finding lessons, but managing our time well enough to get to everybody we need to in a day. However, one concern we have is that everyone is so shy, and in result, are afraid to attend church. Elder Vicente and I are working our hardest, but unfortunately, and I suppose fortunately as well, people have agency. I think I now feel a very small portion of how the Lord must feel when we fail to do the right thing, even when we know better. 

The time is continuing to go by faster and faster. And, I am continuing to enjoy the work more every day!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Baptism day after Christmas

Hike from a few weeks ago

Week of January 18, 2016

Dear friends and family,

This last week was awesome! Elder Vicente and I were blessed with many lessons, and in result, we were busy beyond belief. The week flew by! However, I think the greatest think that happened this week was when I received some packages from home. And, you won't believe what was inside of them! Tortillas, hot sauce, and Spanish rice! Now, this may just sound like any ordinary food to you, but I was ecstatic to see such items. So, the other day, I ate the first burrito (which is my favorite food by the way) for the first time in about 5 months. It only had rice and beans, but it was amazing nonetheless. Don't get me wrong, Filipino food is good, but I am definitely missing Mexican food!

It is getting warmer here, if you can believe that! The other day I was told that this is the coolest time of the year, so I'm not sure how exactly I will survive when summer comes, which starts in March here. At any rate, I have been drinking more water than ever before...

One thing that has been nice about being on a mission is that I have essentially walked away from my life. The country I'm living in is different, my friends are different, my language is different, and as I mentioned earlier, my food is different. It has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on the things that have occurred throughout my life. Stepping away and looking at my past life has made me feel more blessed than ever. Sometimes, I think we get so caught up on what is going on in our lives that we sometimes forget to take a step back and reflect on all of the blessings that we have been given. It is easy to see, at a distance, how the Lord had His hand in the lives of my family and myself. I feel so grateful for my family, friends, the wonderful schools I was privileged to attend, and all of the experiences that I have had. Truly, my life has consisted of one miracle after the other, I have just been too blinded by my own busy agenda to see it. I'm sure that this must be the same for many people. 

My challenge to you all this week is to take a step back, and maybe even pray beforehand for help, and sit down and think about all of the things that the Lord has blessed you with, big or small. I think if we remember to do this every once in a while, we won't help but smile, no matter what our circumstances may be.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of January 11, 2016

Dear family and friends,

I can't believe how fast the time is going by! It seems like I just emailed yesterday! 

I once again had an enjoyable, and busy week. Yesterday were once again able to go on splits, which afforded us the ability of teaching more individuals. Better yet, the priests have enjoyed going on splits with us so much, they said they want to continue to teach with us every Sunday! Elder Vicente and I were a little happy to hear that to say the least.

This last week I was able to meet with my mission president and have an interview with him. I never thought I would look forward to interviews, but I certainly did for that one. President Rahlf basically just talked to me to get to know me better, and the interview lacked any of the intimidating aspects that most interviews include. I will be sad to see him go this year. However, I am excited to meet my new mission president, C. Russell Hiatt. I have a member in my ward, the CES coordinator, who served with Brother Hiatt in a mission presidency here in the Philippines. According to my ward member, he is a very kind, and "simple" man, just the kind of person I like!

 Finally, I want to share a small miracle with you that occurred this last week. Although this miracle was so small, it meant so much to me. For Christmas, my family gave me a shutterfly calendar with pictures of my family and such. I was so excited to receive it, and all the other missionaries were jealous. I just had one problem. I had no thumb tack to place it on my wall in front of my desk. Thumb tacks are not very common here as most homes have concrete walls, and I didn't know where I could buy some. Knowing that I would probably have to wait another week until P-day, when I go into the city, made me feel a little disappointed. However, soon after this realization, I noticed a small green thing underneath some other items on our coffee table as I was eating. After further inspection, I concluded that it was a thumb tack! I was so excited and immediately put down my food and went to go put my calendar on the wall! It now makes a great addition to my study area. There is no logical reason why the thumb tack would have been there. I have cleared that coffee table off many times, and I never saw it, and it did not belong to any of the other missionaries. I believe the Lord placed that thumb tack on the coffee table for me as one blessing for my service to Him. This small miracle reminded me of how aware the Lord is of me, and ultimately how aware he is of each one of us. I know if we look intently, we will find miracles in each of our lives as we dedicate ourselves to His service.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of January 4, 2016

Dear family and friends,

My letter will be very short this week, as I am running low on time. However, I did in fact have a great week this last week. Filipinos certainly know how to celebrate new years! One key feature of their new years parties is fireworks, and lots of them. So much so, that my Mission President put a lock down on our work at sundown, or 6:00. I tried to follow the mission rules, and go to bed at 10:30, but I couldn't sleep because there were so many! So, at about 11:45 I gave up, and got up and watched them. There were fireworks being shot off at about every house, but they were all about the size of the fireworks at Disneyland! Needless to say, it was a little loud and a little smoky outside.

This last Sunday, Elder Vicente were able to go on splits with members in our area! It was great, because we were able to teach 12 lessons yesterday, which definitely beats our previous record on our own. Elder Vicente and I are currently working on getting most of our investigators to attend church. Many individuals here have been taught all the lessons, and know all the doctrine, but fail to show up to church, which is slightly frustrating as I'm sure you all can imagine.

Other than that, all is going well here for me! And by the way, this last week, I got my first American housemate! His name is Elder Perkins, and he is from some small town in southern Utah. He has own of those accents that I can't quite explain, but it was evident to me the second he spoke that he is from Utah. His main hobbies include hunting and fishing, so we're not quite similar, but it is nice to have someone to talk to in fluent English nonetheless.

Love,

Elder Pulley