Week of November 16, 2015

Dear friends and family,

I am happy to say that I have had another great week! This last week, I had the opportunity to go down to the mission home for the "first five weeks." It was nice to see some familiar faces, and that everybody was alive and doing well! President and Sister Rahlf had great messages to share with us, and I left feeling rejuvenated and ready for more missionary work.

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to go on splits with my Zone leader and another American who is one cycle ahead of me. I was a little nervous at first to go on splits with my Zone Leader, as he seems to be a very serious and curt individual. However, I actually enjoyed the day very much and learned quite a bit. I enjoy seeing how other missionaries teach, and to incorporate the things that I like into my own teaching. It was also nice to hear some feedback from him for my own teaching.

Our investigators are doing well, and we have been working with a part member family for the time that I have been here. The mother, Sister Tamayao, and three of her daughters were baptized about 2 months ago. However, we have been working on reteaching them the lessons, and getting her husband and other daughter ready for baptism. As of now, they are scheduled to be baptized the 28th of this month! It is great to see the change that has occurred in this family and the Spirit that dwells in their home because of their righteous desires and choices.

The Lord has been working on my patience this last week, and that is great. I knew that when I came on my mission, I needed two things to occur within myself. One, I knew I needed to be humbled and two, I knew I needed to acquire more patience. The Lord gives us some challenging instances in our life so that we might grow into the individuals that we are to become. I have learned that when I experience feelings of "the natural man" that it is best to just tell the Lord how I am feeling, and ask the Lord for His Spirit, which can allow us to "putteth off the natural man." For example, the computer just shut down as I was in the middle of writing this sentence, haha! I know that if we respond to our challenges in the manner that is pleasing unto Him, we can all become the people we want to be.

The language is coming along, and it is great that I can actually carry on some simple conversations with people at this point! I am thankful for Elder Vicente, who has been essential for me in my learning of the language. I have been blessed with a very intelligent and patient companion.

I hope all is going well at home! Things are getting better for me every day! I know I could be doing no better thing in my life right now.

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of November 9, 2015

Dear friends and family,

I had another great (and hot I might add) week in the Philippines! At the request of my mother, I will talk more about the details of where I am living and such this week. I live in a two story house, which I estimate is about 1000 Square feet. It's definitely not fancy, but it does the job. However, I do miss having an oven and microwave! I share the house with another set of missionaries, so there are just four of us in the house. Because of the fact that the only appliances we have are a rice cooker and a cook-top, my diet is a little bit different than it was before. Many meals consist of some vegetables, some sliced ham, sauteed onions, and of course, rice! However, because I don't much care for cooking, I have been eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Although it's not exactly a fancy dish, I have been making triple-decker sandwiches, and with the really good bread that the Philippines has (it's more moist and sweet), it makes a great dinner for me nonetheless. In the mornings, I eat oatmeal with some fruit, which is a nice way to break up the rice, and fills me up.

Speaking of food, I ate some interesting things this last week. Remember how I said I wasn't going to try dugo (blood) again? Yeah, well that did not come to pass. Last Monday, we ate at a members home, and intestine, cooked pork blood, and cooked worms were served. Now, I don't know if the Lord just blessed my taste buds, but it actually all tasted good to me. The dugo over rice wasn't bad, the intestine just tasted like regular pork, and the worms, to quote the warthog from the Lion King, "tasted like chicken." Now, I'm not saying I will miss this type of food when I get home, but I will eat it if it is put in front of me again.

There is one humbling experience, out of many, that I would like to share with you all that occurred this last week. On Monday, on the way home from that interesting meal I mentioned earlier, I was riding on a tricey. I felt somewhat cold, which is not something I feel very often, so I checked my watch to see what temperature it was. It turns out that it was 29.9 degrees Celsius. Due to the fact that I'm not that familiar with Celsius, I took out our phone to convert the temperature. It turns out it was 85 degrees, and I was cold! However, to make a long story short, I didn't put the phone back in my pocket as well as I should have, because it soon slipped out of my pocket and was run over by the rear wheel of the tricey. I was a little perturbed to say the least, but my companion was very calm, and didn't seem the least bit concerned. The other missionaries could have laughed at my stupidity, but instead, they comforted me and didn't make a big deal of it at all. My companion told me that "that everything happens for a reason", and the next day we bought a new phone (which consisted of a lot of bartering I may add). 

My companion and I have a good teaching pool, and we have 6 investigators with a baptismal date! We also have been making a lot of good contacts while we are walking around as well. That is where my Caucasian ethnicity has come in handy. On a regularly basis, we have a group of teenagers approach us, and ask if they can take a picture with me. I of course say yes, but tell them before I do so, if we can share a quick message with them and share our purpose as missionaries. They always seem happy to oblige in return for a picture! The other day, we had a group of 20 kids approach us! Don't worry, my head is not growing bigger, my abilities regarding Tagalog keep me quite humble! Haha...I'm moving in the right direction though. I figure if I just keep learning new words every day, I eventually will be fluent.

I hope all is continuing to go well at home! Thank you for all of your emails!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of November 2, 2015

Dear friends and family,

I have had a wonderful week here in the mission field. This week, all the missionaries in my mission had the privilege to travel to the mission home to hear from Elder Schwitzer, a member of the Seventy, and his wife, Sister Schwitzer. Elder Schwitzer centered his remarks on repentance, and helping our investigators understand the importance of it. Elder Schwitzer told us that the plan of salvation "is simply a road map" while repentance is the vehicle in which we can return to live with God again. After his remarks, I have begun to think of repentance of being something different than before. Prior to serving my mission, I thought of repentance as being a necessary process, but not being something of great joy. After all, it is hard to accept our weaknesses and then change as a result. However, as Elder Schwitzer pointed out, repentance is a wonderful gift from our Savior that can free us from our transgressions, and help us become progressively better in our lives. I have learned that repentance isn't a topic to treat like ripping off a band-aid, but something to be appreciated at its true value for the rest of our lives and beyond.

Sister Schwitzer centered her remarks on some anecdotes in her life that she felt prepared her to serve as a Mission President's wife a few years ago. She shared some challenges she had in her younger life, which when she became a Mission President's wife, realized were preparatory experiences for her to serve effectively as a missionary of the Lord. Sister Schwitzer told us that we all had experiences in our lives that led us to be called to the specific missions we are in, and she challenged us to look for those experiences and reasons as to why we were called to the Cauayan mission. I have been looking for those experiences in my own life, and have found some interesting things. In the particular ward I am in, a very small fraction of people attend church. My companion and I have been working hard to reactivate these individuals. As I have done so, I have been able to share the reactivation of my own family, and the blessings that came along with it, many times. I am happy to report that the efforts of my companion and I have not been in vain, as we have had some individuals return to church, including a previous Branch President. I will continue to look for preparatory experiences in my life and will share them with you all as I find them.

My Mission President and his wife gave some wonderful talks as well at the mission home. In addition, they put on some minion goggles for Halloween and allowed us to "trick-or-treat" out of a basket of candy they purchased. They really are wonderful people, and I will be sad to see them go next year.

Today, as a P-Day activity, we had the opportunity to travel Callao Caves, located a little southeast of where I live. The caves were amazing, and we also had the opportunity to take a little boat ride on an adjacent river. It was awesome to see some untouched rain forest; it looked like something you would see in an Indiana Jones movie!

I hope all is going well at home! Know that I am doing well, and that things are progressively getting better for me! Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf.

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of October 26, 2015

Dear friends and family,

All is going well here in the Philippines! It seems as if the time seems to be speeding up exponentially with every week!

I have continued to be as diligent as possible in learning Tagalog, and I feel that I have made some progress. This last week, I went on splits with my district leader, and he allowed me to teach the lessons for the day. I learned quite a bit from doing so, and enjoy being able to teach. I know that I don't teach with much eloquence, as my vocabulary is still limited, but I see many of our investigators making progress, which is nice to see. I have had to rely on God so much as I have taught. I have opened my mouth, even when I didn't know what I was going to say, or how for that matter, but thankfully, words have always come out. I like an analogy our Elder's Quorum instructor made yesterday. He said we must be as the bamboo; as bamboo grows taller, the further down it bends. Similarly, as we learn more and more, we must become more humble as well. I feel that this analogy has been true for me the past couple of months. I feel I have learned an immense amount of knowledge, both spiritually and temporally. However, in this time of immense growth, I have also been humbled down to a place where I have never been before. This humbling I speak of is not always a comfortable place to be, but I know that success as a missionary and a disciple of Christ comes out of humility. I have had to trust that as I have been obedient to the mission rules, and as I have been worthy of the Spirit, that it would be there to assist me as I attempt to teach His children. He has not failed me yet.

I feel that I am adjusting to the culture here well, and it is easy to do so. The people are very warm and friendly, as are my fellow Filipino missionaries. Many of them worked very hard, long hours in manual labor prior to their mission to fund it. My companion has been a great one so far. He is 26 years old, and there is another one in my house who is almost 27;so needless to say, I'm definitely young in comparison! Despite their more advanced age and wisdom though, they all seem to have a wonderful ability to have fun. The Filipino people have fun just doing the simple things, something I think the American culture has lost. It is awesome to see as I go around all of the basketball hoops made from branches and other scraps of wood. The people here make do with what they have, and I have never heard a complaint from any of them.

I am still getting used to the attention I get because of how I look. It is funny, because sometime my companion and I are surrounded by a swarm of kids, who refuse to let us keep walking until we give them a high five! I am also getting used to the shorter heights of things. Sometimes, as I am following my companion, he passes underneath a wire or something hanging and I continue to walk without a thought until my head runs right into it. We have had some good laughs.

I hope everybody has a great week!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Week of October 19, 2015

Dear friends and family,

I survived the typhoon! The storm really wasn't all that bad, at least where I am located. It rained quite a bit and thundered quite a bit, but there aren't really any negative effects that I have seen from the storm. However, the power did go out a couple of times, once for about a half hour, and another time for about ten hours. On Sunday, there was no power at church. So, not only did I get to introduce myself and share my testimony in Tagalog to a congregation for the first time, I also got to do so without a microphone!

This past week has been a great one. I have become more accustomed to the culture, and I have seen some improvement in my ability to express myself in Tagalog. However, there is still a long way to go! One thing that is interesting about my area is that there are about five different dialects spoken. In one of the first lessons I had here, I had no idea what was being said. After the lesson, I told my companion that I didn't know what they taught me in the MTC, but that what they were speaking didn't sound like the language I was taught. I was somewhat relieved when he told me that they actually weren't speaking Tagalog. It reaffirmed the fact I was indeed taught the right language, but it also worried me that I must learn a little of all of these dialects as well. It will probably take the full two years to do so, but that's okay.

This last week, I was able to witness the first baptism of one of the investigators I was able to help teach. The man's name is Domingo Binarao, and he's one of the most humble people I have met. Domingo is not an educated man in any since of the word, but his humility is what allowed him to accept the gospel in such a wonderful manner. It was great to see his smiling face as he came out of the waters of baptism. This man is so much different than any of the other people I have witnessed getting baptized. However, in spite of this man's different circumstances, the Spirit and joy that entered the room was still very much the same. Indeed, the gospel is for all people, no matter what their nationality, education level or race may be.

One difference I have seen within myself is my ability to accept my own imperfection. At home, the thought of speaking to people all day in a language I scarcely know would have scared me to death. In fact, when I was learning Spanish in school, I was too scared to practice my language with native speakers, because I didn't want to sound stupid. However, that has not been an option as I have learned Tagalog, so I have opened my mouth anyway. I know the Lord has blessed me as I have shown this humility. This principle surrounding the language has taught me something that we can all apply in our lives. At the end of the day, we are all just human. The purpose of this life as a whole is to learn and grow. This lifelong growth requires patience with ourselves and others as we go through this journey as children of our God.

I forgot to tell you all in my last letter that I tried balut! It was pretty nasty, so it will probably be a while before I have it again, but at least I can say I did it. Also, my companion insisted that I try some cooked pork blood. I did so, and will not try it again. In spite of the different food I have eaten here, I have been blessed with great health. This undoubtedly must be connected with my very fervent prayers before every meal. I don't know if I have said this before, but blessing the food for me is no longer a formality, it is a necessity! haha

It has also been fun learning to wash my clothing by hand. Last week I washed all of it myself, and then decided this week I would just pay a laundry company to do it for me. All I had to wash today was my garments, and it still took a couple of hours! But, I am getting better thanks to the instruction of the natives in my apartment. Believe it or not, there is apparently a method to washing clothing by hand. Oh, and the bucket showers are fun as well! Thankfully, it is usually warm enough here that I don't mind the cold water. I am still just as clean as I would be in a normal shower, it is just a little less enjoyable.

I appreciate all the love and concern that has been shown to me, especially in regards to the Typhoon. I hope all is going well at home, and for our sake, hopefully California will get some rain like I have witnessed as I have been here!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Pictures of Brother and Sister Ralf & Elder Pulley and Elder Vincente

Week of October 12, 2015

Dear family and friends,

It has been a while since I have emailed! I have so much to say, but so little time.

Traveling to the Philippines was a little stressful. Unfortunately, I brought so much rubbish with me that I was very concerned about meeting the weight requirements. I threw things out, rearranged my belongings between bags, and was stressed out along the whole way. I prayed to God for some help and as a result I experienced some miracles. It turned out that even after I threw away some items, my bags were still overweight. However, the man at the check-in counter did not have me pay a fee. Moreover, he didn't even have me pay the fee for having two check-in bags rather than one, even though everybody else had to pay it. Later, when I boarded my airplane in Salt Lake, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a first class ticket on the airplane! I took these two occurrences as signs from God, letting me know that he is aware of me and my endeavors, no matter how simple they at times may be.

The rest of the travel to Manila was long. I had a five hour layover in SF and then a fourteen hour flight to Hong Kong. From there, I had a two hour flight to Manila. The Manila MTC was a good experience, and a good place to adjust to the time difference as well. Here in the Philippines, I am fifteen hours ahead of California. 

This last Wednesday I finally reported to Cauayan city. I had a warm welcome from President and Sister Rahlf, and I have received a wonderful Filipino companion by the name of Elder Vicente. It has been great having him help me out with Tagalog.

This past week has been one of the most humbling of my life. Truly, I have been humbled in ways I never have been before. The living conditions of most of the people here are unlike anything I have ever witnessed. The homes are thrown together with scraps of tin, some just equipped with dirt floors and without a place to go to the restroom. Yet, I have noticed something in the people that I know I will carry with me for all of my life. In spite of the gross poverty that these people are enduring, they do so with a smile on their face. The people I have met here seem to be happier than the average individual back at home. This paradoxical truth has taught me again that happiness is not a location, or something one can work towards. Rather, happiness is a state of being, a choice, and no matter the circumstances we may be in we can choose to be happy.

Now, for something you all might find funny. The first night I arrived here at Tuguegarao city, which is the hottest place in the Philippines by the way, the first thing I heard from a Filipino person here is "One Direction!" I didn't know what he was talking about at first, but then realized he was referring to me. Everywhere I go here, people stare at me like I am a super star. It has been a little uncomfortable, as I am not one who likes attention, but I have started to get used to it. The one thing that is good about the attention I draw is that people notice that I am a missionary and from there I am able to start talking to them about the gospel. So, I guess I'll get over it!

In regards to Tagalog, I know enough to introduce myself, pray, and testify on whatever subject we may be talking about. However, I still have a long way to go. Thankfully though, my companion knows a good amount of English and has been able to help me out. The deal is that I will help him learn English better, and he will help me with Tagalog. So far, it has worked out pretty well.

I appreciate all of the emails that many of you have sent to me. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to respond to them, but know that I enjoy reading them and knowing how things are going at home. 

I want you all to know that in spite of the fact that it has not been easy all along the way, I know that I am doing the best thing I could be doing. It is not easy adjusting to a new culture, learning a language, or enduring trials in general, but I know that the molding I am experiencing will help me be a better tool in the Lord's hands not just for my mission, but for my whole life. The same can be said for those of you who are not on a mission, but are experiencing trials. Know that they can be instrumental in your eternal development, and embrace them as an opportunity to learn and grow. God will be beside you all along the way.

Love,

Elder Pulley