Ok so first of all this has been the absolute best three days of my mission!!! I got a new companion on Thursday! I am going to try really really hard to try to put into words my last three days! I know I am not going to do a very good job because I really cannot even explain it or explain how crazy this is! So usually you train for 12 weeks as a new missionary and then after than you can go on your own! But for me i was with my trainer for 6 weeks and now I have a new comp. His name is Elder Kei and he is from Tonga!!! But he moved to New Zealand when he was 9
This is his second area his first area was an Illongo area. So he learned Illongo there. He only knows illongo! But here in New Washington where we are at we speak Tagalog and Aklanon! So my new comp cannot understand what the people here say. A few people can understand Illongo. So ya I have been here for 7 weeks now and am the only one who has any experience with Tagalog! So ya kind of a crazy situation that we are in! Because when I had a Filipino comp he would talk to everyone and lead all the lessons and pretty much just do everything for me! So when I found out that my comp didn't know any Tagalog I was so scared and thought that everything was going to be a mess and we were going to have such a rough time! I really had no idea what we were going to do! NO IDEA! I just kept thinking how bad our lessons would be since at that time I couldn't lead the lessons and teach. Or even talk to the people! I really was no good at all! So when we headed out to work on Friday we really had no idea what was going to happen. Little did I know that I was going to start the best day of my mission so far! So we went out tracking and the first guy we talk to we get a lesson! And then all of a sudden I just went off and taught a decent lesson!! It wasn't a train wreck at all!! I could understand him and he could understand me! He was asking questions and I was answering them! It was the craziest experience of my life!!! I hear stories about this happening but never thought that it could actually happen to me! Well I am here to say that it did! I had help from our Heavenly Father!!! I have no doubt in my mind that he helped me so much that day! I have never prayed so hard from help that day because I knew I was going to need it! And he heard and answered my prayer! I was so happy after that lesson a joy that I cannot even explain! I was like crying I was so happy! It was the most that I have ever felt the spirit since I have been here. Just a huge testimony that I have a purpose here and that this message is important and can really help the people here! People tell me that the language comes over time and that it won't come over night! But that didn't happen to me! In one day my ability to understand and talk to the people multiplied like crazy! It is the craziest thing. I cannot explain it but that is what happened. I am a missionary right now! I don't just sit back and bear my testimony when called upon anymore! No!!! I still have a limit to my language once the conversation goes way deep I kinda lose it but that it ok. It still is a HUGE challenge but I wouldn't want it any other way. This is going to force me to stretch so much! This is going to force me to become a great missionary! Ya even though this is hard I would now want it any other way! I can really learn from this! The thing I have learned more than anything this week is that I am not a lone here in the Philippines. That Heavenly Father is here to help us. My prayers are not the same anymore, I need his help everyday and I know that. But I am here to say that he does hear and answer our prayers. And he gives us trial and challenges to shape us into the missionaries or people that he wants us to be! Man I love my mission and I love this challenge and I am just so excited to face it head on everyday! Thank you all for all the support and love! I have the best family in the world and I love every single one of you! I want you to know that I am doing really good and that I love being a missionary!!!
Love,
Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne
