Go Magic

Elder Nye, Mark, Dexter, & Sheena
right before their baptism
preformed by Elder Claiborne

Elder Claiborne and Sheena

Week 14

When Monday and Tuesday came and went with no email from Elder Claiborne, I suspected this was the first week he was going to neglect to take time to write home. I've heard of other missionaries who, while valiant missionaries, were not good letters writers. So I was pleasantly surprised to get his weekly email yesterday.

It appears the Savior has seen fit once again to allow Elder Claiborne to grow a bit. His experience in translating reminds me a bit of an experience Jack had years ago. He was called to serve as the President of the Young Men Organization at the ripe ol' age of 23 (for non-members, that is the adult leader of the teenage boys ages 12-18). It was a daunting challenge for someone barely out of the teens himself. As the Bishop spoke to him, he said, "We know you are too young, but you are all we have." Now that is honesty! Ha, ha, ha!

I have found, however, that the Savior often chooses a willing heart above complete readiness. The President of our Church, Thomas S. Monson, has been quoted as saying, "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." I have seen that truth evidenced time and time again over the years. When Jack was called, because of his willingness to serve, he became qualified and served diligently with those young men.

Likewise, Elder Claiborne has now been given that same opportunity. I can almost hear the Savior saying to him, just before he was asked to translate from broken English into Tagalog, "I know you aren't yet fluent, but you're all we've got." He became qualified the moment he presented to the Savior a willing and humble heart (a VERY humble heart, I imagine). econd

General Update:
This week was Transfer week, so preparation day was moved to Wednesday (today). I will be transferring to..... nowhere! I'll be in the same area for at least the next six weeks, and I have a hunch I'll be here for longer than that. I'm excited though. I wanted to stay, and improve our work here.

Sheena's baptism had a couple complications, which were not her fault at all, so it got postponed. We'll be continuing her baptism this Saturday along side two seventeen year old boys named Mark and Dexter. They're good kids, and have a ton of family support. Their Uncle will be performing the baptism, which is the kind of thing we always shoot for.

I had an interesting experience this past week. We went on splits with some Elders from the Manila MTC. I was a little nervous going in, because I knew they probably wouldn't speak any English, so it would be a good test of my Tagalog. It turns out, I was right. They spoke zero English. Unfortunately they spoke zero Tagalog as well! They were from Indonesia. Luckily, they had a translator with them. The translator spoke their language, very broken English, and zero Tagalog. So I was the best Tagalog speaker in the group.... Scary thought. We managed to get through some good lessons though. I did most of the teaching. They would then bear their testimonies in their language, their translator would translate to broke English, and I would then translate it to people in Tagalog. It was kind of a circus, but successful nonetheless.

The rest of the week has been good. A lot of the same.

Elder Nye and I are going to ghetto-rig some weights out of cement so we can lift. That should be fun. I'm able to stay in better shape than I expected.

God is good. I can see his constant hand guiding our work.

Love/miss you all!

Elder Austin R. Claiborne

AKA: Certified POGI

Week 13

Elder Claiborne loves serving in the Philippines and learning about a new culture. But he reports that he loves America and reminds us that we are blessed beyond understanding. It appears his language skills are gradually improving. It is in his nature to work at something until he masters it, so I have no doubt he will keep pushing himself until he is comfortable in his communication skills. His update is below.

General Update:

We had a rough week of work, and lots of rain... But, like Sister Bell always tells me, we "kept truckin!"

Elder Nye and I are excited for the baptism of a 16 year old girl named Sheena this coming Saturday. It is amazing to watch a light grow in her eyes as she has accepted the gospel of Christ. She has already written her name in big, colorful letters inside the scriptures we got her. She's got scripture book marks, and loves reading in them. She is already in Alma in the Book of Mormon which is great.

I found out what address my companion uses and think it is more direct than the one I've been given, so here it is:

Elder Austin Claiborne

Philippines Manila Mission

#4 Comet Street, Bel-Air Village 2

1204 Makati City, Metro Manila

Philippines

Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Love,
Elder Claiborne

Picture Time

Nanay Fannie - Elder Claiborne's 1st Baptism

Elder Claiborne with his mission president and his wife

Elder Claibornes 1st companion, his trainer, Elder Nye

Week 12

Elder Claiborne reports another busy week sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. In his separate letter home he reports that his companion, Elder Nye, is an excellent trainer and he describes his mission president as a spiritual giant (all 5'5" of him). He also tells us that prior to her baptism, Nanay Fannie was so excited she was jumping around doing karate, which is even more humorous given that she is apparently 60 years old! Thanks to everyone who has taken time to write to him. The letters are slow in arriving (even through dearelder.com) but when they do arrive, they mean a great deal to him.

General Update:

Epefania Justiniane Ramos (Nanay Fannie) was baptized on September 24, 2011 and confirmed on September 25, 2011. It was a great day for a missionary! She was so excited, it was great!Oh, on a more random note, I saw the American Idol winners last week. haha We went to Market Market which is basically a mall. It's very Americanized. We go there every preparation day so we can buy food for the week, and it just so happened that at the exact time we went, the American Idol people we there. I don't remember who all it was, but I saw Scotty Mcsomethin, Lauren, and a bunch of the other top ten people from last season. We didn't linger or anything, but it was super random! haha So I thought I would throw that in my email this week.

On the same day, I was able to get my shirts tailored (they feel so much better now..), and play a pick-up basketball game with a group of Philippino guys. It was fun, and a bunch of people were stopping to watch the white American play basketball, because it's not something they are used to seeing. haha Oh, and I dominated. Duh.

O.k. well those things don't have much of anything to do with missionary work, but I thought they were fun stories.

My Tagalog is improving slowly but surely. That has easily been my biggest hindrance so far.. I'll get there though. We've been teaching a ton of lessons lately, but hope to be able to get more members present for our lessons. It's always helpful when a testimony comes from someone who is't a full time missionary.

I'm trying my best to put all my focus on the work here, but I'm not going to lie, I miss everyone back home a ton! I try to keep everyone in my prayers, which keeps me on my knees for a long time some nights.

A good section of scripture study this week is Alma 32:28-43 :) God bless everyone. Remember to show God you love him by keeping his commandments!

Love,

-Elder Austin R. Claiborne

Pictures

My favorite part of blogs...the pictures. Here are some pictures of Austin while in the MTC. He will be sending more next week. -Court

Week 11

Elder Claiborne sent pictures this week with his email. They are MTC pictures, but pictures nonetheless. Courtney will be posting them shortly. We're hoping for some Philippines pictures next week.

I've been reflecting on Elder Claiborne's comment this week about why the people of the Philippines love the missionaries so much. I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn't have at least a basic knowledge that I was a child of God and that our Father in Heaven sent his Son to atone for our sins and sorrows and to give his life on the cross. I cannot remember ever wondering if our spirits are eternal or whether we would be resurrected. Thinking of growing up without a knowledge of God and his plan for his children is as foreign to me as living each day without sunlight.

Beyond being able to teach people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, Elder Claiborne has the unique opportunity to teach those who are without even a basic knowledge of God. Is there anything more important?

In the past 11 weeks I have come to see what a great circle of blessings a mission is to every full-time missionary. It blesses the missionary, his or her family and friends, those he or she teaches and finally those taught by these new converts.

Well, my update won't be very long this week because my wonderful mother likes to be long winded in her letters! So I spent most of my email time reading her letter, but that's okay because I still love her.

It's only been 5 days since my last email, because our preparation days got a little mixed up since we had Temple day last Wednesday (which became our Preparation day). So that's why my emails are close together this week. Just didn't want anyone to think I was being disobedient!

We've had a pretty good week of work, except we couldn't proselyte last Wednesday, or last Saturday. Wednesday was Mission Temple day. Then on Saturday, I had a pretty amazing day. One of Elder Nye's old investigators was being married in the Temple, so we were able to attend. It meant waking up at 4 a.m. but it was worth it. Before the wedding, all these people I didn't even know kept having me get in their wedding pictures because they said I was "pogi." That was fun, usually at an American wedding you wouldn't throw random people in your wedding pictures!

We then went into the Temple for the wedding ceremony. Wow! I want that one day. It was pretty special.

We then went to the reception, and sat in the back, like most missionaries would do. Then the Groom's mother came and got the four of us Elders and had us sit at the head table with the other Immediate family and V.I.P.'s. I was pretty surprised. I just met these people that morning. It got me thinking about the Philippine people. Looking around at the people and the love in their hearts was pretty humbling. So many people in America are so much wealthier, yet these people were willing to give me, a stranger, the very best they had. I see it almost every day when I go into their humble homes and they give us the best they can afford. It is humbling.

A lot of it is just their culture, but I realize there's a lot more to it for us as missionaries. Among both investigators and members of the church. They are SO grateful to us. Even me, as a new missionary. They love us because of what we brought to their country. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who have accepted and acted on the message have been able to find real happiness and they love it.

We were then able to go out to work and taught three or four good lessons before going to a baptism that night. (Not one of our investigators, but just to offer support.)

So yeah, Saturday was pretty great. Witnessing an ordinance of exaltation as well as an ordinance of salvation.

Other then that we're just working hard. We were able to get a "perfect pull-up" set up at our apartment. At the expense of the door frame... Hopefully I can get back into better shape with that thing.

Oh yeah, and I'll be baptizing a lady named Nany Fanny this Saturday. It will be the first person I baptize so it's pretty exciting. We also have 5 investigators who have chosen to accept baptismal dates and hope to invite more this week. How exciting for them!

O.k. well I was able to give a pretty good sized update anyways. My email to just my parents will be what suffers! God bless.

Love,

-Elder Austin R. Claiborne