Elder Austin Claiborne: October 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

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

Thursday, October 13, 2011

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