Kamusta Po Kayo!

I still can't really speak Tagalog but I'm learning. I am beginning to understand it better though. The Work here in Millwoods is up and down. Filipinos are usually home on the weekends and not during the week. If they are home they are too tired to meet, or they are eating, or having parties with friends. Last Saturday we taught 4 lessons and though we worked even harder yesterday, trying to be as obedient as possible and making the best use of our time- we got nothing. I hate stop by's so much. We just stop by these people, because they hardly ever will nail down a time you can come back, and then they aren't home or they aren't in the mood to talk. We did some tracting with no success and just wasted gas. Kind of frustrating.

We did have a lady agree to baptism last week after we taught her the second lesson. I'm not sure she fully comprehends everything though and I'm not sure she will be able to make time for church. None of these people seem to be able to make time for church due to work. When we teach lessons, everyone of these people is so distracted. every lessons takes an hour to an hour and a half. Not very effective.

On a more positive note, I am learning how to say basic greetings and goodbyes in a number of languages. We run into a lot of different people here of every kind of ethnicity. So when we come across a humble soul from Romania or the Ukraine or the Czech Republic or Bosnia if they aren't interested I ask them how to say a couple words. They seem to appreciate it haha. A guy called last night asking for his son who's wife had just had a baby. I informed him that he had the wrong number but congratulated him on becoming a grand parent and asked if he wanted to know anything about the Mormon church. He was a stanch Russian Orthodox, but he taught me how to say goodbye in Ukrainian.

I hope you are all enjoying life back home. I hope everything goes well for dad in Seattle. We all must press forward with a perfect brightness of hope. I'll keep working here and maybe figure out how to again become an effective servant of the Lord.

Love,

Elder Higginson

Getting used to this Tagalog missionary work

Hello everyone! It seems like a lot of good things are happening back home! Weddings, Family reunions, Temple construction ect. I hope you are all happy!

I'm getting used to this Tagalog missionary work. It's not as satisfying as standard missionary work, and I have not been making much progress in the language, but I am having a study session today with one of the assistants to the president. He was in the same position as I am now about 5 months ago. He was here just before I was and he has been a good support to me since I got this call. He provided me with Tagalog language books and a copy of Preach My Gospel.

I got my first ticket in my life this morning. $149. There is a speed trap right next to our house that goes from 60 Kilometers to 30 Kilometers but it only applies if the lights are flashing. The ticket was posted as happening about two weeks ago, when I just got here. This place has Photo Radar so there is no mercy. Pretty bummed about it.

On a more positive note, we had a baptism last Saturday. Elder Pring and Elder Walker taught a couple from the Philippines and it took about 4 1/2 months but they agreed to be baptized just before I got here so that was cool. However, due to the negligence of our ward leaders, they were not confirmed in Sacrament Meeting! I have helped to coordinate the baptism with the ward mission leader since I got here, and it all seemed squared away, but when we got to church, the Bishop and the ward mission leader were not present, and they did not tell any of their counselors that we were having a conformation! We ended up doing it after church with the bishops first counselor. Not really impressed with these people.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop stressing and just try to have fun here. I'll be obedient, work hard and try to learn the language but I have found that trying to keep everything professional and effective here is just causing me stress and frustration. President has told me that if I cant handle this after a while then he will put me back in a English Missionary capacity. But I'm determined to give this thing a shot. I would really like to learn the language and communicate it to these good people. So I will do what I can and leave the rest to the Lord. I hope you are all having a cheery and wonderful time back home! Don't worry about me, I'll figure this thing out.

love,

Elder Higginson

Pilgrim in an Unholy Land

Kamusta Po!

Well, the last eight days have been crazy. I bid farewell to Elder Jennings and the folks in Nottingham on Tuesday and departed Wednesday morning. I talked to Brooklyn at transfer meeting! She is being trained by Sister Linnford who served in St. Albert in my district. She came out a transfer after me. I am serving with Elder Pring, who is a native from Manilla and he is a happy fellow. The apartment is probably the nicest I've been in yet, or at least after I cleaned it. I've already spent probably five hours cleaning, when I need to be studying this crazy language. The kitchen and bathroom were kind of gross. And soooo much darn Tupperware collected by missionaries and never returned. Hauled a dozen small bags of garbage out to the trash and I'm not finished. Elder Pring is a good sport and he's going to start being more cleanly.

The Millwoods area is in kind of the hood, or at least half of it anyway. There are tons of East Indians and Middle-Eastern people who don't know hardly any English. They used to have an elder here who learned some Hindi and was able to teach people here. He went home two transfers ago.

Working with Filipinos is a different kind of missionary work for sure. They are all so busy here, and it is typical for any Filipino individual or parent to have 2 or 3 jobs. They can never give you a set time to come back for a visit and they never answer their phones. Usually they say come back in a month or in a few weeks. It's frustrating. We cover a whole stake so we do a lot of driving and stop by a lot of random potential investigators, who usually aren't home except in the evenings. Elder Pring and Elder Walker did have some success with a couple however and they will be getting baptized this week. But no one else seems to have actual time to commit to anything. A couple and an individual agreed to be baptized within the two weeks before I came, but when we came by this week, they changed their minds or said they were too busy.

I am trying to learn this language out of old text books and missionary material. The new Assistant to the President, Elder Walker, was here before me in the same situation, and he learned mostly out of the text books, by studying all the time. I am currently having a difficult time wrapping my head around this stuff, but I'll keep trying and praying for the gift of tongues.

Thank you for all the prayers, advice and encouragement! I have felt a strength beyond my own in this experience and I have been working very hard to learn this language and this area and clean my apartment. Please continue praying for me and I will keep working to fulfil my responsibilities, wherewith I have been entrusted.

love,

Elder Higginson

Thou art not yet as Job

Hello everyone! I'll just let you know how things went this week and then move on to more pressing matters. 

We have added 7 new investigators to our teaching pool over the last two weeks! We have taught a good bit and have been implementing new ways to teach on the doorstep. We taught one Filipino, Raymond, who actually knew a good bit about the bible. It sort of caught us off guard, so we adapted and he invited us in. He actually got interested in the book of Enoch a couple weeks before we came, and was researching it, so he is not necessarily opposed to other scripture outside of the Cannon. He agreed to meet this Saturday, So we will bring the Tagalog Speaking Elders with us and transition Raymond over to them so he can be taught in his native language. 

I have really embedded myself in the work here and I've invested a lot of time into building this area up and restoring the members trust in us as dedicated, dependable servants of the Lord. The work has been good and I've enjoyed it. But it's over. We unexpectedly got a call Monday morning and I will be going to the Millwoods stake in South-East Edmonton: Tagalog Speaking. I don't know a lick of Tagalog and I was depressed all morning. I had made such great progress as a normal missionary in teaching, finding, planning and many other phase's of the work and I felt prepared that if I was called upon to train a new missionary I could do so. I was just getting confident in my teaching skills. I will now have to restart to a degree and re-enter the work in a sort of trainee capacity. Amid these thoughts and feelings of depression, Elder Jennings recommended that I pray for a conformation that my call came from the Lord. I have done so and the Lord God Omnipotent has reaffirmed to me that I am still called to the work, and that it is His will that I serve in this capacity. I also however, received the impression that this will be a refiners fire. I must walk by faith and not by sight.

 I have little else to report and I am not sure of what is ahead, So I'll just leave you with this photo of me blissfully playing a violin at a members home on the day previous to all of this craziness. I love you all.

Paalam Po.