A Life in a Box

Considering the fact that I haven't been too active in blogging, I still think of it quite often. The only problem that I currently have in regards on updating my blog, I have no idea what to write on. Not to mention, it's like my journal already.... but I still keep a real paper journal just in case that when I get old, I have something to pull out to my grandchildren, and read some of the weird things that I have done in my youth..... I am not sure if it's supposed to be that way when you hang out with your grandchildren though. Oh well, I will just have to summarized the series of events that happened to me last few weeks.


Unemployed

As fate would have it, things are not getting well with what has been happening. I had to settle things out. Since I was working as a customer service agent, I made a decision to resign out of my job. It took me a lot of prayer, pondering, and consultation in order for me to get to that conclusion.

A lot of people thought I left the company due to the amount of compensation I got, but I basically applied for the job to gain some work experience. There is only one thing I can say regarding of such event, I have grown more mature than I was expecting. And for that, I am thankful for that experience.


Weight loss

Yes, I lost weight. How, you asked? Basically, it's easy! Get sick consecutively. If there is anything that I am very good at, it's at getting sick, and catching something that would cause me to become really ill. But hey, it gave me a leeway to shed some weight, and actually try to look fit (for some parts) with regaining my old beautiful physique. After losing some, I brought back some minimal amount of pounds so that I won't look sickly, as I looked like after recovering from sickness.


Reunion

If there is any description for my family, it would be that we are transient. We get out of the country (Philippines) a lot to work. First part was that my dad left to head to Saudi Arabia, then we headed there right after a few years of tenure-ship in his work, he was able to bring us with him in the Middle East. Not to mention, we go around places a lot too. But since, we moved back here in the Philippines, a lot of plans were made. To say the least was that my dad decided to go back to the Middle East to work, but not in Saudi Arabia anymore. He moved to Kuwait. There, just a few months after, my sister (oldest in the siblings) decided to move there as well. I, on the other hand, was my way to the mission field, though I had to stay for awhile due to some visa reasons And after 2 years and 4 months, I got to get reunited with my younger siblings. But of course, our reunions aren't really complete. Right after my brother stayed with us for awhile, he left immediately to work in United Arab Emirates, in the city of Dubai, where my dad was at.

And to cut the story short, my sister flew all the way from Kuwait, and my dad came back here in Manila to work some stuff here for awhile. It's great to have both of them here back for a little while. And I miss both of them, since it's been like 3 years from the last time I saw them.


So, I guess that is the gist of the events from the last 3 months that just came by. And now, off to veg out!

A Working Title

After a long time of not being active on updating my blog, I felt like part of me died.... just kidding!!! Ahahhahahaaah caught your attention, didn't I? Well, I have been thinking a lot of things lately. And I have come to realize how busy of a man I am. But hey! We find ways, right?

So anyway, me and my cousin have been talking about this idea of making a blog consisted of his artwork, and my literary skills (Yeah right?!). We are talking about making a Tagalog blog. But my brain is totally out for a vacation right now, so I would need some help from you guys.



Calling all Tagalog speakers (or wanted to learn Tagalog at least), I need some help on what should I title the new blog we are going to make.

Comments would be really appreciated. :)

"Welcome to the Reality of Life, Dear Jypsy!"

So lately, I have been in the process of getting employed. Since, I haven't worked things for my school, I finally decided to find myself a job. I have tried applying in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) under the employment of the Church. Thus far, I have no reply from them. It's all good though. So it seems that the job is not meant for me yet.

While browsing through the world of Facebook, I have come across some job advertisements, but it seems that a lot of them will either require me to have at least 2 years of college, or an experience in those certain fields of job. But lo and behold, I found a job that doesn't require me of both credentials. Without any idea of being hired, I gave it a try.

And with a very minimal confidence on myself, I still proceeded on doing the application. As I had submitted my name, I got a call from the company a day after. They asked me about my working experiences, and educational backgrounds. It seems that they were somehow accepting about my situation. And then, they scheduled me for an assessment test and initial interviews that would test my proficiency in the English language, and also asked about how loyal can I get when I actually start working. And so, I made it to the final interview. Somehow, when being interviewed for the account that I was going to be in, the operations manager was a little bit apprehensive due to the fact that I just woke up from a nap, and I was acting somehow a little bit weak in talking, and I was not energetic when I was answering his questions. But after doing a lot of prayers, the assessing manager informed me that I was hired, together with the other guy who I went to apply a job with.

After a couple weeks of waiting, I had the chance to have a job orientation and job offer, and the finale, the contract signing. Now, I am officially an employee to a company. And my job position is a customer service representative for a credit card company.

Well, many people have welcomed me into the demanding, and awfully stressful world of being an employee in the country. I should welcome myself then into it.

Welcome to the world of employment, Jypsy!!

I am in Love

Don't you just have that feeling when you think of that person who you really like and you think of being with them for eternity? And then suddenly, you just feel that that person is the right one for you? I always get it when I think of that lady who has been a best friend to me for years. Over time, I have come to ponder about it, and I sure have developed that love for that person.

But let me tell you a story on how we met, and how I fell in love with her.

It started when I first moved back to my home city, Makati. A wise bishop advised me to move to a different ward, since I live in Makati again. I moved into my home ward. And this soon-to-be-friend moved into the ward at the same time I did. We didn't really start getting to know each other until we attended Young Single Adult activities. The first one that we went to was a Valentine's activity. I was referred to her sister, and she was my Valentine's date. I had the chance to do a musical number, and I sang a Paramore song, and playing a guitar. I passed by their table, and she said that we should have a collaboration sometime. And so we did. Another YSA activity came, and we had something what we call a "Family Home Evening", since a lot of single adults have no family close by (parents and siblings). Afterwards, a sister who initiated another hang out time after the previous activity. We had a dinner in a restaurant with a karaoke bar. We stayed there until at least 3 o'clock in the morning. We laughed, we sang, and we had so much fun. Of course, with me loving music, I never back out on a karaoke. And for a lot of times, we sang a lot of duets together. And we sure blended like heck! It was lovely to the ears. We continued to attend activities until such time that we started hanging out just the two of us. We would go out to some plaza's, eat out, do a lot of random stuffs, and most especially- go to the temple. There came a time when we are both serving in the Youth organization for the church. We would go with the 12 year old's to 18 year old's men and women to find what they want to do in life. It was a fun experience, and definitely a learning experience for both us. There was more to handling youth people than actually caring for them and learning to love them as if they are your little brothers and sisters. We had so much fun for that.

As you all know, I served a Mormon mission. We both made a goal to go on a mission. We promised that we will do our best to return with honor, and become better people. And so we did prepare on doing so. I prepared myself, and so did she. I got called to Alaska, and a month after I got my assignment, she got her's as well. She got called to one of the provinces in the Philippines. It was truly a relationship that strengthened us each other without making any unnecessary commitments. And so, we had somehow an informal relationship. I actually didn't realize that I have feelings for her until such time that I actually left to serve for awhile in a nearby mission around Manila. I think the saying "You will never know that you love until you lose it beside you" is true. I was hurt for a moment because I can't see her for a span of 2 years. Apparently, it went longer than expected. The first 4 months were really hard for me. Knowing that I am only a bus ride away from both home and her, it was clearly a test of faith for me. But of course, I made a promise, first to the Lord, and to her that I will be ever faithful in and on my mission. And thus far, I did pretty good.

Afterwards, the Provo MTC made a big turnaround for me. Knowing that my mission didn't start until such time that I have entered the MTC, it felt long somehow that I still have 2 years left until I can get to see her again. But I still have the promise in my heart and mind that I will do all that I can to finish my mission with honor. There was no time for homesickness, no time to be idle, and most definitely no time to become disobedient. And so, I did all that I can to become that missionary I needed to become. We still kept in contact through email and letters. But on the last transfer that I had, I was impressed to ask in prayer on what I need to do when I get home, and if I needed to get married, who should it be. I focused mostly on the who part of my prayer. (Disclaimer: I was and still am focused on my mission when I was doing the prayer). And many times with those question, it would always come out as "Go ahead and she will be the one of which you need to be married with in the temple."

Well, if that is what I need to do, then like Nephi in the Book of Mormon, I shall say " I will go and the things which the Lord has commanded". Apparently, I just need to do something about it in order for me to really show my love for her, and most especially, to become more obedient.

Now, off to do some loving actions!

Now What??

Now that I am home from my mission, there is a multitude of things I really want to do. But first things first. And I have to be honest, I don't know which one I should do.

I am a huge goal maker. I love making goals and plans. But now that I just got home, it appears that I don't have any plans for next few months or so. So, I would like to ask some few suggestions on what should I do within this coming weeks and months that are ahead of me.

Where in the world did I go?!

I have been gone for about 2 and almost a half year.
Well, Jypsy. Explain yourself!

It's pretty simple. I went on a mission.

What? Did you join the military or the FBI or CIA??

Well, not exactly. I went on an ecclesiastical mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also well known as the Mormons.

What does that supposed to mean?

To put it simply, I went out to go teach the people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Meaning to say, I was wearing the black name tag with a name of an Elder _____ (and of course, mine was Casia), together with the name of the Church.

I was assigned, as previously posted, to the Alaska Anchorage Mission. But on the side note, I was held here in the Philippines for awhile due to some delays with the arrival of the letter for my visa. While waiting for it, my stake president (a lay minister who oversees on the bigger geography on a  city or clusters of cities) was inspired to request from the Area Presidencies to assign me immediately on a temporary assignment. And alas! I was assigned in the Philippines Quezon City North Mission. For the span of 4 months, I was waiting for my visa and all that jazz in order for me to enter into the US. A lot of prayers was rendered by me and fasting in order for me to get out to my assigned mission. I'm not saying that I didn't like being here in the Philippines. I was just more excited to go on my original assignment. But I have to admit, I sure learned a lot of things while serving in that mission. Not to mention, I was assigned to 3 different areas. My first area was in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. In that area, I was there for about a good 3 months with 4 companions. Next one was at Camarin, Caloocan. In there, I was about 2 companions for a month. And my last area in the Philippines was Fairview, Quezon City. Perhaps, that is the shortest time in an area that I have been to. Well, maybe one of the shortest. There, I was with my last 2 companions, and I was near the mission president, his assistant's (who are also missionaries), and the office missionaries. And after a week, and almost a half, I flew to Salt Lake City to head to Provo for my training in the Missionary Training Center. There, I was with about more than 9,000 missionaries who are going through their training before heading to their field of labor. There, I was trained with the fundamentals of what we teach to people.

Then I went to Alaska!
If I wasn't a missionary, I would have considered it a vacation.
Why is that?
Let me tell you.

My first area in Alaska was Ketchikan, the fishing and salmon capital of the world. I have spent about 4 and a half months in there. In missionary terms, I was there for 3 transfers. Then the next stop, the Tongan area in Anchorage! I love serving in the language areas. You go beyond the city limits sometimes, which I love to do. I was in there for only a month and a half, 1 transfer. And then, I got thrown in Dutch Harbor, . I would honestly say that perhaps, Dutch Harbor was the place where I struggled, and grew in the knowledge of the gospel. I was there for about 2 months, and we left back to Anchorage  in the middle of the transfer, putting me in the Spanish branch for about 3 weeks before the transfer ended. That was pretty brief, but I sure had fun learning Spanish at the same time. It's funny because some Hispanics were shocked to see an Asian kid speak Spanish to them. No later than expected, I got transferred to another language speaking area, which I wasn't really desiring to do. I got thrown to the Hmong branch, where I have stayed there for 7 and a half months straight. But included in that time was when I trained a new missionary. Afterwards, I was assigned somewhere else in Anchorage with a limited boundaries, and limited mileage at the same time. I was sent to the Turnagain ward, near the Turnagain straight. There, I was called to train another new missionary for 3 months, putting it into a 2 transfer cycle area. Then after, I got transferred to the ultimate Filipino area, Kodiak islands. There, I finished my last 6 months in that island, working with a lot of Filipinos, and actually using my mission language (which is Tagalog) to teach the Filipino people. I thought that having an island fever for 2 to 5 months was bad, 6 months was a bit too much for me! But hey! It was all worth it. I did all that I can, despite the challenges that came to our companionship, area, and people that we are teaching.

Sometimes, it's hard to admit that you had a successful mission due to the fact that you see a lot of success of a missionary through how much baptism's they had, or how many people they have reactivated to come back to church, or how many families you have witnessed to get sealed for time and through out all eternity in the temple. But now, and with a lot of testimonies of so many people, I have planted the seed of the gospel  into their hearts. Now, it's up to them what they want to do with it. And several times, the Lord has answered my prayers that I have done well. Even a member of the mission presidency and my mission president himself were the answers I got.

I can never describe my over-all experience as a missionary. There are so many things that has truly changed my life for the better. But of course, I shall never forget the root of all the good things that I experienced in my mission: my family. I have seen how the gospel has helped them. It's my turn to help the people receive the gospel.

Oh man, I love my mission so much!

Wanna join the club?