Mga kaibigan ko at pamilya ko,
I hope that all of you have been having a lovely time of it in all efforts you have been pursuing. Some of you have already seen some previous emails, and others have not, so I will re-cap in short my experience so far.
Hi! My name is Zephram Tripp, and I’m currently serving as a missionary of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Right now (September 28), I’m in the Missionary Training Center (MTC), primarily learning to speak Tagalog, because I’ve been assigned to serve in the Laoag Phillipines mission. My mission lies in the northernmost part of the island of Luzon, and includes the islands between Luzon and Taiwan as well. I’m beginning my third week here at the MTC and things could not be better. My companion is Elder Almeida, a chill dude from Colorado, who has been a wonderful help and support for me in our efforts to learn together thus far, and who was assigned as the district leader (which means he was in charge of our district of fourteen missionaries) the first week we were here at the MTC, which tenure will end this coming Sunday.
My MTC experience really resembles going to college in a lot of ways. I have classes that I go to for six hours a day, I eat in a cafeteria, I hang out with the same people all the time, I sleep in what are essentially dorms, and fanfare always ensues whenever someone receives a package, whether from their family or their girlfriend. But the differences from the school are what make this place the MTC. Everyone wears name tags and Sunday clothes all the time. All my classes are focused around the missionary purpose. I get to go to two wonderful devotionals every week. And everyone gets to sleep by 10:30. But really it is the amount of time I get to spend reading scripture and developing a better relationship with our Heavenly Father that makes the MTC experience great.
While studying the scriptures this past week, I came across 2 Nephi 28:30, which says
“For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.”
This principle of receiving line upon line and precept upon precept has really been true at the MTC. We have to learn and practice the basics of the language before we can dive into the harder concepts. We receive more spiritual inspiration in small amounts upon which we have. If we cease to study and skip a day, because of the schedule being too tight or just spending too much time on the wrong things, we feel like we’ve taken a step back and have lost a portion of what we had. But if we continue to daily study and diligently ask our Heavenly Father for further blessings and knowledge, every small increase will build into a giant testimony. I know this to be true.
I hope that all of you will continue to be blessed in whatever your endeavors may be. If you have any questions, I can answer letters and emails on Fridays. I’m sorry for the lack of pictures in this email, but there will be more in the future.
Mahal ko po lahat kayo,
Elder Tripp
Tagalog
Mga kaibigan ko at pamilya ko - My friends and my family
Pasensiya po - Please be patient