2nd Letter from Philippines - Jan 10, 2010

Area: Sibalom Danou Philippines Companion: Elder Bosotros (Northern Philippines) Roommates: Elder Kleinman & Elder Gunnell Language: Kinaray'a Hey everyone. Today is Monday at around 1:50 pm. (The Philippines is 15 hours ahead of Utah time.) This morning we went to San Jose to district meeting and then shopped at a big mall there for weekly groceries. This week has been very tiring, frustrating, fun, crazy, hectic, informative…everything haha! Just crazy to sum it all up. I am definitely feeling better now than last week. Just settling down. Reading President Uchdorf's talk from the October 2010 conference really helps me slow down and appreciate being here. So...we have three baptismal commitments this week! boo ya! But the thing is they have to go to church four weeks in a row to be eligible for baptism and they all bailed this Sunday, so it might not be for a while. The lessons are really quite crazy, all the houses are small bamboo houses and the houses are just open so it is always really loud. Also the women always breast feed in front of us and that is really, really strange haha as you can imagine. Hard to have the spirit I guess. The people here are really so awesome though. They are so kind and accepting. Our ward has a lot of members but only like 50 came this week. Like 40 were women and kids. Almost no priesthood, so we have to do all the sacrament and stuff. Yesterday my roommates and Branch President (bishop) got in a big argument about home teaching haha. He was saying we weren't doing our jobs as missionaries, and they got upset and said that isn't our job to visit members haha. That was in the middle of priesthood meeting so they fought for like an hour then my comp and I just left while the other two and the Stake President argued and figured something out. I have gotten a lot of bug bites. Mom, I tried putting on bug spray but I sweat so much it gets all over and is more of a pain that just getting bitten ha. I still don’t really understand anything at all. I am struggling with the language so much. We don’t have a Book of Mormon in "Kinaray'a" so it is hard to learn the language just by listening which is all I can really do. Almost no study tools but my companion. He is really awesome. He is a great teacher and hard worker. Here it is way, way hot in the mornings from like 8-1 but then it starts cooling down a bit. I am living in Sibalom. There is the city of Sibalom and in a barangay called "Danou" is where my house is. Just outside the main city area of Sibalom. Tuesdays are the market day and they are insane. So many people getting fresh fruit, rice, meat, etc...I am taking quite a few pictures but I am not sure what is the best way to get them to you. I don’t know if I should send the card home or download them from here? Ask Mauri how Taylor does it I guess? We walk a ton!! Our area is absolutely huge ha. It is almost all flat though but the roads are terrible so if you are not careful you will roll your ankle. The transportation is still nuts, but I guess I am just getting used to it. Something that is hard is everyone is so small here that all the stuff is made for small people and it is so hard for me to fit in the tricycles and stuff. Oh well. Hand washing clothes is also pretty gay haha. It takes forever and is kind of hard. Last Monday I went to get pants made and the woman said "they will be done Friday" so we went Friday and of course they weren't done, then we went Saturday morning and she said they would be done that night. Then we went that night and she said Monday, haha. I hope they are done today. There are always guys peeing on the side of the road so that is sweet ha. I sweat like five gallons a day I swear, haha. I have already lost five pounds in one week. The food is pretty good though. I haven't eaten anything weird. The other day we were looking for investigators and we walked like 35 minutes to a river, crossed on a bamboo boat, then walked up a big hill to a different barangay (small part of a town) and started talking to a woman on the street. Then, a guy walked up to us and starting talking to us. Eventually the woman said she didn't want to talk anymore but the guy let us teach him, his wife, son and daughter and we have taught them a couple times, they are awesome and progressing fast. I also teach a white guy that speaks only in English, which is fun because he tells me about sports and stuff. The last week has been long and hard but I have learned so much it has been good. I can’t wait to learn the language so I can communicate. Love you all! Letter to dad – A typical day is… we get up at 6:30, then exercise or whatever really. At 7:00 we get showered/dressed and ready to go for the day. 8 is personal study, 9 is companion study. 10 is language study, which is hard because I don’t have much to study. There are no books or anything really. 11 we are supposed to start our proselyting. It is hard to go out at that time because everyone is working or sleeping but we try. The bulk of our work is from about 2-8 pm. We have a lot of investigators so our days are pretty packed teaching lessons. There is a lot of walking and sweating haha. Transfers are every six weeks but not everyone gets transferred then. Some stay twelve weeks, some longer. It depends on the mission president. We are all getting along well here and everything is getting better. Thanks for your support dad. I love you very much and I am working hard as I can, knowing it will bless our family and the people here. I know you work very hard for me my whole life. Thanks for having my back and everything. I love you. Letter to mom - Mom, Hey! So, to answer all your questions. I have not gotten the box yet (mailed December 9) but I did receive some letters from Grandma Hirschi today, 4 haha. So please tell her thanks for me and I love her! My favorite scripture is probably Ether 12:27 I guess...I don’t know if that is a good one for a plaque though so you decide one for me haha. I like all the scriptures. I am definitely gaining a lot bigger respect for the scriptures. They answer so many questions and I am starting to get lost in them while I read. Like an escape from the stress of being here. Anyway, I love you so much mom and I will keep working as hard as I can, my return is not as far away as it seems. I love you so, so much! Either 12:27 - And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.