No Salt After 6

At the bowling Alley last week. (I sucked!)

The Kalibo Zone

Musta na Kayo jan?! Things here in New Washington are going really well. I can’t believe James and Dallen turned in their papers this week. I am way happy to hear that. I can’t wait to see where they get to serve! Our week has been interesting. We had a few average days then Thursday we had a zone conference in Kalibo, where President and Sister Pagaduan came with the AP's and did a training. He talked a lot about doctrine. Sort of like if someone has a problem with the law of chastity, he probably doesn’t understand the principle of obedience, which means he probably doesn’t understand the plan of happiness. Everything is in some doctrinal category and "true doctrine, understood, changes attitude and behavior." It was a really good training. I will forward you the photo from it. I do have some funny stories though. So Thursday night we were on our way from one appointment to another at about 7:30pm and we stopped at a chungee (little street store) to buy some salt. Elder Williamson asked for salt and the lady acted way weird like "why are you buying salt" and he said "so we have some to cook with, we are out" haha then she said "well it’s past 6pm" and we were like "yeah we know, what does that have to do with anything" and she told us that it’s like a rule. It’s bad to buy salt after 6pm....we frustratedly asked her for the salt again and she finally gave it to us haha. Apparently it’s some religious thing here? Another story was in sacrament this week. It was the sacrament so everyone was quiet and reverent (sort of) and this kid began crying. He was maybe like 6 or 7 and his mom went to grab him and the kid started yelling "BABOY, BABOY, BABOY!" which would be like yelling "PIG, PIG, PIG!" to his mother and everyone heard and I was laughing haha. It was funny but the mom wasn’t very happy haha. So I went to get some money the other day and my debit card from home is expired haha! Can you please mom see if you can get me a new one? I hope you can and just mail it to me or something. I also have some questions I would like to ask Elder Joe Rebman. Tell him to E mail me if he can. I want to know if he has any tips for me regarding tracting/teaching. Just anything he found that worked really well and helped people understand him. Also, how he tracted and got people to loosen up to them. We are tracting a lot here and having good success but I feel like maybe he knows tips that could help us as we serve here in New Washington. His help would be awesome! I can’t believe all the missionaries leaving and coming home. I know so many of them and it is awesome to hear where they are going or have been. Things are going so well here. I love you all!

I heart my Mommy

Happy Birthday Mom!

We teach an English class here! Just me teaching important English to Filipinos haha :) My friends and Mace will laugh. Im not sure if Mom and Dad will get it haha. Hello everyone! Elder Gary here. Things were okay this week. It was probably one of my most frustrating weeks as a missionary. Like all of our appointments were falling through and we also had people that were progressing tell us they do not want to continue listening to us. We had one funny experience with a lady sort of trying to bash us but she was not very well educated haha...she said her "born again" pastor had authority from God because he studied Latin in college....we were like "uhhh..." haha we didn’t know what to say so I just tied it into Joseph Smith haha. Apparantly if you study Latin and start a church, you have authority haha? I guess we will just be tracting a lot this week. I actually don’t mind tracting. I think it is sort of fun meeting people and shocking them when we can speak the language haha. The language is good here. I can pretty much get everything by now. We use a lot of Tagalog here so it is good. My comp and I are getting along fine too. That is rad that Britt is a brace face haha. Dork! I really liked the picture though! When I get home your teeth will be all perfect and pretty! That is cool that Canyon View did so well in the state tournament. Also Desert Hills. I bet dad was loving life at the ball field with all those games haha that will be fun when I get home. The big talk here is about the NBA. Everyone talks about the Heat, and Bulls....I don’t have any clue who even plays for them but I said the Bulls would win haha, nothing to back that up. Just my gut feeling :) This upcoming week we have what is called zone conference. President Pagaduan comes up with his wife and the assistants to president to do a training for all of us. It will be good to see what they say. I like all of them a lot. Plus we get free food so that is always a bonus! I can’t believe school is almost over already. I am OLD now! I have already been a year out of high school. Life is all downhill from here :) haha jk. Today we have planned to go into Kalibo and go....bowling haha! I am excited. Apparantly there is just a guy that keeps score and puts the pins up by hand but I have also heard it is a machine so I will let you know next week. The weather was more like summer this week. It never rained and was just super hot and humid. It was fine though because I assume it will get better every week from now on and will get cooler and more rainy. I thought you would want to know that I am officially done with one full journal. I have kept a good journal every single day of my time in the field and almost every day at the MTC. I have an extra so I don’t need a new one yet. Maybe in 6 months or something. Mom I was thinking about something this week. I would like you to describe to me your feeling when Jordan died. Your thoughts on his death. If you had a strong testimony at the time? If you knew where he was going? If you were mad at God for allowing that to happen? Just everything I wanna know about your and Dad's feeling when that happened....Also I would like to say super, super happy birthday to my mom! I love you tons and wish I could be there to give you a hug and gift! That is cool about your trip to San Diego. I remember going to that baseball game against the Reds and the Reds hit back to back to back home runs when Griffey was still playing for them. It was awesome. We were on the third base line and dad saw some people by us he knew. Anyway, things are good. I love you all so much! Love ang inyong bituing anak na Si Elder Garrett V. Christensen (Your star child) :) Wow Fram Bam I can’t believe you got braces! They look so good on you so thanks for the picture! It is going to be so sweet when you get them off and your teeth are so pretty and perfect. All the boys are going to like you too much but it will be okay because I will be home and I will scare them away :) Are you excited for summer? I know I always loved summer when I was your age! What are you going to do this summer? Play with mom and dad, and Mace and Berk too! haha? I love you Barbs! See ya! Hey, I have a little extra time so I thought I would just say something to Mom. I just wanna tell you Happy Birthday and how thankful I am for you in my life. I thought lots about you this week since your birthday was coming up. I can’t imagine my life with any other mom. I know I was so spoiled and did lots of dumb things when I was in high school but you always showed your love to me and helped me. You never forced me to believe the things I believe. You just showed me by the example you set. Here I see so many parents that are either in different countries or just don’t care about their kids and I hate it. You always worked hard and I thought of a story about when I was young and we and when we still lived in the big pink house. During tax season you always left really early in the morning and so even though my school started at like 8, I would always wake up at like 6 (when you woke up) and go in your room just to talk to you and hang out with you before you left for work. Then when you got home we would go on walks and stuff and I loved it. I never realized how important families are until I got here and have seen so many broken families and seen how awesome my family is. I truly have been given much. I am so happy to know that if we live accordingly, we will always be together since we made the step of going through the temple. I know you have worked so hard for me to be here and prepare me. I also know of the sacrifices you are making at home for me to be here. And I am doing all I can to make everything worth it. I know that Britt will be an awesome young woman if you let here grow and don’t force her into things. She will make mistakes, just like I did (and do) but she will grow into an awesome daughter and sister if you just keep setting an example to her and spending time with her like you always did with me. I am so thankful to have a mom that I could take to dinner and a movie and have a way fun night. Other people don’t have that and I am so thankful for it. Thank you for being you, you are my mom and I couldn’t be happier about it. I love You! Hey Dad what is going on? This week was okay but didn’t have as good as I had hoped work wise. My health is doing great. I feel pretty good except just tired like all day everyday haha. We walk a ton here in New Washington. Maybe like 5-8 miles every day depending on the day. It takes a toll on me sometimes but I am just kind of used to it now. I bet that was fun seeing your old buddies at the Canyon View game. I do miss baseball and football a lot. Nobody here ever talks about either of those. Here it is basketball and basketball only. I hate it haha since I suck at basketball. Are you going to the Spanish Fork vs. Snow Canyon game this week? I wish they could both lose haha jk...Anyway I love you dad!

Another Day in Paradise

Hello everyone. I will start off by saying congratulations to Ben for getting his call. Chile will be awesome and I bet he is stoked to get out to the field. I'm sure Joe has been telling him stories and helping him prepare. This week went really well. It seemed to fly by to me. My new comp is elder Williamson from Vidor, Texas and he is way rad, I like him a lot and we get along well. I have learned a lot from him. My new area is called New Washington and is right on the beach so it is cool. The only thing is that the people here are a lot more wealthy than the people in Sibalom so they are way more prideful and it is hard to get people to listen to us. We have been tracting a lot and I have one funny story. We tracted into a rich house and we said "tagbalay" which is what you say since they have no doorbell. At that point we heard a guy say "ahhh, it’s the Mormons" then he began talking to someone and it was quiet so we couldn't hear what he was saying, then a little boy walked out the door and stared at us as he slowly took the rock out from under the open screen door, he then closed the screen door and then the main door haha. It was funny. We do have a really good ward here and a few good investigators. Calling for Mother’s Day was way awesome. It was way good to hear all the things you have accomplished in my time away from home. I am so proud of Britt in track and the science fair! Keep working hard in sports and school Barb! Also Mace and Breck seem to be doing so well. I am very glad. Mom and Dad are still way awesome of course haha. I have some cool pictures that I will send from the beach and also this week we had a stake jubilee celebration which is the celebration of the missionaries in the Philippines for 50 years now. They did dances and talks about the church on a more local level here in Aklan (which is like saying Washington County.) The language here is called Aklanon and they also speak lots of Tagalog so I am actually using lots of things I learned from the MTC. The Aklanon is way hard though. Most of the words I can’t even say because they do a weird thing with their throat when the word has a letter E in it. Anyway, things are going well. Love you all! Hey Barbar! Things here are going really well. I love you so, so much too! I miss you lots but I am glad the time is going fast for you. Time is going fast for me too. I have already been gone almost seven months! crazy huh! It rains lots here. You would love playing in the mud here and the ocean haha. Love you barbs! Hey Dad! Things went really well this week. Just another week in "paradise" haha. I am glad to hear about the boat. What happened at Havasu? I wonder why it would not run, that is weird. Sorry to hear that the weather is getting hotter. I have definitely gained a better respect for you now that I have to walk all day in this weather. I just sweat a ton and there is no air conditioning, so the only way to cool off is with a fan and not everyone owns one, so standing in shade is the best we have haha. It has officially began rainy season here. It rains every day for at least a while. The other night was the hardest I have ever seen it rain ...ever! It was so, so hard while we were doing studies. Things are well here. Love your son, Gare bear. Love you Pops!

Notes from Mother's Day Call

Garrett called for Mother's Day. He has been transferred to New Washington, Kalibo, Panay, Philippines. It is on the coast on the Northern tip of the island. He lives in a house with his new companion, Elder Wilhelmsen (Texas) and two other Elders. Their house is next door to Sampaguita Gardens Resort and near Maria Mercedes Water Park. He lives in the nicest house in the mission. The area is considered wealthy compared to his last area (Sibolom). It would even be considered nice in America. There is air unit in the Zone Leader's room, they can't use it much, because it costs too much. Still no warm shower. He loves his Mission President. He needs to learn another language in his new area. It is a mixture of Tagalog and Alkanon. He has heard that this new language is harder to learn than Kinaraya was, but he is up for the challange. It was 9:17 Sunday night for us and 11:17 Monday morning for Garrett. He called from an internet cafe, using Skype without video. He loves the Bishop in his new area. There is more poverty in Sibolom and people were more willing to listen. New Washington is more wealthy and people aren't so willing to listen. From Siblomon the couple missionaries took him to Iloilo for a meeting. Then he took a 4 hour bus ride to New Washington with his zone leaders and other transferring Elders. Elder Wilhelmsen has been in New Washington for one transfer, so he is fairly new, too. He asked about Irene, since he hasn't met her. He asked about his room. We told him we tore it apart (we didn't). He asked about his truck, which we sold. He asked about Macy & Breck's upcoming trip to Boston. He asked about Emily and Brad's new baby, Peter. He talked with each of us individually and asked about what and how we are each doing. It is rainy season there. He has started wearing his second pair of shoes, which are waterproof, because he has already worn a whole in the first pair. He loves the pants he had made in the Philippines. They are thinner. They get soaked if they forget to bring their umbrellas. He was soaked during our call because he didn't take his umbrella. He is enjoying the cooler weather during the rainy season. He asked when Colton Gust, Clint Madsen and Nick Accordino (June) leave for their missions. He asked about Brian Knells wedding (April 9). He asked if Ben Rebman got his call yet (he hasn't). He said to talked Ben out of having a girlfriend when he leaves. Having a girlfriend really affects the Elder's ability to have a successful mission. He is surprized how many missionaries don't take it seriously. He said he worked really hard in Sibolom and "walked my butt off everyday". He can see other islands off in the distance. It is really pretty. Every "payday" we go into San Jose and buy groceries. He was happy to hear that Dalton is expecting a mission call. Brittney asked "are you whimpy now?" He didn't know how to reply. We all got a chuckle! Finally he said "maybe". He works out every morning and doesn't think he has gained or lost weight. He keeps in touch with Taylor Webster and Kyle. He wishes James Wulfenstein would write and he hopes James will go on a mission. He enjoys getting handwritten letters. They make his day. He eats a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He likes when people send jerky, because they don't have it there. He misses spices. They use vegetables to flavor food. He is surprised how much he likes rice now. He eats it with his hands or with a spoon. Never a fork. There is a tiny oven in the new house, but he doesn't know if it works. He hopes to send home a package "for mom's birthday with something little for everyone". During the week he is focused and then when it gets closer to his p-day he starts thinking about home and waiting for an e-mail. It's harder now that he has an American companion. People seem to think they are a joke... like two Joes. We asked about the dog bite and he said it was embarrassing. He has had a sore throat for a long time, but Sister Pagalon gave him some medicine and it's getting better. When he talked with Brittney she was shy. She told him about her chickens laying eggs and selling some to Papa Joe. He said "Barb, you're rich". If you have the equivalent to a $20 bill there the shops won't have change for it. They use very small amounts of money. He feels uncomforable taking pictures of the culture because people there don't have cameras. Breck asked about wildlife. There are fist-sized spiders, dogs everywhere, and rats. He ate belut (half developed duck egg). He doesn't like to eat at member's homes very much. They usually have fish. He hasn't eaten in restaurants. He said they try to cook American food, like pizza. We told him pizza is Italian. LOL! He likes rotessori chicken and top ramon. We never need to send toothbrushes, but floride toothpaste would be good, since their toothpaste isn't very good. He is afraid he'll get cavities. He chipped a tooth, but wants to wait until he gets home to have it fixed. He chipped it on a carmel apple sucker. He fell through a bamboo bridge that covered a large ditch colvert. He felt bad, but the people said don't worry about it. They people there are way happy, but they drink a lot and it's hard to get them to stop. They live together without getting married, but they call each other husband and wife. I miss little things like going to Breck's motel. There is no time for just a break. It would be so nice to just go sit in a hot tub. If you are working hard and doing your best here the time flies and before you know it you're home. He asked about the family trip to Havasu. I miss good pasta. We make pasta here, but it's just not the same. You could send alfredo sauce. I miss good food. I buy fruit here. It is so, so good. I bought a whole pineapple and ate it last night. It is so good and cheap. It would be way, way hard to not get anything from your family. Sometimes it's nice to get handwritten letters. It's kind of like the highlight of my week. We got lucky, we can buy peanut butter here and jelly. The closest to eating out I've done is this rice place. I get by fine. In our apartment we have 3 Americans a zone leader (Nebraska) and one Philippino who goes home in a month. He asked about Joe's homecoming. They listen to a lot of Justin Biber. I'm excited that when I come home it will be right in the middle of the deer hunt. You guys can pick me up and we'll go right to deer camp and the stay in the Aladin. He asked Barb what's your favorite subject at school and she said "recess". Barb told Garrett about her soccer, gymnastics and piano lessons. She will go to Toniquent next fall. He asked about my work now that tax season is over. In the pictures you sent, I think Brittney has changed, but the rest of you look the same. He said he listens to hymns on his i-pod. I miss The Ringer show are there any new shows? Is there a new bachelor? LOL! He asked about Macy's EMT testing. To be honest I was talking with Elder Jenkins and I said I kindof wish they didn't sell the F150. I would like to drive it when I get back. The driving is crazy here. Everyone drives all over the place. I do miss air conditioning. I wouldn't mind driving around with air conditioning. He asked us all what we drive (like we would all have new vehicles or something.) He teased Dad that he was having to mow the lawn now that Garrett is gone. When I get home we need to have a softball team. I want to play when I get back. We don't do anything here except basketball. It's fun though to play once a week. That's another good thing about the time I left. I'll only miss one football season. Just make me a fantasy team and I'll take over when I get home. He asked about Dixie High Baseball team. He asked about Trevor Reynold's getting married. He mentioned that he got a letter from Travis Reynolds and from Janell Reynolds. That was cool. I got a letter from Konner Taylor. It said "I'm your best bud." Every once in a while on p-day I write a personal letter to someone. How is Mandy. She sends me DearElder letters almost every week. He asked if we plan to make a trip to the Philippines. He said it would be fun to go like a year after he gets home. In January when I got your calendar I thought I would have to wait forever, but it just flew by and now it's May. He asked if we can do a voice recording of some kind for him. Just the other day I was trying to remember your voices. Could you just buy one of those cheap voice recorders and record your voices so I can hear them. I know it sounds wierd, but I'ld like to hear your voices. Did you guys look up the Jubilee on the internet. It was at Reneta Stadium and the Manila area stakes went together and did a bunch of cultural dances. The Tabernacle Choir came and sang with the Philippine Choir. It was really good. Macy asked if he wants a PAT ring (CTR in Togalog). He said "yeah, that would be cool".

The Jubilee was Awesome

A service project Elder Jenkins & I

Hey everyone! This week has been really good, and flew by! So the biggest news is that I found out I will be transferring this Friday so next week’s letter will be from a different area and a new companion. I won’t lie, I will miss Sibalom. There are a lot of awesome people here and the work was going good as well. This Saturday we watched the “Jubilee" which was a huge, huge celebration of the church officially being in the Philippine Islands for 50 years. I can’t believe it here. In 1961 there was one member and now there is over 630,000 and growing so fast. The Jubilee was awesome. They did a ton of cultural dances and also the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang with the Philippine National Choir. You should look it up to see if you can watch the videos. Then Sunday we had an area conference to which the area 70 came and also Boyd K. Packer and Quentin l. Cook from theTwelve. It was cool to hear them address things specifically to the Philippines and the missionary work here. There was also really good speakers. I am pretty excited for a new comp haha. We were doing ok but have been together 18 weeks so "buhay ron" or a long, long time haha. It will be weird to get a new comp cuz it will only be my second here in the field so it will be different teaching and I will also have to learn a different language. Either Hiligaynon or Aklanon depending on where I transfer. (There are more than 100 languages and 400 dialects in the Philippines.) Hiligaynon is fairly similar to Kinaray'a but just different vocab. It will be wierd. I am really getting to where this language is easy and I can communicate well. I have had a weird cough and sore throat the last few days so hopefully it goes away because it is hard to speak the language here with it like that. That is fun that you got to go to Havasu haha. I am jealous sometimes of things like that. I am glad everything is going well with you all and you are all staying happy and healthy. The weather here is bad haha it is so hot here. I also had a lady wash all my shirts last week and they are so, so much whiter than usual haha. I’ll do it again this week. That is crazy about all the natural disasters going on in the world. Regarding next week, I will try my best to call you early Monday morning here...so Sunday evening there. I will try earlier than I normally e-mail but I can’t guarantee anything since I have no clue where I will be. Also, we cannot do video. Voice only on the Skype. Either way I will get ahold of you and it will be sweet to hear from you all :) I love you all! Bye, Bye. Hey Papa! This week has gone really well. I will be transferring to a different area this week so that will be cool, I guess. I have been meaning to tell you about some funny things here. I told you they use bamboo for everything but this week we were in a different area and the power lines were all tall bamboo haha. I was laughing. Also, when they build a house, they use bamboo for scaffolding haha. It is funny how much they use bamboo in their life. I think it is crazy that baseball is almost over already. Anyway I love you tons, dad, and can’t wait to talk! Hahahahaha Britt that is rude...you miss me not really, but just a little haha I miss you! jk that is so awesome that you ran track in Vegas I am so proud of you Barbs. You are getting so big. I love you so much!