So I needed to whip out that email quick to you Mom , in case you were planning on bringing that package down to the post office at 2 in the morning. But we're in Dagupan today because I needed to buy this dictionary that I couldn't find last week in Rosales , and I decided to look for an ab roller here , despite having looked last transfer and they said they had none , and they had one nowwwww. Only 450 pesos ... so so much cheaper than back home for you to send it. that's about 10 dollars. And it's the exact same thing , not exactly the most high tech equipment out there. So I'm pretty stoked. Also I got my dictionary here , so another reason for rejoice.

Money :: I just wanted you guys to know , so you don't think money is being stolen , that I've had to withdraw a couple times here for different emergencies. The first time I think I took out 1500 Pesos with a 200 Peso transaction fee , and the second time 1000 with a 200 Peso transaction fee. And I may need to do it again soon , because I ran out of the little personal money that I had from the MTC and so now I'm running on support alone , and they don't give you much , ha. Our pamasahe or money used for transportation eats up a good chunk of that support , not to mention we just payed our electricity bill. So yeah - just wanted you guys to be aware of that so it doesn't raise any alarms.

ANDREA ::: So so so sorry for no email last week! I'm not sure how I forgot but I messed up on that one , so you'll have to forgive me. So....... happy birthday! Haha , 30 years old is a big number , but buying yourself a car is a pretty nice treat. Hope you had an awesome day , despite being sick , and I'm sure you are still smiling cuz of that jetta. If you feel like donating it to my missionary cause , please do not hesitate.

Aunt Debbie :::: Just wanted to answer her questions she sent me in a dearelder. Also Aunt Debbie - thank you so much for your dearelders! I honestly have so much reading about what you guys are up to and what Taylor is up to. It's so much fun reading about other Elders in different missions. So please please continue those! Haha. But to answer your questions that I remember , even most of the really poor have TVs. Of course , there are a lot of families here that don't , but I've been so surprised at the number of houses I've walked in to and they have a tv (tiny as it may be) and no floor or sinks or basic essentials. But nobody has more than one here. That would be unspeakable , haha. And as for sports it is basketball and basketball only. They even play basketball with soccer balls sometimes. But I try to get kids to play soccer and when I kick the ball to them they pick it up and dribble ... I will change their culture! But I was pretty confident before my mission that if I got sent out of states I had about a 90% chance of going somewhere where they love soccer. Maybe I was wrong , haha. Also , they do watch American Shows , but only sometimes and only really popular ones I think. Like you would never find the office or sitcoms or comedies or anything being played here. If it's American TV it's almost always a movie or basketball. Though I think once I caught American Idol or something on. OH! They love America's Best Dance Crew , because the first season winners had a lead dancer whose filipino... but that's the only reason. haha. There's not many famous famous Filipinos so they can name them to me pretty easily. Manny Pacquio (spelling on that last name) whose a boxer , lead singer for the Black Eyed Peas , another lead singer , and that's about it. But yep - that's a bit of their culture , haha.

So! I guess my week. Wait , no. First - that's very very awesome about Elder Bednar. He's tied with Elder Holland as my favorite speaker , but they are for different reasons. Elder Bednar came my second or third week in the MTC and was my favorite speaker there. (Elder Holland came on thanksgiving). But he's so direct and educated and a brilliant speaker that my hand was going as fast as it could to take notes and it still wasn't enough. But he spoke to us about similar thing , and I think it's his favorite topic because I've heard a number of talks by him on the same thing , about Doctrine , Principles , and Applications. About how for any Application or Principle we must know the Doctrine behind it. He's a pretty inspirational speaker , and even during the World Leadership Training he talked about doctrine a little more. He's not as heartfelt as Elder Holland , and that's why I like them for different reasons , but you walk away just having been blown away by what he said. His insight and directness in his speaking is really really amazing. So again , you are very lucky for that , haha. And that's right on , that our willingness to act determines everything about us. Attitude and character.

So okay , my week I guess. It's had it's ups and downs , haha. There's things that are hard for me each day , and it's always a struggle to try and get the comp to stay out past 8 oclock. Because even though our area is pretty much asleep then I still want to contact or OYM or something , but he sometimes tries to play the senior comp card. So that's pretty a struggle this past week , but again.. exact obedience is really all I care about so I've been pretty stern about that. Um , there were really only two highlights of the week , the rest was pretty plain , haha sorry. The first was wednesday. We were teaching a lesson to Sister and Brother Tulagan (both the recent converts from my time here) and we were talking about missionary work. Now , my favorite chapter in the BoM is chapter 26 of Alma. Ammon is probably my most favorite person in the book and as he's talking to his brothers , every time I read it , I feel like I can feel his passion. It's simply amazing the words he says. I'm sure there was even more than Mormon couldn't write that I would've loved to read. But anyways , I shared my few favorites from the chapter which are the last three , verse 27 , and verse 12 , and verse ... I can't remember dang. It's on the same page as twelve in the lower right hand corner where he says ... okay I have it in Tagalog but not english. Says ... Masdan, sinasabi ko sa inyo, hindi ko masasabi ang kaliit-liitang bahagi ng nararamdaman ko. Okay nice , that means - Behold, I say unto you, I cannot write a little part of my feeling. Something like that. So when we were teaching her , oh man did I feel that spirit aha , it was so good. And when I do my thoughts and brain like slooowss itself down so I can actually think. Otherwise I fall into this horrible habit of trying to speak fast as usual and end up making less sense. So as I was able to slow down I was able to feel the spirit so good and say exactly what I wanted to. I shared those verses and just told them how much I loved doing what I do. This is an incredible blessing to be able to bring this joy into people's lives each day. And although it's harder than anything I've had to do thus far , oh man is it worth it. So that was an awesome experience this past week and the first highlight. The second! Was yesterday. We get to church , shake the hands of members [ as we usually do to welcome them and keep them active , ha ] , then President Ancheta (first counselor in the bishopric) comes up to me and asks me to speak. Oh man , I was so trapped. Because he asked me last week , but I was way too scared haha to do it on the spot and told him I needed to be able to prepare for at least the night before. So I told him I would do it next week , which was yesterday , but he just said ayos lang which means like it's okay. So I thought he was saying don't worry about it.. ever. So he asks me again yesterday to give a talk , and I couldn't say no again. So I walk up to the stand and used the 5 or 10 minutes I had before it was my turn to speak to try and whip out a subject and talk right there on the spot , haha. I ended up talking about faith and the importance of it in our lives despite burdens and struggles. Found the verses I liked in Alma , Ether , and the Mosiah story in Mosiah 24 , and gave a talk. Oh man was I crazy nervous before getting up there. My tagalog still isn't pinaka the best , so giving a talk on the spot in front of 200 people is a bit anxiety induce arific. Not sure if anxiety is the right word there ... if not forgive me. English is now a third language. So! I gave it , and it actually went okay well. Haha. I was way calm while speaking and again was able to slow down my thoughts and form sentences that made sense.

Anyways , those were the two highlights of the week. The rest of the week is mostly just lessons and trying to learn this language and doctrine to the best of my abilities. To answer your questions mom , zzeeerrroooo bikes for us. Baguio Missionaries do not use bikes , we lumakhad , we use our paa , we walk. Haha. And especially in our area there are no transportation , so some days we walk miles and miles. But! I'm still gaining weight. Because every person in the philippines wants to gain weight because they're all small , so everything is looadded with cals and sugar. I cook veggies for every ulam I use , that or tuna (tuna is not like tuna back home) but I'm getting love handles like it's my job. I need these to be gone , and I need a companion who wants to run in the morning! I wish you guys could see this one path from Minduro to Aliaga we just found yesterday. It's about a 35 minute walk and the most amazing walk , haha. It would be an even better run in the morning , but oh well. But yeah , I'll try to snap more pictures on our next walk. Also it is starting to get a little hotter , but our area is a lot breezier than the areas in cities. Again , I'm in farm land. No buildings , and the houses are... not houses. So pinaka the poor.

So I've gotta go now , but I'm going to attach some pictures first for your viewing pleasure.

1. Remember this picture I showed you of Faber? I went on splits one day to the same area he took the picture in!! So I took the same picture.
2. The baptism of Sister Tulagan. This woman's my best friend , haha , she's way way awesome.
3. After the baptism me sitting with some of the youth and others. Behind my shoulder is President Ancheta whose so so nice and on the far right is Bishop Escano who you got the email from. I did not read the email! Hahaha he speaks english pretty well because he's a teacher. Oh man , he's way makulit but really funny. Also a really nice guy. Makulit means silly by the way. Oh and the kid between my legs in front is Franco. My favorite person in the philippines , and he wants to go on a mission so bad.
4. A sunset from yesterday , not as good as some of the ones on my memory card , but sunsets here are unreal. So much better than the states.

Love you guys! PEACE