How is everyone. Good? Good.
No massive email from momma this week , maybe I'm on too early. But thanks for everyone's emails as usual. and oh man , that's so strange that they weren't released - that must be killing him to have his mission be draining.
- Just got your email Mom -
- Mothers day : No don't worry about any of that . The conversation can only be like 30 mins to MAYBE an hour at most , and calling cards and rates here are pretty cheap I'm pretty sure. But I'll let you know towards the end of April when the call will come. Maybe it'll be on the cell phone that we might have by then ... all the companionships in the mission are supposed to be getting cell phones soon..ish.
Questions of my own:
- How's dad's house
- How's Grant's job hunt
- What's Brandon and Trevor up to
- House the economy / obama / whose the leading republican candidate
- How's Japan
- What's going on in the world...
- Just fill me in , I'm pretty much in a bubble.
- Andrea, send me apple news. That's fine to just google Apple and copy and paste. Send as much as you want , I just want news. Iphone news is coming very soon , should have the keynote third or fourth week of April.
June - can you get me Alex's address? It's 11 Norden Place , right? Whats the zip code for norwalk?
Okay , letter time. Last week was hectic. Let's explain why. Monday was fine , Tuesday was fine , Wednesday... head to district meeting in Bayambang. Have a good workshop from Elder Sanchez , and then we meet together one last time as a zone because it's transfer day on Friday. Three people were pretty obvious for transferring because of different reasons kind of hard to explain to someone whose not a missionary , but basically their time was pretty much definitely up in the zone. Then there was the rest of us , in which there were like 5 who were probably going to transfer and 2 almost definitely. So.. one by one Elder Coleman (a ZL) calls the names. Elder Sanchez first ... he then gives his testimony. Elder Limyoco next ... testimony. Elder Podzikowski (ZL) ... testimony , then last... me. WHAT?! I did nottt think I would be transferred. Only two transfers in Malimpec , my companion was only one transfer into the area , and it's already been two transfers with two different companions. So so weird. But I testified and then we went to shakeys (pizza place) one last time as bayambang zone. Wednesday night and Thursday we still had a bunch of appointments but I had to say goodbye to a ton of families. The Tulagan's (the family I baptized) were the hardest , haha. They're so nice and it was really sad to say goodbye to them. But I've got a pretty good feeling that one way or another I'll visit them again. I feel like I'll be transferred back into Bayambang Zone again. So then Thursday night we had dinner at Bishop Escano's house and a bunch of the ward missionaries and the friends I made there came and said goodbye. It was way nice. Friday morning wake up and the jeepney with all the Elders transferring from the zone got there at about 7:45 finally. Head to Transfer Meeting , and got called up randomly to bear testimony with a couple others. President Jensen gave a really good message about Enoch and thennnn the transfers. 3 others from my batch were actually there too , Elder Tollman , Elder Purcell , and Elder Evert. Soooo , Elder Tollman goes to Lingayen Zone , Elder Purcell goes to Mangaldan , Elder Evert to Rosales , and me.. Rosales too. Which I was actually pretty stoked about , Rosales is a pretty sweet zone and has an SM which there's only two in the mission. Baguio and Rosales. It's basically just a mall , but really big and pretty american-ized ha. So I got to my area which iss San Quintin! It's pretty awesome , Elder Lefler's old area before he went to Malimpec (a lot of the members have ..things.. to say about him , ahaha) , and the house is soo much nicer. Although I saw about an 8 inch spider on my bed as I was putting the sheet on. My companion is Elder Salde from Visayes Region of Philippines and he's way way nice. It's so good to actually laugh with a companion again , ahaha.
So Friday night we just met members and ate at a members house , in which I shared a short message afterwards. Saturday we met the branch presidency (it's just a branch and meeting house is way small , it's awesome) but the church is currently being built and they're hoping for it to be done by July. The branch president and first counselor are way young , too , aha. Then later they had a half-day mission thing in which some members helped out with some investigator and less active member lessons. The branch is way way nice , and this area is so cool. It reminds me a lot of utah because of it's streets and it has mountains in the background. Also , I'm turning into a canadian with all this sun (that's a dad's side of the family reference). Saturday night we went to a funeral of a member who had just died andd funerals are a bit different. They're pretty loud , crazy , and small , aha. And aren't held in a church. It was still good though , and the family gave some heartfelt messages. Sunday was church and so I again gave another message and introduced myself during sacrament meeting. They all think I'm good at tagalog , so we'll see how long that lasts , ha. After church we ate at a members house for lunch then went to the burial part , which is held the next day. The procession was all of us walking behind the [hurst?] funeral car , as the car played music and drove crazy slow to the site. It was funny to hear a piano instrumental of my heart will go on at a funeral. After that we had a bunch of lessons in which the second counselor accompanied us. He's like 70 years old and hysterical. He's the sweetest looking old man and just talks and talks and talks at the end of lessons. We were cracking up afterwards because after our last lesson he told a story that took like an additional 25 minutes. Elder Salde like thought he was done after 15 minutes and was like alright , thank you Brother for that story , and then he continued again.
All in all , I'm transferred to a new area and love it so far. The people are way nice and there is so much work to be done , which I am stoked about. It's not a city but it's not as Bukid or middle of nowhere-ness as Malimpec was. But thereare only 160 members in the area , which means so so so much work that I get to do. I'm loving it. The new companion is way awesome too , so this is looking to be a really good transfer.
Sorry this email is kind of lacking , but I'm at the SM right now and my times pretty much up. I'll email some pictures next week! Also I think your package is here mom , they tell me I have a package here and I'm going to pick it up.
Love you all ,
Elder White
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Famalehh
How is everyone. Good? Good.
No massive email from momma this week , maybe I'm on too early. But thanks for everyone's emails as usual. and oh man , that's so strange that they weren't released - that must be killing him to have his mission be draining.
- Just got your email Mom -
- Mothers day : No don't worry about any of that . The conversation can only be like 30 mins to MAYBE an hour at most , and calling cards and rates here are pretty cheap I'm pretty sure. But I'll let you know towards the end of April when the call will come. Maybe it'll be on the cell phone that we might have by then ... all the companionships in the mission are supposed to be getting cell phones soon..ish.
Questions of my own:
- How's dad's house
- How's Grant's job hunt
- What's Brandon and Trevor up to
- House the economy / obama / whose the leading republican candidate
- How's Japan
- What's going on in the world...
- Just fill me in , I'm pretty much in a bubble.
- Andrea, send me apple news. That's fine to just google Apple and copy and paste. Send as much as you want , I just want news. Iphone news is coming very soon , should have the keynote third or fourth week of April.
June - can you get me Alex's address? It's 11 Norden Place , right? Whats the zip code for norwalk?
Okay , letter time. Last week was hectic. Let's explain why. Monday was fine , Tuesday was fine , Wednesday... head to district meeting in Bayambang. Have a good workshop from Elder Sanchez , and then we meet together one last time as a zone because it's transfer day on Friday. Three people were pretty obvious for transferring because of different reasons kind of hard to explain to someone whose not a missionary , but basically their time was pretty much definitely up in the zone. Then there was the rest of us , in which there were like 5 who were probably going to transfer and 2 almost definitely. So.. one by one Elder Coleman (a ZL) calls the names. Elder Sanchez first ... he then gives his testimony. Elder Limyoco next ... testimony. Elder Podzikowski (ZL) ... testimony , then last... me. WHAT?! I did nottt think I would be transferred. Only two transfers in Malimpec , my companion was only one transfer into the area , and it's already been two transfers with two different companions. So so weird. But I testified and then we went to shakeys (pizza place) one last time as bayambang zone. Wednesday night and Thursday we still had a bunch of appointments but I had to say goodbye to a ton of families. The Tulagan's (the family I baptized) were the hardest , haha. They're so nice and it was really sad to say goodbye to them. But I've got a pretty good feeling that one way or another I'll visit them again. I feel like I'll be transferred back into Bayambang Zone again. So then Thursday night we had dinner at Bishop Escano's house and a bunch of the ward missionaries and the friends I made there came and said goodbye. It was way nice. Friday morning wake up and the jeepney with all the Elders transferring from the zone got there at about 7:45 finally. Head to Transfer Meeting , and got called up randomly to bear testimony with a couple others. President Jensen gave a really good message about Enoch and thennnn the transfers. 3 others from my batch were actually there too , Elder Tollman , Elder Purcell , and Elder Evert. Soooo , Elder Tollman goes to Lingayen Zone , Elder Purcell goes to Mangaldan , Elder Evert to Rosales , and me.. Rosales too. Which I was actually pretty stoked about , Rosales is a pretty sweet zone and has an SM which there's only two in the mission. Baguio and Rosales. It's basically just a mall , but really big and pretty american-ized ha. So I got to my area which iss San Quintin! It's pretty awesome , Elder Lefler's old area before he went to Malimpec (a lot of the members have ..things.. to say about him , ahaha) , and the house is soo much nicer. Although I saw about an 8 inch spider on my bed as I was putting the sheet on. My companion is Elder Salde from Visayes Region of Philippines and he's way way nice. It's so good to actually laugh with a companion again , ahaha.
So Friday night we just met members and ate at a members house , in which I shared a short message afterwards. Saturday we met the branch presidency (it's just a branch and meeting house is way small , it's awesome) but the church is currently being built and they're hoping for it to be done by July. The branch president and first counselor are way young , too , aha. Then later they had a half-day mission thing in which some members helped out with some investigator and less active member lessons. The branch is way way nice , and this area is so cool. It reminds me a lot of utah because of it's streets and it has mountains in the background. Also , I'm turning into a canadian with all this sun (that's a dad's side of the family reference). Saturday night we went to a funeral of a member who had just died andd funerals are a bit different. They're pretty loud , crazy , and small , aha. And aren't held in a church. It was still good though , and the family gave some heartfelt messages. Sunday was church and so I again gave another message and introduced myself during sacrament meeting. They all think I'm good at tagalog , so we'll see how long that lasts , ha. After church we ate at a members house for lunch then went to the burial part , which is held the next day. The procession was all of us walking behind the [hurst?] funeral car , as the car played music and drove crazy slow to the site. It was funny to hear a piano instrumental of my heart will go on at a funeral. After that we had a bunch of lessons in which the second counselor accompanied us. He's like 70 years old and hysterical. He's the sweetest looking old man and just talks and talks and talks at the end of lessons. We were cracking up afterwards because after our last lesson he told a story that took like an additional 25 minutes. Elder Salde like thought he was done after 15 minutes and was like alright , thank you Brother for that story , and then he continued again.
All in all , I'm transferred to a new area and love it so far. The people are way nice and there is so much work to be done , which I am stoked about. It's not a city but it's not as Bukid or middle of nowhere-ness as Malimpec was. But thereare only 160 members in the area , which means so so so much work that I get to do. I'm loving it. The new companion is way awesome too , so this is looking to be a really good transfer.
Sorry this email is kind of lacking , but I'm at the SM right now and my times pretty much up. I'll email some pictures next week! Also I think your package is here mom , they tell me I have a package here and I'm going to pick it up.
Love you all ,
Elder White
No massive email from momma this week , maybe I'm on too early. But thanks for everyone's emails as usual. and oh man , that's so strange that they weren't released - that must be killing him to have his mission be draining.
- Just got your email Mom -
- Mothers day : No don't worry about any of that . The conversation can only be like 30 mins to MAYBE an hour at most , and calling cards and rates here are pretty cheap I'm pretty sure. But I'll let you know towards the end of April when the call will come. Maybe it'll be on the cell phone that we might have by then ... all the companionships in the mission are supposed to be getting cell phones soon..ish.
Questions of my own:
- How's dad's house
- How's Grant's job hunt
- What's Brandon and Trevor up to
- House the economy / obama / whose the leading republican candidate
- How's Japan
- What's going on in the world...
- Just fill me in , I'm pretty much in a bubble.
- Andrea, send me apple news. That's fine to just google Apple and copy and paste. Send as much as you want , I just want news. Iphone news is coming very soon , should have the keynote third or fourth week of April.
June - can you get me Alex's address? It's 11 Norden Place , right? Whats the zip code for norwalk?
Okay , letter time. Last week was hectic. Let's explain why. Monday was fine , Tuesday was fine , Wednesday... head to district meeting in Bayambang. Have a good workshop from Elder Sanchez , and then we meet together one last time as a zone because it's transfer day on Friday. Three people were pretty obvious for transferring because of different reasons kind of hard to explain to someone whose not a missionary , but basically their time was pretty much definitely up in the zone. Then there was the rest of us , in which there were like 5 who were probably going to transfer and 2 almost definitely. So.. one by one Elder Coleman (a ZL) calls the names. Elder Sanchez first ... he then gives his testimony. Elder Limyoco next ... testimony. Elder Podzikowski (ZL) ... testimony , then last... me. WHAT?! I did nottt think I would be transferred. Only two transfers in Malimpec , my companion was only one transfer into the area , and it's already been two transfers with two different companions. So so weird. But I testified and then we went to shakeys (pizza place) one last time as bayambang zone. Wednesday night and Thursday we still had a bunch of appointments but I had to say goodbye to a ton of families. The Tulagan's (the family I baptized) were the hardest , haha. They're so nice and it was really sad to say goodbye to them. But I've got a pretty good feeling that one way or another I'll visit them again. I feel like I'll be transferred back into Bayambang Zone again. So then Thursday night we had dinner at Bishop Escano's house and a bunch of the ward missionaries and the friends I made there came and said goodbye. It was way nice. Friday morning wake up and the jeepney with all the Elders transferring from the zone got there at about 7:45 finally. Head to Transfer Meeting , and got called up randomly to bear testimony with a couple others. President Jensen gave a really good message about Enoch and thennnn the transfers. 3 others from my batch were actually there too , Elder Tollman , Elder Purcell , and Elder Evert. Soooo , Elder Tollman goes to Lingayen Zone , Elder Purcell goes to Mangaldan , Elder Evert to Rosales , and me.. Rosales too. Which I was actually pretty stoked about , Rosales is a pretty sweet zone and has an SM which there's only two in the mission. Baguio and Rosales. It's basically just a mall , but really big and pretty american-ized ha. So I got to my area which iss San Quintin! It's pretty awesome , Elder Lefler's old area before he went to Malimpec (a lot of the members have ..things.. to say about him , ahaha) , and the house is soo much nicer. Although I saw about an 8 inch spider on my bed as I was putting the sheet on. My companion is Elder Salde from Visayes Region of Philippines and he's way way nice. It's so good to actually laugh with a companion again , ahaha.
So Friday night we just met members and ate at a members house , in which I shared a short message afterwards. Saturday we met the branch presidency (it's just a branch and meeting house is way small , it's awesome) but the church is currently being built and they're hoping for it to be done by July. The branch president and first counselor are way young , too , aha. Then later they had a half-day mission thing in which some members helped out with some investigator and less active member lessons. The branch is way way nice , and this area is so cool. It reminds me a lot of utah because of it's streets and it has mountains in the background. Also , I'm turning into a canadian with all this sun (that's a dad's side of the family reference). Saturday night we went to a funeral of a member who had just died andd funerals are a bit different. They're pretty loud , crazy , and small , aha. And aren't held in a church. It was still good though , and the family gave some heartfelt messages. Sunday was church and so I again gave another message and introduced myself during sacrament meeting. They all think I'm good at tagalog , so we'll see how long that lasts , ha. After church we ate at a members house for lunch then went to the burial part , which is held the next day. The procession was all of us walking behind the [hurst?] funeral car , as the car played music and drove crazy slow to the site. It was funny to hear a piano instrumental of my heart will go on at a funeral. After that we had a bunch of lessons in which the second counselor accompanied us. He's like 70 years old and hysterical. He's the sweetest looking old man and just talks and talks and talks at the end of lessons. We were cracking up afterwards because after our last lesson he told a story that took like an additional 25 minutes. Elder Salde like thought he was done after 15 minutes and was like alright , thank you Brother for that story , and then he continued again.
All in all , I'm transferred to a new area and love it so far. The people are way nice and there is so much work to be done , which I am stoked about. It's not a city but it's not as Bukid or middle of nowhere-ness as Malimpec was. But thereare only 160 members in the area , which means so so so much work that I get to do. I'm loving it. The new companion is way awesome too , so this is looking to be a really good transfer.
Sorry this email is kind of lacking , but I'm at the SM right now and my times pretty much up. I'll email some pictures next week! Also I think your package is here mom , they tell me I have a package here and I'm going to pick it up.
Love you all ,
Elder White
Monday, March 21, 2011
'ello
Weekly email.
QUESTIONS MUNA!
-nope!
So there's the questions! My week really has been a good one , just mostly positive things. No health problems at all despite me drinking unpurified water sometimes , aha. Things with the companion got worse this past week , but I let everything out on Thursday and we've been real good since. Um favorite familiesss , my converts [The Tulagans] and the Anchetas , who live behind us. We don't get invited over for dinner as much as we did last transfer , but that's actually a good thing. More work gets done and I don't feel like I'm wasting time as much haha. Oh man , why does every keyboard in the Philippines stick like crazy. The ward is pretty good , they're just reeaallly dependent on elders... like if there were no missionaries I'm not sure if they would function. Despite being like the biggest ward in the stake. My shoes now both have big chunks missing from the sole on the front of them , but other than that and a lot of scrapes they're okay. 7 months more! It's crazy humid every day , but just hot .. really no rain yet. I'm excited for the first storm tho , they're sposed to be huuge! Yeah I miss sushi a lot , and just food that I don't feel like I'm packing onto the ride belly I'm rockin. But I have become very very accustomed to rice. Mom... that kitchen better be prepared for when I come back! Time , I realized last transfer , is directly correlated to the language. Because noothing quite gets you down like being in a country and not speaking the language and feeling like you absolutely should. So last transfer was a little slow , but this transfer has gone by a lot faster. I can only imagine next transfer. Transfer day is on Friday , but I doubt I'll be transferred. A transfer , again , is 6 weeks ... so I'm feeling 4 transfers in this area ... a solid 6 months. I could be wrong , and it'll probably only be 3 , but I doubt doubt I'll be transferred. But yeah , to think that my 5 monther is on sunday , and then 6 will be here before I know , then I'll be calling you guys the week after ... that's way way strange. I'm not sure what the craziest thing I've seen yet is. The driving is pretty unbelievable , and the size of spiders here is ... fun. I saw a baby ride by earlier on a motorcycle with sunglasses and a doo-rag. That was way funny. I'll have to further ponder about stuff I see. There's a lot of stuff here that is so strange that not a lot sticks to permanent memory. Some of the tshirts they wear here are hysterical. Some are incredibly horrible , too. My favorite thing really is lessons , when it's a good lesson and they ask questions. Other than that it's getting to read every day.. I know seminary answers .. but I'm on a mission. Other than that it's seeing the elders in my zone once or twice a week. That's always way fun to catch up. I have no need for personal money right now , the mission support 90$ every two weeks , is sufficient for now. And questions are fine by me!
Other questions:
- I got your letter Caitlin!
- June , no letters or packages yet from you... but maybe it's up in Baguio. If that's the case I'll get it on Friday
- Sending letters.. all it takes is an international stamp... Grandma sent me a letter and it cost like 90 cents I think. It's really easy... just take it to the post office and say where it's going.
- my address :
Elder White
Philippines Baguio Mission
P.O Box 380
Baguio City , Benguet
2600 Philippines
- mark gift on packages , and make sure customs are paid!
- ipod : you can probly charge it thru the computer , just do not sync it!
Okay , I think that's all. Let me talk about the week real quick.
Highlights:
Wednesday after district meeting I went on splits with Elder Sanchez (district leader) and that was so awesome. He really is an amazing amazing elder , and was only baptized 2 years ago. But we got like 8 lessons in 4 hours and so many new investigators... just easily the best day of missionary work I've had so far. Also he taught me a new way to teach which is awesome. Many times when we talk to somebody on the road we'll ask if we can share a message with them at their house if it's close , and they're always like ohh sorry , I'm busy. But he was like don't ask.. just teach. So we taught 2 lessons that were only about 5 minutes long , and just taught there on the street without asking ... it was awesome ahah. And because of that they actually became interested and we made appointments to come back. So Thursday morning we went to San Carlos and traded back companions. Then came home , did weekly planning , and I let my companion know everything that I thought was keeping us back as a companionship. It's reeeaalllyy hard to always be open with your companion , especially for me , but it's so crucial. You're always so scared the situation will get worse , but really there is only up. So after that we left and worked and the day was just a lot better. We also got the best OYM (talking to someone on the street) we've yet had. We taught her a lesson like I explained before and she asked soo many questions. She's a born again (there's many.) and so odds are she won't go anywhere , but she asked so many questions and it was awesome to finally use this knowledge that I work hard to obtain ... aha. In every other lesson it's May mga tanong po ba kayo? -o wala- . which means "do you have any questions" "oh no" , so because of that we have to ask them questions and it's not as effective as if they ask them themselves. So she was awesome. Then we had a baptism on Saturday of a 9 year old we were teaching for a family becaues they want to go to the temple , so that was a freebie... but the baptism was way hectic , aha. Filipinos are just hytsterical in the way they do things. It's just backwards... ahah. So of course me and my companion had to straighten out the whole church , clean it , and get it ready. I was sprinting around to try and clean it up. Oh .. and filipino time ... When they say something starts at 5 they mean 5:45. Church starts at 9 here , but on a good sunday it'll get goingat 9:15.
After the baptism we ate at a young couples house whose parents live in Idaho , so , they're rich by standards here. So dinner was pretty good , then we watched the restoration video and closed. Yesterday was ward conference which again was crazy , of course. After church we had some appointments but went back to the born again lady we had OYMed. She was like yeah you guys can share , and so we taught the entire first lesson to her (if you open Preach My Gospel you'll know what that means) and it was way good because she asked so many questions again. Some my companion didn't know so I answered a lot of them. Then at the end she asked "ilan taon ka na sa philippines" I thought she said "ilan taon ka pa sa philippines" so I said oh two. and she goes oohh okay. then my companion was like no no , she said na ... which is a big difference. Basically means na = until now and pa = will you be. Basically na is finished pa isn't. And so I was like ohhh almost three months. And she was like whaaaaat. So she asked why my tagalog was good and it made my day ,ahaha. Little things like that when you think you're speaking really poorly lift up your spirits.
OKAY!!! well that was my week. Transfers are on friday , but I doubt I'm going anywhere. Callie and Grant you're always in my prayers , duhh , but Grant will secure one soon , he's a smart guy. Haha . And mom and dad I'm praying for you guys 10 times a day ... if I'm at all a good missionary that house'll sell real soon.
Love you all and talk to you next week!
Oh , favorite scripture of the week. Alma 27:16 + 17 (i think)
- about alma and ammon meeting again. When you think of how mormon could only write a hundredth of everything in the book , it amazes me with some of the wording he uses. "This was a joyful meeting" ... ahaha that's one way to describe it. But I really loved those verses because I thought about seeing people and friends after the mission. It'll be a joyful meeting.
okay love you all again!
-Elder A. White
QUESTIONS MUNA!
So how's your week been?
-good
-good
How are you feeling?
-good
How are things with your companion?
-good
Do you have any favorite families in the ward you see/eat with?
-yup!
How are you enjoying the ward?
-it's good
How are your shoes holding up? (I've heard from several of the mom's that you can buy shoes there that are good)
-they're breaking , but my goal is one year with this pair and one year with the other!
Is it getting humid? Rainy? (Be careful of your camera - I don't think it's waterproof)
-nope not yet. humid , of course.. it's the phillies , but light or no rain yet. may is when it really starts.
What food do you miss the most?
-sushi. and food not loaded with calories. everyone here is trying to gain weight...
Is time flying? I can't believe that next Sunday will be the 5 month mark!
-umm yes. for the most part. sometimes no.
What is the craziest thing you've seen so far?
-ummm , I don't know yet. I'll have to ponder
What is your favorite thing?
-missionary work , (seeing my zone)
How is your money situation?
-no problems. support from the mission does me fine
Too many questions? Sorry.-nope!
So there's the questions! My week really has been a good one , just mostly positive things. No health problems at all despite me drinking unpurified water sometimes , aha. Things with the companion got worse this past week , but I let everything out on Thursday and we've been real good since. Um favorite familiesss , my converts [The Tulagans] and the Anchetas , who live behind us. We don't get invited over for dinner as much as we did last transfer , but that's actually a good thing. More work gets done and I don't feel like I'm wasting time as much haha. Oh man , why does every keyboard in the Philippines stick like crazy. The ward is pretty good , they're just reeaallly dependent on elders... like if there were no missionaries I'm not sure if they would function. Despite being like the biggest ward in the stake. My shoes now both have big chunks missing from the sole on the front of them , but other than that and a lot of scrapes they're okay. 7 months more! It's crazy humid every day , but just hot .. really no rain yet. I'm excited for the first storm tho , they're sposed to be huuge! Yeah I miss sushi a lot , and just food that I don't feel like I'm packing onto the ride belly I'm rockin. But I have become very very accustomed to rice. Mom... that kitchen better be prepared for when I come back! Time , I realized last transfer , is directly correlated to the language. Because noothing quite gets you down like being in a country and not speaking the language and feeling like you absolutely should. So last transfer was a little slow , but this transfer has gone by a lot faster. I can only imagine next transfer. Transfer day is on Friday , but I doubt I'll be transferred. A transfer , again , is 6 weeks ... so I'm feeling 4 transfers in this area ... a solid 6 months. I could be wrong , and it'll probably only be 3 , but I doubt doubt I'll be transferred. But yeah , to think that my 5 monther is on sunday , and then 6 will be here before I know , then I'll be calling you guys the week after ... that's way way strange. I'm not sure what the craziest thing I've seen yet is. The driving is pretty unbelievable , and the size of spiders here is ... fun. I saw a baby ride by earlier on a motorcycle with sunglasses and a doo-rag. That was way funny. I'll have to further ponder about stuff I see. There's a lot of stuff here that is so strange that not a lot sticks to permanent memory. Some of the tshirts they wear here are hysterical. Some are incredibly horrible , too. My favorite thing really is lessons , when it's a good lesson and they ask questions. Other than that it's getting to read every day.. I know seminary answers .. but I'm on a mission. Other than that it's seeing the elders in my zone once or twice a week. That's always way fun to catch up. I have no need for personal money right now , the mission support 90$ every two weeks , is sufficient for now. And questions are fine by me!
Other questions:
- I got your letter Caitlin!
- June , no letters or packages yet from you... but maybe it's up in Baguio. If that's the case I'll get it on Friday
- Sending letters.. all it takes is an international stamp... Grandma sent me a letter and it cost like 90 cents I think. It's really easy... just take it to the post office and say where it's going.
- my address :
Elder White
Philippines Baguio Mission
P.O Box 380
Baguio City , Benguet
2600 Philippines
- mark gift on packages , and make sure customs are paid!
- ipod : you can probly charge it thru the computer , just do not sync it!
Okay , I think that's all. Let me talk about the week real quick.
Highlights:
Wednesday after district meeting I went on splits with Elder Sanchez (district leader) and that was so awesome. He really is an amazing amazing elder , and was only baptized 2 years ago. But we got like 8 lessons in 4 hours and so many new investigators... just easily the best day of missionary work I've had so far. Also he taught me a new way to teach which is awesome. Many times when we talk to somebody on the road we'll ask if we can share a message with them at their house if it's close , and they're always like ohh sorry , I'm busy. But he was like don't ask.. just teach. So we taught 2 lessons that were only about 5 minutes long , and just taught there on the street without asking ... it was awesome ahah. And because of that they actually became interested and we made appointments to come back. So Thursday morning we went to San Carlos and traded back companions. Then came home , did weekly planning , and I let my companion know everything that I thought was keeping us back as a companionship. It's reeeaalllyy hard to always be open with your companion , especially for me , but it's so crucial. You're always so scared the situation will get worse , but really there is only up. So after that we left and worked and the day was just a lot better. We also got the best OYM (talking to someone on the street) we've yet had. We taught her a lesson like I explained before and she asked soo many questions. She's a born again (there's many.) and so odds are she won't go anywhere , but she asked so many questions and it was awesome to finally use this knowledge that I work hard to obtain ... aha. In every other lesson it's May mga tanong po ba kayo? -o wala- . which means "do you have any questions" "oh no" , so because of that we have to ask them questions and it's not as effective as if they ask them themselves. So she was awesome. Then we had a baptism on Saturday of a 9 year old we were teaching for a family becaues they want to go to the temple , so that was a freebie... but the baptism was way hectic , aha. Filipinos are just hytsterical in the way they do things. It's just backwards... ahah. So of course me and my companion had to straighten out the whole church , clean it , and get it ready. I was sprinting around to try and clean it up. Oh .. and filipino time ... When they say something starts at 5 they mean 5:45. Church starts at 9 here , but on a good sunday it'll get goingat 9:15.
After the baptism we ate at a young couples house whose parents live in Idaho , so , they're rich by standards here. So dinner was pretty good , then we watched the restoration video and closed. Yesterday was ward conference which again was crazy , of course. After church we had some appointments but went back to the born again lady we had OYMed. She was like yeah you guys can share , and so we taught the entire first lesson to her (if you open Preach My Gospel you'll know what that means) and it was way good because she asked so many questions again. Some my companion didn't know so I answered a lot of them. Then at the end she asked "ilan taon ka na sa philippines" I thought she said "ilan taon ka pa sa philippines" so I said oh two. and she goes oohh okay. then my companion was like no no , she said na ... which is a big difference. Basically means na = until now and pa = will you be. Basically na is finished pa isn't. And so I was like ohhh almost three months. And she was like whaaaaat. So she asked why my tagalog was good and it made my day ,ahaha. Little things like that when you think you're speaking really poorly lift up your spirits.
OKAY!!! well that was my week. Transfers are on friday , but I doubt I'm going anywhere. Callie and Grant you're always in my prayers , duhh , but Grant will secure one soon , he's a smart guy. Haha . And mom and dad I'm praying for you guys 10 times a day ... if I'm at all a good missionary that house'll sell real soon.
Love you all and talk to you next week!
Oh , favorite scripture of the week. Alma 27:16 + 17 (i think)
- about alma and ammon meeting again. When you think of how mormon could only write a hundredth of everything in the book , it amazes me with some of the wording he uses. "This was a joyful meeting" ... ahaha that's one way to describe it. But I really loved those verses because I thought about seeing people and friends after the mission. It'll be a joyful meeting.
okay love you all again!
-Elder A. White
Sunday, March 13, 2011
That would be kind of mean of me to write the entire email in Tagalog and have you search for a translator that actually could translate it correctly. It's weird , but english is becoming hard for me when I'm in a Tagalog mind set. Like right now , as I'm starting this , many words come first in Tagalog then English. That sounds like a lie , but I don't think it is. Oh man , I am so so far from fluent - so do not think that - but it just gets to that point when all you speak is one language... it becomes a habit. Example (halimbawa) ... when the zone met Elder Teh (Q of the 70) and his wife and President and Sister Jensen , it was like a 10 second each small talk thing with each person. Oh man... so so so so so awkward. I c a n n o t small talk anymore in english. I wanted to say these in Tagalog , and the Teh's would've understood , but I was like no that'd be so arrogant and weird , and when I tried english... it didn't work. ahaha. So awkward. Wait.. gotta see what your guys' questions were first. Oh yeah , Mom first.
So. "going native..." that's a very corny term mama , aha. And please please please , may I please please please ask you to get off Missionary Moms. I believe we've been warned about secret groups and combinations , and that is like one big chat room of relief society gossip! Haha and I feel it is destroying you and giving you so many ideas of the culture here that A] aren't true or B] I don't experience because I'm not in their son's areas. Manila and Baguio and Quezon City and Iloilo and San Pablo and Kuwain and Angeles and Cebu and Naga and everything else are SO DIFFERENT. Even within Baguio , my area is a complete opposite of the conditions in Baguio. So never assume what the moms are saying is either fact or what I'm experiencing. THAT BEING SAID. The locals here do use their hand to wipe. TP is expensive for them and water is free. For me , the food here fixes my insides like no other , so I go through 4 rolls of toilet paper in about 10 weeks. So it costs me about 40 pesos for 10 or 12 weeks for toilet paper. Haha so OF COURSE I do not use my hand. But , some do. All the missionaries in Manila and Quezon City probably use the kaliwang kamay to wipe because maybe TP is more expensive down there. But my companion doesn't use TP so our bathroom smells like doo doo pretty much the entire time , ha. WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES!!!
Number two. [ no pun intended ] . Texting... yes texting is nuts here. They don't really call because it's more expensive and reception is horrible. So they text. Texting here is using what's called "load" which is the number of texts you have. Usually load or 150 texts costs about 40 - 60 pesos. Something like that. I had a cell phone last transfer because Elder Lefler was district leader , but don't have one this transfer and I love it. It's so hard to get ward missionaries and people to work with you without a cell phone , but there are no more girls texting us and I despised that. Really , it was the most obnoxious thing ever. Just random texts all day long and Lefler always responded... but we switched every day who held the phone , so when it was my turn there was no response ever haha. I'm not wasting load because somebody wants to flirt. And their texting language is the most confusing tagalog I've ever seen. So so so much words than our texting lingo.
Weather - hot... haha. but other than that really nice , honestly. I love the weather here for the most part. Cool the early morning and at night and way hot during the day. But if I'm not sweating I'm not working hard enough... so I really do like it. It's not missionary work if you're wearing a suit. (don't send that around! haha) But yeah , it's been way beautiful and the landscape and sunsets and stuff here are some of the best pictures you can get. To courtney: I haven't seen any big birds yet , but it doesn't mean they don't exist. In my area it's lizards , iguanas , cows , SO MANY DOGS , spiders , mosquitos , goats , one sheep , kamoto dragons , andd chickens. But the landscape is almost all flat , except in the distance. like far far ... baguio. Baguio and i think Kuwain or Angeles has some mountains. But other than that it's just farm land for corn and rice. Not any rain yet because it's not rainy season. There's been a couple showers but they were small. The Baguios (storms + yes , typhoons ( I'm so excited for one ) roll in around july , aug , sep , oct , nov ). So I'm stoked for that to happen.
Food... rice , rice , more rice , canned tuna (again it tastes good , not like the tuna back home.) , so many fruits and veggies , mystery meats with so many bones and organs , pancit canton (lots of msg.. probably not good for me) and no tinapay (Bread) this transfer really for me , because its way too good tasting and makes me fat. Oh and energen... so much energen. Haha it's an instant breakfast type thing that's so cheap , kind of good for you , and really cheap. ... again.
OKAY MY WEEK! i think?
Tuesday - District meeting - average day.
Wednesda - average day
Thursday - average day THEN WENT TO SAN CARLOS to sleep because we were leaving early in the morning on Friday for Tri-Zone Conference. I love riding to san carlos at night , not sure why , but its way fun.
Friday - woke up really early (430 yata?) cus we had to be out the door by 545 and 4 of us had to shower. We stayed the night in the zone leader's apartment and so that's alwas fun. My zone leaders have been awesome so far. All americans rom either Orem or Idaho Falls. Anyways we got to Urdaneta anddd there was Faber! Oh man I was stoked about that. I hadn't seen him since my third day in the phillies and I didn't know he was in the Urdaneta zone. So I got to hang out with him all morning. The conference was pretty awesome , too. Elder Teh is (obviously) a really smart guy and a great speaker. President Jensen also gave a really good talk. We were there from 7 until 3 , and so it was so fun being able to catch up with Faber and talk about old stuff from school. He said John (our friend from school that picked me and Tanner up that one night in Salt Lake) , well he's in the California Fresno mission , and he said he was in sacrament meeting in a spanish ward , and a guy walks in during it shoots the bishop then runs out.... So his bishop was murdered during sacrament meeting. How ridiculous is that! That's Filipino style. Anyways the conference was really good and I got some good notes out of it. Also meeting Elder Teh was a lot of fun , and really awkward. Also afterwards I talked to this senior woman whose working in the mission as a senior missionary with another woman (both their husbands have passed away) and she's from chicago (I asked about naperville) and she was telling me about her mission and stuff so far. Had like a 30 minute conversation and it was way fun. But Mom and Dad when you guys serve (and you BETTER go on missions or else I will be very dissappointed in you!) you can choose where you want to serve. So serve in the Baguio mission (well it'll be urdaneta mission then because of the temple). But that'd be so awesome for you guys to be able to see first hand what I did for two years.
Anyways! Wow I'm like out of time almost. Andrea keeps emailing me and I keep responding. BLAME HER FOR LACK OF SUBSTANCE IN THIS EMAIL!!
Anyways , Friday we then came home after and taught lessons and went to bed. I'm sorry how boring this is , but nothing really astounding happened this week besides the conference. Boring week again.
Things I remember during the week to add in the email , though:
1. I learned last night that someone in Malimpec has a mother than nannies in CT somewhere... I will find out where.
2. Mom or Dad can you guys please get a line of authority for my priesthood? I'm so so curious to find out , and I'm pretty sure it's church recorded or possible or something. Because grandpa was an authority and all... just really curious.
3. Oh yeah , Faber's mom is in like Russia or somewhere eastern european and cold adopting three kids right now.... ahaha his parents are so weird! Not that that's bad , but they really are far out there. Ahahaha his mom sent him colon cleanser. Just remembered that.
4. Unfortunately you already sent out the package , but next package (hopefully not for a long time because they're so expensive!) please send books or stuff on The book or Revelations and the second coming. I love reading the Gospel Principles books on that stuff , but it's just so interesting to me. There's too much symbolism in the book of revelations for me to understand.
5. Leonardo Edgar! This was the biggest highlight of the week. When I got to the area last transfer we were teaching a man named Leaonardo Edgar whose family had been recent converts and really strong , but he was being taught. And he wanted to be baptised , but you need to attend church 4 times first , along with other requirements because retention here is suuuuch a problem and there needs to be a strong committment. So we taught him a lot last transfer but he never attended church ebcause he couldn't. Sorry I'm like out of time so my writing is really sloppy. Because he has a spinal cord injury and although he can still walk and feel , it's really hard and really painful for him. So we finally got permission from President Jensen to get him baptized without the church attendance because in that case it's not important for him to attend if he can't , it's obviously about the testimony. So after we told him this news he was way happy (he's kind of old and so weak too btw). BUT LAST SUNDAY!! HE was at church!! it was so awesome to see him. Best part of my week. He was so happy that he tried like crazy hard and came.
Okay I seriously ahve no time left , so next week send a list of questions that I didn't answer. Love you all and talk to you next weeeeeeeeek!!!!
So. "going native..." that's a very corny term mama , aha. And please please please , may I please please please ask you to get off Missionary Moms. I believe we've been warned about secret groups and combinations , and that is like one big chat room of relief society gossip! Haha and I feel it is destroying you and giving you so many ideas of the culture here that A] aren't true or B] I don't experience because I'm not in their son's areas. Manila and Baguio and Quezon City and Iloilo and San Pablo and Kuwain and Angeles and Cebu and Naga and everything else are SO DIFFERENT. Even within Baguio , my area is a complete opposite of the conditions in Baguio. So never assume what the moms are saying is either fact or what I'm experiencing. THAT BEING SAID. The locals here do use their hand to wipe. TP is expensive for them and water is free. For me , the food here fixes my insides like no other , so I go through 4 rolls of toilet paper in about 10 weeks. So it costs me about 40 pesos for 10 or 12 weeks for toilet paper. Haha so OF COURSE I do not use my hand. But , some do. All the missionaries in Manila and Quezon City probably use the kaliwang kamay to wipe because maybe TP is more expensive down there. But my companion doesn't use TP so our bathroom smells like doo doo pretty much the entire time , ha. WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES!!!
Number two. [ no pun intended ] . Texting... yes texting is nuts here. They don't really call because it's more expensive and reception is horrible. So they text. Texting here is using what's called "load" which is the number of texts you have. Usually load or 150 texts costs about 40 - 60 pesos. Something like that. I had a cell phone last transfer because Elder Lefler was district leader , but don't have one this transfer and I love it. It's so hard to get ward missionaries and people to work with you without a cell phone , but there are no more girls texting us and I despised that. Really , it was the most obnoxious thing ever. Just random texts all day long and Lefler always responded... but we switched every day who held the phone , so when it was my turn there was no response ever haha. I'm not wasting load because somebody wants to flirt. And their texting language is the most confusing tagalog I've ever seen. So so so much words than our texting lingo.
Weather - hot... haha. but other than that really nice , honestly. I love the weather here for the most part. Cool the early morning and at night and way hot during the day. But if I'm not sweating I'm not working hard enough... so I really do like it. It's not missionary work if you're wearing a suit. (don't send that around! haha) But yeah , it's been way beautiful and the landscape and sunsets and stuff here are some of the best pictures you can get. To courtney: I haven't seen any big birds yet , but it doesn't mean they don't exist. In my area it's lizards , iguanas , cows , SO MANY DOGS , spiders , mosquitos , goats , one sheep , kamoto dragons , andd chickens. But the landscape is almost all flat , except in the distance. like far far ... baguio. Baguio and i think Kuwain or Angeles has some mountains. But other than that it's just farm land for corn and rice. Not any rain yet because it's not rainy season. There's been a couple showers but they were small. The Baguios (storms + yes , typhoons ( I'm so excited for one ) roll in around july , aug , sep , oct , nov ). So I'm stoked for that to happen.
Food... rice , rice , more rice , canned tuna (again it tastes good , not like the tuna back home.) , so many fruits and veggies , mystery meats with so many bones and organs , pancit canton (lots of msg.. probably not good for me) and no tinapay (Bread) this transfer really for me , because its way too good tasting and makes me fat. Oh and energen... so much energen. Haha it's an instant breakfast type thing that's so cheap , kind of good for you , and really cheap. ... again.
OKAY MY WEEK! i think?
Tuesday - District meeting - average day.
Wednesda - average day
Thursday - average day THEN WENT TO SAN CARLOS to sleep because we were leaving early in the morning on Friday for Tri-Zone Conference. I love riding to san carlos at night , not sure why , but its way fun.
Friday - woke up really early (430 yata?) cus we had to be out the door by 545 and 4 of us had to shower. We stayed the night in the zone leader's apartment and so that's alwas fun. My zone leaders have been awesome so far. All americans rom either Orem or Idaho Falls. Anyways we got to Urdaneta anddd there was Faber! Oh man I was stoked about that. I hadn't seen him since my third day in the phillies and I didn't know he was in the Urdaneta zone. So I got to hang out with him all morning. The conference was pretty awesome , too. Elder Teh is (obviously) a really smart guy and a great speaker. President Jensen also gave a really good talk. We were there from 7 until 3 , and so it was so fun being able to catch up with Faber and talk about old stuff from school. He said John (our friend from school that picked me and Tanner up that one night in Salt Lake) , well he's in the California Fresno mission , and he said he was in sacrament meeting in a spanish ward , and a guy walks in during it shoots the bishop then runs out.... So his bishop was murdered during sacrament meeting. How ridiculous is that! That's Filipino style. Anyways the conference was really good and I got some good notes out of it. Also meeting Elder Teh was a lot of fun , and really awkward. Also afterwards I talked to this senior woman whose working in the mission as a senior missionary with another woman (both their husbands have passed away) and she's from chicago (I asked about naperville) and she was telling me about her mission and stuff so far. Had like a 30 minute conversation and it was way fun. But Mom and Dad when you guys serve (and you BETTER go on missions or else I will be very dissappointed in you!) you can choose where you want to serve. So serve in the Baguio mission (well it'll be urdaneta mission then because of the temple). But that'd be so awesome for you guys to be able to see first hand what I did for two years.
Anyways! Wow I'm like out of time almost. Andrea keeps emailing me and I keep responding. BLAME HER FOR LACK OF SUBSTANCE IN THIS EMAIL!!
Anyways , Friday we then came home after and taught lessons and went to bed. I'm sorry how boring this is , but nothing really astounding happened this week besides the conference. Boring week again.
Things I remember during the week to add in the email , though:
1. I learned last night that someone in Malimpec has a mother than nannies in CT somewhere... I will find out where.
2. Mom or Dad can you guys please get a line of authority for my priesthood? I'm so so curious to find out , and I'm pretty sure it's church recorded or possible or something. Because grandpa was an authority and all... just really curious.
3. Oh yeah , Faber's mom is in like Russia or somewhere eastern european and cold adopting three kids right now.... ahaha his parents are so weird! Not that that's bad , but they really are far out there. Ahahaha his mom sent him colon cleanser. Just remembered that.
4. Unfortunately you already sent out the package , but next package (hopefully not for a long time because they're so expensive!) please send books or stuff on The book or Revelations and the second coming. I love reading the Gospel Principles books on that stuff , but it's just so interesting to me. There's too much symbolism in the book of revelations for me to understand.
5. Leonardo Edgar! This was the biggest highlight of the week. When I got to the area last transfer we were teaching a man named Leaonardo Edgar whose family had been recent converts and really strong , but he was being taught. And he wanted to be baptised , but you need to attend church 4 times first , along with other requirements because retention here is suuuuch a problem and there needs to be a strong committment. So we taught him a lot last transfer but he never attended church ebcause he couldn't. Sorry I'm like out of time so my writing is really sloppy. Because he has a spinal cord injury and although he can still walk and feel , it's really hard and really painful for him. So we finally got permission from President Jensen to get him baptized without the church attendance because in that case it's not important for him to attend if he can't , it's obviously about the testimony. So after we told him this news he was way happy (he's kind of old and so weak too btw). BUT LAST SUNDAY!! HE was at church!! it was so awesome to see him. Best part of my week. He was so happy that he tried like crazy hard and came.
Okay I seriously ahve no time left , so next week send a list of questions that I didn't answer. Love you all and talk to you next weeeeeeeeek!!!!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I am sleepy.
I donno why I'm sleepy. We just went to Dagupan as a zone to go bowling... but it ended up just being 5 Americans and 1 Filipino while the rest didn't want to spend money.... Filipinos are generally so stingy on money and save it for shoes and cologne and watches. So when it comes to food or activities they skip out. Except for that one filipino that bowled with us , he's practically american. Awesome.
Anyways!! Today's Monday and this week has gone by pretty dang fast. Things about the philippines... Mango prices are going down , which I've been waiting for. They are now about 30 Pesos / Kilo. Which is about 30 pesos for 3 , usually. Which means about 10 pesos per mango. Which means about a quarter per mango ... yeah ... I love non-american prices. Also this keyboard is so sticky... so it's very hard to type , ha. Oh - I got a letter from Sister Sturges today! Thank her for me , please - I'm gonna go read it later. Oh wow , okay - time for something really weird. So we were in the Dagupan mall about to leave when we saw this guy and girl standing close to us , and they start talking to us in english. So the girl was half filipino / half american and she was like you're the first americans I've seen the whole time I've been here. And when we asked why she was here she was like my dad served a mission here when he was younger and met my mom here then came back to marry her (that's what we call a lock your heart problem , ha , ( see president kimball's talk on that subject )) and we were like oh that's coolio , where are you from. She says rexburg , idaho - so I was like woah weird I went to school a byu idaho. I asked her if she graduated from madison high school - yeah in 2009 - oh do you a know a mitch merrill? Ahaha she like stares at me and was like uhh yeahhh , why do you know mitch. So I was laughing saying how he was a good friend of mine up at school. SO! Momma. The next time you see Elder Merrill (funny you mentioned him) tell him I just saw someone in his grade whoes half filipina / half american with the last name larson... thousands of miles away... in a mall in the philippines.... Very very small mormon world.
So that's my fun fact of the day. In the package , can you send two things of axe pomade? actually any pomade if it's good. The axe stuff works really well and I will not use gel ... it dries your hair out and looks ugly. Pomade is much better. And I haven't seen any here yet. So if it's expensive , no worries - but I would love that. Umm , any kind of powder would be way good. Like dehydrated anything. Like those drink mixes (no lemonade please haha) and sure those idaho potatoes ones. Anything that's cheap and looks good. No ramen... so much of that here haha. But they don't have powdered stuff because that would destroy a lot of industries here , haha. And callie - you choose , haha. Just close your eyes and pick , either is fine by me.
How's tanner and taylor doing? I wanna hear some updates on them.
Okay .. more about the philippines... Here's a dangerous thing. If you get hit by a bus here , and are still alive , that bus will proceed to back up and kill you. Because it is much cheaper to pay a fee for killing someone than it is to get sued by them. So.. I've heard some stories about that , but that's 100% truth. OH! My zone leader got hit by a jeepney today , aha. It was kind've his fault , he was too close to the road , but as one when by it bashed him in the face with the side mirror and he snapped it off with his head. I think he was pretty shocked about what happened , but it was way funny after we realized he was fine. Had I thought faster to start writing down the plate number or take a picture of it or something he probably would've instantly offered money. Good thing I'm christlike! Haha but all the guy said after he hopped out and saw what the damage was , was "wala akong kasalan" which means I have no sin , ahaha... these people.
This week has been okay , no ups or downs really. I went on splits with Elder Sanchez (district leader) and Elder Coleman (zone leader) in my area this past week , and that was an awesome treat. My companion gets on my nerves a lot , and Elder Sanchez is the most ideal companion ever ever. He's so so masipag (hard working) and such a good teacher. He was baptized January 2009 after being taught by missionaries and his family has still not forgiven him for going on a mission. Before his mission he worked a 12 - 6 AM shift at a Jollybee (like MacDo) on top of school in order to pay for a mission. I have so much respect for this guy. And he's only about 6 months or 7 months out and already district leader. He'll be an AP in a year , everyone knows. But yeah , he is my idol companion and so going on splits with him was the best day of teacher I've had so far on a mission. The lessons were just more powerful , more investigator focused , and he just brings such an amazing spirit with him. Maybe one day we'll be companions ... sana. Also gonig on splits with Elder Coleman was just way fun. Umm , oh! That was way nice of my bishop to write you again , haha. I'll thank him for ya.
Oh yeah - update on my shoes! Haha , my goal is to wear this pair for one year then the other pair for the next year. So far the toe of the sole has fallen off my left shoe and I have to superglue it back on every 3 weeks. But these will be my trophy pair , haha. Also I made a note to ask how Grant was doing with his job search so that's way funny that you and callie both gave me some updates without me asking. Tell him I say NYC is better than Dallas ... but then again I'm biased. Also , how is dad's house doing? Any bites ... really? Does the forecast look good at all for it? Isn't spring / summer the best times for real estate? Anyways I'm always praying for ya guys!
It's getting a little bit hotter here , but I think as I get adjusted I don't feel it as much. I've gotten tanner , but still quite white compared to the locals.
Sorry this email is so boring , haha , it was just really a plain week. This next week will be a lot better though. On Friday we have a tri-zone conference with Elder Teh (of the 70) whose the area authority here , so we're all so excited for that. I gotta get a haircut later on for that too , looking a bit sloppy joee. Also! I had to withdraw money again because I shorted myself last week because I bought a dictonary I needed (sorry!) it's the last time , I promise. I've got pretty much everything I need now , so support will do me fine from now on.
ALSO!! I'm gonna start chastizing. Tell Garrett + Caitlin + June + Hutch + everyone else they better quick slackin on the emails. 15 minutes once a week isn't hard! Haha , so I'm calling them out here in hopes I'll get something soon.
Sorry again on the plainness of this email , but my week really has been boring. The companion is still a little tough , but I don't tolerate laziness so the work gets done. Also my speaking ability always goes up , so my ability to teach now is pretty much fine ... I think. I'll be excited to look back in a year though and see how much room for improvement it had. I can teach right now , but I can't teach the way I want to yet because I can't express feelings as well sa tagalog. It's a long road , but everyday it gets easier.
Anyways I love you all and thanks for the letters and emails!
-Elder White
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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