'ello

Weekly email.

QUESTIONS MUNA!

So how's your week been?
-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