Family Email

I saw a shirt earlier that said :

Father And Mother I Love You

I thought it was kind of funny. How you guys doing. That was fun talking to you guys last week - and I thought I was gonna be way trunky when I got off , but actually it made me like more stoked to be a missionary , haha I don't know why. It was storming pretty hard that night , though , so when we went out later my umbrella like broke haha. It was way fun , though , and just a mini-baguio (again baguio means storm). That's way awesome that Taylor is home now. It still blows my mind that he's already done. Literally , I feel like I just started reading his emails last summer. Even that feels too long ago. Crazy crazy how fast a mission really is. My zone leader that's been with me for all my transfers so far goes home after this transfer , dang that was fast. So yeah. That's what monday was - talking to you guys then working for a few hours in a storm , haha. Tuesday I met my new district andddd it's not as good as the old one , but there's an elder from Las Vegas named Elder Austin ... kind of weird. But the new district leader is nice and it'll be a pretty quick transfer I think. Week one is already down , dang. Oh! Also Elder Faber is now working in the office , ahaha. In the mission there's two office elders that basically just record stats and help supply the mission with things they need. They proselyte from like 5-9 on days they have time ... kind of a crummy position. But they do get a car , so I guess that's a plus. Also ... we have no support today so I had to withdraw from personal again , I'm sorry. I seriously hate withdrawing but I don't know what's wrong with President Perkins (a senior couple man whose in charge of support for us and getting it from JP Morgan). But there seems to be a problem every single week. So I had 11 pesos and my companion had none ... so just to get home I had to withdraw. So I'm really sorry. So tuesday after district meeting I went on splits with Elder Podzikowski (he's the zone leader that transferred with me to Rosales Zone , so he's been one of my ZLs for all 4 transfers) in his area , which is more of a city. And it is very utah like. Including the McDo , 7/11 , and mall. P.S - Question to Brandon and Courtney. Is there a " Jollybee " restaurant in NYC? That's like a the Pilipino version of McDo and they say there is one ... but I don't believe. Anyways , his area is pretty sweet and his apartment is way cool. He's also become one of my really good friends out here on a mission , just because we've worked together for 4 transfers and probably if you combine all the days we've gone on splits and been companions because both of our old companions went home together .. it's probly been like half a transfer worth of days. He's from Orem , UT(I asked him about Taylor , but it didn't ring a bell) and does polynesian dancing and stuff with knives. Yep... there's a little bio about someone you'll probly never meet. Anyways , then we came home and I worked back in my area. This week was pretty good work , got about 25 investigator lessons again and we keep finding new investigators. Okkaayyy , let me tell you about Billy Nalos before I forget. This is probably the most elect investigator I will ever find on my mission. Like ... literally. We found him through a referral given by a member. The member referred us to a house , we find the house , teach a lesson ... they weren't that interested but invited us to come back . We come back a few days later , and billy joins because his house in the front of the compound and he just wanted to listen. Come back a third time and the former people weren't interested but Billy wanted to hear more. Come back a 4th time and teach him and literally his spirit just slapped me in the face. I have felt a stronger spirit before , but never never never that quickly ... it was ridiculous. He just like testified to us for 10 minutes how he knew everything was true. He's so astig. Literally. And he wants us to come back like every day , every time we teach he just testifies how he knows it's true , he keeps every commitment , and he came to church on sunday. Oh and on Friday he asked if he could be baptized. Too good to be true , eh? Yeah... kind of. In the Philippines , retention is a huge problem. So because of that , an investigator must come to church 4 consecutive times before they can be baptized. Billy will be in San Quintin for 3 sundays until he returns to school in Baguio. Of course I'm sad to give him up to other missionaries , but I'm so happy for this guy. I feel like he's a future apostle , ha. Oh , and he's 17. Just such such such a strong spirit. And besides him we picked up a few other investigators that are awesome that we'll have to give as referrals soon too , haha. We literally plant the seeds and grow the faith here ... and give them up just in time to be harvested. It's sad on one part , but at the same time an awesome feeling. These people are so amazing. Earlier , we just came from a home where they invited us over to bless the home. Now here in the Philippines that means party. ahaha. So we get there and there's like 50 people. In a small home. But... it was a really really really nice house. Although small. My companion says the house probably costs about 800,000 which issss a little less than 20,000$ . Anyways , we go into a bedroom and stand in a circle to say a prayer .. and I'm waiting for the father to start and after like 10 seconds they look at me and are like Elder White... sige na... which is like okay go ahead. I was like whaaaaat , when did you tell me I was giving the blessing. I kind of figured since it's the father's house... he should bless. So Mom and Dad ... I just blessed someone else's house ahahaha. That seems way funny to me. Then we came directly here. Oh , and there was a ton of food. When pilipinos do anything , they must have food. That's like the driving force of this nation. Seriously , if people weren't so obsessed with chicken there would be no raising chickens. If there was no raising chickens there would be no growing corn. Because corn is grown to feed the chickens , not people. If there was no corn growing , about 1/2 of the economy would shut down. This nation runs because people love chicken. Ahahaha. I love the philippines. Hmmm what else. My companion went on Facebook last monday , so we had a discussion about that... that was fun. Um , don't send a package for a while so I make a list of certain things. I know I want cliff bars , teeth whitening stuff , a book on the second coming + the book of revelations. And maybe the biography of President Hinckley. I just finished President Monson's biography that Grandma sent me at Christmas and it's such an awesome book. I finished it in a little less than a week ... not sure how I did that when I've only got time to read during meals and about 30 minutes at night. But his life is hysterical and amazing. Also he has some of the best quotes I've ever heard. What were a few of them ... I forget , I wrote em down. Don't want to misquote. But he's led an amazing life. Bishop at 21 , Stake Presidency at 27 , Mission president at 31 , Apostle at 36. Wow. He's just a really really exemplary person and it seriously strengthened my testimony of him. All the work he did in helping to open upEast Germany was pretty amazing , too. So I'm gonna write Grandma a letter pretty soon thanking her. Ha , there's a million things I remember literally right after I sign off every week ... so I'm trying to think now. Mom- Trevor HAS the jersey. It's white. it's got thin red lines running horizontally and it's the old America Soccer Jersey , from like 2006. I don't think I can get any more specific than that , haha. Umm , just write me dearelders , emails , letters , anything. I love news! Send me anything big that happens in the world ... I'm just curious. Whose winning the race for next president? How's obama doing? Anything. Maybe that's it , haha Love you all, -Elder White

Oh P.S

Saturday they had their Jubilee celebration for the 50 years the church has been in the philippines. It was pretty hysterical and sometimes inappropriate ... haha. Anyways here are some pictures too. 1. My best friend in the Philippines , her name is Bon Bon and is 2 or 3 I think. 2. Their celebration on Saturday 3. The construction of the church in the area when I first got her. It's more advanced now after a couple months and should bedone in July or early August.