It. Is. Freezing. Here.

How is this possible? I'm in the Philippines and I am so so so so cold. I'll explain soon why.

First.. holy crap. Excuse my language , but that picture of the family blew my mind. Zach was big last time we went out , and Jordan has been older for a while , but what in the world happened to Zoe. How did she get so big!? That's insane. How old is she now? I thought she was still 5. Weird. Everyone looks about the same though , ha , that was fun to see. Andrea and Dad and Callie and the rest of the family that is part of this family that don't read these emails , ha , are lacking on the pictures. Just send one ... I'm curious what this place looks like that they tell me I'm from... I don't believe it. I'm Filipino.

Momma that's awesome that you got the email from Sister Noreen I think , haha. She's way nice and we always ate at their house on Fridays. Very very good food. So I told a bunch of members to add you on facebook , ha , I'd figure you'd enjoy the extra friends. Translate your words online and send it to them , it'd probly give em a good laugh. But they're all so nice and I loved serving in that area... which means (from grammatical past-tense context) that I'm no longer in San Quintin , that I did get transferred. I'll say where pretty soon.

Questions first:

1. Would you like a camelback backpack? I've been hearing that many missionaries there prefer those so they have water all day.
- You guys bought me a camelback in Utah.. haha remember? It's what I use most days.. but I'm no nooby I don't lug around that water jug thing haha. I'd rather not look like some exploring tourist.
2. Have you helped with a funeral yet?
- I've attended two , and said a prayer at one.
3. Is the crazy guy (can't remember his name now...) still making you feel in danger?
- Ha.. he's okay. The first counselor talked to him and he backed off. Kind've became inactive again , but I don't think he had the holiest intentions anyways when he did come back. He has a lot of WoW problems.
4. Have you received your package yet?
- Not yet.. but hopefully soon!
5. I'm thinking that for christmas I might send your companion a camera (not expensive). What do you think?
- Mm... most have cameras already. I haven't met one that doesn't have one , so that's okay. If they don't have one when they come in (filipinos) they save up their support money (very bad) and buy a camera (very very bad)... but they've got their agency , ha. But almost every missionary here has a camera. I'll keep thinking if there's something I think they'd like for christmas. Thanks for thinking of them.
6. Give me a "filipino" experience. Something you saw, something you ate, something you heard.
- Hmm... a drunk guy came out of no where the other night hugged me , almost kissed me , and told me "you're heart is pure , baby" .. that interesting. I get "hey Joe!" 'd a lot .. but those are always just free opportunities to shock people that you speak Tagalog and talk to them about the gospel ... so usually I enjoy it. Seriously ... nothing here is all that shocking anymore. Ha .. it's like you eventually become used to it... and it starts to make sense.
7. Is it raining every day? How are your feet holding up? Foot rot? (gosh, hope not!)
- Yep , rains every day. Feet are good. Rot is not... just kidding there's none.
8. Do you sleep with your mattress over you as well? haha
- Ha.. that was because he wouldn't wake up. So I flipped it on him and took a pitcha.
9. How are the bug bites? Are you getting eatin alive? At night?
- Sometimes , but it's okay. Nothing bad. At night ... sometimes too. But I used the fan in my last area so it just blew them away usually. It's cold at nights though , especially when it rains.
10. What is your favorite food/meal so far?
- Mm... there's always rice. But my favorite ulam (the food that's on top of the rice) is Adobong Sitaw or Chop Suey. I'm not the biggest fan of meat , though sometimes it's good.


Okay... let's talk about ME! Boring.

So last week was good. Tuesday it rained haarrdd , so we got punted a lot. Ended the day with a Family Home Evening and then eating at Mumzy's (her nickname is mumzy.. not sure why but her husband is tutzy.. its awesome. That'll be you [mom] and dad when you're older to my kids.) Then wednesday we arrive at district meeting in Rosales , as a zone which is always way fun , for transfer awareness [whose being transferred] and some workshops. The three district leaders in the zone give short workshops that they had prepared and then we started the transfer awareness.... andddddd of course ako! [me]. It was pretty much obvious that I was being transferred , but a big part of me wanted to stay. I loved San Quintin , and so many baptisms will be coming in the next transfer or two. But afterwards , the zone leaders had a surprise for us.. and had spent about 4000 pesos on food ! haha. So we had pizza hut and stuff and was crazy good... the zone leaders are on the richer side , haha. So earlier that morning we had gotten a text from President Jensen saying that a baguio was coming through (storm) and that it'd be getting there around 2... it did. ha. As w were leaving district meeting it began to POUR. Very very hard. It was fun. I had my wimpy umbrella that holds up fine against regular rain , but as soon as strong winds and rain sets it ... hahah useless. We got on a tryke and headed to the SM to wait for a bus to get back to the area. we were soaked. We make it back and then got to work. during the day though we had to stop by a few member's houses to say goodbye and stuff , so it was way sad haha. I really liked San Quintin. I've loved both my areas so far.. I would love to come back to either San Quintin or Malimpec. So Thursday we wake up and Brother William came over (first counselor) to cook lunch for us and a couple members. So we ate outside our house (no one's allowd to enter except the bishopric) and it was fun to have a last meal with them. Also Mumzy and Nanay Mendoza gave me a ton of clothes , haha , as SRs (simple remembrance). So now I've got an additional like 5 shirts and 2 polos. Afterwards we worked , and said goodbye to more members and investigators , took pictures , and last appointment was with the Rabilas Family (the elect family Elder Laodeno found). So we go over , and as always haha we ate dinner with them which happened to be spaghetti and adobong sitaw. The spaghetti was for the birthday of her ex husband (they're like still husband/wife .. but don't live together). Filipino spaghetti is a bit different than italian... it's very very sweet. So afterwards we shared a lesson which was way good and then took pictures. Haha she (nanay rablilas) was so sad when I said I was leaving and like hugged my arm for 5 minutes ,ahaha. Awkward , but she's way nice. I hope I come back to the area someday.

Anways , then packed (took a long time... my stuff almost doesn't fit) then went to bed. Woke up friday , did some last minute stuff , the jeepney arrived , and I was on my way to transfer meeting. Get there and got to talk to a lot of the friends that I never see anymore. Everyone loves transfer meeting , it's way fun. Also Elder Faber was there , because he's an office elder , so I finally got a picture with him. Haha he's got maad zits. It's okay. He's like famous here in the mission because he's so different and funny. Everyone's got a story about him. Anyways he became a district leader , so he's stressing about handling being office elder and district leader haha. Hopefully we'll be companions one day. Got a few more pictures and then found out where I'm going... alam mo ba? BAGUIO! Dang. It is so cold here. I'm also a follow-up trainer for Elder Iray. He's from Aklan , Ilo-Ilo mission and has been on a mission for about 3 months. So I'm the guy who follows up his trainer who just went home .. and wow it's awesome. haha! I was kind of surprised I was following up so early ... but doesn't depend on me. His trainer was okay , but there's a lot of correcting to do haha. But he's awesome , seriously. So so so humble and loves being obedient. I really hope nothing goes wrong in the transfer between us , because it's been an awesome weekend. Baguio issss.... cold. Very very cold. I'm sure it feels good to those not from the blazing heat of the lowlands , but up here on the hill it's very cold. I'm buying heavy clothes today. Hahaha and this area might kill me. My legs will be rocks when I'm done here , it is nothing but steep steep steep hills and staircases. It really looks like asia , finally , haha. But people here are nice (very rich) and the church is crazy. It has underground parking and is just so nice. The ward is big and a little proud , haha , but they're nice too. I'm excited for this area , but it wears me out every day hahaha. My calfs hurt a bit today. But him and his trainer never really left before 3 or 4 in the afternoon , haha , so having us leave in the morning is new to him , but it's awesome. It's a great area and I'm very excited to see what will happen.

Also the extremely elect investigator that we gave away is up here and got baptized here a couple weeks ago! So he's in the area of the sister missionaries here , but I'm hoping I can see him before he or I leave. Man he was an awesome investigator.

What else... the ward is okay. in the gospel principles class yesterday , this 20 year old kid was supposed to teach the Lord's Law of Health (word of wisdom) ... but instead spent an hour rattling off nutritional facts that he read on the internet and telling us that everything was bad to eat and we're only allowed to eat meat during the winter and stuff... hahaha. It was bad. Also most of their sacrament meeting is in english .. hahaha .. I hate it. But there are some koreans and stuff here that don't speak tagalog. One of them is Brother Go who introduced himself to me. Said he'd gone from NYC to Boston a little while ago and passed through CT on the train. Probably went through Stamford. But again , it's an awesome area , and I'll probably be here until December.

JUNE! Where do your grandparents and uncle live in Japan? And what are their names? There's a lot of Japanese here... so it'd be fun to meet someone who knows them. And I almost bought a japanese/english dictionary earlier at the book store. Haha I'm eager to learn a new language. Tagalog is pretty.. set .. haha. There's always improvements to be made but I'll probly start studying Pangasinan or Illocano soon. Baguio is all english/tagalog/illocano , with a ton of other asian areas. Also... there are so so so many americans and foreigners here at the SM hahahaha. It's hilarious. 50 year old man , 20 year old girl. You guys should drop by Baguio on your way home from China... it's crazy beautiful here.

That's all for now? I think? The mission is awesome. Days are hard , but it's worth every moment.

Mahal ko kayo lahat!
-Elder White

(P.S... please don't remind me I'm 9 months out. I just left the MTC yesterday.)