Last week here

Family.

How was your Thanksgiving? Miiine wwasssss ... good? haha. Just another day , I actually don't think I even realized it was Thanksgiving. Why do we celebrate that day again? Was that the day we grew a lot of food and then ate it all? So every year we now celebrate that day by eating a lot of food we cook and then sleeping a lot? Haha I miss that. It's been a good week , except for the past few days.. which I'll talk about in a little bit.

By the way , such a good video.

http://bcove.me/e1jzh39n

No , mom , I haven't received any packages yet - but they're probably waiting until transfer day to give them to me. That way if I'm transferring I won't have to bring them down from my area and then over to another. Also nothing yet from the primary of the Newtown ward , but hopefully that too is just down in Urdaneta.

I take it , also , that you guys haven't yet received my package. Keep an eye out for it , hopefully it'll get there within another week or two. My memory card is inside the cloth thing. It's like a fabric , it's bundled up in that. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised at what I've sent , haha. You may - MOM - open the package before Christmas and wrap up the presents and give them away ... whatever you guys want to do. Don't get angry at me if you hate the gifts , hahaha. I loved them.

Anyways , right now I'm emailing from town. We had a zone activity today directly after studies that was bowling. I'll send off some pictures next week.

BTW- VERY VERY IMPORTANT. DID YOU GUYS SAVE THE PICTURES FROM MY OLD MEMORY CARD. I WANT TO DELETE THE PICTURES , BUT OBVIOUSLY WON'T DO IT IF THEY WEREN'T SAVED. ALSO THE VIDEOS. PLEASE RESPOND. thank you.

So yeah , it was pretty goofy because we got some zone t-shirts and the zone leaders bought angry birds hat/beanies. I don't have the slightest clue why Angry Birds is so popular , but it's ridiculous. I'm sure it's even more popular here than it is in the states. Anyways so we bowled a couple games , and it was fun. It was 4 v 4 v 4 and our team won both times. Me and Elder Matthews [the Pilipino/Australian] carried our companions , haha , who have never bowled before. Took a lot of pictures , as pilipinos do , and then headed out. Then we went to Pizza Hut to meet Sister Rehbaum who treated me , Elder Tan , and the two zone leaders to lunch. She's obviously very nice. So that was fun , and now we're emailing. But now I'll back up and talk about my week.

So Tuesday we had a Zone Conference. Now this was a bit of a mission-changing moment for every mission in the Philippines , and maybe soon-to-be world... so ... kind of important. Sister Jensen gave a good few remarks , and then President Jensen stood up. He's a really good speaker. But after about 30 minutes he finally told what his message was. The Philippines is no longer focusing on baptisms. .......I'll repeat that. Every mission in the Philippines is no longer focusing on baptisms. Our work is now soley focused on bringing back all those that keep going astray, and we will find , teach , and baptize through those efforts. We will obtain referrals through teaching these less active families , or baptize their non-member family members. We were pretty shocked. This comes directly from the Area Presidency , and even further up to the First Presidency. Apparently in the past 5 years , the Philippines has only kept about 20% of it's converts. That's horrible. So we're now Full Time Home Teachers , ha. Wards , and especially branches , here don't do home teaching. They don't know why or maybe even how. So that's the goal of President Teh [area president] to change the culture of the Philippines. To get this nation reading , and keeping those we convert. We will be playing a new role in the wards and branches in which we serve and will be pushing these leaders to magnify their callings correctly. It's an exciting step forward , and honestly feels good. By no means is it easy to baptize here , but it is easy to lose the fruits of your efforts. People just don't understand how to nurture their testimonies , because no one helps them to understand. So that's our effort , to guide these people to the temple.
So that was the big part of Tuesday , since then we've cranked out so many lessons with Less-Actives and Recent-Converts and it will continue to be the focus of our work until I leave , I'm sure. It's fun being able to immediately see the fruits of your labors with them , as a good number actually do come back. They just need to be invited.

Now Wednesday was district meeting , so we pretty much spent the whole time brainstorming ideas of how we can do our work more effectively in our rescuing efforts. It was a good meeting.

So that was really all the exciting news for this week. On Saturday , our investigator , Lyn , had her interview and passed. So she'll be baptized on Wednesday - we're excited for that. Also on Wednesday we'll find out whose transferring. I'm not 100% positive ... but about 99.9% that I'll be leaving. I'm a bit sad , but am ready to get back down to Pangasinan. Part of me misses the heat and the people and flow of life is just completely different. It's like Fairfield County compared to any other county in the states. Some aspects are nice - but the work is better where the people are more humble and willing.

So... here's some fun news. On Saturday my stomach was hurting a bit , but I didn't think much of it... it seemed okay. Then Saturday night I ended up waking up three times to sprint to the bathroom. After having like convulsions have the night because my body would go from freezing cold to boiling hot , I finally awoke at 6:30 feeling like I'd just been hit by a truck. Everything ached , ha. So I took my temperature , 101.4 ... showerd [so so painful] then laid back down. Took an Alaxin [pain + flu reducer] then went back to sleep. Awoke a million times , but got up at 11 feeling ... okay ... so we went to church. [phew - my streak is still unbroken] During Sacrament Meeting the sickness came right back , so we left right after the meeting. Got home ... my temperature had climbed back up to 101.5 , took medicine , and passed out again. [Oh... while in between taking trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes]. So now , when we got to bowling this morning I had eaten , maybe , a combined 200 calories in two days and felt so tired , so weak , and hurting ha. At least , now , the problem is just my stomach hurting a lot and the fever and flu has gone away. So that was like the first official time I've gotten sick on my mission is a big way ... dang.

So yeah , that's my email for this week. My next email will probably be from a different area.

Love you all ,
-elder white-

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

weekly...thing

Ayoooo

Email time.

What if I just spoke in Tagalog for the entire email ... how ANNOYING would that be , hahaha. You'd have to look up every word and guaranteed no translator would pick up like 50% of what I'm saying. Anyways , how are you all. Good? good. I did a bit better this week , I didn't wait till the last 20 minutes to write my letter , hahaha.

First off , let's do some awards real quick!
June- wins again for number of emails! I prefer that way , June , with a lot of little emails haha. It's like a lot of christmas gifts... everyone wants quantity not quality , haha. But thank you for all the emails , continue!
Caitlin- I got your package last week! So awesome , thank you. Hahah the tape cracked me up and it was way cool hearing from all you. Also everything about it , especially the calendar was way way sweet. So thank you!

I have not yet gotten a package from the kids of the Newtown Ward :[ but maybe it's coming soon. I'll keep looking. I'm hoping for something soon!

This is for Dad:
http://mormon.org/me/1N0F/

Also mom , you don't need to send so many packages! Haha. But I do thank you for it!

This one's kind of cool:
http://mormon.org/me/1NZF/

No, but seriously. I can't focus. I'm a Mormon videos keep me pretty distracted. These are far too enjoyable to watch.

This one's for June:
http://mormon.org/brian/

How's everyone's week been? Mines been okay , haha. I like having our pday on monday , that's really important. Sunday is always the most stressful day , because it's the day we wait... hopeful.. and sometimes hopelessly for our investigators. We're quite rarely surprised , haha. So when the doors close at sacrament meeting and so so many of our hopes are crushed... the sacrament feels very good. It comes at a very appropriate time. Right after we realize how many of our attempts at changing lives didn't really work for that week , it's a good feeling to be able to just start over. Anyways let's start back a bit.

Monday was a regular day , and we only got one lesson in , but we ended up just trying to talk to a lot of people. Tuesday was district meeting ... and my district is pretty funny. I won't go into details , but basically there are things called special cases , which are baptisms. Special Case means President Jensen needs to review it before they can extend a date for them to be baptized , because of one reason or another. Anyways... my whole district thinks they can baptize people who aren't allowed to be baptized just yet , and I get to tell them no on district meeting day , hahaha. So I tell one district that I'll talk to the zone leaders about it , after doing so I textd them and told them sorry but their investigator will have to wait for a few more weeks. About 10 minutes after sending that text I get a reply telling me that apparently I have no right to tell them what to do and i WILL be interviewing him on saturday and he WILL pass and WILL be baptized the following week ... hahahahaha. So I didn't bother responding and just forwarded the text to the Zone Leaders and let President and them get involved and solve the matter. The next day I text them about a reminder and get back the kindest most " nothing happened" kind of text ever , hahaha. A mission is funny.

Our investigators are okay , but it's so hard to help progress the people we just talk to and let us teach. Members are the key in everything. So now we're having to teach members the important of not being shy and then helping them in do their missionary work. They generally want to do it , they just need some help. Also we're trying to track down every part-member family and bring them back to church and help get baptized their non-member family members. It's a more successful thing in the Philippines because people very easily fall away from the church. You do everything you can to solidify their testimony , but unfortunately jobs and other things often STILL come first. They use the phrase "oh the Lord will understand" .. hm :\

Anyways the family you're talking about Mom , is still awesome and will probably be baptized in Feb when they have more time .. but right now they're not ready to make the sacrifices that we're asking of them. But we're working with a different family , right now just the father .. but the rest of the family will join soon. He's way awesome and so so so funny. Unfortunately , he's very involved in his church , but he loves the doctrine and new things we teach him. He's astounded that he's never heard any of this before , and he's like this is so much better , hahaha. But his brother or uncle is his pastor and the Philippines is , as I said , incredibly self-conscious. So... there are so so so many social concerns of what people will think. Anyways we love them and are doing our best to help them along. He loves having us over.

That's another thing ... EVERYONE KEEPS FEEDING US! hahaha. This has never happened before , but we literally eat at like every appointment. It's ridiculous , I'm gaining so much weight. You cannot deny it because they immediately think you hate what they cooked. So you have to eat as little as is still polite and then blame it on your stomach or the climbs in Baguio for why you don't eat more , haha. Unfortunately , the real reason is we'll be eating about 4 more times before the day is over. And I mean meals. Rice + ulam. Geeze. I'm not exaggerating. So ... Elder White is getting tubby again , haha. Especially the face. Don't worry , I'll become bulemic before I come home [jooooooooooooooooooooke]

hmm... what else.

Does EVERYONE yet know that MY ADDRESS IS NOT IN BAGUIO?

Please , make sure.

I'll probably be transferring next next Friday , but you never know. There's a chance I train again , there's a chance I don't transfer ... so we'll see what happens. But I'm about 95% positive I'll be leaving Baguio.

I'll miss being home for thanksgiving , again , but here.. it's obviously not a holiday , haha. I'll probably eat rice and some kind of ulam for the meal. No worries , I like. Filipino food is generally very very good. But it's creepy to think that I'll be home next year for thanksgiving [unless I exteeennndddd ....................... we'll see] I wouldn't mind extending for another month.

Question to mom and dad: HOW MANY REFERRALS HAVE YOU GIVEN OUT IN THE PAST 10 YEARS?! I bet you could count them on one hand. Prove me wrong , please! You'd be shocked who will accept the gospel.

Okay , I think that's all I've got for now.
I love you all. Send me letters if you love me!
I got all your dearelders so far , thank you thank you thank you. Andrea... that one talk you sent me is actually awesome. I was SHOCKED. President Packer made an amazing point there that I loved. He adores the idea of understanding , as do I.

Okay, read your scriptures , say your prayers !

-Elder White-

Hi.

Heyo

So...

I get to this point like every Monday. I do a million other things... and then don't want to email , hahaha.

To be honest this wasn't that exciting of a week. Tuesday was district meeting , it was okay. Giving workshops is fun. We then went on exchanges this Burnham 1 elders. I worked with Elder Lobitana in his area and Elder Courreges came to our area. It was alright , but their house is STOCKED with food. It's crazy. Elder Courreges had quite a nice job before he came on a mission and he's not afraid to spend the eanrings , ha. Anyways the next morning we met back up at a place called the Pancake House which is suuuch good food. Wow. Elder Courreges paid for us all , because he can , haha. He probably spent about 20 dollars or so on all of us , and it was such good food. Pancakes. Wednesday was okay , Thursday , okay... oh wait. Wednesday ... a 19 year old who just got his call came and worked with us. He's kind of prideful ... like very. But it's not his fault , he was raised that way. His father is very addicted to his understanding of the scriptures , and so is Job [ his name ... ] Anyways. Our first appointment was a really important one with someone whose slowly accepting the teachings... and what does Gob [ or Job ] do? He deep doctrines her , hahaha. It was such a mess. We literally cut him off before he drove her too far away. He didn't understand what he did wrong , and we were like man ... you have to slow down. Anyways the rest of the day was okay and he didn't talk so much as he did. During that lesson he cut us off and the investigator off like 6 times. [ oh yeah june - investigator means someone who we're teaching who is investigating or kind of like checking out the church ] Anyways , Thursday was okay , Friday was okay , Saturday was okay , Sunday was okay .. haha

Really , nothing too exciting. We met these couple gangsters who are from Tacloban who came to Baguio to change and find a new life for themselves. They're 2 brothers , 21 and 18 and crazy humble. Anyways they're awesome and we're slowly teaching them and they're loving it all so far. They weren't able to come to church , though , yesterday which was a bummer. Sunday morning we also went to Sister Ibays again who lives in the Zone Leaders area , she's way way rich and feeds us every sunday morning before church if we want to go. Or rather her workers feed us , ha.

The area is starting to pick up , and we're really starting to feel and see all the blessings come through. It's hard being this patient just for one little thing to come through , but that's life. Patience and Humility. We'll be having a baptism on the 30th , which we're excited for as well. Hopefully me or Elder Tan will be able to be the one baptizing.

Okay , that's all the boring news for this week. Here's some good news ... I'll be sending off the package later! There's a couple surprises inside , haha , and you guys can divide the spoils as you like. Just don't give any of it out until Christmas. I'll be putting my memory card in , though. So you can find that when it first gets to you [hopefully by christmas!]

Anyways , here's some other things I thought of

BACKWARDS CULTURE TIME!!!!!!!!
It's been a long time since I last did this. Here's some stuff.
1] Every filipino runs around with a towel hanging out the back of their shirt because they're afraid of sweat drying to ultimately causing a cold , then flu , then killing them
2] seat bowls are rarely lifted up to urinate
3] they will NOT shower right after running because they believe they'll get sick if water touches them when their body is hot.. even hot water
4] umbrellas are used very very often when the sun is out
5] in macdo you just leave your tray on the table ... they clean it up... actually everywhere

...there's so much more but I'm drawing a blank
I had a big list built up in my head last night


anyways this email is crazy short , but I had a lot to do today during email , so I apologize. Hopefully the package will make up for that. IT'S GOT PICTUREEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS [memory card]

How's everyone doing?

BYE!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Hey

Good morning!

I'll be honest , I'm quite impressed with the amount of emails I received today. SHOUT OUT! Junie - A++ , many an email a coming from her. The rest of ya!! I still love you , haha.

No , I'll be honest , I'm constantly distractd with this little mormon movies on Lds.org andmormon.org and stuff .. it's difficult to really type out a solid email haha. This is the one I like a lot that I'm watching ... Junie , you may like it. It's cool animation. I'm sure you know the exact term for the type of animation , haha.

youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dNYpXZIN_c&feature=player_embedded

It hasn't rained too much this week , so that's quite joyous. haha. No , but we taught a lot of lesons ... what usually happens is we'll get punted [they will hide or purposefully not be there or say come back another time instead of just saying they're not interested] haha , but although we got punted so so many times we were still able to knock out like 28 lessons. Things are started to come through , we're really seeing the Lord's hand in all that's taking place. We're finding tons , teaching tons of new people , dropping those that are not interested , but still working with some great potentials. One thing ..

this is touching http://lds.org/pages/mormon-messages-gallery?lang=eng#opportunities-to-do-good

about Baguio is that eventually you'll run into someone who actually knows their religion. So , from time to time , we'll have very refreshing conversations and discussions of faith. I'll actually have instances where I'm able to use the Bible and they'll honestly be open to the connection it makes to the Book of Mormon. Honestly , the biggest thing that I love about everything I teach is that it just makes sense. So so so many people here leave the catholic church [where they all come from] and venture off to Born Again , Church of Christ , Iglesia ni Cristo , or Jehovah's Witness. But almost every one eventually comes back to the Catholic Church. For two reasons. 1] It demanded too much of them and 2] there was absolutely zero conversion. That's why people leave the church , there is no conversion. But what happens in these other churches is that it's just their interpretation of Bible scriptures. One person interprets it one way , another a different ... and they in turn build two churches. That's the entire Philippines. But what I am saying is that what I love the most about our church is that it Just. Makes. Sense.
everything about it ... just makes sense. Nothing is based on interpretation lang , but on things that make perfect sense ... all backed by a book. A book in which you ask God , you will know if it's true or not. I can understand perfectly how some people don't feel the spirit of it's truthfulness , or that don't want to join. I understand that , now. Not everyone is meant to join the church , not everyone will accept it in this or the next life time. There are just some that won't. But for the honest seeker , it's a wonderful thing.

This past week has been fun , but nothing too miraculous has really taken place. We've had some good lessons , and as I was saying before , teaching some people that really turn into spiritual and educational lessons. I don't feel myself trying to simplify the teachings , but really letting their delve in it's [ I'm lacking a word here to describe what I'm thinking ] ... like many weaves ... anyways. It's hard to describe. But it's not deep , it's not complicated , but intricate [IYAN!] So we've had a bunch of fun lessons like that. On Tuesday after district meeting I got to go on splits with a Phil/Am that doesn't speak Tagalog hardly at all. He's a way good guy , though , and his father ... steady yourself for this ... cured himself of cancer. Apparently he researched this machine that uses electricity that you attach at the wrist , to kind of zap his body twice a day for a month or two. It apparently kills cancer and AIDS. Skeptical as we all may be , the doctors gave him a less than 10% chance of recovering , and after two months the signs of cancer were gone. And 7 years later nothing has returned. I was a bit dumbfounded , but I'm in no position to argue. He said the guys name was Bob something that created it. Anyways , that was a fun split.
When we met back up with our companions we went to a restaraunt that is supposed to be an old american ... something ... type diner. Hahaha. They've got every era ... Elvis , Michael Jackson , Marvel Comics , James Dean , .. and many more. Like pictures all over the wall and stuff. Anyways for 245 Pesos [that's a ton of money for us ... about 5 dollars american] there was an all you can eat pizza and pasta option. Me and Elder Esling were tricked into it , haha. The pasta literally was horrible Almost torture swallowing it ... but the pizza was way good. By their regular prices we both ate like 500pesos + each. I think the restaraunt might take down that option if we keep going back. They kept trying to push the pasta on us , because it's so much cheaper for them ... but it was horrible.

Anyways , let me give you a few more details here.

A "Regular" Day:
6: wake up , run
8: personal study
9: companion study
11: language study
12: lunch
1 or 2: start to work
930: plan for tomorrow
1015: journal
1030: pass out

... dinner isn't always an option ... haha.

Anyways .
Yesterday was Fast and Testimony Meeting at church.
And ... every speaker spoke about missionary work , haha. It started with an old man , which was really just about the book of mormon .. but then an RM talking about his mission , next RM about his mission , next RM about his mission , next RM about her mission , next RM about his mission , my companion .. about his mission , ... and then , yes. Me. For the very first time in my entire life. I bore my testimony during fast and testimony meeting in sacrament. It was a different experience , haha. I really am not nervous to give a talk , or talk to people , ... but that one shook me. It's funny how it was in Tagalog , although everyone else spoke in english , ... bearing testimony is just easier in Tagalog. But in lessons if I really want to get my point across I've got a stern american english voice. It's a secret weapon! Haha. No , but it really was a cool experience.

Anyways , being a district leader is just like being a missionary ... because you are a mission , haha. You just have a couple other responsibilities. I teach workshops during district meeting , interview the other missionaries weekly , receive and talk to them about how they're doing and then am kind of a mediator to the zone leaders. It's a fun thing and I love my district. Though there is a ... hard headed texan ... who has been in the mission 20 months and doesn't yet speak Tagalog. I don't think he wants to learn.

Okay , well I think that's all I got for this week.
Junie , no letters yet but keep the emails coming!!

I also want: [selfish] mormon movies , haha. About missionary work. So like , we've got the best two years here. But if you can track down The RM or The Other Side of Heaven , or movies like those ... those are allowed here.

Okay , love you all! Stay safe , eat you veggies!
-Elder White-