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-