I'm getting dark.

Ha , at least a little. The sun is strong in AGOO [my city mom]. It's not my actual city , but it's the biggest city around and very close to me. About 10 minutes. My actual city is Damortis , La Union. But Agoo , La Union will probably pop up. I'm up here in Baguio with my companion and 4 other elders. We took a trip up here to get a few things we need and to buy the blow darts you guys requested. I got 5 more and will send them off after I leave here. I'm actually so tired right now , haha. We just went at it in bowling a couple hours ago and after two games we were pretty beat , but Elder Bolen [my rival in bowling] wanted a 1 on 1. Hahaha so tiring. I couldn't get a single strike like the whole game , all 9s and so hard to even clean up with a spare ... until the 10th frame I got two in a row and thought I had him beat but he threw down a spare , strike , strike. It was intense hahaha. Boring , I know ... but that's exciting to us. There's a very large old white man here with a young filipina sitting next to him bored , hahaha. It's weird. So yeah , that's been our day so far. After here I'll send home the package , a couple letters , and then get our shopping done.

So how's everyone doing?

My week has been pretty crazy. We've just been meeting every less active in the area that we can. We had a goal of meeting 5 families and we ended up finding 18 , hahaha. Taught like 28 lessons ... 20 of which were to less active. That's very much our focus , and it's quite awesome. We get dropped from appointments a lot more often and after like two lessons they'll start hiding from us , but we've been having some success. We've narrowed down our focus to 5 families and 2 of which have the most humble fathers I've ever met. It's actually really inspiring. They're so willing to come back to church , but just need a little help. Not to mention it has honestly been the most spirit rich experiences of my mission bearing down hard on these people but lovingly and bearing strong testimony. Most are actually endowed and sealed , but for one reason or another life sets in and they get mixed up and stop coming. But it's amazing how there are so many people as well that just need a little love. Like I said , we visited 18 families and shared just short messages with them and a bunch came back ... after years of not going to church .. they just needed to be noticed a little. That in itself is the largest thing I've learned. Okay , this internet shop is killing me with it's music. I think it somehow acquired my old playlists.

It's also nuts how many people will be going home soon that I know. Elder Bentley [whose one of my zone leaders here and with me today] will be going home in two days. I met him my third day here in the Philippines and remember asking him how much longer he has and if it feels fast. He wasn't even quite to one year ... and now he's going home. Insane. Elder Faber goes home in 6 weeks and just so many others. Half of our zone goes home this week so it'll be a completely new zone next transfer. I'm not sure if either I or Elder Jacinto will be transferring , I don't think so. We both just got here and get along well and are in the process of correcting the area and bringing it back on track ... so I'm not sure. But whatever happens I'll be happy with it , I'm sure. I've yet had an area that I haven't loved or a companion that I haven't learned from. Even the ones that tested me , ha , looking back there's a lot more I learned from them.

Quick Backwards Culture Time!
- Filipinas have a really funny way of saying the words "AS IN" to show emphasis. The tagalog language has a lot of english that's just randomly mixed , and that's one phrase. They'll say something like ... mabaho siya AS IN mabaho! [translation]: he smells AS IN smells! hahaha. It's so funny. Also in tagalog if you want to ask if someone does something [as in often] it's just in the present tense form. example : kumakain ka ba ng isda? which means do you eat fish. But because they directly translate it , even the super fluent filipinos will say "are you eating fish" ... as in ... are you currently eating fish , haha. So whenever I'm asked if I'm eating fish or eating balut or eating whatever it is they ask. If they say that to me in english I'll usually look at my hands confused and then reply not currently. Sometimes they understand , ahaha.

Letters I've received this week:
1 from Grandma
1 from June
1 from Sister Sturgess
1 DearElder from Andrea

THANK YOU!

Mom and Dad , still waiting for a handwritten letter from you guys , haha , but it's okay.

Hmm what else. Funny things that have happened lately... I bashed my head sitting down to the computer here ... my companion cooked our package noodles last night and mixed two different types which he thought was okay to do. Unfortunately one required water , as in a water base soup , and the other was just flavored noodles. So he cooked both the flavored style and when we ate it was as if someone had just poured a bucket of salt on the noodles. Our stomachs were killing after the first bite , hahaha. You need that water to balance out the salt content and it was so so horrible , ha. Oh , also I bought a gift for Trevor that I saw. I'll just bring that home. I think I'm just gonna send home the blow darts today. I notice that trevor has been wearing my sabres hat and the old buffalo bills hat that was said was signed by Jim Kelly , but I'm not sure if that was true. No but seriously , I have gained a lot of weight. It's so hard to lose weight here with all the rice and stuff. But we're dieting , running , and stuff .. so we'll see what happens.

I think that's all I really got this week. It feels funny to be back in Baguio.
Keep the mail coming and I appreciate any kind of dear elders , letters , or any type of love.

Love you all ,
Elder Austin White