Good week

Currently listening to: http://www.lds.org/study/prophets-speak-today/unto-all-the-world/mormonism-101?lang=eng Great , great talk. Elder Holland is an incredibly powerful speaker. I've gotten through a decent portion of Christ and the New Covenant and it's fantastic. Elder Holland doesn't explore deep , unimportant doctrines but rather expounds upon the simple and makes you understand why they're so crucial. I love his style , as does everyone. Questions first. 1. Have you been in any rice terraces? - I'm in the Philippines , haha , but if you mean the terraces up in Baguio , the famous ones , no - those are 7 hours away from where I was in Baguio and outside our mission. They are incredible though. 2. Do you lose electricity often? - Currently , no. During rainy season [may - october] ... kind of ... yes. 3. If you lose electricity do you have to pump your water from a nearby well? - Often , no. But sometimes. 4. Have you ever used a machete to help someone cut their long grass? - Yes , and for other things. 5. Have you known any girls by the name of Girly? I hear it's quite a common name. - Haha yes. 6. Do you have to handwash your clothes in this area? - No , in every area there is someone willing to do it for you because of the really good pay. 7. Do you have a lot of Alitaptap in your area? - Alitaptap? what? 8. Have you attended any weddings or funerals? If so, thoughts? - Weddings , one - funerals , ..three? They're a little different. It depends on traditions. Igorots in Baguio have a month long celebration. Often it takes about a week , in that one night they'll have a couple taks [usually us , missionaries] prayers , songs , so forth. The family will speak a little and the body is in the casket open to see and stuff. There's a lot of food and they always set up tables outside the house for people to gamble. Neighbors and others come , become everyone's invited , and a portion of the money gambled and won is given in respect to the family of the deceased. A couple days later they'll bury the body which consists of a loonggg line of the people walking slowly behind the hurst [sp?] while it plays music. In San Quintin they played an instrumental version My Heart Will Go On. Ha. Overall they're respectful , a little silly , but very filipino. 9. Have you ridden on a caliglig? - Yes. It's just like a tractor / truck bed kind of. 10. Have you eaten anymore balut? (I most certainly hope NOT) - Nope. I don't eat to much street food anymore 11. What can I do for you?????? - Nothing much! I'd like to see some new pictures of the family and stuff. How's wolf? Tell my brothers and sisters to email me! ha. Also some CTR rings for kids. ALSO PLEASE SEND THE TALKS I KEEP REQUESTING! haha , I don't think it's too too hard. Just through the internet. John Bytheway or BYU devotional talks. IYAN LANG! thank youuuu 　 Okay , email. That picture of the Salt Lake Temple is way cool. Nice shot. Slowly I am starting to miss Utah and little memories from back home. Time has a way of doing that , ha. I still feel like I just got here , though. Utah sounds like it was fun and tell everyone I miss them. I thank Debbie for her dearelders! Also Andrea. Keep them coming. I'm doing pretty good right now. Health is good. Hair is growing back. Shoes are good , clothes are keeping up [I haven't had to buy any shirts or socks or anything besides a couple pairs of paints that I just wanted] The area is great , but challenging. Like I said these people are awesome , but they don't always have the money to get to church. It's a hard thing being american and trying to tell them to use their faith to get to church. But I love them and know they know what they need to do. Elder Danao goes home in a little over a week , but is still working well , which I'm happy about. Being in a tri-some with two filipino's that are very similar is difficult , but it's a great learning experience. I'll talk about my week a little bit. I had a couple meaningful experiences that I'd like to share. One that I'll elaborate one , and one I'd rather not. Monday was good , Tuesday was district meeting and regular work. Then Wednesday was Zone Interviews. President and Sister Jensen shared really good messages and I got to see some good friends. Thursday was weekly planning , Friday exchanges with the zone leaders , Saturday interview for our investigator for her baptism , and Sunday church. So here are the two experiences I'll share. The first I won't elaborate on , it's more personal. But it's hard to explain exactly what I felt. What I guess I'm trying to share is that at this one moment I had the most supreme spiritual experience that I've ever had in my entire life. I've felt the Spirit during my mission , absolutely , but never like this. Never , never like this. Absolutely surety flooded me and I felt like I was filled with light and joy and everything positive that's possible. I couldn't stop beaming and it was just so so powerful. I am incredibly incredibly grateful for this experience and for my mission and for my Savior. Wow. The next experience was on Friday. We were on exchanges with the zone leaders and so I went with Elder Pernecita to Dagupan , their area. Their apartment is SO NICE. I should've taken pictures. Geeze it's so so nice. Anyways the work was pretty good , I've known Elder Pernecita for a long time - he was in my first zone and he was way nice to me back then. He's incredibly small and incredibly silly and funny , but a really hard worker and really focused. Anyways the work was good and it was really enjoyable to work with someone like him , I haven't really felt that joy of hard hard work with another missionary for a while. Elder Jacinto was a hard worker , but he's younger than me in the mission , so being with someone hard working and older felt like it did when I was new , it was fun. Anyways our last appointment was with this family that has been taught for a long time. The mom is a return missionary and the dad is a former pastor. Nice , right. They have 6 sons and a daughter and they're all way way into the church, except for the dad. He accepts all the teaching but doesn't understand , and just won't accept that the church is any different from any other church. Elder Pernecita told me we were teaching the Book of Mormon to try and get him reading , but he doesn't want to , he feels the bible is enough. So what happens is we asked them from teh start if they'll be at church on sunday [the dad won't come or let anyone go] and so they were all like ... well it depends on Dad. And he's like no it's okay , we'll just be going to the Catholic. So Elder Pernecita does most of the teaching as I just sat and listened and tried to think of what I could possibly say ... nothing was coming to mind. The dad was pretty controlling of the lesson and kept going on in the different directions as we read. So what happened was E. Pernecita wanted me to teach so we read a list of verses in 2 Nephi 28 and at the moment ... I just started talking ... and I'm not sure where it came from , but just felt the Spirit flooding through me. The room got quiet as ideas just shot through my mouth as I explained the scripture for only like 5 seconds and then the cool part came ... I just bore testimony. I bore testimony for like 60 seconds and it was just pure silence. This could have been the second most powerful spiritual experience I've had. Just absolute heat running through my body as I bore the strongest testimony I could on the Book of Mormon and it's truthfulness. And what happened was I stop and no one says a word for like 8 seconds ... the Dad is just staring at me , and then E. Pernecita bears his. Just as powerful , just as strong ... it was so so good. After wards more silence , like 10 seconds of silence .. no one talking. I've never had such a great experience with pure testimony. It's true , it doesn't always work , but no one can deny someone else's testimony. What happened was a miracle. After we say a few more things we ask them one more time if they'll go to church. And the dad goes "I'll leave it up to them , they can do as they want". Wow! So so good. I haven't asked the ZLs yet , but we were pretty positive they were all at church , except for the dad , yesterday. That was just the other experience that I really really cherished this week. I haven't had experiences liek this too often , and to have 2 in a week felt so good. After those two days I felt on top of the world , not a single bad thought came to find and I felt like I was filled with joy. This mission has changed me in a LOT of ways ... guided me in a LOT of ways ... but the thing I'm most grateful for is the Spirit. I don't think I felt or recognized it once my entire life until I stepped into the MTC and was placed in a position to where I was to focus on it. I'm grateful for my Savior that gave me this opportunity to serve and for His atonement that I don't begin to understand. It's beyond my capacity to understand. How it works for everything is amazing. That's all that seemed important this week to share! I love you all and am so excited for GENCON! -Elder White [P.S] - It could be nothing , but I'm trying to respond to all promptings , ha - a thought popped into my head randomly this morning to tell you , Dad , to pray hard before you sell the house. I don't know why. Also , if you could send me a hard bound copy of the Infinite Atonement by Tad R Callister , I'd love it! But please write like the date or something in it , I'll be keeping all my hard bounds for the rest of my life so I'd like to have you write like a sentence or two message. THanks for everything! 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.

FAMILY! How's it going? This week has been pretty crazy. More than usual. I see noooo BYU Talks or John Bytheway talks! that's unfortunate. Maybe I'll give you all another week. Not to mention I'm lacking on many an email. Haven't heard from a lot of people in a while! Let's quit the slackin. Questions: How long does it take for dearelder letters to get to you? - About 3 weeks I think. I just got a dear elder earlier from Aunt Debbie but haven't yet hat time to read it. THANK YOU! Have you received any letters from the YW in Newtown ward?  They were mailed to you quite awhile ago. - YES! A little while ago , a bunch of young women letters I think? Please thank them for me , that was really thoughtful even though I haven't met any of them hahaha. It's been a little while Would you like me to write letters or dearelder letters to you? - If you would like , of course. Everyone loves mail! Do you write to Faber?  - I don't have his address Do you need a new pair of shoes? - Nope! How are your clothes holding up?  Shirts?  Socks?  Towel? - Good. Socks all have holes , haha , but it's all good. Don't worry about sending any more of that kind of stuff , I'll be giving it all away before I come home. Do you sleep good? - Yep Do you get sick often? - Nope Do you need new contacts? - nope! I'll stretch them the rest of the time. I'll probably want a new eye doctors apptmnt when I get home , so don't spend the money yet. Okay. So first off ... I have a gift for you and Dad. I just had it made a little bit ago and so I'll send it home when I can. I'll be taking money out of my account for that. Hopefully the shipping won't be too expensive. But this week has been good and sad , but obviously good. It's a mission! Tuesday was district meeting and then afterwards I went on exchanges in my area with Elder Halvorsen. It was okay , haha. Nothing too great there. The area is a lot like Malimpec , but harder because the people have to take trykes and the bus to get to the church. Our area is far from the church , so that is the number 1 reason why they can't go to church. They don't have the money for it. We teach the commandments and teach them that basically faith will pay the travel ... but it's such a challenge for them. In a way I understand , and it's hard to be an american in a position of demanding perfection of these people .. but we have to teach them consequences of actions. Haha so you guys telling me you skipped church felt ironic. Anyways that's such a challenge here , and in Damortis it was as well , but not as much. Some could just walk it. But I love the area. The people are really kind and humble. I just wish the plans they have for the church to be built in the area would hurry up. They've bought the land , I'm not sure what they're waiting on. That's another thing that I've realized this week that's really kind of amazing ... just the power of the church. Not in a bad way , but here in the Philippines you really see it. It's such a small church but it's influence is enormous. [Not to mention the grasp that faithful tithing honestly has] [maybe emit that part from the blog post] But anyways on Wednesday we end our exchanges and the other elders go on exchanges with their district leader. So Elder Mayes comes and works in their area , so he was in our apartment wednesday night and thursday morning until they ended their exchanges. We had a loooonnggg movie talk , haha , weds and thurs. He's as big of a movie fan as I was and it was fun to discuss it finally with someone. He's a missionary I became good friends with in Baguio and then we got transferred here to Dagupan together. He's from Logan and a really really down to earth and kind person. It was fun. But Wednesday night ... the four of us had a discussion in which you start having feelings that are hard to describe. It was just one of those experiences I was grateful for. It's important on a mission to have those kinds of feelings and understand more in depth what you're doing and the reality of everything. I'd rather not go into more detail about it , so that's about it. But then Thursday Elder Nieman comes back and we had gotten a phone call earlier that morning from the APs asking for him , and we were liek he's in Santa Barbara on exchanges so they hang up and call him over there. Come to find out later ... he's being emergency transferred. He was called into the office as an office elder and supply manager. ... So I was like uhh this kind of stinks. My first apartment with 4 missionaries and the first co-apartment american since my trainer , haha , and he gets transferred after 3 weeks. We brought him to the mission home the next day [friday] and his companion joined me and Elder Danao in our companionship. That day [friday] was way hard for me , ha. I felt so out of place because they were also companions in the past and just kind of close. So the whole day they were chatting and stuff and I just felt like that crummy third wheel. Anyways , I was pretty quiet for about 24 hours and the next day at lunch I asked if the three of us could talk adn we just got everything out. And since then things have been pretty good. We all get along really well and obedience is definitely improving. I apologize for the bad english or spelling ... this keyboard and my language skills are lacking. So that was the big update so far. Our work is now split between two areas until transfer day when me and Elder Surbona [E Nieman's old companion] get our new companions. We're looking for an apartment in our area , tho , so that our transportation costs less. That's a challenge. Also on church [WHEN YOU GUYS SKIPPED] I made up for it ... we had 6 hours , ha. We went to their branch in the morning and our branch in the afternoon. .. it was a lot. Also our elder's quorum discussion was ridiculous and dominated by a ... talkative ... past branch president , ha. So that's our work for this past week. It's been difficult , but things are resolving nicely and also we had a zone activity earlier in which we went to the beach and grilled and stuff. It was pretty fun , but the ocean kept teasing us. I'm excited for swimming when I get home , ha ... but it'll be winter. We tried playign soccer on the sand , but realized quickly that sun + sand = burning inferno on the souls of your feet. That ended promptly. We took a bunch of picturse [filipinos ADORE pictures] so I'll send those next week when I trust the computer is not riddled with viruses. That's all I've got for this week. Keep the letters and love coming , but I'll accept prayers as well! WHOSE STOKED FOR G CON!? I am. -Elder White ps - got a letter from caitlin as well! I'll read it later. Thank you!

Hello

Hello Family! And others. I'm sorry this email will be a little bit shorter , I had a lot I had to get done in this short hour. This week has gone by really fast and has been really good. No more crazy guy , so that's always fun. He just didn't show back up on Sunday . Basically this week we've been doing a lot of teaching and although our focus is less actives we keep getting so many referrals and there are so many people that are interested and just want to join the church. By so many I mean like 3 or 4. But it's fun to teach them , the conversion is what we're worried about. Anyways we're trying our best to help them along and taking it really slow. Finding less actives and teaching them is still the best part of my week and seeing them remember how they felt back when they were baptized is incredibly rewarding. The people here are super super humble and , like Damortis , really do want to do the right thing ... but are confused how. Most just revert back to their Catholic traditions and so we've got a solid amount of members worshipping idols and praying to Mary and stuff , ha ha. But I love the area. We're also way way close to Malimpec. I've seen a bunch of old friends and it's so much fun to see them again. Last Saturday we had our baptism and it went really well. There were 5 in all that were baptized , 2 from Malasiqui 1 and 3 from us , 2 of which were 8 year old child of records , so that was actually really really good to see them being baptized at the correct age. The convert from our branch was baptized by her older brother , which is way awesome as well. He was a less active that just recently came back into activity and was able to baptize his sister a couple months later. The whole day was sweet and was just ... happy , ha. During the actual ordinances the two witnesses like had their eyes closed! So we're standing in the back being the real witnesses and had to call back 2 baptisms that weren't actually done correctly that the two witnesses up front didn't catch , haha. That was kind of a mess , but they were all done correctly. Two of the pictures are of my new hair cut , hahaha. I went back to the buzz because it's a win in so many categories .. and I'm hoping it'll keep some of the Hey Joe's and things girls say down a bit. Laugh at the one that makes me look like a monster , please , hahaha. Also in our area buses have stopped heading back to where we live at night .. so we are looking for an apartment in our area .. which would mean bye bye to the 4 elder apartment and the other american , haha , which would not be good. Seeing as Elder Surbona is also an amazing cook and I'm watching him to learn how to cook the things he does when I come home. That's really all I've got for right now , I'm sorry this is so short ... I really had no time. Also I'm happy the phone call made you happy , Mom , hahaha. She was incredibly sweet and we got a few pictures with them afterwards , as well. She came up to me afterwards and just talked to me for a little bit , then later as she was taking pictures with others she calls me over [i thought she was going to ask me to take a picture for them] and said to write down your number and she'd call. Very very very President Monson-like person. Super sweet. Side Note- If you can , please send some John By The Way or BYU Devotional Talks through email . I would love that more than any package. Thank you for all the prayers , see you next week!! -Elder White P.S - thank you Bishop Keller for the email! It was great hearing from you , and yes that movie would have been outside the mission policy , haha I'm sorry. I'll see it in 53 years when I come home! 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.

Email

Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat , doon sa Connecticut at sa iba pang lugar ng Amerika. Ako naman si Elder White and excited po ako na makapagbahagi sa inyo kung ano ang nangyari sa akin sa week na ito. Wala namang kagila-gilalas na bagay , kundi ang isang ordenriong linggo. Okay. I'll stop. How's your guys' week going? Mine was pretty good. Had a few shocking things happen , but I'll leave for later. I apologize momma that I didn't say anything about you seeing Elder Merril , I forgot. He's a pretty funny guy. It's crazy to think how soon everyone from school is going home. Faber is already home , Elder Merril and Cameron come home pretty soon ... it's just me and Cody out for a while more , ha. Also Tanner and Collin which is comforting as well , ha. But time seems pretty irrelevant. I went through a 15 minute phase in Damortis about where it actually seemed real that I would go home one day , but it's gone back to normal in that I don't actually believe I will , ha. Honestly .. a mission feels like it doesn't end , and that's pretty okay with me right now. I enjoy this work a tad bit more. But I do miss a few things from the states. My throat hurts. Anyways this past week has been pretty coolio. The way me and Elder Danao left off in Malimpec wasn't the best , in that we weren't too fond of each other. But over the past week I've seen a huge change between us and the other elders in the apartment. It's actually been really awesome. Despite him going home in a month he is working hard and not even talking about home that much. Also we've kind of just gotten past all the barriers we had back in the day and have become really comfortable with one another , it's a really really good feeling. I think the language barrier was a bit of a problem last year , but with that gone there's not much in the way anymore. Last Tuesday we had district meeting in Dagupan , so it was fun seeing the whole zone and the church they have there is really nice. It's an institute of religion building as well , so it's a bit classier. Also they have a glass case filled with really really good church books that I was quite jealous of. I have a few of the books they had in the case , so that brought a splinter of comfort. But I realize that one thing I really want when I get older is just a lot of a church books. I much much more enjoy reading books by prophets and apostles than fictions and stuff. But then again , like I said I plan on improving my english when I come home - so I hope I make reading good novels a habit. Anyways , the ride home from the district meeting was brutal standing up in a tiny bus [head bent because the roof is too low] for 45 minutes because there weren't any seats left. We got a decent amount of work done this week and have a baptism coming up on Saturday of a part-member. She's 13 but her older brother who takes care of her was recently brought back to the church after a long time of inactivity , so it's a nice thing to complete their family. The area is pretty much just like Malimpec and I love that. I prefer the bukid [farms and trees and stuff] much more than cities. Cities are really ugly to me , ha. Also the people are much more humble and much more willing to listen than in the cities. Unfortunately the people of this branch live 20 pesos away from the church and that's often too much for them to make it out on Sundays. A chapel is in the planning stages right now for their area [because we take a bus every day about 10 - 15 minutes just to get to their area] and the land has been bought and construction should start within a a month or so. Anyways we've met and are teaching a lot of humble humble people and it's an awesome experience. It fortifies even more how blessed we are for where we were placed in the world. It's interesting though to make note of that , and the to understand that where we live is the certain area to where we needed to be born. Seeing as we all have individual trials to overcome , and only in those areas and circumstances could we do it. Though I do play down a little too much maybe our standard of living. ha. The apartment is pretty nice , I'll take some pictures this week and send them. Living with 4 elders is pretty fun and Elder Surbona is an incredible cook. I'll be watching him over the next few weeks to bring home some very good dishes. Unfortunately a lot of the ingredients are only found in the Philippines. He made a really really good tofu and brean sprout ulam the other day .. that was awesome. People say I'm losing weight , I don't believe it. On Saturday our investigator had her baptismal interview and passed , so that was coolio. Also later than day we taught a workshop to a ward missionaries , leaders , and the ward mission leader on their purpose and how they can fulfill their calling. It was good. During meetings as well we took a bit of control to help them understand their part in missionary work. Most leaders here really do want to do a good job , they just lack the training on how. But let's talk about Sunday. This was an interesting day. Wake up , studies , [fasting so no eating..] , then head to PEC meeting at about 11. While we're in the meeting a guy in his late 20s pokes his head in twice and asks "Am I supposed to be in here" in english. We all say no and he leaves both times. We ask who that was and find out they think it's someone in branch 1 [we're branch 2] that's mentally insane. After the meeting we wait a little while and greet members as they came in [including one that head butted me last week , ha , he's pretty funny though , ha.] But then I see the guy before .. and he's following me ... and Elder Nieman [branch 1 in our apartment]. I'd walk somewhere and he'd follow. He'd also say some pretty .. disturbing things. So this goes on for a while. During which I keep sending him to Elder Nieman and he'd come right back after 3 minutes. Eventually the branch 1 elders leave and that just leaves ... me. Then comes a point where I see 5 people from Malimpec that I know show up at the chapel! They heard me and Elder Danao were companions in Malasiqui and they came to visit. It was pretty awesome seeing them there and I was stoked to hear how many were going on missions. Malimpec is really an amazing amazing place and it's highly blessed of the Lord. They know how 3 guys and 2 girls preparing for missions , with 3 or 4 out right now. Anyways seeing them was really fun ... but that guy was still there. He would continually put his face about 3 inches away from mine and grab my arms of hands and not let go ... he was strong. So after continually going in and out of the chapel about 8 times and always having him follow , I tried to invite him to sit down ... in which he starting like throwing his elbows into me and throwing a fit. At this point all the members are watching and some laughing while others just scared ... as I awkwardly try to deal with someone seriously mentally unstable. He wasn't challenged , just ... a little insane. So what happens is finally after so many members like surrounding me and stuff he walks outside and we run inside and lock the chapel doors. He didn't come back. A 19 year old sat by the door the whole time to make sure he didn't come in and I had this huge guy like sit by me as my body guard. It was absolutely ridiculous. COME TO FIND OUT LATER THAT NIGHT that he was someone Elder Nieman and Surbona met on the street a few weeks ago , and he comes to church every sunday! They said he's sometimes normal , but usually like that. I was in shock , ha. Anyways that was my week. Right now we're on Dagupan and just went bowling. Elder Nieman is pretty stinking good ... he said his highest was 276 that he bowled in Dagupan a month or two ago. My highest today was 156. Anyways that's all from me ... too bad no one sent me the things I asked todaaayyyy. I guess I am a bit late. Love you all, -Elder White