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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