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!