TANNER IS IN HIS LAST AREA!

Haha very possibly , that's freaky man. How's it going family. I was pretty sure I responded to that stuff about Brandon last week , but if not , congrats that's way awesome. Him and June should collaborate ... actually their styles are incredibly different , but that's all way cool. By the way , Easter in the Philippines means crucifying Christ afresh ... haha literally. This Catholic nation goes insane with kabastusan! That means like ... rudeness ... or degradation [that's a word right] of Jesus Christ. It's pretty crazy how they make all these crosses and hang people on them and stuff [I don't think they die ... just act it out] and have so many weird traditions that probably all involve alcohol , also each catholic family sticks a little table outside their gate with an idol and a idol-picture and candles and cross and stuff ... the week is called Holy Week or mahal na araw. It's strange. And they're not allowed to buy meat. I remember Danny Mangan telling me a lot about this kind of stuff when we were little but it was not nearly to this magnitude. The american style seemed pretty normal , but that was a long time ago. Anyways , yes , conference was awesome. Favorite talk : President Packer. Then , obviously , Elder Holland. Then , Elder Hallstrom. Then , Elder Christofferson , then Elder Nelson. Favorite two lines : "Don't delay ... it's getting late" and "Could an explosion in a printing press produce a dictionary?" Ahaha , so good. My favorite speaker is President Packer and followed closely by Elder Holland , and their talks were amazing. Obviously , yes , Elder Holland's apostolic explanation of the parable of the laborers was awesome and it shows how much time he must spend reading each verse and each story over and over again and extracting meanings that aren't in the words but which the Savior is sill trying to get across. That's what happens when a literary genius speaks. But President Packer's history of being a sunday school teacher shines through , he's a fantastic teacher and his talk just interested me the most. Elder Holland is also getting more and more bold as time goes on. I loved Elder Hallstrom's direct approach and really good expounding on simple subjects , and Elder Christofferson's line "translate that." . Also me and Elder Mayes were discussing why Elder Scott seemed to go off on a seemingly unrelated tangent about his wife , but also seemed really intertwined with what he was talking about. All in all it was a really really really good conference , probably the best one of the mission. There was a strong spirit about the talks , and even more so with the hymns. Also Elder Mayes and Hyatt were there so that was fun. My son's name is Elder Blancia [Blanco is spanish for white..] and is from Cagayan de Oro , Mindanao. He's small , but has an awesome personality. Loves music , used to sing in a band , has a really good voice and loves a lot of the same music I do. I apologize ,also , whole - heartedly if my spelling is off , english is hard and this computer is Laaaaaaggging like crazy. Also I'm downloading the whole conference , plus other things so that's slowing the computer down. By the way , I just downloaded two of grandpa's speeches and hearing his voice again is really awesome. Important Side Note::: me and Elder Mayes were joking a couple weeks ago because we got word that President Monson saw the three words video that Sister Jensen made of us [see her blog and look for the youtube video if you haven't seen it] and Elder Mayes' three words were Call of Duty ... so we were joking around as if his definitely impressed President Monson ........ President Monson mentioned the words 'Call of Duty' about 20 times during his Priesthood talk! Ahahahaha . After I heard him say it the third time I looked at E Mayes during the conference and was like how did you do it?! Buuttt , President Monson has given that talk before titled Call of Duty ... still , we think subconsciously he was influenced to speak about it after watching our video , haha. Okay , back to my kid. He's way cool and he brings such a spirit of love to our lessons. With transfer day and two days of conference we've only been able to get a little work done , but he's way happy about the work and teaches really well despite being super new. My goal is to have him training in 12 weeks , along with the system. Elder Tan trained , I think I mentioned that , so I got a cool picture of three generations [FAMILY HISTORY WORK!] Transfer day was pretty long and crazy. President gave a really good talk [more like a sermon] and I think he feels his time coming near. The new president gets here July 1. But I always love seeing the Jensens. They remind me a lot of you guys [looks a little as well]. We're looking for an apartment in our area , because we're waking up at 5:30 each morning to make up coming home at 8 every night. After 7:30 there's no more buses or jeeps in our area , so we have to ctach that last ride jeep to get home. So we asked president for permission to start our day off an hour earlier. I'm actually super happy I'm training again. At first I wasn't , but now I realize how large a blessing is. It gives me the excitement of being new again , more energized studies , and keeps my thoughts super far from home. I like my trainee a lot and it's funny that E Mayes and Hyatt both got reaallyy strange elders , haha. But they're good guys , they'll get through it. We had an experience Saturday night that I'll tell you about when I get home , but won't through email. Haha sorry. All I can say is that being in a catholic nation , where everything is spiritual ... spiritual things happen. Good and bad. But one thing I've learned during my mission is the reality of it all. I confirm what Elder Nelson said in that how can people honestly believe in a 'big bang' and not believe in God. Both requires faith , just one faith is progressive and the other regressive. Why not use the faith you're already using for positive. ahhh , I love this mission. I've changed a bit , ha. hmm , what else. I think that's all for reporting for me. OH! We just went bowling , 8 of us .. I bowled a 202! That's a new high for me , 8 strikes , 5 of them in a row. My arm hurts. But I'm really at an awesome stage of my mission. I know the mission well , I know how to be a missionary , and now everything is just progression. Self progression and progression as a disciple of Christ. Alma 38:12 was decided by me about a month ago to me a life motto. It's hard. But I really like this feeling. Everything is awesome , ha. Anyways , I'm sorry my emails aren't so much about my area anymore , but it just doesn't really seem all that important to talk about - it's all the same stuff. I'd rather talk about things that change or seem more worthy of the email space. Please tell everyone , including JUNE , thank you for all the emails and letters. That includes the Newtown ward! Thank you for the easter card. Please send the Sturges' a super thank you as they've been so consisten during my entire mission with their little cards. Sweetest couple award. I super weirded out that I'll be talking to you guys in a month ... I literally just put down the phone yesterday in Damortis. Anyways just one more phone cal left ... so so strange. I love you all , -Elder White