" Heeyy little brother [family] "
So.. did you enjoy the long email last week with the intense pictures? Courtney was the only one to respond.
We had a pretty eventful week last week but not much to say for this week , kind of. I'll answer mom's questions first I guess.
1. Have you heard what track you're on for school?
- Nothing so far. I just went and reread it and they said they'd email after the deadline for applications? I'm not sure when that is.. hopefully soon.
2. I've never heard from Cody's mom. What should I do? What is her name, her husband's and the city/state they live in and I'll see if I can find them on white pages and call or write her. You still want to room with Cody, right?
- Haha yeah I've been bugging him and he's been bugging her .. he's not sure what's going on but he'll keep reminding he said.
3. Did you hear from Tanner? I told Gaye to tell him to write.
- Nothing yet , I'll give him time though .. he just got home
4. We got our tickets to come and see you and I talked to SLC and got your return ticket. I've upgraded you to economy comfort to sit with me and dad - niiiice....
- Haha that's not so much a question , but thank you thank you
5. Did you have any issue with flooding? I meant to ask you last week because I know Manila and area was hit so bad. More about that in a minute.
- I think my last week email/questions pretty much answered that
6. What is the name of the ward you're in?
- Binalonan 1st Ward , Urdaneta Stake
7. How are things going with your american companion :) Where did you say he's from? I bet its a different experience than your other ones. When does he go home?
- things are quite a bit different , haha , but it's been awesome so far. He goes him in June? I think.
Any more questions? May katanungan pa kayo? Wala na? Sige , oras na email.
So we've had a pretty fun week. My planner from last week got soaked last Sunday so I've had to start a new one - it's been a pain. First time my whole mission. Actually I've got a pretty funny story that maybe I'll tell when I get home from what happened last Monday after we got back from Urdaneta. Basically I got sick... that's the short version - but I was fine after a few hours. Tuesday we had a zone gathering in Urdaneta where me and Elder Hyatt presented to our zone everything we learned in Zone Leaders Council and gave our own workshops about it. President gave us a surprise visit and decided to attend , so that was fun. We taught in tagalog and he supported it. He really wants to learn the language and was actually promised by Elder Oaks as he was set apart that when he left the mission he would speak tagalog as well as he can speak spanish [fluent apparently as well because he was stake president over a stake with a lot of spanish wards]. So he's really a hard worker and is still on fire with everything , ha. 2 months down , 70 to go!
Tuesday after the gathering we had exchanges and it was okay , nothing too memorable. Wednesday we worked in Laoac again and the area is progressing so well. Despite it being the furthest away from the house it's amazing. We visited the family in the very very furthest part and her husband was there along with some neighbors. And her husband is surprisingly very intelligent. He was picking stuff up super quick. So they're really really humble and set for baptism as long as progression continues. Then we went to Jeffrans who is as well a stud and only 16 with a huge testimony and progressing awesomely. Then we booked it to another part member/investigator family that's rolling forward ... just a really good day. Oh and last appointment was with the family! A couple of grandparents that are .. wealthy .. and just got back from Hawaii from visiting their kids. They fed us amazing food , gave us left overs , then drove us home haha. So nice.
Thursday was pretty good and then at the end of the day we had the Tomboc's come and work with us with was okay for the first appointment but amazing for the second. As we go and visit this less active woman who is not super outgoing and kind of doesn't want to listen she tells us to come back another time , then finally comes out , meets the Tomboc's and realizes she knows brother Tomboc from Baguio! Apparently they were in the same boarding house back in the day and they recognized each other. So that got her really excited and ready to listen for when we go back later. Her countenance really changed and it's interesting how the Lord will put people in your path that will cross later in life and have a positive effect.
Friday we had exchanges with the office elders from 5 - the rest of the night and it was pretty good. The next day we switched back and me and E. Hyatt headed to Laoac again. Taught Brother amongst a bunch of others and this guy is seriously ... quite a guy. He tells us all these stories of shadow governments and free masons and American coming to its downfall soon. So we just shared Jacob 4:14 really strongly and then he committed to come to church the next day ... the first time in nearly 20 years.
Sunday morning , lo and behold ... Brother comes walking in and came to church like he said he would. We were shocked , to be honest , also we had so many investigators there along with one that we just met on the street and invited. He was way way funny and kind of looks like a mid-40s stoner hahaha. He's straight out of woodstock or something and Elder Hyatt was convinced that he kept looking for stuff he could take home , hahah , but he's pretty intelligent and really nice.
Later that night we taught a number of first lessons and taught a really good lesson to a less active and her family. It was a small miracle that her husband decided to stay and listen , seeing as he's not a member and never interested even in missionaries in the past. But he participated and so did her daughter and it was just a really good lesson on faith. Elder Hyatt shared a really good story about his family and it just set a great mood. We left on a strong note and then headed home because we had like a 45 minute walk ahead of us and it was now about 8:30. As we finally got to the highway as well and had waited for about 25 minutes for a tricycle to come by Elder Hyatt finally just asks do you want to just walk [it was a number of miles to town] so I just said give it two more minutes. We wait about 15 seconds and finally a tryke comes by and stops and gives us a ride all the way home. Another small miracle I noted from yesterday.
I think that was pretty much my week. Time is still going by really fast and I'm dragging my heels a bit at this point. Also .. we'll probably be transferred next transfer. I'll talk more about it once I'm sure but it looks like I've got one more area ahead of me :\ ... it'll be coolio.
Anyways , that's all I've got. I love my mission and love serving these people.
Kita kits in a couple!
-Elder A White
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
the craziest week of my mission
FAMILY!
How's it going. My fingers are way cold right now. The aircon in this internet shop is always pretty solid .. it's hard to adjust. Sorry for being on so late , we've had a pretty good day. After studies the 4 of us in the house headed to the church and played ping pong with a member and me and Elder Hyatt played soccer for a while. I can't believe how long it's been since I actually played soccer ... almost two years now. Also this is only the second time I've been able to play ping pong my entire time in the Philippines .. ha. Despite almost every church having a table not many of my companions ever wanted to play. So we've had a really good morning and despite all the rain lately we had a really sunny morning. So I've had an insane week but I'll go slow I suppose.
Tuesday- Me and Elder Hyatt felt really inspired with the new zone vision we had. Regularly at the beginning of every transfer the zone leaders present a list of a few "focuses" which are usually just reminders that they want the zone to work on for that transfer in hopes that it will boost the work. Some focuses are good and okay but normally they're just that .. a list of reminders and never much comes from it. So Friday , Saturday , Sunday , and Monday we talked [me and E. Hyatt] for a long time about how we can fix those things that don't work as well and what we came up with felt so good. We presented it in a totally different way and it's not the regular thing but about finding and preparing people and at the same time a big focus on personal growth as a missionary and for the elders as priesthood holders. We were really excited to present it and it did go really well. President Monahan even attended with the assistants and he enjoyed it. Also our main point was "maging ganap" which comes from the 3 nephi 12:43 scripture or matthew 5:43 about be ye therefore perfect ... We preferred it in Tagalog because ganap means more completed than perfect so it ties in perfection through the atonement and so forth ... we expounded but it was a success. So that was a big highlight for us.
Work was pretty normal for Tuesday and Wednesday [accept teaching an incredibly spiritual lesson on Wednesday to this woman who was active for like 30 years then has just gone inactive for the past two. We really need her to come back to help save her other siblings and so it was a super powerful lesson. We expect good things soon]. But when we got to Thursday we just had a sudden crazy few days.
Thursday- we just spent going to a few appointments we had and tracking down a bunch of less active in this one barangay. So we visit our first appointment , a less active , and ask her for a referral ... she actually gives one and mentions it's an RLDS! What! They have Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Binalonan , haha , and a church! I never would have imagined. So later we track down that family and they're actually amazing! We talk to the husband outside and introduce the book of mormon [the family is now methodist] and talk to him for a little while about it and he was actually really interested. His wife was the referral and she was really kind as well but kept coming and going , then randomly mentions "our churches used to be the same" ... we acted surprised when she told us she was RLDS , but she was really nice. We set up a return appointment and are going back in a couple hours. Then we were walking back towards the high way and said hi to this guy at a gate who was smiling at us so we just decide to stop and talk to him so he lets us in and we taught him a really good short lesson about family and what not. Then later we found like 3 less active in a row really easily and just had a really really good day. We felt like missionaries again , haha. We were joking about it but honestly with all this less active work we sometimes feel like home teachers [we love the work , but investigators are still investigators]. So then Friday we just walked forrreevverrr going through appointments and ended the day with a lesson with Bishop and his wife .. kind of effective. Hopefully something comes from it.
But SATURDAY was the best day , haha. We head first to Pozorrubio for a baptismal interview and then once we get back to the area head straight to work. Start first with this referral coming from Urdaneta that was hadn't yet had time to find. Finally we set the hours asside to find it and headed out. Turns out it is craaaazzyyy far away! We're back in bukid na bukid area and everyone is staring hahaha. I haven't had people stare that much in a long time. Anyways they were all really helpful in helping us find the referral. The first time we thought we found her this dalaga comes out [dalaga means like ... 16+ girl thats unmarried] so we were like ahhh what ... the referral is a 17 year old girl. Turns out it wasn't her , just sounded like her name. So we enlist the help of a couple little kids to show us to her house and finally meet her! She's like 28 or something , has a husband [he wasn't there] and incredibly elect. She should have been baptized by now but had to be baptized in her own area , so the referral came to us. She's a bit backwards on a few doctrines but loves the church and wants to get baptized really bad. She's been coming to church straight for months [but in Urdaneta apparently. So after that we were walking back [about 6 km's to get back to the highway] and as we're talking someone calls "hi elders" from like the woods ... we look over and see a guy and were about to just pass but then were like .. what .. why do you know who we are. Turns out that was her husband! Hahah what are the odds. He was like I recognized the name tags and figured you were coming from my house. Had I known you were coming I wouldn't have left! He's so so nice and will be there when we come back. We have high hopes for a family baptism soon. Thennnnn as we were walking again someone ELSE calls "elders" so we swing around and this kid on a bike rides up and goes 'hey I was taught in Bulacan [close to manila] and should have been baptized but I came up here for high school. I want to be an elder too.' We were speechless , haha , so we got his address and followed him back to his house [he's only about 16 but lives with his aunt and uncle hear. Apparently his parents got baptized down in Bulacan and he has a ton of family that are members] so as we're following him we're asking around where this guy whose a member here lives , his name is . So we get directions and 2 minutes later who pulls up in a car up to us ... ! He rolls down the window and goes are you looking for me , and we say uhh are you Brother ? He goes yep! Get in! So we tell the kid we'll come back in an hour and get in the car , haha , he takes us back to his house and then we get a chance to talk to him. Turns out he was baptized in 93 here in Binalonan and loved the church. Was super super active for so many years then read something by Brigham Young that he took as a challenge to find truth in other churches and since has been inactive. Says he doesn't denounce his baptism nor the church but is still searching in other places. Now let me just be honest , this guy is a bit of a loon. So nice , but crazy.
So eventually we're able to get out of there [after like an hour 1/2] and make it back to the kid we met. He was waiting for us and his aunt and uncle are totally cool with us teaching him. So we share a lesson then leave for another less active family. WHERE AGAIN we meet someone who came to church last week and has a desire to be baptized , haha , I have no idea where all these people are coming from!! Laoac [this part of our area] is amazing. LASTLY! We head to this guy whose been inactive for so long and just last week he told us he had read the whole BoM in a week! and now he wants to come back. We shared about the atonement and left for home.
SUNDAY!!! Possibly even crazier. It was pouring but our investigators showed up [the first woman went to church in Urdaneta again because her father picked her up she said] but the 16 year old came by himself! ALSO! That super long time less active man came for the first time in a super long time [not the american]. So the services were great , we head home and the front of our house was super flooded so we take off our socks and shoes to get in and out. We're out working for a little while [get surprised fed by a member family as we were walking by their house. I think they love us both being american , haha] then LATER! we walk through super deep water. It was raining alll day sunday and so so many places were flooded. We figure whatever and just walk through it. Later on , this is the funniest part, we get to a super deep part of the water and were like we have to take pictures. So I give him my camera [luckily so] and walk out to a part I think is deeper water a little. THEN SUDDENLY I FALL , ahahaha , and turns out I had just walked into a CANAL! The drainage for the water. But everything was so flooded that I couldn't see it at all [not to mention murky dirty water] so I just go down and my feet couldn't even touch the bottom of the canal with the water up to my neck but luckily [painfully] this cement thing in the middle drives ride up between my legs and catches me in the crotch ahahaha. It hurt so bad but it saved me from drowning. I get up [those are those couple pictures you see] and Elder Hyatt is literally dying laughing hahaha. Everything was so soaked but it was hysterical. So I take a damage assessment and realize everything in my bag is soacked as am I and I broke part of my umbrella. So so so lucky I had just given my camera to him. So we continue working and have a good rest of the day despite it being freezing and everything soaked.
So that was my week. So so so nuts but amazing. Things are really really good with an american companion , haha. I love love filipinos but it's just so much different and easier with someone just like you.
I'll answer your questions next week , mom , I gotta run!
I love you all. Time is flying. But this work is amazing and I cannot imagine not doing it forever. But eventually I guess the time will come to give it up. The philippines are beautiful and the people amazing. I might become one of them , haha.
Love you again,
-Elder A White
How's it going. My fingers are way cold right now. The aircon in this internet shop is always pretty solid .. it's hard to adjust. Sorry for being on so late , we've had a pretty good day. After studies the 4 of us in the house headed to the church and played ping pong with a member and me and Elder Hyatt played soccer for a while. I can't believe how long it's been since I actually played soccer ... almost two years now. Also this is only the second time I've been able to play ping pong my entire time in the Philippines .. ha. Despite almost every church having a table not many of my companions ever wanted to play. So we've had a really good morning and despite all the rain lately we had a really sunny morning. So I've had an insane week but I'll go slow I suppose.
Tuesday- Me and Elder Hyatt felt really inspired with the new zone vision we had. Regularly at the beginning of every transfer the zone leaders present a list of a few "focuses" which are usually just reminders that they want the zone to work on for that transfer in hopes that it will boost the work. Some focuses are good and okay but normally they're just that .. a list of reminders and never much comes from it. So Friday , Saturday , Sunday , and Monday we talked [me and E. Hyatt] for a long time about how we can fix those things that don't work as well and what we came up with felt so good. We presented it in a totally different way and it's not the regular thing but about finding and preparing people and at the same time a big focus on personal growth as a missionary and for the elders as priesthood holders. We were really excited to present it and it did go really well. President Monahan even attended with the assistants and he enjoyed it. Also our main point was "maging ganap" which comes from the 3 nephi 12:43 scripture or matthew 5:43 about be ye therefore perfect ... We preferred it in Tagalog because ganap means more completed than perfect so it ties in perfection through the atonement and so forth ... we expounded but it was a success. So that was a big highlight for us.
Work was pretty normal for Tuesday and Wednesday [accept teaching an incredibly spiritual lesson on Wednesday to this woman who was active for like 30 years then has just gone inactive for the past two. We really need her to come back to help save her other siblings and so it was a super powerful lesson. We expect good things soon]. But when we got to Thursday we just had a sudden crazy few days.
Thursday- we just spent going to a few appointments we had and tracking down a bunch of less active in this one barangay. So we visit our first appointment , a less active , and ask her for a referral ... she actually gives one and mentions it's an RLDS! What! They have Reorganized Latter Day Saints in Binalonan , haha , and a church! I never would have imagined. So later we track down that family and they're actually amazing! We talk to the husband outside and introduce the book of mormon [the family is now methodist] and talk to him for a little while about it and he was actually really interested. His wife was the referral and she was really kind as well but kept coming and going , then randomly mentions "our churches used to be the same" ... we acted surprised when she told us she was RLDS , but she was really nice. We set up a return appointment and are going back in a couple hours. Then we were walking back towards the high way and said hi to this guy at a gate who was smiling at us so we just decide to stop and talk to him so he lets us in and we taught him a really good short lesson about family and what not. Then later we found like 3 less active in a row really easily and just had a really really good day. We felt like missionaries again , haha. We were joking about it but honestly with all this less active work we sometimes feel like home teachers [we love the work , but investigators are still investigators]. So then Friday we just walked forrreevverrr going through appointments and ended the day with a lesson with Bishop and his wife .. kind of effective. Hopefully something comes from it.
But SATURDAY was the best day , haha. We head first to Pozorrubio for a baptismal interview and then once we get back to the area head straight to work. Start first with this referral coming from Urdaneta that was hadn't yet had time to find. Finally we set the hours asside to find it and headed out. Turns out it is craaaazzyyy far away! We're back in bukid na bukid area and everyone is staring hahaha. I haven't had people stare that much in a long time. Anyways they were all really helpful in helping us find the referral. The first time we thought we found her this dalaga comes out [dalaga means like ... 16+ girl thats unmarried] so we were like ahhh what ... the referral is a 17 year old girl. Turns out it wasn't her , just sounded like her name. So we enlist the help of a couple little kids to show us to her house and finally meet her! She's like 28 or something , has a husband [he wasn't there] and incredibly elect. She should have been baptized by now but had to be baptized in her own area , so the referral came to us. She's a bit backwards on a few doctrines but loves the church and wants to get baptized really bad. She's been coming to church straight for months [but in Urdaneta apparently. So after that we were walking back [about 6 km's to get back to the highway] and as we're talking someone calls "hi elders" from like the woods ... we look over and see a guy and were about to just pass but then were like .. what .. why do you know who we are. Turns out that was her husband! Hahah what are the odds. He was like I recognized the name tags and figured you were coming from my house. Had I known you were coming I wouldn't have left! He's so so nice and will be there when we come back. We have high hopes for a family baptism soon. Thennnnn as we were walking again someone ELSE calls "elders" so we swing around and this kid on a bike rides up and goes 'hey I was taught in Bulacan [close to manila] and should have been baptized but I came up here for high school. I want to be an elder too.' We were speechless , haha , so we got his address and followed him back to his house [he's only about 16 but lives with his aunt and uncle hear. Apparently his parents got baptized down in Bulacan and he has a ton of family that are members] so as we're following him we're asking around where this guy whose a member here lives , his name is . So we get directions and 2 minutes later who pulls up in a car up to us ... ! He rolls down the window and goes are you looking for me , and we say uhh are you Brother ? He goes yep! Get in! So we tell the kid we'll come back in an hour and get in the car , haha , he takes us back to his house and then we get a chance to talk to him. Turns out he was baptized in 93 here in Binalonan and loved the church. Was super super active for so many years then read something by Brigham Young that he took as a challenge to find truth in other churches and since has been inactive. Says he doesn't denounce his baptism nor the church but is still searching in other places. Now let me just be honest , this guy is a bit of a loon. So nice , but crazy.
So eventually we're able to get out of there [after like an hour 1/2] and make it back to the kid we met. He was waiting for us and his aunt and uncle are totally cool with us teaching him. So we share a lesson then leave for another less active family. WHERE AGAIN we meet someone who came to church last week and has a desire to be baptized , haha , I have no idea where all these people are coming from!! Laoac [this part of our area] is amazing. LASTLY! We head to this guy whose been inactive for so long and just last week he told us he had read the whole BoM in a week! and now he wants to come back. We shared about the atonement and left for home.
SUNDAY!!! Possibly even crazier. It was pouring but our investigators showed up [the first woman went to church in Urdaneta again because her father picked her up she said] but the 16 year old came by himself! ALSO! That super long time less active man came for the first time in a super long time [not the american]. So the services were great , we head home and the front of our house was super flooded so we take off our socks and shoes to get in and out. We're out working for a little while [get surprised fed by a member family as we were walking by their house. I think they love us both being american , haha] then LATER! we walk through super deep water. It was raining alll day sunday and so so many places were flooded. We figure whatever and just walk through it. Later on , this is the funniest part, we get to a super deep part of the water and were like we have to take pictures. So I give him my camera [luckily so] and walk out to a part I think is deeper water a little. THEN SUDDENLY I FALL , ahahaha , and turns out I had just walked into a CANAL! The drainage for the water. But everything was so flooded that I couldn't see it at all [not to mention murky dirty water] so I just go down and my feet couldn't even touch the bottom of the canal with the water up to my neck but luckily [painfully] this cement thing in the middle drives ride up between my legs and catches me in the crotch ahahaha. It hurt so bad but it saved me from drowning. I get up [those are those couple pictures you see] and Elder Hyatt is literally dying laughing hahaha. Everything was so soaked but it was hysterical. So I take a damage assessment and realize everything in my bag is soacked as am I and I broke part of my umbrella. So so so lucky I had just given my camera to him. So we continue working and have a good rest of the day despite it being freezing and everything soaked.
So that was my week. So so so nuts but amazing. Things are really really good with an american companion , haha. I love love filipinos but it's just so much different and easier with someone just like you.
I'll answer your questions next week , mom , I gotta run!
I love you all. Time is flying. But this work is amazing and I cannot imagine not doing it forever. But eventually I guess the time will come to give it up. The philippines are beautiful and the people amazing. I might become one of them , haha.
Love you again,
-Elder A White
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Heyo
Hello Family ! I'm sorry but I literally have zero time. Quick update is all I've got.
Something so funny real fast - we sat down here in the internet cafe and this indian woman keeps looking at us , and she's sitting next to my companion. And after about 10 minutes to starts talking to him and I'm sitting here doing stuff listening to mormon messages and what not , so he's getting the ear load and she willlll not stop talking ahahaha. I have no idea what she was talking about but I would occassionally listen and she'd be talking about some indian stuff and like something about festivals and news shows and he would just be like uhuh , uhuh , yea, uhuh , yeah , uhuh and would give like a little response and she literally didn't stop talking for 30 minutes. She just ate through alllll of his email time hahahaha. I was trying so so hard not to laugh and as soon as she left I just burst open [not loud] and we were both like tearing up laughing at what just happened and how he has like no email time left.
In urdaneta right now , of course , and it's been a good day. The past few days we've had little rain , which is a miracle , but it'll come back soon.
Anyways this past week -
Elder Bermejo left on wednesday morning , later that afternoon I held transfer awareness for the zone and it was fun announcing the transfers and seeing the reactions at the ones not to be expected. Wednesday and Thursday I worked with the Binalonan 2 elders and then Friday got my new companion.
..drum roll...
ELDER HYATT! AN AMERICAN! haha my first american companion since my trainer my first transfer. I had a feeling he'd be my companion but confirming it was fun. Also I had the fun job of telling all the new leaders at transfer day that they were a leader [they're always shocked and excited] so it was fun to go grab them and see their faces.
The past couple days I've been introducing him around and we're seeing some awesome reaction in the members and work. He has a great teaching style and I'm very much looking forward to the next couple transfers. Most members are excited about having two americans in the ward , but of course some are a bit standoffish .. that's natural. So we're really excited about what can happen here.
Two quick things that I jotted down that I wanted to mention
1. We're teaching a family whose wife is an awesome inactive [so many years] and her family was baptized by John Bytheway. She keeps telling me a lot of stories about him , it's way funny.
2. I just found out that one of my favorite speakers of all time , Bruce C. Hafen , was Grandpa's first counselor back when he was an area president! I was pleasently surprised and really love his talks.
That's really all for this week. I'm so sorry about the shortness , just no no time. I love you all , I'm healthy , I'm excited about the mission , please tell Tanner and Travis to write me.
BYE!
-Elder A White
Something so funny real fast - we sat down here in the internet cafe and this indian woman keeps looking at us , and she's sitting next to my companion. And after about 10 minutes to starts talking to him and I'm sitting here doing stuff listening to mormon messages and what not , so he's getting the ear load and she willlll not stop talking ahahaha. I have no idea what she was talking about but I would occassionally listen and she'd be talking about some indian stuff and like something about festivals and news shows and he would just be like uhuh , uhuh , yea, uhuh , yeah , uhuh and would give like a little response and she literally didn't stop talking for 30 minutes. She just ate through alllll of his email time hahahaha. I was trying so so hard not to laugh and as soon as she left I just burst open [not loud] and we were both like tearing up laughing at what just happened and how he has like no email time left.
In urdaneta right now , of course , and it's been a good day. The past few days we've had little rain , which is a miracle , but it'll come back soon.
Anyways this past week -
Elder Bermejo left on wednesday morning , later that afternoon I held transfer awareness for the zone and it was fun announcing the transfers and seeing the reactions at the ones not to be expected. Wednesday and Thursday I worked with the Binalonan 2 elders and then Friday got my new companion.
..drum roll...
ELDER HYATT! AN AMERICAN! haha my first american companion since my trainer my first transfer. I had a feeling he'd be my companion but confirming it was fun. Also I had the fun job of telling all the new leaders at transfer day that they were a leader [they're always shocked and excited] so it was fun to go grab them and see their faces.
The past couple days I've been introducing him around and we're seeing some awesome reaction in the members and work. He has a great teaching style and I'm very much looking forward to the next couple transfers. Most members are excited about having two americans in the ward , but of course some are a bit standoffish .. that's natural. So we're really excited about what can happen here.
Two quick things that I jotted down that I wanted to mention
1. We're teaching a family whose wife is an awesome inactive [so many years] and her family was baptized by John Bytheway. She keeps telling me a lot of stories about him , it's way funny.
2. I just found out that one of my favorite speakers of all time , Bruce C. Hafen , was Grandpa's first counselor back when he was an area president! I was pleasently surprised and really love his talks.
That's really all for this week. I'm so sorry about the shortness , just no no time. I love you all , I'm healthy , I'm excited about the mission , please tell Tanner and Travis to write me.
BYE!
-Elder A White
Monday, August 6, 2012
Good few days
Family!
Sorry for the lateness of email today. It's been another busy Monday here and even now I'm doing some important other stuff. However my family is still important so I guess I'll shoot you guys an email.
This week has blazed by pretty quickly. It's Elder Bermejo's last week so we've been doing a lot of little things to get the area and zone ready for his departure and to make sure I understand the area and stuff. It's possibly the most confusing area I've yet had , but I'm still happy to be assigned here.
Questions:
No , I did not go to a doctor. Sister Monahan's advice was just rest and drink lots of water and other stuff. She gave good advice and checked in often. You no longer have to email the office , Mom , haha. Thank you though for the concern.
How is your ward?
- It's good. Some regular challenges and we're still pushing the rescue effort and finding however there are some strong members that home teach regularly and stuff and area doing a lot of rescuing on their own so we're noticing the efforts they're making.
How is your companion?
- He's good. A very kind person with a big heart. He's starting to feel like he's going home though , which is usual.
How do you like Urdaneta? Tell me a little about it....
- I like Urdaneta a lot , but we're not assigned there haha. We're in Binalonan. It's like going from Wilton to Norwalk I guess , except Urdaneta is much much better than Norwalk and Wilton is a tad prettier than Binalonan
Are you eating?
- yess , I lost a little weight last week but I'm gaining it back , no worries.
How do you like being zone leader?
- It's okay. A few extra responsibilities but I enjoy regularly helping the missionaries in the zone.
What do you do as zone leader?
- Take care of 20+ missionaries. Attend to their needs and try and be a good example. It's like being a district leader just on a slightly larger scale.
Can you believe that Tanner is home in 3 days!!!!!
- Hardly. Please tell him to write me when he gets home AND please bug travis to write me..still nothing
What has been your biggest challenge this week and what did you do?
- Haha I don't write about certain challenges over email. Maybe ask those kinds of questions when you see me. But it's been a relatively good week.
How can I get in touch with Cody's mom because she has never responded to my facebook letter?
- Mm , I'm not really sure. I'll tell Cody to tell his Mom. What's your name on facebook? Shannon Staheli White , right?
Have you heard back from the school and been accepted? If so, what is your track?
- I got accepted a few weeks ago , but after filling out the track information I've gotten nothing back so far. They said it'd take 4 - 6 weeks , so within August I'm hoping. Registration for classes I think is in October?
Anymore questions? Wala?!
So last Tuesday was my first official day of work in a week and it felt straaange , to be honest. After not working for a week it just throws you into a weird funk - but it felt really really good to work again. Being inside all week had me going crazy , but craving Christmas. And loving motab , haha. The CD you sent me is pretty good , especially the Ode to Joy .. for some reason I love that song. I think partly because I played it as a kid .. but i don't know why. So anyways , Tuesday's work was really good but I was still feeling weak until Thursday. It's been a fast week , but not too many less-actives at this point are willing to come back. Elder Shill [remember him] and Pernecita [remember him] were assigned here back like 8 months ago and rocked the area. Every less-active to talk to was contacted by them or taught by them or brought back by them. All stars. So we're doing our best to find new less-actives and invite them back. Problem is that the area is incredibly spred out so at times we walk 7 - 8 kilometers because there's no jeeps or bus or trykes. But I'm the Laoac part of my area. We cover two municipalities and I prefer working in Laoac. It's a beautiful and very quiet area , but with a tad wealthier houses. There's a lot of people abroad. Anyways , since it's further from the church there's a lot of fruit that hasn't been picked yet , so to speak , so we're having fun finding new people over there.
Friday was a fun day discovering a larger portion of the area I had never been to before. We also got fed [finally , ha] and it was good. The real memorable stuff happened these past couple days. I had a really good sacrament meeting this past week , having finally gotten my strength back. I'm not sure why , I just really enjoyed the sacrament and the hymns. My favorite sacrament hymn is 169 and especially the very last line. I remember singing that New years day back in Damortis , the first sunday of the year , and for some reason just feeling something different. Anyways after church ---- oh wait , back up. I came up with a word Saturday. Busog Lasing. Translation: full drunk .. what I mean is that I felt so full Saturday lunch [we ate at chic boy] that I felt drunk. Like I couldn't think and just wanted to collapse. ---- return to sunday lunch. A member always gives us food , and I don't know why I think it was because it was the first meal after fasting but I just felt so stinking full and again BUSOG LASING returned! HAhaha such a strange feeling. Anyways work that day was slow until we got to our last lesson.
Now I've been wishing and hoping a lot lately to be able to teach someone who understands ... a bit .. more ... now I love humble people , but there's just a certain fun in teaching someone who can respond well. It happened. Finally. We met someone on the street last week and contacted him this past Sunday and it was a glorious lesson. Turns out he's a pastor for his church , something called the Apostolic something. Anyways as we teach and are able to explain our beliefs and stuff he keep coming back with his beliefs and verses in the bible and stuff and it was just so much fun to be able to use this small , but still sufficient knowledge of the bible with him. Everything he said we agreed on because it was doctrine in the bible that of course we teach , because we follow every single doctrine there is. And don't think this was debating because it wasn't in the least. We would just listen to him and then answer his questions and respond with our own teaching. The spirit was so strong. Especially when we got towards the end of the lesson and at this point his face was showing that he didn't understand why we were agreeing on everything so he was trying to find things to disagree on , and thus was the Book of Mormon. So what happens is we just bear down testimony of the truthfulness of the book and the look on his face and his wife's was amazing. You can just see the spirit working in them through their eyes and when we stopped there was just silence. For maybe only 5 seconds , but pure silence. Then the man tries to quote some bible verse and just stumbles. His mind was so jumbled by what the spirit just did to him that he couldn't get his thoughts together. It was such an amazing experience. So we left with such a great feeling and there was no hate or argument or anything. I felt just love for this man because he was teaching the right stuff and knows was the priesthood is and believes in it and I wanted so badly for him to just ask the Lord if the Book of Mormon is true. The Spirit is love.
So that was an amazing experience that I had last night that I won't easily forget.
TODAY! We had a zone activity. Personal and companion study were at the stake center in Urdaneta and for the companion study I had prepared preach my gospel jeopardy for the zone as a competition to see who studies well , haha. It was a mixture of PMG , scriptures , church history and other stuff ... and after so much preparation it all turned out well. Then we were able to watch a movie our mission president allowed , which was 17 Miracles. Have you seen this movie? Maybe it's because I'm on a mission but it was amazing. So powerful. And really just an eye-opening thing to really see what the Willie and Martin Handcart Company went through. Some great acting , some horrible , but still such a good movie. At the end of it we , as a zone , were just quiet. So right after it ended we knelt as a zone and gave a prayer in thankfulness for the pioneers and stuff. Another really powerful moment.
I'm not sure what's up but I've just had a couple of really spiritual days.
Anyways , now I've gotta hop off because we're goingn to be scrambling to get home in time for a FHE that a really nice family is holding for Elder Bermejo's farewell [kind of].
So that's all I've got for now. Thanks for all the prayers and love , and I'm happy to say I still have a long time left! Haha.
Love you all,
-Elder A White
[p.s - shout out again to June for all the letters]
Sorry for the lateness of email today. It's been another busy Monday here and even now I'm doing some important other stuff. However my family is still important so I guess I'll shoot you guys an email.
This week has blazed by pretty quickly. It's Elder Bermejo's last week so we've been doing a lot of little things to get the area and zone ready for his departure and to make sure I understand the area and stuff. It's possibly the most confusing area I've yet had , but I'm still happy to be assigned here.
Questions:
No , I did not go to a doctor. Sister Monahan's advice was just rest and drink lots of water and other stuff. She gave good advice and checked in often. You no longer have to email the office , Mom , haha. Thank you though for the concern.
How is your ward?
- It's good. Some regular challenges and we're still pushing the rescue effort and finding however there are some strong members that home teach regularly and stuff and area doing a lot of rescuing on their own so we're noticing the efforts they're making.
How is your companion?
- He's good. A very kind person with a big heart. He's starting to feel like he's going home though , which is usual.
How do you like Urdaneta? Tell me a little about it....
- I like Urdaneta a lot , but we're not assigned there haha. We're in Binalonan. It's like going from Wilton to Norwalk I guess , except Urdaneta is much much better than Norwalk and Wilton is a tad prettier than Binalonan
Are you eating?
- yess , I lost a little weight last week but I'm gaining it back , no worries.
How do you like being zone leader?
- It's okay. A few extra responsibilities but I enjoy regularly helping the missionaries in the zone.
What do you do as zone leader?
- Take care of 20+ missionaries. Attend to their needs and try and be a good example. It's like being a district leader just on a slightly larger scale.
Can you believe that Tanner is home in 3 days!!!!!
- Hardly. Please tell him to write me when he gets home AND please bug travis to write me..still nothing
What has been your biggest challenge this week and what did you do?
- Haha I don't write about certain challenges over email. Maybe ask those kinds of questions when you see me. But it's been a relatively good week.
How can I get in touch with Cody's mom because she has never responded to my facebook letter?
- Mm , I'm not really sure. I'll tell Cody to tell his Mom. What's your name on facebook? Shannon Staheli White , right?
Have you heard back from the school and been accepted? If so, what is your track?
- I got accepted a few weeks ago , but after filling out the track information I've gotten nothing back so far. They said it'd take 4 - 6 weeks , so within August I'm hoping. Registration for classes I think is in October?
Anymore questions? Wala?!
So last Tuesday was my first official day of work in a week and it felt straaange , to be honest. After not working for a week it just throws you into a weird funk - but it felt really really good to work again. Being inside all week had me going crazy , but craving Christmas. And loving motab , haha. The CD you sent me is pretty good , especially the Ode to Joy .. for some reason I love that song. I think partly because I played it as a kid .. but i don't know why. So anyways , Tuesday's work was really good but I was still feeling weak until Thursday. It's been a fast week , but not too many less-actives at this point are willing to come back. Elder Shill [remember him] and Pernecita [remember him] were assigned here back like 8 months ago and rocked the area. Every less-active to talk to was contacted by them or taught by them or brought back by them. All stars. So we're doing our best to find new less-actives and invite them back. Problem is that the area is incredibly spred out so at times we walk 7 - 8 kilometers because there's no jeeps or bus or trykes. But I'm the Laoac part of my area. We cover two municipalities and I prefer working in Laoac. It's a beautiful and very quiet area , but with a tad wealthier houses. There's a lot of people abroad. Anyways , since it's further from the church there's a lot of fruit that hasn't been picked yet , so to speak , so we're having fun finding new people over there.
Friday was a fun day discovering a larger portion of the area I had never been to before. We also got fed [finally , ha] and it was good. The real memorable stuff happened these past couple days. I had a really good sacrament meeting this past week , having finally gotten my strength back. I'm not sure why , I just really enjoyed the sacrament and the hymns. My favorite sacrament hymn is 169 and especially the very last line. I remember singing that New years day back in Damortis , the first sunday of the year , and for some reason just feeling something different. Anyways after church ---- oh wait , back up. I came up with a word Saturday. Busog Lasing. Translation: full drunk .. what I mean is that I felt so full Saturday lunch [we ate at chic boy] that I felt drunk. Like I couldn't think and just wanted to collapse. ---- return to sunday lunch. A member always gives us food , and I don't know why I think it was because it was the first meal after fasting but I just felt so stinking full and again BUSOG LASING returned! HAhaha such a strange feeling. Anyways work that day was slow until we got to our last lesson.
Now I've been wishing and hoping a lot lately to be able to teach someone who understands ... a bit .. more ... now I love humble people , but there's just a certain fun in teaching someone who can respond well. It happened. Finally. We met someone on the street last week and contacted him this past Sunday and it was a glorious lesson. Turns out he's a pastor for his church , something called the Apostolic something. Anyways as we teach and are able to explain our beliefs and stuff he keep coming back with his beliefs and verses in the bible and stuff and it was just so much fun to be able to use this small , but still sufficient knowledge of the bible with him. Everything he said we agreed on because it was doctrine in the bible that of course we teach , because we follow every single doctrine there is. And don't think this was debating because it wasn't in the least. We would just listen to him and then answer his questions and respond with our own teaching. The spirit was so strong. Especially when we got towards the end of the lesson and at this point his face was showing that he didn't understand why we were agreeing on everything so he was trying to find things to disagree on , and thus was the Book of Mormon. So what happens is we just bear down testimony of the truthfulness of the book and the look on his face and his wife's was amazing. You can just see the spirit working in them through their eyes and when we stopped there was just silence. For maybe only 5 seconds , but pure silence. Then the man tries to quote some bible verse and just stumbles. His mind was so jumbled by what the spirit just did to him that he couldn't get his thoughts together. It was such an amazing experience. So we left with such a great feeling and there was no hate or argument or anything. I felt just love for this man because he was teaching the right stuff and knows was the priesthood is and believes in it and I wanted so badly for him to just ask the Lord if the Book of Mormon is true. The Spirit is love.
So that was an amazing experience that I had last night that I won't easily forget.
TODAY! We had a zone activity. Personal and companion study were at the stake center in Urdaneta and for the companion study I had prepared preach my gospel jeopardy for the zone as a competition to see who studies well , haha. It was a mixture of PMG , scriptures , church history and other stuff ... and after so much preparation it all turned out well. Then we were able to watch a movie our mission president allowed , which was 17 Miracles. Have you seen this movie? Maybe it's because I'm on a mission but it was amazing. So powerful. And really just an eye-opening thing to really see what the Willie and Martin Handcart Company went through. Some great acting , some horrible , but still such a good movie. At the end of it we , as a zone , were just quiet. So right after it ended we knelt as a zone and gave a prayer in thankfulness for the pioneers and stuff. Another really powerful moment.
I'm not sure what's up but I've just had a couple of really spiritual days.
Anyways , now I've gotta hop off because we're goingn to be scrambling to get home in time for a FHE that a really nice family is holding for Elder Bermejo's farewell [kind of].
So that's all I've got for now. Thanks for all the prayers and love , and I'm happy to say I still have a long time left! Haha.
Love you all,
-Elder A White
[p.s - shout out again to June for all the letters]
Thursday, August 2, 2012
No Longer Got the Dang-geeeee
Good morning family!
I feel a lot better , thank you. I'll guess I'll give a quick update about that. So Saturday [last last Saturday] we came back from exchanges in Pozorrubio and I was feeling decently okay , just my stomach was a little upset. It was raining [as it is every day] and we headed out to work and as we sat down in our first appointment I started getting that feeling I did when I was back in Baguio and had gotten sick for a day. My body got really light , along with my head , then started hurting from like the inside out. I told Elder Bermejo but we continued to work. By our second appointment I was definitely feeling it at this point and was feeling really really cold. It was hard to focus but when worked until about 7:30. Then stepped into that appointment and by this point I knew I was sick , everything was just hurting bad and I was shivering like crazy- but that was an important appointment so we stuck it out and got home around 8:30. I then went straight to the bathroom and took a hot shower. Brought a chair in and sat down with the hot water [fortunately we have a water heater] pouring straight at me but it was still way cold ... so I started wondering why it wasn't heating up then pointed it at my hand and realized it was burning hot ... my body was just a hotter degree than the water so it still felt cold. Anyways after about 30 minutes of showering I went and laid down. Woke up a little while later and I was feeling better , I thought that was the worst of it. Wake up the next morning [Sunday morning] and my temperature was 103.2 ... yikes. So Elder Orzal stayed with me while Elder Bermejo and Velasco went to church and took care of me. Later that day my temperature reached 103.6 and my stomach was killing me alongside with it. But after about 24 hours the worst of the fever had gone away , and within about 72 hours it was pretty much gone. Just my stomach has lingered until now. So now I'm feeling okay. Yesterday was pretty much my last day of feeling super weak and a sick stomach - but now I'm doing okay. So it took a week but I finally kicked it. And oh- the sickness was the Dengue Fever [I think that's how you spell it] ... ha. People here fear it like the plague because all these mosquitoes bring it around. I'm feeling okay now , though. Last Friday I got the rashes , which are horrible. My skin itches like crazy , but it'll go away eventually.
So that's my update on my health. President and Sister Monahan were really nice and came and visited me last Monday at the apartment and brought some soup and stuff. Also they sent the Assistants over that first Sunday morning with gatorade to help me get better. Along with that I've had a number of missionaries taking good care , one being a licensed nurse haha.
Last wednesday we tried leaving but I felt way sick after like 20 minutes of email. Thursday as well. Friday we had exchanges with the office elders so I kind of forced myself to get better - which it was good for me to get up and working. At 5 we came here to Urdaneta for exchanges with them and met up here in the office. Where I got a ton of mail as well! Shout out and thank you to June for a bunch of letters and to the Relief Society in Newtown for a belated/early christmas card haha. Fortunately I love Christmas no matter what month so I was thrilled. Also Andrea thank you for all the dearelders , I actually had fun reading all of them. However still no information on Apple ... I'm not sure why.
So our exchanges were good. I went with elder Nieman to his area in Urdaneta and we taught a super loud lesson ... it was raining and there was so much noise. Not the best. Then taught a less active who fed us and I suddenly got suuper dizzy while eating. I'm not sure why but images of Mom spauled out on the bathroom floor dizzy from vertigo kept popping into mind , haha.
We then went home and ... because of my rashes I wasn't able to sleep that night. It was aweful , haha. The next day we had a couple big things we were doing here at the stake center in Urdaneta , but I was feeling like junk in the morning so I couldn't make it to the first one. Then second one was a "mission tour" for all the young men and primary of our ward. They came to Urdaneta and toured the office then the Assistants and the Engels gave them a few messages about serving missions. It was pretty good and I was surprised at how many came. Of course I was still feeling like junk throughout all of us , so as we got home later that day I went straight to my room to try and sleep. Later that night I once again tossed and turned and couldn't sleep because the rashes itched so bad. Yesterday we went to church where every member asked if I was better yet and how long I had stayed at the hospital. Haha they were shocked when I reported that although I still had dengue I hadn't gone to the hospital. One member insisintently [sp?] told me that I wasn't actually sick , just trunky ... ha. After Sacrament Meeting I was once again ... feeling like junk ... so we came home and I slept finally. After that we watched like 4 hours of MoTab Christmas Concerts and now I cannot wait for Christmas. You should definitely buy the Christmas Concert with Brian Stokes Mitchell. He sings a couple amazing songs and has such a good voice. I donno why , but I was geeking out yesterday at how good motab is , haha.
So that's all I got for now as far as an update goes. My health is better , but I'm still taking it a bit slow. I'm super stoked for Christmas and love motab christmas concerts.
So also here's a little story I thought of the other day from my first area.
Back in Malimpec , first area , I was still really rough with the language so any victory with a new grammar point or something learned was huge. And I remember when I learned how to say the sentence "thank you so much for this opportunity" for some reason I loved it. So what happened .. is I just started saying it allll the time. And I remember this one night I was on exchanges with my district leader , Elder Sanchez , and it was late at night and we were teaching this family we had just met. There were 3 girls about 18ish and one guy about 16ish with their mom. And as Elder Sanchez takes the lead in teaching this first appointment I occassionally give my few words and hand it back. And what was funny , now looking back , is I remember I must have said "thank you for this opportunity [to teach you]" about 5 or 6 times throughout the lesson. Every time my companion would teach he'd pause , meaning it's my turn , and I'd say a couple jumbled words and then end with ... thank you so much for this opportunity. After about the 4th or 5th time the kids were cracking up and I didn't realize what was so funny. It'd get to my turn and almost in unison they'd say with me .. thank you so much for this opportunity ... beacuse they knew I was about to say it , hahaha. Elder Sanchez didn't say anything to me afterwards about it , but looking back I realize just how funny that is. So that's kind of what learning a new language is like. You make a bunch of dumb mistakes that you don't see at first , but looking back makes it all the sweeter.
Any questions?
wala? sige.
Well that's all I've got for this week. Love you all , talk to you on Monday!
-Elder White
I feel a lot better , thank you. I'll guess I'll give a quick update about that. So Saturday [last last Saturday] we came back from exchanges in Pozorrubio and I was feeling decently okay , just my stomach was a little upset. It was raining [as it is every day] and we headed out to work and as we sat down in our first appointment I started getting that feeling I did when I was back in Baguio and had gotten sick for a day. My body got really light , along with my head , then started hurting from like the inside out. I told Elder Bermejo but we continued to work. By our second appointment I was definitely feeling it at this point and was feeling really really cold. It was hard to focus but when worked until about 7:30. Then stepped into that appointment and by this point I knew I was sick , everything was just hurting bad and I was shivering like crazy- but that was an important appointment so we stuck it out and got home around 8:30. I then went straight to the bathroom and took a hot shower. Brought a chair in and sat down with the hot water [fortunately we have a water heater] pouring straight at me but it was still way cold ... so I started wondering why it wasn't heating up then pointed it at my hand and realized it was burning hot ... my body was just a hotter degree than the water so it still felt cold. Anyways after about 30 minutes of showering I went and laid down. Woke up a little while later and I was feeling better , I thought that was the worst of it. Wake up the next morning [Sunday morning] and my temperature was 103.2 ... yikes. So Elder Orzal stayed with me while Elder Bermejo and Velasco went to church and took care of me. Later that day my temperature reached 103.6 and my stomach was killing me alongside with it. But after about 24 hours the worst of the fever had gone away , and within about 72 hours it was pretty much gone. Just my stomach has lingered until now. So now I'm feeling okay. Yesterday was pretty much my last day of feeling super weak and a sick stomach - but now I'm doing okay. So it took a week but I finally kicked it. And oh- the sickness was the Dengue Fever [I think that's how you spell it] ... ha. People here fear it like the plague because all these mosquitoes bring it around. I'm feeling okay now , though. Last Friday I got the rashes , which are horrible. My skin itches like crazy , but it'll go away eventually.
So that's my update on my health. President and Sister Monahan were really nice and came and visited me last Monday at the apartment and brought some soup and stuff. Also they sent the Assistants over that first Sunday morning with gatorade to help me get better. Along with that I've had a number of missionaries taking good care , one being a licensed nurse haha.
Last wednesday we tried leaving but I felt way sick after like 20 minutes of email. Thursday as well. Friday we had exchanges with the office elders so I kind of forced myself to get better - which it was good for me to get up and working. At 5 we came here to Urdaneta for exchanges with them and met up here in the office. Where I got a ton of mail as well! Shout out and thank you to June for a bunch of letters and to the Relief Society in Newtown for a belated/early christmas card haha. Fortunately I love Christmas no matter what month so I was thrilled. Also Andrea thank you for all the dearelders , I actually had fun reading all of them. However still no information on Apple ... I'm not sure why.
So our exchanges were good. I went with elder Nieman to his area in Urdaneta and we taught a super loud lesson ... it was raining and there was so much noise. Not the best. Then taught a less active who fed us and I suddenly got suuper dizzy while eating. I'm not sure why but images of Mom spauled out on the bathroom floor dizzy from vertigo kept popping into mind , haha.
We then went home and ... because of my rashes I wasn't able to sleep that night. It was aweful , haha. The next day we had a couple big things we were doing here at the stake center in Urdaneta , but I was feeling like junk in the morning so I couldn't make it to the first one. Then second one was a "mission tour" for all the young men and primary of our ward. They came to Urdaneta and toured the office then the Assistants and the Engels gave them a few messages about serving missions. It was pretty good and I was surprised at how many came. Of course I was still feeling like junk throughout all of us , so as we got home later that day I went straight to my room to try and sleep. Later that night I once again tossed and turned and couldn't sleep because the rashes itched so bad. Yesterday we went to church where every member asked if I was better yet and how long I had stayed at the hospital. Haha they were shocked when I reported that although I still had dengue I hadn't gone to the hospital. One member insisintently [sp?] told me that I wasn't actually sick , just trunky ... ha. After Sacrament Meeting I was once again ... feeling like junk ... so we came home and I slept finally. After that we watched like 4 hours of MoTab Christmas Concerts and now I cannot wait for Christmas. You should definitely buy the Christmas Concert with Brian Stokes Mitchell. He sings a couple amazing songs and has such a good voice. I donno why , but I was geeking out yesterday at how good motab is , haha.
So that's all I got for now as far as an update goes. My health is better , but I'm still taking it a bit slow. I'm super stoked for Christmas and love motab christmas concerts.
So also here's a little story I thought of the other day from my first area.
Back in Malimpec , first area , I was still really rough with the language so any victory with a new grammar point or something learned was huge. And I remember when I learned how to say the sentence "thank you so much for this opportunity" for some reason I loved it. So what happened .. is I just started saying it allll the time. And I remember this one night I was on exchanges with my district leader , Elder Sanchez , and it was late at night and we were teaching this family we had just met. There were 3 girls about 18ish and one guy about 16ish with their mom. And as Elder Sanchez takes the lead in teaching this first appointment I occassionally give my few words and hand it back. And what was funny , now looking back , is I remember I must have said "thank you for this opportunity [to teach you]" about 5 or 6 times throughout the lesson. Every time my companion would teach he'd pause , meaning it's my turn , and I'd say a couple jumbled words and then end with ... thank you so much for this opportunity. After about the 4th or 5th time the kids were cracking up and I didn't realize what was so funny. It'd get to my turn and almost in unison they'd say with me .. thank you so much for this opportunity ... beacuse they knew I was about to say it , hahaha. Elder Sanchez didn't say anything to me afterwards about it , but looking back I realize just how funny that is. So that's kind of what learning a new language is like. You make a bunch of dumb mistakes that you don't see at first , but looking back makes it all the sweeter.
Any questions?
wala? sige.
Well that's all I've got for this week. Love you all , talk to you on Monday!
-Elder White
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