Pasko na talaga

Overall this week has been pretty good because it was Christmas and all, but not very productive seeing as the companions of Elder Butler and I aren't super excited to do the whole missionary work thing. Anyways, it was really good to talk to my family on Christmas and the little amount work we actually did do was good too. Also excuse the potentially poor quality of this email because we're rushed today.

Tuesday -

Overall, it was a moderately sweaty Christmas. The Christmas morning started with a great time of washing all our clothes because on our p-day it rained the whole day so we couldn't wash outside. During that time, the companions of Elder Butler and I went off and called there families (and friends and did all manner of "bawal" things) at the computer shop. They also took both phones like usual so we couldn't really contact them either when they were done. Elder Butler and I just ended up doing our laundry, snagging something to eat, and talking a while. Eventually we all went to the lunch appointment but it turns out that the nanay that invited us wasn't prepared, which is fine though because we had another appointment scheduled for a very close time anyways too. We just ended up going to the house of Tatay Bundalian, a member, and celebrated a birthday/Christmas party. We ended the day at the house of our fellowshipper Dan and had a dinner there. Overall, the whole day wasn't very "Christmasy" despite the claim of celebrating Christmas from September-January here.

Wednesday - 

On Wednesday Elder Butler and I called home to our families. We were allowed to call home any day from the 25-29 and we decided the 26th because it was Christmas back home. It was really awesome to see all my family, including Caylor even though he's also out on his mission in Des Moines, Iowa. It was good to tell them exactly how everything really is out here, and definitely a lot easier to explain in words rather than in emails. After doing that for a while, we all headed down to the house of Nanay Mabilis for our missed lunch appointment that she rescheduled. It was good as well. The day ended with us going to a cultural show held by the youth at the church.

Thursday -

The day started out with district council. It was a pretty typical district council as you might imagine. After that, we helped clean the church for a very long time because it was left an unusually huge mess after the cultural show. There was trash everywhere and it was a disaster really. I mean the church isn't really always that clean if I'm going to be honest, but it was abnormally bad. After that, we ate and basically, our companions (Elder Perez and Vaea) slept for a really long time... which resulted in a lot of personal study. Also probably at about 5:00 the sky turned really pink. It was super weird because the only other time it did that was before the typhoon, but nothing crazy ended up happening.

Friday - 

We had our district exchanges. Elder Vaea being the district leader told us that he and Perez were going on exchanges together and Elder Butler and I were too. As you can imagine, this was the most productive day of the week really. We ended up going to Elder Butler's area and teaching three lessons while everyone else we tried to go to wasn't home. So we ended up doing a lot of walking and only teaching a few lessons. It was also funny because both Elder Butler and I need to work on our Tagalog for sure, so it was weird that we went on exchanges together. Overall, even though we couldn't communicate perfectly it actually felt like a good spiritual and effective day. Also, during one of our lessons I basically said "Excuse us for our Tagalog" and a recent convert said "It's okay Elder Vaea doesn't really have great Tagalog either." Which is funny because he's been out here much longer than both of us and he and Elder Butler go out and work together but neither of them have very perfect Tagalog.

Also I found a good scripture in Alma 8:19-20 for getting meal appointments with members.

Saturday -

The morning we ended up doing some service in a rice field. We ended up wading in water/mud that sometimes was like 2 feet deep and planting tons of rice for 3 hours. Seeing as we weren't very experienced it also was really slow and hurt our backs. It was kinda fun, but also kind of gross because we had to go barefoot in this brown water with a bunch of snails, and spiders that crawled on the surface. We ended up getting super muddy and tired. It was awful but fun. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think it's something that I need to do again.

After that, we ended up having our baptisms at the church. Four people ended up being baptized. They're all people Elder Viador and I taught before he left, but they just ended up being baptized a little after he got transferred, so Elder Perez ended up getting some "free" baptisms. The first was brother Roldan Gaoat. He's someone we've taught for a while. He did have some problems with the Word of Wisdom that we did get sorted out. We also baptized his adopted daughter named Chu-Chay (Marimar is her real name) who's 10 years old. Along with those two we baptized a 14 year old named Mark Anthony Matas. We taught him all the lessons with Dan-Dan (Roldan) because they live on the same street and he is actually an employee of Dan's. The final person we baptized was named Mark Wayne Sengson. He basically was a member of a slightly less active family and just never ended up getting baptized before. He's 9 and we just taught him the lessons and he was already ready for baptism because he's already attended church and everything. We ended up having my friend and our fellowshipper Dan Solis baptize them.

There's this whole weird big story about that actually. So Elder Perez asked me "Can I baptize your converts?" and I asked "Why? We usually let them choose" and he became very offended. Anyways, on the day we went on exchanges he claimed to have asked Dan-Dan who he wants to baptize him. He said Dan-Dan chose him (which is highly unlikely since Dan-Dan doesn't even really know him) and he ended up calling the branch president claiming that I wouldn't let him baptize the converts. After this feat of drama he just decided to have Dan our fellowshipper baptize them, because if he couldn't baptize them himself, he didn't want me too either. I know that's probably a little confusing story, but lets just say it has been more than difficult with my current companion.

Sunday -

It was a pretty typical Sunday. We went to church, ate lunch, and then did a small amount of work after. We just ended up going to the home of Dan-Dan in Fugu.

Monday -

Which is today.. Basically we need to withdraw money from Aparri today and wash clothes. That's the schedule.

Pictures - 

pictures from a Christmas Eve meal, picture of Christmas day meal, pictures from the cultural show, pictures of the creepy pink typhoon sky, pictures from exchanges, a "spooky" cemetery we found on exchanges, cacti, the beach, baptismal pictures, and pictures with our fellowshipper Dan who's leaving for his mission on Wednesday this next week. Also some pictures from the rice field.

Christmas Call

On Christmas night we were able to talk to both Caylor and Brodie at the same time. It was a little tricky scheduling a time that worked for all of us.It was actually December 26 for Brodie and Christmas night for the rest of us that live in the USA. Brodie and Elder Bulter had to get up very early to make sure that they got to the internet cafe and got the only two computers that had a camera that worked so that we could see his beautiful face when he called on google hangouts. It was fun to see the Filipino kids hovering over Brodie trying to figure out what he was doing (no personal space needed there), we also heard dogs barking and honking horns throughout the call. It was great to be together virtually as a family. My favorite part was our family prayer. Only two more calls home for Caylor and three more for Brodie, but who is counting?

Ballesteros pa rin

This week has been pretty typical except for the Ballesteros Branch Christmas party. The work itself has been pretty normal overall. It has been a little more difficult with my new companion because he doesn't seem to really like his American companions, but I'm sure it'll all be alright.

Monday - 

So, our last p-day was pretty normal as always and included washing and emailing. We also went out to the home of our investigator Dan-Dan and gave him a lesson as well. Later, we were in the grocery store and when I walked in a bumped into another white person (which is really rare). He looked at me in the eyes and in a rough Australian accent said, "Tell me, have you met another Amerikano  here named Ray Taylor?" It was really hard for me to understand him initially, but I responded with "No. No I have not." Then he looked at me, gave me a head nod and walked out. It was a really strange and short interaction that felt like it was kinda in a movie. I told Elder Butler about it and we joked that he was an assassin looking for Jay Taylor who was hiding out in Ballesteros.

Tuesday - 

For Tuesday, we had our district council in the morning, did lots of BRT (building trust and relation - mostly because my companion wanted too) with the YSA, gave a lesson to the brothers of a member named Reniel that just left on his mission, and did finding. Also, a police truck pulled over when we were walking at one point and asked me "Why aren't you on a basketball team? Where is your team?" It was funny because here in the Philippines every barangay/neighborhood has their own basketball team and he really wanted me to play on their team. They have tournaments with other barangay eventually until they lose or play the best in the country and a lot of them get recruited into the Philippines Basketball Association. Most of those drafted in the PBA didn't actually play college basketball or anything.. but I guess that's why no one in the PBA has ever made it too the NBA, not to mention that they're all probably like two feet tall as well.

Wednesday - 

We ended up teaching around 4 lessons on Wednesday. In the morning we did our studies and went out after lunch. We taught to our long time investigators Renzlly and Junior and later taught two new investigators. One is named Cyrene and she's the niece of a member, and the other is a 9 year old named Wayne Singson. His family is already members but they're less active so he never got baptized, so we're going to teach him. Near the end of the day we headed over to the home of some members because they're was a birthday party and we got some food which is nice.

Thursday - 

This day was a packed one but we really only ended up teaching 4 lessons. Most of the day was finding new people and asking them if we could return later. So we found lots of people that agreed, but we're not sure if they were serious. We'll just have to see if they progress I guess.

Friday - 

We had our weekly planning session again this week in the morning. My companion didn't want to help much since I'm "leading the area" but he's Senior Companion, so I ended up planning most of it. Later we taught the first lesson to a new investigator named Gabby Laso. After that, we ended up at the church for most of the day because we were with the other elders for their baptism. I also had to give a talk at the baptism. It was a little annoying cause I was warned last second, but it's alright because it doesn't seem like much is expected out of you as an American that barely knows Tagalog. 

Later that night all four of us elders went to the home of our investigator Dan-Dan to have a "family home evening" with dinner. It was pretty fun. We left a short message and played games with basically everyone on Lizardo Road in Fugu.

Saturday - 

The whole day was basically consumed with the branch Christmas party. The party consisted of karaoke that was sang by anyone regardless of talent, performances and a full roasted pig. It was pretty fun and kind of a nice break from the normal. It was also good because some investigators and non-members showed up to the party too.

Sunday - 

A fairly typical Sunday that consisted of church, and then fellow shipping.

Pictures - 

A random picture near the beach that for some reason was partially black and white, a picture from the birthday party of a member, a couple pictures from when we were working in the "mountains", some pictures from the family home evening with our investigator Dan-Dan and lipstick on our face as a punishment for messing up in the game, and then some pictures from the Christmas party (don't be deceived if it looks like not many people were there. I took the pictures at the beginning and end).

3rd Cycle

This was the first week of my third cycle out in the field. It wasn't really a full week either because of Christmas Conference. Overall, the week as been alright, but a little bit of an adjustment (as would be any new arrangement). I've been having to lead the area since I'm the one familiar with Ballesteros as well. That in itself has been a little difficult because as I'm trying to lead the area I've come to realize that my trainer and I went to the same places over and over again, so I don't know the area as well as I should. Also, there's a lot of regular missionary things that Elder Butler and I didn't know about that we're barely learning from our new companions. Not that our trainers were bad guys, they were nice people, but I don't think we were necessarily "trained."

Wednesday - 

Seeing as my last email was on Wednesday, I'll be starting out on Wednesday rather than Monday like usual. The day consisted of first of all preparing and doing our normal things in the morning, emailing (since our p-day was consumed by Christmas conference), and then lunch. After that, we started our day and I was busy trying to figure out where and who we should visit. It was alright and we ended up teaching two lessons. I mean it wasn't really a smooth day but it turned out alright.

Thursday - 

This day ended up being the first full day of leading the area. It was a little difficult and annoying to try and find activity to fill the whole day, but of course it was alright. We also started using the new proselyting schedule for the Cagayan province area given to us at zone conference. This basically means we go out and proselyte for a few hours in the morning, come home eat lunch and do companion or language study, take a 30 minute nap during the hottest part of the day, head back out and finish proselyting, and come back home at 7:00 to do our studies and prepare for bed. I really like this schedule because once it hits about 6:00 here everyone starts going to bed. In this schedule we waste way less time and get all 9 hours of proselyting in, while still being able to come home early and "chill." 

During planning I ended up packing the schedule with 7 lessons but we only ended up teaching 3 (one to a new investigator). It' alright though because it still seemed to be a productive day, and we also did have to do a lot of traveling. I also introduced elder Perez to a few members I know because he really wants to get a lot of dinner appointments.

Friday - 

On Friday we started with our weekly planning session. It went good and I learned how you're actually supposed to weekly plan instead of the shorthand version I previously was taught by my trainer. It ended up taking a lot longer, but we definitely seemed much more prepared which I like. After that, Elder Perez needed to do some laundry, so he did just enough to finish the week. Then we did our studies, some finding, and then introduced Elder Perez to more members. During the day we ended up teaching one lesson, finding of few people that we'll return to, and stumbling onto two love-makers near the beach.

Saturday - 

I planned for 8 lessons in the morning and we ended up have 3 of them. Sometimes the days just don't turn out as planned. Luckily, the 3 lessons we did have did go well though. Overall, the day did follow the Cagayan proselyting schedule very well which I liked. Also, the other companionship in Ballesteros, Elder Butler and Elder Vaea witnessed a motor wreck. Apparently, there was a mom, dad, and child on a moped/motorcycle (or motor as they're generally referred to here) and it just randomly flipped throwing all three of them off. The dad had a bunch of scratches on his arm, the little kid was screaming, and the mom was limp and not moving. Elder Vaea and the dad helped put the mom in the car, and that's all we know that happened so far. I later talked to a YSA member/ fellowshipper of ours and asked him about it. He ended up telling me that, that is a fairly regular occurrence here.

Sunday - 

We went to church, ate lunch, and then went back to the church. We went to the church to get a few things printed out by the clerk which included a member list, and an action list. Both of which we didn't have with our previous companions but all missionaries should have. Then we ended up doing a little work with our fellowshippers Dan and Rence and ended the day at the house of the De La Cruz (probably the most common last name here) family for a dinner appointment.

Pictures - 

a few pictures with my recent convert Joylene and our other investigator Renzlly, a blurry picture of my watch at 5:30 with a house full of sleeping people (everyone goes to sleep super early here), then some pictures at the Ballesteros park of some recreations of monuments people made for a Christmas competition, and then finally some pictures of a creepy but typical cemetery we walked past.