I'm not really sure what's going on

Oh this week has overall been pretty crazy. First of all, my companion Elder Fuller went home on Wednesday because of his depression. He's had it his whole life and the whole mission so far, but finally it came to the point that the mission department decided that he needed to go home. It wasn't even necessarily his decision, but he is now home. The replacement I got is named Elder Doyle. He's short and stocky missionary from New Zealand. He along with the three other missionaries in the Buguey area were actually emergency transferred because of their disobedience. As it turns out he will also be going home soon himself and he's just a temporary companion, but I'll get a little more into the details in the meat of this email later. 

Monday -

So on Monday I was still actually with Elder Fuller. At this point we didn't realize that he was going home for his depression until we received a text from President Peterson later in the day. There had been hints at him going home, but it kind of surprised us to randomly get a text about him going home. President's text said "You're leaving tomorrow at 11:00" but we later found out that he was actually leaving on Wednesday.

Anyways, aside from the weird stuff that was going on we also had a pretty good  p-day. Our entire zone met at the mission home and used a grill to make some burgers. We all paid around 150 pesos for the burgers but it was worth it for sure. It was like a burger from home and we had real cheese and everything. It was also enjoyable to just throw a football around on a nice lawn (which exists no where but the mission home) with some members of our zone. President Peterson also talked to me and told me about the situation with Elder Fuller. He also told me that my next companion would probably be a disobedient person that was emergency transferred and needed to be "retrained."

 After that we went to a store. While we were in the store a guy walked in that had perfect English (which is VERY rare despite what others may tell you). He did have an accent or anything. We assume he must have lived in the United States or something at some point in his life. He first said "Oh are you guys Mormons?" and we said "Yeah, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." He then said "Oh so you guys have lots of wives and stuff then right? That's kind cool. Like you guys sacrifice drinking and cursing to have lots of wives."(we initially thought this was a joke but it turns out he was serious). My companion Elder Fuller than responded lightheartedly with "Actually that ended around 120 years ago or something." The man then said "Oh 'censored' I guess I'll just have to join the Muslims then." He then proceeded to walk out the door quickly. So that was just an interesting interaction.

Tuesday -

Not much really happened on Tuesday. We had our district counsel that our Zone Leaders attended in the morning. After that Elder Fuller and I went to the computer shop so that he could call his parents before he went home. Of course this was under the direction of the mission president. When we got back to our area we mostly went to the Tumamao family with the limited time we had.

Wednesday -

Not much happened once again. Mostly the day consisted of Elder Fuller finishing packing and me cleaning the apartment. We then went to the mission office later in the day for Elder Fuller to meet with the mission president and then leave. I sat around for a very long time while waiting for Elder Fuller to do his interviews and stuff. Everything probably finished at about 10:00. President came back from the airport and then I found out who my new companion was. It was Elder Doyle. At this point I assumed that this was going to be my new companion for a while now. I didn't know until later that he was going home.

Thursday -

So much of the day I just showed Elder Doyle around the entire area. This included lots of walking and seemed to tire him out, but I figured since he's new to the area he'd like to familiarize himself a little bit. At the end of the day he finally decided to explain to me that he and four other elders had been emergency transferred and that they were waiting, in what he believed, were temporary areas. He also told me how he was pretty sure that they were being sent home. He talked about the last week or so and how he and the three other missionaries had had interviews with president three different times. This all kind of came as a surprise since I was under the impression that he was just my new companion. Also I was surprised that they were being sent home because of their disobedient actions. I have heard a lot of stories about similar things that have happened previously in this mission with little or no consequence. What they did didn't seem bad enough to be sent home for compared to what I've previously been told about.

Friday -

So this day was just supposed to be a normal Friday with weekly planning and stuff. It ended up being kind of normal actually. I could kind of tell that Elder Doyle wasn't super motivated, but I guess that makes sense since he was anticipating going home.

A couple other things also happened in the day. First of all, during lunch time Elder Etcheverry and I were intentionally singing the song '500 Miles' by the Proclaimers very poorly while he strummed his ukulele at random. As we were doing this someone approached the door while we weren't paying too much attention. It turned out to be a returned sister missionary with her family from Utah. It was a little awkward but Elder Etcheverry and I had a good laugh about it afterwards. 

At the end of the day we had our weekly dinner with the Barruga family. While we were there Nanay Barruga was talking to us and she said a few interesting things. First she said that the Philippines is better than China because they learn English in schools here in the Philippines but not in China and then she also talked about how in the 1980s the missionaries here only spoke English, but not just that, but she also said that they were not fluent in English even though they were American. She said they weren't fluent because they spoke English nasally and she couldn't understand them. Both of her statements made me laugh a little because they don't really make much sense.

Saturday -

Elder Doyle had another meeting with President Peterson at the mission office. I also ended up talking to President Peterson as well. He ended up telling me that they just found out that Elder Doyle actually isn't being sent home which is contrary to what all three of us thought. Though he wasn't necessarily being sent home, from my talking to Elder Doyle a little bit I figured he might still go home. He told me things like "I don't feel like I deserve to be here" and "I can't really take this mission seriously." and he also expressed how he'd like to continue his mission back in New Zealand or the states or something.

Now I'd also like to note that by no means in Elder Doyle a bad missionary or person in my opinion. He's actually really nice, a little quiet, and is totally willing to work and study when I suggest it. I kind of feel like he just found himself in a bad situation back in his previous area. I am very glad he's been my companion, even for such a short period of time, and I am a little disappointed he's going home and I feel like he has a lot of potential to be a great missionary. I hope he does get the opportunity to serve once again elsewhere. 

While being around these elders that are going home, I do have to say that it helps me understand more fully how important this missionary work is and I am very glad that I am still here and able to help influence the lives of others for the better through the power of the Holy Ghost. It's an opportunity that no one should miss or take for granted. Being a part of it only increases your understanding and testimony of it immensely. 

Sunday -

We had church as usual.  We also had another appointment at the mission office for Elder Doyle. We were there for a while. He ended up calling his family and stuff. I assume it was in order to discuss whether he was intending on going home or not. As I know now, he's decided to go home.

After that all happened we met up with the other two elders at the end of the day. Elder Francisco responded to a question of a member and what he said was kind of funny. She said "Is it true that where you're from (he's from Palawan, Philippines) they don't like Ilokanas (or Ilocano girls)?" He responded by saying "Yes. An Ilokana is the same as a man." I only put this quote in this email because it's kind of a funny and a little harsh.

Monday -

So we had our final meeting with President Peterson for Elder Doyle. Today is the day he made the decision to go home. We also learned today that both Elder Etcheverry and Francisco are transferring out of our district on Wednesday. They also have no replacements which means that my area 'San Lorenzo B' is actually absorbing 'San Lorenzo A' and becoming one big area. This means that half of the district I watch over is leaving and I'm getting a new companion. On the transfer board it still says I'm the District Leader though which doesn't seem to make much sense since it will only be me and my companion. Also because my area is becoming a lot larger I also need to figure out all the previous investigators and things in what used to be 'San Lorenzo A.' This is gonna be a little crazy.

Note -

So despite all that's been going on, I know it's only for the better. What ever happens next the work will go on and it will all be all right. 

Pictures -

 the grill from our barbecue, Elder Burton with his camera at the barbecue, a couple pictures with Elder Doyle and our fellow shipper EJ, a message from Houston: 'Kirby is the best pokemon' (inside joke), my package, my Spongebob flip-flops from the package, McDonalds with Elder Francisco, Doyle, Etcheverry, and Sister Mariano and the other one who's name I forgot.. oof

Things and Stuff

So this week has been alright once again. The week started with our zone conference, and ended with doing some service. 

Tuesday - 

We had our zone conference from 9:00 until 3:30. The whole zone conference was mostly about explaining our new approach on finding people called OYM or open your mouth. After some in depth explanation about what OYM really means and how we'll be reporting our numbers to mission leadership we had a guest speaker Elder McOmber.  He was a psychologist and now he and his wife are serving a senior mission. He talked a lot to us about stress, how to manage it as a missionary, and why having stress is actually beneficial. Once zone conference ended I went to the district leaders meeting which took another 30 minutes or so. I also received a package from the mission office. Thanks to my family I now have some fruit snacks, Mike and Ike's, and protein powder. I'm glad that these three things go very well together when it comes to being health conscious. After zone conference we headed home and had to return to our apartments early once again because of potential post-voting day violence.

Wednesday -

We went to the mission office in the morning for Elder Fuller to get some of business taken care of. After that, we ate some McDonalds since we were in the area (and it didn't require us to cross areas) and then I bought and umbrella. The last few days it had been raining and I didn't have one because I mistakenly allowed my companion in my last area to borrow my last umbrella. Unfortunately, since I've bought this umbrella I haven't even had the opportunity to use it yet. It seemed to stop raining right as I bought it. 

After we returned to our area we did some work. After a while of work with limited success we then hung around the barangay hall and watched part of a basketball game. It was almost humorous to watch. Basketball is so different here and on on some level unrecognizable because of the quality of play. It is definitely a different style of play for sure. 

Thursday -

We did our studies in the morning and then went out to work later. We tried to contact a few people we previously have met or taught and we ended up teaching a lesson and getting one new investigator. We also OYMed and talked to around 10 new people. After our work we met with the other two elders and went to the chapel and went to part of the wedding reception of some members. That was pretty much the whole day.

Friday -

We had weekly planning and other than that, it wasn't a super productive day. We also went to a birthday party of a member in hopes of finding new people since lots of people congregate at peoples birthdays here.

Saturday -

The whole day we seemed to do service. In the morning we started with a small project organized by the Elders quorum. Our job was basically to mix and place some cement on part of a bridge that was in bad condition. I think the reason it was in such poor condition in the first place was probably because they allowed unqualified people such as our selves to do projects like this previously. Anyways I think it turned out okay in the end, but what do I know? I don't really have any past experience in this sort of thing. After that, we returned to our apartment, showered, did studies, and then did some more service by finishing the day cleaning the church building.

Sunday -

We had church and stuff. There was also a huge discussion in Sunday school about marriage or something. I don't really understand all that was said because it was mostly in Ilokano but one lady said "We don't have homosexual marriage here in the Philippines because we're a 'pure country'" which kind of made me laugh. A lot of the time I don't really know what's going on in Sunday school here because it's in Ilokano instead of Tagalog, but there seems to be moderately heated discussion frequently. After church we were invited to a ward leadership meeting thing for some reason. We then headed back to our apartment, studied, then did our work, and then ended the day at the house of a member named Donna Ortega.

Note -

So despite not having an abundance of lessons this week during our work I have gained a stronger testimony of how important it is to just simply be nice to others. We haven't' taught a ton of specific principles but simply becoming friends with others is a great way to leave a good influence on them and be a greater representative of Christ. We've talked to lots of people, got to know them, and have made them feel loved and, in the end, if they're not super interested in the gospel I know we have at least left a positive influence on them which is also very important.

Pictures - 

Some cool tropical flowers, Elder Fuller's face, a video from sesame street that they showed at our zone conference.

"Gwapo (handsome): Good Works and Perfect Obedience"

So this week has been pretty good and all. I bought a guitar at the start of the week, we had interviews with President Peterson and we did lots of finding/friend making. It's been a pretty decent week of work and fun. 

Monday -

I ended up buying a guitar on p-day. It was around 7000 pesos or so but it's pretty awesome. I'm pretty sure that it's just a rip of Fender guitar but it's very enjoyable to play nonetheless. One of the reasons I'm super suspicious is the fact that it says "Calilornia Series" rather than "California," but I guess that just gives it a little more Filipino character. It actually even can connect to an amp and has a built in tuner. It's been pretty fun to mess around on and hopefully I can actually become decent at guitar over time. 

Tuesday -

So in the morning, as usual, we had our district council meeting. We ended up finishing watching the Safety Zone videos finally. We then had our lunch and studies and things as typical. We ended up also trying to do lots of finding but only ended up talking to some people that don't even live in our area. It was mostly a bunch of kids from an extended family that were visiting family that just had a wedding. We talked to them for a while and just kind of explained our purpose. My companion also asked a teenage aged guy if he likes basketball and then suddenly all the kids said "He doesn't like basketball. He of plays volleyball because he's gay." It was funny because they weren't just saying that as an insult, but they meant it literally. He was actually a bakla. To these Filipino kids, volleyball is literally a sport that girls alone play. Afterward they gave me a mango and me and my companion and I laughed about their statement. We talked about how random and offensive to some people that statement would be back home, but here it was just a simple truth to them. 

After our finding we went to the missionary farewell of a member named Charles Tumamao. He's actually headed to the Philippines Naga mission right now. It was pretty cool to see him go and he's been a good fellow shipper of ours for the short time that I've been here in San Lorenzo. He's also the son of our recent convert. At the end of the meeting everyone was allowed to go up and share words of advice and thankfulness to Charles before he left and his mom went up and shared some words herself. She spoke completely in Ilocano so I couldn't really understand it all that well, but it was very powerful and I could really feel the spirit. Though I couldn't understand everything she said I do know she was expresssing how thankful she was for her son and how he helped bring her to the gospel. 

Wednesday -

We had our interviews with President Peterson. Apparently in all our different interviews we all independently expressed to President about concern when it comes to finding new people to teach. He ended up gathering us all together and explaining something that he was planning to share at zone conference. He told us about our new approach to our OYM (open your mouth) tactics. He explained how we first want to focus on becoming friends with people and gaining they're trust before just trying to share our message with them out of nowhere. This also means that we don't even need to share a lesson with them the first time we go into their home if the spirit doesn't tell us to. The rest of the week we tried this tactic of just becoming peoples' friends and were able to find a lot of new people.

Thursday -

Not a ton happened on Thursday and I don't remember exactly why. I also didn't take very good notes about what happened on this day. All I know is that we found two new people to teach.

Friday -

We taught a couple lessons and they went pretty well. We also got punted by one of our appointments but that's alright because it happens super frequently here. We ended up eating dinner at the Barruga family's house. While we were there there were a ton of bugs flying around in their house. This is pretty common here especially when it gets rainy, but we ended up finding out that this bug is super fragile and if you hit it just once it will immediately die or get immobilized. At the end of dinner all four of us just ended up running around and karate swatting any bug in sight. It was enjoyable. I don't know if it's something that would be super entertaining back home but I do know it kept us intrigued. 

Saturday -

We tried our new OYM technique the entire day. We ended up conversing with roughly 20 new people. It was pretty enjoyable and didn't feel super awkward like it occasionally does. We also met a group of around eight kids and talked to them for a bit. Elder Fuller lied to them and told them that I'm good at singing. They harassed me until I told them I'd sing. I decided to sing the greatest song of all time, All Star by Smash Mouth despite my inability to sing well. It was really funny and awkward. I hope they don't want me to sing to them again. We also got a message from the Philippines Area Security that said that for the next couple days we need to get to our apartments by 6:00pm because it gets dangerous around election time. Supposedly there's a lot of vote buying and stuff that goes on so we need to be careful.

Sunday -

We went to church and stuff which is always fantastic of course. Also during priesthood meeting there was a new old man that no one recognized and many times he just randomly chanted "hallelujah" and "amen" so some of the leaders kind of gave him special attention and quieted him down. 

Later in the day, while we were working, we talked to an returned missionary previously known as 'Sister Owen' who was visiting the Philippines with her husband. It was nice to converse in English with some new people for a while. After that all four of us missionaries headed home by 6:00 which gave us a pretty decent amount of time to do nothing and then right cringey songs together while I strummed the guitar. 

Pictures -

the guitar, our district council meeting, us with Charles and Jeffery  before his farewell, a cat on our roof by the window