Typhoon Time

So this week has been super slow.. Probably because the first two days we were stuck in our apartment because of the typhoon.

Monday - 

So basically, on Monday we kind of had a little bit of time to do our usual p-day activities. We ended up emailing for a little bit, and getting a little laundry done but that was basically it. After that point, the sky turned pink and it seemed really ominous and calm and then a couple hours later it started to rain pretty hard so we couldn't really go outside very long without getting soaked. Also our power ended up going out pretty early.. so in order to entertain ourselves we started making shadow puppets with our flashlights.. That shows you how bored we became. We're kind of deprived of entertainment out here.. so when it's too rainy for us to even do our laundry or do missionary work, you can imagine how bored we get. Anyways, at like 8:30 the power came back on and then we ended up going to sleep. That night we actually had electricity for a really long time even though it started raining pretty hard.

Tuesday -

Basically the whole night it was raining really hard and it was pretty loud in our apartment, but we had electricity until 5:00 am and it finally went out. And we stayed inside the entire day. It was just really windy and rainy the entire time. We also didn't have working water during that whole time so I just would set the bucket outside to gather water so we could flush the toilet and stuff. During the whole storm we did a few things to stay entertained. We played Uno and other card games, we listened to our church/instrumental music, and elder Butler and I played a drawing game. Basically, in the game we would decide on a character from a movie or something and we'd have 1 minute and 30 seconds to draw them. Once we were finished we'd compare our crappy drawings and it was actually so fun. Neither of us are very good artists so we would just laugh super hard at the awful artwork. That's pretty much all we did other than typical scripture type study as well. It was a long day and dark the whole time.

Wednesday - 

So on Wednesday we had to try and withdraw money for the month because we couldn't do it on our p-day because of the typhoon. We ended up traveling about 45 minutes away to Allacapan to withdraw money like normal. When we got there we met up with the other elders and found out that they didn't even have electricity yet so we couldn't really withdraw money. We ended up having to go about another hour away to Magapit to withdraw money. Magapit is so far that it's not even technically in our zone. This whole trip ended up taking up most of the day... so not much was accomplished but by the end of the day we were all tired.

Thursday - 

On Thursday we finally got back to a little normal work. It's really nice because it helps the days go by a little faster and even though we walk super far, it's pretty enjoyable.. especially compared to sitting in an apartment ALL day. 

On Thursday we had planned to teach about 7 lessons but only ended up teaching  5. The day started out with teaching a lesson to the less active Repaje family, and then giving a lesson to our investigator Sherry Ann.  Sherry Ann actually is scheduled for baptism on November 17th, my birthday, which is pretty cool. After that we went to give a lesson to our other investigator Carmelita (who also has a baptism scheduled for the 17th) but she was sick so we just let her be. After that we gave a lesson to our recent convert Joylene too. When we finished that we headed over to the house of our other recent converts Trickia and Rhea but they weren't there because they were off in another town for Day of the Dead. It basically was like memorial day for everyone here. On Nov 1 and Nov 2 everyone just went to their families graves and stuff. Anyways, because we weren't there we ended up trying to go to another less actives' house nearby.. They were also not home.. So we ended up going to a different less active house, also close by. They are the Torintino family and apparently the grandparents are members but not a lot of the grandchildren. We ended up getting a new investigator there named Junior. He's 28 and seemed kind of interested so we're gonna go back and try and teach him the lessons.

After that, we ended up going to a dinner appointment with the other elders. After that, it was pretty late so instead of heading back to our area (which was kind of far away) we just went with the other elders to help them with their last lesson.

Friday -

So Friday is usually kind of a slow day because we have our 3 hour session of weekly planning after we also do our personal study. But anyways.. by the time we ended getting out to work it was like 4:00. So we first went to the less active Corea family but they were busy so we couldn't share a lesson. On our way to our next lesson we stopped by the church where they were having "Sports Fest" which was just a huge district (not stake because the church isn't big enough here) activity with people from all over our area. We were there for a little bit and then headed back out. Once we talked to some people for a bit we went back out to finish 2 more lessons. We gave one to Carmelita and the Pascual family, both of which are investigators.

Saturday - 

So on Saturday we spent the first half of the day doing a service project with members of the ward. We ended up actually helping this time unlike during the last service project. Our job was to remove the torn old palm leaf roof and help put better aluminum on it. After that, we ended up giving 3 lessons in the day. We gave one to our investigator Carmelita again, one to the Torintino family (unfortunately Junior, our new investigator, wasn't there), and one to Trickia and Rhea. Also when we got back home we ended up killing like 6 cockroaches at our apartment.. so that's awesome.

Sunday - 

So it was fast Sunday and we also had a "brown out." Church was really hot without the electricity. It felt kind of long since I was sweaty the whole time. After that, we ended up teaching 3 lessons. We taught one to Sherry Anne, Carmelita, and Renzlly. We hadn't taught Renzlly for a while because she was in Manila for a little bit and also has been busy so ti was good to teach her again. Also on Sunday I saw a husky which surprised and scared me. It was the first time in a long time that I've seen a decent looking dog that wasn't just a mutt. And it also looked way big compared to the scrawny dirty dogs that are all roaming around here.

Monday - 

So far we've just ate breakfast today at the nice Kafe Karlo and have done some emailing.

Pictures - 

The pictures should include a couple of pictures of me at this really nice restaurant we found called Remdents (which we can only afford to go to once a week or so on our mission funds: we'll just have to stick to corned beef and rice usually), a picture of the pink sky(which I'm not sure is obvious in the picture) right before the typhoon, a picture of me with a lantern in the dark saying "Who goes 'er?" in a Bristle accent during the typhoon, a picture of scared elder Butler, another picture of Elder Butler sleeping in the "seat reserved for persons with disabilities", a picture of our drawings we made during the storm (mine is on the right, elder Butler's on the left), Elder Butler's gross finger he caught in the fan, and another picture of me spending big money to have a normal meal.

Typhoon

Basically, this is just a quick email to say I'm okay. Nothing really crazy happened and during the whole typhoon I wasn't worried. I'm all good and nothing got damaged. I'll tell you more about it on p-day.

Typhoon Rosita 1 (Typhoon Yutu)

Dear Families and Leaders of Missionaries serving in the Philippines Laoag Mission,

Typhoon Rosita, known internationally as Yutu, is expected to make landfall in central Luzon as early as Tuesday morning October 30, 2018. Unlike Typhoon Ompong that hit us directly last month, it appears the direct path will be below our mission.  However, we will likely feel some associated heavy wind and rain.  As for now, we have asked our missionaries to be on alert and ready to respond to a possible evacuation within the next 24 hours (although currently this looks unlikely).

All missionaries have been instructed to increase their 72hr emergency kits to include a one-week supply of food and water.  Rest assured that appropriate measures will be taken to ensure the safety of your missionaries. We will monitor the situation closely and provide updates.  

We love these missionaries and consider them to be the best of the best!  Thank you for preparing them so very well!


With great love and appreciation for your support,

President and Sister Peterson
Philippines Laoag Mission
Brgy. #50 Buttong, Airport Avenue
Junction Tangid Road, Laoag City


Mom's notes

I've been following this for the last week and it looks like his area is in the path of the typhoon. He is not worried, but will remain in his apartment during the storm. We will be praying for the safety of everyone in the Philippines. 

I was updated tonight that President Peterson did end up bringing all the missionaries into Laoag again for this typhoon too. I was very relieved with this news because Brodie’s Province was one hit pretty hard by the typhoon.  The Philippines has been hit by 18 typhoons this year, I don’t think that is something I can get use to. The mission President said they are more prepared for the power outages this time. I hope this doesn’t mean another month of no power. Praying for the Philippines.

Zone Conference

So this week consisted of what seemed like a lot of traveling. We had zone conference and then we just finished out the week normally. Also, apparently there's gonna be a category 4 typhoon tomorrow so we've also been preparing for that as well.

Tuesday - 

This day consisted of traveling to Laoag for zone conference. We had to wake up early in the morning to catch a 5 hour bus ride to Laoag. Now let me tell you, this bus ride isn't pleasant. You basically just sit on a moderately crowded bus for a really long time on chairs that are too small for you to lean your head back to sleep, the driving is crazy as usual here, and the suspension on the bus is weird so you just bounce back and forth the whole time becoming nauseated. 

Anyways, once we got to Laoag it was pretty good though. We ended up going to McDonalds because Elder Butler and I really wanted some normal food. I ended up getting a quarter pounder, fries, and a Coke.. all of which tasted exactly the same as at home. There were a few different menu options but I wanted something I recognized. After McDonalds  ( an expensive delicacy here) we went to the mall. In Laoag they have this legitimate big mall called Robinson's. We ended up going in and just kind of looking around. I didn't bring a ton of money, but now I know that I need to bring some for next time. After all that, we headed to the church where lots of missionaries were meeting, and then we stayed the night in the mission office. 

Wednesday - 

In the morning I woke up and was excited to experience both an actual shower that also had warm water, and a flushing toilet. After getting ready in the morning we immediately headed over to the church for the "Zone Tour" (because it was lead by someone other than our Mission President it's called 'tour'" and we didn't even eat breakfast. Basically, zone tour was from 9:00 to 4:00 and it was lead by Elder Wakolo of the Seventy. It was pretty cool and I would say I felt like I learned a lot. Also I got super cold in the church building because of the A/C. Back home I would have died not having air conditioning.. but here I almost died with it. After the zone tour they fed us food and then we headed back to Ballesteros on another 5 hour bus ride. On the bus ride I heard the song The Gambler by Kenny Rodgers. I was very surprised but also happy I'd say. Music is funny here because everyone loves to sing no matter how good they are at it and because of this, seemingly all kinds of music, even VERY weird kinds, are popular here. Occasionally I here country music here too which is funny. By the time we got to Ballesteros though, it was really late and there were no triceys.. so instead of walking for a super long time we just continued on the bus to the next town over, Allacapan, and stayed the night there with the other elders because their apartment was only a walk away. Allacapan is the same place we did exchanges in a couple of weeks ago.

Thursday - 

On Thursday we headed back to Ballesteros in the morning. Once we got there the other elders kind of decided to sleep more I guess. The bus arrived super late the night before and they were all super tired from traveling. During that time I once again did a lot of personal study and talked to Elder Butler as well. This day was pretty unproductive in all honesty. After the Filipino elders woke up they said they had no clean clothes to proselyte in so they just washed them for a while. Basically nothing happened.. but I did learn a lot from the scriptures and Jesus the Christ. Also later at night Elder Butler and I were hungry and the other elders didn't want to go out so us two Americans went out to buy food quick. It was okay until after we walked back and there were a ton of out "bakla" (gay people that try and look like girls) that were hooting and hollering at us when we walked back. Also some dude followed us on a motorcycle for like 15 minutes and would stop and act like he was texting when we looked at him. It was a weird experience and Elder Butler and I decided not to go out without our Filipino companions again.

Friday - 

Aside from having a very unproductive day on Thursday, Friday was a packed schedule. We planned and prepared lessons for at least 9 people. We only ended up giving 5 of them but it still felt like a very productive day. We shared a message with the less active Repaje family first, then gave another lesson to our recent convert Joylene, gave the third lesson to our investigator Carmelita, gave the first lesson to our recent converts Trickia and Rhea (because after they become baptized you have to give all the lessons again), and taught the lesson about the Law of Chastity to both Angelu and Angleica Pascual. That was pretty much the day. It had lots of walking involved.

Saturday - 

This day started with Elder Viador and I traveling on a tricey ride about 15 minutes away to give a lesson to our investigator Jessa Blanco. It turns out she wasn't even there and that she was in a different city taking an exam. So we just ended up giving a quick lesson to a less active family. It kind of ended up being a waste of pisos. After that, we ended up going back to the apartment to do our personal study that we had failed to do in the morning, and then we headed back out after. After our studies we gave a lesson to the less active Corea family, and the second lesson to our investigator Sherry Anne. After that, all the elders went and ate a a members house named Brother Lacsi. Also, I was just thinking (on a completely unrelated note) about how it's funny that the milk I buy here is from Germany, has English packaging, and was sold in the Philippines.

Sunday - 

We had church. Later, we gave another lesson to Sherry Anne and I invited her to be baptized on November 17, my birthday. We also gave a lesson about the 10 commandments to Sister Carmelita our investigator and shared a quick message with our other investigator Angelu Pascual and that was pretty much the day.

Monday - 

So far today we've just done a little laundry, ate breakfast while Dora the Explorer and Max and Ruby were being showed on the television, and emailed some.

Pictures - 

The pictures should consist of a cringey picture of me with McDonalds in Laoag, a bunch of random pictures I took since I forgot to take many throughout the week, and some cows grazing down a schools soccer field made of weeds.

Unang Binyag!

Today has been a pretty good week. At the start of the week we had exchanges in Allacapan, and near the end we had my "Unang Binyag."

Monday - 

So basically, last Monday just included all the caving activities I emailed about last week, and then our normal weekly preparation and washing clothes and things.

Tuesday -

So we started with district council meeting on Tuesday morning. Once we got to the church, we had to walk back to the apartment because Elder Viador forgot a marker... which they also don't have any of at the church. Once we got back to the church we sat down for the lesson and Elder Magadia who was assigned to teach forgot to prepare one so he just winged it. It still ended up being a pretty good discussion about the purpose of using the spirit in missionary work.  After the council, we all ate some food and then checked up with the t-shirt shop that is making t-shirts for our whole zone. We then went back to the apartment and did all our studying for the day.

Once we finished all the things we needed to do, we then headed out to do our work for the day. Having district council in the morning really bumped back our schedule and we only got a few lessons in. First of all, we went to try and teach one of our investigators, Ate (Tagalog for older sister - what she wanted us to call her) Susan. She was there, but seemed really busy so we waited for a little bit and then told her we'd be back some other day. Since our first person wasn't there, we switched to our backup plan which also didn't work out.

Eventually, we just went to the next lesson we planned which was just with a recent convert. We just gave a lesson about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon every day and stuff. After that we walked a little ways to give our other investigators, the Pascual family, a lesson but no one was there either.. and that was basically the day.

Wednesday - 

On Wednesday I had exchanges for the first time in Allacapan with one of the Zone Leaders Elder Willoughby. He's from Canada and is heading home on October 28, so he's really close to being done. It was a pretty good experience and it was nice to have somebody explain things about the Tagalog language to me in fluent English so that I could actually understand why certain things are said. A lot of people said Elder Willoughby was really  fluent in both Tagalog and the Illicano language... which from what I could tell seemed to be true. We had a good and very long day. It was weird because he told me that I'm "very good" at Tagalog for only being here around a month. This statement surprised me because I feel like I haven't learned so much, but it's good if that's true I guess. Anyways, we taught a ton of lessons and talked to a lot of people.. and it was good.

Thursday -

We left Allacapan in the morning and headed back to Ballesteros. We ended up getting back home at about 10:00 and the other Zone Leader Elder Durbin came and did exchanges with Elder Butler. Once we got back all three of the other elders took a nap until like 12:00 and I just did a lot of personal/language study.

Eventually, after eating lunch, we started our work. We started by heading over to the less active Repaje family, but they ended up being asleep or something so we went elsewhere. After that, went all the way to Palloc which is pretty far away. We took a 15 minute tricey drive or so to give a lesson to a newer investigator named Flordalita. She ended up not even being at her house so we just walked back down into the more central part of Ballesteros talking to people and other members on the way back. We ended up teaching a lesson to two less active girls and some recent converts and that was our day.

Friday - 

Friday is our day for weekly planning which everyone claims is supposed to be a 3 hour session... it usually ends up taking 45 minutes or so and then I just study the scriptures and things for the rest of the time which is what happened on Friday.

Basically, by the time it got over, along with our other regular study sessions, it was 4:00. We ended up teaching a lesson to the less active Repaje family. After that, we headed over to the church to try and fill up the baptismal font. It turns out that there was no water in the church, so we actually have to do another baptism in the ocean. While at the church we talked to a lot of members because it was there mutual as well. We also ended up giving the first lesson to our new 13 year old investigator named Alfredo or "Al" as he likes to be called. After that we basically ate and then headed home for the night.

Saturday - 

This is the day of my first baptism! Before we get to that though, I'll just describe the day. We woke up, ate and got ready for the day. We didn't do our studies in the morning either. At about 9:00 we headed over to the home of our 19 year old investigator named Joylene Cabanglan in order to give her the final lesson before the baptism. We also helped kind of prepare her for the baptismal interview questions that would be asked to her by one of the zone leaders. After that we headed over to the church with her at 10:30 so she could be interviewed. The interview went successful. After that, we hurried and gave 2 lessons before the baptism and 3:00 and invited a couple people.

At 3:00 we had the baptism. I actually was the one to preform it too. We headed out into the ocean that seemed moderately dangerous with a few rip currents, and did the baptism. We had to time the baptism with the waves and it ended up taking 2 tries which apparently is better than some people. So it was really cool to help bring Joylene into baptism. She's been an investigator since the first week I got here and I actually was there to teach her all of the lessons and everything. She's a little shy but seemed to be receptive to our message and it's awesome that she's decided to become baptized and kind of interesting that she chose me to be the one to preform the baptism considering I only speak the little Tagalog I can during the lessons. In the end though, the spirit is the ultimate teacher though.

After the baptism we went and taught the Word of Wisdom lesson to our 14 year old investigator Angelica Pascual, and that was our day. It was mostly consumed by the whole baptism, but it was definitely awesome.

Sunday - 

We had church on Sunday of course and a few of our investigators were there which is good. After church we went and gave three lessons. The first lesson was with a 15 year old investigator named Sherry Anne. Apparently she has previously been taught by other missionaries but didn't seem to progress so they dropped here. We decided to start over and teach her again after out of the blue she started showing up to church and also watched conference. We ended up giving her the first lesson and she seemed really happy about it. She also seemed to remember some stuff from her previous lessons.

After that, we talked to some recent converts for a little bit (just to check in kind of). Following that, we gave a lesson to Angelu and Angelica Pascual, who are siblings. Angelu is 16 and Angelica is (like I said earier) 14. We've taught them a lot of the other lessons and on Sunday, taught them about the 10 commandments and taught Angelu the lesson on the Word of Wisdom as well.

Monday -

That's today.. and basically we just played some basketball with some members, ate breakfast, and are now emailing.

Pictures - 

The pictures in a separate email should include images from the baptism, a picture of Elder Butler with his Hello Kitty towel and coffee (both of which he accidentally bought), and pictures in a rice field "all white and ready to harvest."