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.

Christmas Conference

So basically, I won't break down the email this week day-by-day as usual. I'll summarize it pretty quick because we don't have as much time because we didn't have preparation day on Monday because of our zone conference.

This last week overall was moderately unproductive. We still did our typical work (kind of) but Elder Viador and Elder Magadia seemed kind of lethargic since they knew they were being transferred and had already been in Ballesteros for 7 months. Anyways, on Sunday afternoon we hopped on a bus to head 5 hours to Laoag for our Christmas Zone Conference. We ate at McDonalds of course and after we ended up staying the night in this hotel called Northview. It was alright quality and had A/C. It also had warmish running water. Much better than bucket showers either way.

The next morning we ate at McDonalds again and then met all the missionaries at the Laoag stake center. We had a little introduction and then had lunch there. Then all the missionaries hopped on a bunch of buses and headed to the venue called Fort Ilocandia. It was a resort that actually was pretty decent. It had actual flushing toilets, a warm shower, and air conditioning. It was kind of old but very clean and super nice for us. They also had a golfing driving range (the grass was kept short by grazing horses of course), archery, basketball courts (that were very slippery and low quality), the beach, and a mini zoo with poorly constructed cages and fighting monkeys.

In the morning there, we basically got to go around and do a bunch of the activities we wanted, and then later that night we had our first part of Christmas Conference. We got to wear pretty normal casual clothes (but needed pants) and all the zones performed some dance or song or something they performed no matter how cringey it was. We also got fed. It was pretty cool and fun overall and took a long time. After that, we stayed the night, had some activites and games in the morning and then had our more legit zone conference later. We basically discussed the mission culture and a new work schedule we got. It was good. We also got new companions.

I got a new companion named Elder Perez. He's from Tarlac, Philippines and seems to speak alright English which will be nice for translating Tagalog for me to learn. Also Elder Butler got a new companion named Elder Vae. He actually was already in our zone and was really wanting to leave Cagayan to Ilocos Norte, but just got moved a town over. He lives with us now too. So even though he's not my companion I'll be seeing a lot of him as well. I guess we'll see how this cycle goes. That's pretty much the week so far.

Pictures - 

Some final pictures with the Ballesteros district in our custom shirts, pictures from Fort Ilocandia, the sketchy zoo of Fort Ilocandia, the monkeys, the things and stuff, pictures from the performances, our Manila MTC district reunited, a picture on a viaduct highway thing on our way back to our zones, and I picture of me with my new companion.

Prosaic Proselyting

Overall, this week has been pretty typical. Not necessarily bad or anything, but not anything out of the ordinary either. I'm not sure if that's just this week, or if this is what it's like when the cycle is coming to an end. Either way a day-by-day breakdown is below.

Tuesday - 

In the morning we had our district council as usual. Following that, we did our personal study as well. When proselyting finally started, we headed all the way to Fugu near the end of our area. We taught our investigator Dan-Dan and a couple members of the Matas family (also investigators). We ended up spending most of the day in Fugu. While we were there we saw wild pigs which was weird. Also, the tire of a big dump truck exploded about 100 yards down the road and it was super loud and you could feel it. It kind of made everyone jump. Also, after the lessons there, we waited a really long time for a tricey to head back. Eventually, Dan-Dan told Mark Anthony Matas to just drive us back on his open tricey. So we ended up getting a ride back to Ballesteros on an open roof tricey driven by a 14 year old on a main highway road. At face value this seems pretty sketchy, but in reality it was way more enjoyable than a normal tricey where my neck is always kinked and I can't see outside. This time we got to feel the air from the wind and I was actually able to see everything.

After that, we ended up going to a dinner appointment with the other two elders.

Wednesday - 

On Wednesday we ended up teaching our investigator Renzlly which we hadn't seen in a very long time so it was nice to see her again. Also I was able to help teach about the Book of Mormon pretty well to her in Tagalog. I accredit this to the gift of tongues for sure

After that, we headed over to the home of the Mendoza family, our other investigators. We talked to the mom a little while and found .out that her daughter didn't go to church because her boyfriend doesn't like us and also the mom's husband doesn't like us either.. So that's kind of a predicament for us.Then we taught a lesson to our investigator Junior and finally ended the day at sharing a message at the home of Trickia and Rhea.

Thursday - 

Another typical proselyting day. We taught a lesson to our recent convert Carmelita. After that we headed over to the home of our investigator Tatay Salvador. He's 68 years old and barely speaks any Tagalog. He mostly knows Illicano. Anyways, as we communicated a little it turns out that his Bible got destroyed during the typhoon, and because of the lack of his Bible he read a little bit of the Book of Mormon which I guess is a blessing? When we return we're going to a bring a fellowshipper that knows Illicano. After that, we taught a lesson to the less active Rocero girls and ended our day at the home of Trickia and Rhea once again. We usually do this because their brother owns a tricey and we can pay him to take us back home after a day of proselyting. Also while we were there we saw a little bit of the Philippines Basketball Association or the PBA game. It was funny cause it didn't look like a professional game compared to the NBA.. One thing that was interesting though was that they did a ton of passing, some had American coaches, missed so many shots and had lots of black dudes on the teams. 

Friday - 

In the morning the four of us Ballesteros elders headed down to Allacapan to draw money for the month out of the bank. Our day started with a scary tricey ride where the handles started shaking back and forth uncontrollably.. Like a death wobble.. the driver stopped, looked down at the spokes and then just went again.. Big surprise, it happened again.  And it almost happened a third time, but we reached the road junction before that point. After that we hopped in a van to drive us the rest of the way to Allacapan. The van driver was super crazy and wreckless compared to usual.. and for the Philippines that's saying a lot. he was passing other vehicles on turns and stuff where you can't see very well and I was moderately fearful for my life. Most driving here is very dangerous and I don't know if I've ever seen a speed limit sign, but this was by far the worst so far.

After eating fried banana and returning from Allacapan we started our normal day. We ended up teaching Renzlly and Joylene, Junior and Trickia and Rhea.

Saturday - 

Another normal day. We taught Joylene and Renzlly again, Trickia and Rhea, the Blanco family, and Jessa Blanco.

Sunday - 

A pretty typical Sunday. We had fast Sunday. Also during sacrament meeting I realized how a lot of the hymns we sing here are technically the same song as back home, but they're slightly different renditions of the songs. Like people just change or hold out different notes and stuff compared to how it's technically supposed to be sang so sometimes I just stick out like a sore thumb when singing because I sing the technically correct note and everyone sings it how they think it's supposed to be sang and it's just funny.

Monday - 

Today of course is p-day and in the morning the whole zone got together to prepare to preform something at zone conference. It's like this skit and dance and it's cringey.

Pictures -

wild pigs we saw, pictures from inside a tricey, random pictures from where we travel frequently, then a whole bunch of pictures with Joylene, Renzlly and fellowshippers because they all wanted to take an unusually high amount of pictures.