WEEK #13: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

October 27, 2014

Hey Mom and Dad! We are having a very busy P-day today, so I’m emailing a little later than usual.

Thank you for your emails! I love to hear about what is going on and what you’ve been up to. And thanks for the recipes Mom. Please send me anymore easy recipes you think I can throw together with Philippine ingredients.

This last week seemed to move fast, but it had some slow days also.


Cave Exploring!

For our activity today we went and explored some caves around Buenavista and then made lunch in the outdoors! It was really cool and there was a river running through the cave. I got some good pictures I’ll send along! For the lunch we bought fish at the market this morning and then we cooked it over a fire and we used banana tree leaves for plates! Really crazy looking the way everything was done! My companion does things like that all the time in Samoa, so he and the Filipinos did all of the cooking. In the cave there was a ton of bats and a few times they were seriously hitting our heads! Haven’t gone crazy yet! (From Michelle:  All is well if our boy is still quoting Andy Griffith!  Barney to Thelma Lou: You know what you find in caves? Bats! And they fly in to your hair and get tangled up in there and lay their eggs, and you go crazy!”)



Lunch in A Cave!



Our lunch!

 

This week we had some really good lessons and we were also able to do a service project for a family we are teaching. We knocked out a bunch of rock around their house so they can extend their kitchen. It made more room around their tight little house. I got some good blisters from it! I wish I would have had gloves.

I had one frustrating lesson this week when I taught this lady.  She was nodding like she completely understood what I was saying and then when I was done she looked over to Elder Walmer and said "indi ko kabalo ano ginhambal niya” which meant she had no idea what I was talking about. I was really annoyed by that, but haha but oh well.

A few days ago I experienced a baptism for the first time done in the Ocean! It was really cool and I so look forward to being able to baptize someone like that! After the baptism, we played a bunch of games with the Branch and had lunch and  it was a fun day.

I’ve been figuring out more and more things to eat and look forward to going into the city again to buy some more "American" supplies. This week I got to thinking about “The World’s Best Corndog” we ate a few months ago and I started drooling! You can’t buy corndogs here, so now I’ve got to try and figure out how to make corndogs!

I so look forward to being able to go on a motorcycle ride when I get home! I want to go on a long trip, like the ride you both did to Yellowstone with Uncle Rob and Darin. That would be so fun! I also can’t wait to go camping and riding in the Swell again. I have so many good memories of that place. I get so excited when I think about camping in the Swell again.  My companion loves fishing, so I tell him all about all our fishing trips we did Dad.! I can’t wait to go walleye fishing at Yuba again. Taking those things away for a while has really made me appreciate them so much more. I was so spoiled!  






I hope and pray my family is doing well and that you know that I am ok here and doing great! I think about how much time I have every day. It will go so fast though! I can’t believe how fast the last 2 months went. I love you and really appreciate everything Mom and Dad. I wouldn’t be here without my parents and even though this isn’t easy, I’m learning so much and being blessed a ton, and I know you are too! The Church is true! and Jesus loves you! Don’t ever worry about me because I am so well taken care of. Love you all very much!! Love Elder Mike