We watched conference
yesterday and I saw how the trees are changing colors there and that’s how it
is in your pictures too. I miss Utah so much, but I get over myself more and
more each day :)
This week was really
slow because of the "typhoon" that went through. It rained for a full
two days almost non-stop and one of the days President Aquino told all of the
missionaries to stay inside until the storm passed. We were in the house all
day but I was able to get a lot of chores done, so it was no big deal. We were lucky
and only lost power for like 10 min and never lost water. The sisters in the
area lost their water for three days! AAAK! That would be terrible!
I had the coolest
thing happen this week after we taught this guy. He's a wealthier guy in the
area with a really nice house and he has 5 motorcycles. After we finished teaching his family, he had his sons give us
rides home and he offered to let me drive one of his dirt bikes! He did not have to ask me twice! It was just a cheap China 150, but I didn’t care I was riding a dirt bike again so
I was overwhelmed with happiness ha-ha!
I’m slowly figuring
out better things to eat. I eat lots of vegetables
and eggs. I made pancakes with bananas and apples in them for breakfast
yesterday and they were so good! There is a lady that sells chorizo across the
street from us, so I mix that in with eggs, eggplant, and brown rice. Creativity
with the meals is really helping to find stuff to eat. I was really worried about
food the first couple of weeks, but my companion loves to cook and doesn’t
really like to eat out so we cook 95% of our meals. So that has really helped
me get more comfortable with the food.
It has been kind of a
rough week and I wasn’t having very much fun. The language is hard, but my
problem is not the language so much, as it is my same old problem that I have
no idea what to say to people. I told the other Elders, "I have a hard enough
time talking to people in English how the heck can I do it in Ilonggo!?" I know
that slowly but surely it will get easier as I learn how other missionaries are
able to do it. I remind myself that one of the biggest reasons I came on a
mission was to learn how to talk to people. It will happen!
We did have a really
good lesson last night that was fun for me. We are teaching these 4 ladies and
they’re really nice. We still haven’t gotten past the restoration yet, but we
will the next time we go there.
General Conference was
really great to watch. This is sad, but I think it’s the first time I’ve actually sat down and
watched all 5 sessions! :/ We watched it in the chapel in the town of "Jordan".
There were a lot of people, and it was great to see them and how diligent they
were in staying for most of conference. On Saturday, we ate at this cafe which I
really didn’t like because Filipinos don’t care if their food is cold. They
have fairly good food, but it’s always cold and it just ruins it! I’ve been carrying PB&J sandwiches around
which I think I’ll keep doing for a snack in the future days. On the way back
from conference we piled 4 missionaries and another member plus the driver onto
a trike! We had a 30 min ride back to Buenavista, but the trike got 2 flats on
the way, so the driver got rid of us and we took a jeep the rest of the way.
People just pile onto whatever transportation they can here, which I thought was
crazy at first but now I’m getting used to it as I do it myself. :)
To answer your
questions we are teaching around 15 people through the week. We are always
looking for more, but we have to go door to door, which is not my most favorite
thing to do.
If you look on Google
Earth you can see the area I’m in. It is Buenavista on Guimaras. Our road is
Sinamay, but none of the streets are marked, so you probably won’t be able to
see that.
The coolest thing I
saw this week was a monkey! He was some guy’s pet chained up across the wall from
the church. I got a few pictures I’ll send. I’m sorry I can’t send pictures
this week. We are emailing from this internet café and it’s nothing special and
apparently these computers have viruses, so I’ll have to wait until next week. I’ve
got some really great pictures to send though and I’ll shoot some off to you as
soon as I can.
The members here are
really nice people. Not good singers (ha-ha) but they are very good church
members.
There are a ton of
stray dogs here. You’d hate it mom--it even bothers me. There are a lot of
horrible things that goes on with animals here and it definitely brings out my soft
side. I guess all those years of fostering dogs and helping you with the dog
rescue really did rub off on me.
Don’t worry about
sending me a flashlight. I have that lantern you bought me, which has been
great inside the house, but I don’t carry it.
Elder Fogavai carries a flashlight with him, so I promise we are not trekking
around through the dark. Ha-ha.
The drivers here are
all over the place, but surprisingly I haven’t seen any accidents at all! It
seems like they drive really fast, but in reality we only go about 30 MPH tops!
Ha-ha. So be thankful for cars, freeways, and nice roads in Utah!
I think and pray
about you daily and hope my family is happy!! I Love you! Michael
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