Is this even the Philippines?

     So weird thing it only rained like 2 or 3 times this week. It was really nice to not always be soaking wet. This week we worked super hard to find some new investigators and after the whole week we had the test to see if any were super legit or not, going to church. Sadly none of them came. Even almost all of our IBDs didn't come. After a week of hard work we had 1 person come to church. It is too bad but 1 is still better than 0. I can't think of anything really exciting that happened this week though. It was mostly just going door to door and trying to teach everybody we can a lesson. One funny little thing that happened is we were walking in an alleyway and a little boy saw us. He ran inside as soon as he saw us and yelled Takbo Mormons! Which is just run its mormons. Funny kid but also then after that nobody let us in so that sucks. We actually hear that a lot from little kids though. Just yelling mormons or run that kind of fun stuff. One lady that we teach, Joann, has a son that yells mormons everytime he sees us. ON Sunday we went out with 4 members because for some reason we can never find members to teach but then we get too many at once and can't go anywhere. Anyways we were walking through monte with them and there is this handicapped kid there who loves us and he really freaked out one of the members because he tried to give them a hug. That made me laugh pretty hard. Anyways sorry not a huge email today but the week was great and went by so fast.   When I asked Chase the best parts of the week, he said, "The sisters had a whole ton of american candy, jolleyranchers and stuff, that they shared with me and that helped a bit.  Another best thing is one of our investigators said he would be baptized and we really didn't know if he would accept it or just punt us but he did so that was super great. Here's his daily schedule "wake up at 6:20 go to the bathroom. eat oatmeal at 6:35. maybe exercise if my stomach is feeling okay. personal study until 9 comp study and planning until 10 go out and work until 12 eat lunch go out and work again from 1 till it gets late and we start just getting kicked out of everywhere. usually just after 6 or 7 go back home eat dinner maybe. study the language a bit. go to bed"

When Lizards Attack

So this week was pretty swell I'd say. I read in the Teaching of Gordon B Hinckley about trying to always be positive in life. I decided that sounded like a pretty good idea and tried it out this week. I can't remember what we did  Tuesday, which means we just got punted a lot.  Wednesday I know we got punted a ton because we went out to a pretty far nanay's house and then tracked all the way home. We got a couple lessons out of it but I don't know if they really want us to come back...  We can't seem to find anybody who wants to listen to the message we have. But I know that God knows where we need to go and He is probably just testing us to make sure we have the faith to find them.  Thursday I was really sick and we had to stay in the house all day which sucked. I had a nasty fever all the night before so I mostly just tried to sleep that off. Friday we had our district meeting with our new district. We have one new sister and one new elder. They both seem pretty cool but it is too early to tell for sure. 

Saturday we had a baptism for Joshua! He is a super cool little kid only 10 years old but so mature compared to the other kids I have seen here. He has been coming to church since the 2nd week I got here and we have been teaching him the whole time. Anyways when I opened the sliding doors to the font, the biggest lizard I have seen here fell out right on my foot! It scared me so freakin bad!  We spent the next 30 minutes hitting it with a broom trying to get it out the door. The bad part is the lizard was no wimp. He would try to square up with us every time. He even bit my broom. Eventually we did get him outside though and the rest of the baptism went really well. 

Sunday we were going around trying to pick up investigators to come to church (no luck there really) and when we got to the church maybe around 8:30 Joshua was already there! Apparently he had got there at 7:30 because he was excited to be confirmed. Like I said he is just a way cool kid. Sunday night we got Jasper (a RC) to come and teach with us but sadly all of our lessons fell through. Even though we got punted a lot I still had a good week and elder brown and I had a good time.  I don't eat dinner much, I'm tired when I get home so i just write in my journal maybe eat a piece of bread and go to bed. You'll be happy to know I have eaten a couple eggs this week and even dinner once or twice so I'll be back up to weight in no time at all.   I've kind-of adjusted to walking all the time.  My feet are way gross though cause they get wet a lot and so its just a mess. I try not to look at them really.  I love you all so so much have a great week!!

 This monkey belongs to a less active family.  He is kinda mean so he just stays in the cage always. 

                                                         The infamous lizard

     So I don't know why but I feel like I don't have a ton to say about this week. We worked really hard on finding new people to teach just about every day.   Wednesday we went on splits but Elder Resota woke up with a super bad fever so I just got to stay at the house all day and read. It wasn't quite the same as reading back home but that is just because I was only reading church stuff.  Saturday  Elder Resota and his comp had 4 girls get baptized which is super awesome kinda of. If they can't get the parents I'm sure the girls will go less active so I hope they can. Fun thing that happened though.  So one Elder and his comp had a fight Saturday morning , So I got to go on splits with him again all Sunday! That was fun because working with a Filipino makes me try to use the language a lot more. About the language. I'm still having a really tough time with it. I can kinda understand what people are saying sometimes but when I try to talk the words just get all caught in my mouth and come out wrong. Even though I am having a hard time with it though I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday. It was a little rough and only about a minute but I feel like I got my point understood. We have a kid getting baptized next Saturday and so that is super exciting! Joshua is 10 and just a super cool kid. He comes to church with his older sister Joann who is gonna be and investigator until she finally gets married. We were gonna also baptize another girl from that family the next week but turns out she is pregnant so that kinda sucks. The worst part is she is only 15 and has just totally changed how her life will be for the rest of her life. We haven't seen her since we learned that cause I'm pretty sure her mom kicked her out.  You'll be so proud of me I started eating Breakfast.  I've been eating oatmeal. One of the members fed us this week and we had  kinda a spaghetti with hot dogs in it from a member. not too many eggs. The food will probably be a little better in a bigger tow. I really miss fruit. they don't grow much in this area so it's all super expensive and I don't get much if any. Daet has a ton of pineapple so I'm praying I can go there.   Transfers are this week, but I'm not going anywhere.   The  town I'm in is pretty rural.  I'm kind-of getting used to the heat I think  but I doubt you can really adjust to this much heat.  We asked how many lessons he teaches a week and he said "This week we get a lot sometimes sometimes not a ton. this week we had about 30"  funny story before I go... Last week a cat got in our house while we were sleeping and jumped on elder brown. Scared the crap out of him it was pretty funny

                                                          Elder Brown

 That spider was probably bigger than my hand but you can't tell super well

General Conference

     Hello everybody! This week was pretty awesome I guess. It all went by super fast so I don't really remember it that well... Cool thing that happened Wednesday.   We were up in Salay and a lady wanted us to give her daughter a blessing because she had a bad fever. Right after Elder Brown says Amen she passes out.. The lady started to freak out and Elder Brown was freaking out cause the mom was yelling in a language he didn't know. I wasn't too freaked out though because I don't know any language so nothing to worry about. Anyways we got her some water and then she threw up on elder Brown's shoes. The locals are a little weird and kept saying she was possessed but they're just crazy. 

      We also had zone conf. this week and that was good I guess. it was mostly just really long and I was tired because we had to get up at 5 to get to Naga. I did use my debit card to buy a journal and it worked so that was a happy moment. 

     So GC. I don't know if it is just because this is the most spiritual I have ever been in my life or what but that was the best GC I have ever watched. I pretty much loved every single talk. One of the best ones I think was Elder Nelson. I think having the Book of Mormon all the time can kinda make you not remember its true value. I would challenge you to all reread it and keep in mind the things Elder Nelson talks about. 

     One super cool experience: Sunday after GC I was feeling super homesick and basically hopeless like I couldn't do it any more. We went home for lunch and I went upstairs to pray. As I prayed for strength I felt a great peace come over me. I still feel a little homesick but I can also feel the Lord helping bear up my burdens and keep going. I know that the Lord is waiting to help all of us with whatever problems that we have all we have to do is ask and have faith in Him.

   I'm eating so well...haha yeah so healthy rice bread peanutbutter soda and Chili  We went on a hike this morning and then I had a lot to try and remember to write. Plus I got a hair cut. Hike was good and the haircut was too. a little scary since I just sat down and he started cutting but it looks ok

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!

                                               Buddies from the MTC at zone conference

I can count this one as mine

So this week was pretty good I guess. I mean I did get a baptism! Sister Alma was baptized and it was super awesome. She has been investigating for a really long time. The rest of this week was pretty normal. We have just been trying really hard to find somebody to teach but haven't had much luck. We thought we had two families that we could teach but when we went back to teach the second lesson and they punted us hardcore. The picture of the stairs is where they lived the very top of a big hill so it sucked that they don't want to be taught but at least we don't have to keep going up those.

     We went to a trainer and trainee meeting this week and that was pretty great. It was good to see all the elders from the mtc and talk to them. President Zapanta also shared a great lesson with us about being PMG missionaries. Because that was in Naga I got to go the the SM which is just a huge mall but they have pizza hut and it was so nice to have some pizza.

     I got two packages this week!! one was just my inhaler so better late than never with that and the other was awesome. The poptarts have been a life saver because now I actually have something that I can eat for breakfast but I feel like those won't last too long. The water bottle is way cool! I didn't think it would actually keep the water cold but it did all day long. I will admit I was a little sad it didn't have any letters in it.. I would love a letter or two. 

     When we were at Joann's house her kids were spider fighting and I tried to get a video but I couldn't really. The spiders are super gross and the kids will just grab them with their hands! it was way gross. I will get to  watch conference all next Saturday and Sunday in the town next to Buhi.  The language is still hard, but I'm working on it and it's getting a little better.  We have a little washing machine to do our laundry and then I wring it out and hang it up to dry.  We live right next to the lady who makes all the Buhi stuff so the belt bag I use and I bought a bunch of ties.  She also makes purses and stuff.  Yeah she makes them all.  I can't think of anything funny right now but I have started going to the bathroom at the church as much as I can because they have toilet paper and their toilet flushes and thats just so great 

I love you all and it is great to hear from you!