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| It never rains in the Philippines ... it pours. |
Conversation between AJ and his Dad through email early Monday morning (it was Monday afternoon for AJ)
AJ: Don't suppose you're still awake?
DAD: Believe it or not I am up. I just finished writing a 2,000 word feature for the mag! AJ: Ouch that means it is like 2 in the morning right? And you go to work at 6?
DAD: It's 10 after 1, but I got the story done! That's always a great feeling!
AJ: Yey!! I liked your letter earlier talking about the day I was born and when I was little. I miss you a ton. You wanna be my comp for a cycle or two?
DAD: That would be sweet to be your comp! We'd probably get on each other's nerves ;-)
AJ: Nah ... We would be fine ... it would be awesome! I miss Elder Balaich, too. I got a Dear Elder letter from him this week. He is a stud.
DAD: Gosh, I'd have to live without my Mustang and my XBox and my w
oman! I don't think I could make it without two of those three – HAHA!
AJ: HAHA! The Philippines is pretty entertaining. Life is a lot more fun with an American companion. You get to talk about all the unbelievably stupid things that happen every day. To Filipinos, it is just normal. Oh by the way, I took money out this week so I can send the package off pretty soon. I have no idea how much it will cost, though.
DAD: We'll never be able to wait until Christmas to open it!
AJ: It probably will take 3 months to get there anyway haha. Elder Balaich sent a package home 2 months before he went home and told them not to open it, haha.
DAD: Is your nanay (is that right?) starting to grow up and get it on his own? It can be kinda hard always being the one who leads out and makes all the decisions.
AJ: Nanay = Mom. Anak = child. Yeah, he is doing pretty good. I went on splits with the brand new American last week ... it was a lot harder, haha.
DAD: Tatay, nanay and Anak -- got it! I'm sure you'll have lots to discuss with Ben Brown and Bro. Miller when you get back. You can make fun of the Philippines for hours!
AJ: Wen Tay ... Oops thats Ilokano ... we don't even want to get started there, haha. I said “Yes, Dad.” But yeah, there are a lot of hilarious things that happen every day.
DAD: We didn't go to Grandma's tonight. We had meetings and home teaching and stuff. But Mom made Cafe Rio chicken -- was sooooooo good! Sam Stevens and Ryan Eves came by to home teach, they were 10 minutes early and I never did get to finish my dinner. Bryce and I had to go HT after that. Busy weekend after the Vegas trip and all.
AJ: That's a bummer. Cafe Rio is good. I wish people in the Philippines did home teaching.
DAD: When we lived in Texas, my dad would drive 150 miles round trip to do all his home teaching. He was a rock. All you need for Cafe Rio pork or chicken is a cup or two of salsa and a cup of
brown sugar and then let cook for awhile.
AJ: Wow, I gotta do it. Yeah, here in the Philippines if it is raining the attendance goes from like 120 to 70.
DAD: Bogus on the attendance. I gotta tell ya, we haven't seen rain in a long time, like two months. It is dry as a bone and hot, hot, hot.
AJ: Man, Tuesday we got hurricaned and I forgot my umbrella that day. I got soaked and we only got 2 lessons all day. One was this pastor guy that was way nice the first time we met and taught him, so we decided to go back again. Man, he just wanted to debate and then at the end he told us Joesph Smith is false and an adulterer. That pastor was a jerk. Last Tuesday was one of the harder days of my whole mission.
DAD: Sorry to hear that. Some days are diamonds, some days are stones, right? I recall some days I was so frustrated out there that I just wanted to go back to the apartment and go to sleep. Rejection sucks! But usually something good happens right after that if we endure.
AJ: Yeah, this Sunday was really good. We had 5 investigators come to church a half hour early!. They beat everyone but President Orlanda. A total of eight of them went to church overall. If things work out right, we should have a baptism on Sept. 10 and then six more on Sept. 24!
DAD: Now that is awesome! Think you'll still be there then?
AJ: I am hoping. Sept. 7 or something is transfer day. I might miss all of them. I got transferred from Tuguegarao right before that family got baptized last time around. I guess it doesn't matter, though. It would be cool to be there... All right, I am out of here! Love ya!
DAD: Yep, headed to bed myself, love ya lots, happy day my great son!
WEEKLY LETTER
DAD: Believe it or not I am up. I just finished writing a 2,000 word feature for the mag! AJ: Ouch that means it is like 2 in the morning right? And you go to work at 6?
DAD: It's 10 after 1, but I got the story done! That's always a great feeling!
AJ: Yey!! I liked your letter earlier talking about the day I was born and when I was little. I miss you a ton. You wanna be my comp for a cycle or two?
DAD: That would be sweet to be your comp! We'd probably get on each other's nerves ;-)
AJ: Nah ... We would be fine ... it would be awesome! I miss Elder Balaich, too. I got a Dear Elder letter from him this week. He is a stud.
DAD: Gosh, I'd have to live without my Mustang and my XBox and my w
oman! I don't think I could make it without two of those three – HAHA!AJ: HAHA! The Philippines is pretty entertaining. Life is a lot more fun with an American companion. You get to talk about all the unbelievably stupid things that happen every day. To Filipinos, it is just normal. Oh by the way, I took money out this week so I can send the package off pretty soon. I have no idea how much it will cost, though.
DAD: We'll never be able to wait until Christmas to open it!
AJ: It probably will take 3 months to get there anyway haha. Elder Balaich sent a package home 2 months before he went home and told them not to open it, haha.
DAD: Is your nanay (is that right?) starting to grow up and get it on his own? It can be kinda hard always being the one who leads out and makes all the decisions.
AJ: Nanay = Mom. Anak = child. Yeah, he is doing pretty good. I went on splits with the brand new American last week ... it was a lot harder, haha.
DAD: Tatay, nanay and Anak -- got it! I'm sure you'll have lots to discuss with Ben Brown and Bro. Miller when you get back. You can make fun of the Philippines for hours!
AJ: Wen Tay ... Oops thats Ilokano ... we don't even want to get started there, haha. I said “Yes, Dad.” But yeah, there are a lot of hilarious things that happen every day.
DAD: We didn't go to Grandma's tonight. We had meetings and home teaching and stuff. But Mom made Cafe Rio chicken -- was sooooooo good! Sam Stevens and Ryan Eves came by to home teach, they were 10 minutes early and I never did get to finish my dinner. Bryce and I had to go HT after that. Busy weekend after the Vegas trip and all.
AJ: That's a bummer. Cafe Rio is good. I wish people in the Philippines did home teaching.
DAD: When we lived in Texas, my dad would drive 150 miles round trip to do all his home teaching. He was a rock. All you need for Cafe Rio pork or chicken is a cup or two of salsa and a cup of
brown sugar and then let cook for awhile.AJ: Wow, I gotta do it. Yeah, here in the Philippines if it is raining the attendance goes from like 120 to 70.
DAD: Bogus on the attendance. I gotta tell ya, we haven't seen rain in a long time, like two months. It is dry as a bone and hot, hot, hot.
AJ: Man, Tuesday we got hurricaned and I forgot my umbrella that day. I got soaked and we only got 2 lessons all day. One was this pastor guy that was way nice the first time we met and taught him, so we decided to go back again. Man, he just wanted to debate and then at the end he told us Joesph Smith is false and an adulterer. That pastor was a jerk. Last Tuesday was one of the harder days of my whole mission.
DAD: Sorry to hear that. Some days are diamonds, some days are stones, right? I recall some days I was so frustrated out there that I just wanted to go back to the apartment and go to sleep. Rejection sucks! But usually something good happens right after that if we endure.
AJ: Yeah, this Sunday was really good. We had 5 investigators come to church a half hour early!. They beat everyone but President Orlanda. A total of eight of them went to church overall. If things work out right, we should have a baptism on Sept. 10 and then six more on Sept. 24!
DAD: Now that is awesome! Think you'll still be there then?
AJ: I am hoping. Sept. 7 or something is transfer day. I might miss all of them. I got transferred from Tuguegarao right before that family got baptized last time around. I guess it doesn't matter, though. It would be cool to be there... All right, I am out of here! Love ya!
DAD: Yep, headed to bed myself, love ya lots, happy day my great son!
WEEKLY LETTER
Hey family!
How is it going?! Another week flew by here and things are going really well. My birthday yesterday was pretty much like any other day – haha. Not too many people knew it was my birthday and I told Elder Fantony not to tell anyone... so yeah. For lunch I boiled potatoes and had potatoes with the last can of chili and the last of the cheese dip! It was pretty awesome. I was able get Dr. Pepper last week in Santiago, so I had that, too! Yeah!
How is it going?! Another week flew by here and things are going really well. My birthday yesterday was pretty much like any other day – haha. Not too many people knew it was my birthday and I told Elder Fantony not to tell anyone... so yeah. For lunch I boiled potatoes and had potatoes with the last can of chili and the last of the cheese dip! It was pretty awesome. I was able get Dr. Pepper last week in Santiago, so I had that, too! Yeah!
Sunday was cool. We had a really good week of work and were excited for this Sunday and all of the real serious investigators came to church and it was awesome! We have 7 investigators with a date and they all came to church. What was even cooler was that the rain was kind of hard, but five of them came early (like 8 o clock). They beat almost all the members there.
So our investigators, the really old ones, are doing really good, especially Tatay Calica (the Dad). He is deep into Mosiah and stayed for the first time all three hours and loved it! His wife and their friend, Beth, also came and said they had a great time in Relief Society. We also taught them Law of Chasity on Sunday, too,. which was hilarious.
So Nanay Neito, a referral, is doing great and will get interviewed this week and baptized on Sept. 10! On the 24th, the other 6 investigators will get baptized. The work is really great here and I am excited for all that is happening.
We have been getting rained on like crazy. I think we got hit by a baguio (hurricane) Tuesday and we definitely got hit by one on Saturday. Saturday was awesome though. All the people were just at home with there families, so we were able to teach a ton of people. I heard it was supposed to hit big in Tuguegarao and Isabella, but I think it must have turned or something. We had lots and lots of rain.
Also, Thursday we had a meeting in Santiago. President Carlos introduced a new program for trainers starting in September. I guess there is going to be a curriculum that the trainers have to teach the new Elders for the first 12 weeks and for the first 12 weeks there is supposed to be 2 hour companionship study every day. President also said that every companionship will get a DVD player in September so we can watch the “Preach My Gospel” DVDs. Kind of interesting.
Well, I wish I could type faster! Things are going good and I have met so many awesome people here in the Philippines and I am so happy to be on my mission.
I know the Church is true, that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Restoration and that President Monson is prophet today! I love the Book of Mormon and it absolutely came from God. I also know that our redeemer lives.
Love you all!
A.J.
Some Q & A
1. Do you guys do a lot on Sundays in the branch/ward, like teaching lessons, etc.?
Love you all!
A.J.
Some Q & A
1. Do you guys do a lot on Sundays in the branch/ward, like teaching lessons, etc.?
Teach Gospel Principles every week. We usually take turns teaching. Sometimes we have to speak.
2. Bryce's present never came. What did you send him?
2. Bryce's present never came. What did you send him?
A fish thing that you can put change in. It definitely should have been there by now.
3. You going to do anything special for your birthday? Well this question is now outdated, but I had chili and potatoes and Dr. Pepper and peanut butter M&Ms, so it was pretty awesome!
4. Besides the duck that you tortured, what kind of birds are there? Anything really unusual?
I haven't seen anything too special.
5. Bryce said he heard of a monkey there called the tarsier? You ever heard or seen one?
No, I don't know what that is either. I have only seen like 4 or 5 monkeys that people had as pets.
6. Dallas wonders who you should keep on your fantasy team? He definitely has a better feel on that. I can't even remember who is on the team and even if I did, they probably aren't good anymore.
3. You going to do anything special for your birthday? Well this question is now outdated, but I had chili and potatoes and Dr. Pepper and peanut butter M&Ms, so it was pretty awesome!
4. Besides the duck that you tortured, what kind of birds are there? Anything really unusual?
I haven't seen anything too special.
5. Bryce said he heard of a monkey there called the tarsier? You ever heard or seen one?
No, I don't know what that is either. I have only seen like 4 or 5 monkeys that people had as pets.
6. Dallas wonders who you should keep on your fantasy team? He definitely has a better feel on that. I can't even remember who is on the team and even if I did, they probably aren't good anymore.
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