Week 29: Getting to know Nueva Viscaya

Hey Everyone,

I'm alive and things are going OK with my new companion, Elder Lim. He can be very aggravating, but I am learning a LOT of patience and praying for a lot charity. This has definitely been the longest week of my mission though. But we will make it!

I miss the Tuguegarao grocery stores and really miss elder Daquiuq. I was reunited with my Tatay (dad), Elder Weaver, though. We are in districts that have bordering areas. Both areas are really big so we definitely don't see each other much.

Weaver's about done. This is his last cycle so he has 5 weeks left. He is pretty trunky, his companion said. He is hilarious still. I miss him. He said he is going to buy an entire pig his last week and we are gonna have a party.

Aritao has a population of abt 34,000 people

As far as pictures go, I think my SD card has a virus or something. I have a bunch of pics, but when I plug it in the computer they aren't there.-- Just empty folders. I checked in the camera again, they are there on the card. I don't know what to do ...

Well it's a lot cooler and beautiful here in Aritao, Nueva Viscaya. We have some really cool investigators and we saw the local jubilee – the 50-yr anniversary celebration of the church in the Philippines.

Here is a rundown of what has happened this week in my new area:

• Investigators – There is a really cool lady named Betty we are teaching. She is totally ready. I guess she has been an investigator for kind of a long time but she lived far from church. But on her own she quit drinking coffee and lived the gospel and found a way to move closer to a church, which happens to be here in Aritao. She has really strong faith. I thought she was a member the first time I taught her. We have some other cool investigators, too. I am going to talk about them next week as I am already kind of running out of time
• 

  Pre-mission AJ after working all day at the city.

  The ward is awesome. They are really nice and there are 2 missionaries out from the ward (one in Taiwan and one in Guam). Cool, eh? It's kind of rare to get called out of the Philippinesto another country. There are also tons of youth that are kind of close to going out on missions and are willing to work. The Branch President is awesome and he is really into everything. He has this big mission prep class and activities and all kinds of stuff he is heading and really wants to help us, too. That's definitely a breath fresh air.
• We watched the church jubilee celebration (mostly a bunch of singing and dancing and stuff) and I got to hang out with Weaver for a couple hours so that was awesome.

  
  We had a cool CSP service project in which we moved a ton of rocks with the whole district. I was drenched in sweat and it actually felt really good. Kinda reminded me of the days working at the city parks department.
  
  Tell Dallas and Bryce to learn the piano. Our branch has no piano players. I wish I had learned how to play. They were all asking me my first few days if I knew how to play. It would have been another way to serve while on the mission. Too bad ...
  
  Well I have a lot more to say, but I am out of time and have got to go. My comp has been done for 20 minutes and I am nearing the 1 hour mark, so I'd better run.
  
  Love you
  
  Q & A

Shoes? What about your shoes?
I've heard rumors they might have some people that can make them in Solono and Santiago, and I should be going to those cities in the next few weeks so i will search hard for some.

2. Did you get to Baunau Rice Terraces?Baunau is actually 3 hours away, but I think we will go the last week of the cycle or so and check it out. It's supposed to be really awesome.

3. Have you found good places to shop/eat in your new area?There is a little Mister Donut stand, and then they have these little hot dog stands everywhere that are pretty decent. We haven't had any gas in the apartment, so we are gonna get some so we can cook.

4. Tell us about your apartment and neighborhood.We are on the road that is supposed to go to Baguio City (109 kilometers). It's on the start of a hill. There are tons of rivers and hills and it's really just beautiful here.

5. What does Nueva Viscaya mean? I don't know. I'll look it up in the dictionary. I never thought about it, to be honest.

6. How many people come to your branch? Do you have a nice big building?

Ya, the building is 2 story and pretty nice. About 90-100 people come to church.

8. Was transfer day really hard? Ya, I was on a bus for 8 hours. Should have been 6, but on the way to Cauayan a parade stopped all traffic for an hour and a half. We also waited forever out in the sun to get a bus home to Viscaya

9. Were you happy with our Skype conversation? It was sure great to see and hear you.

Ya, it was pretty awesome to talk to and hear you. It was really weird too. And difficult to speak English, too – haha.