Mission Adventures in the Philippines: May 2015

To: Sara Robertson

Hey!

So to first answer your questions...

Connor: so how disappointed are the Filipinos about Paquiao loosing to Mayweather?
Oliver: are there any coral reefs near your island?
Dad: do the Filipinos import the metal they use for building their houses? If so, where from? Do they have a recycling program?
Chloe: what's your favorite thing to do on your p-day?
Mom: what do you do for exercise every day, besides walking around?
Mama: not a question but a suggestion. Can you tell us the names of the people you are teaching so that we can pray for them by name?

Connor, so the big news around here right now of course is that Pacquiao lost his fight. I thought that church attendance would suffer, but it didn't really. We did miss a couple investigators at church though because of the fight. Did you guys watch it though? Anyways. Pacquiao is everybody's hero here. I don't know how much you know about him, but he started out selling balut(The nasty duck fetus egg thing) on the streets. Then he started making money as a boxer and now I think he is the 10th most paid athlete in the world. He owns his own professional basketball team, he coaches it, and he sometimes suits up and plays for it haha. He has also been elected to the Philippines House of Representatives, he also used to be a professional singer. He also acts. He also is a motivational speaker. hahaha. He just is a professional everything. It is ridiculous. From what I've seen too. He appears on like 50% of commericials here haha. It's just ridiculous. The people love him. Yeah but work yesterday wasn't great because everybody here was drunk and very upset, so we just visited a bunch of members and recent converts.

Oliver, umm yeah. I know that in Boracay, coral reef diving is really big. I'm sure they are all over the place. Dad, um houses here are either made out of concrete or bamboo. That's it. The only metal that I have seen used is on the top of the roof of bamboo houses and then the occasional house that has real windows instead of a bamboo screen. and I have no idea where they get it from. Little kids are always walking around collecting metal cans and stuff so they can sell it so I'm pretty sure their is some sort of recycling program here.

Chloe, Probably email or basketball. Our mission president has shortened our p-day so there is not as much time to do fun stuff.

Mom, a lot of times, we wake up early and play basketball and then other times I do P90x DVDs. It's really hard to motivate myself to exercise though if it's not for fun. Before, at least I was training for competition, but here, nothing. It's just to stay in shape.

So, a list of names that you can pray for. Ralph Almanon, Garmi, Mara Banes, Carla Bitos, Margorie, Daisy Bitos, Alieto Family, Reyes Family, Brother Toto, Cindy. I'm sorry. I don't know the names of a lot of people that we teach. Most of the time we just call them Nanay or Tatay or we only know their last name or just their first name. You can ask Joselyn. She probably knows what I'm talking about. haha.

And by the way, no I don't go on runs. Nobody will go with me haha. And no, we have no bikes.

Anyways, I've had another great week this week! I'm really enjoying the work right now. I have a great companion right now and I'm starting to get a grasp on the languages up here. We are having really great lessons that are powerful and spiritual. I feel like the missionary work in this area could possibly take off real fast. I'm so excited. The other companionship in New Washington too just got a new Elder who is working hard, so it's going really well right now.

For a little spiritual thought, I've been reflecting a lot on the principle of self-mastery or self-control. I read a short story about two friends that went up to a street stand and bought a paper. The one man politely thanked the seller, but the seller didn't not smile or even reply. While walking away, the one friend said to the other, "that man was a little rude, wasn't he?" the other replied "oh, he's like that every time." "Then why do you continue to thank him so politely?" "Why should I let him determine how I am going to act?" I kind of liked this story and realized that it can apply to my situation right now. At first, when I got here, I was taken aback by how rude some people were to us. I was caught a little off guard and I think it really affected my attitude while walking around everyday, but now I've adjusted and I have decided that I am going to smile and say good afternoon to as many people as I can no matter how they react to us. It's kind of like, you have to decide what kind of person you are going to be before the hard times arrive. Know who you are what you represent and then just choose to be happy. We had one of our recent converts in Culasi who would always say that happiness is a choice, and it's true, isn't it? We always have control over our attitude and we never have to feel guilt or disappointment if we are doing our best to keep the commandments. I don't know. I really like this though. Just be happy! It feels good to smile! haha.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week. I'll try and send some pictures. Last week, it didn't work.

Oh by the way, we are going to skype here at around 9 am on Monday morning so it should be Sunday night for all of you. I hope that schedule works!