April 27th,2015: New Companion, Elder Beticon and Learning Hard Lessons in Exact Obedience

Hey!

Transfers were this week and Elder Gan got transferred, so I have a new companion.  His name is Elder Beticon, and I am super excited because he is awesome.  He is such a like-able guy.  All of the members already love him.  Its kind of funny though because Elder Gan is companions again with Elder Kellerstrass.  They are opening a new area together.  Funny huh?

Our new companionship is going really well so far though.  Elder Beticon is so good in lessons.  He is so in tune with the Spirit.  I'm so excited for the next couple of months!  haha.  We had an experience last night with a old couple who was baptized about 4 years ago I think, but they have been less active for a long time now.   We started teaching them and we asked them if they have enjoyed their experience as members so far.  Of course they said yes and then we asked them why they decided to become members of the church.  They started saying how they loved the missionaries and they were so polite and funny and kind.  The Nanay also said that she was Catholic before and she didn't notice any differences between Catholicism and Mormonism and they liked the members more in our church then the people in their Catholic church so they decided to switch over.   She said that she still prays to Mary!  I couldn't believe it.  It wasn't because she didn't actually believe, but because she didn't know better. Elder Beticon leaned over to me and said that he is so mad at the missionaries who baptized this lady because it was clear that they had taken advantage over them in order to get a baptism.  This lady was not converted.  She thought that Catholics and Mormons were pretty much the same thing. It was really sad.  I'm really excited to continue working with this family though.  I know that we can help them become converted.  

So, our mission kind of had an experience this week that opened our eyes of why we need to be exactly obedient.  This week we had MLC again in Iloilo for all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders.  It is a two day conference, so after the first night, we all went to nearby apartments to sleep.  Usually the office Elders use the mission vehicles to all take us to our apartments, but President Aquino changed his mind and told us that we should all just use public transportation to go home, but one the Assistants decided to take two Elders and some of the Sisters just to be a nice guy I guess, but I guess three minutes later, they had hit a motorcyclist and now that man has either past away already or he is still in critical condition.  It's really sad that that has happened, but it is obvious to see that if they would have been obedient, it would have never happened.  President probably had a feeling from the Holy Ghost that we should all take public transportation.  I guess that this experience has helped me recommit to be diligently obedient, even if doing something else makes more sense. 

What else.. oh we had Jaime leave for his mission this week in Laoag.  He slept in our apartment the night before he left because he was set apart.  He is such a good kid and I know he is going to work hard on his mission. 

By the way, I am sorry I don't have as many crazy stories as I did in Culasi.  New Washington is so much more tame.  It's a lot more higher class than Culasi.  We only have about 4 villages or mga barangay that we work in.  No mountians, no rice fields.  I think it might have a lot to do with the fact that I've been here a long time too.  I probably look over a lot of stuff now that would have been crazy to me 6 months ago. haha. 

I did have one experience this week that was so funny to me.  There is this little girl, maybe 2 years old, at one of our investigators house that has always been SO shy from me, but this week I totally got her to open up to me.  I had like a 10 minute conversation with her just by making a noise by moving your tongue in and out of your mouth.  It was soo funny.  It was like a full on conversation for 10 minutes just by making that noise. I took a video of it but it is too long for me to send it too you. You guys will have to watch it when I get home haha.  It makes me laugh every time I watch it though.. too funny. She is my best friend now too.  No longer shy.  

Stuart was very excited about this picture.  This is the baptism of some of his investigators in Culasi that he taught.  it's nice for him to see the fruits of his labors.

"This week was the first time in my life that I have used an umbrella because of the sun. It is so hot right now here.  We all bought these gigantic umbrellas though haha"

April 20th, 2015: The Baptism of Carla and Fighting Spiders

Hello!

I've had another great week.  First though, I'll answer your questions.  I like those, because it gives me ideas of what to write about haha.  Sometimes I just sit down, and don't know what to write about.

Dad: how hard is it to find an address?
Connor: are there any missionaries in your mission that are afraid if spiders/bugs and have a hard time?
Oliver: what is you favorite fruit in the Philippines that isn't in America?
Chloe: do you ever miss watching TV?

So, there is pretty much no thing as addresses here.  Especially in New Washington.  It seems like here there are a lot of areas where there are just groups of houses it fields or woods with winding, small dirt paths that link each one.  Pretty much what you get is the village or barangay they live in and maybe some landmarks.  Then when you know you are getting close you just ask people where their house is.  It's actually pretty easy.  

For Connor.  To be honest.  I might be the missionary that is the most afraid of spiders and stuff and I'm not even that bad. haha. Elder Coronel was pretty bad though with cockroaches.  He hated them. The Filipinos have no problems though.  In fact, a kind of popular thing in the mission and in the Philippines is spider fighting.  Their are these big spiders that fight each other.  They kind of look like those wolf spiders in the breezeway.  Anyways, you put them on two ends of a stick and then they just go at it.  haha.  

Oliver, there is a seasonal fruit called talaba or something that kind of grows like grapes except it has a tan shell on it.  They are pretty good!

Chloe, sometimes I guess I miss TV.  Mostly just sports though.  NBA.  People talk about NBA a lot here, especially because I think playoffs are pretty close, right?  

About the skype.  I'm pretty sure we get to skype, but I haven't heard anybody talking about it.  And, transfer day is this week, and I'm almost positive Elder Gan will be transferred out, so I will probably have a new companion this week.  

Elder Coronel sounds like he is doing good.  My area in Culasi had three baptisms right after I left.  People, that I had taught, so I was pretty excited to hear about that.  He is training a Filipino right now.  

Elder Chapman emails me every week, so I kind of get updates on his mission. He is in an area outside of Iloilo city that has just recently been opened.  He sounds like he's doing alright though.  

By the way, sorry that I only have a couple of pictures to send this week. I actually had lost my camera for 5 days, but I got it back.  I left it at the computer shop last week, but a member somehow got it, so it's all good now. I guess I have to be more careful 

One of the highlights of my week was the baptism of Sister Carla!  It was pretty exciting.  I'll send you guys some pictures from Elder Gan.  

We also had the funeral of a sister in the ward.  Funerals  here are kind of interesting. I thought there was only going to be one service, but there turned out to be 3. I don't know why.  We had two services for the members and then one was the burial.  There were quite a few people there.  I sang in a choir though for it.  The funeral tradition here though is a little different.  When someone is going to be buried. They have the deceased in the hearse and then they have like a parade of people that walk behind it and they go all over the town, blasting music.  The most popular one is You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban haha. Then, they have the service, and then they have another parade all over the place and they end up at the cemetery.  They don't actually bury anybody here.  They put them in cement boxes above the ground.  And in the cemetery, there is no organization at all. Just where ever there is room for another box, that's where they will build haha.  I ought to send you a picture of a cemetery here. It is interesting.  In Culasi, they actually had organization, but here, nothing.  

In my zone right now, there is another Elder Robertson.  I don't know if I have told you this before, but we were talking a while ago and right before he went into the MTC, he met the one sister missionary that was in our Branch when I left.  He was visiting Adam-ondi-ahman (no clue on spelling) and they ran into each other.  She said that she had an Elder Robertson in a unit she served in that was going to the Iloilo mission in the Philippines and then he couldn't believe it because he was Elder Robertson and was going to the same mission.  Crazy stuff.  

Beautiful!

The Bishop of New Washington.  Stuart really likes him and says he's a lot of fun.

The baptism of Carla with a family that has fellowshipped her

Stuart made jambalaya for his Zone.  He said it didn't taste exactly like home but it was still really good and he got lots of compliments.

April 13th. 2015: Put in a Three-Some Again and Praying for his Investigators

Hello Family!

Thanks for the email. I especially enjoyed the Branchy moments haha.  I love hearing how every thing is doing at home.

 I'm doing great and I've had a great week.  On Monday night, Elder Cruz got the call that he was being emergency transferred, so he took off on Tuesday morning.  He got transferred to the office to be mission recorder.  He will be taking over for Elder Seeds.  Anyways, that puts Elder Palzario, Elder Gan, and I in a tripanionship until the transfer day on April 22. It's kind of funny because this is my second time in a tripanionship with Elder Gan. The first one was in Culasi when Elder Boligao left me to be AP.  We are having a lot of fun though.  

I really enjoyed General Conference this weekend.  It seemed to me that a lot of talks on Saturday were about families and then on Sunday it was a lot about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement.  Sunday felt a lot more like Easter to me than actual Easter did, which I appreciated. It helped me reflect on the Atonement and the Resurrection a lot more.  We have also had a death in the ward here this last week and later tonight is her funeral and I will be speaking at it I guess, so I will use a lot of what I took in this weekend in my talk.  Elder Gan will also have the opportunity to dedicate the grave which is kind of neat for him to get to have that experience.  

Our investigators are all doing well and it looks to me that we will for sure be having some baptisms in the up coming months.  We are teaching one father who is the father of a part-member family and working with him has been one of my favorite investigators. He is addicted to cigarettes, but is really close to giving it up right now.  It's cool because he is very sincere when we meet with us. He is honest to us, and he has really been humbled when he realized that he needs to change his life around.  He family is giving him great support.   He really wants to be a good father and to not let his family down.  It is pretty cool.   I'm really excited for his family.  

Dad- What's the most common vegetable people eat?-  I would say that maybe the most common vegetable is cabbage. Usually though, people don't eat vegetables plain here.  It's usually in a dish.  I ate a lot more veggies back home. 
Mom- How much does a haircut cost there and do the places you get haircuts look sanitary? A haircut here costs about 30 pesos usually or about 75 cents.  And no, I wouldn't say that they look sanitary at all haha.  Next time I go, I'll take a picture for you.  There is black hair everywhere. 
Connor- what's the weirdest thing you've seen a person do there? There seem to be a lot of crazy people here, like literally crazy.  This week we were walking and then there was this  man in the road just screaming and then he was just punching his bicycle with his fists.  I thought that was kind of weird
Oliver- What is your favorite hymn?  That's a tough call, but right now I would say that it might be All creatures of our God and King.  I really like it because it really helps me appreciate and realize how great and magnificent all of God's creations are.  I have really enjoyed the beauty of the Philippines as well, so sometimes I like to hum it as we walk along the beach or through the forest or whatever. 
Chloe- Do you eat all three meals each day?  Usually, but sometimes I skip dinner because when we get home at night, we get done planning, and I would just rather sleep than eat because I am so exhausted.

Anyways, we are going to be leaving pretty soon, so I gotta go!  I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your support!

Stuart is now in a three-some with Elder Gan and Elder Palzario for a few weeks.

Elder Cruz transferring to the office.

Elder Gan trying hard to be a good photographer.

Cool caterpillar

Poor Stuart got bit by some nasty ants and he had a bad reaction to it.  Ouch!

Somehow they make vinegar out of banana trees.  Don't ask me how!

Making a boat by hand.  In fact, they make everything by hand including painting the roads with a paint brush and mowing the lawns by hand using machetes!

Personalizing their trikes with interesting decor.  This one has a Seven Dwarfs theme.

Elder Palzario split his pants while out working.  They all seem to get a kick out of it!

A lot of Filipinos raise pigs for extra income.  Stuart says they get quite large!

What a cute face!!

April 6th, 2015: Take Note: Do Not Track on Good Friday in the Philippines!

Maayad-ayad nga agahon!  (That's my akeanon for the day haha)

Looks like you guys are having a great time in NYC.  The pictures look like way fun.  I hope all the students are having a good time too.  Tell them all hi from me!

My week was pretty great.  I didn't know this, but they don't celebrate Easter here.  The other missionaries in my apartment had never heard of it before. And they said that yesterday wasn't even a holiday.  It's weird because Easter is a church-wide thing.  I don't know haha, so, no we didn't do anything special or celebrate.  And yes, conference is next week for us.  I'm looking forward to it. I just can't believe it's here already again.  6 months have already passed somehow.  

On Tuesday, we had our zone training meeting, so us zone leaders and the sister training leaders each gave a 30 minute training.  We counciled about what our zone needed to hear and what would help them the most.  I ended up giving my training on how to increase our personal revelation.  I talked about specific things they can do to have the spirit more and to receive more revelation like keeping a study journal, using ideas from Preach my Gospel and about how to have more effective prayers.  I thought it went very well.  I learned a few things myself as well. 

Friday apparently was Good Friday for Catholics.  I'm still not really sure what it all means for them, but I think it's their day to remember the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  I don't remember it being that big of a deal back home, but here, it's a big deal.  All of the stores were closed, as in all of them.  There was nobody selling anything. Little shops on the road, nothing.  There was some fiesta and parade in the banwa, which isn't in our area, so there was not a lot of people in our area.  The bad part is is that we planned to go tracting for 5 hours that day.  It was the most frustrating day of tracting of all time haha.  From 12-3 there was this broadcast called the 7 last words or something like that.  And it was being played in almost every house we tracted.  It's tough because usually, when we say that we want to share a message about Jesus Christ, people let us in because every one is Christian and will listen to a message about Jesus Christ, but on Friday, it was tough because I think people were thinking, well, why should I listen to a message about Jesus Christ from a different sect when I am already listening to one from my church.  I don't know.  All I know is that it did not make for good tracting.  haha.  We went to one house that Elder Gan said he tracted out about 2 months ago.  She let us in, but she was NOT happy about it haha.  She is a professor at the local university apparently.  She was super rude to us though.  I would even maybe say that she was the most rude person that I have ever met, and that's crazy coming from a Filipina.  haha.  I have no idea why she let us in and then made it soo obvious that we were not welcome there.  She apparently was watching the 7 last words thing. She said something like, "I have been so busy lately.  I am a professor and work with administration. Yesterday, we had a series of 6 meetings.  That is how busy I am.  And today is my only day off and I am exhausted and right now I am watching 7 last words which is very special and sacred to us Catholics, but now you guys are here, so if you guys just do whatever you need.  I'll listen to your Mormonism."  I was kind of caught of guard and speechless. haha.  We just said that maybe we can come back at a time when we are not such a disturbance, but she said no way after we have already used up this much of her time (we were there for maybe 1 and a half minutes haha), not for nothing.  Yeah, so can imagine how that lesson went. It was bad haha.  After that, we just went and sat on the beach for like half an hour so we could loose our frustration and get the spirit back.  Lesson learned though, never tract on Good Friday!  haha

Overall though, we had a very good week.  We will have a baptism in a week and half.  Carla passed the baptismal interview, which is a BIG deal for her.  She is 16 I think, but I don't know if I've wrote about her yet, but she has some sort of anxiety thing.  When we ask her questions in lessons, she just locks up and starts breathing really hard and won't say anything.  In the baptismal interview, you obviously have to talk and express yourself so you can show you are ready to be baptized.  We have been working with her like 4 days a week to get her ready.  We are so excited for her.  She has had a rough life, but it seems like things are turning around for her.  We are teaching her step mom as well right now.  

Elder Gan had a cool experience this week too.  This might be a little personal to him, but I want to share it with you guys.  So, he had been approved to go home 2 months early so that he could start a semester at his college, but his friend who is also serving a mission sent him an email.  His friends email said something like, "Hey, my mission president sent me this. I don't know why though, I am not going home early, so maybe it's for you.  The Mission President had sent a letter about sow it is not appropriate to end your mission early for temporal reasons.  Seek the kingdom of God before temporal security.  Elder Gan had thought pretty hard about that and I could see it bothered him a little bit.  Well, a couple of nights ago, he prayed and asked God and got an answer that he needed to extend his mission, so he called President Aquino and now his mission is extended.  After that, he was the most happy I've ever seen him.   "I'm following the Spirit... It feels amazing!"  haha.  I'm pretty proud of him.  

What else.. Oh, we started playing basketball in the morning with some of  Elder Cruz's and Elder Palzario's investigators every other day.  It is a lot of fun, but I am completely exhausted at the end of the day.

Overall, this was a really good week though.  The first couple of weeks here I really just missed Culasi because this area is a lot harder than Culasi, but it's ok.

I feel like I have gotten to be a lot better, more mature, and actually I feel like I am a little closer to Heavenly Father. Our area really took a step forward this week.  We found some really good new investigators. I am really starting to enjoy it here.  We have fun.  

Anyways, I hope you guys have fun in NYC!   I'll write you next week!

Elder Robertson

 

Some of Stuart's batch mates form the MTC

Elder Gan and Stuart

The Kalibo Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders

The Kalibo Zone

Stuart's new house...A step up from the house in Culasi

Bigger living area

Not so clean bedroom...tsk! tsk!

Lot of trike traffic

Biggest bunch of bananas ever!

Puffer Fish that the fishermen just discard

A member in the New Washington Ward that works with the missionaries alot

The Bishop's son

This lady is making sticky rice by wrapping the rice in leaves and then boiling it

March 30th, 2015: Getting Used to New Calling as Zone Leader

Hey! 

So, I actually don't have a lot of time to email today.  The latest update in the mission is that President Aquino has made our P-day 1` hour shorter so we can get more proselyting time in.  So, yeah. And I have to put together a training presentation for our zone training meeting tomorrow.  But, I'll answer your questions first.

Dad: how fast is the time going for you? The time goes ridiculously fast here.  Both long term and short term.  Sometimes I look at the time and then look at it again in 5 minutes and 30 minutes have past.  It's crazy. 

Brevin: have you been bitten by any strange animal or insect?  Actually I have strange bites all of the time.  I just don't know what they are from.  
Oliver: how bad are the pit stains on your clothes? Not too bad actually.  I have one shirt that I cannot get to turn white.  Just one shirt.  It just keeps getting browner and browner.  I might have to toss it soon :(
Mom: what have been some cool service projects you've worked on? This week we did a service project.  We have a member who is building a bigger bamboo house, so we helped take down her small one and transfer the reusable parts onto the big one.  Just to let you know, us 4 missionaries completely took down her house within an hour with just 2 hammers and a pliers haha.  
Bree: how hot does it get there and what does the flag look like?  Right now is the hot season here and it gets pretty hot.  I think its about 30 degrees Celsius.  I don't really know how hot that is though.  The flag here is blue red and white with a sun and three stars on it.  Maybe you can look up a picture?
Chloe: which place is prettier: Culasi or New Washington? Culasi, hands down. Culasi was unbelievable.  New Washington is also nice though.
Grandma: what do they do for Relief Society Activities  Acutally, I have no idea.  I've never heard of an organized relief society activity here. 

By the way, I did get the package this week!  Thank you all!  Thanks especially to the pictures from the primary.  I might try and get a picture there within the next couple months for them.  Thank you for all that.  We are enjoying all of the goodies here in New Washington. 

My week was pretty good. I did get kind of sick earlier this week, but I'm better now.  I just had a fever, headache, body chills, that sort of thing.  I still worked, so it wasn't that bad.  The worst part was that while I was sick we were traveling to Iloilo.  We had a two day meeting called missionary leadership council.  It was good.  I learned a lot.   I also got to see 3 of my batch mates. It's so crazy that we are all zone leaders.  It was a lot of fun though. 

Yesterday, we worked with a return missionary named Kit.  He also taught a year at the MTC here for a year, so I guess you could say he is a pretty good missionary.  He is so nice though and he is so good in the way he teaches.  I really like him, we actually kind of work with him a lot.  I'm not sure what his calling is but he is some sort of stake mission leader. 

We found a member while tracting this week too! I really love when that happens.  It's kind of like rescuing the "lost sheep".  He is a nice young man, about 23 years old.  He was baptized 15 years ago, we visited him again, and he is progressing pretty fast.  He already realizes how important the baptismal covenant he made.  I'm excited to work with him.  Anyways, I gotta go pretty soon, so halong till next week!
Elder Robertson

March 23rd- Getting Use to a New Area and the Case of the Stolen Identity

Hey!

I have had another great week, but before I write about it, I'll answer your questions. 

Dad, I don't know if I have a favorite scripture.  What I've done to help me use the scriptures more effectively is in my first like month and half.  I read and marked the Book of Mormon.  I marked it in a way that I thought would best help me in using the Book of Mormon in prosyliting and also in learning more about missionary work.  I have all the scriptures that I think are effective in some way or another to share to investigators marked in Blue, so I carry that around with me.  If I can't  remember where a scripture is, it is a lot easier to find it.  We use the Book of Mormon in every lesson we have.  

Mom, the weirdest fish I've eaten is maybe that trigger fish I ate in Valderamma. I think I sent a picture to you.  I honestly didn't eat that much seafood in Culasi, but I'm already eating a lot more here in New Washington.  Roxas is the seafood capital of the Philippines and we are pretty close to that.  We did eat some squid this week.  Fresh squid. Like, I think they were still living when we bought them in the market.  

Chloe, the most common tree here, hands down, is the coconut tree. There are coconut trees everywhere.

Oliver, my favorite color is maybe green.  I don't know.  

Connor, what does that even mean?

So, my new area is pretty good.  I will say that I for sure liked Culasi better.  My area is pretty small and there have been missionaries here.  Tracting here is kind of challenging.  It is like tracting people that have never seen us before vs. people who have already been tracted 2 or 3 times.  People here are just a lot different than in Culasi. I would describe them as "more American like."  I have already had a bunch of people just straight up tell us no, which never happened to me once in Culasi.  I always said to myself in Culasi that I wish people would be frank with us if they didn't want to be taught, but now that it is happening, I liked it better back there haha.  Sometimes people will just walk away while we're talking to them.  It's so weird haha.  The members here are all super nice though.  And, no, I do not have any batchmates in my zone, its just me!

Our apartment is a million times better than in Culasi.  I don't have any pictures this week, but it's a big step up.  Like, we actually have a closed roof.  We have no wholes in the wall.  We have real windows.  It's a lot bigger.  And we have a shower! And it has decent water pressure! It's still cold, but it's a big step up. I'll send pictures next week. 

Oh, by the way, Happy BIRTHDAY!  I remembered when I was dating my journal yesterday haha.  The same exact thing happened on dad's birthday.  I hope you had a great day!  Thanks for all the support you give me on my mission!

I'll just write about one thing.  Elder Gan has been telling everybody that I am the actor in the Restoration video.... and people actually believe him.  I've been asked for autographs and pictures.  It's ridiculous. On my first day, we visited the Bishop's wife and Elder Gan told her that I was the actor and she flipped out.  I just went along with it, but after a while it got ridiculous.  She was asking me questions about the scene shooting and everything.  My first Sunday at church she came up to me asked me about my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith while I was shooting the film.   I just told her that we were just joking, and she got offended.  It was bad.  Our relationship is still a little shaky haha, but she is coming around.  She just got so excited and it's like I ripped her soul out haha.   It was bad haha. 

 

Since Stuart is living with three Filipinos that know how to cook, he's totally feasting, which he is thrilled about. He says they use the banana leaves as plates and just eat with their fingers. He says it's "legit".

Trying oysters

This little guy just walked right into Stuart's apartment.

He says this man is about 75 years old and has been making these wrappers for 50 years. Stuart says this is a crappy job because with working with the coals it gets so hot. This man works 12 hour days, early in the morning and then late at night so he can avoid the heat of the day. Stuart thinks this man deserves a medal!

March 16th, 2015: Transferred to New Washington, Kalibo!

So, I did in fact get transferred.  My new area is...... drum roll please...... NEW WASHINGTON, KALIBO!!!  It is an area that is right outside of Kalibo city to  the east.  You will be able to see it on google maps if you look it up.  I just got here on wednesday, so I still don't know my area very well.  My companion is actually Elder Gan.  The same one who was companions with Elder Kellerstrass in Culasi.  It is kind of funny that I am with him again.  He only has 3 months left on his mission, so I will probably be with him until then.  We are actually the zone leaders of all the missionaries in Kalibo too.  So,  that should be interesting.  Three of my other batch mates are zone leaders too now.  Elder Orr, Elder Cuillard, and Elder Mudrow. Elder Kellerstrass got transferred to Roxas city, so I won't be seeing him anymore haha :(.  Elder Coronel is training a new missionary in Culasi.  Anyways, my new area should be pretty challenging.  The language here is Akeanon. If you remember in the Chicago temple, the temple greeter, the one that went to my same mission. He was saying that there was this language that was incredibly difficult.  You know you're doing right if your tongue doesn't hardly come off the bottom of your mouth. Yeah, that's the language they speak here. It sounds so weird haha.  I heard that they had a prince here a long time ago, and that he had a speach impediment where he couldn't make an "l" noise, so then they adopted the way he speaks.  It is pretty much impossible to learn especially because there are no resources on the dialect, so most missionaries that come here just learn Tagalog because almost everybody here speaks Tagalog.  So, that's what I'm trying to learn right now...Tagalog, which is almost completely different that Karay-a or Ilonggo, so right now, I can't hardly understand anyone or speak, so that's kind of frustrating haha, and I was just starting to get good at Karay-a too haha,but it's alright, its just a challenge.   We have a ward up here too.  It seems to me that the missionary work is a little slow, so we will see how much damage I can do.   

It's been an interesting week. A lot has happened.  Maybe the biggest highlight was the day after I got here in Kalibo, Elder Gan and I went with two Elders to Buruanga to open up the area for missionary work!  We picked them up from the bus and we slept in the couples, the Strengs, apartment in Kalibo, which was incredibly nice.  I took my first hot shower on my mission!!!  We got up early in the morning and piled into the Strengs truck and drove down to Buruanga, which is at the tip of the peninsula on the northwest corner of the island. It is so beautiful.  I knew that President Aquino was going to open up that area, so I really wanted to get transferred there and open up that area.  It just sounds so fun to open up an area.  Elder Gaco and Elder Lazaro are the Elders to open it up.  Elder Gaco was Elder Boligaos companion as the two APs.  President stuck two of the best missionaries there to open the area.  In fact, President Aquino extended Elder Gaco's mission without even asking him first in order to have him open up Buruanga.  Elder Gaco was supposed to go home this last transfer, but President extended him haha.  Btw, Elder Boligao went home this week, so won't be seeing him anymore. 

Anyways, we went the Buruanga Elders to help them set up their new apartment.  It was pretty cool.  I got to Boracay too!  The forbidden island!  The Strengs went there for a day date while we were in Buruanga and they brought us back some sand from the beaches there.  It is like white flour.  It is sooo nice. Then we could just see a bunch of hotels and stuff.   There were a bunch of fancy boats and stuff too and people para sailing and stuff.  

To answer your questions.  School hours. I'm still not really sure. I think school gets out for a month and a half here pretty quick. 

My companion is Elder Gan.  To be honest, he is a little bit trunky, but I'll whip him into shape haha. 

Chloe, people usually don't have any decoration at all. A lot of times though, if the house is concrete, they paint them really bright colors!  Most of the time though, people are very poor and have houses made out of bamboo.

Have a great week!

Saying farewell to Elder Coronel

Good byes to the Culasi Elders.  Elder Kellerstrass and Stuart have been together
since the MTC.  

"I have 3 house mates.  Elder Gan, Elder Palzario, and Elder Cruz and they are all crazy and way funny.  They are all Pinoy too.  They played a prank on me when I first got there.  I had all my luggage and stuff with me.  When we got of the jeepney, they told me that the apartment was a little ways into the woods on this dirt path, so we start going and we are just going everywhere.  There are houses around, but it was kind of in the middle of no where.  It took us like 20 minutes to get there.  I couldn't believe how out of the way our apartment was.  The next day going out for work, Elder Gan told me he was going to show me another way out that was a little bit longer.  We start walking and we walk around a little bend in the path and there is the road. That is when I realized that they made me haul around me luggage on that tiny dirt path when we could have just done it in 30 seconds haha.  These guys are a bunch of goons."

With his new companion, Elder Gan

Very different from the place in the last area where they went to church.  In Kalibo
they have a very nice Chapel.

Stuart found out the different between a hot dog and a hot dog
sandwich.  Hot dog sandwich has a bun and a hot dog
doesn't.  Haha.

What the locals wear for a fiesta.

If you look close you can see a big striped spider in the center of this photo.  Stuart
says the further north you get, the bigger the spiders.  He says he can't get over how big they are!