Thank you all so much for all your generosity during the Christmas season! I hope you understand that I have little time to thank each of you individually through letter. However, I appreciate tremendously all your love and support. Thank you.
Elder Treadway
Elder Treadway
First baptism in the Ocean
Cebu, Philippines
January 27, 2010
Kamusta ang akong pamilya?
Ang mga butang sa maayo kaayo diri sa Cebu! (Things are really great here in Cebu)
Elder Arbado and I had four baptisms on Saturday. It was really awesome. We once again had to fill the font with buckets. But this time it was because there was no hose to fill it with. It took us two and a half hours of straight bucket-hauling to get the font filled. I baptized Ging Ging Ciniza and Michael Hintica, Arbado baptized Annalynn Hintica and a new member Alvin baptized Aljon Hintica. We're still waiting to find out what counsel president hansen is going to give us on the Hinitica parents since they aren't married to each other. BUT they are married to different people. Makes it even tougher. So we're praying for a good turnout with that situation.
Its awesome. We went over to Ging Ging's house to teach her and her kids who are also preparing for baptism and her countenance was so different. She was very mellow. She's so cool. She's really sensitive to the Spirit. Its that way with a lot of people here. Its because of their humility that they are able to be taught so easily by the Spirit. Love it.
I started reading the Book of Mormon again. I'm in Alma now. REALLY getting through it fast. Any downtime that we have I whip it out and start reading. I'm buying a set of scriptures today that are my "mission scriptures" with Grandma and Grandpa T's Christmas money. I'm really excited. They're going to be exclusively for lessons and finding little nuggets that I can share with my investigators. Its cool. I had been wondering why our investigators were progressing so rapidly. But then I realized that we only use the Book of Mormon to teach. We never teach out of the Bible. They dont have the King James version translated in Cebuano so its hard for us to teach out of it. But because we only use the pure and true doctrine contained in the book of mormon, our investigators are ready to be committed in 2-4 weeks depending on how many lessons we've been able to teach.
So last week I told you about the dogs. They all have tumors in their private parts and it makes them really angry. So Elder Arbado just started spraying any dog that barks at us with rubbing alcohol. Since they have so many open wounds on them from scratching their fleas, the dogs are out of there so fast! Its great!!!! And a little humorous. So speaking of dogs, I told Elder Arbado that I'm afraid of getting bit by a dog. He laughed at me and said there's nothing to be worried about. Then he continued to make fun of me for the next week. Everytime we saw a dog in our path, he asked us if I wanted to turn around. But what goes around comes around...
So we were out tracting and we went up to this door. I called out, "Ayo!" which is like knocking and the biggest, loudest, meanest dog I've seen here comes ripping through the house growling and barking at us to the front door. The family freaked out because it was their ATTACK DOG!!! So Elder Arbado (Elder Bravery) makes the whimpiest little "eek!" I think I've ever heard and jumps behind me and cowers at this dog. So what did I do?
I stood my ground. Yeah. But I was praying SOOOOOOO hard in my heart. "Please Heavenly Father. Please don't let this monsterous dog kill me. I need to live to see BYU and the Jazz win a championship!" Okay. Not exactly all that. But close. And the dog stopped. When I opened my eyes (yes, they were closed so I wouldnt have to witness my own death) the daughter of the family was holding the barking, slobbering, teeth-bearing dog at bay by the collar. That was my near-life experience for the week. (When you post this on the blog, Daniel will find that last sentence humorous. I'm sure)
So this week I saw another large animal. A rat. I'm sending a picture so you can understand the size of this rat. You see it there next to a bag of potato chips. Like, a medium sized bag. So it was no small rat. Like, this was the size of Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. Huge.
Anything else?
I had a really bad rash all over my body from not rinsing my clothes. So the detergent gave me a really bad rash. it cleared up tho.
Also, my eyes get irritated easily from all the pollution so my eye puffed up REALLY big one night. I have to fight to keep them clean now. Its not too bad tho.
I think thats about it this week.
OH! I got Opa's letter this Monday. Still waiting for any others.
And I can receive emails from anyone. So I'd like to get emails from Jenny, Daniel, Nick tyelar and jordan and then just respond through you, mom. Can you get their emails for me? Or have them email me?
Sweet. I knew I could count on you.
Love you all, take care!
Anyways....
gugma,
Brandon
Ang mga butang sa maayo kaayo diri sa Cebu! (Things are really great here in Cebu)
Elder Arbado and I had four baptisms on Saturday. It was really awesome. We once again had to fill the font with buckets. But this time it was because there was no hose to fill it with. It took us two and a half hours of straight bucket-hauling to get the font filled. I baptized Ging Ging Ciniza and Michael Hintica, Arbado baptized Annalynn Hintica and a new member Alvin baptized Aljon Hintica. We're still waiting to find out what counsel president hansen is going to give us on the Hinitica parents since they aren't married to each other. BUT they are married to different people. Makes it even tougher. So we're praying for a good turnout with that situation.
Its awesome. We went over to Ging Ging's house to teach her and her kids who are also preparing for baptism and her countenance was so different. She was very mellow. She's so cool. She's really sensitive to the Spirit. Its that way with a lot of people here. Its because of their humility that they are able to be taught so easily by the Spirit. Love it.
The Miranda family is getting baptized this Saturday. Those girls are hilarious. They are so excited to get baptized. And their little brother Eljon. My little homie. The kid makes me laugh so hard. He's like 3 and a half feet tall and he runs things in that house. I love talking with him because he always has something to say
to tease one of his sisters. I respect that
I started reading the Book of Mormon again. I'm in Alma now. REALLY getting through it fast. Any downtime that we have I whip it out and start reading. I'm buying a set of scriptures today that are my "mission scriptures" with Grandma and Grandpa T's Christmas money. I'm really excited. They're going to be exclusively for lessons and finding little nuggets that I can share with my investigators. Its cool. I had been wondering why our investigators were progressing so rapidly. But then I realized that we only use the Book of Mormon to teach. We never teach out of the Bible. They dont have the King James version translated in Cebuano so its hard for us to teach out of it. But because we only use the pure and true doctrine contained in the book of mormon, our investigators are ready to be committed in 2-4 weeks depending on how many lessons we've been able to teach.
So last week I told you about the dogs. They all have tumors in their private parts and it makes them really angry. So Elder Arbado just started spraying any dog that barks at us with rubbing alcohol. Since they have so many open wounds on them from scratching their fleas, the dogs are out of there so fast! Its great!!!! And a little humorous. So speaking of dogs, I told Elder Arbado that I'm afraid of getting bit by a dog. He laughed at me and said there's nothing to be worried about. Then he continued to make fun of me for the next week. Everytime we saw a dog in our path, he asked us if I wanted to turn around. But what goes around comes around...
So we were out tracting and we went up to this door. I called out, "Ayo!" which is like knocking and the biggest, loudest, meanest dog I've seen here comes ripping through the house growling and barking at us to the front door. The family freaked out because it was their ATTACK DOG!!! So Elder Arbado (Elder Bravery) makes the whimpiest little "eek!" I think I've ever heard and jumps behind me and cowers at this dog. So what did I do?
I stood my ground. Yeah. But I was praying SOOOOOOO hard in my heart. "Please Heavenly Father. Please don't let this monsterous dog kill me. I need to live to see BYU and the Jazz win a championship!" Okay. Not exactly all that. But close. And the dog stopped. When I opened my eyes (yes, they were closed so I wouldnt have to witness my own death) the daughter of the family was holding the barking, slobbering, teeth-bearing dog at bay by the collar. That was my near-life experience for the week. (When you post this on the blog, Daniel will find that last sentence humorous. I'm sure)
So this week I saw another large animal. A rat. I'm sending a picture so you can understand the size of this rat. You see it there next to a bag of potato chips. Like, a medium sized bag. So it was no small rat. Like, this was the size of Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. Huge.
Anything else?
I had a really bad rash all over my body from not rinsing my clothes. So the detergent gave me a really bad rash. it cleared up tho.
Also, my eyes get irritated easily from all the pollution so my eye puffed up REALLY big one night. I have to fight to keep them clean now. Its not too bad tho.
I think thats about it this week.
OH! I got Opa's letter this Monday. Still waiting for any others.
And I can receive emails from anyone. So I'd like to get emails from Jenny, Daniel, Nick tyelar and jordan and then just respond through you, mom. Can you get their emails for me? Or have them email me?
Sweet. I knew I could count on you.
Love you all, take care!
Anyways....
gugma,
Brandon
January 19, 2010 8:26 PM
Subject: Re: Good Day
Hey!
This week has been a great one! Yesterday was the best day of my mission so far. In the morning I felt like I needed to look through the area book and see what kinds of things we weren't seeing. I felt like we were putting lots in but the area book is a two-way street. You need to take from it too. And so I prayed and opened it. As I was turning the pages, I felt impressed that we needed to go and visit a family that has TEN kids. They were really excited about the gospel and wanted to know more but the missionaries that taught them were transferred and nobody went through the area book to find them. The only problem was that they lived really far away. Like, on the other side of the ward boundaries in the jungle hills of the stake.
So I told Elder Arbado that I had a place for us to go. At first he was really excited but as soon as I told him where it was, he said that we couldnt because we wouldn't make it back in time for lunch at 12. I told him that if we had faith, then we would be back for lunch and we would gain success. We hopped onto a jeepney that took us as far as we could go, hopped on another jeepney that took us to the motorcycle stop and then hopped on a motorbike that would take us as far as he could go. Then we had to walk the rest of the way. When we got to where the map I had (which had been drawn by the first missionaries in the area book because there are no addresses) we started to look. But after some asking around, we found one of the daughters and she brought us to their house. But mom and dad were gone. We were bummed for a second but then I told Elder Arbado that the Lord wouldn't bring us all the way out here to have us run into a wall. We set a return appointment and started to tract that area. We went to a tindahan (kind of like a Circle K run out of someone's window where they sell soft drinks and cookies) right next door and ended up meeting a woman and her three neices who seemed pretty intrested in what we were doing.
So now not only do we have a family that was lost getting ready to be taught again, but we also have a group of women who we plan to teach whenever we head up there. Awesome huh?
And then, as if the Lord hadn't blessed us with enough success already, we contacted a referral that we had gotten from one of our committed investigators. We went over there and helped the mom and her daughter flake coconut. It was pretty cool. Afterwards, we started to teach the two of them the 1st part of the 1st lesson. About halfway through, the mom started to tear up. Elder Arbado and I knew immediately that the Spirit was testifying of the truth that we were teaching her. She just kept nodding and crying. So we quickly finished the lesson and then bore our testimonies to her. That we knew the feeling that she was feeling right now. That we knew that what it was telling her was true. And then she eagerly accepted a return appointment. It was a great day. So I celebrated with a balut!
WARNING: Mom, you may not want to read this. If the CR story had you on the ropes, this will knock you out.
As a review, balut is a fertilized duck egg that is boiled at some point in its incubation. The higher the day, the more duck is in there. At first I had tried to eat a 16 day balut but couldnt do it. It looked like the eggs from Alien. So I ate a 7 day which is pretty much a boiled egg. Nothing much inside. Just yoke. So last night, to celebrate, I decided to actually go hard or go to bed. I bought a 16 day balut again
I stared at my foe for a long time. But I resolved that it was now or never. I turned down the lights so I couldnt see what I was eating. Its the first rule of balut according to my companion. I mixed some salt and vinegar, tapped the egg on the table and opened up the top. Immediately, the embrionic juices began to dribble out. So I quickly slurped them down. I continued to peel apart the egg shell which revealed what appeared to be a hard boiled egg in three parts: a white part, and a yellow and white part both covered in veins and membranes. I dipped the balut in the vinegar and salt as one of the veins slipped off the egg. I lopped it back on the bit the egg in half. The yellow and white section split immediately in my mouth. The yellow part proving to simply by a yoke-like substance. I swallowed that first before I began to chew the white part. However, as I bit into the white part, I realized that this was the real test. The white half was full of developing cartliage that was a tough yet chewy. Like eating a refriderated tootsie roll. I chewed and chewed as I could hear it breaking and popping between my teeth. As I attempted to swallow this foreign mass of developing fowl, I felt myself gag. But with all the resolve I could muster I felt as I was "fixed in my mind with a determined resolution". I swallowed. And then there was nothing. Except the second half. Luckily, that was mostly just egg white although it had its crunch to it: the beak. Not too bad though with the vinegar.
Win.
It is definitely something that was on Fear Factor. If it wasn't, their producers were failing...hard.
So about the CR (comfort room). When you first start going pure hand, its a little shocking. But over time it becomes extremely soothing and refreshing. You feel a sense of victory afterwards too which is nice.
So how is everything back home? Especially, HOW WAS CHUCK??? He's like Neo/Jason Bourne/Chuck now! Let me know how that went!
I continue to hear amazing things about Avatar. There is a HUGE pirated DVD market here. Mostly because there are no movie theaters close by. So people just go buy what they want to watch. I saw Avatar on sale last night. WE have a DVD player. But that was easy to say no to. Why would I want to watch that on a tiny DVD player? Lame.
Ben! I'm sitting next to this guy here at the internet cafe who is playing CoD4 right now. He's playing Charlie Dont Surf and just dropped in on the helicopter. The PC version looks pretty gay. Its kinda choppy. Anyways...
I love the kids here. There is this one song from Korea that EVERYONE knows here. Its called "Nobody but You" or something. And there's a dance that goes with it. So one day some of our investigators were doing the dance and of course I picked it up pretty quick and started doing it too. They loved it. And then they were like, you like to dance? So I told them I did and almost like magic Beat It came on. Couldnt help it. Just started going to town. Those kids were rolling on the ground laughing. ROFL if you will. So now they love to see me dance. Their neighbors really love Michael Jackson so I get to dance from time to time.
So lets see...other things that I've seen this week.
-- I saw a toddler fall out of a window and about 10 feet onto a water pipe.
--I saw a dog poop pure blood. They all have infected butts here. And rabies. And no hair. And lots of other problems.
Anyways, hope everything is going well. Love you!
Elder Treadway
Hey!
This week has been a great one! Yesterday was the best day of my mission so far. In the morning I felt like I needed to look through the area book and see what kinds of things we weren't seeing. I felt like we were putting lots in but the area book is a two-way street. You need to take from it too. And so I prayed and opened it. As I was turning the pages, I felt impressed that we needed to go and visit a family that has TEN kids. They were really excited about the gospel and wanted to know more but the missionaries that taught them were transferred and nobody went through the area book to find them. The only problem was that they lived really far away. Like, on the other side of the ward boundaries in the jungle hills of the stake.
So I told Elder Arbado that I had a place for us to go. At first he was really excited but as soon as I told him where it was, he said that we couldnt because we wouldn't make it back in time for lunch at 12. I told him that if we had faith, then we would be back for lunch and we would gain success. We hopped onto a jeepney that took us as far as we could go, hopped on another jeepney that took us to the motorcycle stop and then hopped on a motorbike that would take us as far as he could go. Then we had to walk the rest of the way. When we got to where the map I had (which had been drawn by the first missionaries in the area book because there are no addresses) we started to look. But after some asking around, we found one of the daughters and she brought us to their house. But mom and dad were gone. We were bummed for a second but then I told Elder Arbado that the Lord wouldn't bring us all the way out here to have us run into a wall. We set a return appointment and started to tract that area. We went to a tindahan (kind of like a Circle K run out of someone's window where they sell soft drinks and cookies) right next door and ended up meeting a woman and her three neices who seemed pretty intrested in what we were doing.
So now not only do we have a family that was lost getting ready to be taught again, but we also have a group of women who we plan to teach whenever we head up there. Awesome huh?
And then, as if the Lord hadn't blessed us with enough success already, we contacted a referral that we had gotten from one of our committed investigators. We went over there and helped the mom and her daughter flake coconut. It was pretty cool. Afterwards, we started to teach the two of them the 1st part of the 1st lesson. About halfway through, the mom started to tear up. Elder Arbado and I knew immediately that the Spirit was testifying of the truth that we were teaching her. She just kept nodding and crying. So we quickly finished the lesson and then bore our testimonies to her. That we knew the feeling that she was feeling right now. That we knew that what it was telling her was true. And then she eagerly accepted a return appointment. It was a great day. So I celebrated with a balut!
WARNING: Mom, you may not want to read this. If the CR story had you on the ropes, this will knock you out.
As a review, balut is a fertilized duck egg that is boiled at some point in its incubation. The higher the day, the more duck is in there. At first I had tried to eat a 16 day balut but couldnt do it. It looked like the eggs from Alien. So I ate a 7 day which is pretty much a boiled egg. Nothing much inside. Just yoke. So last night, to celebrate, I decided to actually go hard or go to bed. I bought a 16 day balut again
I stared at my foe for a long time. But I resolved that it was now or never. I turned down the lights so I couldnt see what I was eating. Its the first rule of balut according to my companion. I mixed some salt and vinegar, tapped the egg on the table and opened up the top. Immediately, the embrionic juices began to dribble out. So I quickly slurped them down. I continued to peel apart the egg shell which revealed what appeared to be a hard boiled egg in three parts: a white part, and a yellow and white part both covered in veins and membranes. I dipped the balut in the vinegar and salt as one of the veins slipped off the egg. I lopped it back on the bit the egg in half. The yellow and white section split immediately in my mouth. The yellow part proving to simply by a yoke-like substance. I swallowed that first before I began to chew the white part. However, as I bit into the white part, I realized that this was the real test. The white half was full of developing cartliage that was a tough yet chewy. Like eating a refriderated tootsie roll. I chewed and chewed as I could hear it breaking and popping between my teeth. As I attempted to swallow this foreign mass of developing fowl, I felt myself gag. But with all the resolve I could muster I felt as I was "fixed in my mind with a determined resolution". I swallowed. And then there was nothing. Except the second half. Luckily, that was mostly just egg white although it had its crunch to it: the beak. Not too bad though with the vinegar.
Win.
It is definitely something that was on Fear Factor. If it wasn't, their producers were failing...hard.
So about the CR (comfort room). When you first start going pure hand, its a little shocking. But over time it becomes extremely soothing and refreshing. You feel a sense of victory afterwards too which is nice.
So how is everything back home? Especially, HOW WAS CHUCK??? He's like Neo/Jason Bourne/Chuck now! Let me know how that went!
I continue to hear amazing things about Avatar. There is a HUGE pirated DVD market here. Mostly because there are no movie theaters close by. So people just go buy what they want to watch. I saw Avatar on sale last night. WE have a DVD player. But that was easy to say no to. Why would I want to watch that on a tiny DVD player? Lame.
Ben! I'm sitting next to this guy here at the internet cafe who is playing CoD4 right now. He's playing Charlie Dont Surf and just dropped in on the helicopter. The PC version looks pretty gay. Its kinda choppy. Anyways...
I love the kids here. There is this one song from Korea that EVERYONE knows here. Its called "Nobody but You" or something. And there's a dance that goes with it. So one day some of our investigators were doing the dance and of course I picked it up pretty quick and started doing it too. They loved it. And then they were like, you like to dance? So I told them I did and almost like magic Beat It came on. Couldnt help it. Just started going to town. Those kids were rolling on the ground laughing. ROFL if you will. So now they love to see me dance. Their neighbors really love Michael Jackson so I get to dance from time to time.
So lets see...other things that I've seen this week.
-- I saw a toddler fall out of a window and about 10 feet onto a water pipe.
--I saw a dog poop pure blood. They all have infected butts here. And rabies. And no hair. And lots of other problems.
Anyways, hope everything is going well. Love you!
Elder Treadway
Mother's Commentary
To all of you reading the following email, please know that I have sent my son small packs of tissue to use in case the rumor was true about using your hand to wipe yourself in the Philippines. Brandon and I were both very grossed out about the possibility, so I made sure that he had plenty of tissue before he left. I, like you, am wondering why he could not use it. That will be in my next letter to him, being I was just as repulsed as you to hear of his most recent experience. Just had to insert this little commentary. Thanks, Kristi
January 12, 2010, 7:09 PM
Subject: Re: Can't wait to hear about everything.
Hey Mom,
So I dont have much time on this email. The computer that I am using keeps doing this security thing and so I lost a lot of time typing to dad. It was a good one to him so I think that should help. Just see at as a letter to both of you.
Yes, I'm writing in my journal. As I was slipping on the crap-laden, watery floor of my bishop's bathroom (called a CR-comfort room), pouring water in my pants as I attempted to wipe my butt with my hand and sweating profusely from the heat and dealing with the diahrea from the hamburger that I found out later was made of cultured worms, I sat there and said, "I need to write in my journal more". So yes, I'm writing. Speaking of which, the water/hand method is a lot more soothing than toilet paper. You dont have to worry about toilet clogs. And it's cool and refreshing. Once you figure it out. My first couple of times oughtta be a hoot when we watch my movie in heaven. I looked so stupid. Well....stupider.
Pouch mail gets to the mission home pretty quick I think. So send out the word for that. DearElder gets there too. But it turns out that Jenny sent most of her Dear Elders to the mission home so I got them when I got here. That was pretty funny. She thought I was getting them and not writing back.
Yesssss.......... I have been writing to other missionaries to see how their work is going. Your letters will be better from now on.
So we're off to the mall now to go buy pants and ties. I LOVE IT HERE!!!!
Take care,
Brandon
Hey Mom,
So I dont have much time on this email. The computer that I am using keeps doing this security thing and so I lost a lot of time typing to dad. It was a good one to him so I think that should help. Just see at as a letter to both of you.
Yes, I'm writing in my journal. As I was slipping on the crap-laden, watery floor of my bishop's bathroom (called a CR-comfort room), pouring water in my pants as I attempted to wipe my butt with my hand and sweating profusely from the heat and dealing with the diahrea from the hamburger that I found out later was made of cultured worms, I sat there and said, "I need to write in my journal more". So yes, I'm writing. Speaking of which, the water/hand method is a lot more soothing than toilet paper. You dont have to worry about toilet clogs. And it's cool and refreshing. Once you figure it out. My first couple of times oughtta be a hoot when we watch my movie in heaven. I looked so stupid. Well....stupider.
Pouch mail gets to the mission home pretty quick I think. So send out the word for that. DearElder gets there too. But it turns out that Jenny sent most of her Dear Elders to the mission home so I got them when I got here. That was pretty funny. She thought I was getting them and not writing back.
Yesssss.......... I have been writing to other missionaries to see how their work is going. Your letters will be better from now on.
So we're off to the mall now to go buy pants and ties. I LOVE IT HERE!!!!
Take care,
Brandon
January 12, 2010, 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: Welcome to Cebu
FATHER!!!
Alright. So your questions...
1. We made the flight. They started boarding around 20 minutes after we got there.
2. We made it in really good time. Lots of people behind us.
3. The secret to not going insane for 15 hours? To be honest. Movies, music and sleep. I prayed about it as we were taking off. I felt that the white missionary handbook leaves room for us to use our agency according to the Spirit. So I only listened to music that I wouldn't mind sharing with the Savior and only watched Disney movies. I watched Ratatouille and Toy Story. And then I slept for most of the time.
4. The biggest hassle on the plane was the fact that I didnt have ANY of my stuff becuase they had us store everything in overhead compartments and since we were in the middle of a middle section, I couldnt get in and out to use things. So no Tylenol PM.
5. Hong Kong was a trip! Everything was in Chinese! Hhahaha. It was weird.
6. We had to stay in the airport the whole time.
7. I LOVE THE PHILIPPINES!!! It's dirty, its wet, its hot, it smells like garbage everywhere, I sweat constantly, people cuss at me cuz I'm American and call me Joe which is slang, i'm attacked by dogs.......
I LOVE IT!!! Its the greatest mission ever. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Seriously. I wouldnt.
8. It looks like.........New York City without the skyscrapers. Its really compact. But in a jungle. Its tough to explain. The best way that I can describe it is that it looks like the India beginning of The Bourne Supremacy.
9. My companion is Elder Arbado. He's a great companion. Really supportive of my efforts. Hes from an island right below Manila.
10. I am on Cebu Island in the City Zone. So we cover all the slums and ghettos. Its awesome. The houses are all made by the fathers and they just build on top of each other. So they're all really small.
11. We cover the Cebu 5th ward area.
12. The mission president is awesome. I can tell that we are going to really get along.
13. I was exhausted. THey let us go to bed at 7 and wake up at 7. It was great.
14. I had to bear my testimony in Cebuano at sacrament which went well. I refrained from saying that we have a living prophet becuase that is "buhing propeta" but most missionaries say "buing propeta" which means that the prophet has a cleft lip. So...didnt say either.
15. Food....I am sick of rice. Aaaand raw minnows and mayo aren't too hot. Neither is chicken liver. It has the consistency of play doh. Chicken heart is okay. Shrimp head is mediocre. I opened up a balut and it had a full chicken inside. So i passed on that one. But all in all its not too bad. I'm surviving. AND losing weight.
16. We have three families and 4 single investigators. We visit them all every day.
17. Baptisms? well....lets just say that arbado and i committed 14 people to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. We're gonna have tired arms...
18. We take jeepneys from our house to our area and then we walk all over the place. My shoes are getting a beating. For real. Good thing we have that discount thingy. The jeepneys are 13 pisos and its like a really small bus that goes on a route. Its cool.
So far, its all been good and I really love it. My language has SKYROCKETED!!! Its great. I loved getting to see you and spend time with you. I wasnt homesick after in case you were wondering. It was great.
Thanks for all your help dad. Love you.
Brandon
FATHER!!!
Alright. So your questions...
1. We made the flight. They started boarding around 20 minutes after we got there.
2. We made it in really good time. Lots of people behind us.
3. The secret to not going insane for 15 hours? To be honest. Movies, music and sleep. I prayed about it as we were taking off. I felt that the white missionary handbook leaves room for us to use our agency according to the Spirit. So I only listened to music that I wouldn't mind sharing with the Savior and only watched Disney movies. I watched Ratatouille and Toy Story. And then I slept for most of the time.
4. The biggest hassle on the plane was the fact that I didnt have ANY of my stuff becuase they had us store everything in overhead compartments and since we were in the middle of a middle section, I couldnt get in and out to use things. So no Tylenol PM.
5. Hong Kong was a trip! Everything was in Chinese! Hhahaha. It was weird.
6. We had to stay in the airport the whole time.
7. I LOVE THE PHILIPPINES!!! It's dirty, its wet, its hot, it smells like garbage everywhere, I sweat constantly, people cuss at me cuz I'm American and call me Joe which is slang, i'm attacked by dogs.......
I LOVE IT!!! Its the greatest mission ever. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Seriously. I wouldnt.
8. It looks like.........New York City without the skyscrapers. Its really compact. But in a jungle. Its tough to explain. The best way that I can describe it is that it looks like the India beginning of The Bourne Supremacy.
9. My companion is Elder Arbado. He's a great companion. Really supportive of my efforts. Hes from an island right below Manila.
10. I am on Cebu Island in the City Zone. So we cover all the slums and ghettos. Its awesome. The houses are all made by the fathers and they just build on top of each other. So they're all really small.
11. We cover the Cebu 5th ward area.
12. The mission president is awesome. I can tell that we are going to really get along.
13. I was exhausted. THey let us go to bed at 7 and wake up at 7. It was great.
14. I had to bear my testimony in Cebuano at sacrament which went well. I refrained from saying that we have a living prophet becuase that is "buhing propeta" but most missionaries say "buing propeta" which means that the prophet has a cleft lip. So...didnt say either.
15. Food....I am sick of rice. Aaaand raw minnows and mayo aren't too hot. Neither is chicken liver. It has the consistency of play doh. Chicken heart is okay. Shrimp head is mediocre. I opened up a balut and it had a full chicken inside. So i passed on that one. But all in all its not too bad. I'm surviving. AND losing weight.
16. We have three families and 4 single investigators. We visit them all every day.
17. Baptisms? well....lets just say that arbado and i committed 14 people to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. We're gonna have tired arms...
18. We take jeepneys from our house to our area and then we walk all over the place. My shoes are getting a beating. For real. Good thing we have that discount thingy. The jeepneys are 13 pisos and its like a really small bus that goes on a route. Its cool.
So far, its all been good and I really love it. My language has SKYROCKETED!!! Its great. I loved getting to see you and spend time with you. I wasnt homesick after in case you were wondering. It was great.
Thanks for all your help dad. Love you.
Brandon
January 6, 2010
January 6, 2010
Subject: Phase One: Complete
Hey! Quick email to let you both know that I made it here in one piece and that I survived all 20 hours of flying AND survived the 100 mph weaving in and out drive to the mission home! (Not joking) I'll write you all more next Wednesday. Love you,
Brandon
Subject: Phase One: Complete
Hey! Quick email to let you both know that I made it here in one piece and that I survived all 20 hours of flying AND survived the 100 mph weaving in and out drive to the mission home! (Not joking) I'll write you all more next Wednesday. Love you,
Brandon
December 30, 2009
Call me selfish but I'm glad that we didnt get to talk for too long. I want to save the phone call and would hate to end up missing home at the dentists office and THEN again at the airport. Twice in a week is too much. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE AWESOME GIFTS! I love the poster! It was the one I wanted! Nice grab. I have to write thank you notes now for all the cards that I got too. Lame. So if you are wondering, Grandma's powerpoint that she sent me took up all my time last week. Take it up with her. hahahahaha.
SO I AM AMMOREN'S BEST FRIENDS ZONE LEADER! YAYYYY!!!!!!
L. Tom Perry spoke on Christmas and Elizabeth graced my ears with her angelic appearance AND harp skills. IT WAS LIKE HARP HERO!!!
So dad's gonna meet us at the airport. We have escorts at the SLC airport so I cant meet Greg. Lame. I know. I wrote lots in my email to dad so I'm almost out of time. The MTC jipped me 5 minutes.
Alright, I'm out of time in 8 seconds!
Love you
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