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
