another typhoon!! woohoo

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  malipayong pasko! this week we had a Christmas party this week at the church and my companion was santa claus!!! i was just an elf. 

     this week was super fast i cant believe its already christmas! its awesomes to be able to teach everyone about Christ's birth and im sad that its over. but its okay.

     This week we were informed that there was a tropical storm coming for us so we needed to prepare again for that! then last night we were informed it had become a TYPHOON! but since i live on one of the most protected islands in the Philippines we just had a lot of wind and rain. it has rained since yesterday morning and we were soaked all day yesterday. we walked through a river!!!

     this week i read the end of the book of revelations and it was kind of crazy!!!! i decided the bible had to be written in riddles so that all the super awesome information inside wouldnt be taken out. chapters 12 through like 16 are some really crazy stuff and it just proves to me more our church is the true church. the bible is really really cool even though its a little confusing sometimes. i love you all!!!!!!!! merry christmas! bye bye

Koby didn’t send any pics to the group this week, so I thought I’d share some. Ward Christmas PartyWhite Christmas Christmas Eve dinner
During the storm

white christmas!!!!!!!

there is no snow here but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a white christmas!! on the 14th we got together with the whole zone and did baptisms and we baptised 9 people!! so everyone was dressed in white. it was really awesome and much more organized than the baptisms we throw together so it was really nice.

     this Thursday we were teaching our last lesson of the day and we closed out the lesson and it started raining goats and carabao!! it was so loud I was literally screaming the prayer but still it could barely be heard. we were just hiding in this tiny hut trying to wait out this storm but we were still getting soaked because the rain decided to fall horizontally and the walls of the hut are pretty much non existent! it was like Noah in the bible! but thankfully it stopped raining before the whole city was under water. when we were walking home it was like walking through a swimming pool! that was just everywhere. and when we got home we found that my bed was soaking wet because the water had leaked in through the windows we had to mop it all up and ended up sleeping on the floor that night.  

     we had interviews with president and it was really awesome he is a really fun person to talk to im really grateful for such a good president.

     it rained hard a couple more times this week but not like on thursday and my bed dried pretty fast. the people are really worried about us when we are soaking wet and it helps them talk to us so that's nice. also i have officially adjusted to the weather and last night I got a little chilly while it was 80 degrees.

      I love you all!! and i know that the church is true the more I study and talk to people it just makes more and more sense to me!! I know if you have faith and don't doubt you will receive great treasures of knowledge!! it is incredible!! I love you and pray for you bye bye sorry this is a long email.

this week we ate a toko they are the geckos 

after a lesson didn't work out  we  found this group carolors so we joined them and now i'm learning a tagalog christmas song.

we made cookies!!

this week for district council we made cookies. 

    we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and then slept at there house sunday night because it was a waste to go home and then have to come back for district council the next day cause its like an hour away. so we made cookies!! we were missing a couple ingredients but they were still good. 

    I tried to pick up a chick this week and got attacked by its mom but its okay i put it down and didn't get hurt. I also led my area during the exchanges and it was pretty fun! I did pretty good. this morning we went to look for shells with the senior couple here and gave them tons of shells that was really fun! we found some very cool shells.

    we were going to have 5 baptisms this Saturday but then one couple couldn't get married and two sisters mom wouldn't let her. so we are teaching her mom now and the others will hopefully get married soon!

I love you all and so does jesus!

this morning after looking for shells

Typhooooooooon and christmas conference

This week was crazy! Friday night we got a text that there was a SUPER TYPHOON coming and that we needed to prepare extra water and stuff then we waited for that to come until monday when we left for christmas conference. 

     It was really nice weather because of the typhoon i think cause of the breeze and clouds it wasnt burning hot. and it rained a little. Monday morning we had an 8 hour bus ride to the other side of the island for zone conference and as we were leaving it really started raining. then we left. it was a long day on monday cause we just rode a bus the whole day and had district council. I slept in the zone leaders house in dumaguete with like 16 other elders it was really fun. it was not a super comfortable sleeping situation we were all on the floor. also I met elder sperry from lehi! he went to skyridge too and he's a zone leader in dumaguete.  then christmas con was awesome! it was just like zone conference with more zones and we all did skits it was a party. we finished like 4 o clock and had to leave. we didn't make it all the way home last night we got to san carlos like 10 last night and so we still need to finish travelling today. 

     also one last thing! I ate a hair pigs nipple on sunday! it was just a chunk of pig belly and i just happen to get a piece with the nipple. it was a weird but it all tastes the same. 

     i dont have any pictures now 

visions!!!!

     this week was pretty crazy! we finished teaching a lesson and a girl we were teaching said she was about to pass out she has had problems with her heart and stuff apparently and so we gave her a blessing and it was crazy we felt the spirit so powerfully during the blessing then when we finished she said she had just seen a vision!! she said there was a man in white in a forest and so she followed him but lost him then she found herself at a beach cliff or something staring at a sunset and she said she felt like super at peace. she knew she would be okay. it was a crazy experience. but then their uncle or something started telling her a bunch of stuff about how she was like korihor being deceived by the devil and how he had been a member for a long time so why wouldn't he see any visions. but then we came in and shared a couple scriptures from moroni 7 about telling the truth between good and evil and also the laborers in the vineyard parable! it was awesome and they felt a lot better afterwards it was awesome to see the scriptures answer all of their questions! and bring peace to them. 

     we also learned how to make rice pouches from a coconut frond from a less active member! it is awesome they are called peso or something, and no one knows how to make them for some reason so we just blow people away because we are so bonsai. im going to try to learn some more coconut weaving.

     i love you all! and know the church is true! bye bye! 

pictures

peso 

a toko i caught the filipinos are terrified of them cause they bite i guess

a hole we found in a wall

the turkey we are eating for thanksgiving

a bug

sunset

super fast week!

this week flew by, nothing really crazy happened, but it was good. everyone is progressing and it is great! its amazing to see the gospel really helping people's lives. this week we taught someone in english he seems pretty interested in our message but he only knows Tagalog and english. it is really crazy to teach in english. it is really nice just being able to say everything you want to say. but you also have to remember not to get to complex. especially when english is the persons second language. my cebuano has been getting way better too it is awesome! the lord has definitely been helping me a ton.

     there are red ants here that really like to eat my feet. they bite you and it stings for like 10 minutes then the next day they like swell up and it really stinks. but its okay im getting better at avoiding them. i dont know how none of the Filipinos have problems with bugs eating their feet.

     i love you all goodbye!!

pictures 

some sunsets we saw

first transfer!

today is my first transfer! im staying here in Toboso with my companion! im pretty grateful for this area its really awesome! 

     I have 3 stories this week. the nights are kind of hard sometimes because it gets dark at like 5 and most people are asleep by like 7 or 8. so the other night we were looking for people to talk to and we found a family out looking for there child, and we offered to help them. we said a prayer and then we were able to find this kid!! it was really crazy and reminded me of the story of the lost sheep. 

     the other day we were walking out to a more bukid wild part of our area and  i stepped in some mud and i ended up being covered in mud everywhere. so we walked to a well nearby and asked an old lady outside if we good barrow some water to wash off my arms and face and shirt and shoes. she was like oy very very dirty! and then she used the water in her bucket to wash my arms and feet. it was a really interesting experience. i dont love it when people touch me but it was still kind of cool. she is baptist and it reminded me of when the saviour washed his apostles feet. she didnt want to come to church, but she was doing a good job of following Jesus example.

     later that night it was pretty late and we were walking back and we passed by this passed out drunk guy. we helped him up and he was in really bad shape. his jaw kept making loud popping sounds. we had no idea what to do because his house was pretty far the other direction and we couldn't carry him. we started looking for people to help. and then a tricycle came! it was a miracle because they dont usually go out there. tricycles are like motorcycles with sidecars welded on. he helped us out and i had to hold the drunk guy up so he didnt fall out. and my companion had to push us up some hills because the road was so rough but we made it to his house and it was really cool. that reminded me of the good Samaritan. 

     It was really cool this week to look for similarities to jesus life in the bible. it is really helps you always remember him. so you should all look for those miracles in your lives! it is awesome! i know the church is true i love you all!

pictures

coconut helmet for earthquakes

 a super sketchy bridge 

some baby ducks we found

i heard it snowed in utah so we made it snow here too!

Kalag Kalag!!

this week was kalag kalag which means soul soul or all souls day. no one wanted to talk with us because they were busy spending time with dead relatives. Also a lot of people got really drunk. but it was still a good week. we had another baptism! we also went on exchanges. and that was pretty cool. I went to stop aguinaldo which is like my area ,toboso, but in the mountains instead of the beach. I couldn't understand the people there as well, that was pretty hard. the house in stop is also one of the worst in the mission (tin roof and no running water) which was a cool experience too. I know the church is true, and i know god helps his children. I love you all! have a good week!

pictures

a tree ate this sandal

some goats celebrating kalag kalag

some tang we made

I got robbed

this week I was walking and I found a rock that looked like a cinnamon roll so I put it outside my house as decoration and as I was closing the door this little kid came and stole it and ran down the street!

     I also made tortillas cause they don't have them here and I found a nice coconut and we used the shell to scrap the meat from the coconut and made coconut milk so we have had lots of coconut rice. It's really good. We ate 3 kilos of rice this week.

Saturday we had two more baptisms! I baptised Janah Mae. And it was really awesome to really know and love the people before you baptism them. Last time I didn't really get to know Jon Jon until after I baptized him.

     I gave a talk on Sunday! I don't really know how but I was able to speak for like 10 minutes and my kauban said it mostly made sense! We met a Muslim who used to be a member here and an ex convent nun! This week. I don't think the Muslim will like to hear us much more he has some hard feelings towards some leaders here. But it was Interesting to talk to him Muslims seem to believe a lot of similar things to us. The ex nun left the convent because she felt something was wrong there she seems really good. 

     It pours rain a lot nowadays its like walking in a river underneath a waterfall that is everywhere. And it makes the power go out. So we have power about half the time we are home. Which is bad cause it's so hot and our fans turn off. I love you all good bye!

Using a banana leaf as in umbrella. 

The nuns house. 

Cactus that I planted in the coconut shell. 

zone conference!!

     this week was alright!  we looked for shells last week and found lots of really cool shells. and I finished the book of mormon this morning!! it was awesome you should all read it cause it is awesome! we did a lot of waiting this week. we had to wait for a couple of hours to do our president interviews on friday then sunday we waited a couple more hours for president to interview some kids that are under the age of 11. but it was all good and now we will have two more baptisms this saturday! its crazy here we also find a lot of new people to teach and everyone is so friendly. we are usually really busy and barely have time to teach everyone who wants to meet with us.

     Zone conference was really fun i got to meet a lot of new missionaries and it is kind of like a day of rest for us. after zone conference we went to meet a referral and he seemed super ready for the gospel. we asked him if he had a job and he didn't have anything going on but was looking, then like five minutes later a man walked up to his house and offered him a job so that was pretty cool. it's a miracle!

     other than that we have just taught a lot of people everyone is really progressing and it is awesome! 

bye bye

pictures 

I learned why water buffalo are called water buffalo

my gate and house

the trail we live on

im so grateful for running water.

this week was pretty great we finally got to watch general conference!! it was really good! i havent ever enjoyed it so much. mostly we watch it in English on our phone we just missed the Sunday morning session so hopefully we can rewatch that sometime. i really liked the things about captain Moroni preparing for his specific enemy. we've used that to when teaching a lot of recent converts and less actives.

     we teach a lot of less actives and try to get them back to church. its hard for a lot of people because its so far. also all our interested people are teenagers so they have to be taught in the afternoons its hard cause we spend the whole morning just looking for new people and talking to less actives. then our afternoon is packed with lessons. but we found two families who arent all in highschool so we can teach them in the mornings!

     yesterday my companion prayed we would have the gift of tongues and then we walked out our door and i spoke to the goat that lives on our street!! we really bonded and it was fun. but then later i was able to teach like half a lesson so it really was awesome! 

    also last Thursday our well dried up so we had to use our water storage and the city gives us a little water everyday. but we didn't have anyway to pump it into the water tower so we had to pull it out with a bucket every morning. it wasn't the cleanest water so we filtered it through an old shirt and then boiled it so we didn't have to waste our drinking water with cooking. yesterday a repair man hooked up a pump to the storage so we have running water again!! but we still have to use it sparingly. ive limited myself to one bucket per shower.

     it is sort of like im camping here all the time. i always smell like a campfire cause everyone just cooks with campfires. it is really fun. 

     all of the people we are teaching are doing really well! one nice thing about teaching teenagers is they like to bring friends to lessons so we have new people to teach pretty often. it is good and everyone is progressing one girl was ready to be baptized but she didnt go to church so we have to wait. but the lords timing is right and everything will work out! i love and miss you all! 

pictures 

this weird white thing on the beach.

some of the shells ive found while walking to appointments

a huge frog we found one night while getting water to do dishes

Welcome to fabulous Toboso!!

Picture from John and Kyles baptism last week.