Hiya! :) Wow! Thanks for the AWESOME email mom :) I'll try and answer your questions and give you a little more everyday info, but I don't know if I'll be able to get 97 pictures in haha :) Wow the baptism feels like forever ago! haha, It's only been 1 week??! Yikes! Haha. Sorry for not explaining the pics. Raymond has the smaller baptism outfit and Johnjohn has the beard. The guy in the polo is one of Raymond's friends and our Ward Mission Leader, Rhamel Camain.
I forgot to tell you about Mission Tour?? Haha, it was amazing!! Elder Nielson from the Quorum of the 70 came and we had a Conference with our Zone (Caloocan) and the one next to us (Valenzuela). He was amazing! He and his wife both gave talks, President and Sister Sperry gave talks, Elder Nielson had a Q & A session and then..... we ate some GOOOOOD food :) He told us that the church wants a new focus on the Missionary Work in the Philippines. He said that in the last 5 years there have been 77,000 baptisms in the Philippines, (WOW! :) ), out of those only 12,000 are still active today. There are 645,000 Members in the Philippines but a whole 531,000 of those are inactive!! YIKES! He said that the church wants us as missionaries to focus more on establishing the church rather than just baptizing as many people as we can. Pretty cool stuff :)
I heard we might make some jerseys in our zone too this transfer! (Woot! :) Elder Sidillo has one and it's SAWEET :) If we don't make one I might have to have one made for me anyways haha. Usually you make a zone tshirt or something every transfer but our zone got lazy on that last transfer for some reason. Oh yeah! Yesterday was the last day of my first transfer!!! :D
So you know that street with all the kids I told you about last week? Remember how a little girl took us to meet her family? A couple of her sisters and cousins have TOTALLY been prepared to hear the gospel! :D Before we even started our 2nd lesson with them they were asking us how to get to church! When we told them we could come pick them up and take them there Sunday morning they were SUPER excited :) After the lesson they were asking about baptism and whether girls can sere missions and stuff. Woot! :) Hope they stay this excited about the gospel, cuz things are looking good so far :)
Questions time :) Or... I guess answer time cuz they're your questions haha :PThings are SUPER cheap out here in US dollars! I'm getting used to it though haha. I finally bought my hammock the other day, and it was a whole 400 pisos. I thought "Wow, that's too expensive" Then I remembered that that's only $10 haha. Most things are SUPER cheap though. Candy bars are 15 pisos or 30 cents, but they charge extra for all the American stuff haha.We don't cook ever haha. We eat at that Tapsilogan Restaurant for every meal basically. We've only eaten with members 2 or 3 times so far, but I think that missionaries in other areas do more often.I still have that hollow leg problem so I'm never full haha :P I don't think I've lost any weight, might have actually gained some haha, but no scale so I dunno. I was sick with a head cold for about 3 days once but I survived hehehe :)Still sending laundry to the laundromat, no time or energy for it. I wash my garments by hand though cuz only endowed members can wash them.No worries with money, I usually have plenty with the allotment from the mission, but if I'm running low I just use my card. No worries there :)We've had some pretty sweet thunderstorms so far :) It's SOOO loud! Yesterday was probably the most it's flooded so far, on our street it was a bit above my ankles, but the BIG storm happened a couple weeks before I got here. All the missionaries say the floods were up to their chest! Pretty crazy :)The bugs and mosquitoes are SOOOO annoying!! They bite me everywhere! I've even got one on my big toe!! haha, but no worries, buhay pa :)Shoes and clothes are holding up great :) I'm finding that those Merrel shoes are the most comfortable and easiest to slip on and off when we walk into people's houses.The language is really starting to come along! :) I'm still having a hard time understanding what others say to me but I'm able to say a LOT and I've been able to give a talk and bear testimony in church and in lessons off the top of my head. The Gift of Tongues is definitely real and I definitely need it. It's still frustrating at times but being more patient with myself is helping a TON. :)Yup we've got a CD player. We've got the soundtracks from EFYs and The RM and The Best Two Years. The one from the Best 2 Years is my favorite, it has really good encouraging songs and I need as much of that as I can get haha :o)Not sure yet about the Christmas phone call but I'll find out when we visit the Mission Home this week for training :)
Got my hammock! :D Sleeping hanging like that'll take some getting used to but it definitely beats the whimpy mattress! :o)
Yikes! No more sitting next to falling Christmas trees Savvy?? Good :) That's a bummer!!! I'm sure it'll end up looking great like always though :)
So..... If you're wondering about some of the pics........ Missionaries get bored..... with cameras sometimes hahahaha :P
LOVE YOU!!!
Elder da beej Powell
P.S.It's cold out here too! Only 76 degrees, brrrrr! :o)
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