Week 3 San Juan

Hello once again!

I actually have my card reader, so I'll be sending pictures in another email :)

This week was pretty great, we taught lessons and gained new investigators.  It's been kind of hard because we don't have any progressing investigators yet.  The missionaries before me were super lazy and didn't work at all, so my trainer and I are essentially opening an area, but that's all good :) It just means I get to lose myself in the work even more :)  

I have forgotten to mention that the situation of the San Juan elders is fairly unique.  We don't have a meeting house in our area, so we have to travel to Cabugao in order to go to church, however, there aren't any buses leaving from San Juan early enough on Sunday to get us to church on time, so every Saturday we stay the night with the Cabugao elders, who also happen to be our Zone Leaders.  One of our Zone Leaders is Elder Fees, an American from Utah, kind of close to Park City, and he has helped me adjust a lot.  I can speak English to him, which is surprisingly comforting.  However, I still study the language really hard.

Those of you who know Elder Doman, he was called to the Tacloban mission and learned Cebuano, but they only really speak Wari-Wari there.  That's kind of the same for me here, I learned Tagalog, but they mainly speak Ilocano here, which is COMPLETELY different from Tagalog.  Most kids will understand Tagalog because they learn it in school, but the older generation and the poorer areas only understand and speak Ilocano, so that's fun :)  I also realized that's why I have had a hard time understanding some of the conversations I hear, it's because they are in Ilocano...  Oh well, two languages learned on a mission are better than just one right? :)

This week has been really good though, my trainer has been following the Twelve Week program and I've been getting better and better at teaching and finding.  I've definitely seen a lot of improvement on my faith as I seek the gift of tongues and it comes to me during lessons, I've seen a lot of improvement with my social skills as I have become less shy and my love for the people increases, and I've seen improvement on my Pancit Canton cooking skills (essentially just Ramen without broth) It's been pretty great :)

I've also decided I'm going to buy a hammock for my apartment that I can take with me throughout my mission. The ZLs have one and it's the best for studying, relaxing, and just general sitting.  I've started to get more used to the Filipino culture and gotten more relaxed as I've come to understand what means a lot to them and how I can relate to them. 

Now onto the food... It's so bland.  They don't use a lot of spices in their cooking, and there is rice for every meal.  Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.  At first I thought I liked rice, but it gets old after you have it for three meals a day.  I've decided I'll only eat rice if I have a dinner appointment with a member, every other time I won't eat rice.  It gets so old and there's no nutritional value for this white rice they so dearly love.  It's kind of crazy how much they LOVE rice... it's honestly not great.  The best thing they have here is the fruit stands though, even though you have to be careful from where you buy due to health concerns.  The fruit is so fresh and so cheap, it's pretty great :)

That's all I've got for this week, until next time!

Mahal ko kayo

-Elder Anderson

San Juan Week 2

Hello everybody!

Before I begin, I must apologize, I left my card reader back at the apartment again, so no pictures, but I promise I do have them!

Anyway, this week I adjusted more to missionary life, sorry for the somewhat discouraging email last time, I was pretty overwhelmed with everything that was going on and the difficulty of the language.  I'm better now though, I simply needed to decompress.  

So, as I mentioned previously, all me and my companion do is finding.  This week, we taught 18 lessons, which is apparently high for my area, and it continues to increase.  We gain quite a few investigators, but sadly, none of them went to church yesterday.  However, all of the less-actives we taught this week came, so that was great :)  My companion and I work hard, I really hope that the hearts of the people here will be softened so that we may teach them the love and joy the gospel brings, and so they can understand the atonement and the blessings it brings.

We have extended several baptismal invitations, and they've been accepted, they just need to continue to progress and come to church.  Fun fact, in all of the Philippines missions, it's a requirement for all investigators, before baptism, to attend church four weeks in a row.  This rule is put in place in order to increase retention of those whom we teach.  Apparently that's not a normal requirement.  It works though, the Philippines missions have a 98% retention rate, or so I heard.  That's pretty amazing to me :)  

My Tagalog is improving, but I still can't make day-to-day conversation to save my life.  I can teach lessons, pray, testify, and introduce us as missionaries, so I guess that's something :)  I just wish I could learn this language already.  I've started translating the Book of Mormon from Tagalog to English, and it's been helping a lot.  I like to think of it as mimicking Joseph Smith, translating from some foreign, crazy language into English.  

So, now for some fun facts.  There is no toilet paper here.  You can buy it, but it's expensive, and the toilets don't flush, so you run the risk of clogging the toilet. Instead, there are either sprayers or a bucket of water with a ladle that sprays you clean, or you have to use (if you're filipino, I don't do this) your hand mixed with the ladle of water.  It's pretty nasty, but thankfully I budget out my money to buy toilet paper, I am NEVER using my hand.  To flush the toilet, you have to fill a bucket with water and pour it into the toilet until everything goes down, it's pretty.... different.

Also, there is no hot water here, anywhere.  Nada. Zilch.  So for showers, you fill a bucket with cold water and you take another, smaller bucket and pour it over your head.  Every morning and every night I shower, and each instant the cold water goes over my head I have to gasp.  It is SO COLD.  Oh well, it could be worse.

Finally, one of the favorite foods here is coagulated pigs blood, and they like to barbecue it or put it on rice.  It's honestly not bad, the texture is just super weird.  

That's all I've got for you, let me know if there's any questions you'd like to ask!

Remember, Christ does not give us any trial we cannot handle, through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can overcome anything in our lives.  Stand with faith, and know that God is always with thee, even if no one else is.

Mahal ko kayo

-Elder Anderson

San Juan Week 1

Hello everyone,

I have spent the last couple of days in the mission, and it has been a roller-coaster.  There were 8 missionaries going to Laoag from our batch, all but one came from the Provo MTC.  We stayed at the mission home for the first night, then we had orientation the next morning and met our trainers.  My trainer is Elder Cerbolles from Manila, and he's great, but he doesn't really speak English.  I guess that's a blessing, it'll help me learn Tagalog faster.  

Anyway, I was assigned to the San Juan area, and it turns out there's only about 5 members in the area, so all we do is find.  Tracting has been alright, I've been hit with rejection a lot, but oh well. I'm just glad the people can't slam doors in my face, mainly because most people don't have doors.  However, the first person we contacted let us in, and even agreed to say the closing prayer after the lesson.  It was pretty great to see someone willing to hear the message we have.

Church was great as well, but I still don't understand a lot of Tagalog.  They speak so much faster here, and their accent is pretty hard to understand, but I know I'll get the hang of it eventually.  Right now, it is 11:20 am on August  29, I believe the Philippines are 14 hours ahead of Utah time.  It's been pretty difficult adjusting to the time difference, even with that first week in the Manila MTC.  Everything is super cheap here, 1 US Dollar is equivalent to 46.25 Pisos or something like that. They also don't use cents, its only full pisos, at least from what I've seen.  Transportation is interesting too, I don't have a Jeep-ney in my area, so we ride on Tricies, which are motorcycles with a big side car, and buses, but the bus is only used when we have to go to a different area for church.

I'm sorry this letter is so unorganized, I just have so much going through my head and there's so much to tell.  The Philippines is a beautiful place, rice fields are gorgeous, and it rains so much now because it's the rainy season.  However, the way people live is very interesting.  Most people live in homes that have a tin or palm roof, with either cinder blocks or bamboo for walls, which didn't surprise me.  What DID surprise me is the fact that everyone here has a cell phone, and most everyone has a laptop, tv, or some other kind of electronic device, even though you'd think they couldn't afford it.  It's very strange and hard to describe.  I do love these people though, they are very quick to laugh and work hard.  

Just so you all know, my address is

Brgy. #50 Buttong, Airport Avenue
Junction Tangid Road, Laoag City
2900 Ilocos Norte
Philippines

In case you would like to send something, but please keep in mind I have to pay 112 p for any package sent through UPS or USPS.  Those two companies are the best, FedEx is very expensive both for you and me, so DO NOT USE IT.  I don't expect packages or letters, but I thought I'd let you know just in case.

I already know I'm going to lose a lot of weight here.  The food isn't bad, but there's a lot of concern for getting parasites, so there's not many places to eat that you know are safe.  I also sweat so much here when it's not raining.  It's always humid, and when the humidity is coupled with heat I sweat like crazy.  Hopefully I'll get used to it.

I know this letter may sound discouraging, but don't worry.  I know that this is where I am supposed to be in my life.  The spirit felt while teaching is fantastic, there's nothing quite like it.  I know that I'll continue to increase in my knowledge of both the gospel and Tagalog.  The adjustment is difficult, but I know if I have faith that everything will turn out ok, it will.  I love you, and I love serving the Lord.

Until Next time

Mahal ko kayo

-Elder Anderson