i've tried uploading my pictures onto my photobucket account. but the computers here suck and i only get to upload once a week. not only that, it depends on which internet cafe i got to. anyways, the URL is www.photobucket.com/philippinofun the password is bacolod eventually there will be pictures up there (hopefully)
so my new house is alright. we don't use the AC during the day because we're always outside. so we only use it at night when it's not really necessary. it helps but is useless when we need it. there are also roosters and dogs next door and it's next to a street where a lot of carsd drive by at night. and since no one uses mufflers, they are really loud. the dogs bark at the cars and the the roosters start crowing because the dogs are barking and the dogs start barking back at the roosters until eventually they tire themselves out and then just starts all over again. so i bought ear plugs and head phones. it kinda helps but i'm a really light sleeper anyways so i don't really get a lot of sleep. plus my back always hurts from leaning over. the shacks here are only about 6 feet tall, so i have to bend down every time i walk in the squatter areas. which kinda looks like the places in resident evil 5 in the beginning levels before you leave the city (john you'll know what i'm talking about) especially when i head out into the beach area which is nothing but squatters.
my new companion is elder fabia and for the first 2 days also elder castro (another threesome) but he went home already.
i hate doing laundry because we have to do it all by hand and it's tiring work where your bending over. not to mention it's also hot so it doesn't make things easier. and we walk more in these areas which REALLY suck during the hot season (now) i'll try to hang in there but it's not easy.
i'm starting to lose some weight. which is good because i ate a lot of food in the MTC and then at General Conference. all the walking and the lack of food has starting to give me a slimmer figure. i'm trying not to get tooo slim. i've been working out as much as i can. but the only thing i can use is the "weights" in the apartment. these weights are really just a bar with cement around it as the weights. they work but they aren't too heavy. but i also need protein in my system, which i have been lacking due to the lack of food. i eat bread sandwiches and water for breakfast (typical missionary feast) if anyone can send a package of whey protein, "palm" corn beef, or "pacific gold" beef jerky, that would be a blessing. or donate money to my mom so she can give it too me, that would defintitely help a lot. the protein here was 3500 pesos, which is about 70 bucks. which is about half my monthly allowance for everything.
ohy and i had my first baptism. his name is jeau budaca nugpo, it happened on saturday (your guy's friday) it was after everyone transferred so i was the only misionary in the area that actually taught him, even though elder gruninger and topette were teaching him bnefore i came.
also, elder topette is sick with dengee, he's not looking good, but he has plenty of blood from missionaries in the area. keep him in your prayers for us.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Monday, April 11th, 2011
in between conferences on saturday (which was probably friday night for everyone back home) i went to get a coconut from one of those street stands. on the way back, while i'm sipping on my coconut, a fight starts breaking out on the basketball court down the street from the stake center. so i just grab some of my snacks from the conference and watch what i can and sip on my coconut. we didn't see much, but the police came by fast. that was my first time seeing them and they literally came by about a minute after the fight ended.
i've realized that the philipines is basically like mexico except everyone is asian. i am defintely grateful for everything in america. everyone treats me like a giant here. i'm big already but when you add that they're small, it makes for a new godzilla movie.
i'm slowly getting used to the heat and humidity. i'm also struggling with the language, which right now is ilongo. sometime in my mission i will also learn sibuano. but when that happens, i'll be out in the jungle. the city is pretty nice, it's not rich by any mean, but it has it's own personality. kinda like some of the poorer areas in anime shows like ghost in the shell. it's coll to see these places at night. i only wish that they allowed missionaries to ride around on razor scooters. it would make walking soooo much easier and faster.
also, if anyone could send me either a flash drive or SD card with all the songs from violin string quartet, i would also love you. i've gotten a few songs from them, but not all. i don't really get the time to go online and do all that.
one thing i hate about this place is that there are a few bible bashers. they'll act nice and invite you into their house and then start trying to poke holes into our religion. i could fight with them on it because most of their arguments are stupid and easy to refute, and then i could tear apart their religion, but that isn't what Jesus would want. you can't convert someone unless the holy spirit is there and when there is shouting and yelling and arguments, it doesn't do anything. if they want to fight, they won't listen to your message. so when that does happen, we look at our watch and wait for them to finish and politely tell that that we are late to another appointment and remind them that the lord's time is valuable. it helps for people to see that we can be the bigger men and not argue with them, especially because most of the houses here are clustered together and people can watch you inside their home.
i alos hate the way people treat animals here. the other day, i was walking to an appointment, and i heard a small voice cry out. i was on the side of the rode, so i investigated it. and i heard another cry, so i went towards it and found a bag with a kitten inside it. someone had tied a kitten inside a bag and left it on the side of the rode. i let it out and it and thought it was gonna run, but it just sat there for a second looking at me, so i pet it. it didn't seem to be injured, i don't know about broken bones but it seemed alright so i let it go. the area where i found it had a few cats and it was big enough to fend for itself so i'm sure it's doing just fine now.
i'm still waiting on my journal from elder tomasi, so until then, i won't be able to write to anyone from the MTC, mainly because all the E-mails were in there and i didn't want to write in anyone's because i was always tooo busy as district leader.
well anyways, i'm getting ready to transfer today because someone is going home and i'll be his companion's new companion. thanks for all your support!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
"hey joe"
the two most common word that i'll hear on my mission. so far i've been "hey joe"-d at least 10 times a day. i don't know exactly why they say it, i just know that it originated from the GI's who came to the Philippines during world war 2.
a mission is just like one big camping trip, it's true. everything i do feels like something i'd do while i'm camping, except i'm camping in a city. i do everything that a mission is, but when i come home, it definitely feels like i'm camping. i'm sure it'll feel more like that when i leave the city and go out into the bush.
which by the way, i'm living in barangay 32 which is inside bacolod city. i have no idea where that is but i'm there. maybe you'll be able to find it in google maps, i donno. i'm about a 20 minute walk from the sea, so it's wayyyyy humid. and supposedly, this isn't even as bad as it gets. oh and it's hot, which also sucks. especially for someone from phoenix. coming from Arizona going into the jungle/city of bacolod is a big change. i miss the desert.
i may be transfered to a sibuano speaking area next transfer, which is in a week. i hear that it's colder over there and i'm hoping and praying for relief from this heat. it wouldn't be too bad if it wasnt for the humidity. the humidity here really makes clothes stick to you no matter what. i'm wondering if cotton shirts would stick less... let me know if you know. i have no way of cooling off, i'm always out and there isn't any AC in the house.
since i'm in barangay 32, i'm kinda in the middle of the rich and poor sections. in the poor sections, you'll see cock fights every now and then. i haven't watched one but you can tell who raises them to fight if they have a really high roost. they have the chickens jump up there to sleep so they're stronger and better able to fight. there are a lot of stray animals too and beggars, it's really sad to see a lot of that. these people have no way of escaping the situation that they are in because they were born into it and that's all they know.
we mainly try to look for the rich/learned/wise people in order to find future leaders of the church here. the church is still young here, so they need the best leaders available. which isn't to say that we don't speak to the poor. we definitely do all we can to bring them to the gospel, but unfortunately for many, their situation keeps them working everyday to live. i've taught a lot of my lessons in the poorer sections and it's really humbling to see the difference of lifestyle that these people have. it really makes you appreciative of all the things that you have in america. like washer machines and showers AC(my most missed appliance) and full sized things. many of the food and other essentials are miniaturized. by that, i mean that if you took something from the travel sized area and made it just a little bigger, you'd get what they have here. everything is small.
i'm grateful that i have things here like electricity and water and internet access and a decent bed. hopefully i'll have that come next transfer.
a little bit more about it in bacolod, the police are pretty much nonexistent. they have security guards, which i assume are also police, but they always stay in places like banks and McDonalds and the supermarket (which kinda feels like America) so i'm not sure if they are actual police. the traffic here is decent, there are no lanes and no laws and people walk in the middle of the street all the time. whenever i'm walking, we always have to be in the street (because there aren't really sidewalks) and i feel like im gonna get ran over every ten seconds. there was this one member, karen, who had her brother die in a motorcycle accident in manilla and didn't have the money to travel or an id. so elder gruninger and elder topete bought her a ticket and made her and a fake id and off she went.
so far, i have yet to try balut. but am going to this week. balut is a chicken egg that has a dead chick inside of it and then it's smoked in peanuts (sometimes) i've tried different fruits, like this one sour apple tasting one, it's basically like shoving ten sour apple warheads into your mouth. don't know the name though. pretty much every meal here has rice, coconut oil, soy sauce, and vinegar.
i'm no longer sick. i had to stay inside for a while because of my illness, which i didn't think was too bad, but the doctor ordered it and then sister tobias said that i had to adhere to it so i did. it definitely helped me to recover because i've been sick for the longest time and i've been unable to get any rest.
they think that the rain here might be contaminated by the Japanese nuclear power plants (mainly rumors) i think we might be a little far off for it to affect us, even with the wind currents. there are also rumors of soda companies putting magic sugar into their drinks, which apparently is really sweet and only needs like a few drops to flavor something, but it's bad for the kidneys. again probably just rumors.
oh and on my way here to the internets cafe (al gore invented that) i saw part of the panaad parade. which is a big festival that lasts for a few days. the floats were nice but i think we missed a bit because we were riding in a jeepney.
i found a nice little music box thing from cd-r king because i fried my adapter to my cd player (put a 120 volt into a 220 volt socket, didn't realize because my other adapter worked 120-240). i need to put music on my flash drive though. violin string quartet is really good, elder topete has a lot of songs by them. they are basically a cover band which doesn't do the lyrics, but rather uses violins for everything and they do good bands like taking back sunday (before everyone started liking them)
by the way, dear elders do still work here. i learned that the other day. also, if anyone could send a football (preferably NFL or NCAA type, possibly 1005 style) i would love you forever.
well that's about it for now. i wrote a lot and it's about time for me to head out of here.
the two most common word that i'll hear on my mission. so far i've been "hey joe"-d at least 10 times a day. i don't know exactly why they say it, i just know that it originated from the GI's who came to the Philippines during world war 2.
a mission is just like one big camping trip, it's true. everything i do feels like something i'd do while i'm camping, except i'm camping in a city. i do everything that a mission is, but when i come home, it definitely feels like i'm camping. i'm sure it'll feel more like that when i leave the city and go out into the bush.
which by the way, i'm living in barangay 32 which is inside bacolod city. i have no idea where that is but i'm there. maybe you'll be able to find it in google maps, i donno. i'm about a 20 minute walk from the sea, so it's wayyyyy humid. and supposedly, this isn't even as bad as it gets. oh and it's hot, which also sucks. especially for someone from phoenix. coming from Arizona going into the jungle/city of bacolod is a big change. i miss the desert.
i may be transfered to a sibuano speaking area next transfer, which is in a week. i hear that it's colder over there and i'm hoping and praying for relief from this heat. it wouldn't be too bad if it wasnt for the humidity. the humidity here really makes clothes stick to you no matter what. i'm wondering if cotton shirts would stick less... let me know if you know. i have no way of cooling off, i'm always out and there isn't any AC in the house.
since i'm in barangay 32, i'm kinda in the middle of the rich and poor sections. in the poor sections, you'll see cock fights every now and then. i haven't watched one but you can tell who raises them to fight if they have a really high roost. they have the chickens jump up there to sleep so they're stronger and better able to fight. there are a lot of stray animals too and beggars, it's really sad to see a lot of that. these people have no way of escaping the situation that they are in because they were born into it and that's all they know.
we mainly try to look for the rich/learned/wise people in order to find future leaders of the church here. the church is still young here, so they need the best leaders available. which isn't to say that we don't speak to the poor. we definitely do all we can to bring them to the gospel, but unfortunately for many, their situation keeps them working everyday to live. i've taught a lot of my lessons in the poorer sections and it's really humbling to see the difference of lifestyle that these people have. it really makes you appreciative of all the things that you have in america. like washer machines and showers AC(my most missed appliance) and full sized things. many of the food and other essentials are miniaturized. by that, i mean that if you took something from the travel sized area and made it just a little bigger, you'd get what they have here. everything is small.
i'm grateful that i have things here like electricity and water and internet access and a decent bed. hopefully i'll have that come next transfer.
a little bit more about it in bacolod, the police are pretty much nonexistent. they have security guards, which i assume are also police, but they always stay in places like banks and McDonalds and the supermarket (which kinda feels like America) so i'm not sure if they are actual police. the traffic here is decent, there are no lanes and no laws and people walk in the middle of the street all the time. whenever i'm walking, we always have to be in the street (because there aren't really sidewalks) and i feel like im gonna get ran over every ten seconds. there was this one member, karen, who had her brother die in a motorcycle accident in manilla and didn't have the money to travel or an id. so elder gruninger and elder topete bought her a ticket and made her and a fake id and off she went.
so far, i have yet to try balut. but am going to this week. balut is a chicken egg that has a dead chick inside of it and then it's smoked in peanuts (sometimes) i've tried different fruits, like this one sour apple tasting one, it's basically like shoving ten sour apple warheads into your mouth. don't know the name though. pretty much every meal here has rice, coconut oil, soy sauce, and vinegar.
i'm no longer sick. i had to stay inside for a while because of my illness, which i didn't think was too bad, but the doctor ordered it and then sister tobias said that i had to adhere to it so i did. it definitely helped me to recover because i've been sick for the longest time and i've been unable to get any rest.
they think that the rain here might be contaminated by the Japanese nuclear power plants (mainly rumors) i think we might be a little far off for it to affect us, even with the wind currents. there are also rumors of soda companies putting magic sugar into their drinks, which apparently is really sweet and only needs like a few drops to flavor something, but it's bad for the kidneys. again probably just rumors.
oh and on my way here to the internets cafe (al gore invented that) i saw part of the panaad parade. which is a big festival that lasts for a few days. the floats were nice but i think we missed a bit because we were riding in a jeepney.
i found a nice little music box thing from cd-r king because i fried my adapter to my cd player (put a 120 volt into a 220 volt socket, didn't realize because my other adapter worked 120-240). i need to put music on my flash drive though. violin string quartet is really good, elder topete has a lot of songs by them. they are basically a cover band which doesn't do the lyrics, but rather uses violins for everything and they do good bands like taking back sunday (before everyone started liking them)
by the way, dear elders do still work here. i learned that the other day. also, if anyone could send a football (preferably NFL or NCAA type, possibly 1005 style) i would love you forever.
well that's about it for now. i wrote a lot and it's about time for me to head out of here.
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