May 7, 2012

i've used up all of my silly scriptures. sadface.

when i return here in the Philippines to visit, i plan on taking pictures of some of the architecture. not of the squatter zones but of the subdivisions where people actually have houses. the house that they build have much more freedom than in america, where people are limited to what the home owners association decide. in america the houses look way too uniform and it gets kinda ugly. but because there are no real laws here (there are laws but no one cares, not even the police) and the building materials that they use are really cheap (cinder block and plaster) anyone can build anything the way they want. it gives me a lot of inspiration for a house.

i'll also look for tagolog/illongo song when i get home because there are a few good songs that i hear when walking by peoples radios sometimes.

one drink that i like is gulaman. it's not fantastic but it's interesting. it's hard to explain what it is, some sort of chinese stuff i think.

this week, I've been getting fed up with the mission which makes up ridiculous rules that make no sense and are impossible to follow. I've also gotten fed up with the ward, again. the church in the Philippines is like a sinking ship with no rudder and no one knows how to work the engine and only 3% of the people are actually rowing and everyone who is rowing is rowing in the wrong direction against each other. i'll be a happy man when my mission is over and i don't have to deal with all these problems.

another inconvenience, is that they don't tell us when or how we can call home for mothers day until it's too late to tell people, for instance right now. i don't know when i can home. if it so happens that i can call next week on monday, well that's all good and dandy, but i can't tell my family to get together or anything on that day because right now i don't know when it'll be. and there won't be another day for me to send a message to inform anyone to get together. what good does it do to call if you call home and the person who you call is driving on the freeway by themselves to an appointment. their needs to be planning ahead of time, but the leaders in the mission don't realize that or understand what actual planning is. i'm surrounded by idiots.

i still miss my # 8 planner. i hope i find it...

April 30, 2012

no silly scripture today. is you want to find one, look for "and the dirt came out"

i'm still in tangub with elder esparas, i was happy for that one. but president gave me some news that made me nervious. he wants me to step up to district leader and a trainer. i know i'm far into my mission and it is my time but i don't know if i'm ready to make that adjustment. i've been avoiding it this long and i don't want to have to lead everything all by myself (because i'll be training) but if it happens it happens. i'll try to keep it from happening though.

other than that, i got nothing. nothing has been going on here, it's actually been kinda slow and boring.

April 23, 2012

silly scripture of the week is 1 nephi 2:15

well this transfer has gone by very quickly. nothing has really happened this week as well. we did have another zone conference, the last zone conference with president tobias. it was kinda sad but everyone leaves sometime. i'll eventually leave sometime as well. as a matter of fact, i am now 2/3 the way done with my mission. yay me.

one thing that i've noticed is that there is a difference between a baptism and a convert. a baptism just gets baptized and then slowly leaves. whereas a convert will stay and eventually progress towards the temple. i wonder how many baptisms i have and how many converts... it makes me wonder, especially considering the 85% inactivity rate.

i'd also like to again point out my surprise at how some people were actually baptized and then went inactive but then became very active in a different church, namely building their own church or becoming a pastor or teacher. it makes the inactive work very frustrating.

i also saw a funny poster outside of a church the other day. it said condemn injustice, fight terrorism, suppress poverty. but the bill that they were against was the RH bill which has to do with birth control and abortions. i know that they are against all of that but the statements posted there were complete and utter falsifications openly and shamelessly aimed at a certain bill. i will not openly choose sides on the bill but i will denounce the churches baseless and flagrant lies which not only show that the members in the church are spreading false information but that the church itself condones it and supports it. thereby showing their complete disregard for truth.

on to a different church, i would like to point out that the most evil and annoying church members that i've encountered are not 7th day adventists or Jehovah witnesses or even catholics or baptists. the most abominable church that i've encountered is iglesia ni cristo. they don't even believe in Jesus Christ and yet they persecute all other Christian religions and members of other religions for not being one of them. they base their religion solely on the hate of every other Christian religion. i know because i've read their magazines. i haven't had to bible bash with one of them but i am looking forward to the opportunity.

this week, i lost one of my old planners. i'm not sure but i think i left it in himamaylan. i know it sounds like nothing but to a missionary, your old planners are like the biggest source of remembrance that you can have and to lose one would be a big deal. for any future missionaries, be sure to take good care of your planners when you are on your mission.

some things that i like the taste of are:
black sambo - some sort of cream/cake mixture that has coffee in it (i didn't know)
lecheflan- flan with leche (milk)

and that's about it.

April 16, 2012

silly scripture of the week is 1 Nephi 13:22

well there hasn't been much going on this week to be honest. we've been working on a lot of less actives and a few good investigators. but that's what happens every week.

i don't know where to find one in phoenix but i assume that LBC would be the cheapest place to go to ship a package to the Philippines because that is a Filipino company. if anyone is planning to send one, try checking there. also, send money inside the package.

this week, i've gotten fed up with rude uncooperative people or annoying little kids or broken apartments. people, i can't change, they'll stay the same everywhere i go but i've managed to make fixes for most problems in our apartment out of my own pocket even though the apartment isn't property of the mission but whatever.

this week i saw a really angry cat attack a puppy every chance it got. i guess it was territorial because of it's kittens. it was the funniest thing i saw this week.

food that i like is:
suman - rice flour cooked in coconut milk
ibus - same thing but in a banana leaf

April 10, 2012

silly scripture of the week is Daniel 5:6

one funny interruption to a lesson this week was a cat fight, literally. the cats came runnning from the roof and fel into the cooking area. this week we had a tiki and a wasp fight each other. they got scared and ran off. no fun. after coming back to the city, i've remembered how it looks like someone just plopped a city in the middle of a jungle here. it's kinda cool looking.

general conference was this week, it was a good conference and had alot of good talks. watching it made me think of home and makes me want to be home right now. afterwards, there was a drunk guy who wanted to fight me and steal my stuff on the jeepney ride home. he was annoying and if anyone knows me when that happens, then they'd know how i reacted. he tried putting his chicken in my lap and said it was a winner, i told him that it was dinner. lol

since it was holy week, the time came around where people start doing the whole crucifixion thing again. well it happened in a distant spot but the story was funny, the guy whipping the jesus impersonator hit him too hard and the impersonator dropped her cross and started chasing the whipper.

things i want to cook back at home:

mani: steamed peanuts
Shomai: eggroll thingy with pork, carrots, potatoes and egg
chop suey: i dont even know.

i never have any money because the mission is really stupid. i'm just going to say that right now, they come up with stupid rules that make no sense and are indifferent to missionaries situations. i'll be happy to go home after having to deal with all this stupid stuff.

one thing that i would like to note for people preparing to go on a mission; when you ask for things from back home, be specific.

i recently received a package of clothes sent from someone back home and first, i would like to say thank you to whoever sent them, the bottoms helped a lot and they were sorely needed, i've been using old torn ones for a while and to have new ones is a blessing and i know that they were a big sacrifice from the person who sent them... with that being said, i need different shirts. (type deleted) one of the main reasons is the crew neck, with the humidity and heat, having a round neck is not a desirable situation, at least for me. it proves sticky, sweaty and itchy and all around uncomfortable and is easably noticeable though my white clothing. also the size makes it too loose to be manageable.

it's not that i'm picky or ungrateful. i'm really glad that i was able to get new underclothing, but my delight is overshadowed by my disappointment that it's the wrong type. that was something i hated having to deal with back when i was at home, to ask someone else to get something for me and anxiously wait for it's arrival only to find out that what i get is something unusable. alot of times, this would happen through internet orders as well. my mom knows how frustrated i get when that happens. that's why i prefer buying things on my own because i know what i want. the only problem is that i can't. i'm not actually able because the package won't come to the Philippines. so i need to have someone else do it for me. the only problem is lack of communication...

if anyone can do it, it is important to inform me within the next week. (which would mean that this blog needs to be updated as soon as possible)

UPDATE!!!
i was able to get different ones ordered by other ways and am currently waiting on them. it would be unnecessary to send me any right now but it would be helpful to follow up with me personally through e-mail if you had plans to send them, because i can't be sure that they will be the right ones. that's the most important step in the process - communication-