Monday, August 13, 2012

August 13, 2012

this week has been ok. not much has happened. we've been opening up ilog city, meaning that we've been going and proselyting there even though it's far away and missionaries have never been in that area. feels cool to be the first. in other news, i received my departure date letter stating when i will be going home. i will leave on December 5th 2012 and arrive in the US possibly the same or next day even though i will be traveling for close to two days. this is due to the cray time zone portal thing with the whole pacific ocean. i'm not sure, i may even go into the future and come back right after the world ends. i think they know what they're doing though, the technology behind it is very confusing and sophisticated. i think it's something like the stargate wormhole but the whole plane goes through it so it may be something more like startrek, although in my personal opinion star wars is much better and lord of the rings tops them all.

well that means 4 months na lang!

August 6, 2012

silly scripture is 2 kings 18:27

this week was a pretty fun week. there was a big Charter festival in Kabankalan with some of the Philippines stars attending. (i forgot the names but they're on TV all the time) the main reason they came would probably be because Kabankalan is a richer city than most here on Negros and they were probably paid a lot. we didn't attend it though, but just passed by a few times on ways to appointments and got to see some cool stores. they really go all out with the stands. like each entire stand was like a house in the bukid. (meaning it was made out of bamboo or nipa)

this week i also tried Dorian. many people will say that Dorian smells horrible but tastes great but i tell you that it smells bad and tastes bad. just in case you don't know what Dorian is; Dorian is a type of fruit that grows here in the Philippines which emits a terribly bad smell. what everyone here says is that Dorian smells bad but tastes delicious which is partially true. it's easy to get over the smell but the taste is not easy to get over.

we also went on a little mountain hike a few days ago looking for less active members because there aren't very many members in our area. it was a really long ways away but the weather was nice and cool (because a storm recently passed through) and it was a beautiful view. i was going through jungle and when we got to the top things looked gorgeous. i forgot my camera though. oh well, maybe next time. after that, it took like an hour to catch a trike to get back home.

we also got to experience what it's like to be at a funeral here in the Philippines, a member died and we visited the family but like i've stated in former blogs, everyone was just playing card games so we joined but didn't gamble or anything like that. it was a good experience

july 30, 2012

i'm ok with the transfer, i'm starting to feel capable of doing everything that i've been assigned with. it's a hard situation that i've been put into (follow up training, district leader, newly opened area) but i can do hard things.

so last week, i stated that i hate elder reyes. he was a former companion who i had a lot of problems with when i was assigned in himamayalan. a little background information; the first week we had companion studies, the only thing he did was tell me that i suck at the language. he never helped me improve at the language. when i was there, he had a problem with visiting 1 family every night that started a bunch of gossip, the girl had a big crush on him and always was touching him. he always taught old people that couldn't walk or go to church and never progressed in order to get high numbers. he always used the name sungi for a kid with a cleft lip and made me think that it was his name. he coughed (purposefully to get attention) during prayers. he would read letters sent to members that he was supposed to give to them. when members would give him letters to send, he would read them and wouldn't send them. he was always sucking up to his former companion who was the AP at the time even though he always talked bad about him. he would never be serious and was loud and obnoxious. he didn't have any desire to share the gospel, his only desire was to get high numbers so that he would look good. i taught all the lessons, and i correlated with the ward, whenever we would have council, he would just make me do it even though he didn't give me any time to prepare. the members didn't like or trust him, the bishopric hated him. the missionaries that i've talked to about him all hate him. i won't name names but over 20 missionaries don't like him.

all this, i was ok with. i understood that he has faults and weaknesses and that no one is perfect but recently i found out that the missing planner that i had been looking for was thrown outside by elder reyes. i sat out in the open where rain would get on it and destroy it. he KNEW that i was looking for it because i asked him for it. he lied and said that he didn't see it. now my planner is ruined, lost, destroyed or whatever but i can't get it back. there was absolutely no reason that he had to throw it outside. any one of the other elders in the house could have sent it, he could have left it in the house. he purposely threw it out for no reason except that he is a gago nga soplado nga tinalok nga jerk. growing up, he had the privileged filipino life (which is still poorer that the average american life) because his father is a high rank in the military. the truth of the matter is that his family is corrupt. his family has had a lot of publicity here in the Philippines because of attacks and money embezzlement. because of his privileged life, in his mind, he feels that he is better than everyone else. but he's not. many of the rich people here in the Philippines think of themselves as better because they are surrounded by poor people and so automatically assume that they are better than everyone -americans included- even if they are still poor by american standards. he's the worst missionary that i've seen on my mission. i've seen some very bad and disobedient missionaries but at least they don't try to cover it up and lie about their disobedience at least they were still nice and had common courtesy. he on the other hand is a disobedient jerk that pretends to be obedient. he would announce the rules to everyone and then not do it himself. many missionaries hated him too, i'm not the only one. before i met him, i was told about him and i didn't like what i heard and now that i've been with him, i know that everything that i heard was true. well that's all that i have to say about him.

July 23, 2012

well good news, the mission is letting the air con and washer machine stay. bad news is that i don't get to use it because i transferred. the transfer announcements went sorta like this: elder johnson is evolving... B B B B B B B B B!!!!!!! elder johnson evolved into a follow up trainer and district leader. in a recently reopened area. (which is almost like a whitewash) i am now in Kabankalan City with elder Parilla (my FU trainee). Kabankalan is actually right next to Himamaylan (one of my past areas) so i may have the opportunity to visit there this transfer.

the area has 2 companionships assigned here the others are the zone leaders elder loto'ahea and elder yranon. the area is good and i am slowly getting acquainted to training....

i'm surprised that i can actually teach my companion as much as he's learning right now. i'd say though that im not teaching but rather guiding him. he's progressing very well.

we've also had another baptism this week. Reynaldo Sumugat Romero Jr.

on a side note, i hate Elder Reyes

july 16, 2012

well life comes and life goes. sad things happen and good things happen. i guess you just gotta keep on keeping on. when i get home, i'm gonna try keeping in touch with all my good friends and not lose them again. because you never know when they'll be gone for good RIP Randy Johnson.

this week, i'm also an uncle now. my niece's name is haley nicole johnson and she was born july 12 at 9:59 PM. she's adorable. talk to Andrew about it.

this week we had 2 baptisms Earl Garwin Sagal Bugna and Ellyson Sagal Bugna.

well transfers are coming up this week so i'm a bit nervous. if i transfer, i will be transferring away from the air con and washer machine. but if i stay then that will be a long time to be left in this area. i'm also not too fond of my companion, i guess it's just the cultural differences. but things that he should be helping with, he isn't. like updating the area book, washing dishes, cleaning the house, planning, teaching... etc. it's kinda frustrating to do it all on your own and then to have a companion that is critical of everything you do even though he does nothing. if i transfer, i'll be ok with it.

in other news, there seems to be a war brewing between the Philippines and china which will of course involve north korea and america. hopefully that won't happen but if it does, hopefully not until i'm out of this country.

July 9, 2012

well this week has been ok. the office is trying to take out the air con and washer machine so we'll see what happens with that. the new mission president has arrived and president tobias has gone home now. nothing hes really changed yet though. maybe when i meet the new president thing will feel different.

transfers are coming up soon, not next week, but the week after, i might transfer so i could potentially be transferring into my last area. weird to think about. still doesn't feel real though, i don't feel like i'm close to going home. maybe because 5 months actually is a very long time, or maybe because I've been here to long to remember what it'd feel like to be home.


well anyways, the church is true. ambot sa kanding nga may bangs.