May 27

I got an email from Rowland today, he skyped his family two weeks ago for the last time. I can’t believe he is almost going home. He also can’t believe I’m almost at one year, he said it feels like I just started. Are there really tons of people moving in the ward? Where is everyone going? How is the ward doing? Its okay here, our bishop doesn’t really do much, and he rarely even shows up on time. I don’t know why the church is so different here compared to America, but if the missionaries were pulled out most wards and branches would just fall apart. That’s so weird that school is out. I feel like time has stopped because the seasons have been generally the same for the last 12 months of my life. It's... weird...

That’s a good idea to have a big backyard for the dogs when you move . Man I miss the heck out of Star Valley.  The new senior couple got here this week, The Lutz's from Weston, Idaho. Elder Lutz told me his grandfather is buried in the Lincoln Cemetery. The Lutz are great but man they seem so old.  I actually got all those letters from February! The one with grandpa’s letter! What happened is they got sent in Feb, so arrived here in March. In March I was still in Camiling zone, so they got to Camiling in April. By April I was in Cabanatuan, so I got them last week. 

My stomach is feeling better, I think the problem was I was just thirsty all the time so I’d drink cold water, and then not eat because I was so thirsty. Then I’d throw up because my stomach had no food but it was full of cold water. Things are better now, but not yet back to normal.  No I won’t upload pictures; I sent the package last week with the SD cards and have no new pictures to send from this week. Friday was incredible, Elder Nelson came to Angeles to speak to us, it was the coolest thing ever. He shook every one of our hands, and as I walked towards him, if felt... something. It would be like if they made a space heater that just radiated the spirit, that’s what it was like walking towards him. Seriously the coolest thing ever. also there’s this really cool member,  who helps us out a lot. He felt bad that I was throwing up and not feeling well so he bought me a bunch of apples (they're not cheap here, either). Friday we went to Angeles and when we got back to Cabanatuan I was super thirsty so I drank a bunch of water and ate some food then threw it up like 20 minutes afterwards. But things are good now, I had a hamburger this morning (super delicious) and it’s just fine.  I also decided we should come another time to the Philippines, I think by the time my two years are up I’ll want to come home so bad I won’t want to stay any longer. I would love to keep talking but my companion said we have somewhere to go I think we're gonna visit a less active member so I'll just talk to you next week. I love you!

sick

Sorry we're late today, we went jogging and Elder Lozano fell asleep as soon as we got home. 

Well I didn’t really run today. I actually didn’t do much work this week either. I have been feeling incredibly sick. I have diarrhea for sure and I go to the bathroom like every 20 minutes. Thursday we didn’t leave the house because Elder Lozano and Ralph (our ward mission leader) told me I looked really sick. It’s only been a week and people have already mentioned I’m losing weight. Now I feel okay and yesterday wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t run, I just walked around the track a few times. I hate walking; I don’t know how old ladies do it all the time.

Did you eat something that made you this sick?

Yeah things are better. I don’t know what made me sick but it sucked. Did I tell you about the Indian guy I met this week?  He just walked up to me and elder Montierth on the street and starting speaking incredibly well in English, but he was super sketchy. He said things like "I'm a behind the scenes kind of guy. I am faceless, but priceless." and "So let’s cut to the chase. Do you catch my drift?" He told us to come to his house but gave us vague directions and said he doesn’t have a cell phone. "I have no cell phone, I'm a drifter." We are definitely not going back. I wonder if things like that happen in America?  This would be the best country ever to be a drifter. Things are dirt cheap, and if you were in Baguio City or Aurora Province the weather would be perfect year round. Plus nothing is regulated here; you can do basically anything you want.

I won’t download pictures because I put all the sd cards in a package and I’ll send it later today. 

So this week our Ward Mission Leader left on his mission to Cagayan De Oro, we had a big party for him at the church and his mom cried the whole time. She asked if he could wait until next year to go (this was the night before he left for the MTC.) I kept trying to tell her how fast it goes but she was having a hard time. Can you believe it’s almost been one year?

 hey my time is up so i will talk to you again next week. start looking for the package in a few weeks/ i love you!

Mother's Day

Making faces at Elder Williams

That was fun! Will you still tell us about your week?  You look really good!

I’m glad you think I look good, because I’m just a big fat missionary. I am doing reporting right now but it should only take a few minutes then I will write a big-ish letter. 

It probably is fine to be "fat" as a missionary, If you can call 140lbs fat.   It will be good to have you writes a little so I can post to your blog.

I’m just worried because Blas used to periodically pinch our stomachs at practice and would get mad if we had any body fat because it has zero effect on our capacity as runners.

I noticed grandpa just fell asleep when he wasn’t talking. Did you record our video chat this time?

Monday we had a huge FHE with over 50 people, most of them little kids who were starving for attention, it was way fun. We also went running but I think you saw the video

Tuesday night we were walking home and a kid about 20 and another girl were standing on the side of the road and the girl shouted "where are you going?" because she assumed I don’t speak a word of tagalog. So we used it as an opportunity to talk to them. as soon as i started speaking tagalog she got all shy and left, so we just talked to the guy. They were from Baguio city so it didn’t really go anywhere but at least we talked to them

Wednesday we had DDM, and Elder Montierth (from California) has a companion who is awful at English. He had to give a workshop and tried it in English, it was hard to follow. But it was still a pretty good day.

Thursday our work got destroyed. A huge storm came in and we had to run back to our house because our laundry was hanging up outside and it was getting all soaked. So then we waited out the storm in our house. It was so bad the Zone Leaders texted us and asked if we were doing okay.

Friday I worked with Elder Montierth and we did tons of work. it was easy to approach people because they basically invited us over. It’s one thing to see a missionary, they stick out so bad. But an American missionary in the Philippines is rare. (Some people here have never met a white person before. It would be like if a person black as night moved to star valley or Colorado). So when you put two American missionaries together, it’s like a beacon you can see from space. It was definitely a good day

Saturday was a pretty boring day, and it was hard. We didn’t teach much and just walked around looking for people

Sunday Elder Lozano skyped his family, but he is from Bacolod, they speak Ilongo, Cebuano, and Tagalog there, so his conversation was just a big mix of languages, I have no idea what they talked about. I also met some teenagers who thought they were funny and said "Hey Joe!" (Super common for Americans here, missionary or not), so I walked over and started talking about what we do as missionaries as fast as I could in English. They got overwhelmed and had this really worried look on their face and one of them walked away. But then I started speaking tagalog and they were actually really interested in what we have to say, we're going back next Sunday.

10 months

I got the package this week! And two letters that you sent in April. I don’t know what happened but I have them now. McKenzie’s letter was sweet; it was better than a handwritten letter because I could imagine how she would say it. And Kelsie drew some absolutely fantastic pictures.

What?? Districts is this week? Didn’t Kelsie email me like two weeks ago and ask who she should train with? I went running today for the first time in months, it was great. we got up at like 5am and went to a nearby high school. It was just a gravel track but it was well worn down and gave me a chance to run by myself. I can’t do that at a park or in a neighborhood because missionaries have to always be within sight and sound of each other. It was sweet to run by myself; I definitely need to because I’m getting way fat. 

This week was great, Monday we had family home evening at a part member home, it was the two fat kids i told you about. At first they hated it, they don’t like it when we teach, but we played games afterward and they loved it.

Tuesday one of the kids, Jander, worked with us for the day. He was so tired at the end of the night I thought he wouldn’t make it home. We went to a birthday party at the Flores family (a family with three daughters. the wife is in Canada and the father is a sort of less active/ returning member who served a mission a long time ago).

Wednesday we went to the only place in our area that is bukid and got caught in a rainstorm. I killed a giant spider because it jumped at me. I don’t feel one bit bad about it.

Thursday I realized how many less actives live in the ward boundaries. It seemed like the whole day we never had to walk more than a minute to find a less active family. Elder Lozano took me around to some less actives I’ve never met before, they are all over the place!

Friday was way fun. Brother Flores worked with us the whole day, he's so smart! I never felt like i had to explain to him the lessons, he just knows how to teach. It’s amazing how many less actives are returned missionaries, and they still know so much about the gospel!

Saturday we had a baptism (I’m sending pictures on the server) of a kid named Jonas, he's only 9 or 10. his mom went less active but came back after teaching her for a few weeks. We didn’t do much teaching on Saturday but the baptism was great.  On Sunday he showed up to church in a suit and tie with nice shoes! I was so proud of him until the end of church; he was barefoot wearing pants and a white t-shirt

Next week we will probably leave our house at the 10:00am and email around the same time as we are right now. Does that work for you? You’ll have to email me the information to get logged onto Skype.

PS  here’s my birthday list of things I need:

Pants, Skittles, Mormon tabernacle choir cds, Jerky, More dress shirts (same size)

Can you also send some toffee flavored cookies from Geraldine’s? Tell Kenzie the ones I always used to eat that she couldn’t have. I miss those so much. But wrap them in tinfoil not plastic because its super hot here.

 Well my time is up, I will see you next week! I love you!

Elder Williams