1-28-13

 I'm still here in Munoz but my new companion is Elder Bellen! He was the first real friend I met in this country and the nicest person in the whole world so I'm totally okay with it.

Monday 

We had FHE with a family, he is our District President. His house is way nice, and they have a perfect family. The oldest is a 15 yr old girl who is really. Their 2nd kid is a 14 yr old and, their youngest is a 10 yr old boy. Any way we played this really great game called Sino ang Palaka (Who's the Frog?). It’s the best game ever; remind me to teach you when I come home

Tuesday

was a good day, we just worked like normal , but we got punted a lot so we visited this less active member who lives an eternity away from everyone and his house doesn't have electricity. When we stopped by he said "Elders, why haven't you been here in such a long time?" I didn't have the heart to tell him it's near impossible to get to his house. We ate dinner (na naman) at a members house and then got the transfer announcements at the computer shop. I'm staying here and my new companion is Elder Bellen; Elder Garcia is getting transferred to Camiling Zone

Wednesday

Transfer announcements! We met in the Munoz chapel and announced the transfers, almost all the companionship's got split up. E Garcia spent the afternoon packing his stuff and we went out and taught when the weather was a bit cooler. He said goodbye to a lot of people and most of them were sad he was leaving. Then we visited one of the  families and they refused to believe he was transferring. We even took a picture and he said goodbye and he was gone. They didn't even really care he was leaving, and I told them they would regret it when they knew for sure he was gone

Thursday

This morning we got on a bus and went to Cabanatuan for transfers, it was great to see the missionaries again. Elder Gifford bought chips and salsa, which I haven’t had in almost two years, it was so good! Once Elder Bellen showed up we had lunch at the church and went back to our area. We only visited a few people (and one birthday party) because Elder Bellen was feeling really sick. We got home and he was basically super-saiyan because his fever was so high so I gave him a blessing and he went to sleep.

Friday

So after weekly planning today, President Martino called me and said that a new missionary in my zone was having serious problems adjusting to life as a missionary, so he wanted me to work with him and help him out because he and I are the only foreigners in the zone (there's a girl from Fiji, does that count?) So Elder Bellen worked in Guimba and I worked in Munoz .

 Saturday

 Elder Bellen and I worked together today, it was tons of fun. We went to LingLingay and got punted a lot, we only taught one lesson. So I took him to a bunch of different families, and we ended the day with dinner at Brother Baldovino's house. Elder Garcia came here this afternoon because he was pinayagan ni President (I can’t think of the word for that. It means president let him come here to munoz). His companion was a temporary elder who went to India on his mission but his visa expired because the Indian government doesn't like mormons so their visas are only good for one year. He doesn’t know a word of Tagalog, but why should he, right? For now he's just here until his visa gets accepted, but nobody knows when that will happen.

Sunday

We had District Conference today, and I got to see President Martino, which was great. It was a very... enlightening conference. I didn't hear anything new from the speakers but I learned a lot. And we didn’t go to Linglingay for sacrament because of the District Conference and so we were really early to all of our appointments. We stopped to see a family and they were sad they didn't say goodbye to Elder Garcia but they got over it. We spent a long time there talking to them because they bought us a snack. After that we had a dinner appointment with another family, we ate sinigang na baboy, it was so delicious! And their anak was super kulit, just like always

"...and God will feel after you

 Hello

we had a zone activity at a less actives house today, he's super rich! We went to a less actives 'rest house' (he has two mansions, one in the city and one just outside of the city) by his bukid (field) and we cooked
barbecue and bangus and ate buko.

Jan 14, 2013

Finally a good P-day! E Garcia, Retaga, and Quilaquil went to Cabanatuan to get a chest X-ray (because they're going home soon), so I spent the day with Elder Keene and Verano. We emailed, went to Friendship, and the Palengke all before 2:00pm. We ate lunch, then nothing! Today was my first P-day in months I wasn't rushed, I loved it. A member got a job in Qatar and he leaves tomorrow, so we stopped at his house, ate TONS of food, and said goodbye. Then we went to a Families home for FHE. We played this great game called "Sino ang palaka?" (who's the frog?). Today was a great day.

Jan 15, 2013

Missionary work is pretty alright. This morning, we went to a less-active with Elder and Sister Fort, and a 20-min lesson turned into a 90-minute kwentohan (I think it means 'storytime,' or the equivalent of that. Try Google Translate). At lunch we went to Friendship and bought stuff for lunch, we got punted a lot this afternoon, but at least we got to teach a little bit. 

Jan 16, 2013

This morning we went to Guimba for DDM, it was pretty good I suppose. We went to a patay (funeral) and it started over 1 hr late. I gave a talk and assured them everything would be okay (see Alma 40). We then taught a few families. Then we walked home.

Jan 17, 2013 

. We went back to Rizal today looking for a guy, and we ended up only meeting his wife.  Elder Garcia made corned beef with Baguio beans for lunch, and we got punted a lot today. We taught a Family with Elder and Sister Fort, it was an experience of a lifetime. The  Family is all fluent in English, so nobody had problems understanding each other. We went to a members house tonight and they fed us food. By the time we were finished, it was almost nine and we had to get to the highway before the jeepneys were  gone, so we didn't get to teach. Another day na naman. Excited ako sa pag-uwi ko. Ilan araw na lang! nakupo!

Jan 18, 2013

What a day. We finished weekly planning really early today (10:38am) and Elder Garcia printed some sheet music that he's going to use at transfer announcements. I spent personal study time cleaning the house. Our neighbor in front was singing videoke and the neighbor behind us was playing the Worst of 80's Rock Music vol. 1 and 2. Instead of the morning, I spent lunch reading the book of Mormon. Today while we were working, some 16-yr old kid who looks 12 followed us EVERYWHERE. We walked into someone's house to teach, and he just stood outside and watched us. He refused to come inside or even talk. I bought a jacket in my last area and used it tonight because it was a frigid 20 degrees, then everyone we talked to or taught called me "Attorney Williams". To end the day, Elder Garcia and I taught a perfect lesson. We discussed the Fall of Adam and Eve with two recent converts who came from a referral from a member family. The Spirit was so strong during the lesson it actually surprised me.

Jan 19, 2013

This morning we were supposed to a have a "reactivation" day with members of the branch, but almost nobody showed up. We should have started at 9am, nobody but us and one other person showed up before 10am. We visited a few people around 10:30 until 12, and then ate Chooks to go for lunch. Our fireside was supposed to be at 1:00pm, but it got moved to 2:30 because nobody was there. Since we had tons of time to sit and wait, I read a bunch in the Book of Mormon. At 5pm, we had the baptism.  Of all the baptisms I've had here, this one was the best. After the baptism, we went to their home, then to Bagong Sikat but nobody was there pala. So we walked home because it was early and we had nobody to teach. I bought pandesal on the way home. I can't wait for tomorrow. 5 months to go!

Jan 20, 2013

Today was great. Almost never did I feel any desire or temptation to do something bad. During Sunday School, I was the happiest I'd ever been in my entire life, I can't explain why. When we came home for lunch, We went to the church around 2:00pm and left them to sort it out. Elder Garcia played the piano for the mUnoz 2nd Branch choir practice, they have a performance at the District Conference next weekend. While he played, I read the Teaching of Joseph Smith, it was wonderful. Out of everything I read, this is my favorite quote: "...and God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heartstrings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God."

Today was Nanay  43rd wedding anniversary, so she fed us spaghetto.

Anyway, my time is up. I'll talk to you again next week. I love you!

18 months.

tao po!( it’s the equivalent of knocking on a person’s door. Most people here don't have doors you can knock on, so you just say 'tao po' which translates directly to 'person please!' but really it’s just used as a way to say there's someone at the door)  we're early today!! Because my companion and Elder Keene's companion went to Cabanatuan (they need to get an x-ray before they go home) so me and Elder Keene are emailing early so we can go home early. BTW, I came back to Munoz. Elder Verano has a companion now. Elder Garcia are companions again. Transfers are on the 23rd of January Elder Verano's new companion is Elder Retaga. PS is dad awake? if he has time please tell him to email me .also McKenzie and Kelsie.

I've grown to love Elder Fort a lot. He talks ALL THE TIME about everything from cars to World War II to the changes in the Temple endowment during his lifetime. 

But Elder Fort  is really smart and I like it when he and I have conversations about deep doctrines of the church. 

So I got an email from Blas(his college XC coach) and Alex (from college) and now I don't know if I want to come home. I think I've become accustomed to life as a missionary I hate the idea of changing gears again and relearning another culture all over again.  Blas just asked me if I was ready to train and how much I could run and if there are mountains where I live. Alex is going to school and running at ISU. 

 Jan 7

I hate P-day. This morning we went biking as a zone that was pretty fun. Afterwards, we showered at the house in Munoz; I miss it already. Then I tried to take a nap, but just as I was falling asleep, E. Verano woke me up and we went back to Guimba. Once there we emailed (which I loved even more than usual). I was really stressed for most of it because I had to do a DL and ZL report, then I forgot to save the DL report and ended up having to do it over again. Afterwards, I got my haircut, and this is what happened: We went looking for Cut Salon, a big chain here that offers 38 peso haircuts instead of 40 or 50 pesos like other places. I didn't know where it was, so I asked some trike drivers who were just tumatambay on the street corner and one said "Right there! There's a bunch of places there". I explained to him I wanted a specific place and not just any shop; I was trying to save money. About three times he tried to say something like "Just pick one over there, they all cut hair!" To which I replied. "Hindi ito basta-basta, magpapagupit ako. Mahirap lang kami, magtetepid ako ngayon." (I'm not looking for any old barber shop. I need to find Cut Salon because we're poor and I need to save money). After the haircut, we went to a birthday party, then FHE at a members house. We ate adobo nang may pinya, so sarap! (with pineapple, so delicious)  

Jan 8

Work was great today. We met a guy who coughs like he just swallowed flour but he smokes like a chimney. He was a nice guy who said he doesn’t believe in God but we got him to pray after the lesson. This morning we went to the computer shop and completed an online course about family history, but some people here can't remember the day or year they were born, accessing records for their dead ancestors is near impossible. For dinner we ate at a members house again and watched the D&C videos. Also, we stopped to talk to this two people tonight who were having a conversation, and as we started talking, one of them got on his motorcycle and took off without a word.

Jan 9

This morning was my first DDM with only sister missionaries, I've never been in a district with only sisters my entire mission. We started at 9am and finished early, so we went to Jollibee for lunch, after lunch, I had tons of time to read; it was the best. Around 1pm I took a 20-minute nap, then read until 2.30. We got punted a lot today. It happened so much we were only able to teach members. Nagtatanim kasi ng sebuyas! We had dinner at a members home: sisig with petsay. Super sarap! Now I'm so tired right now I could die.

Jan 10 

I didn't get much personal study time today, nakakalungkot! (what a pity)  And super nakakaasar ang buhay! For lunch, we had fritong tilapia, then around 4pm the APs called and said I'm going back to Munoz! We went back to the house and I packed my stuff, then read Jesus the Christ (which I finally finished today) until the APs showed up to take me back to Munoz. Now that I'm back, I don’t feel like I even left, but I really missed Munoz a lot

Jan 11

What a day! I had lots of personal study time today, which was great! We went to Bical and found this family who let us teach, this new family gives us hope. It was great to see everyone in Munoz again; I'm so happy to be back. It really feels like I just went on an exchange for a day. In the words of Ice Cube, circa 1990 "I got to say it was a good day"

Jan 12

This morning we got punted a lot, so we ended up going to a far area I didn’t want to visit, but it turned out great! We found a less active family who doesn’t go to church. This evening was the annual Philippines Area Broadcast, where the area presidency reviews the past year and sets goals for the coming year. We ended the day with a baptismal interview for two of our investigators.

Jan 13

Today after church, we ate lunch and went to LingLingay for sacrament. We're getting less and less people to come to church, but hey, taniman na naman kasi. (but they were in the fields) When we got back, we helped some members find music online to sing for district conference in a few weeks, and didn’t get to work until 5pm.  Ay buhay. (is life) What a week.

Love you Elder Williams 

He will work miracles

Elder Williams had a really crazy and busy week last week so we did not get a really good email to share.

Hello! We went biking today so we're kind of late! I hope you're still awake because I have SO MUCH to tell you.  Well Blas hasn't emailed me or anything yet, but I got transferred! Remember how I was in a tripanionship? Well our other companion was in the middle of his training, so now I am his trainer. Elder Garcia's companion is a kid from San Antonio (Elder Bells area last transfer) and he is waiting for his mission call. My companion is AWESOME!  Anyway, I'll only be here until Jan 24 then I'm getting transferred. Yeah. Right now I'm a Zone Leader/District Leader/Trainer. We went to Munoz this morning and I miss the heck out of it. I hope Elder Garcia and I are companion’s again next transfer and I get to go back to Munoz, but we'll see.

1. Right now I'm in Guimba.

2. My companion is Elder Verano

3. Not yet, but maybe on the 17th or 29th

So where is the companion of Elder Verano? Or where did he go?  I am a little confused about all of this.  

1. Elder Verano's companion is Elder Nery, who ran away. tumakas na siya. 

2. We can't be alone as missionaries, so Elder Verano became me and E Garcia's companion (that makes us a tripanionship)

3. Last week, we found a person in another branch waiting for his mission call, so he became E Garcias companion

4. Elder Verano and I came back to Guimba on Thursday

Dec 31

New Year's Eve na naman (once again)! This morning I skyped my parents, it was... different. I really enjoyed it a lot, but now my family seems like such a distant, almost... foreign thing. My mom didn’t even cry when I said goodbye. I wanted to get everything done today early for P-day because it’s BAWAL (LIMITS) to leave our house after 6pm (they don’t want us to get hit by fireworks). I planned on sleeping since we have ZLC tomorrow morning. But today is also MCR Reporting day, and Guimba 3's reports are a mess because Elder Nery left and didn't teach his companion how to do the reports. Once we got home, I did laundry and ate tons of food, most of which the members gave us. Now we're just sitting in our room listening to videoke on one side of our house and music coming from the other side.

Jan 1

So last night at 10:30, I listened to fireworks for about 4 hours and around 2:30, Elder Garcia and I got up and went to Tarlac (because the mission home moved last week). We waited almost an hour for a bus and I was so cold! I know that's weird considering where I am, but hey, it was windy. The new mission home is a mansion pala! I couldn't believe it when I showed up, it's so much bigger than the one in Angeles. Today, President Martino and the APs taught us about Teaching as the Savior Taught. There wasn't any deep doctrine like last time, but it was the best. I absolutely love ZLC. The house is huge! It has two rooms with twelve beds each (four bunkbeds of three), a "General Authority" room and a master bedroom. Both the General Authority room and master bedroom have a balcony that looks out over the golf course. After planning tonight, we had a pull-up contest (the installed a pull-up bar on President Martino's balcony). One Elder got 16, President Martino got 12. I don’t ever want to leave the mission home

Jan 2

This morning started with a short message from Sister and President Martino, and then we all went to the mission office at the Tarlac Stake Center to get supplies. Once there, we basically didn't do much because we waited for Elder Tischner, the office staff, to check the post office for packages and other missionaries to take care of other things. Everyone on the Cabanatuan side of the mission (that includes us) ate lunch at NE Pacific, nakakatrunky! It reminded me of all the fun times I had when I was companions with Elder Abuan. We got home around 4:00pm, and had a dinner appointment at 7:30, so we didn't get much work done today. Kuya Baldo worked with us, he's great. We ate dinner at President Pajarito's home. I got strep throat last week and it still hurts a bit to swallow food. Anyway, we had some karne and so nagasgasan ang leeg ko. I had a hard time eating and they thought I didn't enjoy the food

Jan 3

 We had a Zone Training Meeting, best ever! We taught the zone everything we learned at ZLC and ended with a real teaching situation. We split the room in half and they taught Elder Garcia and myself as we are. So those who taught me taught a ZL in Guimba with a real concern. If someone had asked me before the meeting if I understood repentance and the Atonement, I'd have said yes. Our discussion was very personal, but my knowledge and testimony of these two things has increased 100 fold. I have a testimony that the Atonement changes lives. We could study it for a lifetime and maybe never fully understand, but if we believe and trust in God, He will work miracles in our lives.

At lunchtime this RM from about two years ago came to our house with his wife, it was weird. The APs came to work today, but I went to Guimba 3 to be E Verano's companion, so I didn't get to work with them. Guimba is great; I’m exhausted. I was falling asleep today in most of the lessons. I miss Munoz already

Jan 4

This was one of the best mornings ever. I studied the New Testament for an hour; we had comp study, weekly planning, and then ate lunch. We finished weekly planning early, so we were done eating around 12:05. From 12:05 to 1:20, I read Jesus the Christ. Then I took a nap until 1:39 (because E Garcia called me). After that, I read The Teachings of Joseph Smith until 2:30. And I loved every single minute of it. Tatay Castillo, the BML here, took us basically everywhere this afternoon on his trike. Our last stop was a less active, Joel.  Now I'm tired beyond belief. I just want to go to sleep and never wake up

Jan 5

Today we had a two hour comp study as part of the (relatively) new trainer and trainee’s course for missionaries.

 Well my time is up, thanks for the email time. I love you!

Elder Williams