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