9-10-12

hello! sorry we're late, we nagpunta (went) to the dagat (SEA) earlier. I am super sunburned.

This week was awesome. I got the new debit card today! Also we got a new cellphone! Man I learned something awesome this week. So I don't know what the problem is, but I get canker sores about once a month. This one old lady gave me this idea to cook rice, and when its cooked I put a spoon in the pot and collect steam; when the spoon is hot I put it on the canker sore. It works really well, actually. you should try it sometime when you're cooking rice and you have a canker sore at the same time. (but what are the chances, right??)

So we have this  guy that is getting ready to enter the temple in December and we teach him about once a week. He's kind of losing hair but not quite bald. (Almost nobody is bald here... weird.)

So I lost a tooth filling this week. Remember the one that fell out in college? It's the same one. I don't know what the problem is but this is the second time it's fallen out.

I have to tell you the funniest thing ever. So every day we have language study after lunch, and Elder Abuan has this voice recorder he uses for different things. Anyway this week he did this thing where he asked questions in English to the recorder, and he would try to answer them in English as well. Seriously the funniest thing ever. It was like he was having a conversation with himself through a voice recorder. He speaks way better English than he did last time we were companions.

This week we had Zone Conference, it was sweet. President Martino and Elder Howell (who is the Perpetual Education Fund representative for a few missions in the Philippines) both spoke to us. 

Earlier we went to the beach, it was awesome. The same beach we went to last time, so I didn't take too many pictures. But go ahead and check the server, there's some pictures from Zone Conference and two awesome videos. 

Sister Lutz is the best. Last Friday we had house checks and then companion exchanges, so we just got a ride with them to Dingalan. Her and I had the best conversation ever in their truck:

"Sister Lutz, do you eat rice very often?"

"Oh sure, we cooked rice last night!"

"Really? What do you usually put on it?"

"Oh, sometimes we have vegetables or I'll cook some meat or something"

"How often do you eat rice? Have you ever had it for breakfast?"

"Breakfast?!?! NO!! Who in the WORLD eats rice for BREAKFAST?"

"....Can I tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday?"

"Oh sure, go ahead."

"We had rice, and we ate it with hot dogs, eggs, and ketchup"

"What?! Don't you have bread or something? Eggs are good with toast for breakfast, but not RICE! "

"Actually, I used to eat bread all the time, but lately I haven't felt a need to eat bread. Its been about two weeks since I've bought a bread loaf and I don't mind it at all. Plus hot dogs are good for the nighttime when I'm too tired to cook a meal. It's quick and not too messy."

"I don't understand!! Don't you just have bread and peanut butter so you can make a sandwich when you're too tired to cook?"

"We don't buy peanut butter often, it's too expensive for the amount of money that we have each month"

"Well, we don't really look when we buy things at the store.. So what are you eating for lunch today?"
"A lady down the street from us cooks ulam every day, we'll probably just buy from her, and then cook rice when we get home. It's way cheap, too! Only 15 pesos for 1 ulam"

"So she just cooks chicken or whatever and you just cook your own rice? I guess that's a pretty good idea."

"Yeah we eat it about 3 or 4 times a week. Want to try it?"

"But our house is an hour away! Where would I put it?"

"She'll put it in a plastic bag for you, so you don't need to worry about it."

"I can't handle that, its too long. If I had a cooler or something.."

"Sister Lutz I can tell her to double bag it if you'd like!"

"No. No no no. It's too much for me. What if the food is cold by the time we get home??"

"Then when your rice is cooked you put the ulam on top of the rice and let the steam warm it up. For us it usually takes about 5-7 minutes"

(Then we got out of the car and didn't finish the conversation. Sister Lutz is great. I also attached a picture of when we cooked the mac and cheese a few weeks ago.

Love you

Elder Williams