Called To Serve in the Philippines Angeles Mission: 12-24-12

hii! Sorry we had a ridiculous zone activity today, I didn’t get my package yet, maybe next week at ZLC.

Would it be easier if I just skyped next week? President said we could do that, and I think it would make it easier because it’s a Sunday night and everyone will be home.. We have a meeting at 9:30 on Wednesday...

well... the problem with going later on Wednesday is that it’s no longer Christmas here, so we are back to a regular day of work. I don’t know why, but Christmas isn't as big of a holiday here in the Philippines. Tomorrow we're probably just going to visit members, but it’s weird because I don’t feel like its Christmas at all.

Dec 18

Tuesday was the best ever. We had Zone Christmas Conference in Cabanatuan, and I got to see a lot of missionaries; mostly new missionaries that I had never seen before. Most of the Conference was focused on Jesus Christ, which inspired me to continue my reading of Jesus The Christ (which is probably the best non-scriptural book ever written). It has made such an impact on me, I get up at 5:30 and read it while Elder Quilaquil (my kabahay) [housemate] lifts weights, because he's afraid of the ghost in our house (which may or may not actually exist. Both Elder Keene and Elder Quilaquil have reported suspicious activity). Today was also the last time I will ever see Elder Abuan. Nakakalungkot kasi! (what a pity) But I got to see some members from Gabaldon!! (One of them had an interview with President Martino) and also from Cabanatuan (remember that cute little kid in the suit? Him and his mom stopped by after the meeting was over.)

Dec 19

This morning for work we tried to tract in this new area na Elder Garcia heard about but has never been to, and then we found out there's basically not any people there, so that was fun. Then we taught a recent convert who was "baptized into activity" as Elder Fort (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Senior Missionaries) would put it, and he said he's been reading the Book of Mormon, he was so excited to tell us what happened and everything he's learned about it. This has been happening for about a week or two, and every time we go to his house, it just feels different. It makes missionary work so great when I get to see people turn their lives around.

Dec 20

Today we had a hard time teaching, because the college in town (CLSU) had a light parade and fireworks show in celebration for Christmas, and basically everyone attended. At one point we had some free time on our hands, so we got a few less active names and tried to find them, but most of them had moved houses. We asked a group of tricycle drivers (which is really like talking to a bunch of high school kids in the mall parking lot. They're not up to anything productive and probably doing something bad) about one less active, and he says "who gave you that name? where did that name come from?" and we told him na it came from our Branch President and he said "That guy died like 5 years ago, maybe more." So that was a fun experience. I enjoyed that 'wild goose chase' (is that a real expression?) looking for a dead man..

Dec 21

Today we basically didn't do any work. We had weekly planning in the morning, and a Christmas Party in Linglingay (The place where we are holding a special sacrament every Sunday afternoon). It was so much fun, we had games and a TON of people showed up, I wish that many people would come to church every week. Why is it that people will drop everything to come to activities or parties, but almost none of them would go to the trouble of changing their work schedule to be able to go to church? We had a ceramic bowl that they used as a pinata, it was filled with candy and people smashed it. They put blindfolds on these kids, and they looked like they were getting attacked by bees. Me and the First Councilor in the branch had to stand in front of them and catch the stick while they swung so they didn't make contact with any of the other children.

Dec 22

We did less work today than yesterday. around 2:30 we went to the chapel for our real Christmas party and helped them set up. It was great, the games here were WAY better than yesterday. This one game was a sack race for kids, but the sack was huge! So one little kid would take a loop around the gym, and when he got back, he would take another kid with him (instead of getting out of the sack and giving it to him) and the two of them in one bag would do a loop. With two kids, they did okay. With three kids, they could manage. At four kids in the sack, they were falling over , but still made it around one loop. When they had five small children into one empty sack, it was a complete disaster. They couldn't get all the kids to stand up together simultaneously. After the party, we went to the shop and printed some reports for our meeting on Sunday (we should have printed these reports on Friday, but we forgot.)

Dec 23

We spent the morning at church making copies for our SMC meeting in the afternoon, we ended up only making it to Sacrament Meeting, and we were almost late. After lunch, we had a meeting with President Martino and the Branch Presidents about the work, he was much more satisfied with the work we did this month than last month. Remember the Bombay that everyone made fun of a few weeks ago? we got him to work with us today, he took us around in his trike all day so we didn't have to take normal transportation. After planning, we made a graham cracker dessert for our Zone Activity on Monday

Dec 24

What a day... We wanted to have Zone Biking at 8am, but the Sisters showed up about an hour late. By the time we got to the place with the bikes, they were all out. So we made phone calls and talked to people and tried to get bikes, but no dice (look at that! Even I'm in a foreign country and I can still use expressions in English). Anyway we couldn't find bikes, so I taught people how to speed walk (I learned that in college, but maybe I told you) and we went back to our apartment. Once there, we all cooked lunch outside and ate the dessert, then everyone took off and left us to clean up. Which is why we are so late, because the San Anton Elders showered at our apartment which put us behind, and then Elder Garcia's family called and he talked to them for awhile. I'm just glad that P-day is almost over.

Ayway, my time is up! thanks for this great email time, And I cant wait to talk to you next week.

I love you!

Elder Williams