learning to love the culture

    

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers in Elder Williams behalf.  He survived his first typhoon with some crazy experiences. He has hit the three month mark and one month in the Philippines.

So we got hit with two typhoons this week, I gave a pair of garments to the cause. They are soaked to the most minuscule of fibers with dirty river/rain water. I want you to know that before I continue, everything I'm about to tell you is entirely true, and I am hesitation telling you because its so outrageous:

People say they love the sound of rain on a tin roof because it's comforting and peaceful, which is true, for about the first 12 hours. This week we had 48+ hours straight rain martes-biernes,  of intense it destroyed a dike from the dam that is at the base of a mountain (a hill if we were in Idaho)  and a huge rainstorm on saturday,. The main road in San Clemente was like a river, up to my waist at the deepest point. And that was in the road. We live in a house that has three big steps leading up to the inside, and we almost had water flood us. We helped a member of our branch push his tricycle (motorcycle with a sidecar), I saw a bunch of guys lead a 600 pound pig across the road, and we helped a bunch of people push a travel bus because the water was so deep it lost all momentum and couldn't move. It was about twice as bad as what we saw at Upper Palisades this summer.

You would not believe the things I've seen this week. I took a bunch of pictures and video of the flood we had, hopefully I can email them or send them in the mail soon. Also, in my apartment, I've seen a small lizard, a cockroach the size of a D-cell battery, a mouse, a frog the size of a small fist, and flies as big as nickels. INSIDE my apartment. This week I also ate cooked Heron eggs. If you're not starving and about to die, I wouldn't recommend it.

We cant wait to get pictures and the video from him to see the destruction.  He is having a great time and is learning the language.  I am sure everyday is easier than the last. This is from this week's email

I am finally learning the language and figuring out what to say to people. For the first three weeks and even now, I still have a hard time understanding what they say. But it is the same in English, I'm slowly learning that.
I got the dear elder from dad with a bunch of questions last week so here's all the answers:

How and what is the food?
     The food in our apartment is typically rice with an ulam (dish), sometimes corned beef, meat loaf, shrimp (real shrimp. They still have legs, the head, eyes, everything. and they are about twice as big and twice as gross looking as anything you'd find in Washington.) We bought the shrimp at the local market. The same lady who handled a fly-infested raw fish still swimming in the drained blood that pooled in the bottom of the container moments before we bought anything was the same lady who gave us our shrimp. Also the same lady who gave us 24 eggs for the week. The eggs were probably not within 2000 feet of a refrigerator. When we eat at members homes, I think its rice and whatever they killed earlier that day. Last week I ate the small intestine of a pig. "It's clean, Eldar. Kain na!" is what the member told me (its clean, elder, eat!) I think i told you about the herring eggs last week. I wouldn't suggest it if you don't have to.
Can you stand to eat it?
     I try to. The herring eggs weren't so awful I couldn't eat them, but after about 4 bites of pig intestine I wanted to stop. there is a girl we teach and every day across the street from her home a street vendor tries to persuade me to eat chicken feet and chicken head. She has them cooking over a coal grill, soaked in some sauce of something red or maybe orange. so gross.
How could will winter be there?
     I expect winter to be freezing cold, and i expect to see it in roughly 25 or 26 months. They have two seasons here: Rainy (June-December) and Hot (January-May).
Can you spend US cash?
     I'm not sure if I can or not, i've never had to worry about it. They gave us a bank card with our support money on it, but we are supposed to pay cash for everything. So every month I withdraw 7,800 pesos and make that last all month (which is actually really easy. Everything here is so cheap.)
How fast is the internet? Do you have to pay?
     Generally its slow, but some places its faster. Depending on the area, it costs P12-P16 per hour.
Sorry I haven't sent pictures yet, I always forget to bring something with me to send  pictures. But from now on I'll send pictures every week.
Mahal Ko Kayo

Every week we get to spend a little time email "Chatting" with him.  He told us how much he is enjoying his time and learning to love the culture
  

Typhoons

Philippines took a double hit in this week with two separate Typhoons. We have not heard from Elder Williams and feel like no news is good news.  Tomorrow evening is P-Day and we will be anxiously waiting to hear from him.  Many are without power and their is massive flooding so we wont be surprised if we don't hear from him. Here are a few details....

Powerful Typhoon Nesat crashed into northern Philippines Tuesday,  causing authorities to order more than 100,000 people to seek shelter from torrential rains and strong winds gusting up to 106 miles per hour in the capital city of Manila.

Nesat made landfall before dawn over eastern mountainous Isabela and Aurora provinces, which face the Pacific Ocean, packing sustained winds of 87 mph, the government weather bureau said.

 The Christian Post

The second typhoon in a week battered the rain-soaked northern Philippines on Saturday, adding misery to the lives of thousands of people, some still perched on rooftops from previous flooding.
Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes after Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore south of northeastern Palanan Bay in Isabela Province with winds of 100 miles an hour and gusts of 121 m.p.h. At least one person was killed in a landslide.
The fast-moving typhoon blew westward, barreling across the mountainous regions of Luzon Island. It weakened slightly as it reached the shore of La Union Province around 4 p.m., about seven hours after it made landfall.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 We are praying for the safety of the missionaries and the Filipino people.  It is a very sad situation.  We will keep you posted on how Elder Williams is doing and how the typhoons affected him.

growing experiences and culture shock

Elder Williams sent us an email last Sunday night. He is going through a little culture shock and is now learning the Tagalog language was not the one he learned in the MTC. Here is a portion of his email.

My companion Elder Casilac is a native from Davao, I understand his english about as well as I understand his Tagalog. I can't believe the traffic here, literally EVERYONE drives like Need For Speed. They have these things called "Jeepneys" which are basically small buses with the back door permanently gone. Easily the most unsafe thing ever. I saw a girl about 6 or 7 leaning out the back with one foot on the bumper, and another kid on the same Jeepney resting on the front tire well.

One of the best things about my area is that its every ten year old kids dream. There's tree houses, makeshift shelters, stick pole homes on the banks of the canal, and trees everywhere

Yesterday my neighbors killed, cleaned, and cooked a pig in the front yard. A bit traumatizing but hilarious at the same time. Everyone here calls me "Elder William" and they always forget the 'S' and they gave me my own scripture! read D&C 66:3 sometime. Its already Christmas here yesterday I went to FHE at a families home and we sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World. All the shops and stuff are playing Christmas music and decorations are for sale.

The movie The Other Side of Heaven make primitive living so appealing, but I miss some very basic things about home.

At masdan, ako rin ay isang lalaking kilala ang pangalan sa lahat ng yaong nakakikilala sa akin; oo, at masdan, ako ay maraming kaanak at mga kaibigan, at ako rin ay nagkamit ng maraming kayamanan sa pamamagitan ng kamay ng aking kasipagan
Patnubayan ka nawa ng Diyos hanggang sa muling magkita

The only pictures he sent last week were of the bathroom, must have made an impact.  

The bathroom in his apartment 

San Clemente

Sept 11, 2011
So I'm in an internet cafe, and I absolutely love the Philippines. Plus it's an american/chinese/filipino/every other eastern islands language keyboard, and I can't hardly type on it. So far the philippines aren't so bad, my first area is in a small town called San Clemente, but all our investigators live in grass huts by rice fields, its like an area that people would film to make missions appealing. But they would never film the geese who live in my backyard or the semi trucks rolling through at 3am or the ants that eat my rice faster than I do. But I still love it here, the kids are so awesome! a drunk guy called me Joe the other day, and I left my umbrella in my apartment on the first day we had a monsoon-type rainstorm. So now one of my favorite ties is ruined. But no worries.
Mahal na mahal ko kayo
Elder Williams

p.s. When I figure out how to mail things I will send a long letter of the first three days of my time here. Just know that I'm still alive and I always know what time it is there, I still haven't changed my watch yet. I am 14 hours ahead of you.
Tell McKenzie that my first transfer was Sept 7 to San Clemente and my first companion is Elder Casilac so she can update the calendar.

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Perfect gift to the families...

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And the adventure begins

On September 5, 2011 Elder Williams left the MTC at 4:30 PM to start a new adventure in the Philippines.  His flight schedule was as follows:
Salt Lake departure at 8:15 PM arriving in Los Angeles at 9:22 PM.
Leaving LA at 1:32 AM on the 6th arriving in Hong Kong at 7:15 AM on the 7th.
Leaving HK at 9:10 AM arriving in Manila at 11:15 AM.
From Manila they take a bus to Angeles.
It sounds like a long journey.

Now to put this in Mountain Standard Time.
Left the MTC at 4:30 (Monday) for the SLC airport.
Flight to LA was from 8:15 to 10:20 PM.
Flew out of LA at 2:40 AM (Tuesday)
Arrived in Hong Kong at 2:40 PM (Tuesday).
Flew out of Hong Kong at 7:10 PM
Arrived in Manila at 9:10 PM. 

He called us from Salt Lake and we were able to speak to him for about 10 minutes.  He sounded very nervous but would never tell us he was feeling that way.  We did get a little information out of him while we were talking. The group he flew with started off with 30 missionaries they traveled together to Hong Kong where 4 split off to go to Thailand.  The rest went to Manila, Philippines and then part ways when the got to Manila. Out of the group he has 5 missionaries that are serving in Angeles with him.

He said he had not been able to run for the last two weeks because he was sick but he was getting better. He also said he gained 10 lbs, making him a whole 134 lbs.  We hope he can keep it on.

In Los Angeles we got to speak to him for and hour and a half and heard many funny stories about the MTC and his companions.  During his time at the MTC Kolton had 2 companions.For any of you that know Kolton very well he has such a sense of humor and is always telling jokes.  One of the companions was a very serious by-the-rule kind of guy. He did not appreciate Kolton's sense of humor. For the first 3 weeks this companion would wake up at 6:00 and would not get out of bed until 6:30 because the missionary guidelines said they needed to be out of bed at 6:30. Somebody finally told him he could get out earlier he just could not sleep in. When they arrived at the airport the third companion's parents showed up to say "goodbye" and the "by-the-rule" companion got very angry and told him he could not talk to his parents.  I think it has been a very interesting 8 weeks with the three of them.

Sunday his district challenged him to eat 10 bowls of fruit loops for breakfast.  He said it made him so sick he spent a very long time in the bathroom thinking he was going to throw up.  It was clearly a bad idea because it made him sleep through the departure devotional for his disctrict.

During his phone call he told me about the "pass along" tradition at the MTC. The older districts have "pass along" items that each elder gives to an Elder in a younger district.  Kolton received a broken replica Sword-of-Laban. The Elder told him that if he could fix the plastic sword then he would be blessed with many baptisms.  We sent a tube of JB Weld and a file and he was able to put it back together. Kolton met a young man named Elder Peter who became his favorite Elder in the new district.. Elder Peter is from Kirabati Island (by Micronesia) and had been in the MTC for about 3 weeks. Kolton gave him most of his "pass along" items including the sword.  One of the most coveted things he passed on was a fan, the AC is not working in the MTC and their are not many fans to go around.

Kolton expressed how much he loved people from the islands and how genuine they are.  His best friend in the MTC is from the Hawaii I don't know how to correctly spell his name.  I spoke with him (Hawaiian Elder) on the phone while they were in Los Angeles. Just from the short time I spoke to him I could tell they had formed an incredible bond.  After hearing these experiences I am sure he will love the Filipino people. 
He also told me how much he loved President Taylor, the branch president.  I could tell he has spoken to him many times and counseled with him to get through his time at the MTC. After a long conversation it was getting late and his flight was boarding soon so we said our goodbyes.
We received a text when he got to Hong Kong and again from Manila. We know he arrived safely. Now we just wait for the first email to arrive.
He loves letters!!
Elder Kolton Williams
Philippines Angeles Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150
 

Just a few pictures of Angles, where he will be serving.

One Month mark!!

 Kolton has officially hit his one month mark at the MTC. Time seems like it is going fast and other times it feels like its moving really slow.  He is having a great time and learning so much.  The language is coming easier than he thought and is now teaching some progressing investigators in 100% Tagolog.

 Several of his friends from high school have recently entered the MTC and it's been fun for him to see them. Some of the guys from Bonneville he has seen are Andrew Smith, Kord Killpack, Dirk Beasley, and John Roberts. He is so happy to see people who he knows.

They are able to attend the Temple every Friday on Pday and is really enjoying the time he has to do this.  It was closed for the first few weeks he was there.  

Elder Kolton Williams and Elder Andrew Smith

                                           Kolton and Andrew went to high school together.

                                                 Who is watching these 19 yr olds?