Christmas and Fireworks

How's it going everyone. This last week was another week full of Philippines insanity. To start, we taught both of our investigators on Tuesday. It is so fun to teach lessons where they are into the gospel. I've gotten so good at recognizing the promptings of the spirit which is so fun. They are both on baptismal date. In case I totally spoofed this in my last email, we taught Ryan, who was one of our investigators, his second lesson a bit ago. We felt prompted to teach him about prayer and how God cares about us and is willing to help us with anything. We told him if he prayed with real intent, he would get help. We left and the next day he texted us and said his prayer was answered. He was out of a job and wanted a chance to make money for Christmas. A little while after he prayed, he got a job offer to be a waiter at a restaurant. It cant get much better than that. 

We didn't have any more teaching appointments the rest of the week because literally all of our investigators were gone for Christmas. So we tried to build up our teaching pool the rest of the week. We did have a dinner appointment appointment once a day though, and since today is Christmas we have like 3 in one day. On Christmas Eve we went to the bishops house for their whole family Christmas party. It was probably the first time I've eaten that much food other than Thanksgiving at home. After that, we had games which were so fun. The way they did things was that the loser doesn't get a punishment, but second and third place do. Because "second place is first loser" we were playing a tongue twister game where you cant show your teeth. It was down to me and the bishop and while we were going, his chair broke and he slo-mo fell backwards. I promptly laughed as a normal person does and I showed my teeth, so as a punishment for losing, I had to dance with my companion who got third place. 

Anyway for a spiritual thought, I'll talk about Christmas. It is important to remember Christ's birth, but it is even more important to remember why we remember Him. The atonement He gave to us is the greatest gift of all and we need to use it. If we don't, its like getting a brand new car for Christmas and never driving it. 

Anyway have fun and don't have too much fun without me.

 

Dr. Pepper and the Christmas Grind

What's up guys, this is week 5000 out 20. This week was pretty standard for the Pines. Really hot and relaxing not. 

On Tuesday we taught Claire and visited some new people. We went into a really poor area of Mandaue that day and we met another really old lady. I'm not really sure what it is about this area that brings in all the old people. She and her family were members but stopped coming to church even though they still believed. We basically just told them it is important to keep going to church and they really must have taken it to heart, because they straight up just didn't come to church the following Sunday. 

Then on Wednesday, me and my companion both got food poisoning from some water. We ran out of clean water for a day so we just figured we would boil some normal water for 15 minutes for cooking purposes. Even then we got something because we were down for Wednesday and Thursday. 

Friday, we taught a new interested person named Ryan. It is pretty nice having an interested person that is a guy because you can be sure they are interested in the message instead of my guapo companion, or they are interested in swindling an American. He is a pretty cool guy and we are excited to teach him more. 

Not too much happened Friday and Saturday other than lessons with some inactive members. 

Sunday was the ward primary program which was pretty cool. It was also a primary kid's birthday, so naturally, they sang the happy birthday song during sacrament meeting. 

We had a dinner appointment that night and they had Dr. Pepper which was absolutely crazy for the Philippines. 

For my more spiritual thought just be grateful for authentic Christmas music instead of the off brand stuff they have here, and be grateful for family and a warm fire.  Anyway see ya.

For context on the pictures

Average Mandaue street

An alleyway we walk through regularly that is famous for robberies

A picture from our humanitarian service project. (There is enough food for 3000 emergency kits.)

Some kids I played basketball with. They were good, but I have like 4 feet of height on them so they stood zero chance.

 

Christmas in the Party City

How's it going guys. This is week 98 out of 4. This week has been so packed with stories I don't know where to start. On Tuesday, we taught a new investigator named Claire who just moved to Mandaue from the country to go to college. she is really interested in the message and we have been teaching her almost daily. It's really funny because when we do teach lessons to her, we go to the home she is staying at with her friend who is a Japanese woman who can't walk. It is a super tiny house and we sit on the floor, which isn't bad, but it means we are constantly barraged by a litter of puppies that her dog had. She leaves the door open to make the house feel bigger and the puppies are just outside the door. The devil works in clever ways to interfere with the work I guess. While we were mid lesson, one stole my shoe that was sitting by the door and I had to chase him down. 

Wednesday we taught Beyonce and Leslie again. They are progressing pretty fast but I'm not as sure they are ready to be baptized. 

Thursday we taught Claire again and the spirit was extra strong. We felt prompted to extend a baptismal invitation and she agreed. Hopefully, she will get baptized on the 30th of December. 

Friday was the day of the ward party. This thing was actually insane. It went from 4 to 9, and it was never boring the whole time. We had different investigators coming at different times so we stayed for the whole thing, and it was crazy. I knew I was in for a something new when me and my companion could hear the bass from the music from around the block. They started with a presentation competition between all the auxiliaries, like the elders quorum, primary, youth, etc. We, as missionaries, prepared a presentation where we sang a popular Cebuano Christmas song. We got to the third verse and everyone got up and did a conga line around the gym. I wish I had a video so bad. The primary made a green screen presentation where they went back in time to the 80s. Me and my comp were dying because of how bad it was but I love their enthusiasm. 

Then they had a raffle for gifts that the members in the ward presented. I was hoping the whole time that my name wouldn't get called because I would feel guilty just taking the prizes away from someone in need. The one time I actually win a raffle I didn't want to win. Luckily it was only ramen. The party ended with a giant feast. They brought 3 whole lechons which are whole pigs that are spit roasted with veggies crammed inside. It was some of the best food I have eaten here, but they might not have cooked it long enough because I've had the runs pretty bad for the last few days. Saturday was much more chill. We worked with some ward members to visit some referrals. We met a family that is friends with a lot of ward members. We mainly just got to know them and are going to go back to teach gospel stuff. 

On Sunday, me and my companion were asked to speak on ministering. I gave a pretty good Cebuano talk if I do say so myself, whether or not it worked is up in the air right now. We visited Claire again on Sunday then had a dinner appointment at a members house. The whole time we were there, their little kid kept on trying to smear cake on my clothes. As soon as we stopped paying attention to him he would grab a handful of cake and charge. Luckily my reflexes are pretty good, and he is like 4 so I escaped unharmed. 

For my spiritual thought, I will just say that Christmas time is special and shouldn't be taken for granted. There is so much joy surrounding Christmas, so take advantage of it and spread the joy. 

Don't do anything too fun without me.

For context on the pictures

1. The "buses" we ride are tiny so when I have to stand I hurt my neck.

2. Going to meet some new people with the members

3. Teaching Claire in the tiny house

4. Me and my comp at the Christmas party

5.the best sunset in Mandaue so far

6. We found a Crispy Creme in one of the malls

Birthdays and Microwaves

 How's it going everyone, this is week negative ten out of 8 million.

 This week was pretty crazy for Mandaue. For P day, we went shopping and it happened to be a form of black Friday where we went. It was insane but we couldn't shop any other days so we just had to deal. The way they do their deals here is they have giant bins you can just rummage through to find diamonds in a giant bin of crap. I scored some sick flip flops with treads on the bottom. I don't know why anyone wants flops they can go hiking in, but I have wanted a pair of thongs for a while now and they were the equivalent of 3 US dollars so I couldn't say no. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my last email, but we are in a different apartment now. It's pretty bougee compared to the dump. It has a nice fridge and even running water. Truly a magnificent upgrade. The problem is that it is concrete and just absorbs heat. It gets around 99 with humidity at 2, and doesn't cool off until around 8 or 9. I've named it the microwave for the time being. We requested an air con unit because it is almost as hot as me in there sometimes. (My new companion let me know that all you have to do is put in a request for things and you can get them...would have been nice to have an air con unit in the dump). 

Tuesday we finished moving in and had to get pictures for our air conditioner and bunk bed so we only had enough time to do some short finding. On the way back to the apartment we met a taxi driver that couldn't speak English and said he wanted to read the scriptures but he couldn't find a Cebuano version of the bible. We gave him a Cebuano version of the Book of Mormon and shared a short testimony about it to him. We gave him the info to the missionaries in his area. He seemed excited to read and I hope he reads it. 

Wednesday we taught the Lofranco couple a short lesson.  Then we got to know a part member family who has some promise. 

Thursday we went finding for most of the day and didn't have any teaching appointments. We had a few appointments lined up on Friday and they were all canceled because everyone in Mandaue is busy. We ended up doing member visits to get referrals. 

It was my birthday on Saturday and I got the best birthday present ever. We had a full day of teaching visits and a bomb dinner appointment. We gave Tatay a blessing because he has been in pain recently after a stroke. It was really cool to bless him and feel of his testimony. We then taught Beyonce and Leslie. They were both so interested in what we were teaching, and I feel like they have baptism potential. After that we had a dinner appointment at the bishop's house. They were already celebrating their aunt's birthday and my companion helped hijack their party for me. I felt kind of bad when they put the cake in front of me and sang to me instead of the aunt, but they had ube cake which is the best flavor of cake I have ever tasted. 

Overall, I just feel like we are so blessed with everything we have, and when we thank the Lord, even more blessing are showered on us. 

Don't have too much fun without me, and Merry Christmas.

For context on the pictures, the bishop had a massage chair and he let me use it for my birthday, It was incredible. That steak probably looks nast but it only cost 70 cents so that is expected, plus it was my first time frying a steak.

Transfers and Beverly Hills

What's up everyone this is week number 16 out of 92 quadrillion. This week went from a 3 to a 10 which is pretty crazy for Mandaue. We had transfers and my companion was changed from Elder Cayabyab to Elder Harris. Because my comp figured out he was getting transferred, we didn't do much until transfer day. I got Elder Harris who is a dope dude. He is a germaphobe and when we got back to the dump he was pretty annoyed. But it was dope because he is the only other missionary, basically ever, that was motivated to help me clean the apartment and oh baby we cleaned. Its actually crazy how nice the apartment was underneath all that filth. And right as I'm writing this, we got a call from the housing elders telling us we were going to a new apartment which sucks but at the same time they might have AC which is dope. We went exploring Saturday which was cool, and then we went to some member houses on Sunday to familiarize ourselves with the leadership, which was awesome. While we were walking, we went to the Beverly Hills of Mandaue which of course reminded me of the Weezer song, Beverly Hills. 

After walking through there, we took a turn through an alleyway and we walked through a street to see a gigantic snake this guy just had. We took some awesome pictures that I'll attach. 

Anyway, for my spiritual thought, I just thought I would just write about how God is like your spotter when you are gettin shredded at the gym. He lets you struggle with the weight knowing that you will get some big guns if you just keep reppin. And he will always be there to grab the bar just in case you cant lift anymore. He grabbed the bar for me this week and things are looking up.

Anyway don't do anything too fun without me.

I had a picture of the snake across my shoulders but I wasn't paying attention and there was a "no urinating" warning with a big wiener on it which is probably not appropriate for a missionary email.

 

And the Rains Came Tumbling Down

How's it going guys. This is week something? out of a big number of weeks. Not much happened this week except for rain. There was a typhoon headed for Cebu but it diverted and we didn't get hit. That didn't stop everyone from panicking though. Water went from like 20 pesos (40 cents) for 5 gallons to like 40 pesos (80 cents). Truly a mind blowing price increase. Most of our interested people were busy and one of the Elders in our district was headed home so we didn't get any lessons in, sadly. 

For interesting stories, we saw two dogs fighting over who got to eat a poop filled diaper. The dogs here are insane. Just the other day we were eating dinner on the street and 4 or so dogs came over to beg. One of them was missing a tail and had a big scrape across half of it, one dog had so much mange that it was missing half of its fur, one dog looked normal, and one dog was pregnant and missing a leg. It just hobbled around begging for food. 

On a less depressing note, I just want to mention the importance of putting in the effort to serve the Lord. Especially recently when our evenings were spent at goodbye shindigs for the Elder that was leaving. I felt like there was a part of me missing, and it was because we weren't using our missionary time wisely. Make sure to dedicate at least a little bit of your time to the Lord and you will be able to feel the difference. 

Anyway, don't do anything too fun while I'm gone. See ya. 

By the way one of the pictures is squid my companion cooked. It wasn't half bad to be honest.

 

Squitos and Spiders

How's it going everyone. I think my one month mark for being out in the field is tomorrow which is crazy to think. This week was more or less the same as last week for the most part. We mostly went  finding and tried to really familiarize ourselves with the area. We met a ton of different people but none of them really agreed to a second appointment with them which is a shame. Its really funny because the kids just mob me when we walk down more poor areas and they always want me to dunk on their homemade hoops. They are fascinated with my blonde arm hair which is pretty funny. 

We taught Beyonce and Leslie (I thought her name was Britany before) again and they brought their friend so we taught her too. It was a really good lesson, but halfway through, a half drunk family friend of theirs walked over and said he loved Jesus and wanted to learn too. We could tell he wasn't that interested but we let him join. Every once in a while he would interrupt with a half drunk "amen!", but he was pretty nice plus we got to watch him sway and almost fall off of his chair a couple of times which was really entertaining. 

On a less positive note, the mosquitos have really ramped up their efforts to eat me alive. I will wake up at night and even though I load on the mosquito repellant, they still manage to bite me because I sweat it off. I'm gonna have to reapply halfway through the night if this keeps up. Along with the mosquitos is the biggest spider I have ever seen. I was walking up the stairs right as a spider the size of my palm ran down the stairs. Of course i screamed like a little girl which made my companion laugh, and then as I tried to kill it, it slipped through a crack between our stairs and the window. Apparently they are harmless and they just eat cockroaches, but honestly I would rather have cockroaches. 

On a more spiritual note, I really have gained a strong testimony of effort, and rewards for that effort. If we put in the effort and try to find new people, life gets much easier. So putting in the effort to read scriptures or minister is definitely worth it. 

I miss you all! Don't have too much fun without me.

 

Paper Airplanes and the Hershey Squirts

How's it going everyone?. I think this is week 4 in Mandaue. I'm getting pretty used to the heat and the crazy atmosphere here, but it is still something different every day. We played early morning basketball with the members today. We were going to go to the Mactan shrine for a district activity which is the place where Magellan was supposedly killed, but it got cancelled because half of our district was out with food poisoning. We played ball instead which was fun but we played in like 95 degrees and humidity and it was 6:30 in the morning. By the end of the games we played, I legitimately looked like I fell into a fountain. 

This week we did a lot of visiting inactive members and we found two new interested people, or rather my companion did. They are sisters and their names are Beyonce and Britany which are the two most non Filipino names I have ever heard. They are really nice and when you see the pictures you will understand why my companion found them. Its so funny how like every Filipino in our district wanted to teach her. 

Anyway, speaking of food poisoning. Me and my companion went to a member house for a dinner appointment and it was great, but then they brought out oysters. I gave em a try and the members didn't expect me to munch too much, but my companion loved them and ate a whole bunch. Not even 45 minutes later, we were on rotation for our tiny bathroom. I only ate a little so I just had the runs, but my companion was barfing too so we were out for a day.  

We did some non member appointments then Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. The head honcho of the Philippines, Elder Bangerter, spoke and it was really good. 

Anyway, for a spiritual thought. I'll talk about paper airplanes. While me and my companion were down in the apartment. we had a paper airplane competition. As y'all know, you have to bend and fold a normal sheet of paper to get it to fly. Like paper airplanes, the Lord uses trials and problems to bend and fold us so we can fly. 

Anyway, don't have too much fun without me, and enjoy the cold weather.

 

You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd

 Holy cow what a week! I feel like I say that every week, but this week was especially crazy. I have recovered a lot since my last email and things really picked up since my last P day. The day after p day was zone conference and I felt good enough to go which was the right choice. It was really cool to talk to other missionaries who had some great advice. 

Wednesday was great too. We had a baptismal interview for a younger boy. His name is Pauli and he was the only member of his family to get baptized. His mom died when he was young, and he has no siblings.  I think that would be really tough. He lives right next to the church though and played basketball and volleyball with the members which is what led him to want to be baptized. It really showed me that my life is pretty great. 

Thursday we visited some inactive members, and did some finding. We were walking down this residential kind of area and a chihuahua ran up to me and started nipping at my ankles. Then like 4 more dogs ran out of the bushes and started chasing me. I whipped out my umbrella and was about to beat them back when a young guy came out and shooed the dogs away. He was interested in the message and we shared a quick message with him which was cool. We did some non member visits and finding for Friday and Saturday. We walked into a less active member house and the couple we taught looked like actual skeletons. They were nice though and loved our visit. The song I noticed myself singing in my head this week was one by Roger Miller.  "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd" the chorus of the song is "you can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you put your mind to. Knuckle down, buckle down, do it do it do it." I've really found that if I try to serve the Lord to the best of my ability, I am far more happy and successful. There are things I don't have, like air conditioning, running water, and a good roof. But I can be happy if I put my mind to it. Anyway don't do anything too fun without me, and enjoy the cool weather for me.

Jake

Still Alive Somehow

 How's it going everyone?  This last week has been more or less the same as last week. In my last email, I probably said that I would be recovered by my next email, but God had different plans for me. I've been a little more sick than usual. Its been rough because my fever only broke a couple days ago and I was only able to get out and about on Sunday. But that's just the way the cookie crumbles out here. I had the chills for the last few days so now that I'm getting a little more back to normal, it is feeling hotter and hotter. Which is technically a good thing, but it doesn't feel like a good thing. I just want to thank you guys for all the support you have shared with me. It is definitely helping the days go by a little easier for sure. I think this has been the biggest lesson in patience and trust that I have ever received. There have been moments when I'm laying on my thin mattress throwing my slides at the cockroaches that are climbing on our moldy walls, and I've thought,  "I'm out in the mission field and I cant even get the blessing of being able to teach people yet."  And it sucks, but God knows what is going to be best for me. 

I recently was shared a scripture in D&C about Joseph Smith in liberty jail. His suffering was pretty bad and he was wondering where God was in his trials and God's response was "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;  And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." I'm sure this is going to teach me a lot about humility and trusting the Lord, but its still hard. I'm more or less better now so tomorrow is gonna be great.

Thanks for the prayers.  Jake

The True Meaning of Misery

 Dude I don't even know where to start here. These last few days have been the most insane days of my life without question. I guess to start, we left the MTC at 2 in the morning for the airport and arrived in Cebu at 7:30. At this point I had really started to get sick and I was running a fever with chills and a pretty nasty cough for a couple days at that point, and I felt pretty crappy, but I was still excited to get out to the field. We met at the mission president's house which was crazy nice, and we were told where we were going to serve. I wanted to go to the countryside so bad, but I guess Heavenly Father had different plans because the mission president said "have you ever been to a concrete jungle before?" That's when i found out i was getting sent to the Mandaue 1st area. Mandaue is literally the most people dense area in the Philippines. But I was still excited to go there. It was then that the mission doctors checked on me and decided that they wanted to test me for pneumonia since my breathing didn't sound good. So I got to spend the first six hours of first day in the hospital. So by the time I reached the mission field I was sick, sleepy, and coughing like crazy. Then I was treated to the state of our apartment. It was dim, smelly, small, and the water only works for a couple hours every day. If you want some water for a bucket shower it's a dice roll on whether or not you will get it. Plus the roof is leaking water near constantly, the bathrooms aren't fit for humans to go near, and worst of all is the near constant sweltering heat. My first night I couldn't sleep because of the heat and the constant coughing, and there was a song by maroon 5 that was playing in my head called misery. Here are some of the lyrics. "I am in misery, and there ain't nobody who can comfort me. Why wont you answer me? the silence is slowly killing me" I was praying for a long time for comfort and assistance through this trial, and I was almost getting angry at God for making me recover from sickness in this dump while I gave him two years of my life. It was then that I realized that these experiences are going to help me grow as a servant of God, and that I just needed to trust in the Lords timing. Then the next day I had the chance to baptize two converts that the sisters helped. It was almost the Lord saying directly to me that He knows I'm uncomfortable, and that He knows I'm tired and sick, But He will use these trials to shape me into a stronger man and missionary. So now whenever I think about that song when I'm miserable, I'll change the lyrics, " I am in misery, and there is somebody who can comfort me, I trust that You will answer me, but the silence is slowly killing me" 

I'm sorry for the longer email. I usually keep things shorter, but this one was a bit different. Anyway I'm missing you all. Don't do anything too fun without me.

Mountain Dew and General Conference

 It's my final P day in the air conditioned MTC! I can't wait to get out there and live in a hut. In terms of the language, I figured out how sentences are built and structured. So all I need to do is build up my vocab and I'll be a bisdak (that's cebuano for local). General conference was pretty sick. I took some fire notes and only fell asleep twice. I have been sick the last couple days so that's my excuse. I drifted off during the raising your kids talk and tipped over into the row. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life. My chair tipped over and made a giant clang and it was the most surreal experience because one second I'm drifting off and the next second I'm on the ground with everyone looking at me. That wasn't all the general conference drama. My district mate brought a 2 liter mountain dew to the activity center where there was a strict no dewski policy. Of course, he then took the entire thing down in a half hour. Right as he was taking his last sip the mission president himself came over and yoinked it. I thought it was hilarious, but then me and my companion got called into his office. Since we are MTC zone leaders it was our responsibility to not let him bring it in. Oh well its not the worst thing to get in trouble for. We are packing up and leaving in two days and only have one day of class left. I'm hyped to get out there and do some cool gospel stuff. I was told there is an area that includes a remote island where the only white people they see are missionaries. I'm hearing more and more stories of missionaries blessing the sick and converting whole families and I can't wait. There is a picture pinned up on the notice board of this skinny missionary baptizing this old man in the ocean with men gathering fishing nets in the background. I can't wait to be that guy. I'm missing you all but not too much. Don't do anything too fun without me.

The Sloop John B

 What's going on everybody, this is week 5 I think, probably week six but who's counting. I think my mom and the girls  back home are the only ones counting actually. Anyway I think I have officially settled in to Philippines missionary life. I can tell because it sucks to go to bed, and it sucks to wake up in the morning. My companion found the song the sloop john B by the beach boys in the ringtone list. the song is about how a guy is on a boat and wants to go home. So every morning I wake up to "I feel so broke up, I wanna go home." We don't actually wanna go home, but for us it's kind of like hearing someone say oh poor baby me. It helps me think about how I've got it pretty dang good and that it really isn't that hard to wake up and learn language for 10 hours. Since it's P-day I'm super excited to go to the temple. Its great to have a couple hours to do ordinances and relax as we serve the Lord. I used to think that we went to the temple just to help others, but the temple is also there for us to reflect and think about our blessings. Our last Sunday in the MTC was a couple days ago. Since I am zone leader here I have to find people to prepare the sacrament and teach priesthood lessons. We managed to find enough people before Sunday which was cool, but as soon as Sunday rolled around literally everyone we chose either fell down the stairs, had blood in their diarrhea, or was puking their guts out. We managed to figure things out but I'm convinced we were cursed. 

We only have ten days left here at the MTC and our leaving date is closing in, my last P day will be next week. I'm super excited to get out there and teach. I've also made it my goal to stop complaining about the heat and be more positive, but just will share a snippet from an email coming from a missionary who left a week ago to the mission I'll be serving in. "At no point do you ever feel slightly cool. You wake up sweaty, you sleep sweaty, and when you get out of a nice cold shower you are sweaty in minutes." With that I end my email. Don't do anything too fun without me.

Feeling Like a Caveman

How's it going everybody? This is week four I think, or week five. Whatever the case, the language is getting real now. We can only speak cebuano in class unless we have permission from the teacher, which is pretty rare. We had our first English fast yesterday from morning to night. Since we didn't know that much cebuano we just communicated like cavemen. "Oo" means yes and "dili" means no. So we would combo that with basic vocab we had memorized which was pretty meager already. You would be surprised at the variety of various insults you use. We only know "bobo" which means stupid, and dili gwapo. Which means not handsome. One of my district members tossed a chicken foot into my water and i called him a butthead which earned me 15 pushups because I spoke in English. At the same meal we started talking to a bisdak which is a local, and we "talked" to him in cebuano. He told us we sounded like cavemen which is way funny. We go out into the field on October 13th which seems way too close, but I'm sure I'll have the language down by then. I have some of the first lessons memorized, but I know next to nothing when it comes to daily life. There is a 100 percent chance I'm gonna be eating squid beak because I can't speak very well. I'm missing you all, enjoy the cold weather because you all don't realize how good you have it. Don't do anything too fun without me.

Elder Schwab

*This is Sue now.  I wanted to pass on some info from a text that I got from a Senior Sister who is at the MTC right now.  

"Just a little bit about the Philippine's MTC.  It will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year.  When missionaries arrive, they fly the flag of their home country over the MTC.  Right now, a few countries we have here are Samoa, Tonga, Mongolia, Vietnam, Korea, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Karibati and Ghana,  Many come from very humble circumstances.  We give all non Americans eye exams.  The Church is very generous with providing glasses and clothes for those that come without.  It is an honor to be here with these missionaries, including your sons and feel of their testimonies and goodness.  I encouraged them to get to know the other missionaries because their stories are inspiring.  However it is challenging to get to know others because they are kept very busy in their districts.  Your missionaries came in with a group of 100.  In that group, there were 10 Pakistan missionaries.  I will end with their story.  Elder Shamaun's Grandpa was the first member of the church in Pakistan.  They now have their own mission in Pakistan since 2021.  The mission president called the MTC and said "we need more missionaries here"  Elder Shamaun says the country has 50 baptisms every Sunday.  One of the sisters has just her and her brother as members.  She was in an arranged marriage.  Her father passed away a year ago and her non member mother said "if you want to go on a mission, I will get you out of the arranged marriage."  The elder was saying it is hard to be a member of the Church in Pakistan at times, I wonder how safe?  These missionaries are incredible.  The whole lot of them.  A Vietnam sister is the only member in her family.  A pioneer.  President says 1000 members only in the whole country.  Ghana Elder is going to Japan.  As hard as this transition has been for your sons, please know that they are in a special place.  The Lord loves His missionaries and so do we.  This district has been super supportive of each other."

This is Sue again.  It has been so fun talking to Jake each week.  Something that I thought was interesting is that they must have a medical staff there at the MTC (or at least dental)  because a Filipino sister in his district had her wisdom teeth removed last week and same with an Elder from Ghana (Along with 4 of his rotten teeth).  Jake said he has been brushing and even flossing religiously after seeing some of the other missionary's teeth.  

Thanks for the love and support you give our boy!

Sue

Hotter Than the Devil's Sauna

 Week three went crazy quick. It feels like only yesterday that I wrote my last email. The subject of my email is a perfect representation of my last week in the mtc. I'll give a perfect analogy much like my bowl of ramen analogy. except this one is far more refined. Imagine you get sent to he🏒🏒. And you are allowed one hour in the sauna there, but you then find out it is insano style hot, and they use garbage juice to make the sauna humid. Now imagine it's crazy foggy and the fog tastes like garbage juice. You didn't go to he🏒🏒. You went to the Philippines MTC. The air is completely nasty 6 days of the week. With the exception of Sundays. We have been learning a lot of cebuano lately and it's tough. Sentences are structured completely different, and all of the pronouns and sentence markers are so confusing. After a rough day of grinding language I felt tired and burnt out. All I wanted was some crisp fresh air and a sunset. As we walked out of the classroom building we saw the best sunset since we were here. It wasn't as beautiful as it can get at home, but the air was clear and I realized there is always a silver lining to things. The devil's sauna wasn't quite as hot, and they used ramen water instead of garbage juice. Me and my district are only getting closer to each other, and the language is coming to me a little better, and I'm excited to get into the field. The food is slowly getting more and more monotonous, but I'm down to try more wacky stuff now. One of our district members lost a bet in class that he wouldn't speak English for an hour, and his punishment was he had to drink a dining concoction at dinner. It had soy sauce, tobasco, ketchup, vinegar, mustard, fermented Berry juice, and the super spicy peppers ground into it. It looked and smelled like fermented baby food. The guy who lost the bet took a sip, almost hurled, and was fine. He then told his companion (the guy that mixed the concoction) that he would give him 50 bucks to drink the whole thing. Without even hesitating he slurped it down, said "you owe me 50 bucks" and hurled it all up. I have the video but I don't think any of y'all wanna see that. I'm gonna cut it off here, but I'm sure next weeks email is gonna have a ton more stories. Don't do anything too fun without me.

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