New Mission President!

anyways, it is transfers.. i did not get transferred and all the transfers are just CRAZY right now. new president must have received some crazy big revelations because there are a lot of things that are not normal. Like new greenie americans training that do not speak very good yet. So whatever... we had a good laugh at the craziness.

President Martino is nice.. different.. but nice. he actually is learning tagalog he studied before he came he served a mission in italy so he is picking up tagalog really fast. President Martino is from texas sounds like George W. Bush... its funny. Sister Martino is really nice and fun to talk to. All their kids are married and have their own families. That is about as much as i know. Just got to visit with him shortly. They came in on june 30 or something i forgot.. so they are still very new. I have done a lot of english assignments here... i imitate their english very well... and now my english is just as bad as theirs! hahaha

This picture of Elder Declaro and Elder Grow was taken July 27, 2011 at about 11am. (That would be July 26, 8pm for us) This was just a little less than 2 hours before he emailed it.

The signs in the background indicate there is "isadahan here." Elder Grow explains, "they are just like signs from other places in the philippines. they just mean there are fish in the water and if it was a real isdahan you would actually fish for your food."

we went to this place (its like a restaurant) and we walked around then as we left we saw that they have one of those things where you buy plates and stuff then you can break it... so i did i bought a 16 peso plate and frisbee'd it at the wall.. that was fun! [If you play the video frame by frame you can read the signs on the walls.. which say, "for effective release of anger shout tacsiyapo before smashing your plates" and the "targets" say things like "professors, classmates", "mother-in-law", "boss", "mahjong / poker" etc.]

A Day in the Life

Our week was just busy and tiring but nothing out of the normal. a normal day is waking up early, 6 am, because there is a recorded prayer that plays on a megaphone from the catholic church a block over from our house. when that rude interruption is over i tend to go back to sleep and wake up again around 630. i walk around to wake up, go to the bathroom, shower, sometimes i cook (Pancakes or french toast or eggs or noodles or hot dogs just depends). 8 am personal study, 9am companionship study, 10 am work, (here in Anao the only people left home are OLD PEOPLE that only speak ilokano and do not understand us.. or maybe they do but they just speak ilokano to us so work in the morning has never given results because its the time for people working in the fields and they are just not home in the morning) So we just study more just to help elder declaro practice teaching and knowing what to teach. at 12pm its rest and lunch time until 2pm then work again until 9pm so that is a day summed up for ya. we walk a pretty good distance because we just work in like a circle. so we go out one way then circle around and come back. We cover a lot of area that way. Lately breakfast lunch and dinner has been the same foods... elder declaro bought a kilo of chopped pork and he is just trying to be conservative with money.. he is a worry wart about that stuff. So i am sick of eating at home. we have eaten at members and what not. We have had members with anniversaries so that was good food we got to have. we have had a funeral service to attend, that was good food so yeah we get a good variety. So yeah that is about it...

The Work

anyways the work has been picking up here in Anao and its been nice. We are still struggling with some investigators and being able to teach them again [return visit]. Here in Anao people are out working in the fields or Bukid and are just not at home or are asking us to come back a different day. This is nothing new here in the work but it becomes discouraging to new Missionaries that do not have different aspects of Missionary work. The people we are teaching are very good and are interested. just have a few hurdles to work with, like one investigator met missionaries long ago and was not interested at all. but now, after she felt she needed to read the book of Mormon one day and happened to read Alma 32, she has seen how a seed had been planted and is growing now. She can not come to church because of her work schedule and it has depressed her but hope that it is not permanent and it will be changed. We have one investigator that is new and is struggling with changes but she is making efforts like wanting to try to pray and she is making the steps to come to church just has not continued. All in all the area is starting to become great, we are planting and waiting for the Harvest. Well that is how the work is going. as far as the companionship-- it is good. Elder Declaro will be a fantastic missionary once he gets out of his head more and focuses on the doing part. He is trying to obtain every ounce of knowledge but is missing the simple things he needs to teach and share. He does make improvements everyday and has already made changes and is becoming great. He is very enthusiastic about the work but he does get depressed when things do not end up the way he thought and it bothers him. he will need to learn that he does not have control of their [investigators] agency. as long as he knows he gave them a chance and tried his best to share and explain its [the gospel's] importance, then he has successfully done his part in the work. Once he understands that, then his teaching will have so much meaning and feeling behind it and people will feel the Spirit telling them what he is sharing is true. that is what I hope will happen for him and his mission that he is serving, to gain that importance of the Gospel in the lives of others and in especially in his own life, much like how I realized that while I have been here. So yeah that is whats gone on this week in the mission. this transfer has gone by pretty fast and only a few more left.. not that I am counting or anything... but I am getting excited that is for sure!

Rice & Training

i am good... And yeah i am amoeba free! i just do not like eating rice anymore... i have loved it my whole life! but now it makes my stomach hurt.... so i just eat it at lunch only and a little at night. rice is great and i love it... i just cant stomach it now... but i am sure i will want rice once again

what do i do as a trainer... i try not to make him [Elder Grow's companion] want to go home. I have to teach him how and what to teach. I have to teach him how to talk to people and just be normal. Its a whole lot of stuff i am not good at because i also cant just go and do everything myself. i have to let him try and then of course he fails and gets depressed but he keeps on trying to do things he just is not an adjustable person. He is a busy-body [always working] (which apparently he was not before the mission). and that is causing him to stress a little, because he is trying to do everything at once. He is homesick and can't get it out of his mind and he just does not always focus in lesson and annoys me a little. But i do my best to keep him occupied and sometimes it works and other times it doesnt but the members are helping as well. so i just do my best not to tell him to just go home because he is not ready... but then i have to think that one day he will be ready and if he just gets out of his head and follows the Spirit more, then he will finally understand everything he needs to know, do and feel in order to teach people. so yes that is what is going on with my companionship... that is training apparently

our work here is just slow and its rough but its not discouraging just normal so it doesnt bother me