September 21, 2014

How are you??? (Please use at least 4 (four) adjectives)???

I am really honestly quite very good, i am super sore, my right leg/knee area is starting to act up again. I am doing good other than that though!!!

Are you adjusting to city life again???

Slowly but surely, the real difference in city life is there is a ton more food options, and we pass by stores every day, so if we need any food we just buy it. Also it is super dirty, so i am struggling with bugas*acne because of the dirt.

How is your new companion???  He is a native Filipino, but speaks another language.  How are communications between you going???  Does he match your great work ethic???

My companion is doing amazing, ELDER EDOLOVERIO!!! He is a native Filipino and speaks Cebuano, Ilongo, Tagalog, and English. he is a native Ilongo speaker... here in the philippines there are 438+ different languages/dialects, so the only real language that everyone speaks are TAGALOG, and ENGLISH.

We do good at communicating, i mainly just speak to him in Cebuano and he understands it most of the time, and if it is deep Cebuano i just speak english, and then he understands that.

Does your companion have the support of his family???

Semi, his mom and dad are not members, and he is the first of 5 to serve a mission, he has been a convert for about 4 years now... 

Did you put in the request for bikes in your area???  Lets hope if they get you bikes, they are better quality than the last ones!!!

I havent yet, i dont know if i will, they would be nice and everything, but it might be overkill, and they are a little bit dangerous for the city...

Which floor of the apartment building do you live in???

we have a 2 floor apartment building, we study in the bottom in the kitchen area, and the other two elders study upstairs in a room by the bedroom. so we sleep upstairs.

Is it a 2 bedroom apartment again for the 4 missionaries???  Are you on bunk beds again???  It is a really good thing you have brothers and have been on bunks beds much of your life!!!e

we have bunk beds, i sleep on the bottom bunk now. It is not much different except now i need to wake up at 6:30 or earlier, before i could just roll over until 12

Are you appreciating the "real" shower even if it is all cold water???

It is pretty nice because i actually started to work out, so right after the work out i go and get in the shower and ice down... it is pretty relaxing, and after being in the shower for so long the water starts to feel a little warmer...

Do you have a oven in your kitchen in this apartment or is it just the usual sink, cook top and tiny fridge???

we have a gas stove, that half of it is broken and doesnt work, we have a medium size fridge, but is super tiny compared to the ones in america. and we have a toaster that we dont use...

Since there is an actual ward in your area, do the members feed you guys???

YEAH!!! it is amazing, we have 5 dinner appointments scheduled for the week already, this ward is so amazing, the members are all willing to help, the bishopric is also on top of everything, as well as his counsilors. Yesterday while we were sitting in PEC(priesthood executive council) i got a good look at how ready they are for progressing. they have amazing goals, and they are amazing!!!

What was the best thing about the last week???
the rain, i dont know if you all saw what happened, if not, you should go and look it up now, it was so much rain and so much fun!!!! we didnt go out to work until evening because our area was FLOODED so super bad!!!

DUGANG*additions

1. possible broken nose from playing basketball
2. rained so hard that we couldnt work

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

September 14, 2014

How is the new area???

The new area is A TON different than my last area, lets just say i went completely opposite, in my new area there are 7 malls, (that is just in my area), there are another maybe 5 or 6 big ones in the zone... it is in need of work, because our area just got split with sisters, and of course they are the lucky ones, and they got the area with all the Investigators.

We have had quite a bit of success so far, we taught 11 lessons in 3 days, and had 10 new investigators(now i am not sure if they are investigating the church or just Elder Larson)...

Do you live in an apartment???  How many of you are living there???

No.... i live on the street... ;) joke!!! i do live in an apartment, it is about a rocks throw away from Andys Hotel(where we spent our first night in the PI). there are 4 of us living in the apartment, ELDER LARSON, ELDER EDOLOVERIO, ELDER JANDOQUILLE, ELDER CODAVAR... I AM THE ONLY AMERICAN/FOREIGNER!!! and in our zone there are 3 of us (foreigners)...

What is your neighborhood/area like???

my area is A TON DIFFERENT, it has some bukid, but is mostly city, which makes it hard to do tracting/finding because everyone is at work in the city during the day, and then there are so many businesses around our area... it is pretty big and weird shaped...

Do you miss your bike???

i do kinda miss my bike, i am thinking about putting in a request for bikes in this area, maybe get some good ones! it should be an every area thing!!!! they make getting places super simple!!!

Tell us about your new companion....

OH MAN!!! MY NEW COMPANION (ELDER EDOLOVERIO) is awesome, i am his follow up trainer, so i have quite a bit of responsibility on my shoulders (making sure he doesn't get corrupted and what not...). He is also from Negros Occidental, so his native language is Ilonggo, so he isn't quite BIS-DAK yet. he is 20 years old, and is THE FIRST MISSIONARY from his FAMILY ever to serve a mission. his parents are not members, and he has 4 siblings. there is a little bit of a language barrier between us, but it will all work out, he is already starting to get better at English.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT HIM?

Is there a ward there???

it is a ward!!! it feels so amazing to be back in a ward!!! i mean, i miss the group of Panglao, but over here everything is established, the leaders are amazing and know what they are doing, this is one of the best wards that i have seen in the mission, let alone at home as well!!! they have an amazing outlook on everything. I did everything i could to BRT with them from the start, it helps that i am ok or i guess decent at the language now...

How many members???

there were 130 at church yesterday... but there are a ton of less actives in the ward, so yeah. A LOT MORE THAN OVER IN PANGLAO!!! and their 30s...

How far are you from the mission home???

we are about 1 hour away.... but if needed we could get there faster!

Now that you are in the city area, are the motorcycle taxi's your prime form of transport other than your feet???

we use the tricycles for transportation a lot, but we still use our shoes quite a bit!!!

How is it being the SENIOR Companion???

there is no difference really, i just know the language a little bit better, and if anything happens it is on my shoulders.... but, the only difference between the senior and junior companion is who goes first in the interviews...

What was the best thing about the last week???

I have already had 4 dinner appointments since i got here to Mandaue... On Friday there was a birthday party for one of the primary kids, so we went and helped set up and then they told us to stay and eat there...

What was the strangest thing you ate in the last week???

I ate Bangus last night at a members house... or in English, milk fish... there was so many bones in the fish!!! yes... I ATE FISH AND I LIKED IT (OTHER THAN THE BONES)

MGA DUGANG*additions:

1. BROWN EYES!!! THEY ARE TERRIBLE!!!
2. I ALMOST FORGOT HOW BUOTAN*kind THE FILIPINOS IN CEBU ARE!!!!
3. I learned something very important from my last companion (Elder McQuiston), it is great to be a joker, and it is one of the best tools in being a missionary in the Philippines. It is one of the best BRT tools around.
4. Friday we played basketball at 4:30 A.M. at Consolacion chapel (where i basically lived for 6 months) FIRST AREA TRUNKY!!!

CEBUANO WORDS

1. awit - sing
2. bakon - bacon
3. pagsulay - trial
4. gugma - love
5. kasingkasing - heart
6. hugot nga pagtuo - firm belief/faith
7. kalipay - joy
8. ba-ba - mouth
9. basahon - book
10. simba - church

TAGALOG WORDS

1. mabuti - good
2. aklat - book
3. mahal - love
4. puso - heart
5. pagsubok - trial
6. pananampalataya - faith

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER

September 9, 2014

well, it is that time again, the beloved TRANSFER DAY. This last transfer has been so amazing with Elder McQuiston!!! I just cant even tell you the adventures that we have had in the last week, let alone the last 3 months together!!! Just his example is exemplary! i am going to be leaving Panglao... but before i tell you all where i am transferring i figure i will tell you about what has happened in the last 9 days....

so last Tuesday, we were going out to work, on our bikes, i decided to be a little bit of a show-off, and i pulled a giant wheely. well, my back tire was super flat so it slid out from underneath the bike, and me.. and i fell straight on to my stomach/chest. lucky for me, nothing on my body got hurt.... but my camera did get broken pretty bad, it still takes pictures the screen just doesn't work.

on Wednesday morning at about 6:10 elder McQuiston got up to take a shower, and when he was on his way out of the bathroom he couldn't get out... it wouldn't activate the unlocking mechanism. so he climbed out the window pretty simply... other than the whole it being about 7 feet up off the ground and whatnot... so i climbed into the bathroom and used my magic skills, and 2 knifes i unlocked and opened the door and got out... it was such a fun time at 6:30 in the morning.

we had another flood in our house on Friday! the stupid sink keeps getting the hose loosened from it, so we had Sister Grace the landlady come over to fix it. about 30 minutes later it was good as new, we just had to clean up the water everywhere...

OH YEAH!!! this week we also had a farewell party/get together for one of the members who leaves on his mission, TOMORROW. it was so amazing, because we invited sister Grace(landlady) so she could get acquainted with the members from Panglao Group. there was a little bit of a cake icing fight! it was super legit, except for the sugar granules in the icing which kinda cut a little bit!

SO SATURDAY!!! we had our first baptism in Panglao B EVER!!!! we baptized Sister Grace Cadao! That was such an amazing baptism, the planning was amazing, and the follow through was awesome, after all the hard work that we had to do, it was amazing to see her be baptized! the only bad part is that it wasn't me doing the baptizing... but it is all good, we figured it all out and she is now a R.C. in Panglao B area....

SUNDAY!!! Sister Grace finally came to Panglao to go to church (she usually goes to Tagbilaran). The members were so amazing!!! she was also confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, lets just say........ 10 minutes later (no exaggeration) it was finally closed. Elder Caycayon (senior couple missionary) did the confirmation. it was so long, and the hand pile kept shifting because we all got super tired of holding our hands on her head for that long... needless to say we all needed to be in shape for it!

Last night (Tuesday) we received the transfer call on our way out to Dauis on a 20 minute hable-hable (motorcycle) ride. it was so weird, because of course i didn't receive the call, that was Elder McQuiston, we were both super excited. So the call came in as we were flying down the highway going about 50 KM/hr... (not lightning speed) but we recieved the call and got news that I AM TRANSFERRING to MANDAUE 1A and i will be the SENIOR COMPANION, i cant remember the name of my new companion, but he is a Filipino from ILO-ILO.

I HOPE YOU ALL LOVE ALL THE PICTURES!!! I TRY AND TAKE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE (USUALLY WITHOUT ME IN THEM!!!!)

-Elder Larson the YOUNGER