Hi family!
I had a spectacular week this week haha. I MET THE ELDER ANDERSON AND RENLUND! haha Elder Ardern of the 70 still remembered me and I spoke with him a little bit. I took a picture of us and the apostles shaking hands so I dont know where you can get that. Maybe he has a facebook? his name is Ian Ardern. Also mom, there is a lady in are ward that is trying to find you on facebook because she wants to give you a bunch of goofy pictures of me I will try to get you her name. BY THE WAY haha I keep forgetting to mention it but I have been the pianist for sacrament meeting since I was in Sta. Maria. Sometimes if President Deyros daughter is there I dont have to because she is way better than me haha. I also play at the baptismal services. I only know the really simple hymns but I finally just buckled down and used some P-Days to get faster at reading both hands of music. So thats a new skill I have acquired while being here.
Watching the last batch go home was really tough because I have a very very very close friend in that batch named Preston Howell, maybe look him up. He and I were close when I was in Mangaldan. Its kinda strange that when we were together in mangaldan he was about 17 months out. Time FLIES.
Finally got some time to answer all these haha
1. When was the last time you laughed with your companion and why? What makes you laugh in your area? How do you stay light hearted?
Well, I laugh with my companion like every 10 minutes so its kind of hard to keep track. The Philippines is a place built for laughing. It is a 3rd world country where you sometimes see some 3rd world logic. Like all the old women here smoke their cigarettes with the lit end in their mouth. Why? Who knows haha. Also you see finny stuff written or said in English all over the place. for example, sometimes I get called names (joe, americano, kuripot (that means cheap skate) etc...) this use to bother me alot but now we just laugh it off haha. Especially all the little kids. All they know how to say in english is "what's your name" so when they see you they dont know you speak tagalog so they just repeatedly ask what my name is, and often they slur the words so it sounds like "wash your name" haha and we always ask "madumi ba?" which means "is it dirty?" haha
2. Are there any inside jokes in your mission? What is your current mission theme right now?
the theme is "relentless week" which is a new idea of mine that i presented to president and all the zone leader in MLC (mission leadership council) or otherwise known as the council of the jedi's. We did it last week and it was incredibly effective so we will do it again. Yes we do have inside jokes, but too many to count. And many of them dont make sense in English, I will have to explain them in a year haha.
3. What is your favorite smell in your area right now? Least favorite?
My favorite smell is either pandesal bake shops or a freshly opened coconut or maybe ripe mangos. Theres a LOT of good food here. My least favorite smell is either dirty little kids that want to shake your hand or hug you, or the Pelengke which is like the fresh produce and meat market in the middle of the city. It smells downright awful. Too many smells and once.
4. What are some of the local sayings and interesting things people say in your area?
sa diyos and awa, sa tao and gawa which means god does the mercy, the people do the work or act ha thats hard to translate. Also everyone has been saying Maligayang Pasko or happy christmas since september. Christmas starts in the "-ber" months here.
5. What do most people do for work in your area or is it pretty mixed?
they either work in the field. drive taxi trykes, sell some kind of food at the pelengke or they are door guards for fast food restaurants
Anyway, John Michael and Imelda came to church!! Seems like they have suddenly got a fire under them thanks to our prayers, they are set to be baptized on the 19th of Dec! All our other investigators are kindof struggling right now, we are doing our best to be patient with them. OH I FORGOT.
RELENTLESS WEEK WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!!!! We normally get around 350-400 New investigators a week. So far this week (and only 72/95 areas have reported) we have 788. So that was a huge success. All the other key indicator stats look like that as well. I am just absolutely amazed at the hard work of all the missionaries put into that. It is incredible.
Anyway I am out of time. There are people from the facilities managment office of the church here to inspect the office and the guy brought his 4 year old daughter. She has been distracting me all email asking me about my favorite princesses and telling me i look like flynn ryder and such. Its great. I took a video haha. I will show you when I get home haha
I love you all so much.
Elder Dahle
No comments:
Post a Comment