January 2011

From January 3, 2011:

To start off, i just need to say that Disney never gets old and never ceases to amaze me. hahaha. That being said, my New Years went pretty good! We were inside at six and watched Disney movie after Disney movie, so that was fun. Everything here is pirated, so we only had 4 dvds, but there were about 120 different Disney movies on them. We spent the night just watching our favorite clips of things. It was a blast. Then we watched Tarzan all the way through. It was hard to go to bed because of all the noise. I don't want to scare anyone, but people weren't joking when they said that people blow up bombs here...like...LOUD bombs. Remember the "Obooma"? It was like that, except all day and night. hahaha. crazy. I probably saw about 25 or so explosions before I got in at 6, and then people just went nuts. But like I said, I'M SAFE. :) hahah. and I had a lot of fun. It was great to relive alot of childhood memories (the movies-not the bombs).

We have had a few problems though this week. Different types of drama, some of which had to do with ALOT of huge disobedience issues with the other Elders in our apartment.

Another thing I forgot to mention are all the little kids here! They are crazy!! I swear, every little kid in this town knows my name. Every street we walk down, "Elder Lee! Elder Lee!!!", and then they jump on us and try to shake our hands. It's pretty ridiculous and it got to the point that we can't visit some of our investigators on one street because all the kids would literally stampede towards us when we turned the corner. yikes. hahaha.

I got a haircut this week from one of our investigators and although I told him not to, he decided to give me a new hairstyle, so.... it's interesting. For the most part my "tidal wave" is still trying to come through, but it just looks different. hahaha. Everyone says i look guwapo guwapo (handsome handsome) though, so that's good! hahaha.

I am also pretty sure I'll be incredibly tan when I get back. It hasn't even been too sunny here, but I tan easy! In 3 weeks, I have a MASSIVE farmers tan and the tan on my neck is very definite.

I did wanna say though, that one person totally makes all the difference on a mission. Everyone always says that, but I have really seen that apparent this week. We have a few investigators in particular that are just SO ready to hear the gospel, and it feels so great when they are interested in the scriptures and everything! We had a ton of punted appointments (that's when we show up for an appointment and no one is there) with our main group of investigators, so that was kind of disheartening. But in being punted, we found about 3 more families of very strong investigators, so luckily we were able to see what the Lord had in store for us after being punted so much.

Our ward is doing well too. Yesterday was testimony meeting, and although only half the members showed up than normally do, they really surprised us with their testimonies!
Anyways, I think I'm just babbling on now. hahaa. Halong!!

-Elder Lee

From January 8, 2011:

Whoever wants to send me emails that it is totally puwede (allowed), I just can't send them BACK. So... yeah. :) But for whoever reads my blog, I have already gotten letters from becka, erika, and lauren and a postcard from Jason. Thank you so much guys! I'm sorry it may be a while before I write back, though. First off, I barely have any time, and second, I have no idea how the mail system works here. hahaha.

Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, I'm VERy happy this week. First off, for a while we have been struggling hitting our mission goals in numbers for the past few weeks (and by struggling, I mean not even getting halfway there). Well, this week, we exceeded almost all the mission standard's goals! We don't even know how it happened, but it did, so that is pretty exciting. We also have an AWESOME group of progressing investigators. As of now, 3 of them have baptism dates and we're planning on giving out about 4 more this week. woot woot! We had AMAZING sacrament attendance and almost all of our less-active members that we have been focusing on came to church and had a great time. We're making progress with our Bishop and our members are starting to give us referrals! I'm just so pumped! hahaha. The challenge is carrying it on through the next few weeks. I kind oif hope I don't get transferred, but there is a possibility that I might get transferred in the next 2 weeks! yikes! Mostly I don't want to leave cuz then I will miss the baptisms of our 3 investigators!

We also had a pretty crazy opportunity to do service early on last week. On Monday and Tuesday, we had 2 monsoons in a row, so the houses by the beach got flooded really bad, and in the recovery, got flooded again (don't worry though, I'm very safe). Our house is very far from the beach and the monsoons weren't that bad. But one of the houses was an inactive member and her house was nearly carried away. It moved about 50 feet! So when we found out about it we grabbed our Bishop and 1st counselor who are both kagawads (leaders of the town) and got them to help us do sand bags and build back their house with bamboo. It was really effective and felt great to help them out. Plus the town was able to see these officials helping out members of their church. Smart, eh? ;) hahaha. But really, it was a huge testimony to me of how easily our things can all be wiped out. These people now literally have a roof over their head and the clothes on their back. So humbling.

Well I also got to go on splits with the zone leaders this week, because my companion is our district leader. I went to Masville and had an experience all in itself. I spent 2 nights and one day there and learned a ton...like how to play mahjong! hahaha. for reals! Everyone does it here. It's like bingo in Lima. hahahaha. ;) Anyways, even though it's p-day, we still booked ourselves with appointments, so I'm crunched for time yet again.

bali, liwat!

-Elder Lee

From January 17, 2011:

Well, things have been going good here. We hit the end of my first transfer, so I've been thinking alot about all I've learned and done, and it amazes me!

We did have one pretty cool experience this week. We have an investigator named Marchie that we have had since the beginning of this transfer, and were considering dropping. Well on one visit, it just so happened that we had about 4 members upod (come with) us. A few were meant as fellowshippers, but the rest just kinda tagged along like characters from the Wizard of Oz. hahah Well, we had everyone testify to her of the Book of Mormon and then we commited her to read and pray and tell us next time if she wanted to continue. We gave her about a week and when we went to check up,she told us there was a brown out (what they call black outs here. they happen ALL the time), so she decided to read. She didn't read what we left her, but she flipped to a random page and found her answer. She read in 2 Nephi 27:14 (i think) and it talks about having many witnesses testify of the Lord's word, and wo be unto him who rejects the lord's word. hahaha It was kind of ironic, but at the same time a huge testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows his children. Going in, we actually kind of thought that she wouldn't want to continue, which in retrospect was a lack of faith on our part, but I am so glad that I was able to have that experience. Now I won't be so shy when committing people to a "make it or break it committment." hahaha. Because sa tuod-tuod (in all honesty), now I know for SURE that the Lord backs up his promises. :)

Anyway, I ate pig intestine quite a few times this week. It actually is really good. The barbeque here is SO GOOD. hahahaa. Now it's getting to the point where I'll eat just about anything as long as no one tells me what it is till AFTER I eat it, it's barbequed, and I know it's safe to eat. hahah.

I also realized during a lesson we had with a Tagolog speaker that I'm forgetting my Tagolog already! I understand it just fine, but when I tried to speak it, only Ilonggo kept coming into my head! I guess it's a good thing, but it kinda scared me too. oh well.

Well the biggest thing on my mind right now is that we just had transfer meetings and I found out I'm getting transferred tomorrow! So today I'm packing and tomorrow morning I will say goodbye to everyone in Pulupandan. I don't know where I'm going yet, I won't until tomorrow, but i'm kinda bummed, because I absolutely LOVED Pulupandan! Not just cause it was my first area, because I have visited other areas. I love the people, the town, the size, just everything! Plus I'm sad to leave my companion. He is an AWESOME companion and we had alot in common and just worked really well together. Plus, we spent this whole transfer whitewashing and getting to build our teaching pool, and now I have to leave it! We had 6 people scheduled for baptisms in the next few weeks, so I guess I will just have to let someone else reap those rewards. hahaha.dang.

Halong!
-Elder Lee

From January 24, 2011:

phew!! this week has been pretty crazy!!

Well this transfer I ended up in..... (drum roll please...) Murcia!! It is just outside Bacolod to the southeast, so it is really weird being in a very.. "americanized" and city-like environment. Bacolod is so big!

Anyways, my new companion is American too, which is good. We did already have to have sort of a "DTR" though. They call it a "companionship inventory" on the mission. yeah.... apparently he doesn't get along well with any of his companions, and he has had a comp. inventory with every one of them by at least the 2nd day. He has been emergency transferred twice because of that. (ps it is NOT common to have companionship inventories) Luckily I lasted till the 3rd day- better than the others. hahaha. But don't worry, I think we will be ok now. He just likes to be sort of disobedient, and we have very different personalities and goals for the area, but like I said, i think we are finally warming up to each other and we get along pretty well now.

Apparently this area has not been doing well, and has been closed on and off for the past couple years. We are part of the Paglaum ward, which is another nearby city, but there is a small group of members that meet in Murcia every Sunday because it costs too much to go to Paglaum. we have alot of less-actives because of that. They are about to become a branch though, so alot of our focus is helping that to happen soon. Hopefully within the next few transfers. There are two other elders that we are living with that are over Paglaum specifically.

Another obstacle is that most missionaries that come here have heard that it is a "budlay gid" (very hard) area so decide not to work hard. Normally, a companionship should get about 20-25 teachings a week, and last transfer the highest they got was 8 as a companionship, and on average they would get about 3. soooo... yeah. It will be fun trying to work together to get this area back up and running. At the moment we have no investigators, so hopefully this week we will see things start to change. :)So yes, it will be a challenge, but I'm sure I will also learn a TON and have an absolute blast here. It is so fun already. haha. We are very close to the mountains, so next Monday we are going to go up to Mambukal and hike for our p-day. I'll take lots of pictures. :) I'm pretty excited. haha.

So being close to the mountains is a little different than right on the beach! I already saw a monkey and next time I do I am determined to get a picture. haha. I also saw the kind of trees that vicks vapo-rub is made out of! A member in our ward owns a grove of them. It smells SO GOOD. hahaha.

My first experience in my new ward was pretty fun, too. I bore my testimony in sacrament, and afterwards I was told that I was teaching the new investigator/recent convert gospel essentials class. Well since I'm not too sagad (skilled?) at the language yet, it was pretty scary. Well, then I walk in and there is a class of about 15 girls from ages 13-17. Not even kidding. It really got me wondering what the old elders in this area were doing. hahahaha. So I walk in and they all start to giggle and I see "welcome to the ward elder gwapo (handsome) lee" on the board. and the WHOLE time they were saying "gwapo gwapo gwapo!" Not even kidding. I'm not saying this to brag, either. haha. I couldn't get a word in! so then I found out what the topic was. ...Priesthood! hahaha. It was a disaster and I just laughed about it the rest of the day. phew.

Well THEN, I had a really cool encounter! I met a family from my new ward that apparently has family living in Washington! In my home stake!

Anyways, I think that's about all the news for this week.

halong kamo!
-Elder Lee

the rest of December 2010

from December 12, 2010:

This week, I'm happy to say, has been a lot more... fruitful. I havebeen understanding a little more ilonggo and we have been able to seealot of our finding efforts from last week really start to progress. We have a few investigators that are just great. Right now our biggest concerns are finding potential priesthood holders, working to strengthen our ward by helping the ward leaders to take charge, and working with less active families, because that is the big problem in the Philippines. Retention is so hard. Only about 1/4of our ward is active. yikes. I do really love our ward though. The people are great.

It's the creepy things I could do without. The other day, I saw a spider as big as my HAND in our apartment! and every night our ceilingis literally covered in little geckos called "tikis". My companion said not to be surprised if one falls on me at night. hahaha.

Oh yeah, my very first day here, I plugged in my clock and it exploded. So now I will never ever forget to put in my adapter. ;)

So Christmas is coming and we just had our stake Christmas party! There were some pretty awesome dance numbers.

I get to call home this week! International calling cards are REALLY expensive here, so what everyone does here is they SKYPE! haha. So I think that's what I'll do!

THANK YOU for your support and prayers!
Maayong Pasko, kag Halong! (Merry Christmas and Take care!)

-Elder Lee

A photo from Adam's Christmas Eve Skype call!

from December 27, 2010:

I miss Christmas back home, but it was soooo good Skype!!

We are working hard still. This Sunday, Sacrament Meeting started only 20 minutes late, instead of an hour and a half! woo hooo!! hahahah. It's the little joys in life that count, right? ;)

Anyways, here's the deal with the balut (chicken embryo-a delicacy in the Philippines). I am NEVER going to eat it again, but it didn't taste too bad. like... it was kinda of salty.... and eggy... and sour? If that makes sense? Wasn't as good as the pig's blood soup, but oh well. the part that got me was the texture. I kind of had a gag reflex while I was eating it. not good. haha. but it was a good end to the Christmas night!

Tomorrow is our ward's Christmas party, so really it's like Christmas is still going. On Friday for New Year's Eve we get to watch Disney movies in our apartments, so that's exciting!

We had a baptism the other week, a man and the rest of his family was baptized just a few weeks before we got there. The Pelingon family is new to the church. Their baby got really sick for a few days, so we headed over to teach them about priesthood blessings and offer to give one. They had me do it, even though it was in English, and I swear RIGHT after the blessing, the baby stopped crying and went to sleep. It was instantaneous. The next day the family told us that beforehand, they had spent alot of money going to doctors and trying other cures, but nothing worked. Only the priesthood did, even though it was in a different language. So they said from now on they are going to call the Elders, until the dad has the priesthood. :) I just thought it was such a testimony builder of the power of the priesthood and so many other things.
Anyways, I'd better go. I'll keep workin hard! :)

-Elder Lee