Philippines Cauayan Mission

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

28 December 2011

Elder Nay is trying to find the candy using many body parts!

We were able to talk to Michael via Skype for a little over 3 hours Christmas evening!  It was actually the 26th for Michael.  It was SOOO good to actually see AND hear him.  Apparently the Filipino people are fascinated with Americans.  Some guy kept looking in behind Michael's back  thru a gap in the curtain while we were skyping.  He even went and got a chair!  Finally, Michael pulled the curtain so his new "friend" couldn't watch our conversation.   Then he actually took pictures of us from over the curtain!!  What a hoot! So, no email from Michael to post this week.  The picture is from Sister Carlos's mission blog posted today.  It was taken at a Tuguegarao district meeting.  Elder Tangi had spread candy all over the cultural hall floor.  The missionaries were then blindfolded and told to find the candy--they got to keep what they found!  Not sure of the purpose of this activity but sounds fun and yummy -- way to go Michael! :)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

19 September 2011


  • Magandang Hapon!‏


Kamusta po Kayo?!
Sounds like an exciting week back on the home front! Thats pretty big news that there is going to be an addition to the family! I guess I won't be able to make it for the wedding. I'll try to be there as much as I can though in spirit! I tried convincing Bryan to hold off until I got home but he didn't listen-go figure. Glad to see that Bryan was able to pull out his creative and cutesy side to ask her. Now all you have to do is write checks for the wedding! Haha. In addition to that, sounds like a successful week preparing for christmas, mom babysitting, and dad taking a break from bishop stuff.
Well this is going to be a little shorter than usual because we were very busy today doing activities with our district and short on time. And I get to talk to you next week. It was my first time bowling in a really ghetto bowling alley with balls a little bigger than a croquet ball and no finger holes. The best part was the guy at the back that set up all of our pins and threw the balls back to us. He was pretty quick to avoid being hit a couple times. We also played pool which was pretty fun, even though I am terrible at it. 
The plan for next week is we are going to Tuguegarao on my Dec. 26th, probably at about 9Am my time. Who knows what that is for you, probably sometime on your 25th night. The internet is much faster in Tuguegarao which should be better for skype. If I remember correctly my skype name is mikeanaytor (clever, I know), so you can add me in advance and I can just add you that way. If for whatever reason that doesn't work or is really crappy, you can call on our cell phone. Of course there is probably about 500 other numbers you'll have to push for the international code and such. But, either which way I should be in some kind of internet shop around 9 AM on the 26th so we can email back and forth if we have to get things figured out. If all goes perfectly I'll just add you and call you on skype, so have the comp ready. Knowing mom, She'll make dad have the computer on about 3 hours before I say I will call, just to "be safe". Sorry dad! Haha. The reason I say the 26th is because saturday we are busy all day with going to baptisms and by the time I  can get to a computer on sunday, you will all be asleep (or being santa). And In Tuguegarao late at night it is hard to find rides back to Cabagan. So, that is the plan for next week! Hope you don't have to cancel any late night xmas parties. 
This week really wasn't anything too exciting here. The weather was very nice and cool and windy for me. Of course everyone else is still complaining about how cold it is. I didn't even realize how bad the storm was in Manila until I saw your emails. Nothing like that in this part of the Philippines. We were busy all day-from 9AM to 9PM Saturday traveling and doing baptism interviews.
Tomorrow we get to go to Cauayan for zone conference and christmas party, which means a lot of really yummy food. President Carlos called me up and asked me to give a little talk, so that should be a blast. You all know how I love giving talks. 
Thats pretty exciting about Young and his farewell-doesn't surprise me that he did a great job and lots of people were there. He is going to be a great missionary for sure. 
Well, thats the basic summary of this week. Next week instead of an email, we will just get to talk to each other instead! Start making a list of things you want to ask/talk about missionary life in the Philippines that I keep leaving out. 
Mahal Kita and Merry Christmas,
Elder Nay

Monday, December 12, 2011

12 December 2011


baby Bacod

Last visit to Bacod family with Elder Tangi


Looks like this frog croaked one too many times!


Walking up a street/river with Elder Sister and a member


Front gate


More flood


      Magandang Hapon po!

Kamusta po sa inyong lahat!
I have already seen a huge difference in my Tagalog in just the one week being with Elder Sister. Seems how he doesn't really speak English, I don't really have a choice but to spit out Tagalog every day. He is making decent progress on his English though. Another fun fact about Elder Sister is that he is 27 years old! He was baptized at 24, then left just a little before the 26 year old cut off date. That goes to show that for those people that didn't make it out the door at 19 or 20, thats just okay! The most important part is that at least you make it out the door. He was the only member in his family when he left, but now his mom is baptized too. Yesterday we were able to watch the Christmas devotional with the first presidency that all of you folks got to see a week ago. As expected, it was really good and the MoTab did a splendid job as always. Too bad the stake center is too far away to take our investigators to be able to watch and feel of the spirit there. 
It poured rain for a day straight and has been icy cold at about 70 degrees ever since with cloud cover. The rain was kind of fun, except it is really annoying having our street flood every time it rains. We literally can't leave our front gate without stepping in several inches of water. 
All of our baptism dates got pushed back again, but now we're shooting for 3 in January. It's slightly frustrating having to move peoples dates back so often but its good to know that when they are baptized, they are going to be solid and hopefully not go inactive just after they are baptized. That is still a big problem in the Philippines. I think a lot of missionaries cut corners and try to force them to have a testimony really fast so they can pass the baptism interview and drag them to church every week, but thats not at all how it should be done in order for them to build a testimony of their own. Some of our most solid investigators are still the Bacod family. They know everything is true and want to be baptized and go to the temple, but brother has a job from 6 in the morning until 7:30 at night 7 days a week, with absolutely no time off, meaning he can't attend church and be baptized. They were done with all of the lessons months ago and now they practically teach us when we visit them. We're just hoping for another job for brother. 
Mom-all I saw about the story was the headline which was something about a boy being pronounced DOA but now he is alive. Hopefully that narrows it down.
It was great to hear from Bill and Carol again! Glad to know the rain is finally putting an end to the boiling heat. I'm still waiting for support money from them so I can buy a tricy and avoid walking through all the puddles. 
That is funny about the relationship with Jenna and Milo. I'm surprised he's not a grumpy butt to her like he normally is with kids. I guess Nat and B are going to have to get a dog next! If nothing else, it will save some cleaning up around the high chair. Haha
Thats kinda cool and weird that dad got to go on a business trip. Its been a long time since the business trip days! 
So.... I hear that Young's farewell is coming up? That's great! Except nobody has told me where he is going yet.....
It is really weird to see Kyle all dressed up and doing doctor stuff now. I swear it was just a year ago he got off his mission! Crazy how fast we're getting old. 
Thats cool that dad got to go on another horseride. Really weird to think how the sun can be out and still be 40 degrees or below. Here if the sun is out, its guaranteed to be hot. Either hot, or blistering hot. Its decent though if there is cloud cover and a breeze.
I still have no idea about how the Christmas chat is going to work. I suspect I'll hear more info in the next week or 2. From what I've heard though, I'll just head to an internet cafe and call you on skype. It should be much cheaper that way. Hopefully my skype account still works! Haha.
Well, until next week,
Mahal Kita
Elder Nay

Monday, December 5, 2011

5 December 2011


Magandang Hapon po!
        


Kamusta po kayo?
Sa akin, buhay pa dito sa Pilipinas! haha. Well, just as expected, Elder Tangi is no longer here in Cabagan. 22/26 missionaries in the Tuguegarao zone had to go to Cauayan in 2 vans, plus the luggage of whoever was getting transferred. It made for a very squished ride and just my luck, I had to sit in the crack in between 2 uncomfortable seats. Its about a 2 hour ride from Cabagan to Cauayan. Once I got there, it was good to see all 4 of the other batchmates from the mtc. I had to laugh at 2 of them because they are already training. I also saw an Elder Allen that seemed very excited to see a familiar face. He is now with a fillipino comp on the opposite end of the mission. I'm in the furthest north zone, he's in the furthest south. I'm sure we'll cross paths sometime down the road though. My new comp is Elder Sister. Most people just look confused or ask him why his name isn't Elder Elder. One tatay was funny and just laughed and asked him why his name was Elder Sister. I don't think he really had much of a choice in the matter though... haha. He is a fillipino from Manila and hardly speaks any English, so this is definitely going to help me learn Tagalog faster. He really wants to learn English though so we've been helping each other out. And yes, he is almost a foot shorter than me. He is a really hard worker which is great because there are so many appointments everyday here. It's really weird in the Tuguegarao zone now because there are only 6 Americans now. I did get to weigh myself though at the mission home and what a surprise-back to my usual 165. I guess thats my destined weight. 
Its been very nice here for the last several days (at least for me). The fillipinos are still complaining about how cold it is. 
I was waiting to open the package until I found out if I was getting transferred or not. But now that its open, thanks for the food and random stuff! The christmas tree is already dutifully sitting on our table. I'm still not sure where the other 3 pages of the story you sent though... Haha. 
To make it to more appointments, we went on splits with some other ward members. It was weird to not be with another person with a name tag but it was good to get twice as much done. 
It was fun to see some Thanksgiving pics. Must have been really weird having the zip line up again! Haha. 
I can't imagine Mom being excited at all about tending Jenna for a week... That will be her first real tending as a grandma! You should try my advice a few weeks ago about diapers and tell me how it works. 
Well, thats all the exciting stuff from this week, which really isn't too much. Maybe next week I'll have some exciting story for you. Until next time,
Mahal Kita, 
Elder Nay