26 September 2011

Magandang Tanghali!‏

Rain, rain and more rain!

Flooded street

Elder Tangi and Elder Nay

The dirt road just outside our house.

Yucky water!  Don't think too hard about what it is yum!

Wish I was a kid and could swim in it!

 Puppy love-the puppies are usually cute and fun,
the moms/older dogs are disgusting and ornery

Shaving coconut at a member's house

Hanging out with the Macadangdang and Paguirigan family

Elders Tangi and Nay caught in the rain

The "bridge"

Kamusta!

Well, not surprising, it has been another crazy week. I expect to see a lot of those in the next 2 years. On Tuesday-wednesday morning, I was on splits with the ZL in Tuguegarao. It was a good split-he is going home in December so he has some experience under his belt and gave me some good tips. I can't remember if I've already said or not, but Elder Tangi has about 6 months left. He's only been in the Philippines for a year though because he was in the MTC for 5 months because he tore his ACL and had to get surgery in there. Poor guy! I can't imagine staying there for 5 months. On wednesday, I was with Elder Tangi just long enough to go back to our house and shower, then go on splits again in San Bernardo. It is about a 30-45 minute trip on a good day from Cabagan. I say good day because there is only 2 ways to get there-a boat across the river that really has no schedule and leaves whenever the driver feels like it (its actually a pretty cool boat-dad would be impressed with the jury rigging. They use an old 6 cylinder car engine for the motor and a steering wheel attached to a big chain that turns the rudder), and one bridge that depending on the rainfall, becomes impassable. I'm pretty sure the last white person to ever go through there is about 6 weeks ago when the last splits were. Everywhere I went I was getting stared at and all the kids were giving me "up here"'s (high 5) and A LOT of "Hey Joe!". I better get used to that too for the next 2 years. I didn't realize how nice my area is until I went to San Bernardo-its very poor and mostly fields. Even though I was with a fillipino elder, we still managed to get around with my little Tagalog and his little English. We had to go to Penablanca which is about an hour away from Cabagan to see a baptism, and we get to go there next week again for another one! 

Yesterday we had a brown out all day which was really weird because everywhere else in the city had power, and even the street lights 15 feet away from our house had power. We had a bunch of candles lit and I thought I was going to have to spend the night without an electric fan (scary!). Luckily the repairman came just as we were going to bed and with a huge spark that lit up the neighborhood, the power was back on. Hope the repairman wasn't part of the spark. We have had several big rainstorms this week which has been fun. Sometimes we just get back looking like we got out of the shower with our clothes on. Supposedly there is a storm warning that our mission president just emailed us about... fun! 

Every P day has been a little different so far. It just depends on what is going on in the ward or with other missionaries in the zone. The earliest I would ever email is 10-11 AM my time. Who knows what time that would be in Utah time.Today, about 10 of us gathered in Tuguegarao to play some 2 hand touch football. It also has been pouring rain and my shoes are already filled with water. Last week, Elder Tangi and I hung out with some members and ate a yummy lunch and carved out some coconuts. In a couple weeks, we are supposed to be going to hike to a waterfall with some members which should be fun. I think the best made from scratch food I have eaten here has been the spaghetti. It is really sweet and I don't really know how else to describe it, but it is delicious. I think they put brown sugar in it.

Some things I have learned to get used to: naked kids running around everywhere-neighborhoods, swimming, etc. The open breastfeeding was a little weird at first when we were in the middle of a lesson. The dogs are very annoying. I havn't had one try to attack me yet, but there are thousands of them in the streets and in people's houses and they always bark at us. When they are on the street, all we have to do to shut them up is bend down to pick up a rock and they take off yiping. The rocks in my rice are kind of annoying. They dry all of the rice and corn in the streets, so when they pick it up, the rocks from the street come with it. They're just little ones though and I've only had it happen a handful of times. It's also funny how members here ask for priesthood blessings for every thing. We've given several already to people with fevers, feeling weak for the day, coughs, etc. We did go to the hospital yesterday though to give one for a legitimate reason and I'm glad I'm not staying in it. It would never pass in the U.S. with the ants all over the floor and the black mold growing in the ceiling tiles and no air conditioning. The little ants are annoying-they are EVERYWHERE. There are always a couple trains of them in our house somewhere. There are even some on my keyboard right now. I havn't seen any really strange critters yet. A few cockroaches, millions of huge frogs, and a lot of spiders that look like daddy long legs. The butikis are nice to keep all of the bugs down for us. 

Mom-I can't believe you've succomed to swimming in the morning! You are officially an old person now! Haha. Thats cool though and the triathlon should be a fun (?) experience. I forgot that Fall colors existed. They sound really pretty though! 

With the package, send all mail to the mission home then they distribute it. I can't really think of anything for you to send now other than just random food that won't perish. I guess all the Fillipinos love jerky so maybe that would be nice. 

Well I'm going to try to attach some pictures to an email, so until next week, Ingat po!

Mahal Kita,

Elder Nay