Elder Head Goes to the Philippines Chapter 2 - Menduae 1A 1st Area:)

Hey guys! So I made it, to my area. Buhi pa ko (I'm alive still) So this week was quite the adjustment. I got to my area, Mendaue 1A, on Wednesday night and went straight to bed. Thursday we had to move houses first thing in the morning, which was lame. But we just moved down the street from our old house so it wasn't bad. There's a SUPER poorly tuned piano in our apartment so I've been plunking out horror movie hymns (They're church hymns played on a terrible piano, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone) but I'm getting a little better at piano, so that's good. Thursday night we went to Cabancalan which is a subdivision in Mendaue to teach the Fabe family. So the way to Cabancalan there's this bog which usually isn't that deep, but it was pouring rain earlier on Thursday so it was deep. We have to walk across rocks over the bog on the way to Cabancalan which is cool. Basta, (Anyways) so my first night on my way to my first lesson, I slipped off on of the rocks into the bog and my left leg got stuck up to my knee. (Insert laughing/crying face emoji) It was disgusting. Then we just kept going after I got unstuck and I slipped off another rock and my right leg went into the water. So I stunk in my first lesson. But the Fabe family are a member family and we were gong to teach Bethshiba who just got baptised and as soon as we got there to their little lean-to house (bungalo they called it), I told them in broken Cebuano that it was super funny cause I slipped in the water and then without saying a word Nanay (Grandma) went and grabbed a bucket of water and they helped me wash my feet for me. They are truly some of the nicest, most caring people I've ever met. So Cebuano is hard. Especially when they speak super fast. But It's getting easier to understand. I love the kids here. They're so cute, haha. My favorite is when I go for a high five and instead put my hand in a fist and say "Pabo" which is "turkey" sa Cebuano.They always laugh and then do it to me right after. For some reason a lot of kids don't wear pants though, haha. So we ate dinner at two dinners with members this week. The Perez family who is the first councilor in the bishopric, and then at Sister Sarah's house for the next night. At the Perez's house I ate a whole sili pepper, which is SUPER hot but it was tasty after the burning sensation subsided. Sunday was excellent. So the stake that I'm in has their church in the backwards schedule, so priesthood/relief society, tapos Sunday school, tapos Sacrament. I bore my testimony in Cebuano and it was probably the shortest testimony I've ever given. It went well though! I started off with "Maayong buntag" to which they all replied "maayong buntag" which caught me off guard. Then I said "ako si Elder Ulo" and it took them all a second to think and then they translated it, I heard "OH! Elder Head na!" with a few giggles from the congregation and then I just did a simple testimony sa Cebuano. Then they had a self reliance work shop, which is good because there's a lot of poverty in Mendaue so they're helping a lot of people. Tapos na, we had a luncheon thing and it was good. except for the bulad. Which is just dried little fish. And a lot of them. That wasn't my favorite but I ate it like a champ! We've been teaching a lot of lessons and I've been humbled a lot by both the language and the people. Also, I've taken quite a few bucket showers since I've been here. Which is SO DANG COLD. But I love it. I got one of our paper back bbook of Mormons and started reading that and marking the references to, the teachings of, and the attributes of the Lord. I'm only in 1st Nephi still and it already looks like a coloring book. I love it. The Book of Mormon truly contains the fullness of Christ's gospel. It points to him on almost every page. Have a good week! The church is true. Gihigugma ko sa Philippines. Gihigugma ko kaninyo. 

Elder Head aka "Elder Ulo"

Elder Head with President and Sister Tanner

At the Mission Home waiting for the area assignments

Enjoying a Filipino rainstorm!

Elder Head Goes to the Philippines - Chapter 1 :)

Hey guys! 

So good news, I'm alive and well. The plane didn't lose my luggage (Although airplane food is the absolutely awful.) and in case anyone is wondering, traveling for 24 hours straight is the worst. But its okay. We arrived here at the actual MTC at 1:30 am Philippine time. I don't know the actual math for how long I was up that day, but it was SUPER long. Trust me. So the next morning we got up and had breakfast. Filipino breakfast is weird. In the absolute best way. It was so good. I've had rice with every meal here but I'm assuming/hoping I'll just get used to it. That day we went proselyting in Quezon City with the Tagalog elders. Which was hard because ya know, I speak Cebuano. But it went so well! I felt the Spirit so strongly. We taught a lola named Sister Barbosa for the second time so we taught her about the first vision. I was basically useless cause like I said, I only speak Cebuano. But I can testify to you that gifts of the spirit are real cause I had the freaking real deal gift of tongues. I told a lot of the Joseph Smith story and she actually followed along. Of course the Tagalog companion had to clear up some of it (he retold most of it and told it better than me) but they understood me! Then I went and testified in Cebuano at the end of it. :) Which was SO COOL. I could really feel the spirit. :) Then we went to our next lesson with a part member family and we taught Grace. Grace married a member and they have 1 little girl who is probably the cutest little girl ever. So we taught her about the Priesthood and I actually participated in the lesson again (sa Cebuano) and she actually understood me this time, even though she only speaks Tagalog! So nuts. So the rest of my time here has been pretty boring besides proselyting. But I loved it. The Philippines is so beautiful. I went to the Manila MTC for five days to do some immigration things and tomorrow morning I will be flying out to Cebu. I'm super nervous and DON'T want to fly again but I know that it will be worth it. :) So my favorite scripture for the week has been 3rd Nephi 9:14. Nasayuud ko nga pinaagi ang pag-ula ni JesuKristo nga makabalik kita sa pagpuyo uban sa Dios ug ni JesuKristo usab. Nasayuud ko nga gihigugma kita sa Dios ug nga mipadala ang Dios ni JesuKristo sa pag-ula para atong mga sala. Christ's arm of mercy is extended towards us. He will come unto us if we will come unto Him. :) Have a good week!

 

Elder Head

Peace from the Philippines!

Mitch said this is the SICKEST Mercedes....haha ok Jeepney!

Last week in the USA for 23 months and 23-ish days ;)

Hey guys! So this week was a really solid week. It was the last full week here in the US for me. Lain kaayo. Basta, there's an Elder here at the MTC right now who's from the Philippines who I talk with a lot named Elder Perez. He's the man. He's learning English and I'm learning Cebuano so we practice our language with each other. He talks in English mostly and I talk in Cebuano. But most of our conversations go like "How are you?" Maayo, ikaw? "Good! Thanks! What's your favorite food?" Akong paburrito kaon sa mga cheeseburger. Ikaw?... etc. So we don't really get that deep of conversations going but any practice is good practice! I leave on Thursday. So that's cool. This last Sunday we had a devotional and a guy named Vai Sikahima and he was the man! But the best thing this past week was PROBABLY Conference. Even though I wasn't able to feast on the usual Conference Sunday breakfast, I was fed... spiritually. (Insert laughing/crying emoji cause I thought that was so funny when I first typed it.) But it really was such a good conference. I took super good notes. Not that you would be able to tell at the moment cause I'm drawing a blank on which talk I liked the best but The 5 (or 6... ambot [I don't know] which it was) steps gaining spiritual confidence was one of my favorites because everyone, no matter how old or young can use some extra confidence. I also really enjoyed President Eyring's talk about preparing priesthood holders. Cause I'm about to be a n00b in about 6 days in the 'Pines and will be trained. So I was just like "Hey that's me, I'm getting trained." But honestly it was a great week :) That's about it! The next time you'll hear from me I'll be in the Philippines eating dog and stuff. Have a good week! 

Daghan gugma,

Elder Head

Mitch's last Friday in the USA!!

One month down in the books!!! 23 more to go!!

Hey everyone! So this week was pretty similar to the last few weeks. Except a lot more fun, interesting, and exciting. So we got to skype Filipinos on Thursday and I learned something. I understand nothing. So I've been working a lot harder on the language and working with my teachers to improve! I have the whole first vision memorized in Cebuano. So that's cool. Also, I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS! So I'll ship out on Oktobre 16. I'll leave at 3:35 am (Insert gun emoticon thingy here) But I'll land first in Portland, Oregon, then I'll be off to Tokyo, Japan, and then I'll be in Manila, Philippines! BUT according to my flight plans I'll be in the Manila MTC for another 5 days... Haha. But I'm freaking out! The MTC has flown by! But anyways. I am in 3rd Nephi and JesuKristo is just visiting the Nephites and he talks in verse 14 about how his hand of mercy is ALWAYS extended towards you. Nasayuud ko nga Gihigugma kita ni JesuKristo ug makakuha atong mga sakit away (I don't know away sa Cebuano. Sorry about that...) ug nasayuud ko nga makapasaylo kita para atong mga sala nga pinaagi si JesuKristo ug pagula niya para atong mga sala. Nasayuud ko nga kini mao ang tinuod nga simbahan. Conference is tomorrow so make sure you look for me in the Priesthood Session choir! (Joke lang. The one week of choir I missed was the week they picked who'll be singing in the Priesthood Session...) So don't actually look for me but look for how the talks apply to you. Because each talk given during conference will apply to you in some way or another and it's our job to figure that out. So focus up and pay attention! Nahigugma nako kamo! Have a great week! Watch Conference!

-Elder Head

This photo must have been when he was skyping with the filipinos
and didn't understand a word that was said...maybe :)

Temple walk....we like his Fast Sunday tie!

MTC week 3 - Mitch says it's going by fast but as his mom....I'd disagree!

Hey guys! So problem, I seem to have forgotten my patriarchal blessing at home. Will you please mail me a copy of it? :) Thanks! I've hit my 3 week mark and it's weird! I love and miss you guys so much but I love it here and there's no place I'd rather be. This is going by so fast. I kind of suck at writing in my journal (insert awkward face emoji....?) So this week was basically exactly the same. The temple rededication was so awesome! I hope you got to see it. We also heard from Elder M. Russell Ballard on Tuesday so that was great! Bad news. We're singing in the priesthood session of conference, but the day we had the opportunity to sign up, I didn't go to choir!! So I'm going to try my best to still be in it but it's really a slim chance though. So I'm sorry momma you probably won't get to see me on tv. :(  I can't wait to just get out into the field. I'm getting kind of sick of the MTC. Haha. Thanks for the pep talk Pop! It was just what I needed today :) Nasayuud ko nga tinuod ang simbahan ug pinaagi ang pag-ula sa JesuKristo magbalik kami sa Dios. Have a great week and mahigugma ko kanato! 

Love,
Elder Head

Temple walk Sunday! 

Haha! Maybe I should scale back on the care packages :)

Nap time??

MTC week 2.....All is well :)

Hey guys!

Sorry about the short letter last week. I was sick and was too lazy to type out a better one so I apologize. Haha. So this week was the same as last week basically. Except we heard from Elder Richard G. Scott. So that was kind of cool. But he came and spoke on Tuesday in our devotional and (as expected) killed it. We got a new batch of missionaries going to the Philippines this week who are learning Ilongo. I haven't really had the chance to talk to a lot of them but they seem cool! We said goodbye to the old Ilongo district on Wednesday so that was less awesome. They're all great guys and will help a lot of people. I know it. Sa linguahey sa maayo kaayo. (The language is very good) That was a translation for all you n00bs out there. Haha joke lang. (Joking) I suck at basketball. Like really bad. But the Filipinos love basketball so I feel like I have to get better so I don't lose to a bunch of guys who's average height it 5' 3". So I've been running and playing basketball during gym. Also, in case you haven't already heard, the food isn't great. It's not bad, but definitely not great. I've been spoiled cause my Momma is the best cook in the country, so that was a crappy adjustment. But I'm over it. It's cool. Haha. Alright well, nihigugma ko namo. Tinuod ang simbahan. Gihigugma kita sa Dios. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Head

Elder Head and Hermana LeSueur!!

Oh man...No hug! A handshake will do :)

Looks like Mitch received his "care" package from last week!

Modeling his first haircut from a stranger and not his momma!
I offered to meet him at the park across from the MTC next Friday
for a quick haircut but he couldn't wait....oh well :)

MTC - 9 days in :)

We heard from Elder Head again today! It appears that Fridays will be our favorite day of the week......P-DAY!!  We emailed back and forth a little which was nice and this is what we learned today.  Mitch has a really bad cold and is sick. He reassured us that he's fine and is taking medication and is feeling better.  He is learning a lot and working hard to learn Cebuano.  He's seen Emma LeSueur a couple of times! He saw her at a devotional on Tuesday. She happened to be sitting by some people from his branch. So when they saw each other they got excited and ran up and talked until the meeting started. Now those guys in his branch think she's his girlfriend, even though he's explained that they are just close friends! It so great that they got so see each other! Hermana LeSueur leaves the MTC on Monday morning! There are 6 people in his zone that will be going to his same mission. He is really enjoying his time in the MTC thus far :)  His letter for the blog is very short today because he is sick but an added bonus is he sent some pictures! Here is his brief (very brief) commentary for today:


Hey guys!

So this week has gone by so much faster than the first week.  Its still good here. Just exactly the same I guess. Bored. Just kidding about being bored. Cebuano is hard, but my companion and I are doing well with it. I think I'm gonna keep this letter kind of short because I can't think of anything to say right now. So yeah. Have a good week! Tinuod ang simbahan!

Love,
Elder Head

Sunday Temple Walk

Mitch being Mitch :)

Some of Mitch's zone. Elder Ho Ching, his companion, has the yellow tie on

Elder Foote

I'm sick???

Elder Ho Ching

Studying hard!

We drove down to Provo to send care packages to our missionaries :)  Somehow we ended up by the MTC....what are the odds!