The latest, greatest (and long!) e-mail from Michael! He has a new companion, still on Coron and still loving it. Hopefully there are pictures above this post that are referenced in his e-mail below. Also, as a point of reference, Michael's right eye is pretty weak. That will mean something in a few paragraphs.
Ayos!
Got you all some more pics on the way. My parents asked about the bird in the picture on the last one, and that is a dissected Balut. I bought Elder Hopkins balut the night before he left cuz he said he wanted to try it but hadn't tried it yet. So Elder Osumo and I went on a snack run for everyone and I had to pick up some balut. We bought 2 Hopkins (barely) ate on, he had lots of trouble. And he culdnt do another so smartly, we decided to dissect it and that is what the inside of a balut looks like.
This time I brought my journal with me so I have a better idea of what went down this week. Get pumped! haha So lets start with Tuesday, that night we had a lesson with Dante. My companion followed up and then turned the time over to me. I knew what we planned on sharing but I had no idea like how to do it in Tagalog or where to start and what not. But then I just had an idea of where to go with it and I followed that thought and I was able to teach much of the lesson in
good Tagalog. I know that the Spirit helped me out there cuz well I taught in Tagalog and I dont know Tagalog haha, but also because of how smooth and powerful the lesson was too. Kind of like Nephi being led by the Spirit not knowing before hand what he should do. Or in D&C take no thought before hand what ye shall say but it will be granted you in the very moment that portion that is meted unto every man. Or something close to that. Also on Tuesday, I saw a Filipino squirrel And its like half the size of squirrels in America.
So on Thursday, I got to play Filipino style pool. Its pretty legit! I've got pictures of it that I sent. The cue ball is actually a wooden black puck, and the balls are smaller red, plastic pucks with papers with numbers on them taped on top. Its legit. I actually think its easier than regular style pool. Pool is huge here. Which is kinda cool but not when you're a missionary and you gotta teach people that gambling is bad..haha Also that little crab you see in the pictures....Yeah not a fan. My companion hoped down in the mud when it was low tide and caught him, then proceeded to torture me with him for like ten minutes! Much to the entertainment of him and Aurora Albuera the sister we were teaching at the moment. But it was pretty funny. At some point during the day I did something to mess with Robbins (I've forgotten what now...haha) but then I came back home and I found my desk in the bathroom. It was pretty hilarious. We took
some fun pictures with that.
Alright! Friday was pretty eventful, too. It was an exciting day cuz we got our support for the second half of the month! And the ATM gave us our support in all 100 peso bills...so that was fairly entertaining. By the way "Skater Boi" just came on on the radio here in the internet shop and me Robbins and Osumo just looked at each other and laughed. Classic song. (Osumo is totally American. More fluent in english than some Americans. Knows all the slang. Only listens to American music. And will not watch a movie or show if its not in english). Back to Friday. (cue Rebecca Black) First of all during Weekly Planning, for whatever reason, my comp was getting on my nerves and I have no idea why...So when he went to the bathroom I said a quick prayer, looked back at my scriptures and saw Alma 34:29, it says "If ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under the foot of men." I read that, chuckled to myself, tried to remember that, and had a great rest of plannning and rest of the day.
Later that night, we were getting in Mark Velasquez's (Jelyn's husband) tricycle. It was dark and I turned to go around to the back and Bam!I ran right into the corner of a really low tin roof thingy. It didnt hurt but of course it bled a fair amount. Luckily, Mark and Bogs were there right away to clean it up. Bogs had alcohol so we got it really clean (SO DON'T WORRY!). I had three thoughts come into my head. First, crap if this is bad, I'm going to get sent back to Manila and not be able to come back here... Second, Since Jesus suffered all out pains and afflictions, I might need to repent of this cuz this is a really dumb thing to make him suffer. And third and mostly overall, I was grateful that it didnt actually get my eye cuz that was my left eye and if it gets damaged we may have issues. And so yeah that was eventful. Whenever someone asks me what happened I tell them "Nagustohan ko maging kagaya ni Pacquio. (I wanted to be like Pacquio)." But that night Mark gave us some bad news. He said that there's been a lot of talk on his side of the family about Jelyn going to our church and being baptized, and his parents are devout Catholics and were not happy about it. So he told us we'd be welcome to still come and share and what not but she probably won't be going to church anymore. So yeah either tonight or tomorrow night we're going over there to sort all of that out. Hopefully it works out.
So I know that the Lord's definitely been helping out my Tagalog cuz Saturday we visited the Lagrosas and when me and Hopkins visited there they pretty much just laughed through the entire lessons, but still went to church on Sunday, much to our surprise...haha They laughed not because our Tagalog was wrong they just thought it was hilarious that a couple Americans were speaking Tagalog I guess...haha But Saturday we stopped by and I was hoping to speak minimally. But Elder Bagahansol told me to teach her about sacrament. So I was like uhh ok I'll try (this isn't going to go well...). Plus this was pretty much the first time I taught it like myself usually I just have a couple inputs. So I tried and she understand and it went good and she didn't laugh at my Tagalog at all! It was awesome!
So yeah that's the highlights of my week pretty much. Yesterday at church we had 56 people there, and Elder Bagahansol and I had 17 investigators at church it was a good Sunday.
The dirt road pics: We went out there with Bro and Sis Duran to meet some lost members and it was pretty tight. The tiny kitten we saw in the streets. To be blunt, it probably won't live very long. There are a ton of dogs and cats in the streets. The snowman was created by Elder Robbins in our little freezer.
So yep, wow that was long. I love everyone that actually reads this whole thing. And if you dont actually read this I still love you, but not as much.
Love
Elder Michael Gadberry
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