Top of the morning to Ya'll! haha
While I was in Japan (kirk) I managed to send a 9 lb. package to you. That doesn't sound like much, but it is. Normally our packages are about 4 pounds.
Now that's why I have the best parents in the world! haha
How do you avoid getting peed on? (his last email mentioned his current companion, and several others, had...well, let's just say, "accidents happen")
Well its easy. You just have to be weary of the little children, especially the ones not wearing any pants. Which you might actually come across more frequently than the little children that do wear pants.. haha I think Elder Handy was teaching and wasn't paying attention.. haha I chalk it up to what Sister Dietrich described as my ability to know whats going on all around me all the time even when I'm busy doing something myself. Yay for sports! haha
Were you nervous going across that bridge? (It's in a picture he attached)
Nope! I was pretty pumped! They were telling me about their area a while back and I was like when we go on exchanges there you are taking me on that bridge! haha Its pretty sketch if theres lots of people on it but the times we crossed it there usually wasn't too many people.
So is the rainy season over?
Hmm... I don't know. It still rains multiple times a week but its not like nonstop rain for like weeks straight like it was for a while.. The ground still doesnt ever get dry so my pants still get muddy all the time.. haha
Grandma now!
The cows, oxen (?) are interesting too. Especially when you are sitting on one. What exactly are they?
They're called Carabao. They're essentially a cow/oxen mix I guess cuz like the one we were on was a female but she was huge! And had huge horns! So yeah... I don't know. Just google it or somethin.
btw, what is a bakla? Is he like the apartment manager? (From last week's "locked out of the apartment" story)
Umm.. I wondered if someone would ask that.. He's not exactly the apartment manager.. I'd tell you to google that too but I would actually discourage that.. Baklas are the third gender in the Philippines.. They are boys that decided they're gay but went even further and dress, act, and talk like women. And its terrible cuz they usually wear like super tight/short stuff and they're always very flamboyant about trying to get your attention... Yeah.. probably not one of the things I'll miss about the Philippines. haha
Speaking of food, you said you really like the food there. What exactly are you eating?
Umm.. yeah. Rice! If its me and Elder Handy we usually just make simple stuff like chicken and potatoes and rice and whatever else. But like the other stuff has lots stuff in it. I don't know exactly whats in this stuff, so I can't make it but its good! Some of my favorites are Tinolang Manok, Chicken Adobo, Menudo, Caldera, and they're gulay (vegatable) ulams are usually pretty good too! Oh speaking of food and why Filipinos are awesome.. So you may have noticed my pictures this email with a green thingy. Thats a papaya in case you didn't know. Well we taught this family a couple weeks ago and over the course of just talking to them I told that that my favorite ulam was Tinola. One of the main parts of that is papaya. So this week we went back to that family and after our lesson. The mom was like we've got papayas growing over there, take one! So I did. So yeah.. now I have that papaya and to be honest I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but it struck me as to how kind and friendly and giving the people are here! She remembered from like a couple weeks ago that tinola was my favorite so she gave me one of their papayas! #PhilippinesRocks
And since they live so near water, must eat a lot of fish? What else? Favorite Filipino dessert? Every culture has a favorite dessert.
Yeah they eat a lot of fish here too. But we don't get fed terribly often here so I don't have to eat it that often.. haha Desert..? Hmm.. Here they eat fruits a lot as deserts and its good! They also sometimes have like sticky rice and like other stuff that for me is a little more sketch. Well, thats weird. For a guy that loves junk food more than anything (I had cookies for breakfast this morning.. =D ) (wish I were surprised), I actually like their main dishes and fruits a lot better than their deserts.
So this week has been another awesome one! We're going to have another baptism this coming Saturday so we're pumped! This lady is more than ready! And her family is coming around, too. Its the one that we saw a big change in her husband over the course of last week. But her husband is only home once a week so we're going to go ahead and baptize her and keep working on her husband cuz he'll probably be a while. But the missionary that interviewed her said that he's never interviewed anyone that has understood repentance better or that was more penitent, so that was like awesome and a half to hear. We're so pumped for her!
So Tuesday I had to teach district meeting. Something I still feel inadequate to do.. haha But this time it went really well. One of the things I did was that I assigned everyone in my district a missionary from the Book of Mormon. They were to study that missionary and find at least one way we can apply what they did into our work. I was looking over stuff I could do for district meeting and just that activity popped into my mind cuz its a little bit of an adaption to one of the suggestions we had. I swear it was the Spirit that gave me that idea cuz it went really good! The BoM missionary, that I pretty much just randomly assigned each missionary, had seemed to even be given to each missionary for a reason. Almost every missionary started their 3-5 minute presentation with "Well obviously So-and-So is the best missionary in the Book of Mormon and this is why. . ." It was pretty funny but afterwards, Sister Paddock came up to me and said, "That was awesome. Home Run." So I'm grateful for the help of the Lord with that!
Also May, the lady getting baptized this Saturday, has really started to learn how to study the gospel! We gave her last General Conference's Liahona and she read it and loved it! She even took notes on it, like thats that came to her, so we had the great opportunity to explain to her that she was learning by the Spirit and she didnt even know it! Woo! That was the same day though that we had to get up at 2:30 AM to get to the temple cuz we're supposed to attend the 6am session... #Sacrifices haha But it was good though! Just more than just a little bit exhausting.
We had lots of new investigators and less-actives just kinda come out of the wood work and thats really exciting to see! I even had a few experiences this week where I felt that I was following spiritual promptings from the Spirit and it was cool! Thats definitely one of the hardest but most exciting things for me.
We had an awesome lesson with the family that gave me the papaya. We taught the Restoration and after we taught it we asked them what they thought/what they were feeling. And the mom was like, "I felt it is true. It was like I was there and I saw what Joseph Smith saw." Let me tell you, I don't know if there's a sound sweeter than that. Like I think I told you guys last week. When you have someone you're teaching say that what you're teaching is true that they've been touched by the Spirit. Its such an incredible feeling! Its so awesome!
In other news, if you notice the beautiful sunset pictures we took. Yeah.. we saw the awesome sunset so we just started heading towards the water. Apparently we wandered onto some private property cuz a guard there, shortly after we had taken the pictures, came up to us and told us we weren't supposed to be there! Oops! haha But I talked to him and apologized.. haha As we were walking away Elder Handy was like "well Elder what's that make you 9 for 9?" Referencing my track record in the office.. haha
In sad news, Elder Osumo has less days left than I have months! Aw.. =( Hence the slightly awkward picture we took.. haha
Oh and for all you guys going a little too fast please see picture 610, follow its counsel, and slow down. I'm just looking out for your safety. haha Well I'm out!
Cya! Love ya!
Elder Michael Gadberry
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