AUGUST 4, 2013

Kamusta ang bisan sin-o!!

So, four whole days in the Philippines! I am surviving just fine so far. I knew missionary work would be hard, but it is a lot harder than I expected it to be. Really long, exhausting days, however they are more than rewarding!I absolutely love the work here! I feel like I have been stretchd and molded and will definitely continue to be. My progression in the Scriptures and Ilonggo has taken off again! I love it:) Here is some basic information you might like to know. I live off of roughly $5.30 U.S. dollars a day and I am a wealthy person here. My training companion is Elder Parry (no, not L. Tom). I am in the Fabrika area of the Cadiz zone. To give you an idea of how my area is like, it is beautiful jungle up in the mountains with an overlook of the sea. I can physically see the Ilo Ilo mission from my area. My area is on of the poorest areas in my mission. President Lopez described it like this. Fabrika is a third world community of a third world island of one of the poorest third world countries. People will commonly have absolutely no money. They will go without money for a few days and it's normal. But, they are truly the happiest people on Earth. They are so kind and loving! They always want to give what little bit they can. They always try to feed us, even when it means they won't have any food for themselves. Yes, in four days I have already experienced this more than a few times. The kids are hilarious! They all want "up here's" which just means a high five. My companion dishes them out all the time!! We get called kons (short for Americans) Joes (I think they relate it to G.I. Joe) and they call us Der!! (short for elder). The Filipinos are all about shortening words and nickname! My name is said Elder/Der Carber. The "v" makes a "b" sound like Spanish.

There are a couple of stories I want to share with you. First: there is a young man named A. We met him last night. We went to teach the S family. They consist of inactive members, investigators and recent converts. So our time is very wisely spent there. Their friend, A, was there last night. He is definitely Catholic. He had a cross necklace and did the cross sign after the opening prayer. He was very willing to listen and participated actively throughout the whole lesson. He wanted to keep reading from the Book of Mormon too! It was really neat because we had to travel into Cadiz for a baptismal interview (my companion is District Leader) so we got delayed one hour from our proselyting. So we showed up an hour late to the S family, in which we would have missed their friend. Anyway, we set up a return appointment for next Sunday and their friend said he would be there!! He is the first new investigator of my mission!!!

Next story. Also really cool. We were teaching the J family last night too. They weren't able to make it to Church because they have been out of money to pay for the bus for a few days now. They are recent converts. Brother Jwas sharing with us at the end of the lesson that he knew that if he continued to pray daily and read daily that he would find work. He was literally testing his faith right in front of us. And guess what happened!? Moments after he said that, his phone rang and he had a job offer!! Talk about a tender mercy of the Lord! It was such a spiritual night, last night and it was preceded by an incredible fast and testimony meeting that morning. The members have so much faith here and sacrifice everything for this Gospel. It is an incredible sight to see!

Now onto everybody's questions. Traveling was way long!! We were in the air for 16 hours total.... We flew from Manila to Bacolod to finish our last hour of flight. Everything is beautiful here in its own way. The culture is very different but I like it! It is definitely an adventure every day. It is very hot and EXTREMELY humid. My body doesn't stop sweating at all. I sleep with a fan blowing on me all night long just to make sleep possible. I am adjusting fairly quickly though. When I am sitting in a lesson, I will almost stop sweating;) That's considered quick here. Sorry I didn't get to call from San Fran. I literally had 5 minutes there and they were all spent connecting. They had to hold the plane to Tokyo for us.... The time change actually hasn't effected me at all. We stayed the night in Manila and got up extra early so that we would crash the next night and I have felt no jet lag since then:) Some parts about the Philippines are like I thought it would be and others not. It depends on what I am considering. The Fairbanks and Maxfields helped me prepare a lot!! Tell them thanks for me!! My companion is great!! He is from Lehi Utah. We graduated the same year and has been out here for 6 months now. I am the first missionary he has trained so it is a learning experience for us both. We get along great and he knows so much! I enjoy learning from him. My house. I live in one of the poorest areas of the Philippines but my house is one of the nicest ones in the mission. I don't understand how that worked out... I have a shower with cold water only, but it is fine by me because it cools me down. I see a lot of lizards! They rarely get quite as big as I thought they would but big none the less. The tokos (big lizards) are hilarious. They make freaky noises and eat the tikis (little lizards). We have on toko somewhere in our house but he is ninja sneaky so he stays for now. Not a lot of other critters though. I did see a really cool, yet dangerous, spider though. Just one. He was bright yellow and shaped kinda like a crab with a "Y" shaped shell. Cooking is great. LOTS of rice but it is all very good. I will be doing laundry later today so I will comment on that next week. Unlike most missionaries, I actually lost weight in the MTC. I now weigh roughly 215 (10 pounds less) with a 35 inch waist. We will indeed see how fast that changes. I went down one whole belt notch in the MTC. I still have a solid 17 1/2 inch neck though.

Thanks for the update on the family Mom! Sounds like everybody is doing great and still the same as usual! I love you all! Glad to hear that Grady is finally growing;) Ethan needs to stop so that I still have a little brother in 2 years! Sorry that the basement is going so slow. Please tell President Perkins and the rest of the Stake Presidency hello for me! They are great examples to us all. Also send my hellos to the Bishop and his counselors! It sounds like Ali and Nate have done a lot of growing up since I left. Keep it up you two!! I look up to you a lot! Congrats on the Book of Mormon, Mom! It wonderful and I love it. Everybody should read it! They should have people that invite others to read it..... :). I don't know if you have watched the Characters of Christ yet but watch that before you start your reading over again. Jed and Alden. You need to watch the Characters of Christ while you are in the MTC. It changed the way I read and study my scriptures and definitely brings everything home! Jed, good luck with your MTC experience in the next couple of days!

I love you all!!

Palangga ko kamo!!

I can't wait to hear how you are all doing next week!

1 Nefi 1:1.

Elder Carver