Week 23

Merry Christmas from the Philippines

Merry Christmas everybody! This Christmas was really fun. It didn't feel like Christmas, ig, just cuz it's hot everyday and rains. But it was fun. That morning we traveled to go to the old apartment and it rained the whole way back while we were all singin' White Christmas. We then went to the church and had a zone council meeting, pretty typical normal meeting. Then after we had gift exchanges and I got a camera except it wasn't a camera it was a fan. Then we all went out and played volleyball for an hour or 2 and then we played basket ball for another hour and then we went home. 

There's this joe (white man) that passed us a couple times on his electric bike tricycle thingy, and as he drives by he leans over and yells at us and says, 'One wife only guys, One wife!' Typical joe move, and an elder that was with us one time said the missionaries here before us told him about the same experience except he had his 20 year old girlfriend with him. Keep in mind the minimum age for joes here is 40. 

There was another experience we had where it was pouring rain and this old tay (old guy, respectively i think, maybe) called us over under this shelter and gave us both a firm look in the eyes and asked when the end of the world was or when will the second coming of Christ be. We tried to throw him a curveball by asking does your family matter to you tay? Then he brought it back to the same question and then we tried telling him, which actually brings up a good point as a spiritual thought. If you dont know the purpose of life or where you're headed, it doesn't matter when the end of the world is. Or if you dont know the purpose of life then it wont matter to know when it ends. He wouldn't let us share anything cuz he kept bringing it back to the same question and said we looked like we had authority and were disciples of Christ. So he at least got that part right. 

There also have been a lot of drunk people out this week in between Christmas and New Years. We had drunk people in the downtown area turn around on their chairs with a big drunk smile and 2 big thumbs up and say, say hi ta God for us! Other times it's where girls say "hey, now's our chance ta get rich". Tho I figured out that if our support money was our 'pay' then we would be earning less than the minimum wage here which is 7 bucks a day with an 8 hour shift. And I still have left over money by the end of the cycle. 

What I've learned over the years if something happens I dont like or anything happens, Im just chillin. So ya, just chill. And that doesn't mean to be lazy, it just means you're able to withstand your trials. I'm a firm believer that you can be a hard worker, but just be chillin at the same time if that makes sense. Accept what God gives you with a good attitude. 

We bought some bananas too and now we're gonna eat some breakfast, sorry this ones late but ya. C y'all!

The white guy is actually from my stake. I've been on scouting trips with him. Somehow he ended up here so that was fun--Brother Castro.