Week #41: The Cologne you sent smells too strong!

Hello!

Christmas last week. With a nice lockdown. We stayed inside Tuesday night. We had to be in our apartments at 5. Our neighbour came to bring us snacks. It was a good night. We actually we watched "The church: 50 Years in the Philippines." It was a lot of dancing and history. So that's basically how we spent our Christmas. We actually got up at midnight to open our presents. The cologne I got from mama and papa smells really good. It's kind of strong too haha. Whatever, at least it smells good. For Christmas day, we went to San Pedro and had breakfast there. I met more family. Every time we visit them I meet more and more family members. Like some of your cousins mom. I met ate Karen then. Friday, we had dinner at ate Ria's place and met her family. We actually committed them to baptism that day but no baptismal date. That's the next step. We explained to them they need to pray, read, and come to church to know if it's true. They accepted that. And guess what, they came to church on sunday (Auntie Jean, Raven, Julius, and some guy Jake). Auntie said "masarap ang pakiramdam," which translates badly when put into english. So that's good. They actually know a lot of people at church. Auntie says she knows the branch president. Although they attended the wrong branch, they said they will attend Vigan 1 next week. We also went to go teach this family yesterday, the 1st councilor, and found out he's originally from San Pedro (his mother), who ends up being related to Raven. It's really funny how things connect.

Hopefully, things will continue in a good way.

Anyways, this month was a hard month. Pamasahe here is super expensive since our area is so far away. We've been walking and walking and finding and finding. We have been giving pamphlets out to a whole bunch of random people. Every time we talk to a tryce driver, we end up having to give him as a referral to the sisters in Vigan. We really can't find in Caoayan. We tried finding there but there were actually no people there for some odd reason. Maybe it's because of the holiday season. I don't know. Hopefully something picks up.

For this week, it's going to be the same thing, but we have more people to teach from all those we found last week. It'll be fun. One of the things we kind of need to work on is helping the members get excited in doing missionary work. It's really hard to share the gospel being a member because we don't have that nametag. But it's super effective. People are scared of the black name tag. We have been asking members to give out pamphlets for us and to think of people (friends, family, neighbours) who we can teach. We got some. So the work is moving forward here!

Other than that, I'm good. It's actually really cold here now. I have to sleep with two blankets because of how cold it is. We have to sleep with a fan too to drive away bugs at night. So it's kind of odd sleeping in the cold with a fan. Survival guide to the Philippines. During the day it gets really hot. So that's that.

Anyways, I love you all! Give me updates! Take care!

Elder Morales

Week #40: Dad pls send me $$$

Hi dad,

I'll send a bigger email, but I may need just 25 dollars to survive for the next few weeks. Thanks!

Elder Morales

Hi mom,

I'll be skyping tomorrow morning at 10 am. Will you be home 10 pm there on the 23rd?

Week #39: Guess where I am?

Hello family,

Guess where I am? So, friday morning, President Barrientos came to our apartment to tell us the big news in the office. I've been transferred from the office. President sent me to Vigan to go find our family. And guess where I'm right now. In San Pedro. Auntie Jean is sitting right behind me. I got to meet most of them. We're going back on friday night to share with them. President gave me special permission to cross areas so I could go teach them. That's why President kicked me out of the office so early. I beat Elder Wood out of there. It's kind of sad leaving the office but I have lots of work to do. Part of the reason why we left I left so soon is that he wants us to baptize more. Vigan has a lot of potential here for baptism. It's nice to be able to work here. I always say in testimonies when I'm in my previous areas is that we should do missionary work to our family. Now I can. Blessing talaga.

So the day before transfers, President and Sister took us out for a office P-day. We went to heritage road and took pictures. Ate a lot of food. There's pictures. And spent the rest of the day in Baluarte to look at animals and a very drugged up tiger. We have a picture with it.

As for skype, we haven't figured out when yet. 

Week #38: I'm getting fat.... and my stomach just keeps growing.

Hello everyone!

So we have been extremely busy here in the office. We barely got out to work. We have been preparing for the Christmas Zone Conference.

We also had the chance to decorate the office Christmas tree last week. Actually the whole office is decorated. Elder Bulseco told me that, in the Philippines, they celebrate Christmas starting since September. So on our Christmas tree, if you look at the photos, you will see that it's a missionary Christmas tree. There's a daily planner and pass-along cards. We had to find some way to decorate the tree.

Preparation has been super tedious. We spent a whole day looking for a video camera but found none. Sister Barrientos wants to film the dances and the skits of each zone. I guess we'll just film it using a regular camera. We also had to deliver mattresses to certain apartments here in Laoag because we have to put all 120 missionaries somewhere to sleep overnight. We're just squeezing them all on the floor. After we delivered mattresses, President and Sister treated us out to dinner because it was late. We really haven't eaten in our apartment. We won't even be sleeping in our own apartment for the next two days! We'll be sleeping in the office. We'll be fed well for the next few days. I'm getting fat... Weigh in: 143.3 lbs. Yes... and my stomach just keeps growing. Well that's after I eat. We had nilaga in the mission home for lunch. Yummy. Patis and kalamansi. I just miss those kind of dishes. We're too lazy to make it because it takes time. We just cook sisig, bicol express, pinakbet... and whatever. We have so much meat in our freezer.. we didn't really touch it last week so we don't have to spend much this week... or the next week.. or the week after... or the week after that too... It's transfer week next week.. then Christmas week... then New Years week... So a lot of being fed. It's nice.

To prepare more for Christmas Zone Conference, we had to make 220 standards cards. After we finished folding and slicing the cards, we received an pdate that we need to make a change to the card! So restart... As I was slicing the papers, I accidentally sliced off a small chunk of my finger at the tip.. That wasn't fun. But I'm still alive.

By the way, Happy 25th Anniversary mom and dad! And happy 20th Birthday Jordan! And happy birthday to papa. There's so many Birthdays this month that I don't remember who.. oh and happy birthday uncle Michael! I think that's it.

And so we I have a sore knee. And that's it.

Much love

Elder Morales

Week #37: And he said, "Pour moi, il n'y a pas Dieu."

Hello all!

Sorry for the late email. We travelled all the way to Sta Ana yesterday. We left at 5 am yesterday morning and arrived 11 pmlast night. We had to stop by every area to drop off their supplies. Supplies finally came in. While we were in Gonzaga area, we found their bamboo sticks outside for Tinikling so we made them sample while me and Elder Wood clicked. What was hard about delivery, it was raining up north. In Sta Ana, Elder del Rosario fed us. Then when we reached Sanchez Mira, the sisters gave us a whole bunch of snacks. So we were fed... well... Not really. Basta, we ate.

And as I was sitting here writing this email, I received the package.

And we finally contacted the french guy. When he finally answered his door, he came out and he kinna looked like Leon when you ring his doorbell... half naked... in his underwear only. It was really... odd. He's an old french guy from france and we have no clue why he's here. I tried to speak to him in French but I kept throwing in Tagalog in the conversation... Basta, we understood each other. And he said, "Pour moi, il n'y a pas Dieu." That's too bad.

Another day, we had exchanges and we walked into this group of people who were wanting to know what we do as missionaries. There were a few of them that were genuinely interested but there was this one guy who was asking a whole bunch of ridiculous questions. The first statement was how the Bible is a complete and perfect book. So I already knew where this was going. So he first asked this question, since we brought up how everyone needs Christ. He said, "What happens to those people who didn't know about Christ, for example, who lived before Christ, or those who live in the Mountains, who knew nothing about Christ?" I tried to explain to him we can't teach everything to him but he kept insisting that we tell him so I gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet. He kept insisting for the answer so I told him you need to understand prophets first before we can tell you... and we can't share you all in one lesson because our message is LOOOONG! 

The answer to his question is that all will be saved because of the plan of salvation. So we started teaching him the restoration. When we reached the apostasy, I raised the fact that there's a lot of churches and we need to know which is true. He asked "How many churches are true?" then I asked him if he meant which church is true. He insisted on how many then I said... "Dapat isa." Then he agreed so he goes on to say "So if one is true, that means everything else is false right?" Obviously I'm not going to agree with that so Elder Ewell said how every church has truth but not the whole truth. But he kept on insisting that all other churches were wrong. We repeated ourselves again but then he used this example of what if someone asked you to buy a kilo of rice and you go and buy 10 kilos. You're wrong but you're still right. Basta, his comparison is ridiculous. Then we reached about Joseph Smith and how he read the Bible. I said that the Bible is the word of God. Then he asks me if I'm sure that it's the word of God so I say "Yes!" Then he goes on to say how the Bible has the words of demons. I agreed with him but told him that those are quotations from the prophets, who are called of God. This guy was really interesting. There's more but that's enough for now haha.

Then back 2 transfers ago, we received a referral from when the missionaries worked in our area for the incoming. We were warned that he's bakla and works in a parlour so it's hard to reach him at this time of the year. As we were walking past his house looking for a less active, we saw this woman that had the build of a man. Elder Wood turns to me and asks me if that's Alvin. I'm sure it was. So we ask someone around there where Alvin is.. and it turns out to be him. So we taught him and he seems genuinely interested. There's going to be a huge hurdle for him getting baptized but if he truly wants to, then he'll accept.

So that's what's interesting here. Other than that, we finally got a new investigator at church, sister Theresa. She's the best friend of Sister Simpliciano. We finally found out why Sister Simpliciano is not looking for her birth certificate, medyo tamad siya. It's in her house! Once she finds it, then it's going to be quick to start the process of marriage!

Next week is Christmas Zone Conference. We finally finished the dance for Itik-itik. It's really funny. We also have Elder Tate acting as a fairy for the play. There will be pictures. Marami. Maraming maraming preparations na gawin. We have to make shirts for the office and for the zone. So we have lots of shirts. It's pretty cool. Anyways, this is Christmas mission life. I'll send pictures next week when I get more!

Love you all!

Elder Morales

Week #36: Mexican Food... Tacos and looking for Jonathan or is it Becky???

Hello and good hapon!

So let's see what I did this past week... Well we had interviews with President. The office elders and assistants did not get interviewed because he'll just interview us at the office. Sister Barrientos gave us a training on health and told us about this pill we're supposed to take every 6 months called Antiox. Basically what it does is that it kills the worms inside you and you poop the worms. So us office elders gave it a shot. It costs 102 PHP each! Mahal! (Not really... but to us it's mahal) After I took the pill, I was so afraid to poop in case I'd see worms in the toilet. There's a picture of the little white Antiox pill. It tasted like chocolate.

I also took this picture of the mexican restaurant in Laoag. It really tastes like mexican food. We we're taking duck face pictures because we danced itik-itik that day. We're almost done the dance but the steps are way weird because the counting is way off... Then we have american's trying to correct the dance steps, which they don't know themselves. It's throwing me way off. They're 8 counting a waltz step, which totally doesn't work... Whatever, it'll be fine. At least the main steps are complete, we can easily correct the counts. To get to the dance practice, we rode kalesa. That was fun.

So now, we have a lot of preparations to do for Christmas Zone Conference. Basically President told us we have to take care of everything. We also have to go make t-shirts made for all the office elders. So much work! It's even harder now. I have missionaries nagging me for Book of Mormons and pamphlets but unfortunately I'm super stuck since I have a ton of supplies on back-order. Hastening of the work but no hastening of supplies hehe. Office work is tough. I'll live hehe. We did have an office meeting on sunday and it was good. President reminded us that even though we don't have much baptisms in the office, we help other missionaries baptize others. He told us to sit back and relax sometimes. Then we ate tacos and filipino BBQ. And President was making jokes again as usual. It's always a good night when we have meetings with him.

So we found out about one of our baptismal dates. Gareth moved... but back to Buttong, which is either my area or the other office elders' area. We also tried contacting referrals and we actually found one. Elder Wood said he tried looking for her before but couldn't find her. They even asked this member, Brother Santos, if he knew her then but he said no. We asked last week if he knew her and he did. He pointed out the house for us and we tried the compound. They pointed to the house out back and as we walked closer, this lady said "Hello Elders, nandoon po siya." It's as if they're expecting us. The referral, Abby, was happy to have us there. I guess she was waiting for quite a while. So we set up a return appointment.

Elder Pincock wants me to mention that they received a referral and his name is Jonathan Lorenzo. The sisters in Laoag 3 said how he is a bit feminine. So they go searching for him asking around and people are going... "Jonathan...? Oh Becky! Over there" So they go and find this bakla and acted super feminine and ... yes that was Jonathan. He was super excited to meet them. They actually committed him to baptism. And it's good. He already goes to church. We'll see what happens.

Sooooo.... not much else interesting here. Oh yes, and we do have 1.5 hours now to do email... yet... no emails to actually read. So please tell people to email me or something. I feel kuwawa sometimes hehe. It's okay. Anyways, Happy birthday Alex! Hope it was good! And I totally miss eating that cake. Therefore, I'm expecting a whole cake of "Alex" cake when I get off that plane hehe. And yes... soon to be Happy Birthday for balong.. I mean Jordan hehe. I hope I'm still in the office for my next birthday. President takes us all out for any office elders birthday. Elder del Rosario got a cake for his birthday because he was serving in Laoag. They take good care of us so no worries.

Anyways, just send out that balikbayan box agad. The sooner it gets here the better. Basta, it's here :) Ok. Sige. Take care all of you! Mahal ko kayo! Ayo-ayo.

Elder Morales

Week #35: We went sand-boarding and ate sand! Lol!

So hmmm... what is interesting this past week. Well maybe let's go backwards in days. So yesterday we had zone activity. Part of it was in preparation for the Christmas Zone Conference. Each zone has to prepare a filipino folk dance. Ours is Itik-itik. So imagine a bunch of missionaries pretending to act like ducks. It's funnier since our zone is mostly foreigners. There's only 6 filipinos I think. And as usual when learning these folk dances, we spent like... half an our doing the entrance walk. The zone leaders planned for a second activity to go to the sand dunes so we didn't get much done in the dance... mainly the entrance walk and one part. (Probably a bad idea since christmas zone conference is in a few weeks).

So then we went to the sand dunes. We did sand boarding and stuff like what we would usually do on snow. I ate sand basically. I went down on the sand board and my board twisted so I landed face first. That was fun hehe.

And in terms of proselyting, we have this one investigator, we finally got him to church! We told him to come look at the job listings at the chapel and then we made him stay for all 3 hours afterwards. He enjoyed it so that's good. We visited him yesterday and found out he has to move! He's still moving withing Laoag except not in our area anymore. The same thing is happening to our other investigator. She has to move too! Both of them have baptismal dates! Oh well. We'll just refer them to the other areas. But what's good is that we have been teaching this family who have been investigating the church for 12 years. They have a baptismal date again. They're super active at church. The bad part is that nanay and tatay are not yet married. But we've been pushing hard for them to get their birth certificates and what not for their wedding. The best part is now, they are doing missionary work. We committed nanay's best friend to baptism. She sat in the lesson yesterday about fasting. She decided to try fasting even though she is a new investigator. It's great! Elder Wood said that he hasn't had a baptism here in Laoag City since he's been here. Hopefully we can change that.

So for today, we wake up to no water pressure. So we had no way of doing laundry or cleaning or showering. So we just took our laundry machine to the mission home and did it outside. We are pretty kuwawa today. It's okay. We got to have a hot shower at the mission home. I haven't had that in 10 months!

Oh by the way, what do you use to make your sabaw thick? Halimbawa, how can I make my sabaw thicker? Like for menudo or whatever? I've been cooking a whole bunch of random stuff. Masarap pa rin.

For the box, just send me whatever. I need pepto-bismol tablets though. Cologne is good too. I don't know if it'd be cheaper here. But yeah, Christmas decorations I would like before christmas but if you can't that's fine. Basta, anything in the package is good.

Anyways, tek ker! Lub u all!

Elder Morales

Week #34: Super Typhoon and we are safe!

Hello!

So we are safe here. The super typhoon hit down south in Visayas. I'm sure you got the email from the mission. I saw your response hehe. Anyways, apparently Auntie Jean is progressing here. The sisters are really working hard on them. Hopefully I hear more news about them. Hopefully they also find ate Karen. They told me they'd give me updates. Hopefully Uncle Lito softens up to the missionary lessons. Missionary work really starts at the home and that's what we're trying to really push for over here. Sometimes people are afraid when they hear of mormons because theres so many BAWAL! But they miss the fact that we really know how to have fun. Like for example, yesterday, we had the zone leaders and sister training leaders here and we played games. President Barrientos was really having fun! He was laughing so hard because so of the games are really funny.

Anyways, these past two weeks were super busy. We had the departing missionaries. There were 5. So it's kind of weird sending out missionaries. It made us a bit homesick but it's fine. What made it worse is that while we were waiting for the incoming missionaries, there was a returning missionary and he ran straight to his parents so it make us even more homesick. Then the incoming finally arrived. There's this one elder who is 6'9". He's extremely TALL!!! On friday, we had to bring all the new arrival's luggages to up north. So we travelled all the way to Aparri and stayed in Allacapan. It was a loooooooong drive. I drove there and drove back. It's a 6 hour drive. I got to drive on the mountain. It's fun. Going down, don't need to even press on the gas. Just freefall. Just press on the brakes a lot.

And again for office work, we had to do more arts and crafts. I put stickers on all the DVD players and DVDs to keep track of what we have. I had to keep calling all companionships to return all there stuff. So the desk in the office was filled with over 40 DVD players. That was fun.

We also weren't really able to teach this week. The incoming taught in our area and found our guy with a baptismal date. We always try to teach him but he's never there. But when Elder Prakash found him, they found out he's been waiting for us to go to his place. He's also been reading the Book of Mormon every night and has been marking it. It's pretty cool. Now we just need to baptize him.

Anyways, who's the new stake president!? I want to know. If not, I'll just check online. It's always there.

Anyways, send my regards to everyone. Send my regards too to Margareth and safe, even when driving.

Love you all!

Take care!

Elder Morales

Week #33 : So I got some really cool news!

Hello!

That's super cool! That's Elder Soriano by the way. I got to meet him several times! And that Scott is I think Scott Ramos. I've heard about him. That's super funny. While I was reading I was wondering why Scott was going to church there in LaSalle, but then I read that her brother served in Laoag, I knew that it was Elder Soriano. He was actually the past finance elder. Actually, a lot of canadians serve in the office, especially filipino canadians or whatever.

So I got some really cool news. This past week, I met one of President Barrientos counselors, President Rosario. He's from Vigan. I was working in the office and I told him I have family from there. And I told him that their last name is Altares. Then his wife was asking me about this person named Karen. I found out that she is the daughter of aunti Jean. So Karen married into President Rosario's family somehow. Long story. President Rosario also told me that he was branch president in vigan when inang used to attend there. So President Rosario's wife called ate Karen and made me talk to her and I did. It was really cool. Then i referred the sisters in Vigan to go teach her but they were already looking for her. President Rosario told President Barrientos and if i do serve in Vigan, I'll be allowed to go visit them there.

As for the my driver's license, I finally got it! It took a whole transfer and 9 visits to the LTO but I finally have it so now I can drive. So many problems arose when I tried to get my license.

1. Needed a translation because it was in French.

2. My Visa expired on the photocopy so I had to get the update.

3. The update wasn't long enough so we went to Batac.

4. In Batac, the translation wasn't official enough so I had to wait for the head officer for monday.

5. The LTO in batac was closed on monday.

6. The chief officer approved the translation but then, they wouldn't allow me getting a license because the name on my license is missing Jomar because it's on my passport.

7. Went to the LTO in Batac after getting an ACR but it was closed.

8. Tried again but then the something was offline so they can't process licenses.

9. Decided to go to Laoag LTO. Got it!

Whatever.. I can drive now.

So for Halloween, we had bagyo! (rainstorm)

It was pretty loud at night. We were on lockdown so no proselyting. It hit Sta. Ana first and was pretty strong here at night. It was really loud so we couldn't really sleep. The day before, the mitsubishi dealership finally put up it's sign. That night, I swear I heard it fall or something. We checked and it was destroyed!

As for work, we didn't get to teach much. We were out travelling to different places signing contracts for apartments. That takes up a lot of time. We also have to deliver furnishings to the new apartments. We have 29 new missionaries coming so that means we're opening up new areas. And we have one brand brand new area opening, San Juan. It's exciting.

Anyways, for the balikbayan box, it's not necessary to get all these stuff but here's some ideas:

• Real maple syrup
• Maple or chocolate fudge (check for maple stuff in front of eaton centre where the guy sells maple stuff. Not sure if he's still there)
• Mentos (not mint)
• Candies (Jolly Ranchers, get the ones from dollarama. They have different flavours and are really cheap. Also starburst!)
• Chocolates, kahit ano.
• Dried fruits for baking (if that exists, not really necessary)
• Candy canes?
• Candy cane hot chocolate.
• More pictures!
• Cologne maybe?
• Pepto-bismol tablets
• Peanut butter?
• Poptarts?
• Cereal?
• Christmas decorations, just a bit.
• Elder Pincock said he wants doritos.

Just try to go cheap especially at the dollar store. Best place for candies. Super cheap.

So, I don't need a white long sleeve anymore. President and Sister Barrientos bought us one each. I'm not sure if one each. All he said is that the office elders need to look good. I totally agree with him! And smell good too.

So those are my stories this week. Nothing else. Thanks for the updates! Love you all and take care!

Elder Morales

Week #32 Welcome to the Office!

Hello family ko,

So this past week, hmm... we worked alot in the office. Even this week too. We're pretty much preparing for transfer week. We only got two lessons last week. We're suppose to have 32. Welcome to the office! Hehe. It's fine. I'm completely aware of what was going to happen to our work once we're in here. I get to serve in a different way though. Help other missionaries fulfill their purpose. So technically, we're helping other missionaries baptize. Totally indirectly!

So thanks for all the interesting news from back home. I was totally shocked when you told me President Jarvis is going to be released. Oh and tell Esa happy birthday for me!

So let's see if I could put some stories behind these pictures. So the one with the boxes and the cellphone is because we had special guests coming so we had to clean and I just received a big order of supplies that day. So that was fun. I also took pictures of the office.

 Being an office elder, especially supplies, everyone asks me if they have a package. One sister kept asking me every time so I told her I'll text her once she gets her package. And so it came. She sees it and it's not the one from her family. As soon as she left, her package came from her family! Terrible timing! But she came back and gave us chocolate and left a mess on the floor of the office. 

Then last night, we we're redoing our transfer board by making the names smaller so it could all fit. So there's pictures of us working. Especially with the lamination machine! That was fun!

I still can't get my driver's license. Hopefully today is the day. It's either with the translation or the visa is about to expire so we need an update. All we did last week is look at apartments, deliver furnishings, sign for apartments. That's basically what Elder Wood does. That's finance. That's what I'll be doing later on.

So we ran out of rice and water the past few days but we survived! We ended up cooking a lot of pasta. I basically experimented a lot with the sauces and they were delicious. We're also experimenting with no-bake cookies. They're so good. We just keep making random foods here since we can. Oh yeah, we also cooked kare-kare. It lasted mean and Elder Bulseco 4 meals. Try putting puso ng saging (banana heart?). It tastes really good with that.

Next week is going to be fun. It's transfer week. We'll be fed. We'll be sleeping late. We'll be waking up early. But the food makes up for it. It's almost like condolence meal. It's all good.

So that's the news. Can't think of anything else right now. Agannadkayon! Love you all!

Elder Morales

Week #31 - A Hair Fight , The DOG and The STINKY Fruit!!!

HELLO!!!

Naimbag a malem dagiti dakdakkelko! Diak ammo ti ilocano gapu ta narigat a maisuruan. So here's two nice pictures that I took last week. So we got a massive order of supplies and then we found out that Elder and Sister French were coming so President told us to clean. Especially the supplies room. I got it clean though.

So we had several meetings with President this week. We really work closely with President. But we get fed after the meetings. So we went to McDonald's the first time and then went driving around Laoag to deliver stuff for missionaries with President, Sister and the APs. That was fun. Then we went to San Nicolas to pick up durian from one of the sisters' apartment. It's President's favourite.... fruit? It stinks like poop! Well more like really rotten onions but it tastes like... I don't know. It's alright. Then we sere supposed to work on thursday but then we had surprise errands to do at night. We had to pick up chairs and foams. Then President and Sister took us out to dinner to a place called Papa Pau's. It was super delicious. Well everything is. Then yesterday night we had another meeting and ate at the mission home.

Then President asked us after the meeting if we wanted to see a hair fight. So he asked us to get a black hair and a blonde hair strand and he ran to the kitchen and put water in a dish then put the two hairs in it. So we watched closely and then President slammed his hand on the dish! And we were soaking wet! Especially Elder Oden! It's always fun with President.

One day, me and Elder Wood were proselyting in this really nice place called Northcrest division. Then we we're walking down this path and this dog seemed really angry and starting jogging down this long stretch of path. The dog wasn't even running fast but more like slowly running. We then started walking backwards getting ready to hit the dog with our bags. It was pretty weird. We also been committing baptismal dates here as much as we can. We have these eternal investigators and they have a baptismal date but the problem is that nanay wants to take care of the wedding all by herself. We finally helped her realized that she should be focused on temple marriage and getting married for her family than having this grand wedding. The ward is also willing to help them. So hopefully we get them baptized after 11 years!

So this upcoming week, I'll probably have like a million pictures because we're travelling down to Vigan again and then we're going up north to Lal-lo. We have around 30 missionaries coming in this transfer and we have nowhere to put them so all missionaries are apartment hunting. We're seriously in an exciting time being a missionary. I've got to experience the hastening of the work since the MTC. My batch was the first to experience the 6-week program at the MTC. We also had the age lowering at that time. And we have the hastening of the work here in the mission.

Anyways, take care all of you! Love you all

Elder Morales

Week #30 : Why aren't you updating my Blogs Mom???!!!

Hello family!

So everyone is saying update my blog. Because they want to know what is going on in my life.

Wondering why MOM isn't updating my BLOGS??!!! 

Anyways, we finally watched General Conference last weekend. It was great. Seems like the general theme was repentance. Also they kept saying how sin, even if man legalizes it, is still sin. Mainly repentance is our biggest focus here now as we teach. We had been taught that last zone conference. Also, in the office, we had a meeting with President and we are focused on helping leaders and families work with the missionaries. Since there's a hastening of the work, members are meant to shine with the missionaries. President Barrientos said that missionary work must start at the home.

Hmmm.. anyways, after the meeting, we went out to McDonald's. All of us. The APs, President and Sister Barrientos and all us office elders. It was pretty fun just to hang out with them. Then we drove around to different areas for deliveries. Then President made us eat durian. He says it smells like hell but tastes like heaven. And yeah.. it smells pretty bad! It does taste good though.

So last tuesday, we went to go get haircuts. We went to David's Salon. It's filled with baklas.(gays) So I got shampooing from a bakla. It's weird. After that, as I'm sitting on the chair, I get a back massage from a bakla. (Note that President referred us to this place cause that's where he goes). I look at Elder Wood and he's getting a massage so it's fine. But a bakla was giving a massage... it was weird. Then they gave me a picture book to pick a haircut. It was alright but as you get closer to the back of the picture book, it gets pretty gay. Almost naked men. So I asked for the Piolo Pascual haircut cause it was good enough. So now I have a Piolo Pascual haircut.

Anyways, I've went to Vigan several times already and keep hearing news. I actually met the fellowshipper for auntie Jean. They were in the mission office last week because their daughter was waiting to be sent to the airport to go serve. The Serapion family is there name. Brother Serapion told me that auntie Jean has a baptismal date alongside with kuya Julius. I'm still not sure who he is. Pray hard for them. Hopefully the rest of our family here will be open to the message. Ate Ria won't do much because her kuan... ummm her husband or boyfriend.. is never there.. so I need to find out his name and where he is so work can get started by the missionaries wherever he is. When they get baptized, I have permission to go baptize them. That'd be so cool. Anyways, wala nang balita dito. It's basically just office office office. We are considering turning our lives in the office into a tv show and calling it "The Office." Funny things just happen here. It's fun because we get to work closely with President. We're basically other APs but don't do as much as APs do.

Anyways, take care all of you!!

Elder Morales

Week #29 - Survived first week in the office and found a new Mom and DAD!

Hello family!

We're you able to translate my last email? Anyways, I survived my first week in the office. It was transfer week so it was pretty tough.

We had to sleep late, wake up early, eat late. But at least we got fed. We got free breakfast from the mission home. We got free meals from President and Sister Barrientos. We also had a office meeting and after that we had dinner. President kept making jokes all night. It was a good night. So office work is pretty tough. We're always here and we work less hours than normal missionaries. 5 hours lang bawat isang araw. Nais ko na magtrabaho pero ayos naman kasi ito ay ang pagkakataon upang na makapagsilbi sa mga ibang misyonero dito sa Laoag mission.

We get to travel to different parts of the missions doing deliveries. Basically we do what ever President asks us to do. Basically errands.

We see him and sister everyday and they take care of us. It's nice. It's like really having a mom and dad on a mission. We see president sometimes in regular clothes. It's so different but it's nice.

Oh mom, I went to Vigan! I took pictures of centro over there. It's a really nice place. Sister Kenfield took a video of me telling auntie to go to church already hehe. Hopefully she gets to see it. Hopefully she goes to church. Anyways, I don't know if you would recognize these places because it's been forever ago.

Visiting my Mom's birthplace was awesome!

Anyways, this past week, we've been in and out of the hospital taking care of a sick office elder. Nothing serious. I slept in the hospital last night on this really uncomfortable small couch. It's alright. I'm still alive.

We kept getting free food this week. Sister and President bought us pizza and KFC. That's nice. It's a blessing.

Oh and mom, I know how to cook the following, caldereta, menudo, apretada, dinengdeng, paksiw, pinakbet, adobo. That's it so far. No powders hehe. I'll cook for you when I get home. I enjoy cooking but it takes time. We're gonna try to cook Kare Kare again. I have Elder Bulseco with me in the apartment again so we're going to experiment on foods. Anyways, take care family ken agannadkayo!

Elder Morales

Week #28 - The Lord shows unto us our weaknesses to be blessed..... Transferred to the office to do finance!

Elder Morales letter below is all in tagalog and we apologize that we can't translate it all or at all! Lol! But fortunately, in miraculous way, the Lord also blessed us with understanding of the language. He is transferred and mentioned in his last email how he was not looking forward to the office especially doing what he's terrible at..finance but he does know its a blessing in disguise. Good luck reading.

Hello!!

Ito ang first day ko sa office. Walang p-day para sa amin kasi kailangan namin na gawin ang mga errand para kay President Barrientos. Ang bagong kasama ko ay si Elder Wood. Napansin ko... kung ang e-mail ko ay sa Tagalog... paano makakaunawa ang tagapagbasa ng mga sulat ko? Siguro, kailangan nyo na isalin ang sulat ko. hehe. Itong linggo, pupunta kami sa Vigan. Sobrang excited ko. Mag-pipicture ako diyan. Siempre si mommy, gusto niya na makita ang mga picture.

Ang darating linggo, may baguio. Kaya, walang trabaho sa sabado kasi sobrang lakas ang ulan at hangin. Hindi kaya magtrabaho. Kumakain kami sa lahat ng araw. Ang mga baguio ay hindi talagang scary. Kaya, don't worry. Kung may signal 2, huwag na magtrabaho daw. Pero, last week, gusto namin na magkaroon ng pagbibinyag sa dagat. Pero, yung baguio ay ang dahilan na walang baptism sa dagat. Sayang! Gusto ko talaga! Kasi walang dagat dito sa Laoag. Pero kung puwede, siempre, susubukan namin. Pero may isang pagbibinyag kahit may baguio. Exciting naman! Si Alexandra Litao ay nabinyagan. At pagkatapos ny pagbibinyag, kailangan ko na pumunta sa Laoag!

Sinabi ni Elder Wood, mahirap na mabinyagan dito sa Laoag kasi parte ng area namin ay magiging sisters' area. At ang area nila ay sa centro! Ayos lang. We'll survive. Pero, ito ibig-sabihin na kailangan namin na mag-find palagi. Sana, hindi ako maghahanap para sa 9 months... Oo.. magiging bale 9 months dito sa office. Matagal talaga! Pero magiging masayan pa rin. Si President Barrientos ay nandito siya palagi. Kaya, I'll be with him palagi. Ginagawa nila ang mga activity sa p-day kasama ni President daw. At minsan, o palagi, (hindi ko alam talaga) nagpapakain sila sa amin. Suwerte naman! Blessings ng mga office elder! So ang mga bagong office Elders ay sina Elders Pincock at Bulseco!

Hmm... wala talagang interesting last week except yung baguio. Magiging interesting this week dahil ng transfers. Ang daming misyonero itong transfer na papasok dito sa Laoag! Bale 25!

Paki-sabi kay Jordan at Alex na mag-email sa akin! At ano ang balita sa tahanan? Anyways, good luck sa pagbabasa ng sulat ko. Ingat kayo lagi at mahal na mahal ko kayo!

Elder Morales

Week #27: -First time writing to his Dad and this is his email! LOL!

Hi daddy,

Can you please put some money in my account? I'm going to Laoag on monday to go check for contact lenses. Apparently it's cheaper here daw so I don't know how much it will be yet. Thanks dad! Love you.

Elder Morales

some random photos on P-day