April 16, 2012

Hi Family -

So today...we moved. Hooray! It was a long day though. We took 2 trips to the new apartment. We rented a jeepney from a member in Carmona. After the first trip and loaded up the second, the two missionary couples came. We cleaned the whole house and it was pretty dirty. It probably hadn't been cleaned for a year. It all worked out. It's a little sad because our new apartment still isn't finished. We just needed to be out of this one. Hopefully tomorrow we will finish up the new house and get everything set up on Wednesday. It is good to be out. Nanay, the landlady of our old apartment, who is a member, wanted us to repaint the whole house and other weird things like replace the bed frames. The missionaries have lived there for 12 years. Obviously there is going to be wear and tear. It happens with all houses.

Anyway, we are out now. Our new apartment is cool and will be even better when it is finished. It has 3 floors and is in a gated community with guards. Our new landlord is also a member, less active, but coming back. It is super quiet except for the roosters across the street. It is all good though. I like it and it will be good when all is settled and the renovations are finished.

Other than that exciting event, it has been a pretty normal week. Teaching lots of less actives. Searching for less actives that disappeared off the face of the earth. Teaching super great investigators who are super ready. Talking to lots of people. Dodging tricycles, motorcycles, jeepneys and tons of people, and enduring the "hey Joe's."

The cool experience of the week: We are teaching a tatay (father), and his name is Salvador Fabillar. He is 56 or so. He can't read and he is waiting for his kids to buy him reading glasses. One son, Val, was baptized maybe a year ago. Then his wife was also baptized. On my first day in Binan another son named Jun was baptized and he is progressing pretty well. We are the first missionaries he has listened to. He hid from Elder Welch and the other Elders because he has sores on his skin from years of hard work. This week we taught about our purpose in life and then left him 2 Nephi 31 to read. When we came back he had reading glasses that Val had bought for him and he had read 2 Ne. 31. He said as he read about baptism he realized he needs to change. He smokes and drinks but he is going to stop now. He wants to be a better person now. It was super cool. He already has a baptismal date for May 5 but now he is getting closer to being ready for it. Cool stuff.

Missionary work is pretty awesome. Binan is fun. Lots of good work going on and lots of progress. The members here are way great. We have good branch missionaries and nice members who are ready to work. Hopefully the less actives will continue to return and we can grow the branch.

You asked about the strangest thing I've eaten: I haven't eaten anything that weird here in the Philippines. I generally don't search for those things and we have good members that haven't asked me to eat anything weird. I have eaten some new stuff like a whole fish, littlish ones. They are called "dying", a dried fish that is pretty salty. The head is a little crunchier but good. Then there is ampalaya or bittermelon. It tastes very bitter (strange huh?) and it leaves a very unique after taste that is gross. I have also eaten some weird chocolate rice porridge that didn't taste good. Elder Welch and I had to force it down and try hard not to loose it. No Balut yet. We only get that once before we leave.

Mom, I guess I didn't tell you that Katie West smuggled In-n-Out for me and my companion at the MTC? I thought I did. Thank you again Katie. It was really good.

Marianne and Ethan - Malapit na ang birthday mo. Excited ako para sa inyo. Ang susunod na lingo. Sasabihin ko maligayang bati sa inyong dalawa. Pero ngyon...Astig!!! Have a great week prior to your birthday. Just sharing some Tagalog.

I will try and send some pictures next week. I pulled out money Saturday so just check and make sure everything is good.

Oh and guess what, I guess that is another Elder Woolf in the mission. He is brand new and I don't know anything other than that his name is Kayden Woolff. So the office will be pretty confused and might mix up our mail. Well, I love you and until next week when we can talk again.

Love Elder Kevin Woolf