•Nindot nga adlaw‏. 8/29/2012

Kamusta, kada kinsa!

the weather outside right now is sunny and katahum kaayo (beauty goodness). there's a clock at the apartment - I don't know how dependable it is, but it says it's 88 all the time- I think some things broken because it only will change a couple degrees. anyways, I think how hot it is here depends almost completely on the humidity.

I just got a couple of letters through the postal service!  Apparently through regular post it takes a full month. It might be better to send it through dearelder.com or pouch service - you can find out more about that by emailing my mom at hellofriendcc@hotmail.com .

It's been hard to set up an appointment with the guy we found last week through singing because we plan our appointments each week, but we have plans to meet with him this week. Everyone seems really open and teachable, even with Inviting To Learn (I2L-ing) ... we've even found some less active members through I2Ling!  Usually for the I2Ls we explain who we are, and tell them about the temple tour we have each Thursday anaa sa templo atbang sudlon, and then we give them the Cebuano 13 articles of faith so they can learn a bit about the church.

I've been trying to be super careful with the water - there's been times where I've considered going to refilling stations (for the 5gallon jugs ) and seeing about filling up my water :P it should be safe at those places since they probably have to meet standards of some kind.

I got the side bag I ordered through the assistants! it's super good because it has waist straps that distribute the weight - when we're walking, I can put it behind me so it doesn't get in the way of my arms. then for getting stuff out I can slide it to my side and for riding the jeepneys/dyip-nis I can slide it to my front - it's just wide/tall enough to fit my PMG for district meetings!

Today was transfer day, but my companion is staying here! I'm glad, because i want to finish the training with him - especially before getting a missionary who doesn't know the area :P

.... so there have been missionaries telling me that I'm going to be an Assistant to the President or even the next one (apparently one of the ones we have now is leaving in November). I assumed they tell that to a lot of the new missionaries, but no one else in my district has been told that, and most of them have said that to me! Oh well - that doesn't matter right now, ug Nagmatikud ko nga akong gusto maoy bisan-unsa mag-assign ang Ginoo. Whatever the Lord assigns me to do, he will help me with it "For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepareth a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he hath comanded them" (1 Nephi 3:7) o, sa Visayan/Cebuano, "kay Ako nasayudd nga ang Ginoo dili mohatag sa mga sugo ngadto sa mga katawhan gawas kon siya moandam og paagi alang kailla nga silla unta makatuman sa mga butang nga siya nagsugo"

I use the scripture above many times with less actives that for one reason or another say they can't go to church because of work, disabilities, etc. for instance, there was a less active who couldn't use his legs very much at all (I'm guessing he's in his 80's), but we offered to go there and help so he said yes. - sadly, we couldn't get there to help him into the taxi because some investigators we had contacted took awhile to get ready to come with us - the kids were excited to go because we mentioned that we'd be riding a dyip-ni there! anyways, when we got to church, we found out that he had made it to church and had gotten lots of help with getting in and out of the taxi, and even going in between classes! I was super excited because he made it there on his own, and he won't have to depend on us at all in the future to get to church - we won't be here always, but those members will!

miss you all!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Hapit na walay panahon sa pagsulat!‏8/22/2012

Weather's been pretty amazing here( except for the extra humidity from the rain making it even hotter) it's been raining a bit today but it should turn to sunny - it always does!

I'm never sure with the water - the main way I can tell if the water at member's houses is safe is if they have children :P then they're always really careful with their water - it works with families here, but it'll be hard to tell in other areas.

The other day, I was walking along with my companion and we were singing called to serve - we heard someone join in, went back to check, and it was an inactive member! we've got a return appointment to teach him! It was a super cool experience.

Another cool thing that happened was finding out that there was another Elder Carlson in this mission in 1972 - apparently he was from Sweden. crazy coincidence, right?

Labor is super cheap here - at the temple, most days you can see someone going around the edges with a hedge clipper.

There is soo many angry birds products here! I'm pretty sure if you looked hard enough at any store with sandals/clothes/toys/etc/etc.. you'd be able to find a lot of angry birds stuff! it's super popular here. also, apparently there's going to be a live musical based on the game plants vs zombies - there was a big banner advertising it.

Have to go! talk to you next week!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

Thank you so much for the pictures!

Yeah, we have bunkbeds - for breakfast, we sometimes have eggs and rice and other times it's whatever you make - milo and a sandwich, etc, ... yes I'm doing great with the food :D we're actually getting along pretty well - we don't see each other as much as we'd like but it's pretty good.

•Maayong semana (dako/gamay? ambut)‏ 8/14/2012

Where to start?

There seems to have been so many things that've happened!

The weathers been amazing here(mainly because of the breeze;) but yeah it's been nearly perfect, except for the times it's rained super hard and stopped - but for the most part its hot enough to make you sweat.

it's so hard to find houses sometimes - there's no addresses for the most part, just large areas with names - it's hard to find the houses sometimes even when we've been there! if you receive a name with only an address (basic area) then you have to wander around asking - those areas are so hard, it's so nice to get phone numbers!!!

But I am starting to get the hang of finding the ones that we've been visiting - I've been having to lead, and my companion has been having to correct me a bunch of times at the many intersections of skinny cement paths among the houses :P

There's so many trees here! banana trees, coconut trees, mango trees, and I have no idea what the other ones are!

I'm never sure about the water so I usually put it through my water purifier. my companion said that someone tried putting coke in one and they got pure water out of it!

One interesting thing - whenever people check pant sizes, they leave them buttoned up and put them around the neck and if the 2 sides touch together comfortably, it fits! I didn't believe it until I tried with my own pants, and it totally works! your waist is twice the size of your neck no matter who you are! it makes it so much easier for them at stores, instead of having to try them on they just leave them fastened and put them around their neck!

So the other day I went to a kanederya where they have a main dish along with rice, and so they said one was beef so I went for that. as I went to eat it, it looked like star fish! Then I ate it, and I don't know what star fish taste like but that's the taste/texture I'd imagine!  Then I found out it's the intestine (probably the small intestine)!  Apparently all parts of a cow are considered beef - all the same to them :P even my companion counts it as beef! lol I guess I don't have to call it cow intestine anymore.

sa panahon sa paglakaw!

gugma si Elder Dallin Carlson

•Maayong adlaw!‏8/7/2012

Kamusta, tanan!  (Hello, all!)

I finally got the first batch of dear elders and pouch letters! all of the dates on the letters through the pouch system seem to have later dates, so I'll assume that that's faster.

I asked my companion how hot it is outside, and then remembered that'd be in Celsius when he answered 32 :P (89.6 F). The weather's been pretty amazing here, and very beautiful.

- there's the sun, and a breeze to cool it off a little - katahum [ug] init (hot) pa, apan mas maayo kaisa unya. apparently it gets super hot march until June (missed it! but then again, that's how it'll end :P )

the area seems to be going pretty well - it's hard to get the less actives to come back to church and continue with it - it really helps to show them blessings through obedience when I tell them about keeping the Sabbath day holy with (no)fishing and catching more Monday than others did Sunday and Monday combined! it really helps them because for many of them, the money they make each day is what they live off of that day.  Most of the investigators we have are brand new - with a lot of them it seems like after we had gotten booted by less actives for our appointments (people weren't there) and so we happened to find some non-members (usually with a less active) and taught them - although it may have been more set up than that (in Cebuano without me knowing what's going on)

yesterday we went on splits and I had to lead the other missionary through the area - taking the correct turns at the correct times, etc. - it was crazy! but luckily I was able to find each appointment even though some of them weren't there. we have been having ward missionaries with us a lot, and it's awesome! I love having members there because the less actives can develop bonds with the members, and the members can bear their testimonies and bring up stuff that we would never have thought of. They truly are following the guidance of the previous prophet, Gordon B,. Hinckley: "every member a missionary" (kada miembro og misyonaryo) also. I love to see and hear about the missionary work that goes on without us having to be there - it's so amazing! the people here are so strong, and trying so hard to follow the gospel despite all the opposition they receive when they aren't' there. there's family members, parents, friends, etc that don't like our church and willing to disown any that join so it's hard for them but there's so many that continue on and I'm so proud of them!

so this next week, I'm supposed to lead the area. that means planning lessons (according to the needs), finding the houses (which seems to only be possible when you have their number or already know the way) - this is going to be crazy! But it'll be good. because after these twelve weeks, it'll be me and a missionary who's never been here before and so I'll be the one who knows the members and investigators and where they live.

so everything seems to be maayo diri!

gugma si Elder Carlson