The flight to Hong Kong was sooooo long. We just sat in our seats for 13 hours straight. The breakfast on the flight was either "omlette" or "porridge". We forgot that it's a Chinese spin on these foods. The porridge actually looked like it could be whale vomit. It was white, with chucks of weird fish in it. We took the conveyer belts on the floor and it was so fun. You hardly even walk and you go so fast.
In Hong Kong I ate breakfast at McDonald's and got the egg and sausage with twisty noodles because it sounded fun. Turned out it was soup! Breakfast soup! I gave them a $20 american bill and they gave me back 100 and some Hong Kong dollars! I kept the reciept because it's so cool.
Then we flew to Manila. It was a quick and scary flight over the Pacific. When I got there I said hi to the passport lady and she went off in Tagalog. That's when I realized I have no idea what I'm doing in the language - it was a wakeup call! A man met us at the airport and they brought us to a hotel that the Church uses right by the airport. The temperature was 29 degrees so I thought it might not be so bad since it gets hot and humid at home but it was crazy hot! Everyone carries a rag to wipe their sweat! My first meal in the Philippines was KFC - chicken and rice. It was chopstick lickin' good! My only thought was, what would the Colonel think??
Anyways, we met a sister missionary in the hotel who was on her way home. A German man came up to us and asked us all about our church and we spoke with him and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was way cool. All of the native elders call Elder Tucker "Superman" because he looks like Christopher Reeves (pre-horse-ride accident). So true, I never even realized. Then we went to the MANILA TEMPLE!!! - so awesome and beautiful. It's huge and it really is a beacon to everyone. I loved it and I sat beside a little Filipina lady who was pretty much the oldest person I ever saw.
The traffic here is nuts! Four lanes in Manila and 6 lanes of cars. There are no traffic lights or stop signs that I saw but there wasn't one accident. People are really bold and agressive but somehow it works. Also, NO seatbelts. There are lots of palm trees and big leaves. Lots of rice too. I love it so far. We then slept in the hotel and at 11pm three men in suits walked into out room and woke us up! They scared us so bad but they turned out to be elders on their way home from their missions and they wanted to say hi to us.
The next day we went to the airport and flew to Laoag City where a man met us - which was good because they charged us a lot of money for our baggage. They only allow 20 kilos apparently, so it cost 25,000 pesos for the five of us. Phew, good thing that guy met us there. Laoag's airport is reallllly small! After we got our bags we met President & Sister Odgers and went to the mission home (which is a beautiful mansion of a place). We had orientation and some food, then visited with President Odgers who is really nice and very spiritual, and then we had some free time. I played Monopoly with a group of native sisters and Elder Thurston. No one won but I had Boardwalk so you tell me who's the winner! The next day we met our companions. Mine is Elder Soriano. He's a Filipino who lived in Manila until he was 14 and then moved to Winnipeg, so he's Canadian. Cool eh?
We are assigned to a new area which we are re-opening after being closed for 14 years. It's called Vintar and it's a short drive from Laoag City. I'm really struggling with the language because people speak so fast. Sometimes people speak Ilocano and I don't realize it's not Tagalog that they're speaking. Our area is like a little "city" - a few two-storey buildings which are rich peoples' houses then a bunch of one story ones, lots of sketchy little shops and lots of reallllly run down houses and shacks. I guess our apartment is nice - we have rice cooker. I've found 4 cockroaches thus far (sorry Mum but I have to talk about it). They really aren't so bad. They just sit there and run when you get near them. They don't bite or anything. We just spray them or sweep them outside. There are ants all over the place too. Actually, when I killed one of the many mosquitos we have, I looked down and it was gone as the ants took it (cool).
Our shower is okay. Only cold water which is kind of a blessing I guess - but no shower curtain. Apparently there should usually be a drain in the shower part of the bathroom and one in the toilet part. But we don't have one on the toilet side, so when we shower, the water sprays onto the floor near the toilet and pools up. So when you go to the bathroom you are standing in water up to your ankles (so gross). I'm officially Filipino, if you know what I mean - good old lefty. It's weird - you use a ladle to dump water on your butt and then wipe with your hand and soap. I just try to time it with my morning shower now. So far it's been working out.
We already have two new investigators - a guy named Roger down the road from us, who is really nice and speaks Ilocano and English. We taught him about God, the eternal nature of families and about baptism. It went really well. We're going back to visit with him today after p-day. We also taught an old man and he said the prayer in our lesson. He asked us to come back too. I mostly sit there and smile and try to understand what's going on. When I get what's going on, I say something if there's a break in the speaking but I'm really annoyed that I can't participate as much as I'd like.
We go to the Laoag 4th ward. On Saturday we watched a movie at the chapel in Laoag - "The Mountain of the Lord". Cool, because the chapel is on top of a hill in the middle of a bunch of small houses so it really stands out and you see the whole city from it - it's so amazing. After the movie they asked me to get up and speak about temples. I was so nervous. I bore a really simple testimony and it was humbling. We went to a lesson with some other elders after the movie as they were our ride back to Vintar. We all taught a family who are amazing and speak English, Tagalog and Ilocano so there was a lot of languages floating around.
The little kids here are so awesome. They run everywhere and are soooo cute and say hilarious things. They walk up to us and stop in front of us and salute like soldiers and say "Hey man!" and other typical English phrases. One day we followed a little path off the road (all the roads in Vintar's centre are concrete but then we discovered that behind the houses are little subdivisions of dirt and mud roads with shacks and stuff) and found a little dirt road with houses on it and some kids came up to us. I had my fake thumb from my magic kit and I did that disappearing hankie trick for them and they were amazed - for about 5 seconds, but they all loved it. Then I did Dad's coin trick and they loved it too. The problem was, they all followed us around after that for about an hour - right out of their neighbourhood, into the main roads and said things like, "Mr Magic! More magic!".
There are animals everywhere! And so many - all kinds of dogs, cats, lizards, roosters and chickens. I hadn't seen a dead one yet... until today - which was pretty cool because with all the traffic and no speed limits (for real) you'd think there would be lots of road kill. Not so. But today on the way out of our apartment, a big white van started and pulled into the road and I heard a pop and turned and saw that a chicken had been sitting against the tire. It started twitching and stuff and was all mangled. So gross and I was so sad. I guess I'm a bit of a woose because I felt so bad for it. My comp laughed.
Yesterday, at Church I bore my testimony and it went okay. They all said I have the accent but just need the vocabulary. We had PEC meeting after Church with the bishop (who is amazing and tri-lingual). In the meeting, the ward leaders decided to do a one day mission for the whole ward in Vintar to get it going. So this Sunday they will do that and hopefully we will get lots of investigators.
Our neighbours are really nice too. They are long-time Church members. The wife is about 4 feet tall and a little sharp but really hilarious. The husband is really quiet and kind. They help us a lot. I haven't done laundry yet but I will soon. In our mission we can do laundry whenever we need to - not just on p-day. Everyday we wake up at 6:30am, shower, exercise, then eat and study. We go out to work from 12 to 8pm. Our first night in Vintar we did what Bro. Welch suggested - we walked around and just said hi to people in Tagalog, just to pique curiosity. It worked. When we walk by people would say, "Hey Joe!", "Hey man!", or "Hello Sir!" and then we say "Kumusta po?" and they are surprised to hear us speak their language.
People stare at me here - it's weird. I'm not used to being something interesting. No white people - so everyone stares. Yesterday a girl walked by and stared at me for a moment, then grabbed her camera and took my photo, then she ran away. We take Trikey's everywhere. That's a taxi dirt bike with a little cart that is uncomfortable for two people but they fit lots of people into them. They are really low to the ground and really close to traffic too. Pretty fun.
I'm gonna catch one of those lizards before I leave. Their tails fall off if you grab them (But they grow back. I remember dad telling me about it when I was little and thinking it was so cool. Now I have them here!) so it'll be trickey.
I'm really glad we're an eternal family. There is really nothing better. It makes me so happy. I love you all so much. It's tough here, but its worth it. Trials really help us grow. Stay safe and stay close to Christ.
Don't forget a sweaty elder in Vintar.
Ingat po.
Elder Dustan
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