Once again it feels like a year since I wrote last.
Every day feels like a week - I just do so much. It's bananas (you know the song)... just this second I heard a little filipino voice behind me say "bananas" and then realized there's a little crowd of kids behind me....I guess people are following my emails here too, not just back home. Hahaha, I wish you could be here, they're reading every word I write.
Anyways, this week was great. We had training from our AP, Elder Cooper in District Meeting about false beliefs/traditions ( in tagalog, haka-haka). It was very insightful and hilarious. He told us about some false beliefs in our mission. One is that some people think that after Sacrament meeting you have to wait for the bishop to stand before you get up. Every Sunday someone will always get annoyed with us for "being rude" and getting up before him. A myth among us missionaries is that Sister O (mission president's wife) sends out her own weekly message but not to every missionary like the President does but only to a select few whom she favours (she thought that one was hilarious, and I told her I'm part of it and have the Sister O fan club ring to prove it). Another myth is that you can't pass the sacrament if you don't have a white shirt. I thought that last one was true. Apparently it's encouraged for all priesthood holders to wear a white shirt, but if they don't have one that's okay. In the Young Men program when I was a youth, we used to purposely wear a blue shirt so we didn't have to pass the sacrament, so this puts a stop to that too. Anyways, I loved learning about the proper protocol of the Church because it always makes sense - never too far left or right.
So... you're probably wondering about the subject of my email. We will start with "ihi". It means pee. And I really noticed this week how much public urination there is. Not hidden by any means either. We went back to see the Vietnam vet, E.R. this week. He's a caricature of a stereotypical nam vet. He told us all kinds of crazy theories and then said he would be right back. He walked three steps and didnt unzip but peed out the pant leg of his shorts! I know it's not effective because when he shook our hands later I felt the evidence...... Don't worry we sanitzied after. He also gave us copies of the Gideon Bible in Ilocano which was good because we tao po'd (tracted or knocked on the door of) a house later and ended up teaching an old Ilocano man and used that bible. He loved it (if it weren't for that Bible all I could have said is "why?", "where are you going?", and "don't be shy" - the extent of my Ilocano vocabulary).
Which brings us to "tae". We went to teach the D family as the mother is back now. We had taught them many times but their mother was in Manila working. She's a less active member and a single parent. As we were there, her other kids who had moved out all come back randomly! The whole family was there! The lesson went way over time and I was worried my shoes were going to get wet as I had left them outside and I thought it was going to rain (we're due, as it has been SO hot and stagnant for so long). It was a great lesson too. When we left, I walked out in my socks and put my foot in my shoe and then the little girl said, pointing at my feet, "tae". I looked down and a dog had pooped on every flip flop and shoe that was in front of the door and then pooped it's way back to the road! I thought it was a cow but the alleyway is too narrow for a cow. I first stepped in poo in my socks, then kneeled in it with my left knee as I put my tae-filled shoe on my tae-covered sock! Then as I got up, my book-bag swept across the tae and before I knew it, I was totally covered in poo! What a night! The church member that came to teach with us just looked at me and said, "You've got poo on you." and that was all. No one thought it was any big deal. Anyways, thats enough C.R. stuff.
We taught R this week - the first time since his baptism. He seemed grumpy and distant. When we finished, we asked if he had anything he wanted to say. All he said was, "Am I allowed to hold the priesthood?". Once we said yes, he was all smiley again. I love that guy!
I accidentally sliced my finger with my machete (first blood) this week and it bled everywhere. It wasn't deep at all, it's just so sharp! I also got cuts all over my hands from other things that I can't even remember, so doing laundry this week was brutal (we do all our laundry by hand in a tub with an old fashioned washboard). Good thing I'm a pro and can do it way fast.
General conference was amazing!!!!! I loved it. I went in with very specific questions and got very specific answers in return. One of my questions was, how can I best help my family while I'm here and the answer I got wasn't about you guys. I realized I need to apply what I teach. Missionary work is important, I tell people, but it starts in the family. I can't wait to be a missionary in Ottawa, and I realize now that we need to focus on our family first. That's what I want to ask of you guys while I'm gone - do everything you can as directed by the spirit to help our eternal family grow!
We had an amazing Family Home Evening with that family that came to church last week! We shared all about the Book of Mormon and how important it is. Then we played a game where there was a category and we went in a circle and had to say something about the category (animals, etc.) and then if you repeated or couldn't think of one, everyone got to draw on your face with a marker. It was soooooo fun. They loved it and are so excited to come back to church.
I'll try and think of something to email to the young men back home or write a letter to the ward soon. I just keep thinking of how close I came to not serving a mission and how much I would have regretted missing that opportunity. I feel the need to do all I can to help them avoid that.
I've learned that sister missionaries are what make missions successful - for real! The sisters' areas here are the best ones.
A woman named N finished the Book of Mormon we gave her a month ago and knows it's true and is a great friend of D's (who was baptized last month). She came to General Conference and loved it! I'm sure she'll be baptized.
I miss you all very much and love you very much too. Everyone take care of yourselves and never let a single day go by where you don't truly converse with our Heavenly Father.
Okay, I gotta go get a haircut now. My first haircut from a barber in Vintar ...wish me luck.
Love you lots,
-Elder Dustan
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