A Few Unexpected Days in Manila - Week 82. Serving in Laoag

The following is a series of emails received from Elder Dustan the first few days in the Missionary Recovery Center:

 I got to Manila around 12:30 and then got picked up and brought straight to the MRC (Missionary Recovery Center). They told me that they will take me to the hospital tomorrow.

So I am sitting here with a huge Tongan Elder and the brother of one of the missionaries currently assigned in Piddig right by Vintar. He is assigned to the Baguio mission.

A woman who works with the missionaries here just came in and introduced herself to me. She said, "Well Elder, it looks like you've got some feet problems."... man, my feet are fine but I will now be very self conscious about them! (we all wear tsinelas - flip flops - here).

Next day...

Hey kamaganaks. So I went to St. Luke's today and met with a doctor. He was way cool. So he hawakan'd my injury. Then he told me that what I need is rest (which I didn't get in Laoag because I honestly rested for a few hours and then went to work again which I think made it worse). So I am going to stay here until it is better - about 1-3 weeks. He gave me two kinds of pills.
 I love you. Get back to you soon.
Elder Dustan

I got to go to the temple yesterday which was way cool. It's sweet doing endowments for Filipinos. I also did TRC stuff. I got taught 4 times. The first two times I was a timid middle aged man who has a Word of Wisdom problem. The next two times I was a wealthy attorney. Both times I was a referral. It's so fun working in the TRC so I asked if I could do it again and they said I could go back on Saturday.

There are 5 of us here right now. Elder L, who is from San Diego and part Tongan (he is about to go home on medical release), then Elder V from New Zealand. He's Samoan. He has a nasty infection on the back of his neck. Then there is a return-missionary, Brother L who is here for a check up with something I don't know. Then there is Sister F who is from the Angeles mission.  The brother of one of our missionaries in Laoag was here till yesterday but he got picked up by his family. He was a nice guy.

There is a missionary couple here from Calgary that take care of us - the F's. They are very kind to us. We play cards with them every night after dinner. It's nice to be in a family environment. I got to play Monopoly, which no one ever plays with me! That was nice.

Anyways... that's pretty much it. I feel like Tatay P in his rest home. I love you guys.
Elder Dustan

Hey guys, I don't really have a whole lot to tell you. Not a whole lot has happened since I last emailed you.  We are to wake up at 6:30. Breakfast is at 7:30 which is prepared for us by sister D, a small Filipina lady.  She loves the missionaries and calls us her children. I wish you could meet her she is sooooo funny. The F's help too. We have a spiritual thought before we leave the breakfast table and then we are to study. Lunch is at 12. After that, there's not much to do until 6 when we have dinner. After dinner Elder and Sister F come and play cards with us until bed time. Sometimes I feel like I have been confined to an old folks home.

On Saturday, one of the missionaries had an appointment and we all went with him and then went to the American World War 2 cemetery. I got lots of photos. It was really great to see. In these huge rooms they have plaques on the walls that draw out exactly what happened in each battle in the Pacific. I got a photo of each.

Yesterday we went to the stake center here as it was stake conference. It was at the biggest chapel in the Philippines - three stories high!

I just read the transfer list this morning and I am still in the office. Elder T was
transferred to Narvacan and Elder I will replace him in the office with elder S, Elder K and I. I will have an appointment some time this week and then I can hopefully go back to Laoag.  

Love you
Elder Dustan

Flight's booked - already?? Week 81. Serving in Laoag

Hey family! This week was crazy. First off, I booked my travel stuff, same with Elders T and T2. It's a pretty random flight path. Usually they go through Hong Kong to LA and on from there, but we all go through Tokyo and Seattle. I was hoping to get one like I booked for Elder Z (from Scarborough, I think) who flies to Manila and then straight to New York City. But I guess it wasn't meant to be. I am still not terribly excited about it, I feel a little sick thinking I only have four transfers left.

We had a random exchange with the Claveria zone leaders on Monday because they came down early for ZLC (which was on Tuesday and Wednesday). So I worked with Elder A, who was Elder T's comp when we were four of us in Camalaniugan. It was fun. We taught this one nanay and her family who are one of our 15 focus families. I don't think she really likes white people. I would teach her in perfectly pronounced and perfectly structured Tagalog and she would sit and stare blankly and then after I was done, look at my companion and say, "What did he say?"

This week we went to practice teaching with the zone leaders (zone leader conference is now held at the institute building in Centro). We were to pretend we were one of our investigators and then seriously practice teaching and the ZL's were to apply directly what they had just been taught. I was G, our investigator who is the chief nurse at the Laoag General Hospital. In the past he hasn't quite grasped why we were there, he kept wanting us to go to his parties and stuff. During the practice teaching I got a lot of revelation as to how we could help him. This week we went and taught him. We watched "17 Miracles" with him. Partway through, we doubted and thought, " Why did we show him this movie? Bad choice". But at the end we talked about why missionaries are sent through the world and after watching the sacrifices of the early saints, he was better able to understand. We told him we are not there to party and he understood. Then when we asked if we could come back and teach another time he, accepted. (crafty man set the date for the time of his nurse party... but still, I think he gets it now). He said he would go to church next Sunday.

Elder K and I are having some fun with finding people. We walked by a house and decided to knock it. It had a gate with a yard and then the house. We yelled "tao po" and then an old tatay comes out on the porch and has something in his hands (it was dark out). Then he put the thing on a table and pulled out a box. Then we realized what it was: a rifle! He was loading bullets into it! So we called over again and told him to come over and talk to us. He did and he left his gun on the porch. Then we explained who we are and asked to come in. He said that his son told him no one is allowed to enter his house. So we decided to just plant a Book of Mormon there. So as we were getting it out, we asked what he was doing earlier and he said cooking. We asked, "what's that over on the table?" He said it was a gun. So we asked if he was loading it and he said yes. We gave him the Book of Mormon. His wife came out at that moment and got REALLY angry at seeing us there and started freaking out and yelling. Then once Tatay had taken the book we asked why he was loading his gun and he just went off freaking out in Ilocano! So we left. It was a weird experience.

Okay, so I got a little news. We did some service work this week with the assistants in their area. On Thursday morning we went to a less active family's house and moved big logs for them. It reminded me of home a bit. Anyway  they were huge logs and we were moving them from the back of their house (which is forest, and the wood was down one of the trails) to the front by the road so they could load it into a truck. It was way fun, and a really good workout. But at one point when I was unloading a big slab of wood it slipped and fell on my lower abdomen on the left side. It hurt a bit but I kept going and the pain went away.

After we were done we went back to the mission home and played basketball a bit and I was still fine. Then after I showered and stuff I felt pain in my left side. It was pretty painful so I asked Sister B about it and she said I probably had a hernia and that I should get it checked and that I might have to go to St Luke's in Manila. So I went to the Laoag General Hospital and I was told not to work, so I rested the first day and then went out to work the second day... bad idea. It hurt so bad. Then I followed what they told me and went back and sat with my legs up and ice on the bruised area. Only we have no ice so I go this random old bag of refried beans sister O made way back, and have been using that. That'll make a good story.  So, yeah... I am going to Manila today. But I am fine.

Lesson-wise this week, we taught P and S and told S her baptism is postponed again. She has been wondering why that keeps happening and I think she finally got it - that it is not up to us but up to her. We told her the only thing stopping her is regular church attendance as a family. So yesterday, the whole family was there! The issue is that they are worried that their son will be noisy and disruptive at church. So we took it upon ourselves to keep him busy. We printed off some colouring pictures and I sat with him and coloured all sacrament meeting.

Also we are teaching a group of people in brgy Nalbo, not far from the mission home. One is the daughter of one of our other investigators but we met them separately, her brother-in-law, who we thought was a woman, (says he is a bakla or gay, and his long time friend - he is also a Bakla). He is really smart. We taught him the basics and then he asked if it is bawal to be gay. We told him first, that God loves him and nothing he could ever do could change that. We also told him that we teach everyone regardless of their beliefs and that we will always come back and teach the doctrine as long as it is accepted. Then we told him that God's first commandment is to go forth and multiply and that the Church of Jesus Christ is centred on families which is a man, woman and children. He got it right away. We told him that he may disagree right away but we asked him to not be offended and to keep listening. We are going to go baby steps with him, help him gain a testimony of each thing first and eventually our commitment will be to try to follow the law of chastity - fully.

 Pres Monson's talk at the last general conference was sweet where you see people as they could be. So I see him in a white shirt and tie and long pants with short hair and as a priesthood holder. He is actually really cool. No one has ever really respected him. Instead, people laugh at him for being a bakla.

So that was my crazy week!
 I love you guys!
Elder Dustan

Balut - The Scrumptious Taste of Duck Fetus! - Week 80 - Serving in Laoag

Had some pretty good experiences this week. On Monday after we got punted a ton, we went back to the office and started writing our letter for the Governor. I stayed in my proselyting clothes for it because it made me feel like I was doing something much more important (or like I was on the West Wing writing a speech for the president).

Then on Tuesday morning we got in our suits and hopped on a Jeep (we decided not to take the car - feels a little too higher than the people). We got some pretty funny reactions though, being on a Jeep in our suits. When we got there, the receptionist we talked to last time told us to go to the administration office. We went over and they sat us down and this guy read our letter. Then he put a bar code thing on it and told us we would get a call. We asked him when and he said he didn't know. So we made a big deal and said we have no time. Then a woman came over and she called someone on the phone. It was the Governor's secretary who said that she was "too busy" to see us. She probably was but we pressed the issue and said we didn't have time to wait for them to process our letter. So the lady called another girl who is apparently the secretary to the secretary of the governor (named Girly - too many jokes, not enough time). She said they could send the letter up to her and she would process it. After Girly got off the phone we told them that we wanted to hand deliver the letter so they sent a guy with us and on the way upstairs he gave us a little tour of the capitol building.

We met Girly and gave her the letter and insisted she read it and passing it to the governor as soon as possible. She said the governor was about to go on vacation. We got her to give us the governors secretary's phone number (the actual secretary) except we got busy and forgot to call them. But at least our letter skipped a huge process and will be read by her soon if it hasn't already.

I went on exchange with Elder S (my trainer) this week which was fun. We went to teach G, the head nurse but just after we got to his house a bunch of people showed up for a dinner party. We awkwardly tried to get out of it. They started making pancit for us and wouldn't let us leave till we tried it. They said it was the best pancit ever. To be perfectly honest I hate pancit and would be happy to never eat it again (if only you knew how often it is eaten here!). They made it with the thin noodles and chicken gizzards and it actually wasn't bad. Then we got out of there.

It's tough - this G guy just wants to party with us. We are trying to help him realize how important and serious our gawain (couldn't think of the english word here,weird) is here.

 Halloween is All Souls' day - when they put a candle out and leave out some food for the spirits to eat. Apparently if you eat it, something bad will happen to your mouth. We shared Alma 40 a lot this week because of that holiday. The priest gets paid 100 pesos to bless one grave with holy water on that day.

On Friday it was the birthday of the A family's youngest son. They wanted to have a family home evening with us so we went over and did the game with the flour and the penny on top and you cut a piece away of the flour each and if the penny falls you get it with your mouth. It was fun. Afterwards we talked about the atonement. Some of their family that are not members yet were there. They were all ears and loved what we shared. Then we linked it to the apostasy and the 14 year old son who is usually very quiet and doesn't participate, started asking all kinds of questions. He is really coming out of his shell.

That night we bought 4 balut and brought them back to the apartment. Elder T was feeling sick already but he said even if he wasn't, he wouldn't try it. So Elder K and I tried it our first time and Elder Y and Elder S ate it with us. It smells gross and looks way gross. The juice tastes pretty good. Then there is the yolk with these vein like things and the white part that looks like normal egg white but it's super hard and rubbery. The yolk and the chick tastes pretty good actually. The white part was sick. Apparently that's what becomes the ducks bones so at least I got a ton of calcium. So I can check that off my bucket list - tried balut. Didn't get sick at all and didn't vomit either.

The highlight of the week was really Sunday though. We worked our guts out all week and put all we had into helping the people we are teaching. Then on Sunday, as usual, we stand at the front door and wait for people to show up. Sometimes it's a happy experience. Sometimes it's pretty frustrating. This time though, I didn't feel upset at all. It just felt painful to see no one come. It hurts to put all you have into helping people and then they don't help themselves.

So at first on Sunday it was sad and deflating. Then after church we got to go to ward council meeting. It was the first time in about two months, so we were excited. The whole ward council was there and then the bishop started off and said that there are too many members saying they need to work on Sundays and too many new members lost.  He wants to make a plan (he was very impressive actually). They had quite a discussion and it all came down to us getting the 15 focus families and re-teaching them and the ward council getting home and visiting teaching more consistent (we will be helping a little with that too). It was a great meeting and woke everyone up, I think, when the bishop pointed out that there has been no real growth in years.

After the meeting, the second counsellor in the bishopric pulled the missionaries aside along with the ward mission leader and talked to us. He said he is grateful for the work we have done and that they are prepared to do anything and everything to help the ward now and that they know we can all do more than we are doing. That was good to hear. Really got me motivated.

So that was my week.
I love you guys!
Elder Dustan

A New Approach to Missionary Work - Governor Contacting - Week 79. Serving in Laoag

Hey guys! Good week this week.
On our last P-day we did most of our shopping at the palengke which I miss a bit. As stinky as it is, you get some real stuff and it's actually cheaper. On Tuesday we had some free time to go do some street contacting (although we are not supposed to go door to door any more  we can still go to a few doors as prompted and also talk to anyone on the street). In our finding efforts we decided to try something completely different each time. One time will be straight Tagalog, another straight English. For a few, we just get way excited when we contact people and usually our excitement is just so contagious that they listen. Anyway, our finding time is pretty fun.

We met with P this week and gave a really sweet lesson about living within our means and provident living. It seemed like it really helped him. We worked with our assistant ward mission leader this week too. He is so fun. He has been back a year now from his mission in Hawaii. He told us about some of his spiritual experiences on his mission and also how he became converted. It was a cool experience and I really love that guy a lot more now. We are teaching their part-member neighbours now and their daughter is to be baptized in November.

On Thursday we received some specialized training from President B. It was really good. A lot of things have changed now. Before, missionaries would go out and just find less actives all over town and teach a pool of maybe forty of them. But because there were so many, they only taught each one a couple of lessons and none of them really progressed. The new thing is that we only teach 15 less actives that the ward council prays about and gives to us (we use the nine step process for working with the ward council. When everyone does their part, it works so well).

So, we are only to focus on our investigators, on the 15 focus members and on our recent converts. It's pretty sweet because it makes us more effective and when you get to a new area, you have some direction so you don't have to create a new teaching pool. It also gives us time to find investigators. This week we met a ton of new people and taught some sweet new investigators.

As I mentioned before, Governor Marcos lives in my area. We asked her security staff (who we taught before) if we could contact her house and they told us to go to her office in Centro. So we asked President if we could. He said yes and that we could use his car. So we put on our suits, got a folder and put some stuff in it that we could talk to her about and then got in President's car and went down town to the government building.

No one said "hey joe!" to us in our suits - they all looked terrified of us. We talked to the secretaries there and they said that, before you meet with the governor, you need to write a letter to her and then she has to approve a meeting. We looked at them sternly and told them we don't have time for that. We need to speak with her. So we got them to set up an appointment on Tuesday (tomorrow). I'll let you know how it goes.

We had an appointment with G, our investigator who is the chief nurse at the hospital. We were kind of disappointed that there were no fellowshippers to go with us. We went to his house not knowing what to expect because he kind of wants to party with us all the time. He made it sound like it might be a party. When we got there he had a few friends over and we were bummed because we thought it was a party after all but then they just started moving furniture around and stuff. Then as we are standing there trying to determine if we should leave or stay, we look over and there is our assistant ward mission leader! I was so surprised to see him since he has never come to that house with us before.

As it turned out, the friends were only there to help move stuff for and then they left. Then it was just us, P, and our fellowshipper. P had bought pizza for the three of us too. Turns out that our fellowshipper (assistant ward mission leader) had heard from his brother who had overheard us talking as we walked by, that we might be there, so he went to G's house, hoping to help us teach him.

Sister B's family are here for three days, staying at the mission home. There are like forty of them - her six brothers and sister, their asawas and their kids as well as her parents. Yesterday our attendance at church nearly doubled thanks to them.

We were teaching some of the classes on Sunday. I taught the young men. They were almost all my mission president's nephews. All I taught was how awesome a mission is and told stories of both fun and spiritual things that happened to us.

Things are going well here. I am feeling well and the work is great. Tell everyone I say hi and I love them. Take care.
Elder Dustan

Not a Big fan of the Stones - Week 78. Serving in Laoag

This week was really good. My studies are great and I am grasping things better and applying things better too. We have been getting up at around 5:50 every day and jogging. We haven't measured the area we jog in yet but apparently it's about one and a quarter miles. We started with one lap but got to two laps last week. Today we did three laps and it felt great. It used to be that after jogging we would kind of all split up and do our own work out but now it just ended up that we all go to the assistants' room which has become the weight room. I usually try to do sit ups with Elder Y who is actually way jacked. Anyways, I am really enjoying that and feel great.

We are still working with S (P's wife). We read Alma 17 (I love reading that when people are having a hard time getting into the Book of Mormon) and that has been the focus of all our lessons this week.

 The E's (senior couple missionaries) dropped by and told us that they were going to visit P. Elder E met with him and gave him some tips (he's an accountant). Turns out a lot of people here don't realize that you have to sell something for more than you paid for it. Turns out P's water was the best price in town but the price was barely more than it cost him.

At Stake Conference this week, P was presented to be ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood! That was so nice to see. As well, President  B had a few minutes to speak at conference. He talked about missionaries and told everyone that he saw two elders walking to an appointment and he was really sad to see that they were alone, just the two of them -  no fellowshipper. He said (like he said in our ward before), "Work with the missionaries. They are here to help you. Use them. If you don't use them we will take them away." That day we got 4 people asking to work with us. It was great!

We visited one less active family that we never know what to do with because they just say that life sucks and is hard and then won't do anything to change it. We asked if there was anything we could do for them and he said, "You could come to the market with us at 3:30am and carry big sacks of veggies up to the top floor."
 He said it kind of in a 'my life is harder than yours' way which we often hear. We agreed and texted President right away to see if we could and he said yes! Tatay was a little hesitant.

At 3am we woke up and went over to his house and waited for him to come out. He was way happy to see us as he didn't think we would come. He said he didn't know we woke up at that time. Then he said he was going to Bacarra that morning (out of our area) but we could help another time. Then he told us he loved us and his wife even smiled (she usually has a frown stuck on her face).

We went to teach another family. Some of the family had been drinking but at first we didn't realize it so we sat at the table where we usually study with them. Then a drunk older guy came over and started arguing with us, yelling, "What is it that you white guys know that we Filipinos don't?" Then the dad came over and yelled at the old guy and made him leave but then he started yelling at us and started throwing stones!!! Second time being stoned on my mission. None of them hit us though, they kept hitting the roof. He doesn't drink like that often though so don't worry. We also were prompted to stay there and nothing dangerous really happened.

I did two baptismal interviews yesterday and that was a great experience. We also went to a home of a young mother who gave birth a day or two ago and she was sitting in a room with no fan and in a long sleeved shirt. I asked her why and she said for 18 days it is cultural to wear long sleeves and have no fans on and not to bathe except with a sponge (and only on the neck and face). They also take warm coals from a fire and put them on the mothers thighs and stomach. I was so confused as to why they do that and she told us that it is how they get thin again here.

Anyways, things are going very well here and the ward is progressing. We are going to try balut next week as it's no longer bawal.
I love you guys,
Elder Dustan
ps. I got your package! THANKS, it was the best! Haggis and custard what more could I ask for!

132 Dog Night - Week 77. Serving in Laoag

Last p-day we went to Centro to check out the new stores . Here in Laoag there are more stores moving in. We ate at a place called "Hap Chan" which is a Chinese restaurant. Funny because P and F are interchangeable here and "tsan" (pronounced chan) is Tagalog for stomach. So it means "half stomach" here. And that's all it filled too... small portions.

When we went out to work, it was mostly a good bye kind of thing for Elder M as he was being transferred. On Tuesday we had to go to Buguey, which is farther than Camalaniugan, to sign a contract for a new apartment out there. We also had to quickly learn how to do records and supplies secretary stuff before elders M and P left. So we spent 10-15 minutes trying to learn what they learned in a whole transfer and then we packed some stuff in the truck to deliver to the Ballesteros apartment. We left at 8am. We stopped a couple of times and I got some sweet pics of the Bangui windmills which are really beautiful while Elder T drove.

After many hours, we got to Ballesteros. With the new transfer, there were several new zone changes and one was the making of an entirely new zone so the Ballesteros area is now a zone leader area. The elders for a nearby area called Abulog will share the same apartment. When we got there the landlady was inside cleaning and she was not happy because the elders had left that morning and hadn't cleaned but had left clothes and old food on the floor. We chatted with her and apologized and then she loved us. We then helped her move some of her stuff.

We left Ballesteros again and headed to Magapit Junction and dropped Elder M off there. Elder T and I dropped Elder M's bags at Lal-lo apartment (it's not as clean any more sadly...) and headed to Aparri to pick up the zone leaders there as they were to be assigned in Buguey as the Gonzaga zone leaders. Then we got their stuff and headed to Buguey.

We chatted with the landlord of the new apartment there. He was a funny old man who speaks a little English  We all sat down and reviewed the contract. He was very particular and careful. He was very wary of being taken advantage of so he scrutinized every word. He had been given a form that we used for paying landlords but he saw that it said "vendor" on it and thought it meant he was to sell his house so he had given it back to President B a while back. We didn't know this and without that form, we would have to take another twelve hour round trip to Buguey. So I stepped out and called the office.

Problem was, the assistants were out dealing with transfers, Elders M and P had been transferred out, so the only ones left in the office were Elders S and K who had just been transferred in and wouldn't know what to do. Elder S answered the office phone with a weak "h-hello???" It was tough to explain what we needed - especially with someone brand new in the office. He had to go and get a the form from a certain folder in one of the drawers of a cabinet and scan it and email it to us. After a while he found it. The only problem was that there is not computer shop with a printer in all of Buguey! It was getting late, so we got in the truck and went to Camalaniugan. By this time it was around 6:30 and we hadn't eaten since 6am so the zone leaders went and got food while we printed the form off.

We ran into H outside the computer place! I had been hoping to see someone I knew from my old city and was just thinking that it wasn't meant to be and then, BANG there she was! She's way cool. when I was in Camalaniugan, we taught her family a lot and she's still very active too. She was so excited to see us. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then the topic turned to General Conference. I told her she could go on a mission soon. She looked surprised and said "Me?" I don't think it had ever crossed her mind. I think that's why we were to run into her. We told her she would find out at conference. Then we booked it back to Buguey again.

 We picked up the beds and stuff from the old apartment and as we signed the contracts, the zone leaders moved themselves in. The old guy gave a little speech before he signed. My favourite part was, "It is my wish that your mission will be a success here in Buguey, in the Philippines and ARRRRRRROUND THE WORLD!" Epic... (he did a little 'around the world' arm movement as well). Then we got it signed and went outside to the truck and he saw that they were already moving in and was way impressed. We set up an appointment with him and the missionaries before he goes back to Sacramento.

By then it was around 8:30pm and we had the choice to head home for the 5-6 hour drive or to stay at one of the apartments till morning (it would probably be Lal-lo or Claveria). We asked President if we had his permission to break curfew and drive straight home and he said it was fine so that's what we did. We made the trip in under 5 hours - left at 8:35pm and got to the mission home at 12-ish! Didn't speed either.

Driving at night in the Philippines is nuts, especially in the Claveria hills. We turned one corner and, hey, there was a HERD of cows in the road and no fields anywhere near by! We counted dogs on the way home to stay awake and had the windows down the whole way. We also decided that if you saw a cat or counted something other than a dog then you had to slap yourself in the face. It kept us awake. It reminded me of home, driving home late from YSA activities. Anyway, we started counting an hour or two into our trip home and counted 132 dogs roaming the streets... number 100 almost got hit and 116 was dead when we counted it ...so many dogs here. See what crocodiles could do for this country!?

So that was transfer day. We drove from 8am until midnight. In the morning (Wednesday), we came down to the office and it looked like it exploded! Almost the whole mission was transferred and usually there are people in the office on transfer day but not this time. It was a mess and took a while to get things in order.

We only got seven and a half hours of proselyting in this week! Between Tuesday and Saturday we got around three. We had a ton of errands to run - getting supplies for the huge batch of sixteen new missionaries. We also had to move the sisters assigned in Sinait into a new apartment (they had been living in another area and commuting). We took some stuff from an apartment nearby which had missionaries pulled out this transfer. The stair case was so small that the beds wouldn't fit down it, so we had to put them out the window and down the roof. I was the lightest so I had to stand on the roof... scary! The whole day was like a mix of Tetris (moving stuff) and Grand Theft Auto (the driving in the Philippines and standing on roofs etc).

General Conference was amazing! I didn't write much of what they said exactly but instead, just wrote straight up personal revelation. I read over my notes today and it is amazing what listening to the voices of prophets can do for you.

Here in our mission, the president trains the zone leaders at zone leader conference. Then the zone leaders train their zones on exactly what he trained. Then for the next month, that is the focus of the mission, every training given by district leaders is on that topic (oh yeah, I'm a district leader again so I have to deal with training again. We are literally called the "Office District". It's just us four. I always get "The Office" theme song stuck in m head when I think of it).

I decided I'd follow the same pattern for General Conference: until April, the things they said at this past General Conference will be my focus personally and then by that time I will have internalized it all.

General Conference made me miss you all even more (the President Eyring wood carving story reminded me of dad... just a tad homesick but I guess that's good once in a while). Take Care. I love you
Elder Dustan

Snakes 'n Ladders - Week 76. Serving in Laoag

Hey guys! Happy Thanksgiving! I( can't even mention that it's thanksgiving to anyone here. All the Americans freak out and tell me it's not thanksgiving).

Well that's almost another transfer down. It's week 6 now and the transfer list came out this morning. I woke up around 5:30 and woke Elder T. We came down to the office and checked out the transfer list. The zones are all rearranged (Magapit zone is no more) and there are 4 new areas. With 16 newbies coming in, there was a lot of shuffling. I think there were maybe only 4 companionships that didn't move. My companion, Elder M, is being transferred to Lal-lo (he better keep that place clean!). Elder P is also transferred. He is going to the very southernmost part of the mission, Tagudin Ilocos Sur right near Baguio mission. They have the smallest toilet in the mission.

Elder T's new companion will be trained as the new finance secretary and you'll never guess who it is... my trainer, Elder S!! That flippin' guy keeps following me! My new companion is Elder K.

 As I mentioned before, in our office meeting, President said he was going to change the office hours to 3-9 instead of 6-9. However, this week has been so busy with other stuff that we actually had less proselyting hours than usual. I'm feeling a little anxious lately because I'm realizing how little time I have left here and really want to do so much more - I'm not finished yet!

 I remember one elder leaping for joy when he left and teasing us about how he'll never have to deal with the pork skin, the noise, the hairy-legged women and the "Hey Joe"'s. I imagined yesterday that I was on the airplane going home and I felt sick. I will really miss everything about this place.

We had a plan this week for M and E to work with us in teaching a less active family like they did before but this time they were to prepare a lesson and study for it and actually teach. We brought a big piece of paper and markers and we made a snakes n' ladders game. We were going to play it with the family but when we got there, the kids weren't home. We thought the game wouldn't be effective without them but we played anyways and Tatay was having so much fun! We played a round and it was just a fun game and then afterwards M and E talked a bit about blessings, trials, temptations and sin. Then we related it to the game - blessings being the ladders and the snakes were the temptations. We wrote some examples of blessings we've received on the ladders and then some examples of temptations on the snakes. Then we played again. It took a while but finally someone landed on the snake and they were about to go way back almost to the beginning. We stopped them and said, "Okay, this is a tukso (tempation)" (it happened to be breaking the law of chastity). We told Nanay (who landed on the snake) "you get to choose if you want to fall down the snake or not. It's up to you."
She was confused at first. We asked, "Do you believe the law of chastity is true?"
 "Yes", she said. Then we asked her if she would like to follow it or break it. She said she wanted to follow it. So we said, "Great! You don't fall down the snake then!"
They were all excited and surprised. I think it really showed them how much control we have over our own destines . I love that family.

We had a Zone Training Meeting on Saturday morning and it was really sweet. The senior missionary couple who came to P's with us made a bunch of news lists: there is the unbaptised member list, the priesthood ordination list, the family/household list and the converts in the past 2 years list. I don't know if those are usual back home but that is a new thing to have here. Those lists are going to help us a lot.

After being punted all day Saturday, we went to teach P. It was really good. He had customers at his water station and he went over to one of them and asked if he would like to join us as we read the Book of Mormon. He came over and joined us. P was so great. Very easy going, not awkward, very straight up with the doctrine but still simple. The guy was really nice too. We read Mosiah 27 until he had to leave and then we discussed the reading with P and his wife, S. She told us that she is really excited to get baptised  We asked her why. (I've heard a lot of people say, "Because it's what Papa Jesus wants me to do." They say everything is Tagalog or Ilocano except the "Papa Jesus" part). But her answer was, "Because I did what you said and prayed to God about it and he said yes."  She is so awesome. We asked her how it felt and she couldn't really explain it except saying it felt good and kind of motioning to her chest with her palm.

I'm just realizing recently that I have not been using "Preach My Gospel" the way I should have been for most of my mission. I read Jacob 5 as well as "Preach My Gospel", chapter 8 and I realized that I have been doing many things my own way for a long time and that's why often things don't work out properly. I've seriously noticed that when I just do all I can to follow exactly what has been directed by the prophet, things work out.

 I'm excited to get started on this next transfer. Our ward mission leader is not renewing his contract at work (which makes him work Sundays) and he will be at church every Sunday. We are about to finally get our 15 focus names from the bishop to give us some direction in the area. There are a bunch of young mission-age priesthood holders coming to church now too. The Philippines has different high school ages so they finish around 16-17 years old. They usually have too much time in between high school and a mission so they end up studying and then don't want to stop until they finish and by the time they finish, they are often less active and don't go on a mission. The government is also just starting to add more years to high school so that they will graduate at 18. So now they will be able to serve a mission right after school if they are ready! It really was inspired.

Things are going well and I am way excited for General Conference! I wish I could be there with you guys at thanksgiving. Have a great turkey dinner. I get to eat adobo instead so I can't complain. I miss you lots!
Elder Dustan