Monday, January 17, 2011

Fw: Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day

 
 
 
 
Kamuschta!  :D

I'm fully enjoying the goodies you all sent.  :D  Salaaaaamat!  I already ate all the cookies that were in the tin.  They were very tasty.  Especially those peanut-buttery things.  Those were good.  Om nom nom.  I haven't eaten all the fudge yet, though, cuz I want that to last a little while (and because I want to avoid making myself sick ;P ).

The CD's I'm having a member copy onto my mp3 for me.  They're not done yet... :/  Patience... :P

Mom's learning guitar?  Cool!  :D  I ekspect you to be professional by the time I get back home, you know... ^^''  (The eks key is broken on this keyboard, in case you were wondering... :P )

I've been making ekcellent progress so far on "All of Me".  I can play the intro perfectly (the intro's pretty easy, since it's slow... ^^'' ), and I can play the first fast bit up to speed, and the second part I've almost got up to speed as well (I was working on that earlier today).  The first fast part's relatively easy until the right hand dances down the keyboard on Ab and Db (that part's ridiculous.  He even wrote "fingering or die" into the music), and where the left hand starts playing a completely different rhythm from the right hand, which pretty much tears your brain in half.  Then, after that first fast part, you get to rest for just a measure, and then the left hand loses it and starts jumping all over the bloody keyboard.  John Schmidt's crazy.  But that's what makes it fun.  ^^''  I decided about two weeks ago that I simply couldn't do it without a metronome, so I went down to the mall and bought one.  Before that, I made little progress on it, but now I'm starting to get it down.  The metronome may drive you crazy, but it's really the way you have to do it if you really want to be able to play hard pieces.

Elder Swenson says I might not be able to play "All of Me" in the April fireside since I already played in the last two, and President might want to give other missionaries a chance... Aw... :(  Elder Swenson, one of the couple missionaries, is the one who started the missionary musical firesides.  I think he entered the field back in May.  He's a professional oboe player, who's played in a number of symphonies and orchestras and things (he makes me trunky every time he talks about it, too... ;P ).

I don't blame Michael for crying in the middle of "This Is The Christ."  That's an amazingly beautiful song. 

Tell Grandma Moore I said hi.  :D  ...The Philippines... Yes, the Philippines.  Grandma, I'm in the Philippines...

I'd forgotten about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day... o.o  Mostly because holidays don't mean much to missionaries, since the only holidays we get are P-days.  And because they don't celebrate it here.

The weirdest, scariest things happen when you encounter people whose minds are slipping from reality...  One of our ward missionaries (I won't mention the name) has a mental condition that causes anksiety and paranoia, which usually only shows itself whenever he forgets to eat or gets too hot or whatnot.  Lately, it's been happening more often than usual, and it's honestly getting scary.  Last Thursday night, we saw him hanging out near 7-eleven on our way back to the apartment.  He saw us and came over to us.  He already knows me and Tabug, the other ward missionary who was with us, but my relatively new companion, Elder Magbanua, he doesn't know yet.  He greeted Tabug and I normally, but then went quiet when he saw my companion.  He peered at his name tag, and my companion introduced himself, "Elder Magbanua."  I could tell he wasn't all right.  He asked him, "Where are you from?"  "From Negros."  As we walked back toward the apartment, his attitude toward Elder Magbanua was disturbing.  Something clicked in his not-quite-all-there brain that because he didn't know Elder Magbanua, he must be some foreigner, an alien.  He absolutely refused to call him Elder, instead calling him, "Brother Magbanua."  He asked him questions as a challenge, saying, "When were you baptized?  Who ordained you?  Who's your mission president?  Are you really a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?"  We tried convincing him that Elder Magbanua was, in fact, a member, and that he really was a missionary, that he really was Elder Magbanua, not Brother Magbanua.  He didn't listen.  His mind was gone.  The person I once knew was no longer there.  He also wouldn't leave us alone, even after we went back to the apartment.  We fed him dinner in an attempt to help him recover from his illness, but it didn't have much effect.  Eventually we left him outside and closed and locked the doors, and after a while he left and went back home.  It's a difficult eksperience for me, since I know the real person.  He's not like this.  He's a good person, very nice, and a really good teacher.  He's a returned missionary.  But he's no longer here.  I only hope he recovers from this, and the real him comes back.  I miss him...

Ahem, anyway, now that our scary story telling time is over (I hope you all brought your campfires and flashlights and marshmallows... ^^'' ), I'm out of time.  Hopefully nekst week I'll get a keyboard that actually works.  Until then, loff you all!

Inggatz!!

Love,
Elder David Jones




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