Hello po! :D
I'm not dead!! ^^'' Don't worry about me!!
I, of course, heard the news about the earthquake and the tsunami. It's terrible. I haven't seen a lot of it, since we're not s'posed to watch TV, but I did catch a slight glimpse of a huge, horrendous torrent of water, mud, debris, and houses and cars and things washing over a poor rice field. :(
Glad to hear the tsunami didn't affect you guys. I hadn't actually thought about that, to be honest... o.o I was a little more concerned about the fact that Japan got more or less wiped out and that parts of the Philippines were on a minor tsunami alert (they pronounce it "chunami" here). But, good to know it didn't really reach you guys. ^^'' Cavite wasn't really on alert, nor were Manila or Palawan.
That poor dock in Crescent City... :(
Anyway, it's all sort of an ominous warning that the Second Coming is getting closer... :/
Tell Alysha sorry for me... :(
Today we went to Tagaytay again. Yaaaaaay! :D I really love going up there. It's very peaceful and beautiful. I hope and plan to go up there at least once or twice more in my mission. It was also COLD up there this morning. D: And really foggy. It's way up in the mountains, so it gets kinda chilly up there in the mornings (weird, huh? Cold is usually a foreign concept out here...). I don't have any sort of jacket with me, since the only times it ever gets cold are at zone conference (they like to turn the air-con up to ridiculous levels in the mission home, for some reason) and at Tagaytay. And occasionally during the months of December to February. Other than that, it's too hot for a jacket.
So on Wednesday, we got a text from a member telling us they had a referral for us, so we went over and visited them. We met Brother Jun (can't remember his last name), who most of the time works up in Saudi Arabia as a salesman. He can only come home and visit once a year for about a month at a time. They then informed me that he'll be leaving on the 20th of March, and that they want him to get baptized before he leaves. o.o Oh. (I kinda hate it when people set time limits on these things. >.< It makes missionary work harder...) Fortunately, he already has a strong testimony of the Church and of the Book of Mormon. He's gone to church a few times in Manila, and then here last Sunday and yesterday. He doesn't have any problems with the Word of Wisdom or anything. Really, he seems ready for baptism (good thing, too, because if he had problems with any of those things, I would not be able to push him through baptism in just a week). We'll have him interviewed on Wednesday, and then he'll probably be baptized on Friday. So now we have a baptism on Friday. o.o Yaaaaay! :D
The only problem with him is that it'll be very hard for him to go to church after he leaves. Saudi Arabia is Muslim country, and they are ridiculously strict about religion. There is no freedom. If you get caught with a Bible or Book of Mormon or anything, they throw you in jail. If they catch people assembling to go to church, they throw them in jail. Any religious material they see in suitcases at the airport, they throw away. It's harsh. Any sort of church activity there has to be done in deep secret. When talking about it, they can't even say the word "Pagsisimba", or "going to church", because the authorities know that word and will catch you. So instead, they refer to it as "gawain", or "activity" or "work": "The 'gawain' will be at such-and-such place this week..." Jun says he'll look for members of the Church there, and he's got the Book of Mormon and Bible downloaded on his iPhone so he can continue reading, but things will get difficult for him.
A capella's so cool. I'll probably try to join one of those at some point in the future. They're pretty darn cool. (I've also gotten used to Tagalog pronunciation, so I was trying to pronounce that one in my head as "a capelya", and I was like, "...What?" O.o )
I also bought new shoes today! :D The old ones were looking pretty sad, especially the pair with the 'bicycle toe' look, which I've stopped wearing in the past few weeks, since the soles on both shoes are completely worn out, and I think some animal did something terrible in them at some point.... >.> That pair I'll probably throw out. The other ones aren't quite so bad... The sole on the left one is worn through, but I can probably have them fixed up someplace.
Hope Darcy's sleep study turns out well.. :/ I've actually been pretty concerned about her lately.
Anyway, that's all I've got to talk about for this week. This is the last week before transfer day, and if what President told me last last week holds true, I'll probably be packing my bags. :( Sad, sad day... I like this area...
Until then, love you all! Ingatz! :D
Love,
Elder David Jones
I'm not dead!! ^^'' Don't worry about me!!
I, of course, heard the news about the earthquake and the tsunami. It's terrible. I haven't seen a lot of it, since we're not s'posed to watch TV, but I did catch a slight glimpse of a huge, horrendous torrent of water, mud, debris, and houses and cars and things washing over a poor rice field. :(
Glad to hear the tsunami didn't affect you guys. I hadn't actually thought about that, to be honest... o.o I was a little more concerned about the fact that Japan got more or less wiped out and that parts of the Philippines were on a minor tsunami alert (they pronounce it "chunami" here). But, good to know it didn't really reach you guys. ^^'' Cavite wasn't really on alert, nor were Manila or Palawan.
That poor dock in Crescent City... :(
Anyway, it's all sort of an ominous warning that the Second Coming is getting closer... :/
Tell Alysha sorry for me... :(
Today we went to Tagaytay again. Yaaaaaay! :D I really love going up there. It's very peaceful and beautiful. I hope and plan to go up there at least once or twice more in my mission. It was also COLD up there this morning. D: And really foggy. It's way up in the mountains, so it gets kinda chilly up there in the mornings (weird, huh? Cold is usually a foreign concept out here...). I don't have any sort of jacket with me, since the only times it ever gets cold are at zone conference (they like to turn the air-con up to ridiculous levels in the mission home, for some reason) and at Tagaytay. And occasionally during the months of December to February. Other than that, it's too hot for a jacket.
So on Wednesday, we got a text from a member telling us they had a referral for us, so we went over and visited them. We met Brother Jun (can't remember his last name), who most of the time works up in Saudi Arabia as a salesman. He can only come home and visit once a year for about a month at a time. They then informed me that he'll be leaving on the 20th of March, and that they want him to get baptized before he leaves. o.o Oh. (I kinda hate it when people set time limits on these things. >.< It makes missionary work harder...) Fortunately, he already has a strong testimony of the Church and of the Book of Mormon. He's gone to church a few times in Manila, and then here last Sunday and yesterday. He doesn't have any problems with the Word of Wisdom or anything. Really, he seems ready for baptism (good thing, too, because if he had problems with any of those things, I would not be able to push him through baptism in just a week). We'll have him interviewed on Wednesday, and then he'll probably be baptized on Friday. So now we have a baptism on Friday. o.o Yaaaaay! :D
The only problem with him is that it'll be very hard for him to go to church after he leaves. Saudi Arabia is Muslim country, and they are ridiculously strict about religion. There is no freedom. If you get caught with a Bible or Book of Mormon or anything, they throw you in jail. If they catch people assembling to go to church, they throw them in jail. Any religious material they see in suitcases at the airport, they throw away. It's harsh. Any sort of church activity there has to be done in deep secret. When talking about it, they can't even say the word "Pagsisimba", or "going to church", because the authorities know that word and will catch you. So instead, they refer to it as "gawain", or "activity" or "work": "The 'gawain' will be at such-and-such place this week..." Jun says he'll look for members of the Church there, and he's got the Book of Mormon and Bible downloaded on his iPhone so he can continue reading, but things will get difficult for him.
A capella's so cool. I'll probably try to join one of those at some point in the future. They're pretty darn cool. (I've also gotten used to Tagalog pronunciation, so I was trying to pronounce that one in my head as "a capelya", and I was like, "...What?" O.o )
I also bought new shoes today! :D The old ones were looking pretty sad, especially the pair with the 'bicycle toe' look, which I've stopped wearing in the past few weeks, since the soles on both shoes are completely worn out, and I think some animal did something terrible in them at some point.... >.> That pair I'll probably throw out. The other ones aren't quite so bad... The sole on the left one is worn through, but I can probably have them fixed up someplace.
Hope Darcy's sleep study turns out well.. :/ I've actually been pretty concerned about her lately.
Anyway, that's all I've got to talk about for this week. This is the last week before transfer day, and if what President told me last last week holds true, I'll probably be packing my bags. :( Sad, sad day... I like this area...
Until then, love you all! Ingatz! :D
Love,
Elder David Jones
hi elder kumusta po ako po c joan from ilocos norte kumusta po masaya po ako mabasa lahat ng mga ngyayari sa inyo...mag ingat po kayo parati
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