Rough October

(This is Alayna.  Sorry for the delay in posting.  Frasier had a bit of a rough go in October and November, but don’t worry...he is fine and doing much better.  I’ll post about October today and November soon.)

10/7/18

Mountain Dew

I'll just start off by saying this week pretty much hated me. The first week of October 2018 will not go down in history as one of my favorite weeks ever. 

Monday was pretty good. It was P-day and that’s always good. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened.

Tuesday started off with a bang! I got up and went outside. I sat on a railing and was using my hammock that I have set up as a backrest. All of a sudden the rope that was tied to the post came undone. I think it was because my companion was messing with the rope or something. Anyway, with no warning and no way to help myself, I fell backward off the railing. It was only a few feet so it probably wouldn’t have been that bad, other than our landlord had just barely done some gardening so all the bushes were cut down to stumps so my back and shoulder got the full force of the bush stumps. Luckily I didn’t get hurt too bad. I just felt like an idiot. For the next few days, it felt like I was working out my back really hard though.

After that, we went to the city for our district meeting as missionaries that we have every week. That wasn't that great either because everyone was acting kind of like they didn't want to be there. It was kind of a wasted opportunity to have a great meeting. After that, I went to go to the computer shop because I needed to send an email real quick. After walking to 5 different shops, and having one shop owner try to help me. I finally got the email to send. All it did was cost me a few hours it felt like, and the guy that tried to help me messed up my camera files. Luckily, he didn't delete the pictures on my camera, but now I can’t look at them on my camera. Also, while I was in one of those computer shops the plastic chair I was sitting on broke. Then later that night I went outside to do my laundry, and as I was trying to screw in a light bulb into a socket so that I could see outside, it fell and broke. At that point, I just gave up and went to bed early because Tuesday was not a great day. 

Wednesday we had a normal morning, and then at about lunchtime, my stomach started to, in the words of Brad Anderson, do a little dance. A few hours later, and more than enough bathroom trips later, I finally was able to go out and work. 

Thursday was really sunny and hot. We walked around all day and got punted by everyone. All our appointments were dropped. We had no fellowshippers to accompany us so we could not teach any ladies and all the men were out working in the bukid. We ended up walking around all day and did not teach one lesson. The bright side is as we were walking around throughout the day tons of people gave us snacks. I drank so much soda that I thought my blood was probably soda.  We went to a member’s house to say hello. Their son, who is not a member, and some of his friends were singing videoke and were absolutely drunk out of their minds. I figured my BSC (blood soda content) was still probably higher than their BAC (blood alcohol content). 

Friday was weekly planning and neither my companion or I were really in the mood to do weekly planning, and if you have ever served a mission you will know that weekly planning takes a lot out of you. We also ended up having not a terribly great day of work either. 

Saturday we had a great day of work scheduled until our fellowshippers that promised to work with us didn't show up. We ended up having another pretty punted day. We found a few new investigators, but I don't know how many of them we will end up going back to because half of them started trying to debate with us. 

Sunday at church we had a lot going on. Our two recent converts had their children named and blessed at church. That was one of the only good things that happened yesterday. Rubina bore her testimony too – which was awesome.  I’ll talk more about her later. 

The rest of church there were a bunch of just messy things that happen when you are in a still-developing area of the church. It wouldn't have been that bad, other than my patience was about out for the week. Then my companion and I got back to our apartment, and my tummy starts to rumble again. That took us out of work for a few hours while I was waiting for my stomach to slow down.

Luckily, I had some leftover medication from a few months ago when I got LBM. We went to one appointment on Sunday, but then that didn't end up happening because it was raining super hard. Then last night as I was laying in bed and I started getting this pain in my throat and chest. I got to the point where I finally texted Sister Hiatt even though it was after bedtime. After heating up some coconut milk that I had, I finally thought I was fine. And then with no more than a few minutes to spare before midnight I felt like I needed to throw up, went outside, threw up, the pain finally went away, and then I fell asleep. This week was just trying to kick me while I was down!   

One of those past days we went to our progressing investigator's house and I am pretty sure he was drunk when we went there. They have a super strong spirit in the home usually, but we ended up just kind of going and leaving because there was not much spirit there. 

That added with me and my companion have been together long enough and this week was just enough that we have started getting just slightly impatient with each other. Mostly me with him, but I’m sure deep down he gets a little bit annoyed with me at some points too.

My companion is awesome though. He has taught me a lot about patience and being happy. He is super patient and happy and he has been able to help me be more patient and happy. (And also at points, he has tested me on my patience and happiness.) 

I figured out why this week was not quite up to par though…through an experience, and then a scripture that I read. First of all, we were struggling through one of the days, so I decided to buy a mountain dew at a little store we walked past. I actually felt a lot better about the day as we were walking and I was able to have my drink and just think. Then I read this scripture from the Tagalog version of the Bible:  “Aklat ng Anak ni William, Cabanata 1:1. kaya nga kung nagkakagulo kayo sa gawa ng panginoon, bagaman ay lalabas kayo sa bundok at uminom ng hamog.”

Let's see if you understand what book that is and what the scripture says.

(Added by Alayna…The translation is: 

Book of William's Son, Chapter 1 Verse 1. “So if you are in trouble with the work of the Lord, 

though you will go out into the mountain and drink the dew. ")

I totally realized that I didn't buy a two liter of Mountain Dew on Wednesday, like I usually do, and that is exactly why I was not having a great week! Lesson learned: drink more Mountain Dew!

Last thing, I just want to give a shout-out to Rubina Besa real quick. She has been a member for just over a week. In the past week, she had been questioned and teased and called crazy for being "Mormon". Some missionary people walked by her house to talk to her, and if I got the story straight…saw her statues that she has in her little store so tried to talk to her about Jesus. Ruby then told them that she was LDS. They called her crazy and then left. The next day Ruby got rid of her statues even though she said they had special meaning to her. She also bore a super strong testimony at Sacrament Meeting yesterday!

--

Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

10/14/18

General Conference

This past week was a great experience with General Conference! I did a little bit of a different approach this time where I listened and just took a few notes, then I am going to re-read and study the talks to more fully understand and apply what the talks said. Some of those talks were so awesome that I couldn't even take it all in!  Being nice, being patient, dealing with hard times, all of it was awesome! I am excited to try and apply those talks and inspired words into my life so that I can be more successful in all aspects and areas of what I do here in the mission and after my mission as well.

In some not so good news, my stomach has had a hole in it for two weeks now. I will live, but my bathroom visits aren’t that fun, and they are a bit more frequent than they used to be. I have tried all the things I can do and talked to Sister Hiatt when it first started but nothing has helped. I guess I will just have to apply the teachings at General Conference and tough it out. 

I am super excited to still be here in Mallig and serve the people here. I think even more happy than me were the recent converts. They were waiting all day Tuesday to find out what was going to be happening to us and then when we finally told them they started crying and saying that they had fasted that we wouldn't leave! That could I guess be a problem if they were missionary converts and not gospel converts, but from everything I have felt I truly believe that they are gospel converts.  Everything that they have told us and the things that they have already gone through after being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ makes me think they are truly converted. 

(Added by Alayna: that would have been Frasier’s companions last transfer.  They stayed together so Frasier is “killing” the companion, or in other words, sending him home.) 

The one fear I have had in the past is that I did not want to "kill a companion" because I didn't want to deal with having a companion that would be "trunky". Elder Dela Cruz and I are happy to be companions and still be with each other. We have not ever fought or anything like that. We are very different and have very different personalities, so that has sometimes led to tiny little misunderstandings (most probably my fault), but we are very happy to be together still. Going back to what I said a little bit earlier, I don’t want to have to deal with "trunky" companions. I would not say that Elder Dela Cruz is anywhere close to being that, but starting Tuesday when we found out the transfer list until now, I have noticed a little bit of a lack in effort and urgency in some areas of our work. We have discussed that as a companionship, but it has so far been about the same. I hope I am still doing my part to progress the area and help the people here. 

There are a lot of imperfections in this area, but I am happy to be here. Just a few examples are I have gotten the feeling that in previous years this area has had a bit of a history of disobedient missionaries. Members always want us to come in their house and just talk, have a snack, and watch T.V. One even turned YouTube on and then asked us what we wanted to watch. We told them we had to leave. That is only one example. Other things is sometimes members make us wait a little while if they are going to fellowship with us and whatnot. We are trying to be exactly obedient and help the branch though. Other little imperfections are just how church meetings are being run, what is being taught, people using the extra sacrament as a snack even though it was blessed as sacrament, people asking us if they could use our consecrated oil to cook their food, not very many people showing up to General Conference, and on and on. It isn’t like there are a ton of big problems, it is just a long list of imperfections. Like I said though, I still love it here. 

--

Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

(Added by Alayna:  On Oct. 21st we heard from Frasier, but we went back and forth on email and he didn't really write a letter.  He was trying to get his stomach and a skin rash better and his companion had to have minor foot surgery, so it was a weird week and we were just asking about all of that.  Both recovered from their ailments.

Then on October 28th, we heard from Frasier again (and then also the mission home) that another Typhoon was coming and they were being evacuated again.  So, again not a letter, but a back and forth making sure he was safe and that they had enough food and water, 72-hour kits, etc.

I will update soon with lots pictures and details about the typhoon soon.)  

Malamig Baba...Cold Chin?

9/23/18

Malamig Baba  

(Added by Alayna:  Google Translate says this means “cold chin”.  I’ll ask Fras what he thinks it means! Ha ha)

I thought I had a lot to email about this week, but I actually don’t. I am just living the life right now. I spend any time I can get sitting in my duyan (hammock) drinking Mountain Dew.  My companion is the district leader so that luckily means for me that when he is doing district leader stuff I can use it as an excuse to relax. The one problem is mosquitoes here love American blood I guess because they attack me like crazy.  I ended up buying a bunch of incense and stuff to try and get them away. 

We have two baptisms coming up on Saturday. Sister Rubina and Sister Jennalyn will be baptized. They are those two single mothers I told you about. They are awesome. They have both had their own experiences in life, but have now become truly converted. One of them was crying after her interview because my zone leader asked her to share her testimony and her testimony was super strong I guess. The sad part is I don’t get to be in the interview so I don’t actually know what her testimony was. 

A couple of other awesome things are that the two sisters are like best friends with each other. We have seen them walking and talking with each other a few times when we weren’t even the ones that got them together for a lesson or something. Both of their daughters call me Kuya White. It means I am now Big Brother White instead of Elder White. We love playing with each other and using all my stickers. One thing that is a little bit of a drawback though is that every time we go to them they cook for us. Ha ha Joke lang. That is a huge bonus! I will really miss these two and their families when I eventually travel out of this area. Let’s all pray that that doesn’t happen though. 

I also tazed a cat a few days ago.  This cat is the suspected culprit of who keeps on getting into our garbage. It decided to take a nap on our porch a few days ago. I don't think it will be taking naps on our porch any time soon though thanks to my tazer flashlight. haha. 

My mom might have to tell you the story I shared with her. It was pretty funny. 

(Added by Alayna: The cat kept coming around their house, getting into their garbage, and wreaking havoc.  So, Fras put a little toy he bought to use...a flashlight with a tazer on it.  Totally sounds like something he would be all excited to buy!  I think it did the trick on the cat.  It stayed away after that!)

Oh ya, I learned a new English phrase in Tagalog that makes absolutely no sense, but sounds super funny: “Dude, chill down”. Translated: Der, Malamig baba. Ha ha. That won’t make any sense to you, but I think it is funny.  

(Added by Alayna: Related to up above, I get the title now!  But the translation in Google shows, “Der, cold chin”.)

I will try and have a better email typed up next week. I’m doing good though. Buhay pa ako.  Mahal kita. Kits kits.

(I’m still alive. I love you!)

Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

9/30/18

I am doing good here in Zion. 

No joke, I love it here. I love the people and the members and recent converts. More than anything I love the little kids here! 

At our baptism on Saturday, I was kind of playing with the daughter of our Branch President. She had a ball of playdough with her so I made her a flower. She wouldn't let me play with it anymore after I made the flower because she said she was going to give it to her mom. After that, I saw her at a funeral, and then at church on Sunday.  Apparently, we are best friends now. She loves the missionaries in the first place, but now she follows me around everywhere and tries to sit on my lap and stuff. I keep it all under control by following all the rules about being with little kids, but it is super awesome that she likes me so much! 

We had the baptismal service for sister Jennelyn Sugue and Sister Rubina Besa on Saturday. It was a super awesome experience. I have been blessed enough to be here with them throughout their whole process. 

At the start, they both were a little bit quiet and just kind of keeping their distance just a little bit. Throughout the whole process, they have really progressed and opened up though. They both have become really good friends with each other, and I could consider them my friends as well, not just my investigators. They have both had their fair share in life. That is what made it so awesome at the baptism because they both bore super strong testimonies. They were both crying, their families were crying. The people that referred them were crying. I even looked at my Zone Leader, Elder Perez, and I could have swore he was crying. Basically, everyone was crying! ha ha. 

In all honesty, it was super awesome and very powerful. You can tell that they are truly converted. 

One thing that brings me just as much joy, or maybe even more, is their two little girls though. I love them so much. I basically feel like they are my little sisters now. We take pictures and play all the time. One of them even named one of their dolls Elder White after me. She said it looks like me when I was a baby because it is white. They love using my stickers and eating my candy as well. 

I can't really explain it all in this email, but I truly love them. I would way rather just talk and play with the little kids all day than talk with adults. In this case, these little kids are, I think, part of the reason these two sisters became so open with us. Their kids loved us, and they could see that I loved them, so it made it a lot better for their mothers. 

This video is my two little sisters playing with each other. I don't know what they are doing but it was pretty funny.

Mahal kita lahat sa buwan at likod! (Mom, don't ever use that because it sounds really weird in Tagalog. I think it is funny though!)

(Added by Alayna: The translation is "I love you all in months and back."  I'm guessing that is as close as he can get in Tagalog to "I love you forever and a day".

--

Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

Rubina Besa-47 and Jennelyn Sugue-34, Mallig Roxas, Sep 29, 2018, Elder Williamson and Elder Dela Cruz

All of us dressed in white. 

This is a picture of the Bledsoes. They are the senior couple here in the mission. They are pretty darn awesome! Elder Bledsoe is funny so every time we text them about something me and him have pretty good chats. They go home next month.

At the baptism and then a funeral service later that day I became best friends with our branch presidents little daughter. She talks in English which is super cute. We played with playdough and everything. It was awesome.

100% Iron.  I made this jersey last week. It is definitely not a real Adidas jersey. I just found a cheap jersey and then had them print the iron part. I designed it all myself. I think it is pretty cool actually.

My new kicks! I caved and finally bought these shoes last Monday. They are pretty sweet looking I think.

Buhay Pa Ako (Translation: I'm Still Alive)

[From Alayna: Here are the past couple of week's emails.  It has been an exciting 7 days! Sept. 10th was a normal email, then on the 12th, we received our first message from the mission home about the typhoon!  I included them in the blog.  The first message we got from Fras after the Typhoon just came in on our phones through Google Hangouts and it popped up and said: "Buhay Pa Ako" which I had to translate and found out that it meant... "I'm Still Alive".  Ha ha, Fras!  Thanks for letting us know! :) ]

9/10/18

Merry Christmas In September

I will do more on explaining this next week, but because September has BER in it, that basically means it is December here. People are already setting up for Christmas. I don’t quite get it, but that is ok. 

Hopefully, the pictures and the little descriptions I sent will give information about what has gone on this past week. I had my birthday so I made sure to take some pictures and eat some fine dining. Snow Panda tasted great by the way! 

Our two progressing investigators that we have right now made sure that we would be teaching them on the 4^th so that they could make dinner for us. It was awesome. I got some texts from a bunch of members as well. It is crazy because I don’t feel like I have done anything too special for them, but they all love me. One even texted and said about how I am part of their family now because my family is far away. Needless to say though, I was treated well on my birthday. I love the people here and am growing super close to them. It might be a little bit hard to say goodbye when I get transferred out of this area. Even the little kids of our two progressing investigators consider me their older brother now. I guess giving little kids candy and stickers has its perks!

One thing that happened, that is now adding to my list of things I have to do, is this: In our branch, there are two young men that are preparing to go on missions, as in they have submitted their papers already. One of those young men is the current branch mission leader. The problem about him though is he is borderline less active. Just enough that his papers are going through, but just enough, as well, that President Hiatt has been in contact with the branch president about him. The result was that we had a meeting with the branch president and the branch missionary leader. I love the branch president, but he is a very strong personality. He chastised us just a little bit for not working together as well as we should. It is now my responsibility on top of doing missionary work, preparing for meetings, cleaning our apartment, and trying to be obedient to babysit this guy as he is preparing for his mission. It was good though because last night we had a lesson with our progressing investigators. We were teaching them about the 10 commandments. We gave the branch mission leader the book and told him we were teaching the 10 commandments. My companion took charge and basically told him that he would be teaching. What the branch mission leader did was the best. He held the book, read the (abbreviated or simple version) 10 commandments aloud. He then asked our investigators if they remember the 10 commandments. They said yes. He then ended the lesson. He didn’t do any explaining, ask any questions, or anything. It was awesome. Haha. My companion and I laughed about it later that night.

One thing I would just like to say real quick is this: Being a missionary is hard. It is not always just super simple and fun. It is a lot of hard work and you have to stretch yourself in ways you never thought of. I have thought of this before that it does not make any sense to be a missionary if you think of it the wrong way. You signed up voluntarily to spend two years away from your family, living on a budget, having to follow a fairly strict set of rules about missionary conduct. If you don’t follow those rules you can get in lots of trouble, even when most of the time those things caused no harm when you did them before your mission. If you think about it that way, a mission makes no sense at all. The good thing is there is actually a reason that there are missionaries right now. We have the true church of Jesus Christ here on the earth right now. I don’t like to use the word "know" because I don’t feel like I can honestly tell people that I know many things. I do take joy in the fact of telling people that I believe these things are true. Almost all missionaries are out here because they believe in the church and in the Book of Mormon. I would just like to say for people that might be preparing for a mission, or even just members of the church…Be exactly obedient! That is the only way for us to receive miracles in our life is if we are exactly obedient to the rules and the gospel. That doesn’t mean that we have to go throughout life or a mission without any fun. In fact, we are here on this earth to have joy and fun. We need to keep it within the boundaries that the Lord has set for us in order to receive blessings and miracles. If we are breaking the rules, it is honestly pointless what we are doing.

Last night I started taking pictures with these two little girls at dinner. They thought it was the funnest thing ever and didn't want to let me leave. They kept on coming up with hand signs to do and stuff. One of their moms told me that my new name is Kuya White. I have graduated from being Elder White to Big Brother White. She said that they always ask when I am coming over and said that we are siblings now.

I bought myself doughnuts for my birthday. I made sure to buy two pink ones for the two little girls that we would be with at my dinner. Apparently, they only wanted the pink though because both little girls only licked the frosting off but didn’t actually eat the doughnut. haha

My birthday dinner with our two progressing investigators. We don’t usually go to their house on Tuesdays, but they made sure that we taught them on Tuesday so that they could make me dinner. Anything a Filipino makes will probably taste good, but when it is a birthday they make sure there is always food.

More pictures of my birthday dinner.

Of course, when it is your birthday you have to take a bunch of pictures. I felt inspired to take a picture of me in my running shorts and one of my white shirts. You can tell most of my body has not been seeing much sun lately because I am glowing white. You also know you are in the Philippines when cereal for breakfast is a special thing that you do on your birthday.

We also had dinner last night with those two ladies again. We had a couple future missionaries with us as well. I told them that I would cook so I made dad’s chili again. They all seemed to like it, but I think they like Filipino food better. haha

[Added by Alayna: Notice the Christmas decorations and the chili 'ala rice! :) ]

I bought myself a hammock a few weeks ago. I end up using it almost every night as I process what went on throughout the day. I also had to buy myself some Mountain Dew for my birthday. I ended up taking a picture because...why not?

We were able to go to Cauayan last P day so of course, I took the chance to go to Snow Panda. I still haven’t figured out how to smile for a picture though. We also had a branch family home evening this past week and both of our progressing investigators came so it was a pretty good experience for them. 

[Added by Alayna:  Two days after the email above, we received the following 4 emails about the typhoon.]

#1 came at 12:30 am on Wed. 9/12/18

Dear Families and Leaders of Missionaries serving in the Philippines Cauayan Mission,

Typhoon Mangkhut is expected to hit hard in northern Luzon and particularly in the Cagayan province as early as Friday. The northern portion of our mission, especially Tuguegarao North and South Zones, will likely be affected by this Typhoon. Those missionaries in the path of the Typhoon will be evacuated to areas that will not be affected. All missionaries have been provided 72-hour kits and have a reserve fund with enough money to travel to the mission home or other parts of the mission as needed. We will send updates as necessary concerning the safety and health of your missionaries during the storm, as well as a post-storm report.

We are confident that appropriate measures will be taken to ensure the safety of each missionary. We express the love of our mission President, President Hiatt and his wife Sister Hiatt. They lead the mission with high expectations and high love. We are also grateful for the love, support, and concern that you show for all the missionaries worldwide.  

Missionaries will be provided and study the attached files to ensure their safety after the typhoon. The following link may be viewed to track the approximate real-time position of the typhoon,

https://www.windy.com/?14.593,121.071,5

Elder Rusch

Mission Office Secretary

Philippines Cauayan Mission

[Added by Alayna: The files were: 
a) floodwater facts for volunteers 
b) protecting missionaries from insect-borne diseases 
c) missionary safety while serving following a disaster]

#2 came at 6:52 am on 9/13/18

Dear family and leaders of Elder Williamson,

Elder Williamson will be evacuated from his current area to a safer location in Roxas 2A area, Roxas Zone. This evacuation is happening today and is expected to last only a few days. Elder Williamson has taken safety and cleaning precautions this morning as he left his apartment, including closing and locking all windows, removing anything off the floor, and putting items in plastic bags.

We will continue to update you as the storm continues towards our mission.

Thank you,

  

Elder Rusch

Mission Office Secretary

Philippines Cauayan Mission

#3 came at 4:27 am on 9/14/18

Dear families and leaders of missionaries serving in the Philippines Cauayan Mission,

Typhoon Mangkhut, locally known as Ompong, will be striking the Philippines Cauayan Mission early Saturday morning. As needed, missionaries have been evacuated to safer apartments at higher ground with easier access to main highways and emergency transportation. We have notified those parents and leaders of missionaries who have been evacuated to these safer locations. If you did not receive an email, your missionary was not evacuated.  All missionaries will be at their assigned apartment before dark on Friday, September 14^th to ensure their safety. They are to stay indoors at all times during the storm and are only to leave their apartment after notification from President Hiatt that it is safe to do so.

Once again, we appreciate your love and support for the missionaries. We will notify you again after the typhoon passes.

https://www.windy.com/?14.593,121.071,5

Thank you,

Elder Rusch

Mission Office Secretary

Philippines Cauayan Mission

#4 came at 10:17 pm on 9/14/18

Dear families and leaders of missionaries serving in the Philippines Cauayan Mission,

We are glad to announce that all missionaries are safe and accounted for. Most of the typhoon passed during the night, and no missionaries were injured. All missionaries are staying at their assigned apartment until the storm concludes and it is fully safe to leave.

Elder Rusch

Mission Office Secretary

Philippines Cauayan Mission

 9/16/18

I Survived Mangkhut (Ompong)!

You can tell everyone that I am ok. As far as I know, my area is ok as well. We are just north enough that we got transferred out of our apartment, also it is out in the nowhere so they took us out. We just went into the city and stayed with our zone leaders though. I haven't been back yet, but we were given permission to go back to our area today because they got electricity back there.

We've texted and called a bunch of people. It sounds like they are all ok. Nothing too bad happened in our area. It just had some strong winds and rain. The northern part of the mission got hammered though, I have heard. Those missionaries have not returned to their areas yet. All the missionaries were safe though. They moved us out 2 days before the storm even hit.

I heard it was a signal number 5. It hit almost the whole country in some way or another. I heard it destroyed Guam before it got to us.

To be completely honest, this past week wasn't very productive as far as work goes. Wednesday we were informed by the mission that a very strong super typhoon was on the way and that they weren’t sure exactly what was going to happen, but that we all needed to do some basic preparations at our apartments and wait further notice. So my companion and I worked on Wednesday, but our day was cut short because we spent a little bit of time preparing.

Thursday our alarm went off at 6:30 to get up and get ready for a normal day of work. Not even 20 seconds after I had turned off the alarm, and definitely before I had gotten out of my bed, we received a text from the assistants with a huge instruction list of what we were supposed to do in preparation to evacuate our apartment. I texted him and asked if that meant that we were going to have to leave because I still wasn't sure. Still, before I had even gotten out of my bed, the assistant then called me and said I would have to be evacuating. That meant that the whole morning we had to prepare our apartment. We had to move everything outside inside. Then we had to move our fridge and put in on something above the ground. We had to shut all the doors and windows and everything. As we were preparing our apartment, my companion told me that he was feeling a little bit sick. Once we had finished our preparations, we left and went to our zone leaders’ apartment. It is only like half an hour travel away, which is like 10 kilometers, but they are in a safer area. 

Before the storm started we stopped by the district center here in Roxas and it looked like a refugee center. There were people all in there set up for the storm. The mistake we made is we stopped by the church as we were leaving the store from shopping for food to make the stay in more enjoyable. All the members were teasingly asking us for it. I think the members were pretty much safe though because the churches here are the strongest built buildings.

All I had was junk food...a few bags of chips and a bottle of mountain dew. They were fine though. There were a few rooms where people were cooking tons of food. Next time there is a super typhoon though, we will go to the church before we buy food!

Once we got to the zone leaders' apartment, we ate food and then my companion started throwing up and feeling really sick, so he went to sleep or was in the bathroom for the rest of the day. I set up a hammock outside and ate candy while the cool breeze of the coming storm was blowing over me. 

Most of the rest of the time we were just hanging out in the apartment telling jokes and goofing around. It was kind of good to take time and relax a little bit. It was kind of like we were just having a sleepover or something in my zone leaders' apartment. There were 5 of us in the one apartment. It was fun because we just spent the whole time talking and whatnot. 

There is a new missionary here who was in the apartment with us. His name is Elder Finau. He is from Hawaii. He plays football for byU. He is 6'4" and weighs almost 400 pounds. I was hanging out with him the past few days.

I definitely didn't have a very good diet, and literally spent most of the time on the same mattress. It was fun though. We had lots of laughs and were making the best of our time locked in an apartment.  I don’t know if I would complain if there was another typhoon in a couple of months. Haha. Joke lang.  It is a terrible thing for the people here that are affected by it!

I did a horrible job of documenting the experience. We had to be in the apartment with all the doors and windows shut tight.  I took some videos but the worst of it hit while we were sleeping, and all you can really see is what looks like a little bit of wind. We did end up going just outside on the front porch to take videos and pictures. I don’t know if the video will do any justice. I sent everything that I have.

We will be going back to our apartment later today after we finish all our P day stuff. We probably won't get much work in today because we are going to have to put our apartment all back together.

The great thing about the people here though is they are super chill. The day before the storm, everyone was out doing their normal things. I even saw people drying rice outside. Now a day or two afterward everything seems to be about normal here. I am lucky that we weren’t affected too badly. 

buhay pa ako video

buhay pa ako pictures

I took these pictures while we were waiting around for the typhoon to pass. We got pretty bored because we didn't have any electricity meaning no music or movies, and we couldn’t go outside. I took a picture of one of my zone leaders, Elder Perez, as he was looking out the door rather dramatically.  I got bored enough that when we decided we were going to eat dinner I said I would make the table so that I didn't have to do the dishes after we were done eating. That other picture is what my apartment looked like before we left because we received a huge list of preparations we were supposed to do. I didn't take very many pictures or anything because most of the time none of us were wearing shirts over our garments because it was hot in the apartment with all the windows shut.

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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!