Hi everyone, this is Alayna. We did it! We made it one year! It is all faster from here on out - right?!?
Here are Frasier's pictures and a letter from the past couple of weeks. Not a ton of letters due to him trying to download pictures. And, I wasn't kidding...we take Shark Week very seriously! See Frasier's first picture and the message he sent! Ha Ha!
I can’t believe that I had to find out about Shark Week from someone other than you that I just sent an email to. Hopefully, you are all just too busy celebrating it to email me about it. I added a picture of me celebrating shark week while my comp was sleeping.
A picture of a caribou that we walked past. They are big, nice and calm. I still stay a bit away from them though.
A big freaking spider that I definitely killed with the bug poison we have. That is only the second time I have seen a big spider like that, but it decided to come into the wrong apartment because it is now dead. It was about the size of my hand.
These were some of the nametags I had made.
A big rat that we caught in our mousetrap that we were using to try and catch a lizard.
Christmas in July
A video of me getting home last p day and opening up our Christmas present. We finally got a washing machine! On a scale of washing machines, it’s about the same as Sloane’s easy bake oven, but it does the job. All the clothes kind of end up in a big knot in the washer. Oh well. It’s so much better than hand washing.
I ran this morning for the first time in about 4 months. I got my companion to take some pictures. Sometimes things still go over his head so they aren’t the best pictures, but here’s proof I ran.
I also took a picture of the dragon fruit trees in out front yard.
My sweet new running\biking bag that I ordered. The picture doesn’t look the best but a few people have gotten these so I had to get one.
(Added by Alayna: We sent Frasier a package and included an "As Seen on TV" little mini air conditioner. It is basically a tiny swamp cooler. He said it works though, so he turns it on and sits right in front of it!)
Me opening all of the stuff that was in my package, using my AC, looking super good with a super flattering picture.
Elder Tuwai and me.
8/5/18
U know U are trUe U when U are watching a really old chUrch history movie and it mentions byU winning their "fake" national championship and U immediately lose all respect for that really old chUrch video U are watching. Sorry to all U people that are UnfortUnate enough to be byU fans, bUt even being a representative of the chUrch, I will not leave my trUe red roots!
In other funny Philippines news, I was walking around in a store and saw a box for toys in the store. This toy box had the Avengers logo and Marvel on it and everything. The hero labeled on the box and the toys that were inside the box was Batman. I’ll buy a halo halo for the first one that can tell me what is wrong with that.
There was a funeral in our branch a little over a week ago and it was good, all things considered. Funerals here are weird. They put them in a casket and everything. And then, they keep the body at the house for like a week. It’s like a week-long party I guess. The family is, of course, sad but everyone else just hangs our all week drinking, gambling, and eating. It is part of the culture here that you gamble at funerals. The good thing about the funeral is that the family that it happened to was a less active family and now with the help of members I think they will be returning.
We had interviews with the President this past week. It was good. Nothing too special. President talked to me about companionship and working hard and all that usual stuff. Sister Hiatt asked me again about what my baptism goal was. She made me set it at 30 last time. With the recent mission conference we had with Elder Haynie she made me raise my goal to 50. Of course, I want to be a good missionary and convert as many as possible. That being said, I don’t know if 50 is really possible. I agreed with her because I knew if I said anything else, she would just make me agree with her so it is easier to just agree on the first time. (Can you tell how good of a husband I am going to be someday when I get home?)
We have two baptisms coming up in the seeable future. Sister Shane and JL Del Rosario. They are part of a part member family. Their dad is a member, but inactive for a few reasons that I won’t talk about. He is super nice and is always happy when he sees us, but when we get to their house he always goes to work or goes and buys a snack or something. We are trying to break the ice with him, but he’s not really having it at the moment. These two girls’ grandmother is also a member and she is super active. She is one of the pioneers of the church in this area. She is old and loves to talk and make distractions in the lessons. She has taken these two girls and their brother to church for long enough of a time now that they are pretty much active members, just not baptized. They already know everything that we are teaching them (at least on a primary level). They are 11 and 14 years old. I will probably get Bodie in contact with them so that he can have some girlfriends when I get home!
Sister Shane just started reading the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago and is already in Jacob. She is only 14 so she doesn’t really understand much of what she reads. But, she does take notes and at least she is reading. We aren’t exactly sure if they will be baptized at the end of this month or the beginning of next month. It all depends on scheduling. I am super excited for their baptism! Hopefully I am still here when they get baptized!
It is crazy that I am going to hit my one-year mark this week. Time has flown by, and it has also been the hardest year of my life in a lot of ways.
Make sure to send me emails, even if don’t reply for some reason, I love to hear from you all.
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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!
