First Typhoon

Answers first...

Typhoon; if no one told me, I wouldn't have known. It was just a bigger than normal storm, almost as windy as Cedar City during storms. We got all worried and bought 72 hour kits, but nothing really happened. Supposedly it's still going on, so maybe there will be more. A Typhoon is just a Hurricane with water.

Yes, we have a mission phone, that we both share. Elder Sudweeks typically has it, because 1. I can't really read/speak Tagalog yet, and 2. The Tagalog texts (texting is really common here) are really abbreviated. They all use ltl wrds like dis, bcuz its ezyr thn typing all the big long Tagalog words out.

Yes I am drinking more water, and trying to remember to take those pills every morning.

I did eat dog this week... Just a little tiny piece, but I did. They had it really flavored like soy sauce, but the texture is like steak, really chewy. Whatever I had for lunch at the members 'Tindahan' today was really good, some pork and potato mix over rice.

I've seen lots of karebou this week, but couldn't take any pictures. I don't know what might be 'cool' now... It's kinda starting to be normal now.

Transfers are this next coming week, so we will find out then!

Zone conference was good, it's always fun to see different white people ;) I learned a lot!

I like President Dahle a lot. He seems to care a lot about the missionaries, and is very good at teaching and telling his stories He will leave about right halfway through my mission.

Our week was good, we couldn't work during the storm, we never know when a flash flood or something might come. And clothes are impossible to dry here. But all our investigators are doing good! We might have to push back the one family, they had a coffee problem that we didn't know about (they need to be completely clean for at least one month) but that's it. We are supposed to baptize two investigators in two weeks!

I talked to Chad, he could only write a short email this first week. I know he would love to hear from you too, in either an email or a DearElder while he can get them. 

That's a hard thing to learn, Christlike Attributes. There is a whole chapter of Preach My Gospel dedicated to just them. I've started trying to improve my attributes too, so that I can be a better example to people around me. It's hard to be an example when every one around you is so relaxed, but I know that following those attributes is important, and really the best thing we can do.

This week, during the rain, we were walking when a group of kids leaving the school suddenly swarmed towards us and started walking underneath our umbrellas with us. I was shocked, and startled at how close and how many of them there were in so short and time. Before I could really get used to them, they had already ran off to their different streets or roofs to wait out the rain. It made me think about how sometimes we will come running to other people for help, but before they can really help us, we turn to a different source. I know that we all know that daily reading, prayer, and simple things like that can help our lives so much, but if we don't see the immediate results we get angry and try something different. I hope that we can stay focused on and be diligent in doing what we know works. I know that by doing what we should, by choosing the right, we will be blessed. Just maybe not as quickly or in the way we want.

Thanks for the email, love you and miss you. I pray for you all, and I know we all will be blessed because of our service. 

Elder Potter.