Isa Ka Bulan Na

Well, I have been here about one month now! How about that! The time here is so weird though! It feels like I have been here my whole life, but it also feels like it has only been a few days.

This week's recap:

Monday I got a haircut, that was fun! They used a straight razor and only scissors. very precision haircut. Probably the best I have gotten. And the cheapest. Maybe one dollar. Yay!

We just found out yesterday that essentially the rest of my district will be transferred to different areas. This will become a training area, is what we "think" will happen. But you never know with President Lopez, because he emergency transfers people EVERY week. So you really never know! That's pretty exciting.

People love the bouncy balls, by the way. The Sisters, especially. Everyone asks me for them now haha.

So I went on exchanges for baptismal interviews again this week and we had something way funny in one of the interviews. When we got to the question of "Have you ever killed someone or participated in an abortion," the little girl we were interviewing just stared at us. We thought "has she killed someone or something??" We figured she was too young to have done that so we just continued. We found out later from the sisters that she thought we asked her if she had ever LOVED anyone before... I can imagine why she would be confused. The word for abortion and love sound similar. Also something that I thought was way funny is that all of the kids in interviews, when you ask them that question about having killed someone or not, will respond with "wala pa", which essentially means "not yet." It makes me think that they have plans to do so, they just haven't yet killed the person.

I have been sick most of the week, so that's been fun! Just flu-like symptoms, no fever though, I think. Our numbers kind of dropped this week because of that. That's okay though. We are going to do better this week.

To your email, Mom, we usually only use the pamphlets for our lessons. The Hiligaynon Book of Mormon is actually hard for a lot of people to understand, mostly because a lot of the people aren't very educated. And because they don't really study the language in school. They just know it from what people speak. The language isn't very exact either, so they don't actually have a translation for Hiligaynon. All of our pamphlets are in Tagalog, a different Filipino language that they actually do learn in school. So I have no idea what they say, but I will probably try and learn it by the end of my mission. The language here is really a mess and mix of different languages. But it's fun! I really have just gotten used to not understanding people and stuff, it's really just my new normal. And it's not too difficult to deal with, I have faith that it will come in time!

I realize now that I have no idea how to cook food with the stuff I can actually buy here. So if you find any recipes online for sauces, dishes, ANYTHING with rice... Send them to me please! Also, try and avoid any dairy ingredients, mostly because dairy doesn't really exist here. And if it does, it is disgusting.

I tend to eat a lot of hot dogs and rice. The hot dogs are red here and they are actually REALLY good. I'm guessing the fact that they are loaded with MSG is probably the reason why they taste so good.

Not a very eventful week, unfortunately... I hope everything is going well for you at home! 

Halong Kamo!

Elder Welton

This is our family home evening from Monday! I taught them the "hand game", one that I thought would be a simple game, apparently it was too complicated.

This is Sister M____'s  baptism. She's awesome.

Faith

Hello Family!

A few weeks ago I got an email from my MTC teacher that honestly made me laugh so hard because he absolutely nailed our situation here in the Philippines. It is a little irreverent, but it really portrays the culture here.

--

"I'm sure culture shock has hit y'all. Tell me about it! I wanna know so i can have a good laugh at your expense! Have you figured out how to eat the chicken people feed you that seems to have more bones than meat? Have you had to crap in the woods cause man you just weren't gonna make it to the CR [bathroom]? Does your companion seem nutso? Can you understand what the sam hill your investigator is saying? Do you have any idea what to write in your letter to president? Does your apartment have mold growing in the corners? Is it hotter than H-E double hockey sticks? Are you so tired of being called "Joe" that you may ask to be moved to the Atlanta, Ga south mission? How's the ladle?"

--

This describes exactly what is going on here in the Philippines. And I didn't realize that someone else has wondered the same things, especially about the chicken and how many bones there are! Like, it is seriously more bones than meat. I'm not sure if the chickens here are a different breed and have more bones or something, but it's crazy. I'm sure Elder Ben Jessee would know, he was really good at breeding chickens in Minecraft.

Elder Kurtis Lloyd is honestly famous here in the Philippines. I forgot to tell you that when I was in MANILA, very far from Tacloban, I brought up the story of his machete experience. This was the day that we went proselyting in Manila. When I mentioned the story, the Elder I was with said, "No way! HE'S your friend?? EVERY missionary in the Philippines has heard that story!" I thought it was hilarious. And even more, when I got to Bacolod, this was confirmed by more missionaries who had heard the same story. Although, some versions of the story have been altered to portray Kurtis and whoever he was with as having barely survived the incident. I assured them that he was fine. Fun story.

This week has been a lot of growing for me. I can only look forward to the changes that will happen over the rest of my mission. This past week I have been reading a lot of Book of Mormon in my free time. Yes, my free time. I have such a strong desire to "feast upon the word" on my mission, and I am disappointed that I neglected to have good study habits before my mission. But, I also know that priorities are different back home, and so I don't blame myself too much for that. But now I have to do some catching up! Yay!

I have really been studying a lot about faith this week. A verse that Elder Cruz shared in a lesson hit me really hard and so I decided to study it later that night. It is in Alma 32 and it really just talks about how faith is never perfect. Even if we only have the DESIRE to believe in something, not necessarily even that we DO believe in it - that small desire to believe will be what God builds the foundation of our faith upon. These are all the words of Elder Welton, so I hope they make sense. But the question is, "Where do we have faith and where do we have only the DESIRE to have faith?" These are the areas we need to work on. And I have found many many many of these areas in my own testimony. I never truly understood why "Faith is the first principle of the Gospel" until now. Learning is exciting, isn't it?!

No mom, I haven't really lost weight. And boy was I disappointed. I felt like I was and even my companion thought I was, but I weighed myself and it was essentially the same. I think it was a fluke though, I will try again soon.

The mud is crazy here. It DUMPS when it rains here. There is so much water. And mud. Everywhere.

We baptized the R family on Saturday. Ayosa! It was actually a super funny baptism, the font wasn't full enough, so they had to lie down. It was actually really awkward for me though, I had to do this awkward half-squat thing whilst raising my hand to the square because he was sitting down. As long as they go all the way under, it doesn't matter HOW they get underwater, as long as they get under haha. If they need to lie down, so be it! But they were both so funny. They were both so nervous and excited to be baptized, I loved seeing such a strong desire. It's nice to see how much their life is blessed by their decision.

Anyway, I know there is a lot to talk about, I haven't even answered half of your questions. But things are going great! There are often times that I get pretty discouraged, but I am truly learning to rely on my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for that!

Have an awesome week!

Elder Welton

                                               This was fun.  We rode a boat for exchanges

                                                       Doesn't this look photoshopped?

The G family.  They are crazy kids

                                                                        Ocean

Bro. Jet and I before baptisms

Baptisms, embracing the heat, & greeting kids

Hi!

Well. Another week I guess! They go by really fast... It seems like every P-day goes by and then it comes back around. I don't even know!

I had MY first baptism on Saturday! It was awesome to have baptized someone who I actually taught. We baptized the O Family and it was a way cool experience. I actually messed up the first one. I said "Having been commissioned of Christ" rather than "Jesus Christ"... Whoops. But that's fine! We then confirmed all of them in Sacrament the next day and I gave my first priesthood blessing. I felt bad that it was in English because I knew the girl couldn't understand it, nor could most of the congregation, I imagine. BUT I don't think that's super important in the grand scheme of things. Then we gave one of the members a blessing after sacrament, that was also a first for me. Yay!

So the fruit here, Dad, is SO good. I really need to start buying more because I have honestly been eating horribly. But they have this one fruit, red and spiky on the outside, but then you open it and it has a clear fruit on the inside. SUPER good. And then the mangoes, I don't even know... They are so good. Super sweet. Delicious.

Yes I am writing in my journal every night! So many missionaries don't but I am not going to make that mistake. Even if I only write something small and useless, I still do. It's the principle of the thing that causes me to keep writing.

The climate is hot and humid. Almost always. I really have just embraced the sweating. There really is no option. Some days, we take our umbrellas just to shield from the sun. I feel like a weirdo, so I don't do it that often, but also it helps! I carry around handkerchiefs to wipe my face. Sometimes I fan myself with pamphlets. When it rains, it cools down, so I love the rain. But also it floods sometimes because it usually rains a lot. That makes things difficult, and the mud is thick. But it's really not too bad. I don't really complain or think "it's SO hot" mostly just because that's how it is. Just kind of embrace it.

Loved the story about sharing time. You married the right person. I wish I could have seen it myself.

Something I thought was funny was all the kids when you are walking around, the really little kids will come run up to you yelling "Migo, Migo, Migo," the Spanish word "Amigo". I think it's so funny. The kids here are insane and they don't usually wear clothes. There's probably around 1,000 kids that I have to shake their little hands each day. I'm afraid of getting diseases, but what can you do!

This is kind of a short email, don't really have time to fit in more. But I hope everything is going well! I loved the story about Grandma and my friends who work there. Try and find out who they are! Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Welton

P.S. Sorry again to those I have neglected to email back. Time is so tight here. I barely have time to finish my weekly email. BUT I would love to hear from you all still and I will email everyone back in time.

Tricycles, Carabaos, Baptisms and....the importance of following promptings.

Hello Family!

I will start out answering your questions, mom, because I don't actually know where to start.

 How long was the drive to Sagay? Did you go by bus?

So the trip to Old Sagay (from Bacolod) was probably about two hours? It was just on a bus and so that was fun I guess. But we were actually only taken to (new) Sagay and then we had to take a tricycle (like a rickshaw) to our apartment. I felt SO stupid with my american white-boy luggage. Especially the bright blue color... That was fun. I will probably find a way to consolidate to two, eventually down to one suitcase if I can manage.

What is your apartment like?

My apartment is actually one of the "nicest" in the mission.  It is quite a step down from anything in America. But we had our toilet fixed last week and now it FLUSHES! I went on exchanges with our District Leader last week, he was amazed that we had a flushing toilet AND a shower head/handle thingy. We are quite spoiled. He compared his bathroom to outer darkness. 

Where is Elder Cruz from?

Elder Cruz was actually born in the Bago Zone of our mission, but he grew up in Manila. So he knew the basics of Hiligaynon before he came, but he didn't know the grammar or anything actually. He was actually assigned to a Cebuano zone for the first nine months of his mission. He got stuck in "Cebuano Mode" when he was transferred to a Hiligaynon area.

Do you make your own meals or buy from vendors?

About our meals, I usually don't eat very well unless we both decide to cook something. We are kind of just too lazy to make good food sometimes because we are so tired. But we have members make stuff for us now and again. One of our investigator families that we are baptizing in a few weeks actually feeds us a little something almost every time we go! They are very nice. Also, there is a cafe down the road that we go to sometimes. It's super cheap and they have great food. Yay!

I actually had an experience with the water the other day though. We aren't supposed to drink unfiltered water here. And there is a reason for that... which I did find out... They often have frozen bags of water at the "chungey's" (not sure how to spell that, that's what it sounds like in English though) which are little convenience store stands that people run. You pass at least thirty of them every day. But at the R family, they gave us some water that I saw was from one of those bags, and I had the impression not to drink it. (but I did). I didn't realize that it was an impression from the Spirit until after the appointment. But later that night, I realized how important it is to follow those promptings, no matter how small or simple they seem. My stomach was destroyed. I will leave it at that.

How much walking do you do, or do you ride on tricycle taxis?

We do a fair amount of walking I guess. We will take a tricycle if we are being lazy, or if it's raining. but we often go to farm areas that are on dirt trails, or to really poor parts. A lot of our investigators live in a close area to each other, and that helps a lot.

What are Sunday meetings like?  Are the hymnbooks in English or Hiligaynon?

Sunday is fun! It's a little less reverent than at home though. They do the schedule reverse too. The church is the same, though, that's one thing that Elder Driggs and I were discussing in email. They do church the same way that we do in America, just in a different language. The church actually encourages the bishops to hold meetings in English. They want members to try and learn English because it can help them out in their life and in the church and its doctrine.

No, the hymn books are in English. In the MTC we had hymn books in Hiligaynon, not all the hymns, maybe like 50. But the translations are ridiculous. Our teacher thought they were weird. I think they might have Tagalog hymn books, but they probably just use English anyway. Most Tagalog speakers either speak English or understand it.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that Elder McCleary and I were companions there  (during brief stay at Manilla MTC)! It was a fun time being with him.

Manila American Cemetery & Memorial

I have been able to start teaching better in the language, it's really exciting to see how it will come out if I just open my mouth. It is still frustrating not being able to communicate things though, but I really understand that it just takes time and patience. I look forward to when I can communicate what I know.

Lot's to talk about, so little time. Here are some pictures that I HOPE can give you a taste of what I am experiencing here. I realize that you will probably never understand what it's like here, no matter how much I tell you. But I will try my best!

Love,

Elder Welton

This is the R family. They are the best! Lorenz, far right, is super quick in learning and he can actually speak English a little bit. I think he's only like 14 or so.

This is a Carabao. I saw it yesterday. It's essentially our version of an Ox. It's a work animal. And it loves the mud.

Here is the baptism from the other week! (first week of mission). I baptized the taller sister.

 

This is the outside of our apartment. Lovely, isn't it?

This is a member, J. He is awesome. He was baptized two months ago and he is preparing for his mission. He is going to turn his papers in in December. He works with us like every day. What a good guy.

This is me eating dried fish at a members house. 

I thought this was very pretty. They laughed at me because it's just a dirt road. Oh well.

Welcome to the Philippines!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I don't have time to respond to pretty much anyone today... Family takes priority here! So I will include you all in this email for now. I will respond to you all individually with time! I promise.

I don't even know where to start with all of this... So much has happened in the last two or so weeks... I always forget that you guys have no idea what is happening to me here haha.

So the plane flight... WOW. That was the longest thing I have ever experienced in my life! We all thought we would be super productive on the flight there; boy were we wrong. The entire flight consisted of being half asleep and not knowing what day it was. The sun was up the whole way to Japan, which was about 12 hours, which was right after we had flown to Detroit for 4 hours. Then we hung out in the Japan airport for about an hour. When we left, the plane was a little delayed because of a typhoon that was about to pass over Taiwan. We were lucky to get out of there (that explains the diversion of our flight, dearest mother). I slept that ENTIRE flight. So I didn't even know that we took a weird path.

Flight route from Detroit to Japan

When we got to Manila, we took all of our bags down to the front and exchanged our money. Then we took a bus to the Manila MTC. We found out a few days later that we had actually LEFT an Elder that was coming in from New Zealand. So he went and bought a hotel room in Manila and then called the MTC the next day. Poor guy... Luckily he learned the basics of Tagalog in the MTC, so he knew a little bit of what they were saying.

Being in ANOTHER MTC was hard. We all wanted to get out there. The first full day we were there, they sent us out on splits to proselyte with the Manila and Quezon missionaries. The funny part is that NONE OF US SPEAK TAGALOG. It was a really good experience though, none of us had any idea what people were saying though, haha. 

The temple was closed while we were there, so that was kind of lame. We really didn't do much there. Everyone was getting over jet-lag while we were there, we were all falling asleep in class, so we usually got to go to bed early. That was way nice.

I kind of have to skip over a lot of the MTC experience there so I can get to my mission! I guess I will have to tell you bits and pieces over the next few weeks.

Now we get to Bacolod after another flight! We had to say goodbye to the Iloilo missionaries at the airport, I will miss them.

So we get to the airport and right when we get out of the plane, we walk down the hallway and see the missionaries we are replacing sitting behind glass windows. I waved to them. It was probably really sad for them to see us coming in to replace them.

After arrival at Bacolod airport with President and Sister Lopez

 

 Then we met President Lopez and went to the Mission Home. He and his wife are some of THE nicest people I have ever met. I can already tell how much they care for us. We had a little training, ate some food, and we were assigned to our areas.

Training at Mission Home

Sister Schimbeck and I both got sent to the same zone! I can't get rid of here I guess haha. I am in the most northern area in the mission, called Sagay. And I am in the Old Sagay ward area. The area is partly Cebuano-speaking, lucky me haha. We taught a lesson the other day where one sister was Cebuano. Luckily Elder Cruz knew Cebuano from back when our mission had two Cebuano zones. I am probably going to pick up some weird Hiligaynon here because they mix Cebuano concepts here. That's fun!

 Sagay Zone - upper right corner

Anyway, my trainer is AWESOME. He keeps telling me he isn't my trainer because he doesn't like it to seem like I am being trained. He said we are just normal companions and friends. Good outlook. He speaks English very well and we have fun together. Very laid-back.

My companion - Elder Cruz

So I got to baptize someone on Saturday for the Sisters in our area. That was way cool! I have never baptized someone before. Pretty neat. Also, we already have baptisms planned every week for the next month for sure! We have set dates in just the few days I have been here. The people here are so receptive to the gospel. They are so humble and willing to accept our invitation.

The kids here are my FAVORITE thing. They are so funny. All of them. And I can really only sort of talk to them. They are way better at speaking than I am.

Basically I don't understand anything right now... I guess I will figure out eventually!

Everything is going great! I will try and update you on more over the next few weeks! I could honestly go on forever, I just don't have enough time to tell you!

I should be on at around 8-10pm every Sunday night. Utah time, of course. So expect my emails around then!

Halong kamo!

Elder Welton

One of the many great quotes from the training at the mission home.

A few photos from last week.

Elder Graves and I brush our teeth together every night.  It's cute.  He's a cool kid.

Last time at the temple.  I will miss my district. (Don't worry, I am getting a haircut)

The walk to the temple --- very pretty.

Please tell me I am cute for taking this.

Last Post from the USA!

Maayong Hapon! (Good Afternoon)

I got my flight plans last Friday! I need to be in the travel offices at 3:30 in the morning! Oh boy... I'm super excited though! Excited gid ako! I have a flight to Detroit around 7:45 and then I will have a layover in Detroit for a couple of hours. Then we fly to Japan, refuel for two hours, and then to Manila! Sounds like I will be staying in the Manila MTC at least overnight, maybe even a few days!

I've been going to choir every week to sing in the choir and I love it! I recommend it to everyone coming to the MTC! The choir director always has THE best stories and it is super, super cool. This week, he was talking about how much of an opportunity it is to be a missionary. He gave some statistics. He said that, "the odds of being a Latter-Day missionary are about 1 in 100,000. That's like filling up BYU stadium twice, and then filling up every classroom at BYU. Then an angel would come down and pick you out of everyone there." I thought that was a really cool thing to think about. He continued to say, "But, the odds of being a Latter-Day Saint missionary...AND a 'Hastening the Work' missionary are about 1 in 1,000,000 chances." It was really good to hear that. It really helped me realize how much of an opportunity this is. We sang the song "Hurrah for Israel" because the speaker that night requested it. We had the guy from "The Other Side of Heaven" come speak to us. He gave a really good talk!

I had the opportunity to be on host duty this week! It was way fun being the host missionary and acting like I knew what I was doing. I really kind of didn't. But to see the missionaries coming in and taking them around to their rooms and classrooms was a great experience! I was able to escort Elder Jeff Newman to his room and stuff. I was SO excited about that. Elder McCleary and I both escorted him, actually. He seemed a little shell-shocked. He said he had a million questions but didn't know where to start so he's just going to go with the flow haha! It was great to see him!

Last Thursday, I can't remember if we told you, but we Skyped people from the Philippines and taught them! We did the same thing yesterday, except it was a missionary who lived in Draper, so I guess that's kind of cool. But after the Skype session yesterday, he texted our teacher, Sis. Wignall, and said "Dang, I wish I was that good at Ilonggo when I left the MTC." Our teacher pulled us aside after class to tell us and that she was proud of us. Happy day!

We went to the temple for the last time today, possibly for two years. I'm really going to miss it! There is so much peace and I feel like nothing matters while I'm there. Something Elder McWhorter and I were talking about is why we don't take our watches in to the temple. We talked about how there is no use in measuring eternal things with time. Just a cool thought. Really helps me focus on being there.

I know this letter isn't very long, running out of time though! I imagine the next time you will hear from me, I will be in the Philippines! Hope everything goes well for everyone!

Halong Kamo Na! (Ya'll take care now!)

Elder Welton