Week #31 - First Transfer

May 19, 2015

Hello!!!!!

Well this week was transfer week... And I finally got transferred!! I am now in Gandara area, Catbalogan zone! And I have survived another transfer of getting no leadership responsibilities! Junior companion for life!!! It was so sad to finally say goodbye to my last area though. I had grown so close to the members there and they really were kind of like family to me! Especially the members in Canmogsay. But that's the mission life! Anyways my new area is cool too but our apartment in terrible!! It is like a 5 hour ride from Tacloban by van (the fastest mode of transportation in the Philippines) but it was probably one of the worst rides of my life. First, because a kid sitting next to us pooped his pants about an hour into the ride so that was bad. And then to add on top of it we had a girl start puking into her barf bag behind us. So the smell wasn't all that great for the last 4 hours of the ride. Basta, my new companion is Elder Thompson and he is American. So this is going to take some getting used to because I like Filipino companions. Also he doesn't know Waray Waray because he is from a Cebuano area so this will be tough! Oh well! My birthday was awesome! I had so much fun eating at a members house and we even had some missionaries from our district come too so that was fun!! Anyways that's really it for this week! I love you all!

Elder Child

Notes:

*He mentioned that his apartment is horrible.  It does have running water and a microwave though.  It is in more of a city than the last area, but still surrounded by wilderness.  It is located on the northern island of the mission near the western coast.

*He will be teaching his new companion the language.  So even though his prayers were answered that he would not become a trainer, he is really still training in a way.  They get along good so far...it's been 2 days!

*His birthday was a success!  He forgot to take everyone's email addresses that sent him a card or letter to send out a little thank you.  Maybe he will remember next week.  They couldn't find all of the ingredients for poppy seed chicken so they just made some other skillet chicken dinner.  First picture is of his birthday dinner.

*The third picture is of his "mission nanay" or grandma.  She's so cute!!

*The last two pictures were taken on his last night in Tolosa.