Out with new companion

This post is of a place called Lantad. The Elders had to cross a river to get there. The did some service and actually got some new investigators. Here is the river they had to cross. In the letter below, Elder Booth mentioned that it took them about 5 minutes or so to get across. Here's the river from the bank:

Here's a picture while crossing the river:

Here is Elder Booth and Elder Fordham with the ward missionaries, Shire and Somel (I think that's their names. I'm not sure which is which to put a "Sis." and "Bro." in front of them).



Here they are trying the coconut over there. Here's what Elder Booth had to say about eating the coconut: "All that coconut we ate was really good going in. It was just not pleasant coming out."

Elder Booth about to try the coconut:

Elder Booth drinking the coconut milk:

All of the coconuts:

Everyone eating the coconuts:

Elder Booth posing for a picture with the ward missionary:

Here's a letter from Elder Booth. This trip is mentioned, also.

Subject: Medyo wala bago pero sadya gihapon

Date: August 2, 2009 7:25:29 PM PDT

Hey everybody. It is crazy it has been another week. It's weird when your time doesn't really revolve around days, but you do different things on certain days. It really makes time kind of fly. I am having a blast, though. The work is really moving forward here in Silay. I really love this area. I would not care if I were here for a while longer. I don't know if that will happen though. Oh well. I will just think about that in four more weeks.

It sounds like everything is pretty much the same as it was last week. It's to bad I am not there to see dad act as super mom, though. I guess I will just have to imagine that one as hard as it may be. Nanay na si tatay. Oh, and I heard that Caden was bow legged. That just might be a sign he might go in the opposite direction and start to like horses or something. I really hope for his sake that does not happen. I wouldn't want him that different from the other boys in the family. I guess his grandma would like him to, though.

Things here really are going great, though. Me and my companion are getting along great. It's just kind of tiring having to do most everything on you own since your comp does not really know how to talk to people yet. We are really working on it, though. I just remember that it was me at one point. Well, that was every white person here at one point. It is still kind of hard because there are a lot of random words that I still do not know. I really need to build the vocab so I can be truly fluent in the language. I did teach in Tagalog the other day, though, and actually did better than I thought I would. I just had to switch over to the Tagolog mode and I was doing pretty well. The members were actually kind of surprised because they did not know that I was taught that in the MTC and they just assumed that I picked it up just by talking to my previous companion who was originally Tagalog. It was a way cool investigator, though. It was the first lesson with her. To get to her house we actually have to cross a river on a little boat. It is a really good sized river and takes about five minutes to cross. I am hoping to get more than one investigator out there because it is kind of expensive to get there and takes a good amount of time out of the day to go there. We went there with a bunch of ward missionaries and they had a blast. It just took forever.

The rest of the investigators are doing great, though. We just had trouble getting some to church this week since it was storming really bad. People really do not like the rain here. Which is a pain since it is always raining. We have one that can't come because her boss won't let her take Sunday off. So I took the information of the boss. I just might have to pay her a visit. If she is a member than there should not be to much of a problem getting Sunday off for the other person.

We have a new family that is doing really well. I will be the happiest if I get to baptize an entire family again. That is the best feeling ever. They are the nicest people ever. I just hope I get to stay here long enough to see them get in the water. I actually have a lot of stuff planned for after the next transfer day so I am kind of nervous the bad is going to happen and I will have to go to a far off place. Oh well, though. That is just how life goes.

As for a funny experience, I do actually have one. Of course my comp is new, so he is trying to learn new words all the time. Well some of the time. He did learn the word pregnant pretty well, though . He asked me and then I asked the ward missionary to tell him. The ward missionary told him and then said "hindi ka magpabusuong so iban samtang ara ka diri so" mission. This was right in the middle of a lesson so it was hard to keep the spirit after that. This translated is: "Make sure you don't cause another to be pregnant." He had absolutely no idea what was going on. I felt bad since everybody was laughing and he really couldn't. I don't know, maybe you had to be there. Well, that is about all can think of. I love you all and wish you the best with everything. Just remember that the Lord should be before everything in your life. Even others.

Elder Booth