Ward Members and Missionary time...

Elder Booth and Elder Lucas have been busy with some of the families they are teaching. Some of these families might also be from the ward:

This is a picture of Elder Booth with Jarerd. He is dressed up in the Filipino version of Spider Man. Elder Booth's nephew (William) loved this picture!


It looks like all of the elders in Elder Booth's apartment decided to have a scrabble playing day. That should have helped Elder Booth learn some words....

It looks like one of the sister missionaries got a hold of some of the scrabble pieces...


Here are some pictures of Elder Booth, Elder Lucas and it looks like a set of sister missionaries and probably some ward members. It looks like they were out in front of the church:




It looks like they were having a lot of fun!

Valentines Gathering

Elder Booth and his companion were able to go to a Ward Valentine's Day Party. It looks like there were lots of games being played, and later on some dancing. Here are some pics of some of the games:

Here are some pictures of the dancing:

Love is in the air!!

Family Home Evening in the Philippines

This is a Family Home Evening in the Philippines. Elder Booth is with his companion and the other companionship (the one they live with).

The first picture looks like some type of game that they play. It looks like they put as many matches on the top of this bottle. I'm not really sure what else they do to finish the game...


Here are some pictures of the family with the Elders:


It looks like Elder Lising is trying to make this picture a little more lively... Hope there's nothing in the pot!


Looks like a fun Family Home Evening!

New Companions...

Yes. The time has come. Elder Booth now has a new companion, his second one in the Philippines. His name is Elder Lucas (as shown up above) and he is from the Philippines.
As Elder Booth mentioned in his last letter, he has already graduated and is a civil engineer. Here's a shot of him in the apartment:

Here he is again with Elder Hamblin and his new companion in the background:

Here he is with Elder Hamblin's new companion, Elder Lising:

Here is Elder Lucas again with another Elder (maybe his last companion??):

Here is Elder Lising with a Sister missionary:

While the companionships have changed, the work hasn't. Here is the next update from Elder Booth:

Date: February 15, 2009 7:01:57 PM PST

Hey everybody. Things are still going well here on the other side of the world. Let's see. Nothing all that exciting has really happened, so I will do my best to make it a good one this week.

I am doing a lot better with my companion. We have actually become pretty good friends, even though there is still a little language barrier. He is actually a lot like an American in a lot of ways, so i am not having too much trouble getting used to the culture things. Elder Hamblin's companion is a little different still. He is really hard to get used to. I have to hold my breath a lot when he does some things. It's good to learn patience. It will make me a lot better husband some day.

The work as actually been slowing down a little bit. All of our current investigators have the tendency to not be there when we are supposed to teach them. So we are doing a lot of finding right now. Our area really is not all that big, so it is kind of hard to find new places to go since I have pretty much been everywhere now. It's good though, because I am learning a lot talking to people all of the time. As for our investigators, we are having a tough time getting them to church. They are willing to listen, read, and even pray, but going to church just doesn't fall on their agenda on Sundays. In fact, we only had one investigator come last Sunday. Her name is Sister Mary Ann and she is the one that is pregnant and just needs to get married in order to be baptized. We are having a lot of trouble with the desire of Brother Gasper. He just does not seem like he wants to be married. My companion will always call him a momma's boy when we go there. I think that is kind of funny. We have also been working in this rich area as well. That is a little harder, of course, but we are having some luck. It is a really nice place though. If I were to move to the Philippines, that would probably be the place I would go. It is right next to a golf course and there is a big resort just up the road. There are some really nice houses. It is weird teaching in a bamboo hut and then going there and sitting in a family room twice the size of most houses here. We have three investigators there right now that are also doing good, but just won't come to church.

The ward is doing good, but still in a healing process, or at least that is what the bishop said. They got pretty messed up from the last missionaries that were here. I still hear his name usually once a day from one of the members. They all think he had a girl friend. They do not treat the girl that was supposed to be his girlfriend very good either. She is luckily still active, but she just goes to a different meeting house. My companion wants to actually work with her again. I don't know if that is the best idea though, since one of the first things a lot of members said to me was stay away from her. I will have to update you later on how that dilemma works out.

The language is going alright. I guess it could be worse. It is just a little frustrating not to understand everything. A lot of the times I will know what they are saying, but can't seem to find the right words to respond. It is the worst when they are talking about me. It's good though. I am just using it as motivation right now to learn more each day.

Oh, I showed some members all of the family pictures. They think we are all pretty guapo and guapa. They even called Chad a movie star, so they must really like Americans. Joke long. Oh, and sorry Ulma, they thought you were Mexican. If it makes you feel any better I corrected them right away. It was pretty funny though. T hey loved the mountains in the back ground too. They just could not get over those. All of them said they wanted to go there just for that. I guess we take them for granted some times. I know I did. I kind of miss them now.

As far as the culture stuff goes, I don't really know anymore. I have been drenched the last couple of days because I keep forgetting my umbrella. Oh, that is one thing. They actually hate the rain here. They think you will get sick if you stay out in it for too long. Oh, and if you are sweaty you can't take a shower or go out in the rain until you are dry or you will get some disease that I can't remember the name of. I guess the weirdest thing was having a kid poop in the middle of my lesson again. This was different though. When it happened before, they actually cleaned it up and everything. This time they just took the kid, threw some water on him, and then threw some ash on the poop, which was right in the middle of the house. I thought that was kind of interesting. Oh, and basketball is really fun here. I'm tall and can dunk it, so they think I am Kobe or something. It's fun though and they are a blast to play with. I actually played this morning.

Well I had better get going. Keep sending me news of home. Still sounds like things are changing really fast back there. It just won't be the same place I left. Oh well. I like change for the better. I love you all and wish the best. Thanks again for the support. I don't think I could thank you enough for that, so I will just keep including it at the end each week.

Elder Booth

Animals in the Philippines

Animals in the Philippines. Aren't they like animals everywhere else (just not necessarily as safe as animals here because they might be eaten)? Elder Booth, up to this point, has mostly been eating chicken. No dog yet. Will that change? More than likely. I guess we'll have to see. Speaking of dog, here's a picture of one that can stand on his hind legs. When he does so, he also likes to relieve himself, and happened to do this all over Elder Erickson one time. Not fun for him...



Pigs pretty much look the same there, if you ask me. I'm not sure if this one was just running wild, or if it had escaped from some type of pen.


These are some shots of some water buffaloes Elder Booth saw down by the river. If a future post, with lots of bamboo bridges, you will see some of the water these buffalo were by.




This picture was a little random and didn't really have a place to go. For some reason I thought it should go with the animals. At first I thought it was just a random picture of the moon, but after looking at it closely, it looks like the moon is shaped like a heart, or a little odd shaped. I'm not sure if it's because of the clouds, or what, but you can make your own opinion.

What's going on here...?

So Elder Erickson and Elder Netzley left (they were transferred). Now Elder Booth and Elder Hamblin are alone. What do they do with themselves??

Have they lost their minds??

What is going on here??

Elder Booth!!??

The Filipinos "package" things a little differently than we do here in the United States. So although it appears to be a couple of Elders losing their minds, they are really just messing around. They are just drinking honey out of whiskey bottles and eating peanut butter out of shot glasses... It makes for a few crazy shots.

Here's what Elder Booth said about the incident: "The honey here comes in the exact same bottles as the whiskey. Plus we bought some peanut butter in a shot glass so we could not resist the temptation of taking some funny pictures. Sorry they are kind of bad but I thought they were kind of funny."

Apartment/Last time companion shots

Elder Booth is getting ready for Transfers! Elder Erickson is moving on and Elder Booth is getting a new companion (more to come on that). Here is one of the last shots of Elder Booth with Elder Erickson:


I say one of the last shots because here is another: (about Elder Booth's shirt....??)

Maybe if it wasn't sleeveless...?

It looks like Elder Booth and Elder Hamblin came across some left overs from some type of get together. Or maybe they felt like eating a bunch of pastries. Either way, I'm hoping that they weren't the reason for the "sick day" Elder Booth had to endure...



Here's Elder Booth's letter that will help explain some of the above:

Date: February 8, 2009 7:15:59 PM PST

Well, it sounds like things are pretty crazy back home. I am really sad to hear that the church burnt down. It just won't be the same without it. Oh well though, it's just like Joe said, we need to press onward and keep being faithful. I am also very sad to hear that the economy is not doing very well. I'm not going to lie. That makes me a little scared to come home. Oh well though, I guess I don't have to worry about that for couple of years. Maybe Obama and his change will save all of us by then and we can once again be a big democratic happy family. No joke long (Filipino saying?) I know I have a lot more important things to worry about than that stuff.

Well, things here have been kind of crazy this last week with my companion leaving and all. He left Tuesday morning, so it was just me and another elder from my batch in the apartment. So we made some plans and worked in his area. I was a little stressed out because it is not easy teaching when I not only don't know the language all that well, but I am with somebody that might even know less. Needless to say, the whole day was a fun, exciting experience. We actually ended up teaching a lot and I think I learned more in that one day then I did the past five days. It really works if you just push yourself and do whatever it takes. I just had to remember that the Lord calls and qualifies.

Well, I thought that day was a little hard but I was mistaken. We were supposed to work in my area the next day, but I found myself waking up in the night really sick. I think I lost a total of six or seven pounds just that night. So needless to say, I was not able to go to work in my area. I rested while Elder Hamblin studied, washed, and cleaned the apartment. He is a really hard worker. He actually washed my clothes too. I don't know what I would have done without him. Later that day we got a phone call informing us we would be having some elders stay at our place because of transfers the next day. They ended up being really nice and we had some fun. Well I didn't have a whole lot of fun because I just went to bed really early so I would be rested and ready to go the next day for transfers.

Transfers were actually really fun. It was a good time to talk to everybody about their new companion and where they would be going. I found out that my companion would be Elder Lucas. He is a Filipino from Manilla. He is actually a really nice guy. He is smart too. He has already graduated and is a civil engineer. I don't think that it takes as much to do that here though. It is really different though. I am learning a lot more when it comes to the language but it is a bit of struggle getting used to the way they do things. They are really into the what is mine is yours thing. That is good - I need to get better at that, but it just takes a lot of getting used to. Actually my companion is not bad but Elder Hamblin's companion, Elder Lising, is not afraid to ask or take some things. I really am learning a lot faster because the only time I ever speak English anymore is a little bit to Elder Hamblin.

The work is still good. It is bit of a struggle right now because we baptized most of our investigators. We are really trying to find new people to teach but we are having a hard time. The ward is still awesome though. I really get a long with all of the members and they seem to like my new companion just fine. I hope that we can really learn from each other and he can help me become a good missionary.

There really is not many things that surprise me anymore about the culture. Everything just seems normal now. The food is still good. I have not eaten anything crazy this week accept for whatever made me so sick. I really hope that never happens again. I think that could have been my worst experience on the mission so far.

Well I better get going. I love you all and am excited to hear more from all of you. Good luck with the economy. Just remember to follow the prophet and don't bite off more than you can chew. That's why they are in the mess. Love you and hope everything goes well.
(Sorry again for grammar)

Elder Booth

**Don't worry! Your sister helps you out with editing your letters for the blog :)