Another Bridge and some interesting wildlife...

This is another one of those posts with a hodgepodge of different pictures. The first pictures are of, in the words of Elder Booth, "the biggest caterpillar I have ever seen." That one is pretty big and chunky, and although I never saw one quite that big, it does remind me of the tomato hornworms we used to peel out of our garden and feed to the chickens. Maybe Elder Booth remembers doing that (or maybe he was way too young)...

These next pictures are of a river (or stream) somewhere in the Philippines.
Look how green it is!!

Can you see the small hut?

This is another remote bamboo bridge. Elder Booth says it is in the middle of nowhere.
I hope it is pretty kept up (or Elder Lucas is going for a swim).

A Water Buffalo?

Elder Booth sure likes the flowers in the Philippines! Here's another one!

This one is a "very cool looking spider," according to Elder Booth. He also said that
it "pretty much scared me to take the photo." I think I would be scared too!
I'm not sure how much Elder Booth zoomed in, but it looks huge!

This last picture that looks like a giant cow, is actually a caribou (or water buffalo).
It looks like it's in the middle of some garden somewhere in the city.

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure there will be some more random shots to gather together soon!

District Bowling and Elder Booth's Zone

Well, Elder Booth had District bowling again. It looks like they had a great time:

This is a picture of Elder Booth's Zone. You will recognize Elder Booth, Elder Lucas, and a few people down is Elder Lising, Elder Hamblin and Elder Potter. Those are the only ones I recognized, though.


Here's another letter from Elder Booth:


Here is a letter from Elder Booth:

Date: March 29, 2009 8:07:25 PM PDT
Subject: basita halin sa philippines

Hey how is everybody doing? Well I hope you are still good. I didn't get the weekly update so I will just assume you are all super duper. Ya, don't laugh too much. The mission just makes you use those kinds of words; it's really not my fault. It happens to the best of us, I guess.

Well things are still pretty good here in Paglaum. We currently have three investigators with a date and we are about to give one to another. The three did not go to church this week so we actually will probably have to postpone their date until a week later. Actually, they have never gone to church in our ward in Paglaum. They always go to the ward in the next area because the member that takes care of them is either trying to get or already has a job in the bishop's company. So that is kind of hard to deal with. I guess it is a pretty big problem here, though. I heard the bishop was backwards and buys his members or something like that. I don't know nor do I really care, as far as that goes. I just want him to stop giving my investigators callings in the wrong ward. Ya, other than that we are good.

Brother Jonard, the investigator that we will give a date to the next time we visit, came and loved it. He has been twice now and loves each time. I am excited for him. I just hope we can baptize him before transfers, because I will probably be leaving to my second area. Sister Maryann, the lady that is pregnant and living with her boy friend or fiance or whatever you want to call it, should have her baby on Wednesday. So they should move forward with marriage afterward. It's too bad because I probably won't be here when they finally do. I just wish they hadn't procrastinated that special day of marriage. It's a happy time and they should be excited. Oh well, as long as it happens I guess I am happy. Sister Amy, the one that we finally got to church last week, to my disappointment did not come to church this week. We had problems during the week getting people to come with us when we went there because they were all to busy. I did give a good lesson on testimony and asked her if she had one. She said that she still has not asked for the answer yet. So hopefully she will ask soon.

Well that is about it with our investigators. The rest are doing alright. They just won't come to church. Some actually are supposed to come with some members but then the members don't end up coming either. So that is a little sad and frustrating. I hope we can get that all figured out soon.

I have not had to many funny experiances this week. I did have to choke down some really bad food, though. It wasn't too bad to the taste but they just kept giving me more. I thought for sure I was going to puke. I didn't eat anything too weird either. I did, however, cook some fajitas with Elder Hamblin. His mom sent him the seasoning stuff, or whatever. I thought I was in heaven. I never thought I would miss mexican food so much. I don't think Taco Bell sounded so good until I came here. Oh well, that is just part of life. Oh, I am getting better at cooking though. Maybe I will be able to feed myself in college now.

Oh, and we had a ward activity on Saturday and played some basketball. I am happy to say that I am still undefeated in the Philippines. I will play later today too, though, and there is a new American that is supposed to be my match up, or something. So I will let you know how that goes. Well I hope you liked all the pictures on my card. I am excited to send you the next one. I am really trying to take more pictures and do cooler stuff for all of you. Well, to be honest I don't think about it a whole lot. I hope you liked them though. I Love you all. Don't be afraid to write or email. I would love to here from everybody. Stay strong and remember why you are really here. Love you all and thanks again for making this easier for me with your support.

Love Elder Booth

The place where we eat every Sunday

Elder Booth and his companion, Elder Lucas, eat at the same house every Sunday. They have a great time and the family is very nice. Here is a picture of the family with Elder Booth and his companion, along with some other elders.

Here is Elder Lucas with Angel, the daughter of the family that feeds the elders every Sunday. Yes, those are elders in the background on the computer - one of the reasons Elder Booth couldn't email for a while :(

The next pictures are Elder Booth, Elder Lucas, and one of the family members having fun with the camera...

Elder Booth

Elder Lucas

???

???

Here is a letter from Elder Booth around the same time these pictures were taken.


Date: March 23, 2009 1:17:56 AM PDT
Subject: Maayong Gabi!!

Well, hello everybody. Sorry if this one is just a little bit shorter than the other ones. Today has been a little crazy and really unorganized. I'm loving it. You know how much I love unorganized. Nothing has changed around me. Me nor my companion transferred this time. Oh, and none of the elders transferred that I am living with either, so that is all the same. We were actually the only two companionships in the zone not to change. We got a new district leader. That is about the only thing that changed and affects me. He is pretty cool. Well, he might be a little too cool. He is really fun but does not care about the rules as much as our last district leader. He is a hard worker, though, and still sees fruit from his labor.

All of my investigators have not changed a whole lot. I think the high light of the week though was at church when we had one investigator come to church. It was actually Amy. Ironically, she was the lady that took a picture of me, or maybe it was her sister. Well, I take that back. They both took a picture in the end. She ended up being awesome, though. I about jumped for joy when I saw her walking up the steps. We have been working really really hard in order to get her to come to church. She had a lot of things to overcome in order to come, but she overcame them. The best part is she really had a good time, I think. One of our ward missionaries that we bring with us to visit her every time showed her around and pretty much did not leaver her side. Plus, we found out that the second counselor in the Stake Presidency and the Bishopric are her uncles. They are a really strong family. Her grandma is amazing. So she actually ended up knowing more people than I did at church. I was very happy. I can't wait to ask her about it next time we visit.

The next cool thing that happened with our investigators is John John. This week we taught him about the word of wisdom. He was a riot. When we asked him if we should smoke, he quickly shook his head and said, "No, that will give you bad breath." Well, we couldn't argue with the kid because that is very true. People who smoke do have some pretty bad breath. Things would be so much better if nobody smoked (cough, cough Fred). Anyway, then we asked him about drinking. He said that we should not do that because we would get drunk and become wild. At this point I was thinking he really knew his stuff. I was having a hard time not laughing too hard. Then, lastly, he said we would turn crazy if we do drugs. So I think he knows that lesson pretty well. Just as long as he keeps thinking that. As long as he comes to church the next three weeks, he can be baptized. It might be postponed though, because we want him to be with his brother and sister and they still have to fix a couple of things. We will just have to see how it goes.

Sister Mary Ann, the one going to have a baby, is getting very close to having her baby. Actually, she will probably have had it by the time I write again next week. So they should get married after that, but I just don't know how that will all go. I really hope they get married before the next transfer so I can see it.

I haven't eaten anything too weird this week. I am getting a lot better at cooking, though. I don't know how much it will help me when I get back since I don't have a rice cooker. I might have to buy one of those when I get back. I just hope I can get a good recipe book before I come back (and sorry for forgetting how to spell that right).

The funniest thing to happen to me this week was when we were just walking down the street. Some kids threw me the ball to shoot it. So of course, I just threw it up there, and of course made it. No joke. This was not good enough for them, though. So they threw it again. So I put my bag down and went up for the dunk. The entire back board ended up breaking. Now one side is about a foot lower than the other. I guess I was just lucky it did not come down completely. Surprisingly, they did not get mad. They just got really excited and laughed really hard. I guess it will just take another plank of wood to fix.

Well, I better get going. I love you all. Keep strong and remember what is really important in these trying times.

Elder Booth