12-12-11

Well Hello there

It was so great to hear from you this week :) I am still loving it here! I am wearing out my shoes and the knees of my pants haha I love it here. So do you remember last week when I said that I had not eaten anything that was weird? Well the very next day Elder Gloria and I went to a funeral at a members home and they had some "refreshments" after the service haha as usual I piled my plate full of rice and then scooped the Ulam (topping) onto the rice. It looked like beef chunks with dark brown gravy, and so I scooped it on I took one smell of it and then relized that it was not what i had thought and it smelt and tasted bad, It was to late for me to turn back, and I didnt want to offend the grieving family that supplied the "refreshments" so i gobbled it up as fast as I could, all the members around me kept saying how I was cool for trying the filipino food. After I had finished the mystery meal my stomach was not happy with me, if my stomach could have talked it would have simply said "Why?" So as we were walking home I ask my companion to tell me what I had just eaten and he turns to me with a smile and says "pigs blood" mmmmmm  haha Good story right :) 

Its super cool to be teaching real people now, even though I cant speak to them very well. But I am working hard to get this language down, Elder Gloria helps me a ton! I am very grateful for a native companion, except for when it comes to food, all we ever eat is rice haha but thats life in the Philippines though. I think since I am in the Philippines I should replace all f's with ph! This is going to be phun! haha 

So last night we were able to listen to the Christmas Devotional and it was phantastic! I love the Christmas season and I loved hearing the Prophet tell us about how we all need to remember the true meaning of Christmas, and how our savior gave us the best gift of all. His Atonement, that through it we could be saved. What an amazing gift it is for us to have a savior who loves us enough to die for us. Today I was reading in "our search for happiness" and Elder Ballard spoke of some lyrics from a hymn "I Stand all amazed... That for me, a sinner, He bled and died" How wonderful is it that Jesus Christ who was pure and free of sin, took upon himself all the sins and anguish of every soul. I cannot fully express my gratitude for our Loving Heavenly Father sending his son so that we may become free of sin, grief and pain. I am so grateful for the opprotunity that I have to share this message to the people here.  

Anyway, its picture time! Turns out the internet cafe we use for email has a sd card reader! 

1. This is my companion Elder Gloria, I am always singing "Angels We have heard on High" just phor the Chorus haha

2.This is what my shoes looked like after one day! haha 

3. This is Centro, its a city close to where we are its where we get all our junk.

4. These are one of our investigators kids, they are hilarious and they think I am a jungle gym haha 

5. For all you structural engineers, this is how they build in the Philippines haha 

6. This is the view outside our apartment

7. These are our Dogs, I named the dark one Granger and the White one Wishbone haha we feed them our scraps and they watch our house when we are gone haha 

Well thats just about all I have for you today, I cant believe another week has passed, its so weird how phast time moves haha 

Of course you know I love all of you and I hope you all enjoy this Christmas Season

Love Elder Proctor