Slippery English

Hello Pamilya

So I officially have a really hard time writing in English and my grammar is starting to slip a bit...I'm using spell check a lot more often now than I have in the past. The language is doing ok...people keep saying that it's really good, improved a lot at least....at the same time I think that there are some specific people whose English has improved almost as dramatically...I don't know.

This week wasn't much different than many of the other weeks. We went out, taught a lot of people, felt the Spirit a lot. The only difference is now it is almost unbearably hot. April is the summer month here in the Philippines so I'm bracing for 100s plus humidity. 

We also had a CSP at one of the Elders apartments. Camiling is a flood zone during the rainy months of the year and this specific apartment will flood about three feet and the water coming in has been described as a "river going through." It was kind of gross. There were nasty mud stains on the walls on there was one room where you couldn't even see the true color of the concrete because of the dirt caked on the ground...needless to say the Senior Couple of our area has been trying to find a new apartment for the Elders for a while...that one just had to be cleaned. So, almost our whole zone threw out all the belongings of the current residents and filled buckets of water, grabbed scrub brushes, cleaning solution and started scrubbing everything. Ususally missionaries use time on preparation day to do some more of the deep cleaning around an apartment, but the amount of work we got done as a zone (aka everything) would have taken about a month and a half worth of WHOLE P-days (so no grocery shopping, personal study, companion study, and zone activities) for a companionship to clean that bahay(Tagalog for "home"). Thankfully, everything is now cleaner than when we got there. 

One of our Sisters, Sister James, got to return to Tacloban. She had been serving there until the typhoon last November and then was temporarily reassigned here in the Angeles mission. She is just this little sweetheart from Pakastain (forgive the spelling) and it was hard for all of us to see her go, and it was also bitter-sweet for her. Missionaries have been trickling back to Tacloban, so things are looking up there. The only problem now is that our mission president has to be prepared for making emergency transfers and requesting some missionaries to work with ward missionaries until the next transfer.

We have a baptism this Saturday, Carleslyto Samio. He's 12 and his parents are less active, but very kind towards the church. Hopefully filling the font won't be as interesting as last time.

I'm so excited for General Conference coming up! To hear the council of living prophets fills my soul with joy, a joy that I hope that I share with my brothers and sisters here in the Philippines with my broken Tagalog. I hope you're all just as excited as I am, for they truely speak the words of God and give us the guidance and enlightenment we need to follow the commandments of God and to keep our covenants. 

Mahal ko kayo

Sister Jones

 (answers to mom's questions)

I actually haven't been doing much cooking...the members love us...a lot...so we're fed pretty much every day of the week... 

I'm understanding more and mainly just talk Tagalog while teaching....since that's mostly what I study for, but I use as much Tagalog I know when talking to others

Um yeah about my clothes....a member washes them for me. She meets the qualifications our mission president sets for hiring someone to wash for us, and we pay her with our mission funds. It's kind of hard for people to get jobs here and too easy to go into debt so to be able to wash for us is a privilege and relief for those who do...and sister Marisa even does the ironing if the clothes need it. I don't like the fact that I'm not the one doing it, but at the same time I appreciate her service and how it allows me to have the time I need to do the things I need to as a missionary. (I've been assured that I will wash my own clothes sometime in the mission though)

Yeah, I've used the umbrella once for it's intended use and it works well...I just need to switch my bag to my front so it doesn't get wet (I got the mission bag, the other one was just too big. Did I tell you that?) I'm planning on getting a second one though since it is getting REALLY hot outside and being in the sun for long periods gives me a headache...combined with the headache I get from crouching into trikes every other day makes the work difficult sometimes....especially while communicating.