Monday, February 24, 2014

Gwapo? :)

Wow I just looked at the Color Run site. It looks great. Good job on updating it! I hope you have a great turn-out again this year!

Thanks for sending me pictures! The pretzels look amazing. I can't wait to try some when I get home. You should be an expert pretzel maker by then!

Guess what? You know how they told us that my tungsten CTR ring would never bend like my other one did? Well it didn't bend, but rather it shattered! I will send a picture to you! Maybe you can send me a new one, one day haha.

So you asked that I write about a funny experience or two! ... Well, let's just say that it is really hard to teach girls here. The reason why is cause they all think I am "Pogi" or Gwapo"  and they make sure to tell me that every time they see me. ha-ha! :) We were helping this guy fix his bike late one night but we couldn't because the baring that connected the gears to the tire was broken. Anyways a super drunk guy came out to help him. We couldn't fix it, so the biker starts rolling down the hill and Elder Richards asked the drunk if he had brakes and the drunk says bahala sila which means" it's up to him now" and we couldn't stop laughing. I know its not really funny but it was at the time. :)

I am super glad that Canada is doing well at the Olympics! Thanks for the update!

We met a new investigator this last week that we actually tracted. His name is Joseph. His family is very active in the Catholic Church. He speaks perfect English but has never been out of the Philippines. He claims to have learned English through watching lots of American cartoons as a kid. :) Anyways we were able to teach him in English and invited him to read the Book of Mormon and now he is an incredible investigator. He actually studies the Book of Mormon with the Bible and cross references things in order to answer his own questions. That is what we call a golden investigator. He has been to church 2 times and has a baptism date but the only problem is his family.

Time does fly in the mission field. I feel like I just got off the plane but in reality I have been here for over 2 months now haha. We do a fair amount of service, - for example, we helped to build a new bathroom for a very poor member.

Batangas is probably the safest place in the Philippines for storms so when the Tacloban storm hit they only got a little bit of rain. There is an incredible large shell oil refinery here and they own a golf course, bowling ally, beach volleyball pits and basketball courts that I think I will use on the next zone p-day. That should be fun.

I am glad your reading the Book of Mormon  You should try to read it in Tagalog haha. Just have English beside it and then read them both out loud. Also right down the words that are commonly used and it will eventually make sense

Another thing, the next food thing I want you to look up and try to make is a halo-halo. It would be really a big challenge to make one of those in Canada. Also Ube ice cream is super good (look up what ube is ha-ha).

Anyways I love your emails too. I always look forward to your updates back at home and I hope you never stop. Love you all lots.

Elder Nielson  

Monday, February 17, 2014

Mangoes on the brain!

Sounds like life is moving on there without me! ha-ha. I am so glad that you all email me every week. I love that so much. It is weird to think about the Olympics because we don't hear anything about the Olympics here. If I was back home everyone would be talking about it and we would get to watch the daily updates.

Well right now I am sweating to death in a creepy computer shop. It is so hot here!

I love that you made some Filipino food! Wow - Pan De Sal and Leche Flan in one night! When we cook we never make anything like a regular sandwich. We go out to the market and buy what we need each week and then make food throughout the rest of the week. The most common dish we eat is Adobo. The only thing about Adobo is that you can never make the same tasting Adobo twice! ha-ha. I am almost sure it is impossible. I love being here though. I can't get my mind off of mangoes. They are so good. A member made mango shakes for us today for lunch and I drank like five! Hopefully there won't be any consequences to that! ha-ha.

We tracted some new investigators this last week and one is really good. His name is Joseph and he went to church on Sunday with us and worked with us as well.

 My health is pretty good. Actually, I have been doing all those things you were reminding me to do. Vitamins, flossing and wearing my retainer! Everyday I see some of the worst teeth in the world here in the Philippines and it makes me feel terrible and also reminds me of what I need to do to take care of my teeth. That reminds me, because students get out of high school when they are only 16 there are doctors here who are only 22. They get the same level of university education but it just seems crazy to be a doctor at 22. There is a sister in our ward who is almost 21 and only has 1 year of university left before she becomes a dentist!

My biggest problem with the language right now is confidence in speaking. I understand it and I have been able to read it for a while but I guess I just get scared when I try to speak.

Anyways, everything is going great. I had some trouble with my computer so I probably won't have enough time to send very many emails out. Love you lots, Mom thanks for keeping me updated on everything.

Tell Tori and Kenzie that I love them lots. Have a great week :) Oh and Kenzie - good luck with that drivers test and basketball. Tori, so glad your team did good this year - keep having fun!

Elder Nielson 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Hot Heat and Mangoes and Pictures!! :)

Wow - I can't believe how well the Rosemary basketball teams are doing! Sounds like the Sr. Girls had a great weekend (good job Kenzie!) and the Sr. Boys have been great from the get-go! The fact that Dad's team is that good almost makes me mad! ha-ha. The best part about his team being that strong is that the other players will get a lot of playing time in games where they are like 40 points a head.
 
It is way too hot right now. Even the Filipinos think that it is too hot. Yes I am glad to be out of the -30C stuff, but right now we are having super hot days and it's not even summer yet! ha-ha  - I may die... 
 
Beverly's baptism went really well besides a few issues ha-ha. The font door was locked and the only way to get to it was through the font itself. So a member just jumped the guard rail and waded through the water to open the door. Elder Richards did the baptizing.
 
Not fair! I am reading about your food for the home basketball tournament kitchen and I haven't eaten lunch yet. The smoothies sound great! One thing to note about your mango pineapple smoothie is that the mangoes in Canada are not real mangoes. Real mangoes are only found in the Philippines ha-ha. Elder Richards didn't like mangoes before and he finally tried one and he can't stop.
 
Don't worry Mom - I am trying to not burn in this extreme heat! I have found that it is really hard to even tan here much less get burnt. I have an okay tan but nothing special.
 
Well I hope you are feeling better and that the rest of the week goes great. I sent some pictures! Hope you like them!
Elder Nielson

My kitchen! A toaster oven, rice cooker, and hot plate! :) Nothing fancy but it works!
 
Cookies!
 
Dinner!
 
Local Shopping Mall
 
Our Laundry Room! A variety of washers too!
 
Our chapel
 
 
What I see every day!! :)
 
 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Getting pretty hot here!!

Holy cow! Lots of really long emails this week! ha-ha It took me like 30 minutes to read them all. Don't worry I love them!

It is way to hot here. I can't believe that it is supposed to get hotter then this during March and April.

First off, Beverly passed her baptism interview (which means we must know some Tagalog!) and we will be holding her baptism this Friday. I am super excited for it. The first baptism on a mission seems almost extra special.

I still find it crazy how many people read my blog. I hope it remains at least kind of popular for awhile.

Hey Dad! Thanks for the Fitness program I will try to get it printed off. I am not sure if I will be able to. Maybe try sending in the that package that Mom is preparing. If it is already sent I will try to work something out.

So Kenzie is going to attempt her driver's test? That's great! Tell her to just drive a lot in Brooks. That's all we really did for drivers ED. I hope she passes. When I get back everyone is going to be driving. When will Tori be able to get her learners?

That's great that Kenzie applied to work at Dinosaur Park this summer! The Dinosaur park job is super good. Kenzie will like it no matter where she ends up. I think Devonie is going to try to get care taking if she is still interested in a job down there. The kitchen will be way less stressful now that it is renovated.

I almost wish I was one year younger. That way I could play Basketball on the team this year. Someone should record one of Collins in-game dunks and send it to me. I really hope they will be able to hold on to what they have for the rest of the season. A provincials banner would be really cool.

I really liked hearing about the Family Home Evening/Potluck that the ward did. Out here we are starting a Monday night Family Home Evening thing that brings several families and their friends together to play games and have a short message. I think it will help a lot with us getting referrals and more referrals means more time teaching which also means less time tracting. I am still not a big fan of tracting. We do a fair amount of it because our teaching pool isn't that big but that's ok.

I really hope Brayden gets out of Salt Lake soon. I know of several missionaries who were supposed to go to Brazil, but ended up teaching in Ohio for like 7 months of their mission while they were waiting for their visas to come in.

Well I love you all and I wish I had more time to send some pics but I am not at a very good computer. Don't be afraid to send photos from home to me. I loved that a lot back in the MTC. Anyways good luck with life back home.
 
I got to go :) love you lots and have a great week. 
 
Elder Nielson