Eating Large in Ramon

Elder Hamblin and me eating a pizza. A pizza like 
that is almost impossible to find here in Isabela. 

Kumusta!

About two weeks ago Hamblin and I split this pizza between us. It’s meant to feed an entire street of Filipinos, but we managed and everyone was impressed.  Then last week after District meeting Elder Griffin dared us to try the 'Godzilla Burger' challenge.  Four of us each bought a burger and we each finished it with only a few side effects.

Giant burger.  We've been taking on 

wierd food challenges lately.

I am trying to move again this cycle. It will be my 3rd move, 3rd cycle in a row, and 3rd house in one area. I have yet to live in any of these houses that I find and bargain for for an entire cycle.  The new house is kind of like a small mansion here. Hardwood floors; now tha’ts impressive. President wants to put another pair of missionaries in our area. So the house needed to be big enough for 4. The senior couple who looked at it thought it was big enough for 6. I am now recognized as the house hunting missionary. Fortunately, the houses I find aren’t bad. We are actually trying to move out of our apartment now without the landlord knowing because he’s not a very nice person. We are leaving him with 2 extra months pay in advance and no contract because he voided it by not being nice…so he has nothing to complain about.

So this week we have some old and new house drama to worry about. And I’m going on Splits with Elder Griffin this Thursday in Ramon. Ramon was one of his old areas so he’s excited for that.

That’s all the news I’ve got.

Mahal ko kayo,

Elder Allen

I found my icecream shop.
I knew I left one around here somewhere.

Same Area, New Companion

Typical small market.  Note the chicken.  
The eggs are really fresh.

My new companion is Elder Oliva. He is in Elgan’s batch for going home, so he doesn’t have much time left.  This last week I spent a bunch of time with Hamblin and was officially companions with him for one night.  I got to see all those people I like at transfers (like Elder Nay!) and the night before at the farewell. After Elder Sister left the area to me, we have been trying to visit all those places he didn’t like to go. So the work is picking up again as I lead the area. Elder Nielsen and Procter and are training new missionaries and Nielsen was made district leader without his knowledge, so he’s pretty stressed.  

Hey I marked the family scriptures, but I didn’ t write them down. Will you please send me a list of where to find all of our favorite family scriptures?   Thank you.

And you can tell Tanya to just email me if she wants, instead of printing off her family emails and mailing them to me. I would tell her, but I  just don’t have her email.

I also just got a check for fifty dollars from Nana and Grumps. Unfortunately, in the Philippines there’s nothing I can do with it.  What should i do with it?

The flooding in Manila has been very bad, but has not affected us up here.  I was wondering if you had heard about it.

So that’s about it.

Love you all very much. I hope to see you all maybe a year from October and no sooner.

Mahal ko kayo,

Elder Allen

My last district/zone.

Elder Lasay and James two of my old
companions enjoy the back of the bus.

These are the tools you need to
read Talmadge's Jesus the Christ. 

On the Move

The news of this week is that Elder Teh, the Area President will be speaking to us tomorrow in Santiago.  It's a pretty big deal, so we are all getting pretty excited for it.   I was bitten by a small child this week during a dinner appointment.  He drew blood and I thought about calling Sister Carlos about Rabies, but I didn't.  Elder Quentin L. Cook is coming to the mission in August, as well.  This is apparently the first time an Apostle has come to this mission in a very long time, so it is very special.  Besides that, this last week was pretty normal. Oh, and I moved again.  I have had 3 areas and lived in 5 houses now.  I've moved twice in the last two cycles from houses that missionaries had lived in for decades before. Thats all the news from Ramon.

I love you all very much.

Elder Allen
"Mahal kita" means "I love you" or technically "you are my love."  "Kita" is a sub for 'ko ka' which just sounds funny.  But this means that "mahal kita" is saying "I love you (singular)," if you want to say "I love all of you" or "I love you guys" its "Mahal ko kayo." "mahal nila sa akin" means "they love me" and you can see how that gets complicated.  Just a small lesson in Tagalog.


Mahal ko kayo

Dragons

Elders Samar, me, Lasay, and Valdez. 

Kumusta!


Ramon is a nice place.  I'm slowly learning the area and relizing that I know a little Tagalog.  I just today got a package from Grandpa Fred. A whole box of Cromers popcorn and peanuts. You cant imagine how excited I was to get that. I dont know how im gunna eat it all, though.  Mosiah 20:11 ends with "...and like dragons did they fight."  I think we should all go to bed at the end of the day and ask ourselves, "Did i fight like a Dragon today?" Whatever it is you do, you need, you love, or you believe, fight for it like a dragon.

I love you all, and i know you can do it, whatever it is.

Dad, do you remember when you told be about the time you saw the "Church of God - Zillah" in Washinton?  I often think about that, as unimportant as it may seem, it reminds me that sometimes as a religion you just have to laugh at yourself.  I love you and mom for the things youve taught me and the knowledge you've given me.

Mahal kita,

Elder Tadena, after surgery to repair
his shattered leg when he was hit by
a motorcycle. Did I mention I got to
spend the night in the hospital?  

Elder Allen

Sorry I'm a little short on time today...

Me with a power line, safely hung out
of the reach of children under 3.

We met this guy dancing in the street,
so I joined in with my awesome moves.  

Me with Elder Hamblin, ZL.

Me with Elder Lasay...I miss him.

New Area for my Birthday!

Kumusta!

I’m 20 now... depending on where you are in the world. I was transferred this week to Ramon in the Santiago North Zone. It’s a ward. Whoopie! My new Companion is Elder Sister. He’s a nice kid, I’m killing him this cycle (that means he’s going home at the end of this cycle).

Me with Tay Quejas (Chaos).
My one success in Jones.

There’s an elder here who I had meet in the MTC.  Elder Jimenez, turns out he was best friends with my cousin Kelen Packard in Houston Texas. He told him about me earlier but he had forgotten my name and Kelen just mentioned me again to him.

Elder Huffstutler, who I’ve spent a lot of time with since I came to the mission, is now Assistant to the President with Elder Miole.  They were both together as my Zone Leaders in Alicia and now they are the Assistants to the President together.  That’s awesome.

In my New Area we have a dinner appointment every night, so I will probably gain all that weight I lost in Jones back.  I'm also excersizing regularly now because I have food too.

Me, Elders Samar, Lasay, Valdez.

Elder James, My companion in the MTC took my place with Elder Lasay in Jones. I gave him the down low and wished him good luck. I feel bad for him, it’s a tough area.

My last two weeks in Jones I actually lived in Angadangan because of some stuff going down in Jones and got to kill (send home) Elder Justin Valdez.  He was awesome to spend time with and he’s back in Utah now.

Don’t worry, I got the birthday package last Monday night after emailing. Thank you so much for everything in it. It was great.

So this used to be the Illagan Mission. It’s the only mission in the Philippines that’s completely land-bound, it takes the longest time to get to our mission from Manilla (the mission above us gets to fly in), and we haven’t been to the temple in who knows how long.

That’s what’s going on right now.

An angry monkey.  

I love you all.

Mahal kita,

Elder Allen

My Companion

Kumusta!

Elder Lasay

It's acually been a hard week, but I will tell you about something I'm grateful for; my companion, Elder Lasay. The work may be tough but I've always got someone to talk to. He's a funny kid and we can always tease each other and have fun. He's great at frying anything and he likes eggs. He's a great gospel teacher, and he wants to teach in the Manila MTC when he gets home. He's always got a funny story about a past companion or a past area. I'm grateful for him as a companion and a friend. He also helps me a lot with my Tagalog even though his first language is Visayas. It's important to see the good in your companion, no matter what differences you may have.

I'm sorry I don't have much else to tell you.

I love you all, and I'm thankful for you all.

Rain Keeps the Jungle Green

Kumusta!   My people of the  US.  How goes life?

                                                                           

We have had some Typhoon type rain in Jones a little this week. It didn’t stop us from working though, we were just very wet.  I’m going to try a new thing, a list of fun things that happened this week.

The jungle near Jones.

We started the week playing football Monday morning in Angadangan for our Preparation Day.
We had a Zone lunch after district meeting this week in Alicia.
We had dinner at the Mission Presidency First Counselor’s house (president Ribuca) on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday we went out into one of our far Areas, Deligan, where tay Libron bragged about his newly acquired scar from his Surgery.
We then walked back to Jones which took about 2 hours. Good exercise.
On Thursday Elder Huffstutler came out to Jones from Echague on splits with me. We made spaghetti and chased some dogs.
On Friday we trudged through the rain. And went to the 63rd birthday party for a very far off member.
On Saturday, we visited the members and invited them to church.
On Sunday, some of the members came to church. A few less actives were there and a woman who had run away from her husband even returned to church.
The man who rings the bell and passes the sacrament at the Catholic Church here in Jones, is a member. He came to church a little late because mass ends at the same time our church starts.

A potential new house for us!

 Although it was a good week, it did not start so well. Elder Forrest, who I met on his first day in the MTC, went home last Tuesday.  An "Honorable Discharge", for medical reasons. We all miss him though. He was the life of the zone. Also the same day, another American Missionary decided to go home. Two less in one day. Also as a side note, the one Filipino who was going home with me at the end my mission was sent home because it turned out he was gay.

So that sums up our week. 

Holding a black lab puppy,
 its very rare to see a  real dog.

I love you all.

Have a great week.

Love,Elder Allen