Letter #14 (Nov 9th, 2011)

Hey everyone!
We here in Loon are doing great! I am having so much fun and working so hard gihapon(also). We had another baptism on Sat. She has been investigating for quite a while but there was issues before with her bana but they were resolved so we proceded with the baptism. It was great and Elder Holley performed the baptism. She has a new born boy as well who was blessed at church the same day she was confirmed. What a great experience for her in the church!
I love the people here as they are all so kind... even the random people on the street that we contact. They are always happy to talk with us although sometimes hesitant cause we are two white guys that more often than not they dont think we speak visayan.
We had a CSP yesterday where we were slicing open coconuts and scraping out the insides for one of the sisters investigators. We also got to slice the tops of the coconut and drink the juice straight from the inside.... it was great!
Thank you for putting all my stuff away, but to be honest with you, now that i have lived here in the philippines for these 6 weeks, i can say that all that stuff is not important any more. I can see that clearly now. That doesnt mean that it wasnt fun or that it was a waste, or that you can go and throw it all away, but it is not as important as other things in life. Your all thinking "What has happened to you? Were is Taylor?" but alot of my perspective on things has changed. You are so rich, like ridiculously rich, its not funny. You have everything you need plus extra, enough for hobbies and leisure activities and even toilet paper. We live a life of paradise compared to the people here, and this experience is so humbling.
I dont know i have talked about Tatay B.... before... but he is the classiest, most talented, greatest Tatay ever! He must be like 60 or so, but he does everything. He made his own guitar and ukelele out of coconut shells and other wood and he plays them so well. He is building a second house at the moment by himself, and he is always wearing the classy button up shirt over a v neck tee, with a sweet cap tilted to the side and stylish pants. He is just awesome!
We had transfer call this morning. Only one person in our zone is tranfering and later today we are going touring with some members.
I love it here! I love the people, the culture, the food ( i dont know if i told you i ate balut and loved it!). It is just great here. And also i love the members, the investigators, the feeling of having the Spirit all the time, the other missionaries and everything is just awesome in everyway possible.
Love you lots, miss you just as much
Naghigugma ko kanimo,
Elder Taylor Addison Cox

Hey Dad,
had an interesting encounter with some cats at our branch presidents balay(house) with his youngest son, who is 7yrs old. He grabs hold of the cats, and pretends that they are motorcycles, and rides them on the floor. It is absolutely HILARIOUS!!! I will try to get a video of it cause it is so much more funny than pictures, especially when you hear all the funny noises the cats make.


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Terri here: A balut is a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell.
I have added some photos this week. Please go check them out!!

Letter #13 (Nov 2, 2011)

Hey!
Im great. How are you all?
About the weather... this could go on the blog... we have whats called
the 'odto ulan' - let me explain:
odto is the time between about 11am and 12:30pm and ulan means rain.
So basically we have this rain that appears out of nowhere, hammers
down for a 30min period during the odto time period.... and then just
dissapears. Its fun because all the philos run for cover right before
11 cause they are all scared of the rain.

We are having so much fun and working our butts off... i am so
exhausted at the end of each day. Its GREAT!
Miss you all, love you muchly,
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
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Terri here: A short letter this week, because Stoo emailed him this week and Taylor sent 3 emails home. 1 to Stoo, 1 to Reilly and 1 to me. Of course mine was the shortest!!

Letter #12 (October 26th, 2011)

Hey all, so this week i decided id just look through my journal and account for every day these past two weeks for you... okay? cool.
thur 13...
we teach on average about 4 lessons everyday or so and today was a typical teaching day. After we had finished everything up, i did another load of washing for the week, in preparation for Elder Holland's visit in Cebu.
Fri 14...
We had zone interviews in Calape, which is the neighbouring area of the sisters. Pres and Sis Schmutz came and visited with us to see how our zone was doing in regards to our individual companionships and how our area books are looking. Luckily for me Elder Holley is really kugihan(dilligent) and keeps everything in order and he is teaching me to do so as well. We had lunch with them, lechon manok, and headed back to work.
sat 15...
We had a baptism today of one of our investigators, Nanay Isang. One of the members was planned in the program to perform the baptism, but they didnt show up... so guess who got to perform the baptism?! Me! My first baptism ever... and it was a little bit difficult because Nanay has had a stroke and cant use her left side of her body, but we managed to be able to perform the baptism properly in the first go. Oh, also, we harvested rice in the morning, and i got to see how we get our rice. I got sunburnt and learnt some new visayas. You definitely want to wash your rice before you cook it, thats all im going to say.
sun16...
Another baptism but for the Sisters in calape. Elder Holley as the district leader had to go over there for the interview so we stayed for the baptism as well. Our zone is flourishing really well at the moment which is just great.
mon17...
We got told there was a fiesta going on in one of our areas in Loon, Catagbacan, but the information turned out to be a false lead... turns out it was tomorrow, so that was all the i2ls we had planned out the window. But we still got some really good member present lessons with our investigators.
tues18...
Cunning plan for i2l's #1: write down a whole heap of names. Ask people if they have met or know where they live. Ask them if the have met the missionaries before. invite them to hear our message.
weds19...
We found paradise! today we tracted this small baranggay behind where we live and it had white sand beaches!!! I have some photos which i will send either next week in an email or in 2 weeks in a letter. We searched for names and ended up going round in circles. We had a lesson with a couple and the husband turned up half way through drunk from karaoke with his mates... but soon left cause he wanted to go back to karaoke. It was a very interesting experience, but we ended up having a good lesson with his wife. We travelled to Tubigon, where the port is, and stayed at the zone leaders house so we could get up to get the barge to Cebu in the morning.
thurs20...
We got up at 4:00 so we could all get ready and have showers... (there was 8 of us) Turns out the fast barge was cancelled so we were on the semi-fast one which got us to Cebu. We caught up with people and then have the Elder Holland visit. We got a mission photo with him and then went inside with everyone shaking his hand on the way in! I was sitting right in the front row cause i was playing piano for the choir. It was just a great spiritual experience and we had a great time. We headed back to the pier to get the last barge to Bohol at night... but they wouldnt let us on!!! So we had to ended up staying in the apartment of the city elders, in Elder Laxtons apartment, and there was about 20 of us elders this time.
fri21...
We got an early boat back to Bohol and opened the package... it was a brown package with photos, cherryripes and a note. We did splits today with the priesthood from the ward and had great experiences with them in teaching less actives and recent converts.
sat22...
People in the philippines really enjoy playing hide-and-seek especially if you are white and a missionary who has a message to share with them, and especially if you have met them before as well. We approach the house, they see us coming and, nag-tago-tago sila! But thats just one part of the work here... sorting those who want to hear this message and those who want to play hide-and-seek. A funny experience for the blog... Me and Elder Holley were tracting and decided to take this back path, which was really just walking through jungle brush... but we came to this group of houses and there was a bunch of philos standing around, but we had an appointment to get to, so we just said "agi lang mi" (just passing by!") and walked right on through... it was absolutely hilarious to see the looks on their faces... two white guys just walk out of the jungle, wearing white shirts and ties and speaking visayan, just walk past a bunch of philos... they were surprised to say the least!
sun23...
Typical sunday, except i got to show of my drawing skills that dad taught me to one family we visited tonight in helping one of the kids with a school assignment. Oh, and the family say that dad looks gwapo!!!
mon24...
The Lord works miracles in the lives of individuals. The Lord uses missionaries to complete his purposes. Two facts shown to be true today. We have been teaching this one young man all the lessons but he hasnt been attending church. But then yesterday his aunt attends church out of the blue with the branch presidents wife. So like the good missionaries we are we follow up. when we arrive at her house she asks us if she can talk with us and if we can teach her the things we have been teaching her nephew over at the branch presidents house. It turns out that she had just had some difficulties with her husband and didnt know where to turn but then remembered the missionaries that had been teaching her nephew and how the things they were teaching him had affected his life for the better so knew exactly where to turn for help. How amazing is that!
tues25...
Member present lessons today... and we worked with a less active priesthood holder in the ward. He came with us to two lessons with investigators and the experience for him was truly amazing and helped to develop his faith and testimony. He has only recently come back but i feel that he has a great desire to make the effort to come to church every sunday.
wed 26th...
We went river trecking today and it was awesome. I cooked adobo for the district and we had lunch under a waterfall besides a cave. Will send photos...

So that was the last while, i have lots of photos to send and no means at this little internet cafe here in Loon. Tomorrow we are off to Cebu again so tonight we are at Tubigon again. I may get to try balut tonight, depending on how things work out tonight.
Love you lots... missing you heaps...
Nahigugma ko kaninyo
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
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Terri here: Not much to add to his letter this week!! I hope you are enjoying his experiences like we are!!