Hi all,
My week has been very interesting... I have some stories for you all. But more on that later.
Elder Holley is still with me now at least until Dec 20th and then after that we're not sure.
So about the week.
Last Wed for Pday I had my first thanksgiving... because in every companionship in our zone there is an american. It was great because we got together and ate a ton of food (see the picture) and just played frisbee and table tennis and other things as well. It was a really relaxing day.
Thur we had a typical out and about day with lessons and rejections and making the school girls blush at lunch by talking to them in their own language. Fun, fun, fun!
Fri was an interesting day. We were visiting Tatay Pinales and he told us about a less active that lived up in the bukid... he said "...unahan gamay sa eskwelahan, duol ra..." which translated means "...oh its just past the school, its real close...". So we started out on this trail which seemd to lead us straight up inot the bukid. Here we are thinking"Theres a school up here???" but we continue... we end up really bukid, and lost. We see a bunch of bananas on the ground freshly cut and a woman running away from us. (in visayan) "Dont run away. We just want to ask a question!" She stops running and we ask if there is a school further along the path. She says there is and we continue along the path. after a total of 30mins or so we make it to this school in the middle of this nothing town. So we continue on to find this house of the less active member and when we finally get there... shes not home!!! ARGH! But it was okay. We found a sweet basket ball court in the bukid (see photo) which Elder Holley and I commented would make for a great pokemon gym. (thats for all those pokemon fans out there, who will understand when they see the photo)
So we got shown this weird lookin crab by Nanay Bordargo... its was so freaky i took a picture (see picture). How weird is that thing?!
Tues we had a CSP... we moved a ton of dirt... literally... with shovels and 40kg cement bags... it was long tiring and fun... we were all dripping sweat everywhere and so grotty. It was great!
Finally a picture that shows just how much of a paradise my area is... everyone will be so jealous! It is a small pier in my area where some of the men there dock their fishing boats.
I am again enjoying everything here and working hard as well. I am always so tired at the end of each day but feel the Spirit so string as well. This is truly an amazing experience and I cannot believe i have been out 4 months already on my misison.
Love you all, miss you all,
Naghigugma ko kaninyo,
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Letter #16 (Nov 23rd, 2011)
Hi all,
this week has been great! and i love kinilaw so there is no way im not going to eat it. We are having fun tracting new areas and meeting new people. It is great, and the people are often so kind to us. The guys always want us to stop and play basketball, or volley ball, or ping pong, or billards, basically anything they are playing.
We planted rice yesterday... so now not only have i harvested but planted as well. We were all covered in mud by the time we finised... like it was really caked on.
I have sent some photos as well for you.
There is one of me washing my clothes by hand. one of my area after it rained for 5minutes. Another of me riding on top of a tricycle thingo.
Hope you are all enjoying life and having fun without me.
Miss you all...
Love you, Naghigugma ko kaninyo!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
*****************************************************************************************************************
Terri here: Just a short letter for the blog. I've also added the photos he sent.
this week has been great! and i love kinilaw so there is no way im not going to eat it. We are having fun tracting new areas and meeting new people. It is great, and the people are often so kind to us. The guys always want us to stop and play basketball, or volley ball, or ping pong, or billards, basically anything they are playing.
We planted rice yesterday... so now not only have i harvested but planted as well. We were all covered in mud by the time we finised... like it was really caked on.
I have sent some photos as well for you.
There is one of me washing my clothes by hand. one of my area after it rained for 5minutes. Another of me riding on top of a tricycle thingo.
Hope you are all enjoying life and having fun without me.
Miss you all...
Love you, Naghigugma ko kaninyo!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
*****************************************************************************************************************
Terri here: Just a short letter for the blog. I've also added the photos he sent.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Letter #15 (Nov 16th, 2011)
Hi all,
We are doing great here in Loon again this week!
bananas here are only like equivalent to $1:20 a kilo... if that... otherwise theyre free off the tree! :P
He wrote the other week that they had made Banana smoothies for about 5 days in a row!! I told him I was jealous because bananas here are still $5 - $6 a kilo, and I haven't bought them for ages!!
our apartment is really good compared to other elders. in Inabunga, thats the area of elder irvin, their house is an old funeral home were they would keep the dead bodies and dress them for the funerals. it is seriously creepy. we stayed there the other night cause we had csp (community service project) there the next day and it is real far from our area. Both me and elder Holley are sure the place is haunted... and you just feel 'something' we you walk in.... its weird.
Its hard to get balut here, and you can only get it a night in certain areas... so i have only eaten it once so far. but i always go and buy 'puto puto' now which is those little sweet rice cake things the philos always make for the parties. Lami siya!
At csp we killed a chicken as a zone... this will bring back memories for reg... and then cooked it with the help of a family and ate it. we also planted corn, chopped wood and harvested a bunch of papaya. it was good fun and the people were real nice as well... of course. they live on the side of this mountainous hill. to get down, you go snowboarding without the snow of the board, and with mud instead. to get back up you climb/crawl almost. it was really cool and i will send pictures next week for you all to see.
other cool things that happened this week... perhaps for the blog... we found a dog that had tangled it self i a hamock and couldnt get out... i bet dad will find that one funny... i got a picture of that too. also because its been raining, we have to tract in the mud... when we get home i have tan shoes and the bottom of my pants are caked in the stuff. Also we got to ride on the top of a trike thingo last pday... i have pictures... which was so awesome... we layed down on the top superman style. Dig our front neighbour has a dog that has gone insane and barks at 4 in the morning while trying to choke itself with its collar... sounds hilarious but is really annoying when you are trying to sleep. Oh and also, i have now eaten kinilaw two times... but i havent died so all is good... and it tastes pretty good when the philos make it right.
Something really funny, there was this truck that is used for loading dirt/ sand in the back it was passing our house in the morning while we were waiting for a bus. and there was this guy on the back with a shovel pretending to be rowing the truck with the shovel it was absolutely hilarious and we were laughing for a good 5 mins.
Thats about all this week, i need to send photos ane will do that next week (forgot my card reader, cause we are in tagbilaran, the big city of bohol which has the 'big mall'... about half the size of parra westfield.
Love you all muchly, miss you all (but not too much, cause its awesome here)
Naghigugma ko kaninyo!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
P.S. word of the week...
"Alah" [ah-luh] - used with great emotional emphasis to signify surprise at a comment, action, or object (it sounds absolutely hilarious we done properly by a true philippino, perhaps you can ask Michael to show you :P)
*********************************************************************************************************
Terri here: kinilaw is made with raw fish (but a friend says it can also be raw beef) and apparently you have to be real careful when you eat it to be sure it's made properly so you don't get sick!! We were warned to tell him not to eat it, but he'll try anything, hence the "But I haven't died so all is good" line in his email. And "Reg" Is a nickname for Taylor's cousin who served in the Philippines in the Angeles area.
We are doing great here in Loon again this week!
bananas here are only like equivalent to $1:20 a kilo... if that... otherwise theyre free off the tree! :P
He wrote the other week that they had made Banana smoothies for about 5 days in a row!! I told him I was jealous because bananas here are still $5 - $6 a kilo, and I haven't bought them for ages!!
our apartment is really good compared to other elders. in Inabunga, thats the area of elder irvin, their house is an old funeral home were they would keep the dead bodies and dress them for the funerals. it is seriously creepy. we stayed there the other night cause we had csp (community service project) there the next day and it is real far from our area. Both me and elder Holley are sure the place is haunted... and you just feel 'something' we you walk in.... its weird.
Its hard to get balut here, and you can only get it a night in certain areas... so i have only eaten it once so far. but i always go and buy 'puto puto' now which is those little sweet rice cake things the philos always make for the parties. Lami siya!
At csp we killed a chicken as a zone... this will bring back memories for reg... and then cooked it with the help of a family and ate it. we also planted corn, chopped wood and harvested a bunch of papaya. it was good fun and the people were real nice as well... of course. they live on the side of this mountainous hill. to get down, you go snowboarding without the snow of the board, and with mud instead. to get back up you climb/crawl almost. it was really cool and i will send pictures next week for you all to see.
other cool things that happened this week... perhaps for the blog... we found a dog that had tangled it self i a hamock and couldnt get out... i bet dad will find that one funny... i got a picture of that too. also because its been raining, we have to tract in the mud... when we get home i have tan shoes and the bottom of my pants are caked in the stuff. Also we got to ride on the top of a trike thingo last pday... i have pictures... which was so awesome... we layed down on the top superman style. Dig our front neighbour has a dog that has gone insane and barks at 4 in the morning while trying to choke itself with its collar... sounds hilarious but is really annoying when you are trying to sleep. Oh and also, i have now eaten kinilaw two times... but i havent died so all is good... and it tastes pretty good when the philos make it right.
Something really funny, there was this truck that is used for loading dirt/ sand in the back it was passing our house in the morning while we were waiting for a bus. and there was this guy on the back with a shovel pretending to be rowing the truck with the shovel it was absolutely hilarious and we were laughing for a good 5 mins.
Thats about all this week, i need to send photos ane will do that next week (forgot my card reader, cause we are in tagbilaran, the big city of bohol which has the 'big mall'... about half the size of parra westfield.
Love you all muchly, miss you all (but not too much, cause its awesome here)
Naghigugma ko kaninyo!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
P.S. word of the week...
"Alah" [ah-luh] - used with great emotional emphasis to signify surprise at a comment, action, or object (it sounds absolutely hilarious we done properly by a true philippino, perhaps you can ask Michael to show you :P)
*********************************************************************************************************
Terri here: kinilaw is made with raw fish (but a friend says it can also be raw beef) and apparently you have to be real careful when you eat it to be sure it's made properly so you don't get sick!! We were warned to tell him not to eat it, but he'll try anything, hence the "But I haven't died so all is good" line in his email. And "Reg" Is a nickname for Taylor's cousin who served in the Philippines in the Angeles area.
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