Week 9 - October 5, 2015

From: Jordan Mark Merrill [mailto:merrill.j@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 2:43 AM
Subject:

Hello po ng lahat ang mnga tao para sa mundo?! Well I’ve been in the mission field 2 months now and it’s flown by so fast! I know I still have 22 months but still! So in this email I’m going to be listing some things different about the Philippines. In no way, shape, or form am I talking down on this country or in any way saying it’s bad. Just expressing the differences from it to America. So we eat rice with every meal; breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then maybe some meat with it. I’m surviving on vitamins, rice, and coconut and pineapple juice which isn’t so bad. American food is expensive. So in the MTC I was learning Tagalog, well now in my first area, I’m learning a language called Bicol. Soo that's that, it’s tough not to mix up the 2 languages. Also my companion doesn’t speak good English so it’s real tough to communicate with him, I’m currently teaching him English. It rains every day, and you sweat so bad it’s like your putting on wet cloths after the shower without drying off, feels like that 24/7. The power goes out at least 4 times a week, then our fans stop and we basically die. There’s huge bats, lizards, and cockroaches everywhere, millions of stray dogs and cats. Um I’ve heard Manny Pacquiao (however you spell his name) has a house in my area, not sure where? Also my area (Tabaco) is the closest area to the Mayon volcano in the Legazpi mission. The toilets don’t have running water, you do your business then use a cup to pour water down. There’s no such thing as a warm shower, always cold. Every piece of furniture is made of wood or bamboo so it’s never soft to sit and teach. Yesterday we had a really big storm while we were out and we came back to find our apartment had flooded, nice huh? We spent 2 hours cleaning. As we teach it’s impossible to make appointments with people because their always busy. The older men (tatays) always harass me because I’m the only foreigner in this city. It sucks haha. No matter where I go everyone looks at me and yells stuff I can’t understand. My church or ward is really so nice. We’re lucky if we get at least 15 to attend and those who do are awesome. The Philippines is like how you would expect it, jungle and palm trees everywhere. We teach in little grass huts in the middle of nowhere. Everyone is so set on being Catholic it’s hard to help them, we’re constantly getting people trying to convert us. It’s already Christmas here, people have their Christmas tree up and they play Christmas music on the radio. When you go to bed you go to bed sweating then when you wake up you wake up sweating, we don’t have any blankets, we just sleep on a mattress. It’s basically like a little army bunk bed, not comfy at all. Our way to travel is through things called jeepnys or trikes, they pack the jeepny with as many people as possible. Soo that’s all I got so far about the Philippines
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If anybody has any questions about it or what I do to stay alive just feel free to ask, I’m sure I can answer any questions you have:) Ingat po!
**Elder Merrill**
PS No pictures this week, the computer was not cooperating.