President's Special Club and a Special Assignment - Field Week 19

I'm just going to start this off by getting this out of the way, because right now writing my email is my distraction from it. I MISS MUSIC. I was watching old videos from when I went to rolling loud and saw all of opium perform and it made me miss concerts. I so badly wish we could have Spotify too, because I miss finding new music. Zack, Trevor, Johnny, if you guys still read these, please keep me updated on new drops. I know Lone dropped a new album a little while ago, but don't know if it was buns or not.

IMMIGRATION DAY

On Thursday we all had to go to Cebu to do something with immigration. I really don't know what it was, but I got to ride a ferry to and from Cebu with some chillers. Elder Johnson, Nicolas, Sligting, Chase and I all just stood on the top deck both times and joked around with each other. It was super fun, and I’m lowkey hoping that one day I become comps with at least one of them. They were all also people that I had similar experiences back home with, in terms of things we did. So I got to talk about some things with them that I haven't gotten to talk to anyone about since being away home. Oh, and Sister Anderson was there too. When we got there, there were people from the Cebu mission and other missions that I haven't seen since the MTC. It was super hype to get to catch up with them and see them all. The most common things said to me was

1. you lost weight/where are your muscles (thanks James)

2. you put fire songs on your notes

THE SPECIAL CLUB

From the port where the ferry gets in to our apartment is about an hour and forty minute drive. We were with President and Sister Scott and they were staying in Talibon, which is somewhat near to our apartment, so they drove me home. On the way, I got to talk to them about a lot of stuff. They were asking me questions and I got to ask them questions. It was really interesting. We stopped at a 7/11 where Pres said there was a 3 item limit. So obviously I got mogu mogu and a magnum ice cream bar While me, Pres and Sister Scott sat outside eating our ice cream, Pres said that we were now part of a special club. He said that one night on his mission in japan, he ate snacks at night at 7/11 with his mission president.

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT

This branch is desperately looking for a building. Right now we share a building with the Talibon branch, which is pretty far from our area. A building they were looking at just fell through too, and everyone is pretty sad about that. President told us that he had a special assignment for us to look for and find a house for rent in our area that they could use as a church building. So far we have found one. We are just waiting to hear if it will work or not. 

CLOSING REMARKS

Basically my whole mission I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do when I get home. My whole life I've known that I don't know how yet, but I will be rich. There's a song by Playboi Carti and the main line is, "just to feel like this, it took a long time" I wish I could be home getting my bread up, but it's going to take some time. I'll get there one day. It's just going to take some patience and maybe a long time.

Hopefully #66,

Elder Lewis

                                                  

MISS ME - Weeks 16 - 18

                                  

My apologies for not writing in a while, the past few weeks. If I were to have written, it would have been a ton of stuff that you wouldn't want to hear, and a ton of stuff that I would have regretted writing. With that, welcome back, enjoy.

RATE MY LIST

In honor of me reaching a point in my mission where I'm starting to forget about home, here's a list of everything I have said I miss this week. Whatever I miss the most will be at the top, and will follow in that pattern.

1 .America

2. Walmart

3. Taco bell

4. Coconut redbull

5. my car

6. the gym

7. girls

CRAZY QUESTION NAY

I was just trying to buy some banana cue, and there was a nanay in front of me, she looks at me, tells me I look like a mannequin, and then asks in bisaya, "will you impregnate my daughter so I can have your offspring?" Umm what? Nay, it is 10a.m. At least let me eat something before asking a question like that.

LIFE NOW

I'm honestly just vibing right now. The first few weeks of the transfer were hard because me and my comp couldn't be more different from each other, but once I got past that it’s been great. I have got super close with all of the members here. They are so amazing. There is this 17 year old kid that we just baptized, that has been working with us every day until he finds a job. He doesn't know english, so I am forced to speak the language with him, and it has been so awesome. I have grown in the language a ton because of it. When we first started, I never said a word to him, but now me and him are constantly joking with each other and I am learning so many new words from it.

SHOENECKER AND CARS

Brother Shoenecker is a white guy from Washington in our branch. He used to be a master mechanic, and now ever since he learned that I like cars, we will sit there for hours talking about them. He was so happy and told his wife, "this is the first person that knows anything about the automotive industry that I have met in forever." It's awesome for me too, because I haven't met anyone here that's into cars either. He also has a crazy testimony. He will tell me stories of him using the priesthood, and they are so fun to listen to. The Shoeneckers are also awesome because they work with us a lot, and often give us rides or offer us their bikes when ours are broken. This also has nothing to do with anything, but we ran over and killed a dog in their car the other day, which was funny. I hate animals, and the stray dogs here are especially annoying.

PRESIDENT TINGSON

President Tingson is the district president in our branch. He is so awesome. He always sits by me in elders quorum and just jokes around and shows me stuff on his phone. I have been having terrible back pain for a while, to the point where some days I have to lay in bed because if I sit or stand it hurts too bad. One day at his house, he found this out and practically forced me to get a massage from him. It helped a lot for the moment, so I was very thankful. Also during it, he was telling me a ton of his spiritual stories and giving me life advice. It was so awesome.

CONCLUSION

I think I have finally got over a hump in my mission. I'm at a point where I barely think about home, and my mind is just full of bisaya and thinking about our investigators. Pdays are the worst. Back home my days were always spent working, and on pdays we do nothing. I feel so unproductive every week and it's terrible. I actually look forward to proselyting days, where I can use the language and teach the gospel. Freak though, President better say yes to me getting a new bike, because mine is completely shot, and our area is way too big to be walking. Also shoutout to the Paragoso family. Every Wednesday they drive us home from (and sometimes to) kauswagan, and feed us lunch and dinner. They are such a blessing to have.