10.6.14

Week 1 in Sewahon

This week has been GREAT! Other than the super long and tiring walks it has been fun. We had a pretty successful week. The people here in Sewahon are just great. The members that are here just love us and are such a great help to us in finding people to teach, it's pretty amazing to see how converted they are already! We also were able to see President and Sister Lopez this past Sunday! They made a trip up to Colonia Divina and Alimatoc. They were supposed to visit us as well in Sewahon but President Lopez wasn't feeling very well. But it was nice to be able to run into them in Colonia Divina.

This week was very tiring actually but it was so great. Even though our apartment was kinda scketchy it was also super nice because it was cold enough at night that we didn't need an electric fan! I would usually wake up in the morning being really cold. Even at night we would come home after our hour long walk pretty hot and tired and we'd turn on the fan while we planned and by the time we were done we were freezing cold. Then you through on a cold bucket shower after that and it's pretty dang chilly! haha But it was great.

I'm glad to say that our adventure to Colonia are now over. We just moved into our new apartment this morning! And it is WAY better than the one in Colonia! I'm super excited to stay there. Although tonight we will be staying in Sagay because it'll be too late to climb back up the mountain by the time we finish here and then tomorrow we will have exchanges in Alimatoc so I won't even be the first to sleep in the new apartment! Kinda crazy, but it's all good! Life goes on!

I apologize that I was not able to email you all yesterday, but I am still alive don't you worry! I'm not really sure what time or day I will be emailing. Our schedule is pretty crazy up in the mountains because of travel circumstances. So usually we will probably end up emailing later in the evening on Monday and staying in Sagay and then just having District Meeting here in Sagay to save ourselves Money. So I can't really promise what day or time I will be online! Next week we have Zone Conference on the 16th here in Sagay. So we might end up having our Pday on Wednesday. I apologize, but that's life in the mountains! ;)

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Just know that I am enjoying every minute of my experience here in the Mission Field! Don't you ever worry about me!

9.29.14

So yes i was transferred again! And yes my prediction was also correct. I amcurrently assigned to the Sewahon Special Sacrament Group. We are part of the Colonia Divina Branch. We are in one if the most remote areas of the mission. Its up in the mountains and very hard to get to. We currently live in the second floor of the Colonia meeting house which is very very sketchy, but it is what it is. On October 7 we will movento our apartment in Sewahon which is much closernto the bottom of the mountain and the city of Sagay. So the onky way up here ;is to take a jeepney which onky comesnup once a day atvabout 10 am. The other way is to ride a single motorcycle which is super expensive. The onky way down the mountain is the same way, but the jeepney leaves at like 4 am. Our area is currently an hours walk away. So thats an hour downhill in the early afternoon and an hour uphill at night. Needless to say my legs are verynsore!!! But ill get used to it pretty quick. Yesterday we attended church in Colonia where we had a solid 94 people attend. Classes were crazy because we were outside and inside and it was just crazy. The meeting housecis just a house thats not very big. So itnwasna tight fit. During sacrament there was probably a good 30 people outside. Then we had our special sacrament in Sewahon at the home ofnanrecent convert. First time in my 21 years that that has happened. It was crazy. We had 36 people attend, some of them joined us from colonia so thatvisnt just us in Sewahon. It was a pretty good sunday. Way more people than we have back home at church and they all live far away in the miuntains and walk tochurch. Talk about sacrifice. Im excited to be way up in thr mountains even if my apartment is a sketchy shack and i walk in thr mountains for hours becahse the people are jhst so ready for the gospel! Sorry my email is a bit short but I'm currently using the touchscreen tablet of our branch president and its semi-difficult hahaha

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I hope you all had a wonderful September 28th as well!

9.22.14

Happy Birthday to my wonderful father! The big 50! Sad that i'm going to miss it, but it's all good! There will be plenty more!

"Elder Walters do you have any health problem? Can you say that you are most physically fit?"

That is the text I received from President Lopez. Transfer day is this week and I already know that I will transfer because President called and told Elder Rakuro that he will train this next transfer, which means that I will leave.... again. And the fact that President asked those things means that I will probably be far away from Bacolod City again and maybe somewhere up in the mountains! Which is kinda exciting! We will find out later this evening probably!

This week was alright. We weren't super productive. We had a good week going up until the point that President called us! Then we kidna slacked off a bit, which isn't how it should happen. This next week we will pick things back up with our new companions! I'm gonna miss Elder Rakuro. The kids a blast. We have so much fun every day!

We were able to attend the National Family Week Celebration this past Saturday in Talisay. It was a tri-stake activity so the Bacolod Stake and the Bacolod South Stake joined us here in the Bacolod North Stake. There were a ton of people and it was pretty much a giant waste of our time, but we got to eat lunch and I got to see people from Manta-angan so that was kinda nice!

Oh, I also got slapped by a little girl on Saturday. Little Michelle is 2 years old and we are super close haha. We walked up to there house on Saturday and she was sitting outside on this little stool like thing and as soon as she saw me she stood up and tried to give me the stool. I said "No, you sit down!" and she just looked at me and said "Pungko bala!" haha It was so funny. "Pungko" means Sit and 'bala' is just like an added emphasizer. So it was really funny. So I sat down and then she was standing between my legs leaning on one and then a little while later she walked away and then started crying because her mom had walked away. So then I told her 'It's ok she'll come right back. Don't cry!" then WHACK! she got me right in the face! hahaah I totally didn't see it coming but it's all good! She's just a little girl and she's so darn cute! I just think it's funny!


Well I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week! Next time I email you I will be 21 years old!!!! Where has the time gone! hahahah

9.15.14

Well this was a pretty crazy week. First off we went to Robinson's, which is one of the biggest malls in Bacolod and EVERYONE asked me if I was the new ZL. Then I proceeded to tell them no, and then they would say well does that mean Elder Rakuro isn't a Zone Leader? Nope, he's still a Zone Leader. Then everyone was just super confused, it was kinda funny! But then Tuesday after our District Meeting we had an interview for the sisters in Talisay, it was raining and Elder Rakuro wasn't feeling well and then he didn't have an umbrella so that wasn't a good combo. We went home and he just slept. He did not look very good at all, but he's good now! Then about two days later he passed the runny nose and cough, and sneezing to me! But now I'm good too! So it was just a crazy week of being semi-sick! But we're both alright now!

Then comes the Assistants. Thursday we went on exchanges with the Assistants. Even though I'm not a ZL they said alright that's fine! I was kinda nervous, but it was great. I worked with Elder Cannon. He's from Blackfoot, Idaho. He's pretty cool. We taught about 7 lessons, and he gave a baptismal interview, and then we played some ping-pong. It was pretty great. Kids pretty good at ping-pong. He beat me 3-2 in a best of 5. We had it happen twice during our teaching where the people we taught were like "Wow, Elder Walters is better than you at Ilonggo, he's like a Filipino when he speaks, but you Elder Cannon, you still have a huge accent!" It was kinda weird but Elder Cannon didn't care, he knows he has a big accent still, but that just always makes me feel good about myself! The people think I speak better than the Assistant! CRAZY! I hope that does mean anything for the future ;) hahahah But I guess we'll find out! Turns out there's a huge transfer day TODAY, and it's not transfer day. Elder Cannon actually stepped down from being an AP today as well, but crazy stuff. President Lopez is so unpredictable! Elder Rakuro and I are still good though! haha

Other than that. Nothing too crazy happened this week other than when we went on our exchanges I forgot my big with my change of clothes and my hair wax, and deodorant on the jeepney. So my hair has been pretty poofy the last few days haha! But it's all good. Some filipino got a nice gift!

Well I love you all and hope you all have a great week! Keep on being great! :)

Oh and cool news that Elder Cannon told me. They had a transfer meeting with President Lopez last week and President told them that the Philippines Bacolod Mission is the top baptizing mission in ............................... THE ENTIRE WORLD! How cool is that? haha

9.8.14

So this week did not end the way that I expected it to! I'll start from the beginning. So Monday we had a new Zone Leader get transferred into the Zone, Elder W. He became companions with Elder Rakuro who was already a ZL. Then Wednesday we had our Zone Training Meeting where the ZL's give us training and so do the Sister Training Leaders. To be honest it was probably the worst Zone Training Meeting I've been too. It just wasn't very organized or spiritually uplifting at all. I also noticed that Elder W didn't treat Elder Rakuro very well, and Elder Rakuro is the Senior Companion and Zone Leader. So fast forward to Friday afternoon. Elder De Guzman and I had just left the apartment and started working when I get a call from Elder Rakuro saying "Hey Elder Walters you're coming to stay with me tonight!" So of course I asked why and he said "It's a death threat!" Oh well that's just great! But alright not that big of a deal I was excited to go on exchanges with Elder Rakuro. So then Elder Rakuro tells me how the reason they got a death threat was because in the 4 days that Elder W was in his new area he pretty much offended everyone! He just went around saying things and being completely rude to everyone! So Elder Rakuro had enough of it! He called President and said "Get him out of here before I'm the one who kills him!" President just told him to relax and to have me come stay with him for the night. So that's what we did. Then Saturday morning Elder Rakuro texted President Lopez and asked what the plan was. And President said "Let's just make this exchange a permanent one at least until the end of the transfer." So I just swapped areas with Elder W. The two of them however are still the Zone Leaders. As of now I am just the new District Leader, because Elder Rakuro was both the ZL and the DL. I honestly am really excited to be companions with Elder Rakuro! He's my first Polynesian companion and my first companion since my trainer who is not Filipino! He's from Fiji! He's so cool! We're going to have a great time here in the Silay West Ward!

So that was pretty much my exciting news for the week. We went up and got all my stuff from Manta-angan on Saturday night and I'm all moved in now in Silay. Kinda of a quick exit from Manta-angan. Didn't get the chance to say good-bye to a single person there. So that's not cool. I'll just have to write them letters! But I'm here in the Silay West Ward which is still part of the Bacolod North Stake! Hope Elder Rakuro and I can fix the mess that Elder W started here! haha

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Ingat po kayo dyan! :)