First Letter from Cantanduanes

Hey dad! that story is awesome, i wish i could of been there so bad. I miss hunting. I arrived in naga on thursday morning we had breakfast at the Miss. Pres. house. it was really good. Then we had interviews and got our assignments. My new area is The island of Cantanduanes. Its about 2 hours off mainland Philipines, by boat. Its more expensive out here but beautiful. I dont know when i can send pictures, hopefully next monday. You guys are probably sleeping right now. and its only sunday for you i think. But yea its beautiful, but so so so poor. No one lives in a nice home. I mean NO ONE most most homes are bamboo with palm leaf roofs. We are lucky we live on the second floor of a concrete house. But most people live horribly. Its very very saddening. at the same time it makes me miss home. i cant speak the lanuage as well as i would have hoped for , but i am startin to pick up on being able to understand natives. The MTC does not prepare you for this i can say that much. They speak really fast, and slur alot of words together. My new companion is Elder Hardy from Sandy Utah. he is a genius he got a 35 on the ACT, so yea i think the language came pretty easy for him. Im just havin trouble knowing what to study and stuff... but ill get it. um we eat rice every day , and stuff on top called an Ulam, which just means a topping of rice. Like sardines or dried fish or pork or adobo, stuff like that..... Anyways. yesterday at church they asked me to bear my testimony and tell a little about myself. it was easy though . cuz there is only 8 people in our branch ha. we meet in this meetin house real small hard to describe. but when we go work we walk or take a Tricy or Jeepny, to where we are goin then walk back. ITs crazy how many people they fit on a Honda trail 70 motorcycle. 7 at least if they are going far, because they have to make the trip worth their while yea its crazy. ill take a pic and send it. But last night we went to a place about 5 KM away and taught a few people, one Guy committed to go to church it was cool. ITs sad here though, there isnt anythin for people to do so the Dads are always drink thats pretty much all they can do so they never want to go to church. but everyone for the most part is nice... While you walk down the streets people yell out HEy Joe , or Hey man or stuff like that. they are just bein kinda rude cuz we are american and they think we ahve more than them.... Oh yea me and Elder Hardy are the only two americans on my island! so everyone stares at us like we are 8 foot tall monsters or somthin. haha.... But anyways family. How is everyone doin. It feels wierd bein here i wont lie. i miss home and america. its hard. but it will be worth it. Tell tess congrats again i wish i could have been there. tell des to keep goin to church and thinkin about the temple. i miss you guys and cant wait to hear from you. write me alot ok! oh and if you can send like a thousand boxes of macoroni and cheese they dont have it here.and send like snacks like you did when i was in the mtc to i NEED SOME haha... but if it costs to much dont do it i can manage. but anyways im sitin in an internet cafe cost me 40 pesos for an hour so like 90 cents. haha thats another thing, i get 6700 pesos a month to live off of. so like 134 bucks a month haha... but it apparently works out.... but there arent any shops to buy clothes on Cantanduanes so i have to wait until next transfer. for pants and stuff... but oh well. i did my laundry today by hand haha you would be proud mom. oh ya i take bucket showers , WOW its cold but kind of refreshing. It gets dark here at like 530 so pretty much i have to wander around the jungle in the dark till 9 good thing my comp knows his way around..... Oh yea the day i met my Mission president he said he was puttin me on the island cuz he could feel my leadership skills and knows i am going to be a great leader, i dont understand how people see this stuff ive always been in my eyes and ordinary person. but i guess if people think this stuff its because i was raised right and had amazin parents, and a dad who knew how to treat and teach a son. , ive realized over the past 2 months how much i have learned from you dad and how much you have taught me, ive learned everythin i have ever needed to know from you. its makes me so happy to know how wonderful my family is. and i cant wait to get back and share my stories with them. .... anyways family i need to go.. i love you all and miss you... i think i only et like 45 minutes to talk on christmas and i dont konw how im gonna make the plans for that but ill let you know.... Magandang hapon and kita kits mamaya