Kamusta!
It’s great to hear that everyone is doing so well! I'm
glad that everyone had a good end of the school year. And I am really proud of
Riley for getting the presidential award!
A lot has happened in the past week. Time here is weird, the
day seems to last forever but at the end of the week it seems like time flew
by. I got to meet my branch president, he is an interesting individual. He is
exactly like the prison warden in Shawshank Redemption ( I asked the zone
leader during church if he thought so too, he gasped and totally agreed). His
name is President Anderson; he is a nice guy but he is very
strict on a lot of seemingly trivial things. Such as tie bars, he doesn't let
anyone wear them. I got up the first day of meetings to tell about myself
and he walked up and took it off of my tie, then put it in my pocket. And
said that we can’t wear them because he feels they are too distracting. I
wasn't too embarrassed because he did the same too his new 2nd councilor.
I have also seen him pull missionaries hands out of their pockets, button
their jackets and make them retie their ties. I understand that he wants us to
look our best, but it’s a bit extreme. However, I have been doing my best to be
exactly obedient and I am just going to wait to wear my tie bars till I am
in the field.
Another thing is that
we are not allowed to chew gum, so it’s a good thing that I have 14 packs here
with me to leave untouched.... please send a box of mints. The other day
for breakfast there was the choice only between a pizza bagel or
"eggs", that from my experience seem to be laced beans (if you know
what I mean)…so in other words I went the whole morning with pizza breath. PLEASE
SEND MINTS!
I have met a lot of funny
missionaries since being here. The elders in my district and zone are all nice,
and pretty funny. There is one elder from New Zealand name Elder Kafusie.
He thinks that all Americans "sound fruity". When he heard me talk he asked if I was in
the mafia. According to him, and a lot of other missionaries, I have
an east coast accent? Now he calls me Scarface, whenever we see each
other we say "hey how you doin?" and "forget about it".
I told him my slogan could be "bada bing bada boom, baptism" he liked
that! He also apparently hasn't had
cinnamon toast crunch since he visited America when he was six, so since
being here he has had two bowls every meal..he calls it his "bowl of
happiness" (it sounds funnier when he says it in his accent). My companion also taught me how Tongans
call each other, they make a 'shhht' sound. I have since discovered
that it is a lot of fun to walk around the MTC and make that sound. All the
Tongans look up but they can’t figure out who made the noise; nobody
expects it to be the white guy:)
Tagalog is coming
along pretty well. I can make sentences and can teach the first
lesson in preach my gospel. I have been trying to read the Book of Mormon, and I
think that is helping quite a bit. Some of the words are really strange
though, and it seems like it takes a really long time to say anything.
The devotionals have been great that we have had so
far, Elder Zwick of the 70 came and spoke on Tuesday and talked about
how missionary work is like building a temple. Last Sunday the missionary
director for the church got up to speak. He told us originally that
he had planned on showing all of the home front Church videos, all of
which he had directed. But because we
would be watching sister Monson's funeral, after he spoke he said the Holy
Ghost told him not to show them. So he gave a 40 minute
talk simply relying on the spirit. He even stopped for a minute,
halfway through his talk, to write down a prompting. That was something
that was really powerful for me.
Because of
devotionals, I have decided (for the one and only time in my life) that I am
going to do choir! That's because the choir members get a reserved seat.
The director is also very funny; he has a voice like Will Farrell. He told us
the story about the man who wrote "Lead Kindly Light". He was a
minister in America who was from England; he was very pride full and didn't
attribute any of his things to God. However he became very ill and
thought he was on his deathbed. On a ship back to England, where he
thought he would die, the wind stopped. And he was stuck at sea for 6 days.
During those days he humbled himself and saw the error in his ways, and wrote
the song. I really liked that story.
.
I miss you all! Kita Kits
- Elder Merrill
Mom- Thank you for your emails, and the quotes
each day. Here is one "Darkness is not a thing, simply and absence of
light, even the smallest light will always drive away the darkness"
Dad- Thank you for your email, and letter. The
Resurrection is a very interested topic, I’ll look up Alma 40.
Marlee- good job
on your finals! Working hard and doing your best now will pay off in college,
so good job!
Riley- Great job
with you medal! And my companion weighs a good 250 pounds, and
unfortunately does sleep on the top bunk. He wanted to sleep there, and I had
already put my stuff on the bottom one before I met him. SO if I get killed by
a mattress and bed frame, you know what happened. Also thank you for your
letter. (Because of the movie the “RM”, Riley had asked Hayden if his new companion
weighted a buck 80 and if he was sleeping on the top bunk)
Ady- Good
job getting citizen of the month! And I like your picture a lot!
Budgy- Who’s a
good dog!!!???
