Week 11 - Dulag 8/28/2011

(just a little info - Zac gets 1 hour on the computer on his p - day.  He is not a great typist, so I would imagine just this letter takes awhile!  And he has to email his mission president and report.  And maybe he has time to email other folks, I don't know.  So we forgive the no punctuation and randomness of the letter!)

ok so this week a lot happened!  not to many lessons or anything,  just met a lot of potential investigators because we had one of our investigators disappear.  we went to her house and everything was gone and her neighbors told us she moved.

so everyone here seems impressed that i know whats going on while they are talking and that i am able to communicate back sometimes after only being here for a little more than a week.  its really cool!  we talk to the kids all the time and most people here speak enough english that they can help me out.  i found out out this week that they graduate high school here at 16 and then usually finish college by 20-21 years old. its crazy! so most people are pretty smart its just hard for them to get jobs.

so monday we went to a resort in mayorga with some other missionaries it was really cool.  we got rotisserie chicken or lechon manok and had rice of course, but it was delicious. i got to play basketball with some phillipinos while we were there as well, its pretty fun on a 9 foot goal. i got a couple dunks in! and then we headed back to dulag for an fhe.  (fhe=family home evening, learn more here!) it was really cool to try and participate and the family we had it with are really nice and are extremely dedicated to church.

so tuesday we had district meeting in the morning and went out to meet with some inactives. (this refers to members that do not attend church meetings regularly) that seems to be a lot of what we are doing here and if they weren't home we went finding and talking to lots of people. like we were walking and i kinda had the urge to turn around and so did elder andrus, he has been here for almost a year now and is very good at the language, but anyway. we saw a family riding up on there motorcycle, well they are more like scooters here,  but what ever.  we went to talk and we were talking to the owner of the house and he didn't really seem to care.  but my companion asked him his age, he does that a lot and if they say they are like 50 he just says no your still like 25 or something like that, and he laughed and asked us to come sit down out of the rain and brought out his daughter.  we were both kinda like great he wants us to take her back to America, and he did. but she found out why we were in the philippines and was like cool I'm katolico, and said she didn't like here church because they don't follow what they teach and she is worried about where she will go after this life. and we were both like really?  it was awesome but she is worried about what her friends will think about her if she is talking to us, so we will have to meet only when she isn't working because she works for the catholic church here in dulag.  But thats ok, we will get her.

so then wednesday we had a pretty full day and met with a lot of inactive members again.  then we went to an investigators house who invited us to drop in for his birthday.  they had saved us some food, they are great people. so they gave us the pasta and then brought out the sura or the thing you eat with your rice or pasta. and we asked what it was and, sorry kamrie but its too late, i already ate dog. (while I was typing my email to him, I asked the kids if they wanted to include anything, Kamrie had me tell him not to eat any dog!)  its actually pretty good, just chewy.  not sure i will eat it again, but it was a once in a life time chance for an American so i ate some. then went to see another invetigator who just opened a new bbq stand for the festival and its pretty good.  we get 3 skewers of pork for less than a dollar, its like 30 pesos and its delicious. we have eaten there a few times now and will probably eat there again for dinner.

so i have some pictures i want to send home but was told to do it on support monday because here there could be viruses that could wipe my card,  so no thank you.  but ill send them next monday from the mall in tacloban.

ok so thursday was chads birthday and no i didn't forget im actually getting something made for him later.  they are pretty sweet and only 50 cents so 20 pesos so ill try and send that home.  (he mentions that he didn't forget, because I reminded him in my letter!)

ok so thursday elder andrus had training in tacloban so we went to tacloban and i went on splits with an elder i knew in the mtc named elder wilks.  it was cool to be in the city, the only difference is there are bigger buildings but still cool. we gave a baby a blessing, then went back to the downtown apartment for lunch, then went to the mission office i got my package thank you'   i will use this bbq sauce as little as possible to savor it.  oh and i have to pay 40 pesos to pick up packages so its not bad just a dollar for the shipping fee here.  so then we went back and met with an investigator for a little bit shared and went back to the appartment for hotdogs and rice with corkys bbq,  yum!

so then friday was a long day of finding because no one we planned to see would let us in.  but it was good. we are cleaning a guys dypni or jeepny on wednesday at 5 am and hopefully he will listen to the discussions after. his whole family are members except him but they live in another city. so whatever.

saturday was kinda the same thing except we got a member to go with us and we had one family let us in so we shared and invited them to church but they are "busy" but oh well.  so we saw a few inactives with him, then bought our food for sunday and went back for planning.

so sunday we only had 26 people because one of the branch presidency's families had a kid in the hospital so that put us back about 6 people.  so maybe next week will be better.  but then we went out with a member and met with a few members and a referral she had for us who was busy because a family member had died. so we talked for a little bit and will go back another time.  but then we went and saw a member who left after sacrament.  and then returned home and now its monday and last night i dint get much sleep because it was extra hot.  it was still 89 degrees inside the apartment when we were going to sleep and its pretty hot today as well,  but oh well.  its my companions b day so we are gunna party it up! well i miss you all and wish you all the best

love elder coontz
                            salamat (thank you)

Last week when I was reading Zac's letter, and read that he was in Dulag, Tyler immediatlely started singing this song.  And then wrote Zac about it!  So it's been sung all week around this house and I thought I needed to include it!

Week 9 - MTC 8/15/2011 & 10 - Philippines 8/21/2011

8/15/2011
alright so today im just kinda chillin in the mtc until 4;30 and then i have to be in the travel office to get our tickets so that we can get on the bus for the airport at about 5 not entirely sure so i fly out of salt lake at 8:10 so im hopeing to call you at about 6:30 7 and then if your awake again in la but itll be like 11 there but i land in hong kong at 7 am wed so itll be fun not sure what time it will be in memphis then but ill leave my watch set to utah time and try to call if its an ok hour but after that i fly to manila and stay there for 5 hours then fly to tacloban well i really dont want to say much so we have stuff to talk about later but i love you and i hope your not to busy with soccer but talk to you later

8/21/2011
So i got to the Philippines and i love it!   the food is great and i know that it will be weird eating rice with everything but what ever.  so my typing may not be very good the computer place has no lights so i cant see anything really but that's ok.  so i have been called to serve in the dulag mission speaking waray-waray, its crazy and I've heard its hard to learn but i think I'll get, it i just have to learn a new vocabulary. (love the positive attitude here!  FYI there are over 120 languages in the philiippines!) my companion is elder andrus, he is from Washington and he is teaching me a lot.  i am learning so much already. i am in an area that got a little messed up and we are supposed to fix it, so lots of work ahead for the next while. i cant wait to be able to just understand people, its crazy how much different it is. both of my companions went to cebuano areas so they are probably a little ahead of me but i think ill be ok, im starting understand a little and say things back as well.

so yesterday was my first sunday and it was very different. i went and we had 30 people show up, fun right? they are way down.  its usually like 45-50, so we have some work to do. so after church we went to pec (this is a leadership meeting, that the missionaries attend) and as we were leaving one of the sisters was kind enough to tell me im fat! i was like gee thanks and my companion just laughed.

so whenever we go to meet people we go and start talking and i introduce myself and my comp says guapo hiya di ba? which means hes guapo no?  (he's handsome?) and they all just say yes and kinda laugh. they like to say stuff like that here in the philipipnes. when you walk past some guys we say kamusta mga guapo and they smile. i swear the average philippino male uses more beauty product than women in america, its crazy but i love them all.

so my first night we went and met some people, and then we had an appointment that night and we ended up with three new investigators. (investigators are people interested in learning about the church, and Zac and his comp (companion) will teach them)  my comp says he barely gets that in a week sometimes. it was awesome!

so a lot of our work if finding professionals because they are lacking leadership in the church in our mission. so we go to the big houses and you just stand outside and say maopay from outside the big gate and hope someone comes. it doesn't usually work but there are some pretty large houses, its crazy.

so my p day is monday (Pday = preparation day, they day they do laundry, shop, and email!) and its almost 10 in the morning here and im not sure what time it is there (9PM Sunday night!)  but now you know send the email before sunday night.  i already did my laundry for the first time here. its interesting we let it soak in soapy water for about a half hour then go out and scrub it, then rise it out and hang it up to dry. I'm gonna have calasis on my knuckles before this is over. i am going into another city in a little while to hang out with a missionary i know from the mtc and maybe play some basketball. turns out they try to replicate what they see on tv when they wach the NBA, but they don't have the skill height or hops, its kinda funny to watch. there is a big festival going on in the philippines right now so they had a b ball tourney last night i watched for a little bit and just kinda laughed. then we went to make our dinner.

so the sun goes down at 6 here and when people don't have electricity  we cant really go to their house. (so crazy that people don't have electricity!  We are SO SPOILED here!)  its kinda weird, so we try to set stuff up with people that have electricity so we can go to their houses.  its so cool its basically a constant 80 degrees at night and 90 during the day so not to bad but extremely humid, it rains everyday without fail and philipinos are afraid of rain. they think if you get wet you'll get sick so they all hide when it rains and wait for it to stop.  its crazy all the superstitions they have here.

so i have to keep my tooth brush and paste in the refrigerator so ants don't get it,  its weird to brush with cold toothpaste but im over it.

so there are markets everywhere and they sell everything even rolexes it kinda reminds me of new york just a lot less developed. everyone here has a cell phone because it costs 5 pesos a day to have one and $1 is 45 pesos so it super cheap! its crazy to see everyone with a phone and they all sleep in one room because there is only one room in the house! i feel really tall here, i have to duck to walk through a lot of the doors and everyone tells you your tall.  its crazy!  and they call all americans "joe"  not sure why but they think it's hilarious.  they yell it and hide if you look at them,  its kinda funny.

i know every time we meet people and my companion starts talking that even though i really don't know whats going, on i know what he is saying is true, i just want to be able to help him. i was told they understand cebuano so i use it but they dont always know, so its what ever. well i need to email my mission pres now i hope you all have a great day

love elder coontz
                         AYO AYO
                              (they don't say this in my area but oh well)

Remember - if you post a comment it will go to his email!  So it's an easy way to say "hi"!

Week 8 - MTC 8/9/2011

so i just got back from the temple and i got to do sealings today. it was really amazing to see how it all works, i actually thought it was a lot longer than it really is.  so we went in and got started and after the first parents got sealed some one else came in and it was one of the osmands! they said donny had just left! i was like what? it was really cool he said he was just in the philippines for something i dont really remember what but ya super cool, and it made my miss you all so much, and i cant wait for my turn to be sealed in the temple (the marriage ceremony in our temple is called a sealing.  it is not a "til death do us part", it is forever!  and these sealings are performed for families that have died without being "sealed".  that is what he was doing in the temple.  you can find out more about temples HERE)

so we have been going about our week kinda talkative.  we really need to focus more now that we have our flight plans i found out i'm in charge of mine and my companions tickets as flight leader. we leave from here at 4:30 and fly to LA we get to LA about 9 at night and leave for Hong Kong at about 1:30 in the morning. we land in Hong Kong at 7:30 the next day.  i then sit in Hong kong for about 4 hours and fly to Manila where we have a 5 hour lay over and then fly to tacloban and get there about 5 at night. so itll be super fun!

so this week we have strated teaching a lot more we teach almost everyday we started the new program were we have a progressive investigator who we teach until we leave. so it's really cool to get to know the lessons a lot better by teaching them. so we have been really trying to only speak cebuano pero ... its not happening we talk to much and it always ends up in english, we really need to work on that.

so kamrie wrote me and said she is sitting on an excersice ball in class thats really cool i wish i could have done that.

so porter leaves later today, i got a few pictures with him sunday and a few before that but didn't get one at the map. bummer. but i had  a lot going on this being my last p-day here i have to make sure i get everything done.

so the new cebuanos are learning so fast and I'm super jealous but I'm not at the same time because they are all stressed out and I'm about to leave so its all good. i cant wait till i get to only speak visayan/warry-warry hopefully I'm able to pick up on the differences fast and i really want this language thing to just stop i don't want to speak english anymore.

so we had two firesides and the people taught the exact same thing used the same chart and everything it was really weird it was all about the conversion process including members and how they move to the next level of faith. i know the lord loves us all and wants us to know everything we can in order better understand his gospel.

well i love you all and i really want you to know i enjoy all the support i can get it lifts me up every time i get a letter and reassures me this is where i am supposed to be. and i want you to know i pray for you all every night and thank heavenly father for the great blessings you all are in my life.

well this is my last email until i get to the philippines but i am aloud to call you all while I'm in the airport so I'll try and call as soon as I get to salt lake if not I'll try from Hong Kong (did you get that, we get to talk to him on the phone!!!!!!!)

so until then ayo ayo

Week 7 - MTC 8/2/2011

(I think this is his most ADD letter YET!!!)

so we got 22 new cebuano speakers, it is crazy!  they got to start the new program and are learning so fast its crazy.  we have to find a way to jump in in the middle but i think we will survive.  they already pray in cebuano, it took me a week or 2 before i could do that.

we have an english district that is going to little rock next week its so cool. and the other day we were out contacting and i let elder Mits pick and it was sister lee and her companion. i was like well what are the odds of that? but ya, so we taught the restoration in cebuano and went on our way.

i took a pic with porter sunday i'll try to print it off and send it home.

but any way the elder that went home is elder hatch who was elder lieshmans comp but now he is one of mine. (in his last letter he talked about one of them going home, but i was confused about which one it was) its kinda weird teaching with three but we are figuring it out.

so last week i was able to memorize 238 words and i don t think ill ever beat that.   but im on my way to about 200 again. so yesterday we had an all cebauno day no english unless we were in gym and needed to, but other than that it was really fun. im able to think in cebuano a little its really quite cool.

so dad said something about my companion elder mits being the joker in the group he is but he isnt the worst. almost our whole district likes to joke around and have fun its really nice.

so im sure the pictures you have will be fine and if anything that soccr ball you sent is kinda trashed now and about to pop it has been through a lot and was wondering if you could send my little black and orange one so i can have it in the philippines even though they dont play soccer  :(  but they do play basketball so i think ill be ok. i play basketball almost every day during gym and there are a lot of really good ballers and i learn so much. but ive been told that sometimes in the philppines the goals are only like 8 foot so itll be crazy and ive been told they really arent any good so that will be one way to get people to teach.  my teacher said he did that a few times.

so we have to start teaching like everyday with the new program and its supposed to be like a real investigator and i really hope this helps. but i know either way the lord called me to this mission at this time and he will help me throughout the whole thing. sometimes when i teach im able to go on and on in cebuano and don't even really know what I'm talking about.  but i know its just a guiding and that i do have the lord on my side.

so i have 2 more weeks in the mtc and i get more and more excited everyday. in reality i just want to go now! but i know we are here still for a reason.

so I'm not sure if Ive mentioned this before but the majority of my mission is actually not cebuano speaking, but its a dialect called warry-warry and they speak tagolog so it'll be a party and a half once we finally get there. i know that we will be able to learn so fast and be able to teach the people in whatever language they speak.

so Sunday pres robinson my branch president said in everything we teach there lies the evidence of its own truth, and i know that in everything we teach there is truth and if we have the spirit with us we will be able to impress that truth upon others

yesterday we watched a talk given in a fireside here at the mtc and it basically talked about all we need to do to have that spirit is to follow the rules and we will be able to have it with us as we teach and all the rules are in place for a reason so we need to follow them

 ok so my language isn't actually called cebuano that's the spanish name for it its actually called visayan and there is a web site my teacher showed us called bisayan.com or something like that. so if you google it you can maybe use the translator. so i have been here long enough to finish an entire planner and I'm sending it home they go for 6 weeks at a time they are a great tool and now that i really know how to use it it is a great help. i didn't start until about the last couple days in the one I'm sending but the one i have now everyday is just like full of stuff and its amazing when you have a plan how much more proficient your studies go. (BONUS) so i am so grateful for all the letters i get and hope to hear from everyone before i leave even if its not much its nice to see that everyone else is happy and doing well

so until next week ayo ayo