Week 13 - Dulag 9/12/2011

Sorry it took me so long to post this one!

but ya so this week was fun kind of a party week here in dulag. it was fiesta, so at the beginning of the week everyone was preparing and then wed thurs friday they partied. so monday was fun in tacloban then tuesday was district meeting and we didn't do to much because no one was letting us talk to them. so then wed the party started in the morning there was a huge parade and we watched the show they had after with all the high school bands and dance teams they aren't very good compared to america but still cool.  we had investigators and members who participated and asked us to come watch so that was cool and then no one again. we basically just walked around dulag all day I'm so tired from all the walking this week.  so then thursday was the eating part of the celebration they just eat all day, we had 3 lunch appointments and 2 dinner i was so stuffed after the second one but we had a few potential investigators invite us to eat too, so hopefully we will soon teach them. one of them is the kind of person we are looking for, a potential branch president since our branch president doesn't live in dulag. but ya he owns 5 dyipnis the one from the pic is one of his, he also has a weld shop and a store, so we need him. so then on friday we had a few people say we could come over but of course they forgot and most were hung over. but saturday was great we had a plan to increase sacrament attendance so we went around to almost every one we know, investigator and inactive and invited them to church. and then that night we went to a funeral service for a a guy whose son is in the branch presidency its weird because they have the body in a casket in the middle of the room open so everyone can see him. but they fed us after so it was nice because all the stores were closed and we had no food at home for that night. so sunday we went to church in hopes of high attendance but only 30 darn, next week. the burial for the guy was during church so we were missing some people and we had another investigator come to church she has been an investigator for years on and off and she told us after fiesta she would come so we were like ok cool, and she did and had some friends there so it was even better. but then she went to go sit up front after president talked to her i was like uh oh but she was sitting by her friend so i was like maybe its ok. then they brought us the schedule for sacrament and they had forgotten to call speakers so me and elder andrus spoke and president.  but i look at the schedule and our investigator was giving the closing prayer i was like uh oh. luckily she is really good at praying but she got up at the podium and like everyone else before her said good morning, then started and it was great and she had fun and answered questions in sunday school so hopefully she and her family will finally join. she has like 6 daughters and they don't listen to us when we come because we are american. yay, and they are naawud or shy but not when we have philipinos with us. but whatevs. we are gunna get them. so then we went to see a guy who told elder andrus before i got here to come back after fiesta, so we did. turns out he had the lessons 20 years ago and still reads the bom (Book of Mormon) from time to time. and he is a politician with a large house yessssss, profesionals. but any way after that we went to see the people we saw the day before who said they would come to church then didn't. and hopefully we helped them to feel missed and then we went to see the RS(Relief Society - our church's women's group) pres who also didn't come. something just said we need to go see her. so we did and she is upset because she gets no support for reactivation and it was awesome. i understood everything she was talking about and when my companion turned to me, and i started to say what i had thought of, and then i told her something completely different and i don't know what i said! i didn't even know the words i was using! but then she seemed like she was satisfied and got her answer. i was like asking elder andrus after what did i say to her he said i don't remember but it was perfect. i was like great! too bad i cant just have that happen every time, its amazing how the spirit and the power of the gift of tongues works. we missionaries really need to have faith and be worthy of it, it is amazing. and i hope it happens again as i learn this language. so today my email is late because we went with some other elders to some WW2 stuff around here in dulag. apparently where the first Americans landed and destroyed the japenese is right off the coast of dulag. and on a hill about a kilometer away from our apartment is where they raised the first american flag 40 min after landing and defeating the japanese. around the area its pretty awesome. so then we are thinking about playing a little basketball after lunch, we are thinking about getting a whole chicken from this place called chooks to go. if you find it on google maps our apartment is just west of it across the street at a place called cebuanan luhilier or something like that.  its a pawn shop. so dad asked last week if the mosquitos are eating me? well I've only gotten about 10 mosquito bites since i got here its kinda nice. whenever i tell people dad served in baguio they are like oy tugnaw didto which means its cold there. so ya they all want to go to bagio because that's where all the rich people live, bagio and manila.  so its kinda weird when I'm getting cold at nite and its 80 degrees! its gunna be a hard first winter after my mission. oh and i finally got the dear elder you sent a few days ago its not and instant thing anymore i beat it here but anyway i love you all and pray for you always thanks for everything until next week

Elder Coontz

Week 12 - Dulag 9/4/2011

 Zac with his Mission President and his wife

so lets see today i got up at 6 did laundry then got ready and caught a bus for tacloban, they were showing the jackie chan movie where he has the suit, but that was probably the nicest tv ive seen since i got here! i am in the mall in an internet cafe its nice, its got ac. it hasnt been too hot at night anymore just 85 in the apartment i was actually cold the last coulpe of nights and had to wrap up in a sheet. its kinda weird to think that im cold when its still 80, but whatevs. so i am going to try and send some pics with this email but im not sure yet. (he forgot his cord, but his companion had a card reader so got few)

so this week we havent spent to much time outside of the apartment we only had one full day all week. of course monday was p-day and my companions b day we made cake and bought some roticary chicken then played some b ball.  so we kinda just went and saw an inactive family then went back for dinner.

then tuesday was district meeting and we bought a chicken and one of the elders who lives in our apartment made chicken adobo it was delicouse. so then we went out met a few people, then i got to teach my first lesson in warry-warry it was awesome! we taught her and her husband and it was great my companion keeps saying he is amazed at how much im able to talk during the lesson. i almost know enough to teach the whole thing by myself, but good thing he is there for when i get lost or dont understand a question. its really hard to understand them, they speak way fast. so then we went to go see a guy we met who knew ezra taft benson to be our prophet but he never seems to be home. no one is ever at their store either, but oh well we will find him. so then that night i got pretty sick i had some pains in my stomach and was up all night with ibm. (this is not a fun thing for the mom to read!)

so then in the morning we went to clean a dyipni (that is what the vehicle in the picture is called)  it was awesome, he fed us and i threw it up later, but oh well. i went back and fell asleep until about 12 then we had language study. i laid down for a little while then we went out to teach. we met with an investigator family who told us we cant come back until after feista, so not till the end of this week, but oh well maybe theyll come to church sunday. then we got on the back of a moped thing with an extened seat and went to see an inactive family but not home, so we did a little exploring and found a new investigator who we are going to tomorrow.

so then thursday was weekly planning so nothing till the after noon again. and all we were able to do (because our investigators were "busy", they were drinking, but oh well) was to visit some members and shared and got a refferal and set up a family home evening for tuesday with a part member family. itll be cool.

so then friday was our monthly cleaning day so again nothing till about 3, but we did have a lunch appointment in a cemetary! i have some pics it was awesome food they had a whole pig.








so president Andaya stopped by and he is going to order me a study desk because we are short one, awesome! so then we went to an inactive family who doesnt come because their oldest son has school sunday morning so we helped him with his english for his history exam. its really hard to explain english, i never thought i would need to do it. so then to another inactive family who live across the street and they asked us to help them move their house a few meters closer to their kitchen! thatll be fun we are just picking it up and moving it! then our investigator didnt show up agian, and i drank a 1.5 liter bottle of orange soda that costs less than a dollar, awesome! we get ripped off in america. saturday we went out with the branch president and a member and saw some inactives and taught a lesson to some new investigators. so second lesson awesome! and the bracnh president was impressed with my warry, he said i need to just talk, but i am kinda too scared unless its a lesson. oh well, maybe some day. so we met a few more in actives then back home because we were fasting, so no dinner.

then sunday at church we had one of our investigators at church, awesome! and we had 33 in attendance and 3 people that are normally there didnt come, darn maybe we will have even more next week. so then we didnt get to eat untill about 3, i was dieing we fasted for like 27 hours, and we arent supposed to do that. so hopefully never again but we only went over because they had a 2 hour meeting after church and asked us to come, when really we just sat there. oh well. then we saw a few more people and submitted our numbers and some how despite all the set backs our numbers increased from last week! awesome! so now im in tacloban and we are gunna do some shopping for stuff we cant buy in dulag.


but ya so i dont have an address, when we get addresses its a barangay and a name and you just ask around till you find them. but my barangay is marketsite its really close to the beach. (Jim had asked for his address so we could look it up on google earth) so if you want to send anything food with sugar like candy or no bake cake would be great. we dont have an oven we cook with a propane stove and our microwave oven caught on fire. so patay na but ya really just any good snack food that will last a while we dont really have very much like candy or anything like that. so i just realized i forgot the cord for my camera, so its gunna have to be in a few more weeks sorry but time is going by really fast here its crazy i love it and i love you all

              Elder Coontz

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