West Side

Maganda umaga! This last week, all the Tagalog branches had to move to the West Campus (my mom should've posted the new address on FB I think but I guess people don't seem to write many letters these days...) and it is definitely a different experience. Everyone's initial reaction was that they didn't like it all. We are staying at the Raintree Complex and there are twelve elders in our apartment that has only two showers and one water heater. There is not much space for the four of us in our small room and our gym time is now outside. However, we are starting to get adjusted to it. And what I realized is that there will be times when we are comfortable in our mission and then things get switched up on us and we will have to accept it. We might as well start getting used to these living conditions, because once we are in the Philippines, we definitely won't be staying in any five-star hotel. On the bright side, the food is a little better and we also got to walk to Jamba Juice at Brigham's Landing the other day.

 

 The move has been kind of hard on everyone so some of the sisters needed to receive blessings on Wednesday. There were four so each elder had the opportunity to give one. It's amazing because when you are about to give a blessing, you don't really know what to say, but once you begin, the Holy Ghost will direct you what to say and the words and inspiration just come to you. The Spirit was definitely very strong for us that night and it also helped us bond together even more as a district.

 

There is this one elder in our zone who stays in our apartment named Elder Nielsen and I think he is one of the most interesting guys that I have ever come across. When we are at the apartment, he enjoys hiding behind corners and jumping out at people, giving hugs for no apparent reason, silently observing people as they sleep, and other stuff I can't even explain. I nicknamed him Dirty Nel (in honor of Mallory Moon a.k.a. Dirty Mal) and the name has caught on throughout the zone. I'm introducing him now because there will probably eventually be some crazy story involving him haha. As strange as he is, our zone would not be the same without him.

Elder Nielsen

And I will confess, I'm still the same nutty Asian boy I was before I left. Yesterday, I learned the chorus of A Thousand Miles in Tagalog. As long as you have a good companion/district like I do, the MTC is such a fun time. It is like the high school version of our mission and I can't wait until I'm actually able to teach the people in the Philippines.

 

Since we moved, Tuesday was the last time I got to see Elder McFarland. He departs to Korea in a few days and that will mean all the homies will be out in their respective mission. I have received updates from Elder Anderson and Robley about their first weeks in Japan and Russia and it is awesome to hear they are doing good. Also hopefully everything goes well with Elder Carr and his surgery! I seriously have been blessed with such an amazing friend group in my life. I miss all the crazy times that we had but they have been the best examples to me and knowing I have 14 brothers teaching the gospel in various parts of the world makes my mission that much easier. Same goes to my homies back in the Grove-Ry, Jeff, Charles, everyone else-I miss them and I hope everybody is doing good. I know that I was a hall of fame super senior but I heard that our football team is doing pretty good and that some other people have picked up where I left off with the school spirit. I love all you guys and I am glad to say that I made it through that tricky 3rd Friday.
 

 Elder Anderson

Elder McFarland