First Week in Manila MTC

It's sooooo crazy here!! There is so much to say. . . To start at the beginning, I was honestly surprised by how often people recognized us as missionaries even in Tokyo! Everybody came by to say. "Hey Elders", or something like that.  The plane rides were super long haha.  It was also rough because of all the turbulence on the way to Manila from Tokyo.  At that point we were soooo exhausted (Me, Elder Monson, Elder Cooper from Vegas), we surrendered to it, and we eventually made it to the Manila MTC.

New Arrivals 

My companions are awesome! We picked up one more companion cause his never came to the MTC for whatever reason. So it's me, Elder Roberts, and Elder Kalonihea who is also from Auckland New Zealand! Their accent is so funny and they are always messing around! Our district is mostly Samoan and Tongan and New Zealand. We do everything together. Learning, food, and study time. There is a lot of ummmm... Cultural clash. haha lots of drama and problems within the district. Sometimes it's the Samoans don't get along with the Tongans or the New Zealanders or it will switch depending on the day. Sometimes it's a boys and girls thing too. But Elder Monson, Elder Cooper and I (The  Americans) just stay out of the way haha. Things are getting better though. So about 5 out of 6 missionaries are Filipino and 1 out of 6 are foreigners. Meaning Polynesians and a few Americans. I guess it is very common for the Polynesians to get called here.  In my hall there is Fijians, Taihitians, Samaons, Tongans, Filipinos, and any other island you can think of!! Often fights break out in the dorming areas after gym haha, they take things personal sometimes..... But all is well! 

The food is awesome! Rice for all 3 meals with some kind of meat haha. Yesterday they just flopped a fish on the plate like they had pulled it out of the sea, put it on the grill, then on our plate, and that's it haha. But we get ice cream every once in a while cause it's so dang hot here. Our second day we found out that a member of our districts mom had passed away... It was very sad to hear. But we asked her if she wanted a blessing, and they all wanted me to give her the blessing. It was very powerful to give her a blessing, her name is Sister Tapusoa from Samoa. She decided to stay on her mission and I am so proud of her! It was awesome! The language is very very very hard haha. Soooo much harder than I even thought it would be. But I can already pray, testify, and bear a testimony. I love all of you guys and I hope you're doing well!! Today we went to the American memorial for WWII.

WWII Museum

It was amazing and beautiful! It reminds me of Hawaii here but waayyy hotter and weirder plants haha. Lots of the Filipinos wear those masks which is kinda nervewracking.  What are they not wanting to breathe that we are. . .   But we take vitamins everyday to keep healthy and the food is sanitary so that's good.  I'm working out everyday and we mostly play basketball and sometimes volleyball too.  It is absolutely shocking how good the Filipinos are for their weight and their size.  They are amazing.  The Filipinos love me and the other white Missionaries haha. They always are kinda shy but ask for pictures and always help us with the language. The language is like Yoda, to say we have a loving Heavenly Father you would say there is a loving Heavenly Father that we have. Read this out loud for full effect :) Sa pamamagitan pagbabayad-sala, mababalaya po kayo kasalanan. I'm doing well but it's really hard haha. But thanks for all your love and prayers!

Colorful buses

Gorgeous temple view

My 2 comps