Preview of a typical day

Hey everyone! I will just describe my day for you guys.  So much happens in a single day.  Anyways, I woke up at 6:30, put on my shoes and ran to the basketball court down the street with my comp. and housemates.  We played hoop Americans vs. Filipino.  We won.  Often people are watching us play from their homes.  Then we came back to the apartment and I showered from a little bucket with some soap then made eggs and corned beef for breakfast.  Then we had a couple of hours of studies.  Then we had an appointment with an investigator.  He is a tricyle driver and super cool.  He is 21 and has a wife and baby daughter.  We drive tricycles everywhere because nobody really has a car on the island except a few people, it's really rare.  So we hopped on a tricycle and bounced around until we got there.  His house was one of those that's over the ocean, in a whole neighborhood of these houses connected by rotten logs and bamboo.  But it's just beautiful.  We got in his house and he talked to me about the NBA and thought I looked like Captain America.  (We all look the same to them).  We taught scripture study and it went great.  Sad thing is. . . he wants to get baptized but his dad won't sign his marriage papers since they don't get along.  And he has to be married to be baptized.  But after 5 years they will be able to apply to be married.  His house is about the size of our mudroom.  It's all made out of plywood and is extremely hot.  I was sweating like crazy!  His wife and daughter were asleep on the floor, they have no beds in their house or much of anything actually.  But I love them!  The day isn't even half over yet.

Here are some pics of the farewell party we had for the departing senior missionaries.

Sort of trough style buffet

Anyway, after we came back to the apartment we made rice and fish, masarop. (delicious).  My companion is such a great cook.  He is really smart and is stuyding to be a meteorologist.  So he is always telling me about the weather. He is a convert to the church and the only member in his family.  When we walk around the jungle and mountains, he tells me all the plants and fruits I can eat.  Right now it's pouring rain!  If you go outside when it's raining you still get wet even with an umbrella.  The umbrella is heavy under the weight of the rain.  Right now our power is out.  (extremely common).  and our water is off.  It's usually off for about half the week or more.  As of right now we are really low on drinking water so we are putting buckets outside with shirts over the top to filter the water, then we will boil that water and use that.  We also use it to shower if we don't  have water on to fill our buckets.  Next we visited the Jucaban family.  They live high on the mountain and have a beautiful view of the ocean and mountains.  When we got there he was on his roof putting stuff on the aluminum to fix the leak and his wife was making fish lumpia.  They are recent converts and are amazing!  They took a self reliance class from our church and have a garden and different ways to earn money and work extremely hard all day.  They are also full tithe payers which is amazing.  If we can get the dad to come to church he can get the priesthood and ordain his son a deacon.  Problem is, he works at the loading dock on sundays so it's tough to get him to come.  Their house is all bamboo on stilts so that it can be level with the steep mountain.  Their floor is just bamboo.  While teaching them I stretched out my leg and got my heel jammed full of bamboo splinters.  It hurt so bad but I pulled them all out, and it's not infected.  We taught them scripture study and praying as a family.  They had a little candle in the center so we could see.  The lesson went really well.  Around their house is a jungle so thick you can't see into it, and if you tried to walk into it, it would be like a wall of vines, trees and shrubbery.  Lots of mosquitos at their place.  I forgot bug spray and told my campanion I was worried about Malaria and he said you won't get malaria right now.  The malaria mosquitos are only out late at night, but the dengi fever mosquitos are out during the day!  He told me I would rather have malaria than dengi fever.  But I'm totaly fine because I wear bug spray almost always so tell Spencer he doesn't need to worry about me haha.  Long day but a good day.                  

The four of us getting ready to teach primary

Where I am reminds me of the road to Hana in Maui, but with way more jungle. Can't wait to chat at Christmas face to face.  Love you all,
Elder Roberts