Week 13

 sorry its long, its two weeks in one.

Okay so the fourth of July we had a zone p-day and hiked to this absolutely fantastic water fall deep in the jungle, it was so beautiful. The mall is out of our area, but whenever we have zone meetings we get to go to the mall after as a zone.  I saw the trailer for Tarzan, it was playing as an ad outside of a movie theater, that happens because everything here is suuuuuuuuuuper pirated.

Tuesday. we had a zone training meeting again lol so many meetings!!  I just wanna work is that too much to ask for as a missionary? and it was also suuuuuuuuuuper rainy that day, like water was pooling in the streets. Then I got to play with Olaf! that is one of the investigators pet dog. 

Wednesday. really hot and boring day. except we had a fantastic dinner with an investigators who is a chef for a job, the food was so good. 

Thursday. we weekly planned all day, and then we filmed a bunch of stuff with our cameras.

Friday. had a lot of good lessons and I could really feel the spirit that day. I feel like I helped a lot of people. 

Saturday. We got chooks to go. (imagine a fast food place but they just give you an entire chicken.) I miss cold cereal. While working like no joke 30 kids followed us around and called me spider man because apparently I look like the new Peter Parker or something. haha which is dope since hes my favorite super hero. It was fun!

Sunday. Good day at church, we had 7 investigators come so that was dope! Then I ate an avocado shake......literally the grossest thing I have had here. I was trying to not vomit. 

Monday. we went on another hike with the ward this time! This one was longer and a lot more dangerous. I got wrecked and one of the elders had a leech on him. Then we had FHE and that was fantastic! We played different games and everyone here is sooooooooooo funny. If you mess up in each game everyone gets to draw on your face with lipstick. It was so awesome.

Tuesday. Had a district meeting out of our zone which meant we could go and eat at a rice cafe which was fancier than most of the food here. We bought all the American candy and stowed it at our house. Then I did my laundry. I really appreciate washing machines back home.

Wednesday. we had a long day and no one followed through with their appointment so we walked around all day. 

Thursday. We taught three lessons and tracted. Then at the bishops house he fed us chicken head.....literally the head. I ate and tasted the tongue eyes and brain..........well that was new. 

Friday. our landlord broke into our house to fix this door, which is so bawal, so we ripped him a new one when he came back.  He just lied the whole time, and we started this thing to make sure that when we leave we hide all our stuff really well and put a peso on top of the door so when we come back and open the door it falls, if its not there or in a different spot then that means someone came in. But its no big deal, the worst he will do is take money from us and if that happens we will report him to the law. 

Saturday. at our house we fought another huge spider....2nd one this transfer. Other than that just a normal day. 

Sunday.  My oatmeal was really dry. and later that night we went to an investigators house and almost all of her kids are gay and they all hit on us, I was in tears laughing at them. 

Dang chandler looks literally the exact same haha Did he get my munchkin present I left for him? I gave it to Tyren.

Are the nelsons in their new house? I think I asked that before, but I want pics of it next time. How is Jr? Dang I miss that kid. Malcom just went through the temple last week! He is preppin for his mission!

My comp and I are pretty good friends! He's a super cool guy. He said when he gets home he will visit you guys and stuff. and he will ask for sydney or chloes number hahahah, also I have made a lot of friends already, a sister in march wants to visit you guys, and another one in October hahah....soooo yea

Its not really hard to stay on budget, we have as much as a family of 5 would have and there isn't much to really buy here other than just the basic supplies so...

I'm doing fine with the heat and humidity actually. Once you get used to the sweat its not bad.

That's dope that you guys baptized grandpa! I'm so excited~ I wish I could have been there. How are the cousins! I miss them all!

How are all of Isabelle's friends, I miss all those nutty girls. Did Isabelle tell you about the time we all played fugitive? 

I was wondering if Ladonna went on her mission during the 80's? I think they didn't have to learn Tagalog back then, so did she or not? just curious.

How is my room? is it the same or have you changed it yet.

I'm glad you are all having a good summer and helping grandma.

So that's how I've been! I love it here! I thank god everyday for me being here! The people are great and the gospel is greater!   

Love Elder Yarro

Week 12

I forgot my journal this week. so I cant give a weekly update. Next week I will do two!

We had a good week this week, we had 27 lessons 7 investigators at church and talked to 85 people!

 

 Here is a hike we took today! the tree is soooooooo big it looked like it was straight out of something like disneyland it was awesome! We hiked to a waterfall and then cooked lunch and ate it there! it was super good pork! 

 

 This fruit is cocoa beans and you just suck on them. they are suuuuuuper good!

  here is me holding a puppy cause I named it Olaf. 

Lol oh man I miss the crazy stuff at the yarro's. Those videos you sent are great. please send more! Also Zoobs beard is magnificent.  

One thing you should know about. I know you sent a package but it doesn't matter when it gets here, because the mission home only delivers it on certain dates.  So the best way to time it is to send it the last week of every month. haha so for example,  if that package shows up at the mission home on the 15th I still won't see it until next month.... that's okay though, I feel like I am adjusting here pretty well. Just send me like one big package with the stuff. and then do another at Christmas I don't need anymore than that.

ARE CHANDLER AND AUSTIN HOME!!?!?!?!

I love you! and hope everything is going well. 

Elder Yarro

Week 11

Monday: Our landlord and laundry lady are the worst. The laundry lady didn't do a good job washing our clothes, she delivered them a day late and they were still soaking wet so we had to dry them ourselves for like 2 days which meant we had no clothes.  Our landlord keeps trying to find problems with our apartment so we can pay more money on rent.

Tuesday. we went to this new gym that is so cool! It is on the third floor of this apartment building, it's super cool. 

 

 

When we came back from the gym, our favorite landlord was inside our apartment, he told us that we broke the lights and had to pay for them. That was when I realized the power box was open and I flipped the switch, and not surprisingly, all the lights turned back on! Then he told us that we can't put screws in the wall and we informed him that it wasn't us because they were put in a solid cement wall. lol!!!  I heard the song "grown women" by Beyonce and it reminded me of home lol that's a funny song. I saw a lizard eat the head of a dragon fly at an investigators home. and one of our friends in the ward got typhoid. 

Wednesday:  We had our District Meeting, we started by playing ping pong. It was so fun. Then we went to our training check up, which was at the exact same place as last week when we had our zone tour.  We slept over at the same place too.... lol. 

Thursday: I realized this day that reading scriptures fixes stress sometimes. Just focusing on something that is only good and spiritual really helps with the work. We met this investigator who said his eyes don't work because he was outside when it was really hot, and then it randomly rained and became cold. The people here don't know about jack squat about anything medical. We also went to this birthday party and watched them all do karaoke. 

 

 

Friday: I had the best lesson of my life! Our investigator, Jun, cried and thanked us for helping him. He also gave us his disco light and we hung it in our apartment. 

 

 

Saturday: I made pancakes again, and I am officially half way through reading "Jesus the Christ" Its a crazy good book. Then we taught the Law Of Chastity to this 13 year old investigator and that was an awkward first. 

 

 

Sunday: It was fast and testimony meeting. Filipinos here have no idea how to testify, they just get too distracted and tell stories that last like 4000 minutes, so me and my companion went up and bore our testimonies, I have never felt the spirit as strong as I did when I bore that testimony and I know they all felt it too, I saw multiple people cry and talk to me after.  

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL THE AMERICANS, REMEMBER TO KEEP IT REAL FOR THE BEST COUNTRY EVER!

Week 10

Monday was super rainy. We were soaked when we came home. We tried taking pics but the rain is so thick that the camera wouldn't focus.

We couldn't sleep cause this newborn dog was trying to learn how to bark but it sounded more like a mutant eating some peanut butter, we asked the lady to please move him so we can sleep and she just cussed us out.

Tuesday we went to this members farewell. She will be serving in the legazpi mission. farewells here are so different from farewells back home, there was dirty dancing and singing contests, it was fun but we didn't participate, just watched.

Wednesday I went to grab my hair gel in my backpack and sliced my middle finger open on my razor... it didn't tickle. I put a bandaid on it and its been healing.
We also had a zone tour, that's where half of the zone meets to hear an area 70 talk about mission work, we had to migrate to a closer missionary's house to sleep there so we could be on time. When we showed up they were all really nice guys, but really selfish. They didn't share stuff for their beds lol, there were 6 of us and the house was for two. I slept on the floor with nothing but my shirt and pants and towel as a blanket. I woke up at 5am from a rooster next door, went to the meeting and it was soooo amazing and spiritual. I love elder Haini. I also got to meet a lot of the other missionaries.  Then he ended the meeting by telling us he had a present for us... it was a flu shot :/......my arm still hurts. It was so scary because of the Philippine nurses.

Friday I made a name tag for Shem, he is a young man in our ward preparing for a mission and does splits with us like twice a week. He is freakin the best.

Saturday I made pancakes just like at home!  Every Saturday my mom made pancakes and they tasted so good. Then our landlord came over because we asked him to fix a faucet that is leaking and he started saying how we broke it because it was brand new.....but it had paint on it.....from when the walls were painted. This guy was the worst. Later,  that day while teaching this amazing lesson to brother Jun he said he was excited to be baptized and thanked us so much for helping him. We also saw a bunch of kids playing Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. They were all about 4 years old and all they did was murder people and get a lap dance. It was pretty hilarious. This place is crazy.

Sunday at sacrament I sat next to this guy who had a mole on his chin where the hair went to his shoulders.......its a thing here to let your mole hair grow out, like its a thing of respect. That day was my half birthday!! yay for me. Later that night we read with all these kids preparing to be baptized. They are all better at reading than me lol. When we got back home we dressed up like Nephites....kind of, and took a picture to send as a birthday present for a sister in our zone who turns 20 today.

me and my companion came up with our new zone motto
Be DOPE
D - diligent
O - obedient
P - prepared
E - elders

It's hard here sometimes, divorce takes 6 years to finalize. so instead people kind of just not be together, we teach a lot of couples where both are married to someone else legally, its so hard.
Divorce takes so long to finalize because their government is terrible. This country is going through elections right now which by the way is sooooooooooo funny. These people are so cutthroat. and their posters are awful. I die every time I see one. The politicians here pay people money to vote for them. They hold rallys and say "vote for me and ill give you all 500 pesos." lol its so bad. Also this guy Duterte is known for cleaning up this city by giving the death penalty for most crimes lol  But if it all goes south we will be evacuated, the church here has connections like non other, they are like the secret service here, its so cool. My companion was telling me that we get warnings of hurricanes 3 days before they are even on the news warning about it. I feel safe here.  Also if we are 100% obedient than we will be safe so its all good.

We had to look in like 6 stores but yes, we finally found bread! We carefully ration our bread weekly. its the most American thing we have lol. We love it with the coconut peanut butter, but we also eat the peanut butter just off a spoon or our hands. Its customary to eat with our hands here. I only eat with my right hand though.  (toilet paper issues)

I was wondering about Dillons farewell, did I tell you I ran into his girlfriend in the provo MTC it was pretty funny.  Shes nice, she came up to me and said "are you elder yarro?  Im dillion's girlfriend!"

Whats up with all my wardies, like Emilee and all that, is she still dating Chance and gonna get married?  As crazy am Emilee is, she's like a sister to me,  so I gotta keep tabs on her.

I remembered yesterday was the one year anniversary of grandpas death, I just had a dream the other night of me going to the temple and doing the work for him, we really need to get the work done for him, I know that was from the spirit, I'm pretty sure that was revelation... like just saying.  I'm so sad Grandma isn't doing so well, I will pray for her, I wish I was there to help. Tell her I love her so much. How is dad holding up?

nagsesekap ako, pero medro mahirap. dahil sa sobrang mahal lahat mga items parra sa white
missionaros

Love Elder Yarro

Week 9

Monday we got permission to leave our area and we went to the mall and it was awesome, its just like back home, we ate at Dairy Queen and McDonalds. We stood in this clothing store and listened to the dope music playing and I helped my trainer make a trunky list that night. 

Tuesday, we went to a gym here, lol its in someones house, all the work out stuff is in their living room and kitchen, we come so early in the morning, that she is still getting ready for work and watching TV and we are just working out in her kitchen. hahahahah anyways we were teaching this family and they asked how long I am here, when I said "22 months." the kids thanked me for taking the time to help teach and baptize them. That is why I'm a missionary. 

Wednesday. ate some local coconut peanut butter, oh man that stuff is sooooo good, then we had our zone training meeting and that was also suuuuuuuper fun. 

Thursday I went to a member and got my shirts tailored to fit me better. I noticed this week that I stared at the moon a lot. mostly because I realized its the same moon that all my friends and family stare at, it helped me feel more at home. 

Friday. We taught alot of goooood lessons that day. We finished that day with a beautiful sunset. 

 some graffiti, for some reason its super rebellious to write "Bon Jovi" every where lol

Saturday. We started teaching this guy who was from the IGLESIA NI JESU CHRISTO for those who don't know, that is a church started by an ex member from the Mormon church who based it off this verse in the bible about Jesus establishing his iglesia. which is Spanish for church. They are frickin crazy...... they are not even allowed to own a bible in their house.  Anyways the man invited us to a bible study sermon that night, and we decided why not? so we attended.....I have never in my life seen something more crazy.   This one guy got up and started reading and teaching from the bible. then after he said a prayer, HE STARTED SCREAMING OUT TO GOD at the top of his lungs. after every line, all the people said AMEN or O'O (which means yes) and everyone started crying...this lasted for 20 minutes.....then more study and prayer the same way.  He yelled at us for an hour. I had to bow down to hide my face because I was laughing so hard. It made me appreciate how normal our church is.  After the meeting all the leaders came up to me and my companion and tried to teach us....lol we explained how we were missionaries and they kept praying.... so weird. we finally left before one of us laughed and offended them. 

I just freaking love the kids here, they are all so funny

Sunday. It was fathers day, I said happy fathers day to all the fathers I saw the whole day.  I realize how much I love and miss my dad. For those who don't know I will personally thank god for making him my dad because he is the greatest!  I could not ask for a better father than him. After that we went to work and I saw this cow and named it Jerome and gave it a hug because he was all alone.

me and my new best friend

A lot of the people here are so racist to us. lol  they keep calling us jo (GI Joe) and ask if we want to smoke weed.  It's literally 80 percent of everyone we meet, we can't even get our message out and they always ask us if we play basketball. The educational system here sucks....so the people are not too bright lol. we asked this girl for 20 eggs and we payed the exact amount, so she counted on her fingers....and still messed up. and then tried giving us change. it's pretty funny sometimes.

Love Elder Yarro

Week 8

Monday - we taught this "smart guy" who was just being a jerk, all he would ask is how many wives Joseph Smith had, we tried to explain how it wasn't important and our purpose was to help others come unto Christ but he wouldn't listen.

Tuesday - Felt soooooo bad, like really sick, I was sitting in bed debating going out to work or just resting to get over this. I heard a voice in my head saying "Time to stop feeling sorry for yourself, and get to work." So I sprang up and got dressed and was actually totally fine the rest of the day. I know that was the spirit wanting me to help these people. 

 

 the rice fields

 

Wednesday - We had a district meeting and it was hilarious. We discovered that the Filipinos like it when you end EVERYTHING with a testimony, so sometimes I will just read from the white handbook and say  "We need to be in bed by 10:30, I know this is important, in the name of Jesus Christ amen."  Also while working on what we need to do during the week one guy just talked how goals were super important but he didn't add any goals so we chalked it up to a "faith goal." we literally wrote faith goal in our journal I have no clue what it is.....but its important. 

Thursday - We helped this neighbor move his furniture out of his house because he was moving. He thanked us and we shared a message about God and Jesus, and then later a 3 year old called us "bakla" which means gay, but not like a man who likes a man but a man who wants to change his gender but cant afford surgery so he wanders around dressed like a girl with make up and all, walking and talking like a girl.....we see them around, they hit on us sometimes

friday - I officially read 1/4 into "Jesus the Christ". That book is fantastic. I cannot believe some of the things that Talmage must have just known, I honestly believe the veil over that man is gone. Every morning I read the BOM, "Jesus the Christ", then "How to Make Friends an Influence People", and "The Count of Monte Cristo". I forgot how much I love reading. could you send me a book, its a small one called "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu

 

Sunday -I realized halfway through church that really the only thing here that is the same as back home is the sacrament I always feel calm and happy when I partake because It reminds me of home. I love the sacrament. Later that day 4 sister missionaries from the ward, came and "asked us for our laundry." we knew they really just wanted to hang with us because we are so handsome. lol  so we just said no and didn't let them in. Everyone here is super nice! I love it here so far and I'm adjusting a lot better. 

 

 

 

I have been super sick from the food, so we switched to more spicy food to hopefully clean up my insides. We found some peanut butter its locally made with coconut oil, its super good actually. We found a gym so we are working out. and I am still eating. Its just hard cause we sweat alllllll the time.

You say you feel guilty every time you go to Costa Vida without me but whatever I feel guilty every time I line up a baptismal goal date with an investigator because of all the blessings I'll get so its like even.  

I got a haircut but you never know what you will end up with when you get a haircut here, because some are barbers, and some...will just cut your hair lol.

 

Its not like its blazing hot, its really not. its just so wet here....all the time, like from when you wake up, to when you get out of the shower, to when you are sleeping, you are just wet...the rain here is just so heavy. and I love it so I don't bring an umbrella, I just stand in it. feels sooo good.

 

The ward members don't read music and are all the worst singers, Dad would fit right in. lol They sing the hymns in English but with their accents I have had to stop myself from laughing a few times. 

I finally met the first giant spider here, it was on my balcony.....

 

 

 

Thats a tryke. they are the main transportation around here. and this guy made his look like the batmobile and its sick. lol

 

I have to go,  goodbye love you! Thank you for the money and love love reading all the emails. Amy's too!
 

Week 7

Hello!

So last Tuesday we went to the temple. I LOVE THE MANILA TEMPLE! SO MAGANDA! Then that night we traveled to our mission zone at 4 am....so brutal I didn't sleep at all, it took like 2 hours by bus and jeepneys, I met my mission president, hes a super funny guy. his wife is super awesome too.

My companion is cool, hes from Boise Idaho, this is his last area he goes home in October, I have been telling him about real life back home as much as I can the last week or so. He is cool and we get along well, we both sweat a lot and stink so its perfect. people think we are kapatid. (siblings)

I am in the area of tayabas by lucena.  We will be here for 12 weeks. stoked to be here, everyone says once you finish in-field training (october) it'll pick up really fast so I'm just trying to survive lol  This area is high in the mountains and the lightning is sooooo loud, like the loudest Ive ever heard it before and it startles me every now and then, but the rain and coolness are amazing to feel. This place is so different, I feel like I'm in Asia,  there isn't a lot of American stuff here....at all.  I don't really recognize anything. We live in the nicer part of town but most of the people don't live in what I would even call huts, but they just make a home out of whatever they can find. Ill show some examples next week, its pretty rough.

The apartment is hilarious we moved in and cover an area that 4 sisters used to be in so our apartments are like....purple.

 There are some things I miss already. like hot water, air conditioning and toilet paper......none here. I put some water in a ladle and pour it down my butt crack then clean, lol  I live off of alcohol and germ-x, and yeah the entire bathroom is the shower, lol the water is soooooooooooooo cold. like even too cold for how hot it is here, it is straight run off from a mountain, but that's okay because I know the lord will help me out here.

We don't have an oven, just a mini stove, a rice cooker, a fridge and a water filter.

I'm doing fine, I am keeping up on my exercise, we do 30,30,30 every day, which is 3 sets of 30 on pushups squats and crunches. the heat helps cause you sweat really easy. 

I can understand more Tagalog than I can talk, but its coming along. I have been out tracting everyday since Friday its pretty cool. Just takes some getting used too.

There was this family who thought they couldn't go to church anymore if they missed going after being baptized. after reassuring them they could he said "why though, I mean we are doing just fine without going." so I asked him to read Helaman 5:12. and his eyes just opened up. I could see the realization and then I told him he needs to build his faith for not just himself but his family, they all need it in order to survive Satan's attacks. He thanked me and that was really awesome. He didn't show up to church but that could be because its such a far walk. We are working with him and a lot of people actually. We are going to try to teach an English class to talk to more people,  people here call me Jo.... cause I'm like GI Joe.

Next week I'm gonna get a pic of the meat market, jeepneys, and some animals. There are just cats and dogs everywhere....sometimes you'll hear them screaming and well that's actually because they are being killed for dinner.....

This place is very rural. There is a farmers market and some snack shops but I haven't even seen like any kind of a normal store yet.

We went to the market to buy some food for breakfast, the meat market is stuff made of nightmares for clean freaks lol I myself was soooooooo nervous about it.

Instead of computers in a house. they will have like 30 next to each other in a part of town in a store, the owner is a member so we don't have to pay which is nice. but like right now there are these kids in no clothes with missing teeth playing counterstrike and diablo 3 next to me,  its hilarious.

I love it here! Everyone is so nice, the kids run up to us and tease us and give us high fives. this kid here called me ugly because he didnt think I knew Tagalog so I said "Sagtan mo ang puso ko"

(you hurt my heart) "kailangan magsisi kayo"  (you need to repent) and he was dying laughing,

Last night this guy was just chilling with his guitar singing that Bieber song about his mom not liking people, it was super chill.

I'm dying from all the food. So far I have eaten squid spaghetti (exactly what it sounds like) which wrecked my system I am currently sick right now,  we went to a Mcdonalds here....so weird because their burgers have mayonnaise and mushrooms with cheese.... and they sell spaghetti. I have also eaten pig liver, snail, and other things, this place is crazy.  I don't even have access to bread here... lol this place is a pretty low key part of the Philippines
Its a good thing rice is okay because......every....single....meal

I miss actual milk that's cold. Here its just powder milk. We have to drink it at members houses. The only thing here that I recognize is soda....

The bugs aren't too bad, I still haven't come across any giant scary spiders yet, we are looking though, there are some in the banana trees, the bananas here are like pocket size and they are the size of your fist. That's what Ive been eating the most. The fruit is to DIE for! The mangoes I eat for breakfast and passion fruit are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD

Me with the popsicle I made, because I found out half a water bottle + ice + tang makes a good popsicle.

That is a cockroach we found in the apartment and that battery is to show scale, its AAA, also I heard they bite.

  This is me in the area proselyting, you wouldn't believe how beautiful it is here.

 Some firecrackers we found in the apartment and they are like a gunshot, they are so loud.

 This is just a cool pic I took



tell Millie I will dance with her when I'm back, tell Amy and the wardies I miss them all!

I would give you a hug if I could.
Love Elder Yarro