Cole's Mission: Photos From the Philippines

This week was a good week! I am starting to get better at combating the culture and all that comes with it! So, I will answer your questions from last week and then tell a little about my week.

A typical day consists of waking up at 6:30 a.m. to do laundry--by hand! Be thankful for washing machines! Then personal study from 8 to 9 and companion study from 9 to 11. Then we prepare things for the day, buy our sudan (what we are eating with rice), and eat lunch. At about 1, we visit some homes, teach some lessons, and give a lot of blessings to sick people. That is my favorite part. I promise some pretty big things, but I am a representative of Jesus Christ and I know they will come to pass based on their faith. Anyways, we do that until about 8 and then I have language study. At 9 we have daily planning and then we eat dinner and go to bed around 10:30. Then we do it all again the next day!

As for the humidity--ridiculous! I sweat all day, every day (even at night). We have fans in the apartment that make it better, but still! The rain is not a good thing either. It rains every day and absolutely pours. It would be awesome except it gets even hotter after the rain. But I still love the rain, and usually we are soaked when we return to the house.

The food is still growing on me. They all eat fish, and it is disgusting so I don't eat that. I eat a lot of chicken, pork, chorizo and rice.

Elder Esteves is a champ! He is so excited about the work and has 8 months left, but wants to extend longer. He is very obedient and a great example to me. He is good at English too, so that is a plus. He was a convert when he was 14 and was the only member in his family, but since being on his mission, his mom was baptized. I love him. It is fun with him!

The people are the nicest, most humble people ever! The women work hard and pretty much support their families. The men in the church work very hard, but the other men here just sit around and do nothing. It makes me so mad! I just want to tell them to go to work and support their 8 kids! Families are really large here!

I email from a computer cafe and get an hour. It is a very stressful time and I am trying to work on the most efficient way to get everything done. I am running out of time, so I can't tell you about some funny experiences now.

My week was good. We got five new investigators. I also had my first baptism! It was a great experience. Other than that, it was a regular week. I love you and I am doing great!