Hello the people who I love,

Man, I am so happy right now, it is just a super awesome time right now, I will admit the end of last week and the beginning of this week were rough, there was some laziness that was going on, and I was not able to work as much as I wanted to, I will not mention any names, but holy cow I wanted to kill my companion on Monday. But I did not kill so, so do not worry family, I am not getting sent home early, or being put in jail for murder. Anywho you may be wondering why I am happy, well, yesterday was a super awesome day, thats all. :) We were able to get out on time from our apartment (even early) and work all day, we taught lessons basically all day, we only taught a total of 7 lessons yesterday, 2 of them with recent converts and the other 5 were with progressing investigators.

I am really excited for February, right now we are hoping for a few baptisms, and we found some really golden families, we have 8 baptismal dates for February. Brother George basically came to us and he does not just read he studies and prays aout the reading assignments that we give him, he is beyond golden, I do not know what is beyond golden, maybe celestially golden, with accents of happiness. Thats the only way I can think to describe his goldenness. Also Brother Jonathan who is 16 years old, we just got the parental permission form back from him, we were worried about receiving that because his parents will not even let us teach him in their home, so that was a huge blessing and we are really excited. Also sister Delores, she recently had a stroke and could not get to church on her own, so we asked her son to help bring her to church, and they both have a baptismal date now, also we figured out at church that Delores son RJ is friends with Jonathan from school, so that was super awesome and they are making friends with all the young men, and will be going to play basketball with them on Friday. Also Sister Elona and her to sons, Carlo and Jun-Jun, they are a super amazing family, they seemed really excited about being baptized and then they did not go to church, and we were like no!!! there has to be a good reason that they did not come! and we were kind of right I guess, and it is our fault for not fully addressing all of their concerns before church. They are a pretty poor family, and do not have a lot of clothing, which most definitely is fine, a lot of people who come to church come in basketball shorts and T-shirts because that is all that they have to wear, which is more than good enough we just want them to get there. But Sister Elona was worried about coming because she does not have any pants, which I am guessing would make church a little bit awkward, so we are working with her, the 30th is Stake Conferenece, which is okay for our investigators to miss, because it is far away and it is expensive for them to travel there, so we are encouraging them to attend, but we do not really know if any of them will be able to come, I am hoping some will make the journey there. When I first got here we had investigators who had a baptismal date for February 5th, and they did not progress at all, and they came to church for the first time on Sunday after the last 4 Sundays that we have not been able to get them to come, I think I wrote about them in my first email home, Sister Quimbao and Brother John-John, so that was defintely very exciting and I am super happy that they finally came to church. We are still working towards getting them married, which is complicated because he does not have a birth certificate, so I do not really understand how they get one, but I think they know how, they just need to be pushed in the right direction, over and over. They have testimonies, but they are not strong enough if they are not acting upon their promptings, so we are working to strengthen their testimonies so they will get better on their own.

I want a picture of Devin! I hear he is getting completely ripped. I am getting fat, balding, and well I kind of smell bad by the end of everyday. Ha, okay well that was all a lie, I have lost 10 pounds, I have as much hair as ever, and I smell quite good. But I definitely need to do better with the 30 minutes I am given to exercise everyday, it is hard the second I get up my exercise time starts, so I think I am going to get up like 10 minutes early now so I can have a bit more time to excercise and let my body wake up.

Oh yeah! I forgot, I woke up at 4 am this morning so I could get to the first session at the temple, but we had to wait a full hour to the next session which was at 7, I will admit I had a little bit of trouble focusing and staying awake, but do not tell anyone that... I was doing my best to stay awake :) But holy cow I was super tired. Then I bought a new belt! with my Christmas money, I have a picture of it, I kind of think it would be super awesome if me and Dad could make some of them after I get back, that would be super cool. Because they are definitely the coolest belts ever, and I made up my mind that I was going to get one before I even left the MTC, So the picture is low quality so it will hopefully send. Also family, I am budgeting well, I am probably going to come home with like $200 worth of cool Filipino stuff. That is the current goal. I am going to take care of all my clothing, and I think that I will be able to keep the same clothes for my whole mission. A lot of Elders try to wear down their shoes,  but I am going to take super good care of all my stuff. And you can be sure that even though my shoes last my whole mission that I did work hard :) So do not worry about that.

Tagalog is coming well, I have been told I am better than some of the missionaries that have been out 9 months, but I am not supposed to compare myself to other missionaries. I kind of think they are just saying that to make me feel better about myself, cause I feel like it is taking a very long time to learn. But at the same time, Christmas was a whole month ago, it felt like 2 weeks ago, tops. So its kind of craziness. To be completely honest, no dramaticness included, the first month in the field feels shorter than the first 3 days in the MTC, man oh man, those were long days. But I really did love the MTC, it was super awesome, and I had super amazing teachers, and I love them very much. I have seen my MTC companion once since I got here, and I will hopefully again soonish. Also Elder Peterson from my batch was at the temple the same time as me this morning, but I did not see him there, so it was kind of sad, but I will see him in two weeks.

Did I already say that I wanted a picture of Devin? Lets make it shirtless, flexing pose. I will show it to all the Filipinas, so they will stop flirting with (not with, at) me and just think about my little brother.

Anywho, I believe I will be emailing again in 5 days, so that it a lot sooner than 7 if you ask me, I will tell you of my new adventures when the time comes.

Family, I have a goal for you, when you are feeling lazy and want to do nothing, just get up and do something, or you can stay sitting if you want, but read or do something to better yourself. Movies are all good but make sure you do not waste anytime, cause life is short, and I am realizing that now more than I have before.

Also sidenote, I have seen a lot of public breastfeeding going on here, its awkward.

Love you all :) be good family, and friends, and everyone else :)

Also the belt picture would not send.. for some reason. So I will try next week, let me know if the pictures are big enough :)

Love, Elder Munk

Rat Soup?

Hey Everybody!

 

I am not quite sure where to start, but I think I will start with the good than work down to the not as good things, but those not so good things are still pretty good.

 

On Saturday I had the opportunity to baptize all 6 of my investigators and they were confirmed the day after on Sunday in sacrament meeting. Their names are Sister Maria Crispe, and brothers, Greg, Victorio, Victor Jr, Mark, and Potcholo. The last five are all brothers, and were in a part member family, because the parents had gone inactive for about 13 years. We got them coming back to church and will continue to follow up with them, and help them work through  a couple other things in their lives right now. Because there father left them, I am not sure when but a long time ago. They have a super awesome family, even though I can only understand a little bit of what they say. Sister Maria is a 60 year old lady who my companion and his last companion started to teach, I have gone over and taught her every other day for the time I have been here and she is awesome! She is even going to let us use her house to teach a new investigator that we met at church on Sunday, his parents are catholic and do not want us to go over to their home, but we are still able to teach this young man. Currently we have 3 investigators with a baptismal date for February 5th, and I think we will have 5 by the time the 5th comes around. Because two other investigators have been coming to church quite frequently and I have a good feeling about those two. Brother George and Sister Roxan. Sister Roxan's parents are also taking the lessons from us but they do not seem to be progressing quite as fast.

 

Also last night I got to go out of my zone to have an FHE (Family Home Evening) with a family and the Sister Missionaries who are in the Pasay 2nd Ward, the family of Brother Ricky, he is married and has 7 children, they are extremely receptive. I thought we were going to eat over there, which kind of scared me, because I made eye contact with a rat inside of the pot on the stove, we had a stare-down and I won, it ran off into the darkness somewhere. But we did not end up eating there, the sister missionaries cooked food for us. It was delicious, Sister Ardjun from India, made Indian food.

 

Disclaimer! Mom, you are not allowed to email President Howard, no matter what I email home about, even if you are concerned beyond all belief, do not email him. :) Thanks mommy. And something cool about President Howard! he has a street in Las Vegas named after him. Anywho.

 

Okay the bad thing! I have been sick all week, which I kind of figured would happen, so it is not all that bad, but to be completely honest I do slightly miss a couple comforts from home. My biggest fear coming here was a massive attack of diarrhea and no toilet paper anywhere.. I realized that fear, about 6 times on Tuesday morning, ha, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. And I learned something from it, I wash my hands way better now than I ever have :)

 

Devin! am I still married to Alivia Burnham? That is awesome! Well, it is kind of against the rules but oh well. 

 

Oh! a couple other things I want to mention really quick, I heard that there is a chance that I will be transferred in 4 weeks, instead of in 10, I do not really know if I will or not, but that's what I have been told from the district leaders, I am not sure if they are pulling my leg.

 

Also I have done some sewing! I patched my Nike shoes with part of a hanker chief ha :) They are holding up pretty well, I just did not want the hole to keep spreading

 

Well I love you family, and I guess I love the rest of you too :) Have a super awesome 22ish months :)

Nates 1st Week in the Philippines!

Kumusta po kayo!

So I do not really know when my letter will end up making it to our house but President Howard had me write a handwritten letter... So you will probably see this before you get that letter. I am in the Philippines right now, if you could not guess :) When I got here me and my district kind of started off in confusion trying to find the mission president, the directions say to go to the left and look for a big 'm' but you actually go right, so if anyone you know ends up  going to Manila make sure and tell them to actually go straight across the street into the little sheltered area and then turn right and go down the hill. It was a bit of an adventure.

I made it to the mission home, President and Sister Howard are super awesome, they are both two of the most intelligent people I have ever met. President Howard worked as a CEO in a few different hospitals, he served in the Philippines/Hong Kong/ South East Asia mission when he was younger English speaking. Now the Philippines has 16 missions it is pretty crazy. He says that the Manila mission might split this year into two different missions. Because the people here are so accepting of the gospel, it is crazy, there were over 200 baptisms  in the Manila mission last month, a lot of missions do not get that many in a full year.

The area that I am in now is called Pasay, it is in the Northwest of Manila and pretty close to the temple, but not super close. Me and my Kasama have 6 people who have committed to baptism for Saturday and they have all been interviewed, we have 2 others who have committed to February 5th. I am so excited, one lady who I have visited the past 3 days named Sister Maria, is super awesome, she is probably in her late 60's and even though I cannot understand really much of anything she says she has a really sweet spirit and is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world.

Sorry this is kind of unorganized, but on my first day we were given some food and a little bit of time to shower and meet with the mission president then we went out and had two appointments with investigators. I feel bad but I cannot remember their names. But I do remember how we got there, and I am not sure exactly how to describe the traffic/travel here but I will try. Most streets are three lanes wide each direction and the Filipinos turn them into about 5 lanes. And they drive where ever is open, both sides of the street with and against traffic. People cross the streets when they want to and drivers always stop for them. The first ride I took was in a bus, and there goal is to fill up the bus and get to their destination as fast as they can. No matter what lane drivers are in they will stop in the middle of the street to pick someone up. When this happens (all the time, everywhere) the horns start blaring but no one ever yells or says anything vulgar, so thats much appreciated. And the rule for switching lanes in nose goes, if you can squeak the nose of your vehicle in you go and the other person has to stop and honk at you. I am not going to lie I am really going to miss the craziness here, it is fun. The different kinds of transportation are Trikes, Jeepneys, Buses, and Taxis. Personally I am partial to the buses, because they go the fastest, but the Jeepneys and Trikes are awesome, the taxis are kind of boring, and they cost a lot. The Jeepneys and Trikes cost 7 pesos per ride, thats like 20 cents ish, the taxi is like 100 pesos, but we only take those if we need to get somewhere fast that is not directly on a jeepney route. So we have taken the taxi just one time.

I thought I would be more in shock and feel more sorry for the people because of the poverty here. But to be completely honest something I discovered in myself at the MTC especially is that the thing that makes me happiest is when other people are happy. Some people have more influence than others, I will not mention any names though. But because I am serving the people here I have grown to really love them, even though it really have only been 5 days that I have been here. I really love them, I will admit I like the kids the best, they are so awesome. But the people here understand the meaning of family, and I believe that is the biggest thing that makes them happy. A lot of them live in houses smaller than my bedroom at home, with dirty floors no showers or clean water. And they have like 6 people living in that small space, but they are always happy any smiling. Everyone always offers food when we enter their homes, even though they do not have enough food for themselves and their families. I wish America could be like that. I believe in having hope for things, but that seems like a bit of a long shot to me, I know my family, and my good friends have those good qualities that the Filipino people have, the Crandalls and Galbraiths are the best people around. And Brendin is a stud.

I was told to not write anything negative about my mission or anything at all, so I will not, I am just being informative :) Because there are a couple small downsides to this awesome place. But I have learned to adapt, so they are not negative, just different. There is a river type thing, I think it is the sewage for the whole area of pasay, it is probably the least clean thing I have ever and will ever see. It smells terrible, and is full of trash. When you walk by you get an instant headache if you breath. Sometimes we have to walk along it instead of across it, so I cannot hold my breath for that long. We visited a family who lives under the bridge right on the water, that was a memorable experience. I have met one person who I think did not like me to much, either that or he shows his love by spitting on people, but either way it was probably not the most appreciated thing that has ever happened, but I kind of laughed when it happened, cause I did not expect it at all.

I guess it is almost midnight your time right now, so you might not get this to tomorrow, but if people want to email me I can respond to them through family email. :) Because I believe I will be getting mail once every 6 weeks when I meet with the mission president, and that changes depending on my area, I could receive mail 2 weeks in a row, or it could be as far as 3 months apart, and I can respond with a 1 page written response so when I get mail I will respond :) but I will probably write really tiny. 

Well I am just about out of time, so I will email again next week, sorry if I did not respond to everything you send I am trying, if I do not send an email again and I might remember eventually :)

Mahal ko kayo :)

Christmas Letter Translation

 Here is the Christmas Letter that a posted last week.  You will find the translation below it.

Kumusta po kayo?! Ako po si Elder Munk. Taga Redmond Washington ako, pero mabubuhay ko sa Pilipinas para sa dalawang taon. Magigiling masaya ako para sa opportunidad sa maglingkod. Mahal ko ang kasama ko at pinakamahal ko ang pamilya ko at sina TJ at Brendin. Gwuapo sila. Gusto ko ang magaral ng banal ng kasulatan at Tagalog. Pero hindi mabuti ang Tagalog ko, pero gusto ko and magsanay sa Tagalog ko. Kailangan ko and dictionaro dahil hindi ko alam and mas mga sulat sa Tagalog. Alam ko kung bakit naglilingkod. Huwag ng Pamilya ko mag-'worry' tungkol sa akin. Gumagawa ako ng Pinakamabuti dito :)

 

Well I will use a little english for those who do not speak broken up poor Tagalog. I am not sure how much of that it correct, but I tried :) I am currently at the MTC and will be till right after Christmas. I honestly do not remember to much about life before being here, it kind of feels like I have been here my whole life. But it is starting to speed up, and I am learning a lot and enjoying my time here.

 

Ayaw ko ang pagkain sa MTC. Nagiisip ako na mapapatay ng pagkain ako. Not to complain, I am being well fed here, but holy cow, I was very spoiled at home and I do not think I fully recognized that but I miss my mommy's and daddy's food. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and really get into the spirit of Christmas, I know sometimes the meaning of Christmas is lost with all the commercialism and things going on. But I hope all of you will be able to go out of your way to lift up others and make them happy. :) I love you all and will see you soon-ish :)

 Translation from Jon Chin

How are you?  I'm Elder Munk.  I'm from Redmond, Washington, but I'll live in the Philippines for two years.  I'm happy for the opportunity to serve.  I love my companion and I love the most my family and TJ and Brendin.  They're handsome.  I like studying the scriptures and Tagalog.  Even though my Tagalog isn't very good, I like and practice it.  I need a dictionary because I don't know a lot of Tagalog words.  I know why I serve.  Don't worry about me.  I'm doing the best here.

[english paragraph]

I don't like the food at the MTC.  I'm thinking the food will kill me.  [continuation of English]