Life in the Philippines

It's always good to hear from Elder Brough and I especially like when he tells us what it's like living day to day. And what would the chances be that both he and his companion are from Fairview! I am including most of todays letter.....

Hey pamilya ko! Life is still good for me here in the Philippines. I'll try to answer some of your questions and tell you about life here. So my companion is Elder Amorsolo, from Quezon City here in the Philippines. Its funny because the actual place in Quezon City that he lives in is called Fairview. So that was funny when we found that out. He is 20 and has been on his mission for almost exactly 1 year. He is cool. We get along really well.

Our apartment. So we live with another companionship here in Cupang. It is split in 2, Cupang 1 and Cupang 2. But we all serve in the same Ward, Cupang Ward. We have a bunch of fans in our apartment to blow on us and keep us cool when we are studying and stuff like that. We sleep with a fan blowing on us to keep us cool during the night. Our shower is a spout, a bucket, and a big scoop. So its a good thing I'm a country/outdoors boy and that stuff doesn't bother me haha. Every apartment has a rice cooker and a propane stove for cooking. But we don't have to cook all that much because we have dinner appointments almost every night. So i'm staying well fed haha. Nobody has washers and dryers. All clothes are washed by hand. But we have a member here that does all our laundry and stuff for so much every week. It gives us more time to do other stuff and it is a way for us to help out the people here, since we can't give people money. Everywhere we go we take a tricycle. They are everywhere. They are the Philippino taxi. I've riden in a Jeepney twice so far going to District and Zone Meetings. They are pretty crazy too.

We email from internet cafes. They have them everywhere. Sometimes though they have brown-outs, or the power cuts out. It is pretty common. So sometimes when we are emailing the power will cut out. But all is good and i can still email before and after.

The people here are so friendly. They aren't at all like Americans. It is a common thing to make really good friends the first time you meet somebody here. Yesterday we were walking down the road and started talking to a woman and here family. We talked and shared a short message about the gospel and invited them to learn. She accepted and she wouldn't let us leave with out some food; fruits and vegetables (they are farmers). That is just the Philippino people. Most of the people will try to feed us or give us some kind of food. And they are too nice to say no. When ever we ask to return and teach them they say yes. Even if they don't want anything to do with our message. If they don't want to hear it they will just hide when we come or tell their kids to tell us they aren't home. It is pretty funny sometimes. And on Philippino time, you are on time if you come within an hour or so of when you said you would. They are very laid back like that. I love the people here so much.....

...........The people here love basketball. They especially love American basketball, the NBA. You see stuff from NBA teams everywhere. And there are basketball courts everywhere and everybody place basketball. I haven't been able to yet because right before i got here somebody got hurt playing basketball and my Mission President made a rulle of no basketball for a while. Only shotting around. No actual games. So we are waiting for that rule to lift.

Tracting here is different. Most people don't have doors. Everybody has gates and fences around their house and lock the gate when they leave. So when we go to a house we stand outside the gate and yell "Tao po!" Directly it means :People!" haha. But thats what they do instead of knock. And for tracting and finding we just talk to people on the street. We don't really go door to door, or house to house. And we are blessed to have lessons scheduled almost every hour here. So we have lots of investigators. We just do finding as we walk to our next appointment. It is awesome because we have 4 investigators with baptismal goal dates right now. But they are all for next transfer. But it is really exciting.

So that is a little bit about life here. It is fun and i love it. If you have any other questions just feel free to ask.

I do have a question for you Dad. What did you do to learn the language? Finnish is so much harder, and sometimes i have a hard time learning Tagalog. What did you do to learn Finnish? Do you have any ideas for me?

Well its time to go. I love you all. God be with you till we meet again!

Elder Brough

.........Love ya'll!