hi

Hello family and friends! Life is still amazing here in the Philippines. This was a really good week with lots of success. First off, so Mom can stop worrying (haha), the earthquake didn't affect us. I didn't even know there was an earthquake. So all is still well.
So my companion is from Bicol, down south. This new area is good. It is definately providencial, or country. There aren't any places to shop, and no restraunts like McDo and that like Cupang had. It reminds me of home at times. We have one investigator that lives out on this mountain, so when we go to her house we first walk on this 2 track dirt road, then when we get to the mountain there isn't really a trail so we just hike up the mountain. It is pretty sweet. It reminds me a big of going up Cottonwood or something haha. Our apartment is pretty good sized by Philippino standards, but it is just the 2 of us there. This apartment has a shower though, so that is pretty nice. But you have to use pliers to turn it on haha. Life is amazing here. Really simple. I love it.
The members here are really nice. We are pretty close to the ocean, so that is cool. In Cupang we didn't have any beach in our area. Up here they speak not only Tagalog, but Ilacano and Zambal too. On of the members is teaching me a little bit of Ilocano. But everbody understands and speacks Tagalog. There are just so many different dialects here in the OPhilippines. I don't know exactly how man, but probably a hundred or so. So there are a few.
Like I said, this was a really good week. We had Branch Conference yesterday, and we had 186 people there! They said that is tthe most in almost 20 years. So that is really good. And we had 8 investigators at Church! We are having an amazing experience with one family, the Reyes Family. We found them just last week and started teaching them. They are really friendly and receptive. In just our third visit, we committed them to be baptized. It was a really neat lesson. Then yesterday 5 of them came to church. There are 3 that weren't able to come. In all there are 8 of them, and they are so receptive, especially one sister there. When we committed them to be baptized, she immediately said yes while the others started asking questions first. Brother Leo is doing good too. He came to church for the first time yesterday, and said he hasn't drunk for a few days. We are also teaching quite a few kids, and kids of members. We have 5 kids we are teaching from the ages of 8 to 12. It is really cool. One of them, JR, is my favorite. His mom is a member but his dad is not. He is 10, but it is really hard for him to understand things and respond. When we teach him my companion gets a bit frustrated, so I take over and teach the whole lesson. He is really opening up to us and especially me. It is making me think about where I really want to go with a career. If I want to go into Elementary Ed. or something like that. It is just really cool. So many experiences but I don't have time to tell you them all.
Well today we are here in Olongapo. We came here for P-Day because we get our support funds today and there isn't a bank in San Felipe we can withdraw from. So we are allowed to come here. It is definately a big city haha. And I am still just a country boy. Life is amazing here in the service of the Lord, this Church is so true. The Book of Mormon is true. I know we can all be together forever. I love you all so much and God be with you till we meet again.

Elder Brough