Tanay Area- Philippines: Week 2

 Hello po!!

I made it through my first full week in the Philippines!! Made it through a big storm (from the typhoon) and escaped a couple rabid dogs... just an average week

Word of the week: Syempre (sh-em-pray) (of course!) I've said This probably 500 times this week. And it's especially good If you throw some zest on it💅

ESPN Top 10 highlights of the week:

10. Today is P-Day and I woke up feeling like crap. I don't know what from, could be the sewage water I've had to walk through, some food I've eaten, mosquitos, or just a common cold idk...but I'll thug it out😁👍

9. We cooked Sinagong which is like a sour, very acidic soup. I was really excited to try it because I've heard great things, unfortunately the best way I can describe it is that it tastes like the smell of vomit.😒 Also if I eat another cup of rice I'm going to die. We eat it so much.😟

8. The animals here are so scary looking. Yesterday we saw a dog skeleton on the sidewalk which was sad and a few rabid dogs almost got us. Luckily they were chained up or else we would've had to sprint out of there Usain Bolt style🏃

7. A lady in my ward who I taught my first principle to made me a bracelet with my name on it and gave it to me at church! It was really nice and unexpected

6. This lady bought me jorts (jean shorts) online for $4 and they're pretty nice. I paid her back of course. We might have to visit her more often so she can drip me out.😎

5. We got caught in the storm (from the typhoon) for a little while. We were out proselytizing about a 45 minute drive from our house, and the storm picked up really bad. The streets were flooded, I saw a dude showering outside😹, and no one wanted to talk to us or let us in because we were soaking wet. Understandable, but we were SOAKED. My entire bottom half was drenched and even my top half as some water slipped through the cracks of my rain jacket. And my CAMERA got wet😔 so it's not functioning right now. Hopefully it will come back to life🙏

4. We did service for a family whose house collapsed in the storm. They lost a lot of their top floor and a few walls. So we helped deconstruct the broken walls and build a new one reusing the rusted nails, soaking wet wood, rope, and rusted sheet metal😬. It was actually so fun and we spent Our whole Friday doing that. A lot of our friends' houses got flooded which was unfortunate to hear about, but they're all OK!

3. We played volleyball as a district last p-day which was really fun. Unfortunately, not sand volleyball 😑so I'm not gonna be diving cause that'd be dumb, but it was fun, We played basketball after and I was lowkey cooking but Filipinos are really good at both so it was competitive.

2. Nine of the kids we're teaching came to church! 🙏Some of them for the first time which was super exciting We hope they'll continue to come!

1. We taught a drunk tatay Bong (old man) and it was the funniest lesson ever. He kept saying “enlighten me” and staring at us with the widest bloodshot eyes. His drunk friend kept walking in and asking if we were from Israel and if we're gonna send a drone to bomb his house. 😟We couldn't get through a lot of the lesson unfortunately because we kept getting interrupted by him and tatay Bong kept saying “I'm gonna shoot this guy if he comes back” we have a return appointment for Wednesday and he assured us he won't be drunk. Lets hope

Spiritual na isip:

Mosiah 2:22

"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."

Such a simple promise from God. Keep his commandments and we will prosper! This isn't always easy but when we do, the Lord will give many blessings unto us and I love that! The gospel is simple and the rewards are so much more than what we give. So strive to keep the commandments of God and He promises to bless our lives

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The work is hard but it's rewarding. Thank you for your emails, they make my day reading them! Wish you all the best!

Elder Tyson Smith