I have my first native companion!

Well, yeah. Sounds like you all had a really busy week, same here. We did a lot to get ready for the split of the area and getting the apartment ready for four missionaries. So we didnt get to do much real missionary work, but we worked hard the same. We cleaned the house like nuts. We moved everything out of rooms and mopped. Cleaned the CR (bathroom) as clean as it will get. Now it's pretty much all dirty again. The new guys don't know the standards of the Cadiz apartment. We'll take care of that later.

So, Friday afternoon the new missionaries arrived here in Cadiz. My comp is Elder Ventigan. He is from one of the northern provinces that I cant spell. I have my first native companion! Man this keyboard stinks! And Yahoo messenger keeps popping up. Sabad 'na! (That's annoying). So the other two are Elder Searle, just came from the MTC, and his trainer Elder Martonito (I think i spelled that right...). He goes home at the end of this transfer. He is filipino too. Elder Searle is from Cedar Hills, UT. Went to Lone Peak HS.

Elder LeCheminant was transferred to Barangay Banago. That is where he wanted to go and that is where the zone leaders for this zone are. So I will still get to see him every Tuesday. The sad news though is that while I am still in the Philippines Bacolod Mission as of July 1 Elder White will be in the Philippines Iloilo mission. Yup, he was sent over there... That means he will actually get home three weeks after me. Iloilo is changing to the other transfer schedule.

That's really all for now. We'll see how this next week goes. Hopefully the three new ones dont drive me nuts. I'll set down some house rules.
Elder Phelps

Mission Split, Area Split, Two More Elders!

Hey family!

Well, I guess I should start with the news you are surly all waiting to hear, or I could just save it for the end. Nah, I can't wait. So, since District Meeting is now held on Mondays, we already know what will happen with transfers, and which mission we will ultimately be assigned to. Could stay here on Negros and in the Bacolod Mission, or head to Panay and join the Iloilo Mission.

Elder LeCheminant will be becoming a zone leader somewhere else, but at least still here on Negros too. Good news, I will still be here in Cadiz (and in the Bacolod Mission), sort of.  I'm still in Cadiz, but just in Ward 1. That's right, our area will be splitting. Whitewash into branch. Branch will get a trainer and his trainee. The split is such a good thing! That's what is needed here. All this last weekend members have been asking when we were gonna get four missionaries here. We thought it wasn't going to be until August. I'm gonna miss the members in Branch 2 though. I'll still get to see them at church though. And I'll actually start going to more than just sacrament meeting! Instead of just two sacrament meetings.

Now that that is out of the way, on to the rest of the week. Tuesday to Friday was just amo man gihapon (just the same, just how it is...). But it was good too. Progress continues in Tiglawigan. Though it did kick us where it hurts one day. Just one of the families that we are teaching out there was home. But those kind of days happen.

I have been out for six months now. It feels so weird to say that. As it happens things seem kind of slow some days/ weeks. But the months go by fast. Looking back it's like, "Wow, it has been six months," then it's also, "Wow, it has only been six months." Though in a flash I will be where Elder Lecheminant is, four months, two transfers left. Then have come home to cold.

So, on Saturday there was a missionary that served here in 1992 that came back. He actually spoke the language while he was here, and he still can. The reason he still can is because his wife is from Bacolod. His kids only know a couple of phrases. So he baptized Lola Guronga, every missionary's grandma here in Cadiz. We were invited to the return party and that was a lot of fun. Tons of food too. But it was fun to see how happy everyone was and hear his stories. After that we headed off to a wedding reception. Mario Ceniza and Iris Dela Peña. They were waiting until the Cebu temple was dedicated to get married. Now it is and so are they. The reception was nice. Words of advice were given, there was a lot of food, we watched a video of pictures of the two, including pictures of them at the temple.

You all had a crazy week. And it's summer! It should be relaxed. But I guess that can't happen while a child is getting ready to leave for college. And Nat is starting all the stuff for dance company. I suppose that means no more USANA or E Center, but I'm sure they have their own way of getting money.

Car expenses. That reminds me that the mission is down a car. It was over a week, almost two, ago that the Escape got in an accident. Other car's fault. Roads were a little slick, not much though, and he lost control, slammed into the Escape. Everyone is fine. Elder Potter was spitting out glass for a couple minutes though. Just the Escape is no more.

Toy Story 3! I want to see that sooooo bad! But it will have to wait obviously. There are a lot of good movies that have come out and will be coming out. I guarantee that I can find a pirated copy of Toy Story here already. Original disks don't really exist here, basically pirated is the only way.

Well, since we don't get to do anything special for Father's Day, I nearly forgot about it... But I remembered! So, Happy Father's Day Dad (Tatay, Amay, Ama, Pere, Padre)!!! I hope you enjoy your massage that Mom got you and I assume you got a car wash too. It's still kind of strange not having the third Sunday to look forward to. That I certainly miss. Hanging out with Stu and Brandton... good times.

Well, this coming week will be interesting. We have to get things ready for the pag-abot (arrival) of the two additional elders. Tomorrow the mission office will be bringing us new beds and stuff like that. That will be fun. Elder Lecheminant's prediction for my next companion is that he will be Filipino. And that is so possible. It will be WAY different, but I think I can handle it. I'm pretty sure that I wont be the only American in the house though. It's very likely that the trainee will be American, there are 31 Americans coming, and some Filipinos. Well, for that we'll just have to wait until next Monday.

TTFN!
Elder Phelps

Cebu City Philippines Temple Dedication

Okay, you all had an interesting week. Gave me a slight headache to take it all in. But Butch will get it out later with his awesome head massage skills. I already wrote to Andrew about the new mower. I remember when we got the mower that is now dead, and when it was really nice. Last weeks letter was late because things were just crazy and that's all that matters. Weather has been alright so far. Haven't been caught outside in the really bad rain yet. Always calmed down just before leaving wherever we were. Even if it meant extending our time where we were... Tour de Cure sounds like it was fun, despite the wind.

Okay big news here in the Visayas and Mindanao. The Cebu City Philippines Temple was dedicated yesterday! That was AWESOME! We actually watched two of the three sessions, would have done the third too, but couldn't handle the air-con. It was freezing in the chapel!! It was awesome! The members are so happy. The spirit was really strong, of course.

We received a bunch of referrals out in Tiglawigan, I think I mentioned this already, but they are doing well so far. Now we have to tackle the challenge of getting them to come to church. But I think that will go alright.

So, this Wednesday is Mission conference for us here on Negros. It will be all the missionaries on this island. It's gonna be fun.

The looming thing right now is what will happen at transfers, which are on the 25th. It's kinda scary because the mission splits on July 1. And which ever island you are on, that's your mission. We aren't expecting too much inter-island transfering, but it could totally happen.

Other news is that P-day has added stress now. They moved District Meeting (our usual Tuesday morning meeting) to P-day morning, giving us no time to do laundry! We don't see it lasting long, but for now we have to adjust.

That's all I have time for right now, off to FHE!! Always fun!

Elder Phelps

Happy Birthday Nat!

Well, sounds like you all had two relatively busy weekends in a row. But now it is summer for you all! Kids are all out of school. PNU (Philippine Normal University), the college here in Cadiz started yesterday and the high schools and elementary schools start next Tuesday, the 15th. Graduation, I remember that. The best part was when it finally ended. I'm sure Kat feels the same way.

The rain season certainly is close now, and the weather likes to tease us. We got some good rain last Thursday and Saturday. Sunday there were imposing clouds by the bukid (mountain), but they didn't make it to us. It's currently the same way, I hope they make it over here though. The rain is nice. You can tell when it's going to rain too. The humidity shoots up, and its already really high, all the time. Then it starts raining in like ten minutes. It cools down pretty good while it is raining. But as soon as the rain stops the heat rushes back in and the humidity shoots back up.

Sounds like Nat's birthday went really well and everybody had fun. I could have warned you about the food prices (at Seven Peaks), but it slipped my mind. And I already know about all the slides there, Elder LeCheminant has told me stories that involve all of them.

So since it is actually Tuesday right now here, Happy Birthday Nat! Another thing, we have an investigator that will be baptized on the 19th, Michael, who's birthday is the same as Nat's, even the same year. We will be going there later tonight. Michael is pretty awesome. He was pretty shy in the beginning, but he has opened up now.

Well, Cebu temple dedication is next Sunday, and we have our tickets from President now! What he said to everyone after he our interview is that if we go to the 9:00 session we will see him and Sister Tobias because they get to actually go there!  As awesome as the dedication is, it is also causing problems. We have some new investigators that we invited to church last week and said they'd come next week. "sa dason na lang." But we have to tell them that they can't, because of the dedication. But they are all doing really good too. They are a bunch of referrals received from a RM. They live out in an area called Tiglawigan. It's a 10 peso, 15 minute trike ride out to there. But it is totally worth it.

Things are going well here in Cadiz. They could always be better, but things are going well. One thing that made me really happy was to see Kristine and her dad waiting outside Bishop's office to get their tickets to the dedication. Seeing Brother Romero smiling at church is awesome too. He used to be kind of by himself and just sitting there. Now he is smiling and happy.

That's all for this week, until next!

Elder Phelps
PS Thanks for all the pictures!

AND I got the package today, looking forward to busting that open!

Friday's Baptism!

Happy Memorial Day to all!!

It's still kind of strange to think about the family reunion happening right now, and how many of us aren't there now. Also, we were hiking around, which we do everyday, and I was comparing it to Memorial Day in my head. Hiking around exploring, getting dirty and sweaty, but this time in proselyting clothes. It's just a bit different.  This Memorial day would be hard if I hadn't skipped out on last years, so now it's just like "eh." Well, it's just a normal Monday here in the Philippines.

This last week was interesting. The first part was all normal, that seems to be how it always goes. Friday we went on exchanges, this time it worked a little differently. I got Elder Hinckley, who is a junior, in fact he is batch (we are the same age in the mission). That kind of thing doesnt normally happen, but Elder Lecheminant was worried about the "trunky-ness' of the senior because he goes home at the end of this transfer. Everything went well. Elder Hinckley and I worked just fine together.

Also on Friday we had a baptismal interview for Joseph Arnaiz. So we had to meet the zone leaders and do that. We were a little stressed about the baptism, but everything worked out just fine. The plan had been to have his dad baptize him, but he wasn't able to come (work) so I got to! That was an interesting experience. I was nervous about the prayer (even though it is way easy) and saying his name right. Filipino names... Joseph Aquilles Consing Arnaiz.

Well, so it's Monday night now, and when we are done here we are going to the Cenzia house for FHE. Yay!! We get to hangout with David and Joseph. The two that only speak English. They are so much fun, though I dont have any pictures of them yet, I'll try and fix that tonight.

That sounds like a great idea for Nat's birthday. Seven Peaks is a fun place. the fact that you are going to Old Spaghetti Factory makes me laugh. Pinoy Style Spaghetti is standard at birthday parties here. speaking of B-days, we attended a couple this last week too. Three parties, four birthdays, one day. We only planned on going to one, cause we forgot one of the other ones and just didn't plan on the other. We went to the Lozano family Wednesday night just to say "Hi" because they are close to an investigator. Sister Lozano, after already giving us so Cup of Noodles and some bread said, "Elders, you eat here tomorrow. It's my birthday."

So then Thursday comes, we run out to Lola Guronga because an investigator lives behind her. The neighbors said that no one was home when we aproached the house, but we found a note directing us to the party, and Lola's amazing cooking. Then we visited some other people and then proceded to the Lozano family. We felt kind of bad when we showed up because all of Sister's office friends, that aren't members, got up and left. Sister said not to worry about it, they had been there since they got off work, at 5, and it was 7:30.

Then we had to text the Zone leaders so we went to Dennis Cenzia, and he was at the birthday party of the girl his brother is marrying in two weeks. Nanay Dela Pena's daughter. We talk to Nanay all the time at the market because she owns a shop there. Well she really just watches the shop, her daughter actually owns it. We didn't eat there though, too full already, but they tried to make us eat something anyway. The Mango Float was tempting though, but I was happy that I didn't. Mango Float, totally making for you all when I get home.
Well, that's about it for this week.
Elder Phelps.