So once we finally got the monkey off me....

Hey Guys!

Sorry I'm emailing a little late, I'm actually doing this Tuesday morning before we go out to work. It has been a great week here in Roxas! It's sooo amazing here! Everyone lives in tree houses made of bamboo. It's super amazing. It's a lot different from the city too. There are not as many people in the streets and not all of them speak Tagalog either. Some can understand Tagalog, but only speak Bisaya. I have a harder time with some of our investigators now. I'll pick it up though. Anyways this email probably won't be too long but, yea....


So last Wednesday I moved in, met some members, and had a great time.


Thursday, I got to meet some of our investigators. We had a member, Anne working with us the whole day so that was great. She is a returned missionary who works with us almost everyday. It's great. So I got to meet most of our progressing investigators. Their names are Marilou, Brother Alfred and Sister Lee, Brother and Sister Ibanez and Tatay Guilliermo. So I got to meet them and we just kind of shared a few small messages with them and yea! It went really great! That night we had a dinner appointment at the branch president, President Bayaras' house. He seems like a really nice guy. He knows english pretty well. Which of course is great:) For dinner that night we had this bamboo thing, I can't remember what it is called and fish. I also tried this small shrimp thing that apparently no non-Filipino likes. I tried it though and it was good. Just a bit salty.


Friday, We had to get food because there was none.... So we did that, then had lunch, then went finding, found some people, then we taught Marilou about baptism and now she has a baptism date for the 9th of July! I'm really excited for her, she is really nice and just understands everything very well. After Marilou we went to another investigator's house, Christine, and we taught her about prophets. Then we went finding for a little while longer, then we had choir practice for the rest of the night because last Sunday was branch conference and the choir was singing for it.


Saturday. Saturday morning was cool. We were having personel study and I looked outside and saw a monkey on top of our neighbors house! So we went outside and got pictures with it. It was cool. It stayed there for a long time too. Sister Anne came to meet us at our house, the monkey was still there so she picked it up, and put it down. I picked it up too. Actually it stayed on me. It wouldnt let go of my shirt and would freak out if I or someone else tried to move it. So once we finally got the monkey off me, we put it down, and tied it to a chair with a leash sort of thing. After that we taught Sister Lee and Brother Alfred about the sabbath day and what goes on in our church. It went really well! Sister Lee actually came to church that day! It was great! So on the way back to our apartment for lunch, we got some bananas, and gave some to the monkey and then let it go. And don't worry! Yes I washed my arms and put on a new shirt after touching the monkey! Anyways after lunch it started raining really hard. And here we're not allowed going out because of the coconuts that could fall from trees and kill us, so Anne ended up going home, and we ended up studying till it was time to go to choir practice again.


Sunday! We dropped by a few of our investigators houses before church. Then we went to church at nine! Tatay Guillermo came, Sister Marilou came and Sister Lee! It was great to see them all there! Branch conference went really well. I got to meet the district president here and yea. Then after that we went out to work. I worked with a new convert and now ward mission leader, Chris. He's really kool, he also knows the area very well because he actually worked as a missionary the week before I got here. The missionary I replaced here is actually home right now in Bacolad.... He got really sick. Which is really too bad. He was in my going home batch, meaning he was supposed to go home the same time as I am..... So it was me and Chris working, and Elder Glodo worked with another Ward missionary and Anne and President Bayaras' daughter. So work with Chris and I went really well. We dropped by Sister Marilou and taught her the plan of salvation. Which she understood perfectly. Then we taught Brother and Sister Ibanez. This was the first time I met Brother. He is really nice and funny. He talks unbelievably fast though. Haha. We taught them the Apostasy and he understands everything. He says he really likes reading the Book of Mormon, which of course, is great! I really like those 2 a lot. After that, Chris and I went finding. We visited a few inactive members and that was about it!


Then Monday was our Pday, but we ended up going to a branch activity. We cooked some fish, some rice, some other stuff. Played sports and that was about it. Then we had a dinner appointment at a members house. We had adobo there. Of course. It was great!


So everything here is really good. I don't know why the pictures don't send. I'll try and get them on a C.D and send them over to you as soon as I can. That's if there is a place that does that here. I don't know. The area I am in doesn't even have an ATM....The closest one to us is in Puerto Princesa which is 2 hours away. So yea...


I actually do not have Sister Canada's address. She doesn't really have one either. It's Maligaya 7 in San Pedro. But Maligaya 7 is huge and they don't have adresses there. But, if you want to send mail to her, send it to the mission office to San Pedro 2nd Ward with her name on it, then Elder Nye will take care of it!


Everything here is great! I had to leave a lot of books behind. I only really brought PMG, my quad, journals, BR, and my mission Book of Mormon. That's about it. I will get everything back when and if I get transfered back to the mainland. Elder Glodo is great! We're working pretty effectively so far. He doesn't really know english but he is learning. He has been a member since birth and is from Tacloban, which is where Elder Guarino is right now. It's going great! Everything is moved in. We're both happy. The apartment is great, unlike my last one! haha! The members here are all really supportive and very involved with the missionaries. I love it here!


Anyways that's about it for this week! Please tell Justin congrats on graduating! I love you guys soooo much and I hope you all have a great week!


Love,


Elder Chris Gagnon