Dearest Family!
Well what a week this has been here in the field. Literally about an hour or so after I sent you my letter we were in the store buying some food and my stomach clenched and I had a ton of pain... We didn't know exactly what was happening and so we went home and I spent the next 45 minutes on the toilet with things coming out of both ends... I took some medication that the senior missionaries gave to me to help with the problem but after about four days it hadn't gotten any better... We text the mission president and his wife to see what they thought. They said to give it till Friday and they would look at me at the missionconference that had been planned for then. They said if it didn't get better till then they were going to start me on worm pills. They told me to basically stop eating so that if there was something in there it would die and then naturally come out. Well you know me and eating- but then add walking usually around 6 miles a day was going to be very draining of my energy with nothing but water in me. The mission presidents wife said that I probably was going to want to stay in for the next day or two but we had way to many good things planned for me to be sitting around and not working. So we went out and worked and I stopped to puke every few hundred yards and then just kept moving. If Hell is anything like those days then I REALLY want to make it to heaven then! haha.Well Thursday night after having this sickness for about a week I finally stopped puking and could hold food down. I still had diarrhea like crazy but I can deal with that! So if I had some kind of bug or still do I'm not sure where it is but at least I'm back to my some what healthy self again! hahaha good times to be able to laugh about some day.
Well real quick funny story for the week is me and Elder Garver were walking down the street and saw this really old lady standing in the shade alone. So we went and talked to her and asked her how she was doing and oh let me tell you! If you thought grandma was a talker you better think again!!! =P Holy cow we heard about her husband and his job and all the money that he used to bring home but how now he doesn't get payed much so its hard. Then she told us about her kids and how they had all died off so it was only her and her husband. But two seconds later she was telling us how she had just gone to her sons house for dinner the other day and how great he and his wife were doing and how they had these super cute kids. Haha- obviously this lady was completely crazy and not all there in the head. Bless her heart! Well I didn't want to be mean and not say anything so I asked her what she was doing just standing there all alone. She pointed across the street to this building that these people were working at and said that every night she stands there and waits until night fall and then goes and breaks into that building so that she can sleep in the bed and be able to have something to cook her food on! We had no idea what to say to that so I gave her a pass along card and told her that Jesus loves her and that he doesn't want her breaking into buildings and so to come to church. We got a great laugh out of that and just moved on to our next lesson. Ha.
My language has taken some great jumps and I really have been working really hard. I have gotten to the point where I am usually able to talk to the little kidsbecause their language is not very good either and they don't use the big words and complicated sentence rules. Then I am usually able to understand about 50% of what the adults are saying to me. I have been working a lot on the words and vocab that we use out side of lessons because that is the stuff that I don'thear as often as I hear the spiritual vocab words. It has been really hard to work and be sick and all but the Lord has kept me safe and I know that he is going to be there every step of the way holding my hand and making sure that nothing too bad goes on in my body!
Man the food here is very very interesting. It is all so spicy that I can't even eat it sometimes! Me and Elder Garver are going to start to buy our own food so that that way I can buy some more healthy foods to keep my body happy and not have to spend money on the spicy crap that I have been forcing down my throat the past few weeks. I love this area though and have gotten used to just about everything. Ha I didn't think I would ever get used to the hole no toilet paper thing but after the past two weeks here I hate toilet paper! It takes way to long to use and really hurts sometimes! Gross I know but the hand and water is so much better!!! Kadon I am so stoked for you that you get to go to Legoland!!! That is really a fun place and you being the lego king I know will fall in love with it! Take pictures and send them to me! Mom don't ever feel bad about asking questions. I will do my best to answer them but lots of times I forget some of them! Grandma and grandpa didn't hear from ya this week but please remember how much I love you and miss ya! I think about you so much here. Grandpa you should see the watermelons here! Not huge but man are they good!!!!! They are about a month or two from being fully in season so they say they are only going to get better! I ate one 35 pounder in about two days on my own! hahaha That was after I was feeling better I'm sure that the watermelon was the reason that I got better so quickly! Dad you should see the golf course that is here!!!! It was absolutely beautiful! It is up in the bukid or mountain range and you can see the ocean from one of the holes! I wish that we could go golf it once! It is totally ok to golf here but for 18 holes is about 70 bucks in American money and then another 10 or 15 to rent clubs! I'll try to get some pictures of it but we aren't in that area very often. Elder Garver golfs too so we always wish that we could try it out. But obviously we would have to use our own money for it and to spend that would be a big expence. we will just continue to wish and drool over the course! haha.
So there should be three pictures that are attached to this one. It won't let me look at them so I think that two of them are houses that we found up in the bukid areas of our mission and just to put that into perspective those were two of the more rich houses up there. The other one is my favorite! It is a water buffalo that is standing down in the mud trying to stay cool! We got him to look up at us right at the time that I took the picture! Probably my favorite picture that I have taken so far!
Well tonight I am going to be going on splits with one of the zone leaders so that they can see where I am at and how Elder Garver has been training. No pressure right? haha Well I will do my best and try to impress him! I have really gained a strong testimony on prayer while out here in the Philippines. It has not been easy to adapt to the culture or to be able to be sick and trying to work but as I would hit my knees multiple times a day asking the lord to strengthen me I knew that he would help. Also real quick I forgot about my testimony of the priesthood! I received a call the other night from a lady that we have been teaching lately. She was crying and said that he daughter had ran away from home and that she didn't know where she was or if she was even safe. We literally ran to her house and did our best to comfort her. We asked if she would like a blessing and explained a little bit about it. She said yes and that she would like me to do it. I was so scared because I hadn't been prepared for her to ask me. In the blessing I was prompted to tell her that he daughter would return home within the next day or two and that they would be together again and everything would be ok. She seemed a little better as we left that night to go home. We got a text from her about 20 minutes later that he daughter had come home and had apologized and said that she knew she was wrong and that she was so sorry! The priesthood is real and through our faith in God we are able to do all things!!! Love you all and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love always,
Elder Shelley
pictures: Houses in Bogo
Water buffalo
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