Week 41 - We are sooo cheezy!

Alcala

Haha you guys are always so cheezy in your letters. ;D  It wouldn't hurt to throw in a few more jokes e'ery so often eh. ;)  Things are great here. Yeah we got 2 new investigators. They are the nephews of a member. They just moved here, but they're going to church and listening to the lessons, so hopefully that will go somewhere. They worked with us too yesterday. I'll upload our picture a little bit later.

Other than that me and E. Faa have been having a great time. We just had a district activity. It was one of our sisters birthdays, so we bought cake and cooked food, played volleyball, and had a water fight. The only problem we have right now is Money. I know I hate to ask, but we were unwise with our money this cycle. We spent too much money on food.  Next week, the first week of June, I think I'm getting transferred.  So I shouldn't have this problem again. Is it alright if I withdraw a little bit of money. Just enough to get through this next week?  Anyways, thanks for everything.

I love you guys. I'm working hard for ya'll!



Alcala District in Tuguegaro North Zone

Pumping Iron with Elder Sefita and Elder Faa.
Poor pasty white boy!

Week 40 - Not much to say

Alcala

Sorry today has been crazy right as we got to the computer shop a power line went out so we went to another computer shop and the internet was so slow it couldn't even load my email. So we just waited for them to fix the power line. Anyways Our week was good I explained most everything in the Skype So I don't have much to say, but I miss you guys and hope that you are all having a good time

 

Love E. Swensen

Week 39 - Mothers Day Skype

Alcala

Messages from the mission:

#1 - To the families of the missionaries in the Philippines Cauayan Mission,

 

You may have been made aware of Typhoon Noul heading toward the Philippines.  The storm is now expected to turn away from the mission boundaries and should pose no real threat.  Your missionary, however, has been asked to be prepared and on alert.  You will be notified, should things change.  Thank you again for your prayers.

 

#2 - Hello families!

 

Due to the real possibility of some power outages on Mother’s Day (due to the previously communicated Typhoon), some planned calls may not occur as scheduled.  Every effort will be made to make the Mother’s Day call occur.

 

And from Tanner:

 

Oi I just figured out there are no webcams here. So on Friday we will be in tug city, we'll just try for then! We are also experiencing some brownouts.

 

Finally got to talk to him on Thursday night (his Friday)!

Week 38 - Dinner appointment every night

Alcala

So this week was pretty basic. Had Stake Conference this week, so we were in Tuguegaro for Saturday and Sunday, then today again and also tomorrow for our district meeting. Everything else is just fine here. We are teaching all our investigators with baptismal dates. Unfortunately, they weren't able to come to church because of Stake Conference in Tuguegaro. So that was disappointing, but hopefully this week they will all come. This week we had a dinner appointment basically everynight. Good things about polys, they are always focused on food, which means they always try to set dinner appointments.

Week 37 - Talofa Elder Faasavalu

Alcala

I got my new comp. His name is E. Faasavalu. He is from Somoa. He's awesome. Like seriously we have a great relationship, and the members love him. Yesterday we didn't go on splits but the members worked with us and it was way fun. Also we got a new district leader, E. Aarong. District meeting was way fun. We laughed the whole meeting.

Finally, one of our progressing investigators went to church. Melba Bitanga is her name. She is one of our 8 investigators with a baptismal date. This is the second time she has gone to church so if she comes 2 more times we'll plan her baptism.

Other than that this week was real busy, but not really with lessons. Transfer weeks are always like that. So hopefully next week, I'll have more to say. Also, we took pictures yesterday with one of our fellowshippers.  She should upload them on FB her name is May-May Tumamoa. I don't know how to spell her last name so that's probably not correct :p

E. Arorong is our DL, E. Echano got transferred to South Tugue, E. Saguire is training, so E. Wengreen got transferred, Sister Vi is training too, so Sister Romero got transferred.

Elder Swensen making Philly cheese steaks for the members.

Another picture from FB of a family Elder Swensen taught.

Elder Faasavalu and Elder Saguire

Week 36 - Traveling preacher

Alcala

This week went really fast.  We weren't in Alcala a whole lot this week. On Tuesday, we were in Tugue for DM and then we went on splits with the Elders from Solana.  Elder Echano and Llacona came and stayed at our apartment and I went on splits with Elder Echano. We went to see Gemma and her family. It was fun.

On Thursday, we went to Echague for E. Brandon's teeth. That took the whole day, but it was fun because we got to eat at SM in Cauayan. Just so you know SM is the biggest mall in our mission, that or Robinson's in Santiago. Also on the way home, I got to talk with this lady. She was from the Philippines, but she married an American from Atlanta and after they got divorced she moved to Japan and is working there. She just came back for the funeral of her mom. We talked from Ilagan to Cabagan, which is like two hours by bus. It was way fun, and I basically taught all of lesson 1 to her on the bus.

On Saturday, we went down to Tugue for a baptismal interview for the sisters there. Other than that this week has been busy, but pretty normal.  I don't really need anything in a package, just chocolate again. Last time was perfect.  I just found out I'm not getting transferred so that's great!

Week 35 - Giving the baptismal covenant

Alcala

Conference was good. There was a lot of talks about eternal marriage, so I don't know what that is saying for me. I don't hear much from old comps, but I heard my old ward is doing just fine. 

The people we baptized all live in the same area, Tamban. They are all pretty much family in some way or another. We have 6 more baptismal dates over there in Tamban for May. Elmer Riña, Melba Riña, Dexter Riña, Jemmelyn Riña, Fredie Bitanga, Edelyn Bitanga are their names. Their biggest struggle is quitting coffee and having money to cross the river for sacrament. If they go to church this week though we can have the baptisms on May 16.

Also in another area we have two more baptismal dates. Gemma Tejano, and her two kids, Irish and Anjo, and Angelbee Alnas. They live in Baybayog. Angelbee's only problem is her parents. Her parents don't want her to get baptized. She's 16 right now so we would have to wait until she's 18.  She said she is going to try and talk to her parents. Missionaries in the past have talked to her parents and they still don't want her too, but this is the first time she actually wants to talk to them. It's pretty funny. 

E. Brandon was the first person to start teaching Gemma. We honestly didn't know if she was going to accept the baptismal covenant so we were kind of reluctant to give it to her.  I just felt the spirit so strong in one lesson I just did it, and she accepted.  It was awesome. She always wants American food, so next time I want to cook Philly Cheese steak sandwiches for her.

We are going to the dentists in Echague on Thursday. The travel expenses are reimbursable, but I want have enough money to make it there and we can't get reimbursed until after we get back so I might need some money for that.

There are some awesome belts here that are made out of Caribou Ivory. I was thinking for Christmas I could buy one for each of the boys in our family.  I was also thinking about getting one for Adam, Zac, Aaron, and Brody. And for the girls I was thinking about getting pearls. That could be their Christmas presents.  I think this would be a cool thing for you guys to at least see a bit of the culture, and a good Christmas gift. I'll also send home a few cooking powders and instructions on how to cook the meals so you guys can eat Filipino on Christmas. I also have a few more gifts that I'll send from things that I got in the past.

I love you guys!