Hello Philippines

After 34 hours of travel time Peter finally arrived in Bacolod the afternoon of Christmas Day!! (Still the 24th for us) We were able to talk to him from Manila and he sounded great and was excited to be there. He said there are 8 different dialects in his mission alone. His first area is a city north of Bacolod called Victorias and his companion is Elder Hanson from California. There are 2 wards there and he says he will be learning Ilonggo which is similar to Tagalog. Their "Mission Mansion" as he called it, is pretty big and is equipped with a special shower----a spout a bucket and a ladel !! He's amazed at how the people there live, his best description is that their homes look like the coolest tree houses, only they're 2 feet off the ground. I think his P-Day is Monday (which is really our Sunday), so if you get a chance to e-mail him you have to send it on Saturday. He's still plechem@myldsmail.net

Tagalog Tongue Twisters

It is amazing for us to see how quickly Peter has been able to learn Tagalog. Missionaries really are blessed with the gift of tongues. Of course he has a long way to go to be fluent, for example to read is babasa and to bless is basbas. One day Peter asked someone if they could bless the Book of Mormon instead of read it. All fun and part of the learning process he says. Today we received his flight plans for the trip to the Philippines. Lets just say it will be a real adventure !! He flies from Salt Lake to LA, LA to Taiwan, Taiwan to Manila and then Manila to Bacolod arriving on Christmas Day!! Total travel time is about 30 hours (Can you say jetlag?) He is very excited to be on his way however and out of the MTC. But what a Christmas to remember !! This was his phrase of the week: Inimpluwensiyahan tayo ng Diyos na gumama ng mabuti which translated means "God influences us to do good".

Our family LOVES Mondays----it's e-mail day!! We receive e-mails from Peter and from his brother Nic who is serving in Kentucky. Today Peter says he is at the point where things are getting a little harder. I think he means the mission as well as the language, but the good news is that he sees that he needs to rise up and become stronger. He says that the magamdang wika sa tagolog (beautiful language of tagolog) is very difficult with pronouns, and ang's ng's mga's and more. He can't even imagine using words like pinakamakapangyrihan, and yes that is all one word!!
He's loved hearing from alot of you, thanks so much, I'm sure that helps make life in the MTC much more fun.

On Saturday we received our first letter from Elder LeChem #2. Apparently his assigned companion was a "No Show" to the MTC and so he is with 2 other Elders, Elder Headman from Sandy, UT and Elder Ocai from Canada. Then today we were surprised to get an e-mail. He is still adjusting to MTC life but sounds great. He said he loved the fireside on Sunday night in which the managing director of the church missionary department spoke. Better than the speaker though was singing with 2000+ missionaries. Peter said the spirit was so strong it gave him chills. His e-mail address is plechem@myldsmail.net In closing he says, the Church is true and it would be excellent to hear from someone soon!!

MTC

It's official----Peter is a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as he entered the MTC today. I think the hardest part for him other than saying good-bye for 2 years was leaving his cell phone on the counter before we left home.




His MTC address is
ELDER PETER J LECHEMINANT
MTC Mailbox #198
PHI-BAC 1223
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604-1793
I'm sure he would love to hear from all of you. His departure date really is December 23rd

The Farewell

Peter spoke on Sunday in the Grandview 10th Ward. It was great having his grandparents, some of his aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends from 7 Peaks and Sports Authority there to support him. It was an awesome day !!

Peter received his mission call on July 17th. He had gone to Lagoon with his friends Steve and Becca and so we had to wait until they got home for the "Grand Opening".
It was 11:00 p.m.by the time Jason and Ari came over and we got Jeff and Julie on the Webcam, but tired or not we were all so excited when Peter read that he would be serving in the Philippines Bacolod Mission !!
Peter is so excited because he wanted to go somewhere foreign AND to a tropical climate, so there you have it !!