Transfer

Soon after the baptism of these 2 little cousins, Peter was transferred from

Pototan to an area in Iloilo City called Molo. There they have 2 wards and

Peter said they love to feed the Elders (more dried fish maybe?!)

His new companion, Elder Lavides from Manila.
Just monkeying around but I'm sure he'll get to work soon!!

The Dried Fish Diet

Maybe if I ate like this my pants would be baggy too!!

We'll be taking this boy to the new In-N-Out in Orem

when he gets home--no dried fish there!!

HAPPY HUMP DAY

Wow---hard to believe that Peter just celebrated his Hump Day on October 22nd!!!! The year seemed to go by fast and the 2nd year goes by even faster! He is still in Pototan and was just made a District Leader so is excited about that opportunity. We look forward to another great year and more adventures.

Going Coconuts!!!

I have to say I never expected to see a picture of Peter at the top of a coconut tree but here you have it!!!

Adventures in Eating

Part of serving a foreign mission of course is partaking of all the "foreign" foods and Peter has certainly done that!! I don't need to see any more pictures of him eating balut though!
Avocodo milkshakes??!! Peter said they are really pretty good.

Crispy crabs and rice
Ice-cream with 4 flavors all in one!!
At a restaurant with what else---all you can eat rice!!
So you can see why Peter was so excited to down this nice big American hamburger!!

Transfer

Last week Peter was transfered to a town called Pototan, still on the island of Panay but north of Iloilo. The mission president closed their area in Oton because of a lack of missionaries which made the members really sad. This was at a farewell party they had for Peter and his companion.

Pototan is inland and so Peter said he is missing the ocean but the scenery there is beautiful as you can see.

2 guests. . .1 welcome the other not so welcome

This month Peter met his new mission president, President Tobias, when he came and visited he and his companion at their apartment. (Can you believe how skinny Peter is!?)
This little tukol though, not so welcome as a guest in the apartment and thank goodness Elder Araojo was able to catch it and send it on it's way OUTSIDE because Peter said they will bite you!!

Prayers ARE answered!!

Well last week we got a surprise e-mail from Peter saying that it was OK for them to e-mail again so we were pretty happy about that. They recently had a Zone Conference on the beach near Oton and so Peter took these fun pictures.
He said this is his new lifeguard stand. Below he is using it to look for "Lost Souls" !!

Bye-bye e-mail :(

Thanks to some very disobedient Elder's (Peter was NOT among them) the mission president has now banned e-mail for the Bacolod Mission!!! So not only will we miss weekly updates, because "snail-mail" takes 2-3 weeks, we will miss the pictures that Peter would attach. So we all need to pray that when the new mission president arrives in July he will reconsider and let them e-mail again. In the meantime enjoy some of the last pictures he sent.

If any of you want to try writing to him using the POUCH, the address is:
Philippines Bacolod Mission
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 85130-0150

First Transfer

Well having spent Christmas on an airplane, it seemed appropriate that Peter would spend his 20th Birthday on a boat being transferred to Oton on the island of Panay!!

OK, so it wasn't on the above boat but instead on what he called an "Ocean Jet" as shown below. He said the ride took just a little over an hour and he is very excited to be in a new area.



Above is where Peter lived in Victorias, he says it was called the Mission Mansion. (I can see why) The only thing he told me about his new home is that it's livable---perhaps something like the below picture. . . I don't know!!!

Don't Try This At Home Folks

So before Peter even left for the Philippines he told us that given the chance, he was going to try balut, (for those who don't know this is a fertilized duck egg which is boiled and eaten in the shell, duck and all) why you would even want to, well I don't know and after looking at these pictures I'm pretty sure that I would NEVER want to.


So if your grossed out by looking at Peter eating his filipino "delicacy" then enjoy this picture that he took of a beautiful Philippine sunset!!

Missionary Life

Here are some random pictures of Peter and his life as a missionary in the Philippines. The good news is that they have been teaching the De la cruz family and hope that they will be baptized soon, Peter is just hoping he won't be tranferred before that happens.

This is a picture of Peter's favorite thing to eat----rice and lumpia. So far he has lost 40 pounds!! Thanks to this diet, alot of walking and alot of sweating!!


Transportation is still an adventure. He is shown here in a Jeepney with Tommy, a member missionary and Elder Wade. And then again inside a Tryke.


This is one of Peter's favorite families to visit because you have to cross this log bridge to get there.

Last week Peter got a new companion, Elder Santos who is a native from somewhere near Manila. He was happy to be staying in Victorias as he really likes it there. They have several investigators but it is hard to get them out to church and some have word of wisdom problems but he stays optimistic. He has already experienced eating dog, yes D-O-G!! He said it wasn't too bad and it was served with some of the best pineapple he's ever tasted. His Ilonggo is coming along and his mother LOVES the fact that he is the ward pianist for the 2 wards there in Victorias!! Here is the address for the mission home if anyone wants to write a real letter:
Philippines Bacolod Mission
Lacson and Galo Streets
PO Box 660 Bacolod City
6100 Negros Occidental
Philippines

Leapin Lizzards

We finally received some pictures of Peter from the Philippines. The first one shows him riding in a tryke with some of the ward missionaries. A tryke is like a motorcycle with a side car. He says he doesn't really fit in them and the Filipinos laugh when he gets in and out.

These lizards are called tikis and are in their house all the time, yikes!!