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!!

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