March 31, 2010

Man I didn’t really try to take pictures as much this week and I don’t remember what I sent lol. Well this week was pretty crazy as well but it’s mostly just because I’m not use to everything. Man I miss track and I can’t believe how freakin big everyone is getting on the football team that is awesome, and I can’t believe how good Chelsea did too lol how fast was her 100 time. We did hear or feel anything for the earthquake. The language is getting frustrating I kind of hate it A LOT but I have to learn it sometime. I think I’m going to try to start talking all Tagalog this Tuesday but we will see what really happens. this first picture are some big water buffalo just chilling lol u would laugh at all the cats and dogs and ducks and chickens and water buffalo everywhere its nuts. This next picture is pretty much my normal meal and I love it! I can buy these freakin Huge amazingly good shrimp here for like 5 bucks and I eat it throughout the week. As far as everyone’s houses, uh there not all dirt flower most of them defiantly are though. My place is called Mabini. we have this branch here that is horrible lol we have teachers but they don’t show up and yesterday I had to bless the bread and in the front row there was these boys holding hands and there legs where all over each other. I was like what the heck are u doing... dumb, and then no one wears any kind of white shirt even the branch leader. The whole time kids are yelling and screaming and then the speakers don’t know how to speak in the mike or speak to the crowd. They all think up there your suppose to yell at the crowd and condemn then I kid u not I feel like I’m getting yelled at the whole time. And sometime they try to speak to me in English I’m like just speak taglog I can understand that better lol
So how’s your companion? Tell me about your week this is your dad
ya its pretty cool but the branch is so bad here now I don’t think were going to find and teach as much anymore I think were just going to get the branch going; and about my comp. well he isn’t sitting right by me so I cant really talk to much about him lol but its tough he is hard for sure and the other guy I live with said he could never do it. I am learning a ton from him though so I'm not complaining really but the other guys try to help me out and stuff so much lol because they think it’s so hard for me because they know my trainer. Of course he is my first so I don’t really know any better lol. The other guys are really cool though they teach me none related mission stuff lol that is good but they keep telling me don’t give up it gets better haha
missionary work... hmmm well its freakin hard see how I cant speak very much but I’m getting a lot better and I understand most of it but a lot of times they mix like ilacano and tagalog and I don’t know ilacano at all so its hard lol but I’m trying really hard it sucks a lot but I know ill learn it sometime. I’m improving like everyday
Yeah but I actually get to teach and testify a lot too during the lessons and we don’t really get to tracked we just get to go from one appointment from another cause we always have appointments and we actually live in this concrete thing I'll send a picture

Oh and dad needs me to send a jump rope work out. oh and next week u guys get conference but I have to wait a week it sucks but send me stuff to look for, I’m jacked for conference. Isn’t that weird ;P

I found some pancake mix here so I need the Buttermilk syrup recipe. Go get it for me and send it.

1 c. sugar

1 cube butter

1/2 c. light corn syrup

boil 1 minute add

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. baking soda
YES I better be able to find this stupid ingredients here. I might have to improvise

That’s your shower? I don’t understand!
What do u mean u don’t understand it lol ill have to send a pic next week. Most the time u run out of pressure in the middle too
so u have to turn it off so it builds up. And u just soap yourself up, and the water just drains outside lol and you’re on a concrete floor

Here is the thing I ate, I sent this last week but idk why u didn’t get it, I actually kind of liked it. Ill eat another one for sure.




Balut

thaks for everything i love talking too u all, wana here somthing funny, i was thinkin about after my mission and how im going to ahve to get married and stuff. and i was like man, i dont want to change like mike and bry... lol jokes long


On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 8:42 PM, Colton James Riner wrote:

im trying to send some pictures but it takes forever. Man this place still blows my mind everyday. Im getting this sick bag made for me right now. costume desined by me lol illl send u a pic of it next week it sweet. and it cost like 7 american dallors lol and im getting all my white shirts fitted to me for like less then a dallar eatch. then im going to get pants that are made ust for me for like 7 dallors each too. this place is so sweet. well i ate baloot lol and fried pig bloode., they said nothin is bawal here so we can eat everything we want and i want to try it all lol the baloot was pretty good but the bloode was not so much. um i already got things that i cant talk about to lol i want to tell ya so bad to cause it would blow ur mind, we give blessings all the itme that is cool me trainer always wants me to do it but im like not yet lol he also has tryed to get me to give that baptism commitent too but i didnt think i had memorised it well enough yet, next time. Tagalog is hard. but it will come. i understand it all really good now so that is good. hmm what else lol there is a ton of stuff im just too lay to write it all. The mission is really hard though, expecially while learning a lanugage, and i feel like im always swimmin, its so humid and my skin sticks to everything that is the most annoying thing ever, oh next package this is what it chould have, u should send one of those boxes where it doesnt matter how much it ways just how big the bx is cause i want pancake mix and the resapy for that one butter syrup stuff, send me the crepes one too, all we ahve to cook with is a fire fernace thing though and pans so i cant make too much or anything that needs a oven, im getting use to rice and i eat rom and noodles everyday still lol i dont want to use my money on food lol i want to buy this other awesome stuff, plus u know hwo frugal i am. the funniest thing is i wont buy somthing if its like 5 pasoes over what i think it should be lol 5 paoes is like a freakin dime lol, but i dont think like aht anymore and every pasoe counts lol. teaching is pretty cool but walkin everywhere sucks, pdays are the best thing in this world though lol. u need to send daniel my letters cause i dont have enough time to write him all this too. i ment to say that last time but i forgot. i bet chelsea is glad junior miss is over, i would be for sure. man there was somthing else i wanted in a package too but i dont know what, actually there was a bunch of things. hmmm well im sure u wont send it by next week so ill think of something next week. ive became quite the cook here lol and u would laugh at how creative u come with the stuff u have. im mainly just waisting time here waiting for these pictures to load. ill tell u about some stuff ill probably have to eat lol, the other comp i lived with ate the stuff that is in the intestines when they kill the cow they also do that with pic\gs, ya and they make it into soup, so its practacly cow crap. ima puke, then u see the craziest things for sell, like chickens feet, just cooked and ready lol and one day old chickens, its nuts lol. well if u want to know about anything particular u need to ask questions cause i dont know what to send, the pets here are pretty feakin nasty too. most dogs dont have hair or are loosing it, there always itching, and the groesest thing is youll see people picking lice out of eatchothers hair clear as day these big white things in this black hair, oh and then there are so many weird desieces and stuff, like this guy with the worst arthratist u shake his hand and his last 2 fingers are in a fist and u cant even pull them apart, we tryed lol, then this kid witht his lump lol that a funny picture lol alright actually ill send that pic next time il try to do it next time. haha the sherif is in here right now and the perosn that owns this place is getting it taken away or l\kicked out or somthing lol.

March 15, 2010

Dude this place is a freaking TRIP. I don’t even know were to start. Alright first of all the flight was pretty crazy but it wasn’t too bad. Then when we got to manilla the CRAZYNESS started. There were a billion people first of all. I got all my bags and went through check in and stuff and for some reason the MTC was closed so we stayed at this hotel where we started showering and stuff. Dang I guess I can’t go into detail because I have so much to write! So anyways ill skip a lot of crazy stuff but we stayed at the hotel messing around and stuff for about 3 hours then this guy picked us up to take us to get on our 10 hour bus ride. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO SCARED IN A CAR IN MY LIFE. And you’re going to laugh at that I think I'm exaggerating when I am not at all. I don’t know how I could describe it to u. I DO NOT KNOW HOW WE DIDNT WRECK. It was crazy, people just pull out in front of people cut in and out of people motorcycles EVERYWHER are swerving in and out everyone comes within 4 inches and that’s not an exaggeration either. IT IS CRAZY. And then u see like these sky scrapers a mile in the distance then u see the GUETTO OF THE GUETTO right out side your window. This place is freaking nuts. Then we finally got to the bus and found out we had a 3 hour wait so we sat there and tried to talk to people. IT was soooo hard. But I was actually doing ok. I use ok like compared to everyone else but it was way bad. But anyways me and one of the elders. Of course, decide were going to cross this crazy freaking street. Make no mistake it was stupid lol but the guy told us to if we were hungry. We weren’t hungry we just wanted to do it. It took us forever. People were going and we were like watch out and someone would seriously come like inches from death like 5 times. And so finally we got across and we tried to talk to people but it was hard. Then we sat around forever for 3 hours in total confusion and finally our bus come and we got on. It was SOOOO hot outside it was horrible. But then we got on the bus and the AC was Blazing we were like yes. Until an hour passed and we started FREEZING!!! No one could sleep we were so cold. We stayed up all night. Not to mention the driver was even crazier then before. Get this the BIG! Busses are the fasts thing on the road here and pass everyone. There is no speed limit you go as fast as u can without crashing and that is what everyone does. And we were driving right by the cliff of this huge mountain like feet away it was nuts not to mention there favorite time to pass is on turn when u have no idea if there is coming or not I kid u not. and there is trees there is no way they can tell they just do it and people stop or we stop but it is nuts. But anyways that’s just the driving at the begging of the bus like half hour after I got on I was like man I have to pee. Then it just started getting worse and worse and I was like wait. We have 8 hours left. So I was like hey elder ward let me see that bottle. And no joke I was going to use it but he said it fell and he lost it so I sat there in pain but like 5 min later we took a pit stop so it was all good. Then we finally arrived at 3:30. And the AP and his comp and stuff meet us and the pres and we get are stuff and go to the mission home and then we sat down and they brought out milk and cookies and then we ate. Then we got run downs and interviews and stuff then we go in to get our comps. Alright so the AP at that time had been the AP for 11 months. So he was like way experienced. and so he is naming off all the assignment and then he said Elder Riner and Elder Salapa and I was like sweet a Pilipino but no one came up to meet me so I was like what the. Then everyone just told me to sit down in the front with everyone else so I did and I was confused and then this philo dude turns to me and was like man your lucky magaling si elder salapa/ I was like who the heck is he and it was the AP, the same one who had been it for the last 11 months just before. I was like man that...actually I didn’t know what to think of it. But I had a billion people tell me that I was lucky and stuff so I figured it was good. Then I met him and he is way cool. Dude I don’t know what the heck I did to deserve this guy but imaging the perfect missionary.... Then imaging that white guy as a Pilipino and that is my comp hahaha no for real this guy is absolutely perfect. And I’m paying the price for it lol. Its hard lol but I never complain and never slow down and I still try all I can. Seriously this guy is perfect. He leaves pretty soon so ill be with him a transfer in a half, he said ill be with him still next transfer because he is going to tell the mission president to keep us together because we are setting all our baptisms tell the week after transfer. haha. And don’t even ask me how many baptisms cause I aint telling lol I decided I want to just keep it to myself whatever it is. But u would laugh at how easy it is to talk to people here. I laugh at it all the time and my comp thinks I’m crazy sometimes lol but we have already had two families sitting in there houses call US in and they want to join our church and be baptized lol 2 families its nuts. But our area is actually kind of hard I just think the holy ghost just fallows my comp around and that’s why stuff just falls in our hands I really believe that. But we are kind of having to build the place up because the earlier elders ruined stuff. It’s a long story how and stuff but lets just say they went to having like 10 baptisms a week to idk how many now but my comp said after a few weeks well get it back to there. Oh the language. The language is awesome. I Get it lol and I can talk really good all I really need now is focus and a TON of practice. And everyday I can understand people better. Now I can almost understand everyone but the worst thing is my area isn’t tagalog its ilicano. Ill learn that language later for sure. Man I have so many more stories but I hate typing lol I want to go ;) but I will defiantly talk to u guys next week. Thank u so much for the letters. Oh and next week I'll be able to send letters through this I know how it’s easy. Albright ill talk to u next week and if u get on around d this time this will be the time I get on and they said I can talk with u like back and forth. Oh man I almost forgot to tell u about my room mates. THEY ARE SICK. I love them so much we stayed up until 12 last night. Which was bad and I kept wanting to go to bed but they were like no talk to us. Because they wanted to talk to me without my comp cause he was asleep. They always tell me they don’t know how I can work with him. I tell u we work hard physically and mentally just sitting there planning EVERYTHING out no joke and I crash as soon as I hit my bed. My comp makes me do so much I have already committed like 20 people to church like 5 to pray about Joseph and the BoM and all kind of things. Oh ya and I he almost made me give a baptism commitment but we never got to it. This guy is the best trainer I hope I learn everything from him in 8 weeks. Oh btw his secret is preach my gospel. I kid u not that thing can help anyone if they use it. Even u guys. It would help dad a ton with his class too. Well anyway my hand is killing later. Love ya all. Hope Chelsea did good even though I know she didn’t. lol jokes long....

March 8, 2010

Alright well I am suppose to be at the airport at like 4 then I'll get all my bags in by like 5 in Salt Lake so I might call around then just so youu know. I think that is like 4 in washington. Anywyas I'll be back on later.

Elder Riner

March 1, 2010

Thanks u. Man I can't believe I am going to be leaving next week that is way sweet. Think in about 2 weeks from now I'll be on the other side of the world in the middle of no where were no one speaks any English maybe not even my comp. That is nuts. I got my flight plans though. So I leave here 7:45 and then I get to LA at like 9 then I stay in LA until like 11:45 and then fly to Thailand and then I have another 3 hour lay over and then I fly to manilla and I stay there all day or something then I'll take a 11 hour bus ride all night to cayauan man I am so excited. My Tagalog is good enough that now I just need the experience really and then it will come fast I hope. Ive been doing everything I can to get it better to but man you get so sick of looking at words it almost makes me sick to start studying again I hate it. But now that I have finished the BoM I have been coming up with a ton of scriptures and memorising them and I know a ton now its awesome I have almost 3 full pages of scriptures that I am memorising and its way easier to memorise one verse of scripture then it is to memorise a Tagalog word lol. But I don't think I need anything from home. I know I need to send back my basketball shirts and some long sleeve shirts but what else??? is that it? Man I am excited to go though its going to be fun and this next week is just crazy I guess I think class and learning is pretty much over now they try to like teach us about other things or something I don't know but anyways thanks for all the letters. Congrats on trying to read the
BOM by may that is sweet. Thanks for doing that. I love ya all and I hope you have a good week.

Love
Elder Riner