Elder Herrick's Filipino Adventures

There are 4 of us who are going to the same mission - all elders. One is Elder Bryan who I'm in a threesome with, and then Elder Kauffman and Elder Jones who are in a companionship with each other, so 3 Americans and an Australian. My nerves and homesickness are both very low, as I'm always doing something I don't really think of home.  The priesthood lesson went great! It's so much easier to teach a lesson in English then it is to teach a lesson in Tagalog. As the Provo missionaries came in we taught half of them with the senior LTM's teaching the other half of the Provo missionaries. There was a lot of participation and you couldn't of asked for more.  One of the new batch missionaries was scheduled to come in a week earlier so he has been in our dorm as Elder Endemann is mates with him back at home. He snores so loud at night and it takes me ages to sleep... So its pretty much rice and meat for breakfast lunch and dinner. I ate balut...

We heard from Elder Anderson twice, one for a devotional and another at the dedication, also heard from Elder Soarez he is in the presidency of the area of the 70 and we also heard from Elder Bowen who is the Philippines area President so I got a lot of advice from these wonderful people. We are going to the temple again  in 3 hours , every Pday we go to the temple just the times vary. I'm in a threesome with Elder Bryan he is the taller one from america and Elder Endemann the stocky one and he's from New Zealand. The language is going a lot better. I currently speak in English construction and replace the words I know in Tagalog but I'm trying to start Tagalog structure which is saying it all back to front. We've started grammar, although its confusing it has also helped alot! I know where to put my ng,ni  sa,si ang, ki,ko and when to use them (well sort of.)  I've gotten used to the weather but it is still hot and I'll just have to accept it. I finally ...

Kamusta! When we arrived at the MTC President Carlos was taking a lot of photos of the missionaries hahaha. The MTC is what I thought it was going to be like. It's not very big as there is about 100ish missionaries there. In my district we have 10 people and we are the only people learning Tagalog. The language is harder then I thought  it was going to be. If  I wanted to say a sentence I have to say is backwards in Tagalog to make is correct. There are so many words like sa si ki ni po in front of a word to show respect and it is so confusing!! Sometimes I wish I was just doing and English speaking mission, but I know when I master the language I'll be glad that I learnt Tagalog.  President Anderson is coming here tomorrow for a special meeting and also dedicating the new building. We have a chance to sing two songs for him - I'll go where you want me to go and also Behold a Royal Army. It's a very exciting time. Its incredibly hot over here... When we arrived...