February 24, 2012

Hi everyone,

I was pretty stoked to log on today and see that my family remembered me...Just kidding. I can't believe that Dad had a detached retina, you don't know how it happened? You are definately in my prayers Dad, and I know that the Lord will take care of you. This last week was kind of a rough one for me. My language was pretty terrible and I felt like I ruined most of the lessons that we taught. But we baptized three people on Saturday and that was awesome. I know that time is going by really fast and that is scaring me a lot because I am not progressing as fast as I wish I was, but still the people here are also and really understanding of my bad language. We have to new family's of investigators and it is so hard to teach them because they are both deep, deep cebuano. But, I  have always loved a good struggle. I really do feel like the Lord is walking right by my side. Even despite all of the crazy stuff that goes on, I never feel unsafe. Sorry that I didn't take very many pictures this week, but we were really busy. I heard that 58 new missions just opened! That's crazy! To answer some of your questions. I did get the head lamps, thank you so much; we had a two day brown out last week. They have peanut butter from china that I can buy here so I don't need you to send that but they don't have mixed nuts or any beef jerky!!! The only place that I can take money out of my account is in the city because there are no ATM's in the jungle but its all good. Dad, I ride on those colorful jeeps all the time. They are called jeepneys and people make them out of scratch so they are super sketchy. We usually ride on the top or hang off the back of them. This week, on saturday we walked to a place called Mina'aki. It took us a few hours to get there and because I am awesome I gave my umbrella to the girl that was walking with us and I got fried! Check the dropbox... I had a member read my palm this last week and she told me some pretty sweet stuff. She told me that I was gonna fall in love with a filipino girl on my mission.(never gonna happen), then she told me that I would have 3 kids and get my dream house. Also probably not gonna happen. Anyways sorry my letter was so short this week, hpefully I do some more cool stuff next week. The church is true, the book is blue. I love you all. PEACE

Elder Pulsipher

February 17, 2013

Hello,

Sorry I am writing so early, Your probably still at grandmas or something. We left at 5 this morning because we are on our way to Bacolod City because Elder Garcia has to get his x-rays because he is going home next month. I got my package on thursday! Thank you so much! Especially for the nuts and cliff bars, they made me feel like I was at home again... This week was good, but it was a really hard one. We worked super hard but a lot of our less actives and investigators still didn't come to church. A lot of the people here are so poor that they just have no desire and see no need to do anything but work and eat. They really lack faith and it's hard to get faith if you don't act first. But as for me, my faith and trust in the Lord and my Heavenly Father grows every day. I am being supported so much in every aspect of this work and my life right now. Sometimes I will be sitting in a lesson and not understand anything and just feel completely hopeless. But then I pause and say a prayer and right after I feel completely rebooted. On saturday we walked about 16 miles from Lopez Jaena to a place called Mina'aki and back. That was pretty sweet because when we got there the investigator we were supposed to teach wasn't there. We waited for two hours for him then walked home. My language still sucks, but I can see that I am slowly improving, very slowly... My understanding of Illongo is getting a lot better though, I can pretty much follow most of what is going on in lessons. But as far as Cebuano goes I don't understand anything yet. A lady in our ward speaks this cool language called Pepapopu. It is pretty much just a language of toungue twisters. To say hello, how are you you say, mapay-yapong hapapon kapamapustapa. It is really fun to try and understand her. Something pretty crazy happened this week too. We were walking home on wednesday night and while we were walking, some guy ran past us and then about 20 other guys ran past us and when they caught up to him; they all just started beating the crap out of him with sticks and kicking and punching him. I was just gonna take them all on myself but my companion said we should go home. We went inside our house and right after that, some guy walked through are gate with a gun and just started shooting stuff. We didn't go back outside but the next day when we left there was a bunch of police from Bacolod there with M16's. I don't know what else happened but it scared the crap out of us. Sorry but I didn't take any pictures this week because we were so busy, next week hopefully I will have some. I spoke in church again yesterday and it was pretty funny, I started my talk on missionary work, the first half was pretty good in almost straight Illongo but then I realized that nothing that I was saying made sense so I just gave the rest in english. When I was done, all of the members looked really confused. I thought it was pretty funny. But other than that my week was just missionary work as usually. Me being really confused and not understanding much or knowing what to say. It's getting better though. Anyways, the Church is still true and I can still feel the spirit of the Lord helping me through it all. Make sure you guys write me next week. Thank you so much for the package and all of your prayers. I love you so much and hope that you are all doing good. 

Love,

Elder Pulsipher

February 10, 2012

Hello everyone,

Just thought thatI would start off by letting Kelly and Matt know that baboo means pig in Ilongo. Ha Well last week was another crazy one. I havn't gotten a package yet but I am sure that it will get here. We had exchanges again this week, and it went junior to junior, so I was companions with Elder Sargent for a day in Minapasok. Elder Sargent is the tall skinny one in my MTC pictures. He is definately my best friend out here so that was an awesome day. Neither of us are very good at the language but we got around just fine and taugt a few really good lessons if you can believe that. The one picture with the guy with the monkey on his head and me standing in the back was that day in Las Penas. It took us a couple hours to walk there and the people all spoke straight Cebuano, but they had never seen americans before so like 20 people gathered around us and listen to our lesson. We taught about trusting in the Lord and having faith in his commandments. After It was over, Elder Sargent told me that I am better at the language than his trainer is. But the language is starting to come along a lot better now. I still can't understand everyone but I can usually get the gist of what they are saying. We had another two baptisms last week and that was an awesome experience. I got to Baptize both brother Gacuma and sister libre. After the baptism they both bore their testimonies and the spirit was sooo strong. I was really happy. Last night we walked to Binaguhan and taught a few people out there. It was fun because like half of the youth in our ward decided that they wanted to work with us. They mostly just like to make me say the words that I can't pronounce and then laugh at me. It was a good time. I can't really think of anything that I need right now but I will let if know if I find something. Mom, to ease your mind about the bugs. Yeah, they are huge. But no I don't need you to send me a net or oils, I will be fine. Anyways, I love you all so much and just want you to know; even though this is the hardest thing that I have ever done, I am so happy right now and all of my trials make me stronger. I learn so much every day and grow closer to the Lord every day. I am so grateful for your letters, keeps them comming. Let the extended family know that I can still get DearElders!!! Love You.

Elder Pulsipher