Calubian

So the biggest news is that I transferred to Calubian.  It is about the exact opposite of Anibong area in every way.  First off It is on the beach which is super awesome but it is also on the side of a mountain so we are hiking a lot.   Anibong was super flat so it was weird to see mountains everywhere on the way to Calubian.  I speak a language here that they call Calubiano because it is right on the edge of where people speak waray and cebuano so I can basically say anything in the two languages and people understand.  The understanding other people is the hard part but I am remembering a lot of the Cebuano from the MTC so that's good.

I will say it is super nice to actually live in my area.  It was sad to say goodbye to all the people I met in Anibong but I am super happy to be here.  It is a ward but the attendance is only 50-60 so they are talking about going to a branch.  There are over 300 members but so many less actives so we are focusing a lot on reactivation.  The stake president came to the ward on Sunday and he basically said we cannot become a branch and tried to help get a ward mission plan rolling.  The stake president is super awesome and was talking to us a lot about how the work is going and how we can get help from the ward.  Our bishop is kinda not super good so that stinks but we have some super faithful members.  

One funny thing is Calubian literally translates to the place of the coconuts so there are coconut trees everywhere.  It reminds me of that song from Moana about the coconuts and I was singing in my head when I first got here.  The food here is also super good.  We have a really good burger place and bbq and then all the normal filipino stuff.

My companion is Elder Martin.  He is from Arizona and he has been out for 19 months.  He's really cool and we get along well.  The apartment is right on the beach which is pretty cool.

I was trying to send pictures and the computer deleted them all so next week I will try again.  :(

Anyways I am doing great and we are working hard

Amping/Paghinay

Elder Holmstead

Philippines Tacloban Mission