Week 9  5/12/2013

Sorry for the no letter last week I just had a small problem and I apologize for that. 

But this week was really sweet; this morning I was able to Skype my family and talk to them for a little bit. Can’t believe how different it is not being able to talk or to see them everyday. But the good thing is everything is cool at home and I like how the time has been flying so far, hopefully it keeps it up.

So my Birthday was on Saturday and we just worked because if we didn't it just gets really boring so we went out and got a foot long Filipino hot dog and worked. As for a birthday gift to myself, I got a machete (itak) and its legit man, I have been just doing my will on the jungle around me. ha-ha swoosh swoosh " wala na" (no more).  So for my birthday dinner we have a member who used to be a cook for American and Australia Spanish businessmen. Anyways she’s the best cook in the Philippines. She asked what I wanted and I said, “BBQ Shrimp with garlic butter to dip, Italian Spaghetti with ground beef and my favorite fried sweet potatoes (kemote), its the Philippians hash browns".

So yeah I was full that night dropped like 1000 pesos that night for everyone but it was worth it. And afterward they sung happy birthday for me and at the end they said that they have a Philippians tradition and as soon as they said that they threw flour at me, which was really cool.

And a scary thing is today Election day in the Philippians. And horrible things have been happening. The politics here are just the crappiest I have ever seen. They pay people 100 pesos to vote for them and then that's a ton of money for poor people and a lot in general. And if they find out you don't or if they found out you didn't vote for the right person they’d shoot you. They do drive by shootings or they'll just shoot you on the street in front of everyone. I have already heard like 3 gunshots go off right below our Internet shop so yeah I didn't think it was this bad but it is. So we are not really going go out today really. This is going to be a quick message and just like to say thank you to everyone and love you all.

Shout out to Jake Levine; Happy Birthday, and thanks to Brian for the lacrosse heads;  I have them on bamboo sticks (estig)!

I really appreciate the letter and happy birthday emails. They meant the world to me and I would just like to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the great mothers out there. It’s getting a little dangerous now so I’m going to get off now. I love you all. And hope all is well at home. 

Love,

Elder Llorens