Hi!  :)

Manny and Elder Lundy

(Mom said to Elder Lundy – I saw that you had heat in the high 90’s this week with the heat index sometimes feeling like 115 degrees. Wow, how hard is it to move around with that kind of heat?)

Yah, its super-hot here, it’s only difficult around 12-3pm, when it’s at its hottest. The rest of the day is easy to manage. I handle the heat a lot better here than I do back home. I count it as a blessing. Not only do I handle it, but most days I’m alright, it doesn't affect me. I don't even really drink water all day either. Just recharge when I get back home. We can't carry or buy enough water, so it’s just easier to do it that way.

Our companion shirts turned out alright. The paint they used was expired so we are having them go over it again, but in a golden yellow. Its gunna look sick! :) I'm also having another shirt made. It’s a long story so I’ll share it with you when it is finished. ;)

(It’s hard to get the batteries they need over there so I asked if he needed some more)

My batteries are great. I’ve only changed the batteries in my clock once and my speaker once. I don't really use my mp3 player right now. I focus my music needs on primary hymns since I can now play them on my ukulele! :) I have the chords down for at least 4 different primary songs, some of which are "Love One Another", and "Book of Mormon Stories" :) its soo cool. I owe it all too Elder Rostedt. Without the chord chart and instruction he gave me before he transferred, I’d still be flopping around not knowing what I’m doing.

(Elder Lundy has had sinus trouble lately so I asked if he needed more medication.)

I’m good on sinus med's. The doctor put me on a nasal spray for like "the rest of my life" as he said. lol. But it’s starting to help. What I do need however is a saline nasal spray. They don't sell it here anywhere!!!!???? I can't believe it! Doc told me to use that as well, but never told me where to get it. lol.

Faith factor was a ton of fun. I snarfed graham cracker powder/bits up my nose while eating gummy worms! :) I’m getting a video of that ;) lol. You got to see it to understand it ;) the Shaners are awesome :) I love 'em. I was actually in the Breese's group since they are also awesome and are going home soon. So I wanted to spend some time with them. But hung out around the Shaners group too because of them and papa Schmidt was in their group and well, aside from Elder Hamblin, he's my best friend here.

Lastly, I met a little boy without a belly button and he is adorable.

That’s all I have this week. We’re going to banaue next p-day, just so you know. I’m not sure what time we are getting back.

Love,

Elder Lundy

April 23 2012 Solano Philippines...

Hi mom!

I’m glad you liked your birthday present! :) I don't know if you remember me talking about an American, Bro. Pete, a while ago or not, but he helped me get it.

(I asked Elder Lundy if it was alright to correspond with some of his old companions and some of the other Elders in his mission)
There are people here that don't get emails from family, like Elder ….. So it’s a good thing if you want to mail them. (If you would like to write the missionaries in his mission, use the address that you would use for Elder Lundy. Just put the other Missionary's name in the place of Chris' name and they will get the letter)

(I asked Elder Lundy about a video that was mentioned by a friend. His reply was) And as for the video...it was on the memory card I sent home that got erased in the mail. Sorry.

( Elder Lundy needed some items that he couldn’t find in the Philippines) Thank you thank you thank you for the package! I appreciate it Mom! :)

So this week, we rescheduled our weekly planning session so we could go help the Gutierrez family fix their fish pond. That is the family of the YM President I told you about a week or two ago. It was sick. I caught 2 fish by hand!!!

We are also reactivating a family and baptizing 2 of their children in mid may. I also met the funniest inactive today in the world. He follows the word of wisdom, but every time I see him, he just looks like a happy funny drunk! :) Just by listening to him speak you would say he is drunk, but he does the funniest things too. It makes me question him sometime, but there is never a dull moment when he's there.

Pres. Omanito is doing good. I actually went on splits with him this past Sunday. It was cool teaching with him. He lost his glasses though. : / At least he is well enough off he could buy another pair today.

A Branch member saw us walking at night and drove up beside us after tailing us in his van for a few minutes. Then reached out the window and grabbed my bag and started to drive away. When I realized who it was it was all good. It gave me a start though. I’m glad I didn't react like I would have before my mission though...

(I read Elder Daniels blog and was wondering how his adjustment to the new culture was coming along. Elder Lundy's responce.) Elder Daniels is doing good. I haven't seen them much though. We’ve both been rather busy. It was Elder Cruz’s birthday yesterday on Sunday though.

Elder Biating and I are actually printing companionship t-shirts right now. I’ll show you it after they are finished.

As for Nanay, she couldn't go to church this Sunday because she was sick. She might need a blessing, but we really aren't allowed to offer blessings to people. We may give them if they ask us for it, but otherwise it’s too much like soliciting. She’s OK though. We’re reading the book of Mormon through with her right now.

Well mom, I love you. It’s getting late. My computer once again is stupid and won't let me send pictures. I’ll get you some good ones soon. We got some from the fish pond! ;)

Love you all! :*

-Elder Lundy

April in Solano

Hello!

I've been fighting with a freaking pangit (bad) computer for the past hour until it finally crashed on me and they were willing to transfer me to a new computer. Sorry if this gets cut short because of time...

I don't go to the mission home anymore. You are only allowed to go if you are close and can get back to your area on time, that’s not possible with this zone.

Right now it’s super-hot here. It hit 96 degrees F yesterday with a low of 82. I’d say that is hot. It feels just as bad right now, but hey, we work unless president tells us not to. From everything they say, this is the hottest month of the year. We get the rainy season after summer is over. Near the end of the year I think.

Work right now is ok. I hit a mental block a while ago and have been having trouble teaching. It’s been hard, but I finally overcame it this past week I think. My outlook on Filipino people changed along with it; or rather it was the reason of my change of mental blocked. Yup, English is getting ever harder...

We are teaching many less actives. That is our focus as missionaries right now. The area presidency has placed them at equal importance as our progressing investigators. They also made the bold statement that if we don't do this, and rescue our youth in the process, the church in the Philippines will be extinct in one year.

(Mom asked Elder Lundy about something she read in Elder Daniels blog… the question was about the water getting turned off and about the chickens that live behind them.)

So water and chickens at our apartment. The water gets turned off all the time because lines break and so forth. It also happens whenever we lose power. It’s just normal now. Sorry I forgot to mention it. lol. As for the chickens, I hate them. They are only roosters. They are raised for cock fighting. I’ll take a picture of them later today if I remember. They do look rather nice, but when you have to get up at 6:30 every morning, and they wake you up by 6 everyday, you don't like it. There was an elder here from southern U.S.A. that coined the phrase, "shut up, chicken!" said with a very heavy southern accent. It’s rather hilarious and have thought it many times.

The book got here just when I said it would. Thursday the 12th. It’s so cool! Thank you! I’m reading it a couple pages every night as I go to bed. The pictures are amazing!

Another Testament by Mark Mabry

President almost told me flat out in our interview Thursday, that I will be transferring at the end of this cycle.

Mom, about the croc's you sent me. I decided that they were too big for me to be able to really use while trackting, and I have no other use for them, so I gave them to Sister Carlos to give away to one of the American giants in our mission who can't find shoes here. I figured that is what you want, to bless others here instead of returning them. I hope this was ok with you.

Well, I have to go now. I love you guys! :*

-Elder Lundy

Easter Week

Hi,

So "President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: The Merciful Obtain Mercy" was a great talk. That is actually one of 2 talks that I have already used to teach. I used it later that day actually.

I got to watch conference at the church here in Solano. We are the center of our District here, so all the other branches had to come here. :)

I absolutely loved conference. Just hearing the testimonies of all those giants boosts you up. It also made me realize several things. Some I knew, some I discovered. The thing that hit me the hardest was families. They taught many other things in conference, but almost everything was related to families. Things I realized: Family is most important to me here (on earth). My greatest desire for the rest of my life is to get married in the temple to a wonderful girl, have a family, be a temple worker, and find a job in the service of the church.

So Easter in the Philippines....well, I could hardly tell it was Easter to be honest. I didn't even remember till halfway through the day. Even after I remembered, nothing changed for me. I spend every day in remembrance of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me. They do celebrate "holy week" though. It pretty much means it’s one of the 3 or so days a year they go to church here (Easter Sunday that is). So the whole week, many businesses shut down just because it’s an excuse to not have to work. If you walk by the catholic churches, which we did every day, you saw many small snack vendors and palm frond stands selling their wares on the steps of the church. It looked more like a fair. Yup, that was Easter for us.

So mom, about Elder Golightly, I haven't met him yet. But I have met his last companion Elder Daniels. :) Elder Daniels is actually Elder Cruz’s new companion. Elder Daniels just replaced Elder Rostedt in the apartment beneath us, the Solano 1 elders. He’s a nice guy.

Work was ok this week. We kinda came to a standstill with progress. None of our investigators came to church even though they were very excited to see the "prophet and apostles" we had been talking about. I’m learning a lot, and the boost of testimony I gained from conference is helping me be a much more bold and persuasive teacher. It feels good. I’m starting to not be as worried about what I say because I know when I start talking, my testimony is just going to start flowing out.

I love you! :* I hope you have a good week.

April 2 2012

 Included are parts of my letter sent to Elder Lundy: We have a game we play as a family. Saying “Rabbit” to an individual on the 1^st of the month steals there luck for the month. So this month here’s what happened…

Mom – RABBIT!

So let me explain why I stole your luck for the month of April… I see it this way, everyone in the Family needs luck this month except me. So if I take everyone’s luck, everyone will be lucky.

That’s because I’m lucky when my family is lucky. Get the logic.  <3

Elder Lundy – I do get your logic, and I fully support you stealing my luck for the rest of my life. :)

Conference sounds like its gunna be really cool! I can't wait!

Mom – I’ve been wondering a few things. So I’m just going to ask.

When you teach… and ask the members or non-members to read from the scriptures, do you ask them to read in English or Tagalog?

Elder Lundy – When we teach, it’s completely in Tagalog. I can't really do it very well in English anymore. When we have them read, most of the time, they read in Tagalog unless for some reason all we have is English. Some ask for English, but it’s rare. The scriptures are very difficult to understand in Tagalog, and it’s not always an exact translation. It’s just the best that the language allows.

Mom – Which leads to my next question…When you are doing FHE with part and less active families with children, would it help to have “Book of Mormon Stories” which contain colorfully illustrated stories from the Book of Mormon, in Tagalog and English.

Elder Lundy – Don’t worry about the FHE's. Nothing that would work in America works here. We have to do it differently. It’s OK though. It’s teaching to their needs. It’s what we're supposed to do.There isn't anyone in specific that I need you to pray for.                                                                                            I haven't gotten your Easter package yet, but I probably will on Thursday.

Mom – Curiosity strikes again – In your current living conditions;

what is it like. Now that you’ve cleaned it up.

Do you have access to a washing machine or do you wash by hand?

Elder Lundy – Yup, I still wash by hand, and no, we haven't gotten...wait, I haven't gotten it all cleaned up yet. There is still a lot to take care of in the apartment. I will soon though.

I’m glad you guys got the package! That’s awe full nice of you guys to share the treats ;) I hope you enjoy your birthday present! I love you mom! I have to go! I wrote you a letter that I should be able to mail tomorrow!
I love you!