9-27-15 The Lord really is taking such good care of me.

Kumusta mom!

  Yeah, as you were asking "mabuhay" means "welcome!" This language is really hard sometimes, but it's so fun! 

  I'm doing great! Yesterday was the first time I actually thought I was getting sick, but today I feel good again. Maybe it's because I had more candy than usual; I bought some candy for my lesson yesterday with the 9-11 year old primary class and ate a lot of the leftovers haha. We had a great week though! We met a lot of nice and interesting people haha. One of which is bro M. They call the brothers and sisters here by bro/sis and then their first name rather than their last. Anyway, bro M is a scientist from Britain and is an atheist. The main reason is because there's "no proof" that Heavenly Father exists. He's very fact oriented. But he said that he can't prove that there isn't a God, so he couldn't say that there is no God; he just doesn't believe in one. He was actually really nice and meeting with him motivates me to study harder and be more worthy for the guidance of the Spirit at all times. 

 We watch "The District" a lot and I learn so much from those elders and sisters, such great examples. A big goal that Elder Rebojo and I have from now on is to try harder to be exactly obedient. On Wednesday all of the new missionaries and our trainers went back to Cauayan for another Orientation kind of thing since we didn't have much time the day we came in. It was awesome seeing my batch mates again! They all seemed to be doing really well in their areas. In the orientation we learned a lot about obedience and keeping a good relationship with your companion. While President Rahlf spoke, he brought up emails. He told us that live chatting (emailing, recieving a reply, then replying back) is not allowed. So I won't be able to do that anymore, sorry mom. If you want to make it easier for me, just don't reply until tomorrow or something haha. 

 

  Anyway, throughout the week we also met a number of people who once took lessons from missionaries but haven't seen them for a long time until we spoke to them. We even met one sister while trying to find the house of someone else. I thought we were going the right way, and didn't realize it was the wrong way until we hit a dead end haha. On our way back Elder Rebojo decided to do contacting and we met sis Rubinette. She hasn't seen elders for a year and a half. Like almost everyone here, she's Catholic. But she let us teach her a part of the first lesson and she was really engaged in it. It's so awesome how the Lord leads us to some people. By the way, dad, you remember any Pearts or Reynolds from Ogden? There's just an elder Reynolds and sister Peart in our zone from Ogden. 

  Man, the Lord really is taking such good care of me. And I'm sooo grateful that He continues to take care of you guys. Sounds like everyone had a lot of fun this week! Tell Lehia send pictures of Kala'i them too if can. I can't wait to see the video though. Tell Hali'a I'm happy for her! And I love her. And it's nice to hear that Ohu still has time to hang out with his friends. How's he doing with the mission stuff? I think about him daily and am so excited that he'll be out serving soon too. And I'm so stoked for Hyrum! What a sick call! When does he report to the MTC? And which one? I hope everything works out for Petter. And man, I'm so happy that Kana made the decision to serve. Such a great example to the other members that graduated school with him. 

  Alright the pictures take a really long time to send so I'll end this email and send some. Thank you for the email though! Oh and tell grandma guys I got their letters this week and said thank you so much!! They made my day. I'll try to reply to them as soon as I have time. And thank you for the pictures of today dad! Everyone looks great! Tell Uncle Riley I love him! And it's so good to hear that we have hardworking elders in our ward. I hope to have that influence on our Branch by the time I transfer out. And thank you again mom and dad for being spiritual giants for me to follow. I love you guys so much! 

Mahal mahal kita,

Elder Ishibashi

I forgot to mention this part. I was just about to go to sleep a couple nights ago until I saw this in the corner of my eye. I've never seen a spider so big in my life! I was warned about big spiders here, but I didn't think much of it. When I saw this spider I freaked out haha. 

My weapon upgraded from a hanger to a broom as I scared it into the kitchen and finally caught it between a cup and cutting board. Then I took it to the door and let it go. Crazy experience haha.