Week 7

(Mom typed this for Leah - she is on the other end on the phone and her internet has been out at home.)  12:50 a.m.  Garrett was on line at the same time so it was almost like communicating.

Hey Garrett,

I missed you.  I was thinking today that it's probably pretty intense and stressful and learning the language and being in a whole new world but don't get too stressed out.  I think the most important thing is that you are just there, being your happy self and loving the people and being a light and that's a language that everybody can understand.  You will get through to them - your countenance and spirit will get through to them despite the language barrier.

Have a good week.  Love ya, Leah

Thank you Leah! The language has been going okay. Yeah it definitely can be annoying not being able to communicate everything I want to say. I got a new companion Elder Tiu. He is sweet. He plays the guitar super good. The first night with him we sang a bunch of "non mission songs" Saosin, Taking on Seven years (you were the first one to show me that song :) ). It was pretty awesome. We made a goal to only play church music during the week but on P-Day we can play a few OTHER songs :).

It has been sweet with him because He doesn't know a whole lot of the language so I have been learning a lot this past two days. The other day was pretty sweet. I was able to understand a lot of what people said. The language is going alot better. Give me another month and I will be set. Anyways. Love you Leah I hope you are doing awesome. I hope you are happy and having the time of your life. Love you.

-Your little brother Elder K-Bomb

Hey Dad!

I am doing pretty good out here in the green stinky Philipino earth. SO Happy Birthday! A hockey game huh that pretty new for you guys. So my new elder is from Manilla. He doesn't speak English. He speaks Illango language. He is way sweet. I am going to have to make this letter really little. I will tell you about things that have happened this week next week. A few good stories.

But I am doing good. I am slowly loosing the English language. I semi healthy with a few rashes here and there. The work is progressing slowly but it's good. Same with the language :). I love you all! Talk to you soon!

-Elder Kershbom.

Questions of February 21, 2010  He answered them immediately but that was the price of not getting a family letter.  Guess he was pressed for time.

Garrett:  Tell me if you want me to answer these questions more in depth.

ANY MORE WINDOW THREATS?  No not yet. The window is fixed. :) 

WERE YOU ABLE TO PATCH UP YOUR WINDOW?  See previous questions. 

HOW’S YOUR BACK? Lately it has been killing me. I really don't know what to do to make it feel better. Some days are better than others. Don't worry though :) 

WHAT MOST STRENGTHENED YOUR TESTIMONY THIS PAST WEEK?  Yeah I will get back to you on that.

WHAT DID YOU LIKE  BEST ABOUT YOUR COMPANION ELDER TORIO?  He is super awesome to the people here.

DID YOU GET TO SEE ELDER HILL?   Yes at transfer day.

DID YOU MEET AN ELDER SWARTZ FROM ARIZONA?  Yeah I met him at transfer day.

DO YOU STILL WANT ME TO SEND THE MUSIC NOTE CARDS AND THE BEGINNING PIANO BOOK? Yeah.  If you could send the music note cards and some music staff paper that would be awesome and maybe our metronome.

IS IT A REAL PIANO YOU PLAY AT CHURCH?  OR ELECTRONIC?  Real

DO YOU THINK YOU WILL GET TO GO TO THE MANILLA TEMPLE SOMETIME?  Not while I’m on my mission.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HYMN?  I am not sure, but I was wondering if you could send me some music. Like the efy cds or anything. Music is awesome here. You don't have to send me alot just a cd once and a while. :)

IS YOUR NEW COMPANION ELDER TIU AMERICAN OR FILIPINO?

He’s a phill. I didn't have a lot of time today sorry. I will write more dason. Hopefully I will be able to print off your letters next week. I couldn't this week.

Halong for now.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Week 6 February 15, 2010

Hey!

      So just a few new exciting things happened this week. First off, this week is transfer week. I will probably not be getting transferred, just my companion. It will be sweet to see all of our batch from the MTC again at transfer day and the new ones coming in.

      This week I saw my first monkey up close. I was on splits and we were walking by this little house and there was a monkey in a cage. As we walked by it stuck its hand out at me like it was begging for food. I grabbed its hand and shook it. It was so human. I felt like I could talk to it.

      Later that same day on our way to one of our appointments, I saw this old little lady walking along the road. As I passed her, I said hello. She grabbed my hand and pulled me up close to her and in her shacky ol’ grandma voice she said in English "I'm hungry". It was soo sad. I didn't have any food on me and we aren't supposed to give them money. I really didn't know what to do. Luckily the person I was on splits with had a biscuit so we gave her that. I guess she was a widower so no one was really taking care of her.

      About two days ago someone chucked a huge rock through our window about 12:00 at night. We didn't realize what happened until the next day when one of us sat on our couch and was stabbed by glass. We went outside and saw this huge hole in our window and glass everywhere. We found the rock that was thrown inside our house. It was a huge rock. We also shut our gate at night so they had to have thrown it from outside our gate, which is pretty far. Who ever threw it was pretty strong. So now I’ve learned that not everyone likes the Mormons :).

 We have been teaching in a new little barangay called Lumbia Uno. It is the coolest place.  Not the actual place but the people. The first time we went to teach there tons and tons of people came to listen to us teach. The lady we are teaching there’s name is Nida. She is super poor and is having to find a job to live somewhere else. When we told her that we couldn't teach her anymore because she would be gone, she said she would find another job closer by.

She is so awesome. She went around for a little while working with us. It's just really awesome. We have barely started teaching her and she already is super willing and grateful. Because of her, we might baptize the whole barangay (village).

Thank you guys all for your letters. I love reading them.

Leah I am glad your are having fun living it up in Vegas. Thailand sounds like an adventure but Hawaii would be pretty rad too.

So Ashton is better, that is good. That is pretty crazy he had to go to the hospital.

Kyle yes there are plenty of places to buy toilet paper but the trick is having it everywhere with you when you need it. Unfortunately for me, the time came where I didn't have any. I was really sick and had to go. I forget to bring some. It actually wasn't that bad.

Yeah, my companion is pretty sweet. We listen to alot of the same music. So it’s fun singing songs together.

Kyle I do keep a note pad by my bed. But I haven’t received any midnight revelations yet.

Oh Mom, don't worry about us singing. We have sung tons. We do sing at lessons too.

Well, things are good. Hope all is well with you. Love you all.

-Elder Kirschbaum

Week 5 Hello

Hey! Family!

   Wow it is so crazy it has already been a month in the mission. My month mark was yesterday on the 7th. So it is 4:06 pm here right now. I attached some pictures finally! yay!

  Yes! Mother Father I got your packages. One of them came a few weeks ago. The last one with the Valentines monkey came this week. Thank you so much. I am also getting all of your emails too.

  Thank you for the recipes. I actually have been eating oatmeal in the morning too. This morning I made oatmeal with coconut juice. It was really good.

  Tell Elder Swartz not to worry about vitamins they give us endless vitamins here. And yes mom I have been taking them.

  So just tell friends to send me DearElders.com.  I am planning on just writing them letters through the pouch back and just family through email.

  For pictures I will just have to send you my cards or something or if you sent me a usb with a bunch of storage I might be able to store them on there maybe. For now I will send you my card which is full.

  So I decided you guys haven't heard alot of what it is like here. I will type up my journal entry. It is kind of negative, but don't worry I am not anymore, I am an official Filippino.  And I am an official Man now. I will tell you about that later.

   "Alright so our apartment looks like a haunted house from the outside.

As you walk in there is a huge spider stuck in the screen door. The living room is nice but very messy. The whole house is really a pig-sty. The bathroom is a dump. There is a sink, shower head, and toilet all in the same tiny room. If the shower was on while you took a poop you would get wet. (It’s now to the point where I get wet no matter what I am doing in the bathroom. Everything leaks.) Most people here wipe with their hands. I have a thing for toilet paper so I borrow a roll from the  Mission office every time I visit. Anyways I don't dare not wear sandals in the bathroom, its beyond words. I’ve learned to love it now though. We wash our dishes by hand everyday in our messy kitchen. Many times there are ants all over eating left over Uga (dried fish) We constantly have a fan on us, because it is so hot and wet here. I keep my toothbrush in the fridge so ants don't get it. I have a nice wood frame bed with a soft thin mattress pad thing. My sheet has signatures of other missionaries. We have another bathroom right off our room but no one goes in it because its even worse. I listen to it drip water at night. There are these really cool lizard gecko things here.  We have a ton all around. A few are smashed in our door, with the spider. Our apartment is right by the main road so the cars race by making really loud sounds. When we are going to bed it is like we are blasting off in a spaceship every 5 minutes because it’s so loud. Our beds rumble. If the roosters aren’t crowing at 11:00 pm, they are at 4:30 am. We live not a foot away from around 30 roosters. The whole “morning only rooster crow thing” is a myth.  They scream every time of the day.

   All right so our area is beautiful. We live in a small town outside the city of Bacolod about 30 minutes north. (For Kyle my address is EB Magalona Tabigy Street between the bridge at the gas station.) Most houses are made of either bamboo or cement. For transportation we use tricycles.  They are those motorcycle + carriage vehicles. I am too big to fit comfortably in them so I usually ride on the ledge over the wheel.

Alot of times I almost hit into things on the side of the road. Tons of people squish on them. It is super fun. Better than riding a motorcycle:).

Their houses are very close together. They don't have any of the utilities we have.

  Everyone, including me, washes their clothes by hand. It is quite the process. We get the water from a pump in the ground. We then hang them up to dry.

  The rice fields are beautiful here with lush green grass rice and palm trees. The ocean is in our area. Some of the houses by the ocean are elevated on just bamboo poles alone. In one of our investigators homes the bamboo bends frighteningly low when I step on it. I am always scared I am going to maul over their home. When it rains here it rains in small spurts. It will be completely dry then in a second it will rain. Then 30 seconds later it will stop in a snap of a finger. The rain is also misty.

It is really trashy. Everyone puts their garbage everywhere. Pretty gross smelling sometimes."

  That was my January 21st entry.

  This week I went on splits 3 times. So me and either the Bishop or a member named Tommy. It is hard going on splits when you can barely speak the language.

  We have two wards: The EB Magalona Ward and Manta-angan Branch. The  Bishop of EB is quite the guy. EB is a struggling ward. Haha we watched a movie in Sacrament two weeks ago too. That’s what it’s like.

   Well, there is still tons to tell you.

   I love all of you so much!

I hope that everything is okay with Ashton, poor guy. I will pray for him. Tell everyone I love them.

Till next time!

-Elder Kirschbaum