Hello!
Happy Fathers' Day
(yesterday) to all (fathers)! Again, about zero recognition here, but
Wednesday was Independence Day! Hatch and I didn't reminisce on the
victory from Spain years ago, but we did enjoy several Filipinos
(drunk and sober) singing us national pride songs.
I guess this week was
just filled with indicators that not only am I serving in a 3rd world country,
but I'm living in a 3rd world country. On top of the
thousands of bugs/ scary beetles, baby birds (see pictures) and of course,
Independence Day, we every boys dream that was never filmed when Steve Irwin
was still the "Croc Hunter." There is a special kind of huge
lizard here (not sure of the name). Sunday, we were walking out of our
apartment room and saw that a little bird had fallen out of the nest. We
were touched and admired the little guy as he hobbled along, not about to take
flight. He tool a turn for the worse (literally) and hopped into the grass.
Out of nowhere, one of this giant lizards suddenly charged out from the
brush and tackled the bird to the ground - I think you know where
that unhappy ending goes. Lots of lizard activity here though. Our house
is spotted with geckos which make for great protection against the hosts
of bugs.
In Tagalog, the word
"malayo" means "far". It's funny though because
Filipinos' concept of far is so much smaller than ours so they'll say something
is unreachably far but it's really just a 20 minute walk. That is generally true.
I tried to explain this to Elder Hatch on Wednesday when we were looking
for someone's house and everyone said it was way too "malayo" for us
Whites. To prove my point to Hatch, I announced we'd walk and I'd show
him that peoples' idea of far really isn't as far as they blow it up to be...
In short - I was WRONG! We committed ourselves to a death march. A
brutal, two hour hike through the mountains. Literally so pretty, but
literally, so far! When we got to the house, we met this guy's amazing
family and had a wonderful lesson. I instantly loved this family.
However, the whole time , I knew in the back of my head that we could not
afford a 4-hour treck through the jungle and across rice fields to teach these
people/ I some-what expressed my concern and guess what! Hatch and
I are just two ingnorants because we took the largest way around possible.
Turns out, their house is a quick ten minute walk from the high way if we
would have taken the correct path. Still, our march will forever be in
our minds as, "The Hike."
We found several new
people to teach this week because quite simply, we're doing (or at
least striving to do) what we're supposed to. I could expound, but...
next time na lang! Also, tomorrow (Tuesday, June 18th) is my favorite
(and only) sister's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISt!!!!
That's my second week in
Pilar, the Pilar of Light. Love, Elder Brown
Pictures
1. Walking on
"The Hike"
2. Cleaning the
apartment/ defrosting the fridge
3-4. Eating Bird
5-11. Pictures
12-13. Weird Stuff
14-15. The Beach
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